Floating on a Quilted Cloud

Monday, May 20, 2013

Thank you!

Big hugs and a giant 'Thank You!' go out to all of you for your lovely condolences for my mother's passing. Your comments were truly appreciated.

Things are nearly back to a routine here now, so I'm back to blogging! And quilting! Yay! I've nearly finished the quilting on my crumby/orange wall hanging. Should finish it up today, and get a binding on it, then I'll post it! :o) And again......someone please remind me next time to never EVER choose pebbles as the all over background again! Cripes! What was I thinking!?! LOL

And while our trip out west to see family did not turn out to be the vacation we had planned on, John and I did manage to see a couple of things on the drive back from Seattle. Of course, knowing we could get 'the' call from my sister at any moment, our hearts were just not into having any real fun, but the 7 day drive back allowed for a couple of moments here and there.

Let me just say, that if we didn't love Maine so much, we would instantly move to Wyoming! The drive on I-80 is one of the most beautiful areas we've ever seen! It was breathtaking! Riding along the top of the Rockies, at 8,000 feet, you can practically touch the clouds! The mountains were fantastic, and there's so much wide open space! We just loved it! And being 'stuck' overnight because the highway was closed for a blizzard was a blessing. We got to linger in the beauty of it all.

And let me just say that the Walmart in Rock Springs, Wyoming is the cleanest, well-kept, friendliest Walmart we've ever been in! Seriously!

And......we were totally shocked that we found excellent Mexican food at El Maguey's in Kearney, Nebraska! Who'da thunk!?! lol

Somewhere along the way, (can't remember....it was kindof a blur!), we were at a rest stop, and the whole place is decked out in quilt blocks! It was a stop on the underground railroad, and they have the folk-lore quilt symbols throughout! Very sweet!

While stopping for lunch in Walnut, Iowa, we popped into an antique shop, and saw this quilt under a tower of tv electronics. No chance to move it for a better look.....but I'm just loving that quirky pattern with the oversized centers! :o) I just may have to add that to my list of "Must Make"!

Our plan was always to stop in Shipshewana, Indiana for a few days (cuz I guess I didn't get enough of the Amish in my 10 days in Lancaster two months ago), but we only stayed an afternoon! It was enough for now, but there is always the chance to go back on some trip! I did get to Lolly's basement bargain center.....and did just a little spending! lol And, of course, we had lunch at the Blue Gate! Yummy!

We spent a wonderful afternoon at the Bennington, Vermont Museum! It was in the plan from the start, because one of the permanent exhibits is the Martin WASP Car......built by my hubby's grandfather, Karl Martin! John had only seen pictures of it, so getting to see it up close and personal was a real treat!

The Bennington Museum is also the home of the Jane Stickle quilt (Dear Jane!), but it is only on display at certain times, and not right now! We'll definitely go back in August when they put it out! But they did have a LOT of other handwork........

And a few antique sewing machines.........awesome!........

Sorry....sideways!

And then there were some really odd crafts.......

And some really REALLY odd (and kindof gross!) crafts.......

Sorry.....blurry.....taken through a glass case.

Yep.....those are thousands of moths and beetles! Ewww!

It really is an amazing museum, tucked away in the hills of Vermont. And just on your way out of Bennington, is a great little diner, Papa Pete's, with the world biggest pancake! They are served on a 14" pizza tray, and they are wonderful! I just can't imagine anyone ordering the double or triple stack! Cripes! I couldn't even finish my one! lol

But John did! LOL

Ok......so I'm headed back to the sewing room! Can't wait to finish that crumby quilt! :o)

regan :o)

Tuesday, May 7, 2013

In loving memory.....

of my mother,

Ardys Janet Vasis Eserhut

October 9, 1921 to May 6, 2013

Mom in the late 40's.

Mom, me and Chuck, 1963

Mom and me, 1990

John and I are so grateful that we were able to visit with Mom a week before she passed. She was alert enough to know we were there, and we could have a little conversation.

She passed peacefully yesterday, with my oldest sister, Kim, at her side.

I believe she had a good life. She was loved, and she will be missed.

Tuesday, April 16, 2013

We leave tomorrow!!!

I can't believe how fast these last 4 weeks have gone by! It seems I just got back from Lancaster, and now we are leaving for the west coast tomorrow! How did that happen???? And I haven't been posting at all! Sheesh!

