Bridal Shower

(This post was first published August 30, 2006.)

Yesterday was my birthday, and I felt melancholy here and there throughout the day. It was my first since Mom passed away. Every birthday after I left home, Mother and Daddy would call me early in the morning and sing to me--most often the first greeting of the day.Today would have been my Mom and Dad's 65th wedding anniversary. I always felt special, being their "14th anniversary present.

"Mother had a "bride's book," which in no way resembles what we now call a "Wedding Album." Or even what my daughter and daughter-in-law had as a "wedding planner." Two-inch binders with places for cards, ribbons, and other mementos. Mother's was the size of one of those black "composition books," only about a quarter as thick, probably thirty pages or so. It is wonderful because it is handwritten by her--her own memories of her wedding.

She had a wedding shower. I notice that now we have several of them: kitchen, linen, personal, couples...she had *one*. She made quite a haul, mostly with linens. Several sets of "luncheon cloth and napkins"--those fabulous 1940's sets that we snatch up at antique stores. "Embroidered tea towels." "Embroidered pillowslips." Don't I wish I had them now? But, naturally, they were given and received in order to be used, and used UP. (I do have one of a pair of guest towels that she embroidered in the first year of her marriage--so threadbare, but it still says GUEST, with a garland of flowers all around.)

When we buy these vintage linens, we always think about the women who made them and used them. We'd love to feel the connection to another time. Women just like my mother, whose entry under "Our First Home," tells of how, after their wedding night, they just wanted to come home, so they "brought groceries home, and [she] fixed her first meal," the second night of their marriage.So much lay ahead for them--they were married months before Pearl Harbor. They were destined to raise only five of their thirteen children to adulthood. Two cancers. The everyday ups and downs plus the "added dose" of sorrow for their lives, could not be seen when she filled out her "bride's book."

We all share that, in this Sisterhood of women. So many hopes and dreams as we open those wedding shower gifts. Life moves along, humdrum or tragic, year by year. I am so grateful to our Lord that He gave my parents 64 years. A marriage in which their love grew more deeply as every anniversary rolled around. I had a model of How to Do Marriage Well that enabled me to choose a husband wisely, and to be an example for me, for 30 years so far, and is now the model for my children to follow. That is the inheritance I have from them. I would have loved to have the linens from that long-ago bridal shower, but I have the better gift in the example of their LIVES. That gift will never be "used up."

What a Week!

We are now at Friday of the first week of public school. 37 weeks to go--175 more days.

It has meant Big Changes around here. But Blackeyed Susan and Alvin Fernald have stepped up to the plate, and I'm very proud of them.

Homework: they've never had homework before, you know. I had a spasm on Tuesday, when Alvin's World History teacher gave them 40 pages of homework. (especially after football practice got him home at 6pm.) Still don't know what was up with that; but he didn't have history homework the rest of the week. One more homework note: Since I taught the kids algebra and geometry, I am able to help them with their homework. I'm "in the mode" already. How many parents of high schoolers can help their kids with math?

Waking up: a little harder to do every day, but now it is Friday, and they are looking forward to sleeping in tomorrow. A good discipline is happening.

Cultural education: Our high school is ranked the fourth most-diverse high school in the nation. Besides many ethnic cultures, we have the "urban" culture, as well. Susan and Alvin have mentioned how this is enriching their classroom life. Susan, especially, likes the discussions in English class, and hearing everyone's thoughts.

Lunch: Susan and Alvin are eating Cafeteria Lunches, and...well...one out of the four they've had was "worth eating." Oh, well, their alternative is to make a lunch themselves, so complaints are few.

To sum up: They are stepping up to the plate and doin' what needs to be done, with little complaining. They are also finding some new friends, and finding their "place" in a larger community. All in all, I vote the week Successful.

(except for the fact that I was down, in bed, for most of three days with a HUGE cold. So, the "hours to myself everyday" thing kinda fizzled.)

Tonight, to celebrate, we have pizza, homemade brownies, and a new episode of Monk on tv!

And, They're Off!

I dropped Blackeyed Susan and Alvin Fernald off at school this morning...for the very first time.

We spent the last school year coming to the decision that, for this season, public high school would be best for our family. I am completely okay with that...in my head. But, of course, I have mixed feelings, as well.

Because, I've had them to myself. All of their lives so far.

