April 2019

So much good has happened to our family in 5 years.  I have 3 beautiful, healthy, smart grandchildren, ages almost 6, almost 4, and almost 2.  They live in Dunedin Florida and Denver Colorado, but I have made 2 trips to Florida since December and booked a flight to Denver for this summer for a couple weeks because I am retired!  I retired in June 2016 and we have bought a travel trailer.  Consequently we have spent Christmas 2015 in Virginia with family, 2016 in Florida with the kids, and 2017 in Denver with the kids.  Christine and Don both have real jobs after college, Don is in Virginia, Christine was in Wyoming and North Dakota for 31/2 years, but then in January 2018 came home.  The oil and gas industry paid well, but we missed her and she missed trees and home.  She has her pup and a job with the State of Michigan and lives in Lansing now.  I still miss her, but she is only 50 miles away now.  Yay!!!!  Donnie is living with a great partner, Jeremy, who I love, and they are doing great.  Elizabeth moved to Denver, found Christopher, has our wonderful Miss Ainsley, and though I was hopeful that she was going to be able to move back east soon, Chris started his own (hopefully wildly successful) business so I guess they are there for a while.  And maybe Kate and family can move north a bit sooner than later too (with wildly successful career potential).  My most fervent hope is to have them all north of the Mason Dixon line and east of the Mississippi, maybe someday.  Pat and Terri moved into their own home in west Michigan so I am thrilled to have them so close too.  The only thing bittersweet is that we lost our beloved pup Einstein after 11 years last summer to cancer.  He was a constant, faithful and loving companion to Harold and I after the kids left.  We still have Sherlock, and we love him too, but I don't think anything will ever replace Einie.  I miss him everyday.

But about time in retirement.  I had thought I would have time to do everything.  Rocks, quilts, pottery, beads, woodworking, gardening, travel, silversmithing, weaving, baskets, time with friends/family, volunteering, maybe part time work, everything!  Unfortunately there are still only 24 hours in a day.  First off, I can't travel and go to stuff here.  Second, I need to be home in the evenings a few days a week and weekends to eat dinner with Harold and I'm not giving up any time with the kids.  So I am in 3 sewing groups that meet at different times and focus on different things.  I belong to 2 quilting guilds and sometimes attend a third, one basket guild, a gardening club, a rock club, and a woodworking club that meets a couple times a week.  But I don't do pottery anymore, it was expensive and I wanted to do woodworking.  I am not going to do silversmithing, though I found the place, there just aren't enough hours.  I cut back on baskets, gardening and volunteering.  I am taking fewer beading classes, am not even considering part time work, go to rock club on most Mondays, and don't do any of it when we travel.  I still have a list, but I'm not getting to it nearly as fast as I expected.

I will go slow showing some of my projects over
the last 5 years, LOL.  I did this one a few months ago.  I ordered the pattern from Blueprint after I saw it on the web.  It is made of kaleidoscope blocks, which I had not made before.  It was fascinating to make, went together well and I love the multihued background against the vibrant colors.  It is about 36x48".  It will look fabulous next to the front door during the holiday season.

This next one is called Antelope Canyon and I had to make it after my cousins visited the actual Antelope Canyon on the border of Arizona and Utah.  They are sandstone slot canyons located on the Navajo Reservation and are one of the primary reasons that we didn't go west this winter.  After I saw her photos, I knew that I had to visit Antelope Canyon and I couldn't get there in the winter, consequently we postponed our outwest trip until this fall,  This is show and tell day at my quilt guild.  This quilt is from a pattern by Laurie Shifrin, is 88x88", and is made of Kaffe Fassett fabrics with a Moda navy grunge background.  This quilt will be in the Midland Quilt Show this month.








This last one is Mistletoe and Holly and the pattern is from the book "Where the Cold Wind Blows", by Blackbird Designs.  I've had this book for several years and had been putting off making this quilt because of all those border leaves but needed some hand appliqué to travel with in the winter of 2017-18.   I prepped and took about 3/4 of this, finished everything I had in Florida with 2 weeks left, and had to go find a quilt shop that could sell me more background fabric so I could finish the border appliqué before I got home in February 2018.  I pieced the log cabins during our time home in February and finished the vase in Florida in March.  I started hand quilting in April and finished it in August 2018.  It is 75x75.  I think it really is beautiful.  I  hung it in the family room during the winter this year.  It will be hanging this month in the GS quilt show.