Where does the time go?

As usual, I'm astounded at how long it has been since I posted last. Actually, I started to post, and paused to include some pictures . . . then forgot to photograph the NICU quilt top I made before giving it away. It was a variable star in purples with a rose bud applique over one block, in memory of my dear friend, Roseanna. We're all still reeling from the loss. Marguerite mentioned a little project for us for the Christmas season; she suggested we all hunt for a Christmas ornament that reminds us of Roseanna, to be placed on a wreath for her grave marker every Christmas. I suspect it will have lots of purple flowers, and some hummingbirds. One of her long-time projects has been a pattern by Patricia Cox, with hummingbirds and flowers. All the blocks are made and ready to assemble, so that will probably be one of our first projects to finish for her brothers. We volunteered to complete her quilts in progress, and Viki has offered to quilt them on her long-arm.

Roseanna's brothers asked if we would come out to the house and clear out her sewing room. Also, just come out some evenings and sew as we did when Roseanna was still with us. We said we would be happy to do that, and I suggested we could bring dessert. The "boys" were insistent that they would make dessert for us. We've all been talking about the task of her sewing room. We don't want to descend like locusts anxious to grab it all. Discussion has centered on each of us having a keepsake, and using the fabrics to make NICU quilts. Another suggestion was auction her books at a Guild meeting once evening, with the proceeds going to the Guild, as that has been a wish of the boys, too.

As far as own projects go, I just have four applique blocks to complete from my Lori Smith "Ode to the 30's". I finished the piecing last weekend, while my grandson played with his X-Box 360. Through the week, I made flying geese blocks for the border of my Bonnie Hunter "Old Tobacco Road" mystery. Next up is a quilt for my granddaughter, with Pinwheel Sampler blocks from Sindy Rodenmayer's Fat Cat Patterns. I pulled out an old QNM pattern called, "Victorian Medley" from Leman Publishing that I have had for years, to make a center applique medallion. Blocks chosen are a glove, a flowered hat, high button shoe, and parasol.

I also have blocks cut for two grandsons using Sindy's Bear Paw Sampler blocks. Addison's will have some applique jungle animals, again from Fat Cat Patterns, as a center applique to commemorate his performance in an opera, Noah's Flood. I haven't made a choice of the applique for Drew's quilt, but am considering something with planets. He's very interested in science.

On the knitting needles, I have cast on the second sock in a pair from Cookie A's Book Innovative Socks, for Viki. I have some Regia Silk (a merino wool, silk, nylon blend) to be made into a pair of Cookie's Monkey pattern which will be my knitting project on the upcoming Florida trip with Melanie, Marguerite and Patti. (Only 12 days to wait!) Will probably take some applique, too.

To top it all off, I have been on a reading binge, too. I really need to thin down the ranks of books I want to read. Read two last weekend, and I'm nearly done with another. Working interferes with my play time . . . but it also funds it . . . a conundrum if ever I've seen one.

Tomorrow, several of us are getting together again to make NICU quilts in memory of Roseanna. Her quilts will be featured at our Guild Show in the spring, with a special exhibit of all the NICU quilts made to honor her memory. Have to get my toys packed up for sewing at Mary J's tomorrow!

Good Grief! Almost two months . . .

. . since I last posted. Well, I have been busy! Mostly, I was getting ready to go to Retreat. I sort of have double duty because I am the program chair for the Retreat. And, my DSIL flies in from Texas, so I make sure her sewing machine and tools here are ready to go to Camp. This year, Dawn brought her friend, Joan, and came to my house the night before we went to Camp. We had a great dinner at The Smokehouse, and then Jan was delivered from the Indianapolis Airport by Marguerite. DH thought he was in a sorority house!

The next morning, we got going and loaded up the cars, and made a side trip to Rossville Quilts on the way to Camp Tecumseh, where we all acquired something we couldn't possibly live without.

In the weeks before Camp, since Ruthie took care of most of the hand-out work at her job . . . boy, I can't thank her enough . . . I almost didn't know what to do with myself. Usually, I'm making copies, and sitting down in front of the idiot box, punching holes and collating. I had just a few pages that I added, and those went very quickly. I managed to fill up my time by cutting lots of things, so they would be ready to sew at Camp. The inventory looked something like this:

1) Remaining blocks for grand-daughters Pinwheel Quilt, as well as applique blocks for center medallion.