I have a friend who went through this same thing last week--her high school started last Wednesday. She spent the day with these same feelings. She recovered--I will, as well.

Just give me a day.

Or maybe two.

(of course, now I have seven hours to Do Stuff. All that stuff I've put off for, like, twelve years.)

Like Cleaning Closets.

I could get used to this!

Have a blessed week, dear friends!

Thinking...

I've been thinking today, over at Homeschool in the Wildwood. Go take a look!

New Stuff is Coming.

So, so busy here.

I have not had children in "real school" (you homeschoolers know what I mean!) for eight years. Over the past year, we made the decision to put Blackeyed Susan and Alvin Fernald in the public high school from which my older six children graduated.

But I had forgotten how crazy August was.

(and December. and May. But we'll cross those bridges when they come.)

I pre-registered Alvin at the eighth-grade orientation in the spring. But early last week I had to register Susan. So I had to gather her transcript and fill out mega-million forms. Later that week was Really-Truly Registration. Standing in lines. Going to places out-of-turn (like, you had to have your schedule before you got your i..d. picture taken--who knew?). More lines. Alvin's schedule wasn't in Mrs. Frank's box, so we had to go to another place and Wait to get another.

Ah, good ol' Mrs. Franks. She is the go-to guidance department secretary, and she has been there since we moved here in 1991. Her comment to me: Yes, Mrs. K*, I saw Susan's schedule earlier, and I thought, "my gosh, does that woman still have children???" Yep. She has guided six of mine through the graduation requirements/SAT tests/scholarship apps, and she'll do it for the last two, as well. I did tell her that Alvin was Absolutely the End Of The Line, though...

And then, of course, the back-to-school sales. Goodwill has their 50% off all clothing yesterday and today. I hit two of them yesterday, and will do at least another one today. Doing better with Alvin than Susan, but she already has more clothing than anyone in the known universe.

So, I am nearing the end of my homeschooling career. We are planning a little celebration this week, before I am declared a Homeschooler Emeritus.

Wistful? A little. Okay, a little more than that. But having a few more hours in my day? This is not a bad thing. Everything in its season. My friend Kaybeautiful is beginning her empty-nest adventure. Charming's mother (100 miles away) is getting older, and I'm looking forward to spending some days with her. My house is gonna love me--Decluttering is going to be my middle name.

Or one of my middle names. How does Barbie-Neo-Empty-Nester-Decluttering-Queen-Homeschooler-Emeritus-Charming's-Last-Name sound to you?

We weren't really looking for an adventure...

....but we had one anyway.

Saturday morning we were getting ready to go to Charming's mother's home, 100 miles away, for her annual summer party, a mini-reunion of her children and their families (and now her grandchildren's families--there are 13-going-on-14 great-grandchildren now). Some of Charming's cousins show up, and sometimes old family friends. It is a wonderful day of food, softball, music, and great fellowship.

We were already running late--our target time was 11 am, and we were finally on the road about 40 minutes later. We stopped for gasoline, and the car's "message center" said to check air pressure in the tires, so Charming filled one that he thought was needful.

Just a couple of miles out of town, we heard a ka-whump sound, and I saw in my sideview mirror a piece of our tire, flying on ahead of us down the highway. Not so good. Blessedly, we were coming right up to a rest stop. Even though the rest stop was closed, it had a two-lane entrance ramp on which to safely change the tire, well away from the cars screaming by at 65 mph.

So many blessings--we had never used the spare in the seven years we've owned the car, and it was still full of air (put this on your annual checklist--check the spares!), we went back to town and found the tire store Open and a tire Available--they didn't even hassle us about not buying a Pair (Charming is out of work and money is tight), so we were back on the road, safely, in a reasonable amount of time. Two hours later we arrived, just in time for dinner!

We had a wonderful time, of course, but too short. Back on the road about 8 pm, we were just Quiet in the car, each with his own thoughts (well, Charming and I with our own thoughts. Blackeyed Susan and Alvin Fernald with their own text-a-phones and iPods...), toolin' on down the road, when what do we spy but a dead cow in the field to our right. How did we know it was dead, you ask?

Did you ever see a roadkill raccoon that had been there for two or three days? It looks like a raccoon-shaped balloon with four little legs sticking out of it. Well, that cow had been there for two or three days, and it was blown up big-time. Looked really funny with those four legs sticking straight out.

