Summer moments

It has been a very difficult summer for me- the worst of my life by far.  My dear mother, pictured above, passed away at the age of 75- much too young.  She was married to my father for 58 years and he is struggling to settle into his life without her, misses her greatly!

I have fought to grab some moments of peace and normality among the  many demands of paperwork and life adjustments for my family.

My mother has always loved the quilt I made for her and it was threadbare.  I had just completed the top above for her and did not get it finished.  I am not feeling like finishing it now so it will go on a shelf for future completion and probably for donation.

I did have some moments of peace and some sewing time as pictured above.  I have not completed anything though.  Since I return to work next week, I am thinking there will be no official quilt finish for my summer break.  Sad for me since I am trying to clear out my stash as we are planning on downsizing our home in about 3 years.

I did have some precious moments with my two lovely kids this summer.  Every moment with them is a treasure since they are so busy with young adult life that I rarely see them.  Some moments above: My daughter and I went to a "Paint Night", and Billiard Palace in celebration of my son's and husband's birthdays.  I love to see my kids interacting as friends now that they are grown.  They have always gotten along well despite the sibling challenges.

Clearing out my old running shoes.  I am down to two pair now, which, admittedly, have gotten very little use this summer.  They have been donned once or twice a week on the best weeks.
It is my hope that things are going to settle down now.  Returning to work will give me some normalcy and hopefully some motivation to get back into my running and life routine.  Sewing moments will be fewer but perhaps more regular.

I hope everyone else is celebrating the second half of an incredible summer with great memories and fulfillment!  Love to see everyone's progress on their creative endeavors!  Take some time to be thankful for everything you have!

Summer

It's been a long time since I have posted.  I have been working on a few things silently but have also had a lot of craziness keeping me busy.  Long story short, my parents have moved into senior living and there has been a lot to do to get them situated and the process continues.

The pineapple above is the sample of 21 blocks I am putting together for that quilt.  All of them will be yellow and they are in the works.  I hope to get them together soon.  They are at about the half way point.  I made them with 2.5 inch squares.  I did purchase most of the yellows for this project and a few of the greens, even though I am desperately trying to use up the hundreds and hundreds of yards of fabric that I already own!

Another major undertaking recently is converting my daughter's old room into a guest room.  It is her old dresser and shelves and my son's bed (he grabbed my parents queen size when it became available- this one is just a full size)- can you believe I didn't have a finished quilt to fit it?  That is a purchased king size bedspread that I have had for years, covered with a wall quilt I made years ago.  The following is the before picture after I started pulling stuff out to sort it and then some more after photos.

I can't wait to spend some of my insomnia time in here reading or the like rather than sitting down stairs at the dining table.

I am currently working on many other projects.  The one pictured above is a raw edge applique project that I finally became brave enough to pull out.  I was gifted the pattern many years ago.  I also completed a panel quilt that is ready for its turn on the long arm- I just have about 5 quilts at that stage.
Currently, I am avoiding running by completing this post.  I have been training hard this week and today's run is just going to have to wait until tomorrow.  Hope to make some progress on some projects before I head out to have a belated Father's Day lunch with my dad.

I did manage to finish this quilt kit for my daughter's birthday back in April.  I think she liked it.  It is a Kaffe pattern and fabrics.

Hope everyone is enjoying their summer of stitching!

art quilt, not much else

So, earlier this week I was inspired to do a small art quilt, based on a dress my daughter wore for her individual recital recently.  I hope to get some time with the quilting and embroidery machine to make some progress on it this week. 

I am very far behind on all my other projects and sew-alongs.  Haven't gotten much stitching in for the last couple of weeks. 

I have gotten a couple of quilts to the stage of needing binding.  The one shown here is my daughter's Disney Villains quilt, backed with Disney story book and poster fabric.  I hope I have some black or lime green to bind it with. 

Here's my quilting buddy searching desperately for a soft place to lay near my feet. 

This is my daughter in her requested role as the Modern Major General in the Pirates of Penzance.  She is a soprano but wanted the role so they let her have it.  The show was awesome and was sold out for all 4 performances. 

Hope everyone has a fabulous week and gets to spend some time doing whatever their heart desires!