Blessings and Bali's

Many are the blessings that one receives from friends. So many friends called, wrote, and e-mailed me this past week. Though it's been a difficult week as memories of hard times surfaced, I know in my heart that Stephen is in a better place and he is free from debilitating pain. I think that his birthday is always going to be the hardest for me.

As for this one year anniversary of Stephen's heaven date, we just had an easy day. I went to Bible study in the morning and that began the blessings of the day. Afterwards, the sun came out for awhile which was a definite answer to prayer. Jim and I went out to lunch and talked some about our feelings and about Stephen. Then I went for a massage and a manicure. The day was topped off with DGD blessings. Both of them spent the night.......a first for us all. Nothing like a little DGD sunshine to bless your day.

On to the Bali's. I'm currently working on a class project from the Road to California show. It's called Strip Therapy and I'm using a set of Hoffman Bali Pops......2 1/2" X 40" strips. It is going to be gorgeous when it's finished but right now all I am thinking is that it is alot of work.

The beginning......sew lots and lots of strip sets.

Then it's time to use the special triangle cutter. This goes on forever and ever.

The triangles get sewn together into squares.

Eventually there will be 42 beautiful squares. Right now there are 9. 33 to go. More forever sewing.

And here is the little machine that will do all the work....my Featherweight named "Jean".

Diary of a Traveling Challenge

One of the best things aout quilting is all the quilting friends you make along the way. I've had the great fortune to be a part of mini groups and large quilds. My group in MD, the Loose Ends, refuse to let me go even though I now live in CA. That's okay. Our motto seems to be "once a Loosie, always a Loosie". I like it that way.



Our little group has shared in many challenges along the way. We are currently doing a row by row challenge. In case I wondered if I was still a part of the group...........no problem. They are mailing me my project row to work on every two months and I mail on my project row to the next recepient. So far it is working.

And now for a little picture diary of my second round of the "Loosie Row Challenge". My job was to add a third row to the piece that was sent to me.



This is how it arrived. Yikes! Fabric, fabric, everywhere. Kaffe Fasset fabric. What am I going to do with Kaffe Fasset fabric????


HHHMMmmmmm............Maybe this idea from a magazine will work. But I will NOT do curved piecing. No sir. Not me. I will figure out a way to do applique.


My new mantra has become......It's okay to mix large colorful prints. It's okay to mix large colorful prints. The quilt police will not arrest me for mixing large colorful prints.


Well look at that. They are very colorful and pretty. The fabrics and overall feel of the quilt is still not my style. But it is fun to stretch and work outside my comfort zone.









We need some spacers to make it work. Probably should have tried to make five leaf shapes instead of four. Odd numbers usually work better. Oh well. I think this looks okay.


And there you have it. The diary of a challenge. It is now boxed up with all it's books, scraps, pictures on a thumb drive, and fabrics. Have fun JoAnna! As for me............well...........my next one will arrive in March. Yikes! Time to stretch again.

Just when you think life might have settled down, it jumps right up and slaps you in the face. I've known February would be a difficult month but I sure couldn't have predicted what has happened so far....and it is only February 13th!

The saddest and most heart-wrenching thing to have happened is the death of the son of our dear friends, Rob and Mary Bentley. Mary (along with Sandy and Barbara) is one of the "other mothers" in the life of my children. We had just seen each other in September to laugh, cry and pray for our children. She was a special blessing to Stephen in his last months. He treasured the books, notes, and cards that she sent. My mind reels and can hardly comprehend that these treasured friends should suffer a loss so similar to my own. I pray for them daily.

Just as we were trying to pick our selves back up after the above news, we got a call from our daughter-in-law, Lissa. Violet was being admitted to Children's Hospital for emergency surgery for a twisted ovary. She ended up having to have the ovary removed. She is only three years old. Again our minds reel with trying to comprehend the events of life.


But the month has held joy also. Makayla celebrated her fifth birthday with all the hoopla that a 5-year old requires. Auntie Cheryl came from Los Angeles with bundles of gifts and decorations to make sure she had a special day.





Mostly, February brings memories of the precious moments spent with Stephen last year. I find myself thinking about him alot. I smile. I laugh. I cry. A whole year has gone by. How can that be? The journey has ebbed and flowed. God has been faithful.

Reflections and Thoughts for This Day

Today the weather was sunny. I feel peaceful right now. The happiest I felt today was during my Bible study with the woman's group. A blessing in my life is my new friend, Mary Theresa. It is 9:49 p.m. in northern California where I am. I accomplished two of the borders on Makayla's quilt. Tomorrow I will go to the dentist in the afternoon. I am especially praying for Haiti and Barbara. I can hear the T.V. on in the family room. This morning I walked to Bible Study. A neck scarf is great for keeping you warm. I don't want to forget to make a square for Sue's quilt. This is a picture from a recent trip to Sea Ranch along the northern CA coast.

Back to Blogging

Here it is January 2010. My last date to write in this space was in April, two months after Stephen's Heaven date. So much has changed and happened in my life since then. I'm going to try a little catching up summary.