2) Remaining blocks for two grandson's Bear Paw Samplers. Found an applique of a giraffe that I can add to one of these quilts for my grandson's performance in the Opera, Noah's Flood.

3) All the pieced blocks and applique blocks for Ode to the 1930's, a BOM that I purchased all at once . . . just adore it!

4) Christmas quilt by Anita Shackelford that appeared in Fons and Porter's Love of Quilting; cut all the pieced blocks, templates for applique, and all the applique pieces.

5) Bonnie Hunter's mystery, Double Delight . . . it's all cut, so I used some of it as leaders/enders as I sewed.

6) Beach umbrellas for my Florida sunglass quilt. The sunglass blocks were my own design based on a notepad I found in the shape of sunglasses. I used conversation prints in the lenses to commemorate one of my fun trips to Tierra Verde with my quilting friends. I pieced the umbrellas as leaders/enders, too. They are fun to do; it's basically a kaleidoscope block, and all the umbrellas are cut from bright striped fabrics.

7) My applique box had three or four blocks in it to work on, too.

I should have done what another friend did . . . signed up for the week-long Camp Tecumseh Retreat that followed our Guild Retreat, and kept sewing for another week. I think I might have had enough projects to carry me through . . . obviously, I couldn't possibly have made all those things in three days! However, they are all nicely organized, and I can follow through at home on lunch hours, and evenings, and one of these days, I'll have more quilt tops ready!

Overly-enthusiastic, under-achiever had a great time being with old friends, and making a few new ones, too!

Friendship, the thread that quilts our hearts together.

Those of us in our small quilt group that have blogs have often mentioned the blessings of our dear friends. Last night, we witnessed another gift of love among these women, and we counted our blessings yet again.

More than a year ago, one of our dear out-of-state members suffered an illness which left her with some comprehension issues. She has difficulty following written directions for some quilt patterns. She had been tidying her studio, and decided to pass along to the rest of us those projects that she felt she would be unable to construct. Among them was a Block of the Month by Pam Bono Designs, featuring beautiful pieced flowers. She had acquired all the kits, even when she was first suffering from her illness, because she so loved the design. Called Out of Darkness, her color choice featured a light background, with a ribbon border. (The quilt is shown on the website with a dark background with a floral border.) She consoled herself with the thought that one of her dear friends would enjoy making and having the quilt, and that made her happy. I'm sure you can figure out what happened . . . last night, we all got to spend the evening with her at her mother-in-law's home, while she visits. Roseanna stood up and walked over to her, and handed her a finished quilt top saying, "This is yours." Of course, I didn't have the camera with me. Roseanna is a very talented quiltmaker, and the quilt top is stunning. Needless to say, there were lots of tears of joy over this lovely gift. We are all so proud to be in this circle of friends. I'll try to round up a picture of the quilt top to share.

Camp is coming!

It's still about six weeks until our Guild Retreat, but things are coming together, and I'm getting so wired up, I can hardly stand it.

Thanks to a MAJOR assist from Ruthie, the great majority of hand-outs are ready to go, even hole-punched and collated. When she asked about the collating, I thought, "Gee . . . I'll sure miss walking around and around my dining room table . . . and punching four to six sheets at a time with my little three-hole punch in front of the television for a couple weeks in a row . . . and picking up all the little dots trailing through the house that escape the trap in the bottom of the punch!" Well, surprise, surprise . . . I don't miss that part at all! I just can't decide what to do with all this "extra" time! I just have a few things to print in color and add to the mix. Laura has a couple things ready to add as well.

I started putting a few projects aside with the intention of assembling the quilt tops while at Retreat. DSIL, Jan, is bringing her Bonnie Hunter "Carolina Crossroads" to assemble, if she ever gets all her nine-patches done. I have a heap of nine-patches to make also, but mine is the Bonnie Hunter "Double Delight", and I want to pull fabrics to make her Christmas mystery currently being featured in Quiltmaker Magazine.

