Grieving With Gratitude

I am so excited that I can share my secret sewing project.  I started working on this quilt just a few weeks after Don passed.  It was a simple, easy peasy quilt.  Most of the fabrics were in my stash.  It really was therapeutic sewing.  Not too much thinking and lots of blocks.  My mind was focused on just sewing.

I was inspired by a photo that was posted on on the website www.quiltylove.com .It was a remake of a traditional block done in a modern style.  Emily was kind enough to share the link to the original designers blog that had a free tutorial.  Thank you Sew Inspired.  You can find the directions HERE.

This quilt is a housewarming gift for my son and his wife.  They have had chickens for a while, generously sharing the eggs.  They moved to a larger house with enough land to increase their livestock community.  The chickens and ducks adapted well to their new home. I'm looking forward to the new residents.

 I gave it to them this weekend, so I can finally share it. My DIL loves orange and their new grey couch is the perfect setting. I made too many blocks and thought a pillow would be perfect.

I searched high and low for that orange jumbo rick rack, and was so delighted when I finally found it.

Of course, Bailey had to get in on the action.

And then we had to see if the chickens liked it.

Thanks to a visit from Helen Ernst, a genius with a longarm, I was able to quilt it with my lonely and seldom used Gammill.

Quilting IS the best therapy.

Grieving With Gratitude

On March 21st, I was reminded of my love of quilters, quilt guilds and why I love what I do.  I drove to Fairfax, VA early in the morning, in the dark and pouring rain to the Fairfax chapter of Quilters Unlimited.  It took me a little more than 3 hours, but that;s how I deal with Washington DC traffic and not having to be apart from Bailey any longer than I have to.  How can I leave this adorable face?

My talk was titled "Turn Travel Into Treasures" and the focus of it is how travel has inspired lots of my quilts.  Some of them are representational and others use a design element.  Some of them are full size quilts and others are small framed ones.  Some are made from cotton and others from silk and many combinations inbetween.  It brought me such joy to share my warm memories of travels with Don.  And I was proud of myself because I didn't cry once and didn't even tear up!  I loved how they displayed my quilts in the choir section of the church after I talked about them.  The members were

able to take a closer look at the  end of the meeting.  I was really happy to be on the road again and for those that are interested I have started to book new guild visit.  So, if you think your guild would be interested, contact me.

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I have been working on a couple of secret sewing projects that I will be able to share soon.  Mindless sewing is still a very  happy place for me.

I think I have talked about fear before, but it is still present.  I find it amazing that even though on the surface I appeared fiercely independent, it's because my husband was at home empowering me, smoothing out my travel plans, packaging my patterns and kits, running my shipping department, always knowing the best way to ship anything anywhere in the world.  So I have been taking little steps to gain an independent sensibility, just like when i painted the fireplace. After owning a longarm for 2 years and only quilting 2 quilts, I signed up for a longarm class at the AQS Lancaster quilt show by myself.  It felt good to learn a new skill in Rulers for Rookies with Lisa Calle.

The room was filled with Longarms and each one was shared by 2 people.  We each worked on a printed panel.

I definitely enjoyed using the rulers and Lisa was a great teacher. 

Thank you for travelling on this journey with me.  I hope I have helped some of you, because writing about and identifying my feelings have certainly helped me.

Look for my April newsletter soon.  I am so thrilled that someone new will be taking over the recipe column and I'm still working on naming my newest Mini Mosaic pattern.   There will be a naming poll/contest with the winner receiving a free kit.

Grieving With Gratitude

This is the end of the road for the "TEXT IT!" blog hop.

Sherri Noel has included such fun projects. The other bloggers made such  wonderful interpretations.  I chose to make the sewing machine pad. Below is the photo from the book.

It was perfect for this adorable new fabric that I had just bought at Stitch Central..

I had to widen the sewing pad a little to fit the panel, but it came out so cute.  

It's the most adorable fabric.   It's also available with cats. I just love the flower bouquets in their hair.

Do you want some of this fabric and live too far away from Stitch Central in PA, you can call them or  here's the selvage if you want to search on line.

So what would a blog hop be without a giveaway? Leave a comment sharing whether you prefer adding words to your quilts using applique or piecing it?  If you haven't done it yet, this book will be a real inspiration for you, so tell me which one you'll use first.  The winner will receive the book, TEXT IT! from Martingale and 2 spools of thread from Aurifil.  The final day to enter is Sunday 3/17.  I'll pick a winner at midnight.

For the wrap up of the hop, head to Sherri Noel's blog tomorrow for the final giveaway.

I'll spare you from talking about my grief journey in this post.  Let's just work on winning this giveaway!

Grieving with Gratitude

I'm participating in a blog hop for a book called TEXT IT! by Sherri Noel.

I really love words and fonts and letters and have over the years come up with many ways to include them on my quilts, so I was excited when someone wrote a book sharing lots of quilts with words.