My question is: How does a cow go two or three days without someone seeing it? Or missing it? Don't you know how many cows you have? Wouldn't you see it when you let your cows out to pasture the next day?

Maybe we should be looking for the farmer?

Flower-y Prose

I've been thinking about flowers. Especially wildflowers. Don't they have the prettiest names?

Blackeyed Susan.

Forget-me-not.

Dutchman's Breeches.

Bachelor's Buttons.

Morning Glory--my mother used to say, "morning glory--the Glory of the Morning!"

Dogtooth Violet.

Of course, there are many more. Spring beauty. Mayapple. Wild geranium. Snapdragons. Jack-in-the-Pulpit. I'm sure you could add to the list.

Then there is Queen Anne's Lace, with the little blood-red floweret in the middle. I had always heard that it was named for Henry VIII's wife Anne Boleyn, and the "drop of blood" was hers because he, well, beheaded her, you know. But wikipedia says it is for another Queen Anne, and the blood was from when she pricked her finger with a needle while making her "lace."

Such quaint names. Such pretty things. How wonderful our Father is, to have created flowers, not only for their usefulness, but for our enjoyment. The fragrance of the wildflowers is generally more delicate than that of their domesticated cousins. Your nose has to be "tuned in" to enjoy them. But what a delight, walking through a wood or along a roadside in the springtime, to catch the fragrance, then to look for the culprits, off the beaten path!

Evidently, flowers are important to people in general. Every state has its "own" flower. When my mother was in school (1930's), the state flower of Indiana was the zinnia. Somewhere along the line, they changed it to the peony. Or, as my grandmother, along with most country folks, called it, the "piney." She was so proud of her "piney bushes" in May. Flowers are even "national" sometimes. The Japanese have their Chrysanthemum throne. I'm sure there are others.

So, I've just been thinking about flowers. Maybe you can take a few minutes and think about flowers today, as well. And don't forget to thank your Father for sharing!

Darn cute.

...if I do say so m'self.

I was asked to make a couple of aprons for the church coffee shop, for the girls to wear at Sunday morning donut-time, and Wednesday night cafe. I used the same pattern for each, McCall's 5825.

Here we have a cheery print, reminiscent of coffee beans (?), and trimmed with a yellow swirly-pattern, like steam from your favorite mug:
Then I made one in a coffee-brown with white polka-dots, trimmed in red pindot:
Please do not tell me how much it reminds you of Minnie Mouse.

These are expertly modeled by Blackeyed Susan, whom I grabbed barely out of the shower to model these. I promised her I wouldn't show her face. (this disclaimer for my family, who for YEARS made fun of the fact that I cut off people's heads in all of my photos.)

I am also teaching tonight from the book A Gift from the Sea by Anne Morrow Lindbergh. My subject is Simplicity.

Let me quickly disabuse you of the notion that I was chosen to teach this because I Have It All Together.

Nuthin' could be further from the truth. But God has a sense of humor that way, doesn't He? As Charming says, "God is so BIZARRE! But then, would you want to serve a God that wasn't?"

Food for thought...

Little Bits

Forget-me-not pointed out that, even though I have been home from vacation for eleven days, my blog says that I am still "incommunicado." Truth is, I've just been busy.

Gotta tell ya', I am grateful today to be posting. Friday night, Alvin Fernald and I were sitting on the couch, watching tv, and he said, "the computer's smoking." He ran across and unplugged it. I hoped the whole CPU hadn't melted together in some nuclear-meltdown-thing, but we took a moment to thank the Lord that Alvin had noticed it. If we had been in another room, the house might have caught fire. Thank you, Lord, for guardian angels!

(by the way, Charming fixed the computer for $39.95-plus-tax. I love that man!)

Saturday didn't go as I thought it would. My plans for a quilt outing with my dear sister-in-law Robin had been scratched, and as Alvin was in a softball tournament and Blackeyed Susan went with Forget-me-not to said tournament, I figured to Spend The Day decluttering. No such luck. My day was a steady stream of Company, including my brother, whom we needed to do a major catch-up with. So, nothing much got done, but did a LOT of visiting.

