Last Week

We've been gone for a while...then it takes me a while to catch up around the house after I get back from a trip. We went to Missouri for our neice's wedding on the Current River near Eminence.

Then we spent the week at our Moms' houses going through and cleaning out their things. It's been almost a year since they both passed away. Here are my mom's irises blooming just like they were last year this time when she was alive.

And here are her peonies. They smell so good. My sister and I were able to go through everything in the house and separate it out into piles. I brought home a few things; she took some things home with her and my brother and sister-in-law took a few things. The rest will be sold. It was a hard and sad week for us all.
I took the quilt that I made for my brother and sister-in-law to them. They loved it. (see first picture)

While we were in the area in southern Missouri, I went to visit my dad's grave near Poplar Bluff. He is next to his parents near the land that my great, great grandparents homesteaded many years ago.


One of my dad's cousins still owns part of the land and the house where my grandpa was born.

We also visited the graves of my maternal grandparents near Doniphan, Missouri. We saw the church where my parents were married and where my mom went to grade school (the same building). We also saw the house where my mom lived as a very young child. My grandpa built it. It's still standing with a "no trespassing" sign in front of it.

Tim and I also helped with the picking out and ordering of tombstones for our moms' graves. So all in all, it was a very emotional week and we're glad to be home.

Another quilt knocked of the "to do" list

I've just finished baby Wesley's quilt (he's due July 1st). Calista and I made it together. She did a lot of the piecing and designing (adding the stars to the pattern). I did the applique and the quilting. In the meantime, we were making these little aprons. She finished two to give to her son Timothy's preschool teachers. Today is his last day of school and he'll put on a little show for us this afternoon (along with his classmates--but I'LL see ONLY him! ha) at his graduation. I think you could use this apron around the house for carrying your cell phone, quilting tools (thimble, rotary cutter, etc). Teachers could use them on the playground for holding band-aids, rubber gloves (in case of blood) and tissues. This one is mine and I think I'll give it to a friend for her birthday.

In addition to the quilt, I've been making burp cloths, and we plan to get started on bumper pads and curtains soon. Busy times.

#@!$%&!

How many times in my life have a sewn a binding on a quilt? I would say somewhere between one and two hundred.

How many times in my life have a sewn I binding on the WRONG side of a quilt? Once. Today.

Fortunately, I discovered what I had done when I stopped to turn the first corner (of a LONG side, of course). I said to myself, "Self, this does not look right". I won't print what I said next.

The moral of the story: Stop when you're tired.

All Things Quilty

Since I finished the "feeder, ender" (or strings, or whatever you want to call them) quilt in the bright colors (or at least I finished the top), I decided to start another--this time in Civil War Fabrics. I already have 14 of them done.

Excitement!! My friend Donna (the quilter) called this afternoon to tell me she had my quilt done. I didn't waste any time meeting her on a parking lot to pick it up. My husband laughs at these quilt deals. We've been known to meet at Wal-Mart parking lots, Quick Trip (gas station), church, etc--you name it. He thinks one day he'll hear on the 6 o'clock news that a quilt deal went bad on a parking lot which resulted in someone being shot. (He has a vivid imagination!)

So here's a sneak peek of what she did. I'll admit that the pictures aren't too good, but I don't want to show you too much until I've put the binding on. It's SOOOO beautiful!

And here's another sneak peek. This is baby Wesley's quilt to be. My daughter Calista and I are working on it together and hoping that he doesn't make a surprise early entrance so we can get everything done for his room. He's due July 1, but lately Calista has been having some bothersome contractions. For now, the doctor says all is well.

The Little Lighthouse Quilt

Here's a close up of the quilt that my daughter Calista and I made for the Little Lighthouse Garden Party and Silent Auction. I did the quilting and went a little beyond my usual stippling. I was pleased with the outcome.

Here we are with the lady who bought the quilt with the winning bid (she's in the middle). It's always so much fun to go to this affair and dress up in our hats. I haven't heard yet what the event earned for those precious kids, but it's always a really big amount. It's one of their biggest fund raisers for the year. The money allows children with special needs to go to school there tuition free. What a blessing! We once thought our own little grandson, Timothy would be going to school there and that's how we got involved. It turned out that Timothy's sight improved enough before his 2nd birthday that he was taken off the waiting list and now attends a church pre-school and will start kindergarten next fall without a white cane!

The ever-important label.