baby quilt gifted

Isn't that the greatest quilt picture, ever ?!?!?!
I didn't get a picture of the quilt I made
with the new baby when I gifted it, 
so I requested a picture from the new parents, 
and THAT ^^ is the picture I received!
I just adore it!
A much better picture than the ones that I took. :)
The pictures I took pale by comparison - 
Front:

Back:

This quilt is the one that I pieced together last month at retreat.
I used my favorite block layout
of the X block and 16-patch block,
(aka: Good Night Irene).
I had about 50 different prints of fabric,
cut at 2.5 inches wide.
Makes it nice and scrappy, I think - a good 'Eye Spy' !
But since it's all strip-pieced, it really goes together
much quicker than it looks like it would.
And, yes, I did stitch in her name and mine in the quilting:

 Another good finish,
and great memories made! 

Decoration Day

Here in the U.S. today, the last Monday of May, 
we celebrate what is now known as Memorial Day.
First known as Decoration Day after the 
American Civil War in 1868, 
when the organization of Union veterans of the 
Grand Army of the Republic
established it as a time for the nation 
to decorate the graves of the war dead with flowers.

After that century,
competing Union and Confederate holiday traditions
celebrated on different days, but merged, 
with Memorial Day eventually extended 
to honor all Americans who died while in the military service. 
 

Thank you to all who have sacrificed their life for this great country in which we live.



I hope everyone has a safe and wonderfully relaxing day spent doing something you enjoy with those you love.

family reunion time & quilts

It's been a great holiday weekend so far, 
as I hosted the annual paternal family reunion today (Sunday).
It is so great to see the extended family!
The weather wasn't the best today
as another couple inches of rain arrived (after midnight and continued until 2ish).
But the good thing about the rain?
It washed the nasty ragweed pollen out of the air,
making it so much easier to breathe!

There were sun rain canopies set up everywhere out the back door...
on the decks, the stone patio and in the back yard.
Food was delicious and bountiful -
this is the family that cooks like they are Amish,
OR like it is a competition
to see how much you can make to bring share,
so there was plenty of eating.
Also, visiting, laughing, story-telling, 

Jumbo Jenga after the rain left.

games,
and talking QUILTS.








 Five generations were here...
ranging in age from the newest little gal at 8 weeks old,
to a great-aunt who is 87 years old (and is a quilter!).

Moore family reunion 2014

I gave one of my new little nieces her birth quilt that I made for her.
The great-aunt/quilter always checks on my latest quilt, 
and had me get out
my Lucy Boston quilt-in-process to look it over,
and we talked fabrics, preferences of hand-piecing threads and needles.

And from all the reminiscing today,
Great-Aunt Mary and I 

decided that families and quilts are very similar...

there are so many threads that tie us together...

threads of memories, 

of love,

of tears,

and of laughter 

within each family 

and sewn into every quilt.

For all the folks here in the U.S., 
I wish you a pleasant Labor Day Monday,
I hope you have some family time,
and also, get a little stitching time in!

Debra
In memory of Uncle Angelo, Uncle Ron, and Uncle Dick -
who each made me laugh.

change of plans or mind or 2+29

After a couple of folks/family members
gave me the strangest looks,
and I had a phone call (or three)
about things I was supposed to be doing
(or already have done),
I finally figured it out...

THIS weekend

is the three day holiday weekend of Memorial Day...

NOT the following weekend!

In my mind, I still have one more week before the end of the month.
Wait - there is one more week before the end of the month!

Memorial Day-

our day of commemoration

for the men & women who died while in military service -

is celebrated on

here's the rub -  the last Monday of the month -
NOT the last weekend of the month of May.

Which I knew - really I did... I just hadn't put two and two 29 together to know that the last Monday is the 26th, NOT the 31st!

So after I got that changed around in my mind,
I decided to get myself in gear and do what I thought I still had another week to do - I finished a couple more customer quilts early this week -
Fun, Fun, Fun!!

The first is Janet's great work -
all scarlet and gray and Ohio-State-Buckeye-ish:

(I folded over the backing on the far left
so you could see how gorgeous it is, too.)

Here's a close-up of the fabrics:

Aren't they great fabrics?!

She made it for a gift for later this year - lucky recipient!

This second quilt is Peg's:

(Yes, this photo makes the quilt look a little wonky -
sorry!, but it really was perfectly squared.)