Sunday night plan was fireworks! Our city's major week-long festival always ends with fireworks. Although you can go to the biggie meet-up place complete with porta-potties, we chose to go to our neighbor's church parking lot, where neighbor-husband's band was playing, cheap hot dogs to be bought, and the Church Bathrooms available. Good stuff. We've been before. But never before where the Sky Opened Up and looked like it would never stop. You know the kind of storm, where you are as dripping wet as you could ever get? Yeah, that's how it was. We tried to wait it out, but had to give up. It rained for quite a long time after that, tho' I thought I heard the fireworks display about 10:15 pm. But by that time we were dry and warm and KFC-bucketed and happy. And home.

Another instance of God's grace: In the car, driving home, Heat seemed like a good idea. But we found out the heater wasn't working. How cool to find that out in July, so you can get it fixed before you need it?

Other stuff is going on. I'm making two cute-as-pie aprons for the coffee shop at church. Quilting a quilt. Getting ready to teach the Ladies on Wednesday evening. Johnny Tremain and Lily are back home after two weeks away, so we'll be seeing their four kids. Charming has been off work for six weeks today. Tempers are shorten-ing due to the extended change-in-routine, but the Lord is teaching us about living Day to Day.

I hope I'm learning. It doesn't seem so, but I really want to bear the fruit of the Spirit in my life.
Don't ask my kids if I've done so. I may have, but I don't think it shows yet. So there's More Work to Do.

Oh. I forgot all about vacation and all the other cool stuff I've been thinking about. I guess I'll have to do a little more catching up with you.

Maybe tomorrow. Laundry is calling!

Incommunicado.

We are off this week to beautiful Lake Huron, up at the top of the "thumb" of Michigan.

We are not taking any computery stuff.

There is a tv in the cottage, but we turn its face to the wall while we're there.

(I'm sure Blackeyed Susan and Alvin Fernald will be texting their buddies, but no such dealie for Charming and me.)

So basically I'm incommunicado.

Joe Hardy is housesitting, and we'll be back late Thursday night.

See ya'!

Morning Glory.

July 2, 2009, 6:53 am. Sixty-two degrees.

I awoke to birds singing, and fresh, cool air breezing in my open windows. That old-time, "summer" smell.

Heaven!!

Many of you did not grow up in a time before air-conditioning. You may not know the art of blowing one fan "out" one window to bring in the breeze from the opposite side of the house. Sleeping on the floor, because it's cooler. My husband's home had a screened porch where they slept in the summer. Before I had a/c in my "married" home, my babies slept in the basement.

My daddy got air conditioning in the early 70's, and I grabbed onto that notion Im-Mediately. I am not a summer-lover: for me, June, July, and August are simply months to endure until fall. Charming bought me central air about fifteen years ago, and I've never looked back.

I admit I'm a wimp. I think about those southern belles, sweltering in long sleeves, long skirts, and CORSETS. Not even an electric fan to alleviate the misery. And I still don't understand going to Florida for summer vacation. Come on, people!

This week has been unusually mild (and low humidity) for Indiana for late June/early July. People around me complain, "hey, this is more like fall weather!" (yet, you should have heard them belly-aching just last week about the heat wave...) I have had my a/c off and the windows open. I have found that I miss the summer sounds and the summer smells, even tho' I do spend some of my mornings on the porch, hot or not. And it was especially noticeable this morning as I awoke.

It was a Glorious Morning, that bodes well for a Glorious Day. I am beginning to pack for our little vacation, for which we leave Sunday after church. We are going to Lake Huron (at the top of the "thumb" of Michigan) to spend four days with Charming's Dad and his wife. The cottage has no a/c, but that's okay--Lake Huron provides the a/c. And I sure wouldn't want to miss going to sleep and waking up to the sounds of the water. God always meets me there, from the early morning coffee time alone (I am usually the first up), to the incredible sunset-show every evening, each one seemingly better than the night before. Good fellowship, as well. Blackeyed Susan and Alvin Fernald are both in high school--our time left with them is short. We are blessed to have time away while Charming is off work (please, Lord, a job waiting for him on our return would be a great thing!), and time with his father and wife is a treasure.

I have errands to do today, but will spend as much of it outdoors as possible. Wishing you a "glory" day, as well!

Number Three on the List...

Violet and I keep a list of God's Five Greatest Gifts to Mankind. Violet always has five things on her list, but once in awhile, one gets bumped off in favor of another.

I, on the other hand, am the kind of person who, once the List is complete, wouldn't think of changing it. So, I have just now, today, added a number three.

