Something fun for the new year....

A couple of quilty girls are preparing a great quilt-along mystery called Just Takes 2, in honor of the wonderful Infinite Variety quilt show held in New York City last spring. It will be a two-color quilt, but needn't necessarily be red and white. Check it out, join in the fun & let's sew together this year!

Goodbye 2011; welcome 2012

That last post was written just before the other shoe dropped. My #1 son became gravely ill a week later and our whole world started spinning out of control. While he has recovered quite nicely, and even got married a few months later, my own topsy-turvy spin continued to rum amok. My dear mother began declining in April and surrendered in May. I was lucky enough to be in the area, and spent the last month of her life with her. It was a humbling and wonderful experience, as I watched the loving nursing home staff care so gently for this woman they loved as their own grandmother. Mommy did indeed slip gently unto that dark night. It was a blessing.

Now, I am happily reinstated in my own home, loving my dogs & cats; sewing with my old buddies and once again sharing my everyday life with my dear, patient and generous husband.

The last two years were the opposite of the "Four Weddings and a Funeral" theme: Four funerals and two weddings took place as my mom, both of her siblings and her sister-in-law all died. Aunt Char's was the only funeral I wasn't able to attend, as I was back here in CA & heading to KY two weeks later. It's been a time of great happiness and un-doing sorrow, as well as joy in spending non-holiday time with relatives we don't see often enough. I will be forever grateful to Josh for the opportunity to know him as a fully-formed adult, as well as the chance to bond with my grandchildren in a way not otherwise possible. I admire them all for their generosity of spirit in welcoming me to the fold, as well as their sense of love and family. I learned a lot in my time in their household. It was a renewing experience for me.

Today, I'm celebrating 36 years of marriage to my DH, who gave me the freedom to spend 18 months of that time with our son and his crew. I don't know any other man who would so freely give up his wife for an undetermined period of time for the sake of another family.

2011? Oh My!

It's shocking how quickly time flies. Really. I have been living in Ohio for over a year now, and not a single post have I made to this poor, neglected blog. I've been busy, but really........not too busy to post now & then. It's Valentine's weekend, and I will pledge right this minute to make a bigger effort to blog both more frequently and more regularly.

I'm also pledging to myself, that I will make the effort to be creative as often as possible. This has been a problem in the last year, and I really need to address that. Sewing, knitting, crocheting and writing have been sorely lacking in my life, and I'm feeling it. sigh. Must be more disciplined.

I've downloaded two entire stitchery blocks of the month from Paula Stoddard's blog, Quilt Happy Quilt Often, and have signed up for this year's effort, Home Sweet Home. Be sure to visit Paula and see all the creativity happening over there.

Web Exclusive: Jimmy & The Muppets' Impromptu Rendition of

Web Exclusive: Jimmy & The Muppets' Impromptu Rendition of

What happened to autumn?

Wow -- summer's over, fall disappeared & here we are, smack in the middle of winter. How the heck did that happen?

It's been an eventful few months. And the next few look even more . . . . . shall we say 'exciting'? Sure, let's go with that.

I'll be moving from (mostly) sunny SoCal to (mostly) not so sunny SW Ohio in less than a month. Can you say 'yikes!'? I'm trading a mostly solitary existence to one filled with kids, driving, kids, winter, kids & more fun than I'll know how to handle. I'm going to make a big effort to blog about it all right here, so if you don't see anything by, say, February 14, give me a nudge. I should be ready by then, I think, if I've survived the cross-country mid-winter trek & the moving in of all I hold dear (with the exception of course of my DH & all these critters).

Today we're taking apart those old library chairs so we can reupholster them. They're not anyone's style anymore, but they are very comfy & won't take up a lot of space, either on the way or once we're there. Alan's actually started on the deconstruction & the exclamations I hear from the other room are pretty funny. Or scary. Both, I guess. This should be interesting.

We'll be heading to Lowe's to check out paint, carpet, lighting & tile for Josh, then on to JoAnn's for padding & fabric for the chairs. Busy day.

Check back for periodic updates, OK? I'll try harder. Really.

Summer is nearly over, but SoCal doesn't know it. Today's high temp was 111, too hot to collect the mail, too hot for the dogs to do more than their business before hightailing it back inside, too hot for the cats to complain about being confined indoors. I couldn't even muster the energy to step into my sewing room to assess the mess, much less address it. Maybe tomorrow?

SoCal Quilters Run

Tomorrow's the last day of the '09 Quilters Run, but I'm finished. We managed to get to all of the stores in area 4 (12) and all of the stores in area 2 (11+1 highjacker), then I was coerced into stopping at one more store -- Stars & Scraps in Corona -- for a grand total of 25 stores in 10 days. I'm pretty sure I won't be attempting anything like this again. The 'highjacker' store was a new store that posted signs & a young woman at a streetcorner, all to lure Runners into their clutches. I was willing to visit the store, but didn't even take my wallet in, just knowing it wouldn't be worth the effort. Wrong! It was Cranberry Quiltworks, whose booth I'd visited last year at the Loma Linda quilt show. I bought 2 kits there, and they're both finished! What a treat to see the brand-new store, stocked with some great, fresh fabrics and patterns. Definitely worth the detour.

I'm not going to flame any of the lesser stores, but we really enjoyed Flying Geese in Tustin, and The Fabric Patch in Montclair. Favorites in the San Diego area were Cozy Quilt shop in El Cajon and The Crazy 9 Patch in Ramona. Of course, closer to home are the Quilters Coop in Temecula, and my personal local quilt shop, Temecula Quilt Company, both of which are terrific shops.

We had a great time over the 4 days it took to get to all these far-flung places, and I got to see a lot of places I'd never been before.....not to mention my first time driving the Ortega highway. Yikes. I didn't tell my passengers it was my first time until we'd descended in Orange County.

I'm having a hard time deciding which of my purchases is my favorite. I'm tending toward the new June Tailor ruler that has 1/2" slits, with lines to square-up blocks up to 6" -- plenty big enough for most of what I do. Or maybe it's the fabric I bought for a special relative's birthday present. Or, it might be the gift I bought for a friend's birthday. There were some great patterns in my shopping bag, too. Patterns for little quilts, runners, bags & even a couple of big quilts. So much fun, so much laughter, so many miles, so many quilts, so little time. Very satisfying.