 

She made it for her Tar Heel son, who is an avid golfer

(She's planning on gifting it this weekend while she's there visiting...for Memorial Day).
Cute, isn't it?

I have one more quilt on the machine this week -
hopefully ready for pickup this Saturday
(now that I've figured out which weekend is which),
then a nice,
supposed-to-be-sunshine-y,
long, holiday weekend with the grandkids!

rhubarb memories

Rhubarb -
you either love it or hate it.

Me? I love rhubarb!
And, growing up a farm-girl,
rhubarb season brings back memories...
One of the best rhubarb memories I have
is going out after school
and pulling a fresh stalk of rhubarb:

My siblings and I,

each armed with our own pocket-knife

and little paper-tooth-brush-cup

(you know the little cups that I'm talking about)

a quarter filled with sugar,

would head out to "the patch"

to choose our own rhubarb stalk snack.

With a quick yank, we'd pluck the stalk from the clump

then flip out our pocketknife blade,

and whack off the rhubarb base and huge leaf.

After wiping the knife blades onto our jean shorts

 and stowing our knives back into our pockets,

we'd sit in the garden and devour our fresh treat,

dipping the freshly picked rhubarb stalk into our allotment of sugar. 

I loved the tartness and crisp, crunchy bite, lightly sugared.

I think my brothers probably ate the sugar more than the rhubarb,

just using the rhubarb stalk as an implement

to get the sugar to their mouth. :)

The only way the day could have been better was if it was Spring-raining...

we could use the huge rhubarb leaf we'd just cut off -

umbrella-like, on our heads like a cap!

 

Since it's the height of rhubarb season here in Ohio,
I used some of my first rhubarb "picking" and early strawberries

and made me and Sweetie a pie (crumb-topped, not two crusted).
And I know it's a going to be a great one, as it ran over in the oven!!

I think I'll have the grand kids over
and take them out to the rhubarb patch, too -
introduce them to the little paper-tooth-brush-cup of sugar.
Tart, but sweet memories.

Bird & pear pinkeep (giveaway)

Time has just flown by....
not bird/flying, but clock hands spinning rapidly...

One year ago today, I tried something new.
New to me:  one blog.
The blog where I have shared my thoughts and ramblings.
Shared about my Great-Grandma B
and the promise I made to her a long time ago about learning something new every year,
about friends and family,
about things that make me smile,
things that make me think,
things that make me go "Huh?"
About quilting and hand embroidery, and pattern making.
About recipes and friends and family and love and sadness.


I know that there have been earth-shattering catastrophes and destruction.
There are still wars being fought, and diseases not conquered.
I, personally this year, have lost family members that will only live on in my memories and written word.
But, it has been a great year, in my opinion.
Another year to learn and laugh and pray and live!


Another thing that I learned this year, besides blogging,
it that the world is a very small place.
The "7th degree of Kevin Bacon" kind of small.
I have met in person and in cyberspace sooooo many truly wonderful people.
People that are not so different than myself. 
We all know someone that knows someone that is our neighbor, friend, colleague.

That is what this post is about:
One year of blogging!
Of meeting folks from across this nation, from around the world.
Wonderful people that like to quilt, or stitch, or cook, or laugh, or write.
Folks that I have so much in common with.

To thank everyone

for stopping by and reading and commenting

on this new thing for me this year- this blog,

I would like to have a

blogiversary give-away.

Leave a comment

(by Saturday, Aug. 7th, midnight e.s.t.)

about your favorite memory of this year.

I will randomly draw a comment on Sunday, August 8th.

The winner will receive this

pin keep of my own design...

Bird with an emery Pear on a candlestick pin keep...

(gotta think of a  better name!)

He could be flying to your home soon!

Good luck, and thanks for visiting!

the sound of a train

Sometimes late at night, I can hear the sound of a train... The track is probably at least eight miles away.  So the wind must be just right, and the clouds just right, and the wind blowing in just the right direction, (and my ears not clogged), perfect conditions for sound to travel.  I love hearing unusual noises and figuring out what they are and where they are coming from.  I love to have the sounds take me back to old memories...

My son works near downtown metropolis - lots of sound traveling there.
His first sound that was just a little out of place:  a train had stopped somewhere close...

This is part of the train cars that had stopped:

The Greatest Show on Earth...
The circus is in town!

Something was going on in the street in front of his office...

There were police cars and unfamiliar noises...


Here is what was contributing to his unfamiliar noises:

I hope this memory for him is like mine - you hear the sound of the train, and it makes you smile.