I have about 12 quilts registered for our upcoming show which runs for the month of February, and I have to finish about six bindings. I hate doing bindings! They are soooo B-O-R-I-N-G!! But it will be fun to get these quilts done and also fun to have so many in our show this year. I have a couple of beauties as well as my usual ho-hum quilts. I hang them all, good or not. I like to provide encouragement for those beginning quilters who might attend the show. :-)
Today is my sister's birthday. Happy Birthday, K!! It is also the ten-year anniversary of our dad's death. Hard to believe it has been ten years. I was a mere 49 years old then. I was lucky to have my dad around as long as I did. We miss him, but he would have been in poor shape if he had survived his last bout of illness. Alzheimers was starting to show its ugly face, and our dad would have been so unhappy being that ill. Mom is doing well... still healthy but slowing down a bit, which is understandable at the age of 90 years and 10 months. Her mind is still sharp, and she still loves to read. Go, Mom!
Speaking of being age 49 ten years ago, I remember thinking it was hard to turn 50, but now I'm coming up on 60 which I think will be harder. (Inside I do not FEEL 60 at all.)
I actually have loved my fifties. What a great decade of re-discovering myself! If any readers are worrying about turning fifty, don't. It's a great time in life.. empty nest gives you the chance to re-mold yourself and to re-energize your marriage to that guy you have been sharing parenting with all those years. It's also a time when you finally feel that you've learned some of life's lessons and actually have some wisdom. I don't worry about little things so much and can take life's ups and downs with a little more peace of mind. It's really nice.
At my new job several of my co-workers are very young, with babies and young kids, maybe another job or going to school, and so many distractions in life pulling them in all directions. I can see quite a difference between them and me. They necessarily are more concerned about not wasting time and trying to tie together all the loose ends of their hectic days. I have more of a "I'm here for fun" attitude, and can take the blips much more easily. I'm sure enjoying this stage of my life.
Maybe being 60 will be more of the fun I've enjoyed in my 50's. We shall see.
This week at work I fell (super-klutz) and landed on my knee. It has been very sore but is better today. I was embarrassed at my clumsiness, but hey, what can you expect from an old broad who's nearly 60 years old?? LOL.
Yesterday I met a friend at this cute little yarn shop for an afternoon of knitting. I hope to go there again some time. Nice shop, called Lila and Claudine's. (Claudine was the name I was given in French class back in 9th grade. You don't see that name around here too often.)
Oh.. I'll share a quilt photo with you. I made this hand block to send to the International Quilt Festival coming up in Ireland (it wasn't just my great idea.. they are asking for hand blocks), but then I decided to keep it. This is one of the 12 I will hang in our show. I'll show you all 12 of my quilts one day soon.
Now I'm heading back to my sewing room for more bindings, oh the joy. While I sew, I'm watching a bunch of grown men crash into each other and try to get control of an oblong piece of leather. For some reason they think it's a very important endeavor.
6 comments:
I have really enjoyed my 60s and late 50s. Since my last child graduated from college I am a very different person. I have developed areas of my life that I didn't have time for before.
I too am approaching that number---like you, I don't feel that I could possibly be that old but it is true. Where did all that time go?
And I hate doing binding for much the same reason. Boring repetitive stitching when I want to move on to a new project. I do good job on it but still....ugh!
See, this is why I don't quilt! (She said, a great fan of self-deception!) I don't want to do the boring parts. I'm also kind of klutzy with a needle. I am afraid there would be a bit too much of the blood red there.
I will be sixty this summer. I feel that this, my sixtieth year is already the best I have had since before my sister died, in 2006. I feel as if I am finally shedding the pain of no longer being that pretty woman I was so long ago. I finally am feeling FREED by this somehow. I could analyze it up the wazoo, but I would rather not.
I would rather just see this as beginning yet another chapter in my life, FREE of obligations to others, other than to treat them with all the love and dignity and care they deserve--as they have treated me these last years, most particularly.
I can't wait to see your quilts. Just looking at them makes me smile.
Sorry I won't be there to see your show...maybe next year! I would have loved to get together this trip but mostly I've cleaned and sanded and patched and plastered and painted and cleaned some more until quite late every night. We are hoping to get on the road tomorrow for home. I think an all-nighter is in my future today.
I love the setting of the red and green crumb blocks! Very clever! And I love the hand block as well,
I don't believe those are my shoes. One I haven't been in MN ever, and two they are in far better shape than my current pair (although I have a new pair in a box for 2 1/2 years). I am tempted to lay claim to them, they look like they are just starting to wear in nicely. Anything else lying about in your closets? At $3.45 a gallon, roundtrip gas from Pittsburgh to Minneapolis is a bit prohibitive for just shoes.
Post a Comment