Sister Wife

The Back Story:  

Many years ago, in a land far far away.... (37 years ago in Portland, Oregon.)  Lived a single mom with two small children.  
The children, a boy and a girl, were dark haired, dark eyed cuties.

Also in this place, at this time was an Italian couple with four children....also dark haired, dark eyed cuties.

These two families would often take fun excursions together...to the park, the airshow, hiking...
six children who looked enough alike to be siblings, the two moms and the one dad (with the patience of Job.) 
As you might imagine, we got more than a few second glances over the years.

 

To this day Marcia Rigamonti and I call each other "Sister Wife." 

Fast forward almost 40 years and Marcia's oldest grandson is off to university.  Marcia decided to make him a quilt to take with him.  A Warm Hug every night from his Nonna.  

Marica has never quilted before.  Don't get me wrong, she is a very talented lady,
i.e., she crochets, she is building a Victorian doll house.  She cooks and bakes, has fun tea parties with her daughters and granddaughters. And is a loving, Godly wife, mom and Nonna.* Which isn't that easy in these difficult days.

Here is Marcia's crocheted dresser scarf.  (I tried to crochet once.  I was going to make slippers for my new, first grandson....he's 17 now and the slippers are still not finished.)

 

 

 

Back to the quilt.  Marcia chose
Storm At Sea as her first quilt project. 
 

I've made this quilt...for my son's birthday in 2021.  It's not the easiest pattern.  I thought it was an ambitious choice, to say the least.

BUT, not only did she complete it before Jackson's send-off, but I think you'll agree,  she did a FANTASTIC job!!

Miss Marcia and grandson, Jackson

A great big KUDOS to my Sister Wife and to welcome her into the quilter's club, here is a banner to hang in her studio.

 She Believed she could and by-cracky, she sure-enough did!!!

*I know many talented ladies, here is one post featuring a few of them from 2017.  HERE

On A Roll

Priming the pump seems to be working....I'm sewing again and even enjoying the process!  There's nothing like experiencing a finished project to get a quilter all excited.   (Granted, it was an easy project...but still...it counts....)

There is a story to tell about this wall hanging, but not today.

 

 

 

Completion number 2:  The small quilt guild I joined, The Material Girls, meet the Second Tuesday of each month.

These pillow cases (started a couple months back) are for their annual Pillow Case Donation for a local charity. 
All finished, pressed and ready for Tuesday night.

I used Jenny Doan's method for sewing pillow cases.... burrito style.  HERE

 Next Up....the Molly Memorial.  Miss Molly passed last month HERE

I purchased this little pattern at the Paducah Quilt show back in April, preparing for the inevitable.

It comes with everything you need, but the face will need to be changed as Molly had a lot of white on her face and longer ears.

 

Check out Whimes website...lots of pretty patterns and kits.

And so...October is off to a good start.

Prime the Pump

The Covid symptoms are finally going away (with only my crackly ears left to deal with...Dr. appt. this week.) 
FINALLY it feels like I still have enough energy at the end of the day to actually DO something, besides wait out the clock to 8:00 pm and go to bed.

About a year ago, I introduced you-all to Cheryl Sleboda and Muppin's Sewing Emporium.  HERE

 

She has a live podcast every Friday Night.  You can catch her live on Facebook or watch the play back on YouTube. 
Cheryl talks about all things sewing...very fun to watch.
(And if for no other reason, tune in to see what color her hair is this week...)

 

 

This past Friday I tuned into her show and she introduced the cutest panel!  WITH corresponding fabrics to compliment!

 I must say this was just what I needed to get inspired to fire up the 'ol Janome!  I rushed right down to the shop Saturday morning and bought the panel and the corresponding Fat Quarter Bundle. 

Throw in a nice long chat with Cheryl... solving all the world's problems, it was just what the doctor ordered!

I've already started on one of the sections to create a wall hanging for my Sister Wife as a Christmas surprise.
(I'll tell her story later.)

In anticipation of getting back in the saddle, The Studio got a good dusting and all my tools organized.
It feels good to actually accomplish something...it's been a while. 

There is a saying that if you get one area of your life in order, everything else follows. I believe there is some truth to that.  Pretty soon this will be my motto...(part of the panel.)

P.S.  You can purchase from Muppin's Sewing Emporium online:  HERE

 AND, order her hand-sewing needles....they are Wonderful!!

Happy Sewing, everyone!

Welcome Home

 

 

Well...almost....Next stop was Lincoln, NE for a software conference....
THEN it's homeward bound!