Other good news is that Viki brought my cake stand quilt to Guild on Tuesday evening. We've got a barter thing going here . . . she's quilting my quilt tops, and I'm knitting socks for her. Each of us thinks we have the better side of the bargain. I just finished a pair of Lacy Mock Cables for her last night, and the second Monkey (Cookie A. design) is approaching the heel turn. Since one pair has been finished, I immediately launched a pair called Crystals, 'Combs and Cables Socks, in a beautiful hand-painted yarn, but I'm omitting the beads.

So, as far as what to do next, I think I'd better get the binding on the Cake Stand quilt so it will be a suitable sample at the Retreat, Patchwork Pantry!

OTQG Retreat just 7 weeks away

Wow! I'm starting to get really wired up for our annual Quilt Guild Retreat. Today is the date that registration is opened to non-guild members, and there have been a number of inquiries. Plus, a couple people have called to inquire about bringing friends or relatives. Here's a new problem: Will we have to set a ceiling on the number of participants? The facility will technically sleep 80 . . . but that's half bunk beds. Fortunately, volunteers have been adequate in the past to not make that a concern. I'm getting to an age where I stop to think about it, and there are a few who absolutely have no business climbing a bunkbed ladder.

Things are starting to tick together very well. I've always had permission to make copies in my office, but my old copier has finally given up the ghost. Another friend with the same benefit in her office doesn't think it's going to carry over this year. So, I inquired with another friend who works for a local graphics company, and I saw her Saturday evening. She said that the copies will all be donated! I almost ran around the car and kissed her on the lips! That's a big task to not to have to worry about.

Next concern is that our volunteer for door prize collection has kind of slipped on the job. Not really a surprise, as she doesn't have a good track record for following through with those things for which she volunteers. My DH always makes a couple of mason jar lamps for us, filled with old sewing notions or wooden spools. Those are well-received. And, he's been after me to cull down my sewing box collection, so I'll pick out one of those antique beauties for the cause. I'm watching Hobby Lobby's ads for patterns to be $.99, so I can score some new apron patterns for the cause. I'll just have to make an announcement at the Guild meeting this evening, to see if others want to come up with something from their studios. I hate to resort to that, because it may impact the Traders Post at our Guild show in the spring. Personally, I can do without the door prizes, but they mean a lot to some participants. So, we'll just see what happens.

I started filling a tote with projects, including my Bonnie Hunter mystery, Old Tobacco Roads, which needs it's borders added. I have a couple others that are ready to assemble, so I've tucked them in, too. Been doing block samplers for a quilt for two of my grandsons and granddaughter; need to cut kits for the last couple blocks, and pack those up.

I think I'll be ready, but I know that there will always be that last minute frenzy. The biggest problem is that Retreat is over too quickly!

Why does time fly when you don't want it to?

And, how is it, that my office clock seems to have come to a dead stop whenever I look at it?

We've had some nice cool evenings, and I swear, that brings out the "nesting" syndrome in me, and makes me want to start at least 82 new projects! I grabbed to some knitting to try to relax a little and refrain from launching too many new things. I do have the excuse that I am preparing things for The Old Tippecanoe Quilt Guild Retreat, coming up in September. I almost think I might be ahead of schedule a little bit, because hand-outs are pretty much all lined up, and there isn't too much to do to get some instructions written.

Over the weekend, I finally put an apron quilt idea that has been circling the drain in my brain into actual fabric. I'm really pleased with how my sample turned out. Writing instructions for that will be the next task, and I was considering how troublesome it might be to draw in EQ6, since it has gathered skirts on the aprons. Fortunately, the old gray cells kicked into gear, and the instructions will include photos of the steps, a la Bonnie Hunter.

I've always said that I wished I could find my high school home ec teacher, who taught me to knit, so I could thank her again for all the years of pleasure my knitting has provided. Well, this morning, I was able to locate her address through my high school alumni website. I can't wait to sit down and write her a big old thank you. As usual, as students, we thought all our instructors were older than dirt, so I had to laugh when I determined that she was only 33 when she was my teacher. She really gave me a life-long gift by teaching me to knit, and I'll never forget her.