My project is the sewing machine mat.  As a sneak peek, Sherri made this pin for me to share.

I'll share my project on the blog hop on Friday March 15th, along with 2 other bloggers. Until then there are bloggers sharing their projects.  The hop has already started and every day each blogger will be giving away a copy of the book and 2 spools of Aurifil thread.  So make sure that you visit the other bloggers to win a copy of the book.  I'll share my project on Friday. Here's the remainder of the hop.

MONDAY MARCH 11 - COUNTING SHEEP

DEANNE EISENMAN - WWW.SNUGGLESQUILTS.COM

RAEWYN BARGE - WWW.STITCHINGFARMGIRL.BLOGSPOT.COM

SUSAN PELLAND - WWW.SUEPELLANDDESIGNS.COM

TUESDAY MARCH 12 - HOME PILLOW

JOANNE HARRIS - WWW.QUILTSBYJOANNE.BLOGSPOT.CA

PATTY DUDEK - WWW.ELMSTREETQUILTS.COM

ANDY KNOWLTON - WWW.ABRIGHTCORNER.COM

SANDRA STARLEY - WWW.UTAHQUILTAPPRAISER.BLOGSPOT.COM

CINDY PIETERS - WWW.STITCHINATHOME.COM

WEDNESDAY MARCH 13 - LIFE IS SHORT

BECCA FENSTERMAKER - WWW.PRETTYPINEY.COM

KATIE BOCK - WWW.SEWINGWITHKATIE.BLOGSPOT.COM

ALLA BLANCA - WWW.RAINBOWSBUNNIESCUPCAKES.BLOGSPOT.COM

THURSDAY MARCH 14 - HUSTLE PILLOW

TERRI BANDEN BOSCH - WWW.MEANDERINGSALONGLIZARDCREEK.BLOGSPOT.COM

WILLOW OLSON - WWW.BEARPAWDESIGNBLOG.WORDPRESS.COM

ERIN SAMPSON - http://auribuzz.wordpress.com/

FRIDAY MARCH 15 - SEWING MAT

LAUREN WRIGHT - WWW.MOLLYANDMAMA.COM.AU

SANDRA HEALY     - WWW.SANDRAHEALYDESIGNS.COM

CHERYL KRISEL LYNCH - http://www.cheryllynchquilts.blogspot.com/

SATURDAY MARCH 16 – WRAP UP 

SHERRI NOEL - WWW.REBECCAMAEDESIGNS.COM 

If you are new to my blog and wonder what my quilting specialty is, I love to invent tools and techniques and share them with other quilters.

Curvalicious was the first tool and using fusible applique, you can make curved looking quilts easily.

Check it out at www.Curvalicious.net.

Recently, I designed these adorable Mini Mosaic quilts that are so much fun to make whether you're 8 or 80.  You can see lots of them in my ETSY shop.

And you can see lots of my quilts and my travel schedule on my website

Last week, I was able to put a name to some feelings I was having. 

FEAR

I haven't heard anyone talk about this in the grieving process. 

As a recent widow, I realized I didn't have a safety net.  I'm impetuous and I leap into new situations.  But, I always had someone to catch me, to fix it and to get me out of jams.  I don't like being afraid and find it leads to tears - lots of tears.  I decided to try and empower myself and decided to paint my fireplace brick.  I have wanted to do it for 3 years, to brighten my family room.  Don was the painter.  He agreed to do it, but never had enough energy.   About a year ago, my DIL volunteered to do it, but I was worried the smell would bother his sensitive respiratory system. 

So I watched some YouTube videos, screwed up my courage and then headed to the local paint store. 

It took me 3 days to do what might take someone else a day, but I was so happy with the results.

I'm not ready to paint a room, but maybe one day! 

Grieving with Gratitude

The problem with social media is everyone puts on their best face.  Their life is wonderful and perfect.  Their children are perfect.  They are married to the love of their life.  Their house is always ready for a photo op. It really gives us all such unrealistic expectations.  

I always have believed in being truthful and I don't want you to think I am breezing though this grief thing.. I am currently having a huge meltdown. The sadness has crept into my whole being and it’s hard to shake it. I feel like I am going to be sad forever. The same thoughts keep cycling  through my head. It comes after feeling guilty that I was coping with momentary set backs and wasn’t sad enough. This is truly a rollercoaster ride of emotions. I miss him. He lifted me up.  He empowered me as a designer.  He reminded me over and over again how talented I was, because I always doubt myself.  Our relationship wasn't perfect, but his encouragement helped me get to here.   I keep thinking about finding that “something” that will spark joy. Right now I can't think of a thing.

It’s early morning. I’m sitting in his recliner. Bailey is asleep on my lap. Henry is asleep upstairs. I’ll search for a project to do today. I hope I can find a distraction and try to continue to put one foot in front of the other or is it 2 steps forward and one step back?  I think I need to go make something.