It felt like I'd been gone a year and I was so ready to say "hello...again...hello..." to my Sweet Kentucky Duplex.

The last 5 weeks were full of once-in-a-lifetime happenings !

A Hurricane.

An Earthquake (albeit, a small one that no one noticed because they were consumed with Hurricane Hilary.)

Then COVID!  (Two weeks of feeling ugly!!!)

Then a high school football stadium lock down because of a fight in the parking lot! HERE
(Poly still won.) 

I'm just sayin' this was one memorable trip!

But, time marches on and everyone knows things will eventually get better....and so they did.  As soon as I tested negative, I was out-and-about!

Had a quick trip to one of my favorite Southern California shops.  This shop never ceases to inspire.

 

And Finally I was able to attend The Babes' football games. 
Even this was not without its drama (see above) but love to watch them play!

Every trip has its end and all-to-soon it was time to leave. 
Even though I'm ready to be home and have my morning coffee on my own patio, it was still sad to say Good-bye..
Good-bye to my Babes...they are growing up so fast....And,

 

 

 

 

Good-bye to my little chicken.

Until next time....

Free To Choose

 Barbara Mandrell had a hit "I Was Country When Country Wasn't Cool."  HERE

* Free to choose what gets included on the UFO Challenge list....and in what order....and what gets moved around,
or bumped off the list entirely.

 

 

 

Yesterday I received the sad news that Miss Molly had crossed over the Rainbow Bridge**.  Miss Molly was my sister's dog and my dad's best friend (except for Malcolm, of course.)

Miss Molly's crossing was not totally unexpected as she was 16 years old and had some old-doggie health problems.

Still, we're never quite ready for the inevitable when we have to say good-bye to our furry companions.

 

One more piece of information to add to the back story:  My sister and her D.H. have four children...all of whom are married and have kids of their own, and all of whom live in various states other than where the old folks live.  

They have solved the age-old dilemma of where to spend the holidays....His family or Her family???
They do Every-Other-Year.  Each year all the kids travel to Mom & Dad's on either Thanksgiving or Christmas. The next year they switch holidays.  This year (2023) they will all be here for Christmas. (I say here because I now live in the same town as my sister and so I get included in the holidays...if I'm not traveling, which this year I don't anticipate traveling at Christmas.)

Now with all that information you understand why I need to make a change to my UFO Challenge list to include a wall hanging of Miss Molly...to be presented to my sister on Christmas. (I'll have the tissue box at the ready.)

This is not totally out of the blue, I have been pondering the idea of a Molly memorial for a long time. After googling "black dog wall hanging" to my surprise a lot of helpful patterns and information popped up.
Very inspirational...I can hardly wait to get back home to get started. (Two more weeks.)

 Good Bye, Miss Molly. You were a good companion. 
I hope to see you again, some day.***

**If you've ever wondered where "...Crossed over the Rainbow Bridge..." came from...
It's a poem.

*** Speaking of heaven, ever wondered about heaven? Is it real? What happens there?  Will you go there?  Randy Alcorn wrote a wonderful book Heaven that is available on Amazon.  The author does believe we will see our pets in Heaven.

Man Plans -- God Laughs

Proverbs 16:9 We can make our plans, but the Lord determines our steps. (NLT)

No one leaves home for an entire month without thinking they are going to have all kinds of fun! 
Especially when you're visiting The Grands...right?

This has definitely been one trip "for the books."  Really, nothing has gone off as planned.

There are still 10 days here in Calif. and even though the kids are back in school, I think there are still a few fun things we could work in before I fly away to Lincoln, NE.

 

P.S.  I am starting to feel better....no longer going through a box-of-tissues-a-day...that's progress.

It's Half Time!

 

 

 

   It's been two weeks since I arrived in California to visit with  The Babes,
   with still two more weeks to go!

    And, what have we been doing?

 

 Celebrating Birthdays

Sitting out Hurricane Hilary at at Water Park Hotel
(instead of a trip out to the desert as originally planned.)

Still Sunday was wet and spent mostly indoors...you'd have thought we were in Oregon!

 

 

(Who is missing from most of these pictures???  CASH!  Now at 17 he is off doing almost-grown-up stuff,
i.e., traveling to Hawaii and Oregon with his football team and taking driving lessons, etc. )

 

 

 I have a long list of people to visit in the next two weeks
and still more fun to come with The Babes! 
My time-with-the-babes tank should be full by my departure date....is that even possible???