I have not been up to much-

    Hello all! Sorry I have been absent lately. I have been sewing just a little, and getting ready for our big trip to Pennsylvania to see the family. It will be the first time all 4 of us siblings have been together in 30 years- and it won’t be for a funeral- not yet, anyway. LOL.  It will be a hoot! Last time we were all together I was just a baby of 19. Now I can drink booze with them! Hello Yuengling Beer! Come to me my precious---

  I had a class this last weekend to show me how to use more features on my new sewing machine. The one little issue was that the woman who was giving me the class was a Viking user, not a Pfaff user so my class was only about 10 minutes. I am a decent reader so anything I need to know I will read about on my own I guess.  A few of my friends have been asking how I was liking the new machine. I compared it to a new relationship- at first it was all great- loved it all. Then, things started to piss me off. After  a week or so (ok, month) of that,  I got more used to it and I am once again happy with my purchase. I am glad the class was 2 months after purchasing the machine ,though at first that bothered me as well. Also, by selling my other back up machines I had nowhere to turn when the new one was ticking me off. I had to get out the damn manual and figure it out on my own, and I did. I think a  glass of wine was involved in that attitude adjustment, or it may have been a piece of very special chocolate.

  I did get a few things sewn. I made this Bethlehem Star for a class I am teaching in the fall. Not thrilled with the way the pattern was written, but oh well. It is the 3rd quilt I have quilted on my new machine and I think it came out just fine!

    I also made this pillowcase and it is for a shop sample as well. The fabric for this was in my stash- I am trying very hard to use fabric from my stash. I must have really liked this flower print- after making 3 pillowcases I still have 2 yards left!

   I have made a few little wallets- this one is mine-

 

   I bought some wonderful Kaffe fabric to make a shop sample of an Atkinson Design bag, then ended up going back and buying yardage of the same fabric for a Flowering Snowball quilt. I bought a white solid for the smaller parts of the block (the orange part in the snowball template picture), and am using the Kaffe for the larger part of the block (the white part on the snowball template package). I should have enough fabric for a queen size top. I bought the fabrics (except for the lime green for the centers of my snowballs) at Quilting Hands in Lyons, Colorado which is one of my favorite shops. They carry Aurifil thread, along with a fantastic assortment of fabric and notions. They are a wonderful shop- and are moving to a larger location. I can’t wait for that!  ROAD TRIP!

 

 

    This weekend I am hoping to get a bit of sewing done. I have my final 3 blocks to sew for a Block of the Month program that I am participating in. We can pick up the finishing kit in June so I would like to have all of the blocks done and ready to go when I pick that up.

  I also have to give our place a good cleaning to get ready for my house/dog/cat sitter to come over while we are gone.  The weather may be crappy this weekend so what better way to spend it than cleaning! My sweet friend Terry wants to get together this weekend as well, so that will be a nice break from cleaning. And if it ends up like it did last time, lunch may turn into an all-day quilt shop adventure- with pie! Whoo hoo!

  Hope this post finds you all well- enjoy your week!

                              My mother-

  I guess it is time for a Mother’s Day blog.  My mother passed away when I was only 16. She had lung cancer, and by the time they figured out what it was it was too late. It was my junior year in high school- and I really hid my head in the sand and did not want to think about what was going on. I would occasionally hear my dad cry- which was not easy to hear as he was a big guy that did not let on he even knew how to cry. I would escape to my best friends’ house- thank you Pen, Deb and all, or escape with my band friends- thank you Michelle, Carolyn and all of the rest of you, and I made my share of male companionship mistakes – well only one real big one-while looking for comfort. (There is a seedy blog story there but I will tell that another time).

Mom, Dad, my two sisters and older brother.

 So, Mother’s Day to me has pretty much sucked my whole life. Now that my kids are older they have their own lives and who gives a crap about the woman who put up with all of their dirty underwear and smelly socks over the years??  Oh well- I know they love me in their own way. Or until they need something. HAHA

  I do have good memories of my mother- baking me the chocolate cake for my birthday that she called the pain in the ass cake because of how big of a pain it was to make, being my assistant Brownie leader, being our girl scout troop’s Cookie Mom, hosting sleep overs for all of my friends, feeding me, keeping the house clean and making sure my clothes were spic and span. (Although she constantly bitched at me in high school because all I wore was jeans and t shirts- I showed her. My job at the moment has jeans and t shirts as their dress code- HA HA.) The companionship mistakes in high school did not seem to mind the jean and t shirt thing, either. So there- who needs dresses and high heels? Not this chick!

Mom is on the left in the back row. I am front and center!!

 

  I did not get my quilting gene from my mother. I have no clue where it came from.  Adopted maybe?? She did enjoy hand embroidery and needlework, which I do also love. I guess quilting is just an extension of that. I do have a few of her things that she stitched- and I cherish those.

   I am so very grateful for the years, though not many, I had with my mother. I moved 2,000 miles away the year my dad died, which was 3 years after my mom died. Moving to Denver at 19 with no family and knowing only 1 person was insane, and I am glad I did it then because I would be way too chicken to do it now. I guess my parents gave me the chance to do this crazy thing by not being around.  I got shoved out of the nest before I was ready, but I landed on both feet here in Colorado and never looked back. I am grateful to my parents for making me the stubborn, independent, bull-headed almost 50 year old I have become. My husband may not be so grateful for some of these traits- right honey??

On a lighter note, I did get this card last year on Mother's Day.  I must have done something right during their formative years!

 

  I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend- whether you are a mom or not, have one or not-you are all special and should be treated as such every day!

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