Birthday fun !

I had a wonderful 52nd birthday and a very nice Thanksgiving, to boot ! Nov. 26th is not only mine and my granddaughter's birthdays, but it's also the day that my hubby proposed to me 33 years ago. Each year we take our picture together and put it in a special little album, and it shows the progression of all those years, and the love still shining through !

Wednesday night, we had a wonderful family dinner at my brother, John's, complete with birthday song for me, my nephew, Derek, and my brother's mother-in-law. I received a very touching card from my brother, Jim......one of those tear-jerkers, ya' know? First thing, yesterday, I opened my gift package from dearest, Wanda Gayle, and found a new quilting book, complete with specialized ruler, from a class/workshop she took in Oklahoma this year ! Fun future quilting? And then, yesterday, my brother, Jeff, came over and had the big Thanksgiving meal with us here at our humble home. Afterwards we had a little visit from Jeff's daughter, Mandy, so that we got to hold baby Alyssia, who's topping 10 pounds now, and gave us a grin and a coo ! Next, I drove hubby and myself out to catch up with one of hubby's nephews whom he hadn't re-met since moving back. Lastly, we stopped in at best-childhood-girlfriend, Shirley's, to meet her two handsome sons. What a wonderful different holiday from the quiet, just the two of us Thanksgivings that we've had the last couple of years. The day ended perfectly with a call from Germany from my loving daughter, Kelley, wherein my granddaughter, Zoe, who turned 6 yesterday, wished ME a very HAPPY BIRTHDAY !

Of course, today, I was thinking that this would have been THE PERFECT quilt camp weekend with my 'girls', back in Shawnee. I sure could use some help getting some basting done ! Have a great weekend sewing if you get the chance, JoAnn, Wanda, Terri, MaryEllen, and Mary !

Today marks 2 years exactly since my hubby's world turned upside down.....not to mention mine and Kelley's, of course. His first stroke occurred two years ago, without any warning that we took notice of. Last year, we marked the anniversary with hopes that it was nothing but recovery from here on out, and then, of course, in February, he had two more strokes. Praise the Lord that these two just affected his speech, swallow, and clarity of memory. Physically, he didn't really lose any ground. I just praise the LORD that on this somber anniversary, I still have the love of my life with me, taking our walks, sharing our holidays, and enjoying our families.

Happy Thanksgiving weekend everybody ! Enjoy your homes and families, and, of course, the leftovers !

Edit: In looking through my favorite blogger's posts (over there in my sidebar), I was led by Leslie's (Fluff and Nonsense) mom, to a blog offering tutorials for making things for the twelve days of Christmas. I agreed with Leslie's mom that the first one, the dishmat, would be very handy, as, like her, I place a folded dishtowel on top of my dishwasher for those last wet items. So, looking up some old extra blocks that I had in a shoebox, I found a towel that I didn't use, and quickly made myself a sweet little piece of piecing !

Thanks, Leslie's Mom and Edie from lifeingrace

Heaven's Gates quilt, getting better or worse?

If you recall, I started out by adding borders to just the top and bottom, but I just wasn't satisfied with the bordering I had done on the little mosaic quilt, so I removed the two borders, and replaced them with 4 in this milk chocolate brown solid.

This photo doesn't do it justice here; it actually looked really nice, but too dark.

Then after thinking that was really nice, but kindof boxed the center in more than I really had wanted, I found a lighter warm shade of tan in my stash. However, I definitely was NOT going to remove borders again !

So, I set about making myself a back, incorporating those nice, rejected borders into a stripe on the backing. Well, I was so pleased with the finished results, (you really can't get a good look at it with the duvet stripe showing through the quilt backing) that I refused to settle for a border that wasn't making me sing. So, yes, I removed those 4 chocolate borders, and replaced them with the warm tan. It's a simple border, but it had to be the right tone for me to be happy with the finished result. Now, I like it, especially how it goes with the backing.

Do you ever place your top on your backing and flip one corner over to see how you'll like it when it's a quilt? I like to do that, and with this one, I'm very pleased.

Now to find time to baste it and quilt it. Time I had today, but not energy. Still recovering from this flu, and a coughing jag with lunch left me wasted and napping. I thought I'd never get my breathing straightened out !

Tomorrow will be busy with the cornbread and pie baking, boiling of eggs, and house cleaning ! Let's hope there are more than just the two of us here when it comes time to eat on Thursday. But first, a family dinner at John and Deb's tomorrow night. If they have ham, I'm going to forego the turkey, I think, just so I'm really ready for it at my house on Thursday ! Can't wait for the eggnog and boiled custard !

Taking Care of Your Tools !

A very important lesson that my hubby taught me many years ago was to take good care of my tools. You rely on them every time you start out to ply your craft. Blessedly, his craft and mine always made a very good marriage. I relied on his woodcrafting to supply my quiltmaking with basting and quilting frames, legs to hold those frames, portable ironing boards........oh, no telling how many more things that I've forgotten as I've taken them for granted. But no more ! Hubby is temporarily (I pray) out of the woodworking line, and I MUST take care of those precious things that still remain to work with. Besides taking him for granted, I must say that I also accepted as normal having a garage where I could store all of my frames and legs and such. Now that I no longer have a garage, I've had the frame boards tied up to some nails on my little back porch, exposed to the dampness and months and months of RAIN !

I went to use them today, and found a mildewed/molded MESS. I've kindof seen it coming, but didn't want to take a good look.

Well, today, I bit the bullet and removed the staples/tacks, and the ticking from the boards, and then cleaned the boards with Pine-sol/water solution. Thankfully, four of the boards were varnished with clear polyurethane before tacking the cloth on, but all 6 boards are made of Redwood, and were well sanded. They look fine, and now that I've bleached the cloth that was on them, I can hide the old tack/staple holes when I reapply the cloth. If it has shrunken or doesn't look good when it comes out of the dryer, I'll replace it with all new cloth. I guess from now on I'll store them in my sewing room, even if their presence is awkward...........they're just too valuable a part of my quilting life, not to mention their sentimental value ! (Thanks, hubby !)

Which leads me to wonder.............what do some of you use to baste your quilts? Are you getting down in the floor, or spreading out on a large table? Are you thread-basting or pin-basting...........share your method with me please !

Maddox has arrived !

Last Wednesday, my niece, Julie, had her baby, a second daughter, whom she promptly named Maddox Raines. The baby weighed a healthy 9 and a half pounds, and has dark, dark hair. She has a big sister, Brooklyn, who is a bubbly, blonde-haired, blue-eyed one year old. Maddox is the second great niece that has been born to me since returning to my family back here. I delivered the hugs and kisses polka-dot quilt to her this afternoon, and found her wearing a little polka-dot onesie ! How very appropriate, don't you think? I chose the fish fabric for a backing because they spend so much time at their Pop-Pop Ted's river camp. Proud grandpa Ted is staying at Julie's and helping with the babies as Julie recovers from the Cesaerian, and he seemed to be having a good time at it.

In other family news, my nephew, Derek, is getting married this Friday night, so I hope to get to attend his wedding. He's such a wonderful young man,...... I wish him and his new bride (and their blended family) true happiness.

The fair is also in town for the week. I'd like to go just to see the exhibits, like we always had in Shawnee, and here, for that matter, when I was growing up. But I'm not sure if they have that here anymore; there was no mention of that part in the local paper announcing the fair itself. Not sure whether we'll go or not.....hubby's not up to alot of walking around, and isn't that comfortable with large crowds.