I'm sure you are on the edge of your seat, wondering what holds places number one and two.
So here goes:

Number One: Indoor Plumbing.

I maintain that I am richer than Solomon in all his glory, because I have wonderful, albeit humble, bathrooms in my house. A full one, and an extra half-bath on the first floor. Sure, people in newer homes have like, four bedrooms and five bathrooms. Wouldn't our great-grandmothers roll over in their graves to think of more baths than bedrooms in a house?

Number Two: Chocolate.

Really, is any explanation necessary?

Number Three: Hardware Stores.

Now, this is not a new thought. I love, Love, LOVE hardware stores. And their big-brothers, the big-box home improvement stores. So many things you never even knew existed, all there begging you to take them home. And me not even knowing how much I really, really need them!

But right now, I'm talking about the regular ol' neighborhood hardware store.

This morning, I took my good scissors into the hardware store:

My mother bought me these scissors before I went to college. Her comment: Everybody needs a good pair of scissors; they will last you a lifetime. Of course, I knew about don't-use-fabric-scissors-on-paper-or-they-will-be-ruined. Throughout the years, I have kept and broken and kept and broken that rule a few dozen times. But they always sharpen up nicely.

Over the last couple of years, I found myself having to tighten the screw more and more often. Finally, no amount of screw-ing helped. That little screw was done Stripped.

I looked over all my cheapie scissors, thinking that I would steal a screw from one of them.

I found out that cheapie scissors are held together with rivets, not screws.

I looked online and found a place I could get a replacement screw. The screw was pretty cheap, but of course shipping costs would be involved, as well. So, I decided to try the Friendly Guys at the Local Hardware.

I asked for the Screw Expert. I didn't know if there would be some sort of Specialty Screw involved. After all, the screws in a pair of scissors don't just sit there, they are Moving All The Time. Turns out their screw expert was a teenaged girl. She took me back to the Screw Desk. (which was also the extra-house-or-car-key desk...) She began by working to get the old screw out. Fully five minutes later, this is what we had:

I don't think you can see very well. The best part of the screw shows that the threads are worn down to almost nothing; near the head of the screw, there are no threads at all--absolutely smooth. I *have* had the scissors for thirty-six years. I guess thirty-six years of faithful service should earn a guy a new screw, right?

So, to wrap up this long story, two employees took twenty-five minutes to finally narrow down six different screws (and a lock-washer) to one. That means fifty minutes of man-power. The final bill:

Fifteen cents.

(plus a penny tax.)

My scissors are happy.

So am I.

I love my hardware store.

Busy Summer...

...and it's still June!

My nephew Phil (far left) is off to Korea to help defend our freedom. It is such a blessing that his cousin Mike is already over there. Evidently they will be together a good deal of the time. (also in this photo: back: Johnny Tremain, cousin Derek [Mike's brother], and our own Laura Carrot. Front: Alvin Fernald)

Next we have my nephew Nate, and his lovely bride Sarah. It's just been Party Central this summer!

While in South Bend for Nathan's wedding, we stayed with Violet, whom you may remember is a dorm rector for a women's dorm at Notre Dame. We took a little Tour Down Memory Lane on Saturday: (Charming and I met there thirty-five years some time ago.)

Alvin decided that he would be the Travelocity Gnome Guy on the tour. Here he is in front of the Library (Touchdown Jesus, if you are a fan of ND football).

The Main Building (Golden Dome) is so, so beautiful. We went inside and saw the gorgeous murals. The a/c was set none too high, so we cut our tour a little short.

Next we have Alvin standing in front of Charming's old dorm room. There was a Definite Sales Presentation goin' on from Daddy to Son on this one.

Finally, a Dad/Son moment on the steps of the dorm.

We finished our day with a visit to Queen Darl, Charming's dear mother, always a treat!

This weekend, *I* get to stay home. HOORAY. I am going to redeem my time with rest, because we leave in another week for vacation. And, as every mother knows, vacation does not happen without a lot of Planning, Shopping, and Packing.

Sigh. I think I'm tired already just thinkin' about it. But, Oh The Joy when we finally get there!

Four Score and Seven Years Ago...

...my Daddy was born!

photo: Daddy and Alvin Fernald, 2007

Happy Birthday, Daddy!