But I have managed to make a few things in these last few weeks! And first and foremost......while in Lancaster, I finished making the 8 pointed stars!!! Woohoo! And now here's the tricky part!!! To finish the star and make it a square, I need 4 triangles and 4 squares of the background (cream) fabric for each square.....that means I needed 1,452 squares and 1,452 triangles (because there are 363 of these blocks!). Yikes!

There was no way I was going to template these! I had fun drawing out the star points with templates, because I was only doing 8 or 12 of the same fabric. But the background is all just plain old cream! Cripes! I think I would go nuts trying to draw these out. So instead, I did a faux-Inklingo production with my computer and printer! And I say faux, because I've downloaded the tutorials for Inklingo before, and have never had the time to really play with it, much less get anything printed. But the concept of printing these out is great! So I got busy in CorelDraw and drafted the perfect sized squares and triangles on a sheet, and then printed them on my fabric ironed to freezer paper! Awesome!!!!! And in no time I had the gazillion printed off! Woohoo! I definitely am going to invest some time into learning Inklingo when I get back from vacation. It saved me so much time and effort. And her pieces are already drafted and figured!! Yay!

So here's a pic of the first star with it's surrounding background. It finishes at 3" square.

So I have 60 of these and their parts packed for my trip. We are gone for a little over 3 weeks, so I think I can make a dent in that bunch! :o)

Our trip is to fly out to San Diego and visit with John's Mom (she's 83). She was recently diagnosed with lung cancer, but she is feeling really good right now, and they are not doing any treatment until she starts to show symptoms (which could be ages from now!), so we're glad we get to visit with her while she's feeling so good.

We'll spend a week there, staying with our son and DIL, and they are so wonderful to us......they are giving us one of their cars! Sweet! In CA, there is a CA Emission 'system' with the cars, and last fall, my son's went bad and needed repairs/replacement. Well, that was going to cost a small fortune, so they were going to just donate the car.....then thought......'maybe Mom and Dad would like it!?!' Uh......YEAH!!!! So they are giving us this car, cuz Maine doesn't care (ha!) about emissions, so it's not an issue here! :o)

We'll drive our 'new' car (an Audi S4, by the way! Nice!) up to Washington State to visit my folks, who both have recently been admitted to nursing homes. My mom (93) has been in and out of emergency rooms in the last couple of weeks, but is now back in the nursing facility. My father (87) decided about a month ago to go to the Veteran's home. My parents have been divorced for over 25 years, and have lived with my sister and brother in nearby towns in WA.

It's a bittersweet trip in that John and I have realized this will probably be the last time we see our parents. For mine, definitely, but John's mom may have years ahead of her! We hope! They are very close, and talk several times a week on the phone. I, on the other hand, am not close to any of my family, parents or siblings, but not for lack of trying! I've spent the last 30 years coming to terms with this, but it still bothers me sometimes. Every trip (about every 2-3 years) I've ever made back home was in trying to be a 'good daughter' and visit. But it's always been an extremely strained and superficial meeting, and the quicker the better. Nuff said!

So we'll just spend a few days in WA, and then start driving our way back to Maine. I've got tons of notes about quilt shops, antique shops, museums and the like along the route, and, of course, our plan is to spend a couple (or several!) days in Shipshewana, IN!!!! Woohoo! More Amish! (Like I didn't get enough of that in 10 days in Lancaster last month! Ha!)

Now, in the last month, I have been quite busy in the sewing room. In fact, in the 6 days after returning from PA, I made this!

I'd seen this pattern in a pic from a quilt shop that Bonnie Hunter went to ages ago, and loved it! But couldn't find the pic when I wanted it, so I drafted it up a little differently. Those are 49-patch blocks in repros of 1" squares finished. The alternate block is a fabric called Alsace, and the minute I saw it, I knew it needed to be a featured fabric in a quilt. This finishes at 46" square. I just love it!

And then I started working on the leftover shirt scraps wall hanging. It went together very fast, but the quilting is taking forever! Remind me next time NOT to do pebbles everywhere!!!! Sheesh! Each block takes about an hour! Cripes! But I am loving the look!

Of course, I didn't get it done before I needed to pack up my sewing machine and take it in for a tune-up while I'm gone. I figured that's the best time for tune-ups, because just having it gone for these last 2 days has just about killed me!!!! LOL

Ok......so that's all the quilting I've been doing. But I managed to get down to Boston to visit my two quilty friends, Jean and Rita, and we had lovely visits!

And my friend Pat and I went to the MQX show in Manchester, NH last Friday, and it was awesome!!!

Here are just a few of the pics (I took a gazillion but these came out the best).....enjoy!