Lunch break brought a wonderful package delivery to my house. I ordered three books from Interweave Press' hurt and damaged book sale. The discounts amounted to from 40 to 75% off. I expected to find a corner folded on a page, or a scratch on the cover, or something to indicate that the books were "hurt". They are all perfect. They must have just been neglected! Titles include "Men in Knits - Sweaters that he WILL wear" by Tara Jon Manning; "The Best of Interweave Knits - our favorite designs from the first ten years"; and Folk Socks. I've already found a couple of wonderful possible choices to knit for my son in Virginia; the stash has a great ginger colored wool that will work for at least one of the choices. And, an adorable tank top called, "Lotus Blossom" for my daughter-in-law; I have several skeins of a stunning lilac Checkheaton Country Silk that will be perfect for that project. In this case, it's good that I am thinking of starting them in July . . . I may actually have them ready at Christmas!

Ladling into the "guilt" stash, it occurred to me that I should do some cutting, and prepare for sewing the next stages of pieces for a couple of stalled quilt tops. I have at least three that just need to be laid out, and assembled. It's always nice to do that at our Retreat, because we try to reserve the major portion of floor space in one of the rooms for just that purpose. It's so much fun to walk into that room and see the projects that near completion over the weekend. I can't wait!

This little "pep" talk has been good for me . . . I can feel my energy turning from the idea of new projects, to some of my lingering UFO's, and an excitement to get them finished. Then, I'll be ready to start something new!

Yesterday was a mixed blessing.

Yesterday, my youngest brother, Wayne Michael Hogan - Mike, passed away. He suffered with cerebral palsy all his life, and was 53, which I have learned is well beyond what most CP patients are expected to live. They expend four to five times more energy to do something an able-bodied person doesn't even have to think about. He had lost his ability to swallow (which happens in 20 percent of the patients), and was going to require a feeding tube. So, he won't have to suffer through that now.

He was born too soon in more than one aspect. My twin brothers were born at 6 months gestation . . . it's a miracle that they even survived. The doctors told my mother to put him in an institution and forget him. They didn't know my mother very well. We all helped at his exercises, which ultimately gave him the ability to walk. We gave him plates with peanut butter or sugar on them, to strengthen his tongue, and improve his speech.

He loved to fish, read, and watch racing on television. If he had been born a few years later, he would have benefited from all the programs that are now available to CP patients, and probably had a life of more contributions. He had a good mind, trapped in a damaged body. He made fabulous Lego creations, and he worked for one of my other brothers (a cabinet-maker) finishing wooden toys, and doing hand-rubbed finishes on custom pieces of furniture.

He had the sweetest, most gentle natured disposition, and was a terrible tease, too. He mocked all of us as we were growing up. In my junior high years for a time, one of my "fashion statements" was a headscarf and sunglasses. One day, I came home, and he came out of the bedroom with one of my headscarves on. "Madame Fifi" was born! I said Madame Fifi liked all things French . . . French couture, French movies, and especially French Fries. On my last visit to him at the hospital last week, I came into his room, and said, "They told me I would find Madame Fifi in here!" He just laughed and waved his hand at me in a "get out" gesture. We had a nice visit. He told me I look just like our mother, and gave me the most beautiful smile.

While he didn't have an opportunity to realize the full use his brain, he was the family pet . . . we all learned a lot about love from him. I'm going to miss him a lot. I wish everyone had an opportunity to feel the pure love he showered on his siblings. His illness was a burden, but he was a gift to us.

I had promised to knit him a pair of blue socks before winter, but he was gone before I even had a chance to start them. I think I will knit them anyway, and donate them to a charitable fundraiser in his memory. It will ease the sorrow, as the yarn slips through my fingers, and I can concentrate on good memories of him.

Yesterday was also my grand-daughter's twelfth birthday. She was selected to participate this week and next in "The Governor's Art Program" in Charlottesville, one of only 40 junior high students. She is the youngest in the group, and was a bit un-nerved by the whole thing the first couple days. Now, she is happy that she is participating. It will be interesting to see where this opportunity leads her. She is a talented artist and musician. My Mother had both of those talents, too. It's fun to see those talents continue through the generations.