Gratefulness

Everyday is Thanksgiving in my mind.  I am so grateful: for family, for friends, for neighbors, and a home, jobs, and enough resources.  Thanks to everyone who could spend a little time here over the holiday weekend, and for those of you who couldn't get here, we missed you.  I have also found my camera again after 3 weeks of looking for it, so I can start blogging in earnest once again...tomorrow.  My kids and guests have all gotten safely back to their own beds now, so I can go to bed too.   

Autumn in Michigan

It is late fall in Michigan. That means the trees have dropped their leaves, Don's tomatoes have finally frozen, and the cattails are shedding.  These are photos of Tobico Marsh in northern Bay County. I have a landfill site in the area and was out there last week.  The weather was perfect, about 65 degrees and bright sunshine.  There is something about fall that makes the sky bluer than it is at any other time of the year.  I watched the birds for a while, pulled some cattails apart, and admired every variation of brown, tan, rust, taupe, gray, and black that are possible.  I also picked up another case of poison ivy.  And then I went back to work. 

a Quilt for Alzheimers

This is the little quilt that I'm donating to the Alzheimers Art Quilt Initiative.  Fortunately it is a little squarer than it looks here, the quilting almost creates an optical illusion-odd.  It is called Hope in a Whirlwind, the hope is the little wonky house (whose home isn't a little wonky) and the sun and of course, the quilting gives it the whirlwind effect.  I dedicated it to the caregivers of those with alzheimer's.  My quilt is made up of scraps, I think I showed the little houses the other day, and I appliqued the sun into the corner.  It is registered, #5862 ( in case you want to bid on it at http://www.alzquilts.org/) and will be for sale after they sell their 1000 quilts that they are taking to the Houston Quilt Show this week.  Houston is one of the biggest quilt shows in the world and I understand that these little quilts just fly off the hangers, so many people attend the show, intending to purchase a donated quilt.  I hope to be able to see this phenomena some day.   

A Seriously Overloaded To Do List

Okay, okay, even I admit it.  (H's been saying it for a while.) I'm a bit over my head now.  I have a crazy quilt in progress, with another class scheduled in mid Nov.  I have a hand quilting project in progress with another class scheduled in early Nov.  I have another crazy quilting class scheduled at a different shop in late Nov.  I am hand appliqueing the border for the dresden plate quilt.  I have to clean out the flower beds.  I finished a 100x100" quilt top last week.  I went to weaving tonight and put more yarn on the loom for the baby blanket.  I am hand appliqueing the CWBQ blocks.  I am making wonky house blocks in my "spare" time.  I am the new newsletter editor for the quilt guild.  I go to the gardening meeting, art guild, basket guild, and quilt guild every month and weaving every week.  I have the basket quilt started.  It's much better than twiddling my thumbs, but I really NEED to wash windows.  I have to go to work every day and I am making time to feed the cat (yes Chrissy, Putts is getting fed AND I cleaned the litter box tonight) and the fish, but otherwise I'm cooking and ...well, you know, doing stuff.  I hate being bored.  Pics next time.   

This and That

These are the last of the zinnias for the year.  They have been beautiful, in fact so beautiful that I really almost didn't care that they completely outgrew the snaps and I haven't seen a snapdragon since June.  The lesson is to put the zinnias behind the snaps, not in with the snaps...  I tried to dry them and they rotted so I'm not putting zinnias on a wreath for the front door, but they have been very prolific all summer.  I have probably picked 30 or more bouquets in the last 4 months.  I have given them to friends, neighbors, co-workers, the kids, and had them in the kitchen all summer. 

I am quilting, I am weaving, and we are going north this weekend to take Chrissy to dinner for her birthday.  This little house project is something that I did tonight because the big project is going hmmm...okay, but it's not exactly what I wanted, though it looks great, because I am finally getting better at piecing...pinning is the not so secret, secret and because it takes longer, I was reluctant, but it works, so now I'm a convert...however the big project is a secret so I'm not sharing yet.  The little houses are just for fun.  I think I'm going to make a village, maybe with trees and a dog or two.  The weaving is going pretty well, but I'm not going to be happy that I am putting all this work into acrylic yarn.  I decided to weave a baby blanket.  Now you would be asking yourself, why would she do that?  No idea, but the acrylic has been purchased, because it doesn't shrink and it washes well.... and the loom is almost warped so in a couple weeks, I'll have a baby blanket with huck lace blocks interwoven with plain weave.  It should look very cool, but I really have no idea what I'm going to do with it.  This weekend, H, the dogs, and I are leaving Friday morning to go up north for a couple days.  I am using Chrissy as a way to get away from the house and not think about having to wash the windows.  I hate dirty windows, I also hate washing windows, but I really hate laying in bed on a Sat morning thinking about washing windows, so it's on the list soon.      

Yeah MSU!!!

For the third year in a row...MSU beat UM at football today!  Yes, I know H, and C, and P aren't happy with the outcome, but I think it's pretty stunning.  And D said that things were exciting in EL this afternoon.  Yeah State!!!  On to BB, we will almost assuredly celebrate twice this year.    

Alzheimer's and Dust if You Must

I volunteered today for the Alzheimer's Art Quilt Initiative, a group started by Ami Sims, to raise money for Alzheimer's research.  She has her big fund-raiser at the Houston Quilt Show, this year in early November, and she wants to take 1000 art quilts with her.  She also has the exhibit that is at the Shelburne Museum in Vermont.  It turns out that Ami only lives a couple miles away and needed help cataloging the quilts bound for Houston.  A couple members of my quilt guild and I spent part of the day there.  I also got to see, up close and really in person, the art quilts that were done by famous quilters to support the cause, the World Series Quilt Challenge.  There is a reason that these people are famous and published and prize-winning.  Their quilts were stunning.  No photos could do them justice.  Check them out at  http://www.alzquilts.org/.  On the other hand, most of the quilts that I handled today were from just people, quilters like me, but people with stories to tell, about folks thay have loved and lost to Alzheimer's disease.  Each of the little quilts has a dedication and many, many were to their moms who didn't know them, or how to cook, or sew, or garden, or drive anymore.  My family has been so fortunate, but today I thought of grandma's friends, and Aunt Irene, Sophie, and Grandma Jerry, and all those who cared for them.     

And since life seems so short...I love this poem...sorry I don't know the author, I think it's from England.


Dust if you must, but wouldn't it be better,
to paint a picture or write a letter,
bake a cake or plant a seed,
ponder the difference between want and need?

Dust if you must, but there's not much time,
with rivers to swim and mountains to climb,
music to hear and books to read, friends to
cherish and life to lead.

Dust if you must, but the world's out there
With the sun in your eyes, the wind in your hair,
A flutter of snow, a shower of rain.
This day will not come around again.

Dust if you must, but bear in mind,
old age will come and it's not kind.
And when you go - and go you must -
You, yourself, will make more dust!

Grandma always said that if she had her druther's, and of course, none of us do, she wanted to go with a stroke of lightning.  Me too.