At the beginning of the week, I worked on my project for a blog hop for this new book: Text It! by Sherri Noel, who blogs as rebeccamaedesigns. 

The project I chose was perfect for the dog panel fabric that I bought at Stitch Central a few weeks ago. You'll have to wait for the blog tour.  I'm at the end! I'll keep you posted. I do have another idea for it. I'm just crazy about it.

Grieving with Gratitude

I bought the pattern "Dogs with Sweaters" a couple of years ago.  I bought it to make a gift for a friend in Key West.  Dachshunds are very popular there and this friend owns 2! On New Year's Eve day, there's a parade down Duval St of dachshunds and their owners.  Some are dressed in costumes and some are au naturelle.  They invite all dogs to be an honorary dachshund for the day.

It starts at noon  and it's a short parade due to the shortness of their legs (LOL)!

I was so surprised to see so many doxies with such different looks.

After being spectators for a couple of years, Bailey became an honorary one and we marched in the parade, in a very appropriate costume.

If you want t read more, I wrote an entire blog post about it HERE.

The original pattern by Elizabeth Hartman is named Dogs in Sweaters. 

Since I was making it for a resident of Key West, I dressed the dog in a tropical shirt. The dilemma was the direction of the print.  Logical vs eye pleasing?

I chose eye pleasing.

With glasses or without?

 And of course Bailey had to get in on the action.  I call this photo "Dog on Dog".

I'm heading down to Key West in April and I  can't wait to gift it.

I should be in Key West now, but couldn't bear to go alone.  We actually made the difficult decision to release our rental hold on our place back in October, because the trip would have been too difficult and we didn't want to be so far from Don's doctors, and what if he worsened while we there? It certainly turned out to be the right decision. 
This April trip was planned for a while. Don wanted me to go, because he couldn't fly. We had major work done to our place.  We had never seen it, so the plan was for me to go down in April, when it wasn't rented, to check it out.  Back then, I invited my DIL to come with me.  Now I'm so relieved that she is coming with Henry and my son, because I am so afraid to go.  All the wonderful memories from sitting on our porch to courtyard dinners to all the restaurants and art classes, riding my bike and the sunshine.  It was a special way to spend the Winter.  I am so grateful.

Grieving with Gratitude

Mini projects have worked out the best for be.  Small, quick to finish and without much planning.

My DIL's mother is undergoing chemo for breast cancer.  I wanted to make her something to let her know I was thinking of her and rooting for her wellness. A wonderful friend of mine (Thank you Jeanette) suggested I make these small pillows to protect the sensitive area by the port when wearing a seat belt.  

I found a few places with sketchy directions.  There were even some for sale on Etsy.  I thought I would share my easy peasy way of Chemo Port Pillows.   

I liked using fun and cheerful fabrics.  Who wouldn't smile every time they buckled up seeing some colorful flamingos.  You don't need much.

2 rectangles:  3   1/2" x  6   1/2"  

and

3" of  1/2" sew-in Velcro

Pin the Velcro in place, overlapping the edges, making sure only one side is in the seam allowance.

Place the fabric right sides together.  Stitch around with a 1/4" seam allowance leaving a 2" opening at one of the short ends.

Trim the corners and turn right side out.

Turn under the 1/4" seam allowance by the opening and press.

Stuff and stitch the opening closed.  

The velcro belts wrap around to keep them in place on the seat belt.

I made a bunch.  I thought she could use them for different cars or different outfits or share with other chemo patients.

I am also working on a quilt using someone else's pattern.  It's also easy peasy, but it's secret sewing.  I'm hoping to finish it soon.

I try to keep busy when I'm not in my studio.  Packaging orders from my Etsy shop really keeps my mind occupied.  I've learned so much about the best way to ship and how to label. I so appreciate my loyal and new customers.  You just don't know how much it means. Thank you.

I've heard from many friends from the past expressing their condolences.  I hooked up with my bicycling friends from years ago.  Did I want to go on a hike at Linvilla Orchards for Pie Day? Last day of the sale! I brought my little friend and had a wonderful time just not talking and just thinking about walking up and down the hills without tripping over roots and rocks.  Bailey was the star!

I was planning on buying the Dutch apple pie, but was lured away by the pineapple upside down pie that was one of the most delicious pies I have ever eaten.

I just never know when sadness will overtake me.  Sometimes the memories are hard.  The other day I was sitting in the parking lot outside of our Supermarket, crying my heart out,  remembering the last time Don went supermarket shopping. I can't even remember how long ago it was.  I received a phone call after he was gone about an hour. It was him. “ Could you please come get me?” He was sitting by one of the front doors. He didn’t have the energy to walk any more. It was the last time doing something he loved to do. He so enjoyed shopping and cooking.  I then became his shopper with his detailed lists.  I didn’t mind at all. I knew how hard it was for him to ask for my help and lose his independence. He’d give me coupons and codes. Sometimes I spent a good amount of time walking up and down the aisles looking for that special new product that neither of us would eat!