Timing seems to be everything. There is a season for all things to happen. By May 7, 2009 we were the proud owners of a house in Alameda, CA. If only one could just snap fingers and have everything in place. Instead, there were trips to MD to pack, organize, sort, and throw-away. Then there was the dealing with a water leak in MD, the finding of a listing agent, the packers and the moving van, the staging and the final good-bye and flight to CA.

The new house sure looks different from the one in MD. One story, shingles, less square feet and perfect location near walks and views of SF Bay. Most of all, it's close to the darling oldest son and his family with the two DGDs. Are we settled in? Well...........we are certainly able to function and even entertain for a holiday (Thanksgiving) but the garage still has many many boxes to be dealt with someday. I can fix a meal, pour a glass of wine, sew and watch a little T.V. Life seems to be resetting its normal.

I've joined Amador Valley Quilt Guild as an outlet for my creative quilting urges. The meetings are enjoyable and I am impressed by the amount of charity quilts they make each month. I need to get sewing and join in. I've also found a small group of quilters that meets at the senior center on Friday afternoons. It's great because they have big tables for cutting laying out designs. I had to give up my own project space in moving here. Now I share sewing with the guest room. It's becoming more and more doable. The goal is to design and install built-in cabinets.

The move here to Alameda has been a good thing for us and for our family. We see each other often, we reflect and remember Stephen and we all value the love we have for one another. The journey is continuous, changing and different each day but never ending. I take each day one at a time and seek and receive happiness in all that I can.

It's been awhile. About 6 months in fact. And during that time, my entire life turned up-side down and started swirling. In the middle of October as we were getting ready to go to Spain, we received a phone call from our youngest son in California. Basically without a lot of messy details, it was not good news. A CAT scan had revealed lesions and tumors in his liver. At 32 years of age, you might not be as concerned but when you know he had ocular melanoma when he was 18, you begin to panic. Trip canceled. Mom on plane to CA.

Five months later and supported by love, prayers, family and friends, we said good-bye to Stephen. Over 200 people showed up for his memorial celebration. He spent his life as a muscian, writer, and artist. He developed loving friendships with people who cared for and about him. I have learned so much about my son.

Life was put on hold for quite awhile. This month we are trying to pick up the pieces and complete the plans we already had for moving to CA. The trip to Spain? Well hopefully it will get rescheduled for another time. BTW....Everyone should purchase trip insurance!

I share here a picture of Stephen and me in November 2008 at Dana Point, CA. I am so blessed to have been granted time with him.

Catching Up With Projects and Plans

September is flying by. Is it already September 28th? We got back from California on August 27th just in time for Labor Day Weekend. On the Tuesday after Labor Day, we went to Wolftrap in Virginia to see Les Miserables. Was that ever wonderful. The staging was unique and the music was incredible. I've always wanted to see Les Mis and I was not disappointed.

The very next weekend I was off to Harrisburg, PA with friends to see the Mancuso Bros. Quilt National Show. We spent Thursday night in Harrisburg and therefore had a good day and a half to see the show and shop the vendors. On Friday, we were back in the car heading for the hills of West Virginia to a retreat house that a quilter friend had secured for us. And it was definitely up in the hills. I stuck with redwork so I didn't have to bring a machine. Unfortunately, due to Hurricane Hannah's affects on our region, we had to leave early. It was still fun to spend time with quilty friends.

The weekend's efforts eventually resulted in this cute little needlecase. The pattern was from a company called Cinderberry Stitches. The designer is from Australia. I also worked on a pattern that I had found on-line and I've managed to finish it this month. I did it because it reminded me of my dear friend LaDonna and since both of us have names that start with "L", well it was a natural. I call it "Ladies Who Lunch". Definitely something LaDonna and I like to do.

While feeling inspired this month, I also made a lap quilt from old left-over strips of fabric. I think some of the scraps went back about 20 years. I'm going to be giving it to my dear FIL in November for his 90th birthday. Of course, first I need to get a label on it.

In about three weeks, we'll be heading our for our grand Spain/Portugal adventure. I've been having a great time shopping at Chico's for travel clothes. I also found a wonderful and (hopefully) secure travel bag that fits neatly over my shoulder and across the front. But I needed something a little more fancy for going out in the evening. Thanks to a pattern from Lazy Girl Designs called 'Sassy Bag', I now have a cute little secure (hopefully) evening bag. I first made the pattern according to directions from a batik. For my 'evening bag', I added zippered pockets and an inset decorative fabric and applique.

And as if I wasn't busy enough, I also found time to work on my small group quilt sampler. My goal is to actually have it quilted and finished in time for our quilt guild show next spring. The top is now done. The sandwiching and quilting......well let's just hope I don't keep procrastinating.

And finally to finish off the month, I got around to working on my September BOM for thequiltshow.com. The picture shows the pieces cut out and laid on the dining room table but in actuality, I now have them fused on the background fabric and ready for stitching down. Two days of September to go. I just might finish before October's pattern is out. This has been a fun project and I'm very proud of myself for tackling it and doing as much as I have. I am seriously considering stopping at nine blocks because Fall is looking pretty busy. I think nine would make a very nice quilt.