So, so many stories I could tell you, of course, about a man born in nineteen-and-twenty-two (as his father would say). The time at twelve years old, on Halloween, putting an outhouse up on the roof of the bank building downtown. Going to the neighborhood grocer on Thursdays, with his dad's paycheck in hand. The grocer would "cash" the check, pay the family's bill for the week, and Daddy would leave with a handful of vanilla cremes the grocer put in his hand on the way out the door. It was Daddy's job to coax the furnace to life in the mornings. Then there was the time he woke up with inches of snow on top of his blanket. And on. And on.

He skipped his senior year of high school to care for his baby sister after his mother had surgery, then went back and graduated a year late. He married "the girl next door" at nineteen. Three months later was Pearl Harbor. He proudly served in the Army Air Force. When he came home, he began a forty-one year career at General Electric. Mom and Daddy's life had many joys as well as sorrows--he has nine children waiting for him in heaven, as well as his "pretty girl." For his fifty-year high school reunion he wrote a tiny biography, and called himself "a simple man, raising a family, married to the love of his life."

But of course, he didn't tell the whole story. How he is the ultimate in human role models for How to Be a Godly Man, and How to Live Your Life with Integrity. About Duty and Sacrificial Love and Fun. About how all you had to do was watch him awhile, and you could see the Father God's love shining through him.

And, of course, he could fix anything. And do anything.

Because he's my Daddy.

Beautiful.

During this growing season:

"Thou visitest the earth, and waterest it: Thou greatly enrichest it with the
river of God, which is full of water: Thou preparest them corn, when thou hast
so provided for it.

10Thou waterest the ridges thereof abundantly: Thou
settlest the furrows thereof: Thou makest it soft with showers: Thou blessest
the springing thereof.

11Thou crownest the year with thy goodness; and
thy paths drop fatness.

12 They drop upon the pastures of the
wilderness: and the little hills rejoice on every side.

13The pastures
are clothed with flocks; the valleys also are covered over with corn; they shout
for joy, they also sing." Psalms 65: 9-13

Nature all around us, tells us what the Lord is doing. And, Nature is rejoicing! Shouldn't we be rejoicing as well, at what the Lord is doing?

Playing with the Big Boys

I just love Monday nights this summer! Johnny Tremain, MacGuyver, Rocky Balboa, and Alvin Fernald are on our church softball team. Alvin is so excited, because the minimum age to play is fourteen, and, of course, he is.

Last night was the third "played" game (with one rained out). Alvin struggled the first two games--after all, he's never played softball before, and the rest of the guys were seasoned, and men.

He missed fielding a couple of balls, struck out a couple of times, "flied" out on others. But last night was Different. That boy was On His Game. He caught a line drive, foiled a run, and got two hits, one an RBI. He was also part of a double play, but later he told me that the second guy didn't quite get out. Oh, well. For this Mama, that didn't make no difference!

I would be remiss if I didn't tell you that my other two sons and son-in-law had exploits of their own. It seemed that they just couldn't miss catching a fly ball when it came their way. I'm not sure, but it seemed to me that my four boys are just about the best players that the game has ever seen!

[Why, yes, I DO need to sew four or five buttons back on my shirt, from bustin' with pride!]

On the sideline front, fifteen-month-old Oxford had his first taste of dirt. Like many of us, it will not make his list of fave foods. But Mommy Forget-me-not was there with water to wash it out, and grapes to take the bad taste away!

This morning, I watched three of Lily's, while she went to the homeschool used curriculum sale. I made the girls these Lazy Days Skirts: (click on the link for the free pattern)

(That is Laura Carrot on the left, and Sweet Pea on the right.) I didn't have the ribbon that the pattern called for, for the border, so I just used a contrasting fabric.

Charming has had yesterday and today off. The weather has been great, and it has been a relaxing, wonderful two days. If you read my other blog, you'll know that Charming is under a lot of pressure at work, and will probably be "downsized" this month. This "weekend" has been very therapeutic for us. Of course, any day filled with our children and grandchildren has got to be great, right?

Thinking.

I've been thinking again. Go check out my other blog!

Diamonds for Violet

What girl doesn't like diamonds?
I finished this quilt this weekend. In fact, the quilting took less than three weeks to complete--incredible!

I've got Blackeyed Susan trained. When I photograph my quilts, she knows to flip down the corner on the second shot, to show the backing:

This quilt is the third of four, exactly alike. Do you want to hear the story?

