Long Ramblings from Me

1. Today Charles and I were talking about how long we have lived in our current location. We realized that today is the actual anniversary of the day we moved in, 18 years ago. It doesn't seem possible it has been 18 years. On the other hand, it seems like a whole lifetime ago that we moved in here. Our son was 7 and daughter was 13. Now they are both adults. Think of all the things we experienced together in the last 18 years. It's mind blowing.

But then anyone in my age range knows that 18 years is but a pittance. It feels like two shakes of a leg.

2. Thanks for the kudos on my previous post, the picture of my masterpiece quilt. Yes, I love it love it love it, but I really don't feel sad about giving it away. I have my memories and photos of it, and I have the satisfaction of having made it.

3. The bed quilt that was mine (two posts ago) was number 6. Almost everyone knew that instantly. I guess my style came shouting through. It was obvious to those who have seen a few of my quilts or if they had previously seen my pillows which say "sleep" and "tight."

4. I'm posting a few pictures. Comments about them -- first you see a strange quilt. I made the stitching experimentation piece several years ago, and this week I made it into a quilt. I added various weird pieces of things I had around the house and that I picked up at a thrift store recently (more experimentation). The key says "Buick door key" on it. And the slide is a Kodachrome photo of some place in Europe, I am guessing, taking in April 1973. Then I used three old wooden spools on the hanging dowel. One still has thread on it.

I call this piece "patterns" and used things that make me think of patterns that have come and gone, or patterns that we can use today. (Come and gone: the Buick door key, Kodachrome [they don't even make it any more], wooden spools. Use today: the patterns made on my sewing machine and the modern buttons.) I think I might remove Santa Claus. He doesn't belong there. Up in the left corner is a pin that says Pilsner Urquell. My Czech pen pal sent me that years ago. (Pen pals ... another 'pattern' from the old days.) I hung this in the window so that light shows through the slide. And yes, you are seeing white stuff in my front yard. It snowed enough today that we (or, Charles) had to shovel the driveway! And p.s., I'm not sure yet what I think of my experimentation with weird stuff. It's fun to play, anyway.




This one is a tiny baby quilt I am making for Rosebud. I used nine patches made by my friend, SM. She gave me a bunch of her extra blocks.


This doll and her quilt were a gift for a shoe-box Christmas collection we did at church. Some 2-4 year old girl somewhere on this earth will receive this doll and blankie for Christmas.

The quilt was made with more blocks from SM.

5. My job. I thought I should give you an update. It was stressful and difficult to learn. It was scary at first. The first few weeks I worked, I felt terrified every time I started a new shift. Now I'm enjoying it. I got over the scariness and have figured out that I can survive, and I'm actually enjoying the challenge. It's still a challenging job and stressful. But I like doing it, which surprises me a lot! And I love that I can pretty much pick my own days and hours to work. It's perfect for retirement!