A number of years ago, I received a quilt my grandmother had made, of diamond shapes, all different. Forget-me-not really liked it, and used it on her bed. After a few weeks I could see that behaviors like sitting on it to put on your shoes, or dumping your schoolbooks on it on a regular basis would do more damage, more quickly than the years of normal used the quilt had seen in my grandmother's care. I told Forget-me-not that we'd have to put the quilt away; she complained, and I told her I would reproduce it for her.

My friend Kaybeautiful and I scoured our scrap bins for fabrics. Since we were not into quilting big-time yet, we only had scraps of things we had made for ourselves or for our children. I believe we needed about 265 different fabrics, and when we fell 'way short, we Started Shopping. That was the fun, fun, fun part. For about a year, we would pick up fabrics here and there. We cut four diamonds out of each fabric: one for her, and three for me (one quilt for each of my three daughters). If we were alone, we would mail them to each other, with little notes attached: "I liked the little figures in this one." "I know you like red!" and my favorite: PPPatP. (Paid Premium Price at Patchworks [the local quilt shop]."

As the months went by, I found out something about Kaybeautiful: she and I don't share the same fabric taste. Some of the fabrics I was most excited about, she would comment, "well, you always told me that there should be a few "uglies" in a quilt." And some of her favorites were, well, eeuuww--ugly. A few times we went shopping together: Kaybeautiful would bring a bolt over to me and say, "I know you'll love this, because I hate it!" (really, what happened is that we started choosing fabrics that we knew the other would like--it was Pretty Cool.)

So we finally collected all the diamonds. I cut the white muslin diamonds for all three of my quilts all at once, laid them out in a pleasing order, and began the first one. I completed it for Forget-me-not's high school graduation in 2000.

Sometime after that, our basement flooded, and the cardboard box I kept the diamonds in got soaked in eeuuww. So I had to handwash them and iron them. Fortunately, Forget-me-not's was already done, so I could figure out the order of the diamonds for the other two quilts.

I finished Blackeyed Susan's in the summer of 2005. So much for doing one a year for three years and done with it! And, as you can see, it is 2009 for Violet's.

One last thing. As you can see, the top and bottom border are zig-zagged. This makes for a weird feeling around your face. However, after I finished the first one, I took it to show my mother, and the first thing she said was, "now, THAT looks like a Grandma quilt!"

Success!

Wear Your Apron Day Fun!!

First of all, here is a photo of my sister's apron. She commented on the last post under the name Pinky Marie [apron modeled by Blackeyed Susan]:

My friend Kaybeautiful and I started our Apron Adventure by having a formal portrait taken. I made both of the aprons we wore. Kay's was a full-length in a teadyed blue toile thing. It was trimmed in black polka dots. I wore a half-apron in a cute 1930's blue, trimmed with red-on-white polka dots:

We took a walk in a nice woodsy place. I knew that most of the "spring" wildflowers would be gone, but we saw wild geranium, mayapples, and a tiny stand of trillium! (I hadn't seen trillium in years...

We then went to the grocery store to get fixin's for a chili dinner. Funny thing--everybody else evidently forgot it was Apron Day. Kay said, "they were all staring," but I said, "but nobody m*lested us!"

We came home and had coffee and tea in beautiful teacups (Kay=tea, Barbie=coffee). Kay decided to make snickerdoodles, but complained that her apron didn't go around far enough. "My grandma's aprons," she said, were Full-coverage things. When *I* bake, I like to wipe my wet hands on my [behind]." So I pulled this out for her to use:

This is the front, modeled my moi:

Charming and Kay's husband Mikey played music for us all afternoon. They enjoyed the cookies so much that they wrote a song for Kay--the Snickerdoodle Mama Blues. "She's my Snickerdoodle Mama.... " five verses full.

I knew I would have fun on Apron Day, but how much MORE fun to spend the day with a bestest girlfriend?

(By the way, Jen, I'll let you know about the aprons. I actually have a full apron *and* a half-apron made from the yellow bird fabric!)

Wear Your Apron Day!

Good morning! Today is

Wear Your Apron Day!!

I'm just makin' a little note here at the beginning of the day, because my friend Kaybeautiful is coming to see me from 100 miles away. When she gets here, I will post a pic of us in cutie aprons.

It's all about the Apron Love. To find out more about it, go on over to The Apronista!