Monday

To see what other quilters are doing go to Small Quilts and Doll Quilts.

Over the weekend I worked on my exchange blocks for the new exchange my group is doing.

These are my blocks with my fabric. I am using bright, mostly batiks.

These are Harriet's blocks that she made with her fabric. She is using flannels.

These are Harriet's blocks (on the bottom) and the blocks I made with her fabric (on the top).

You can see the Knitted Knockers on the right in this picture. I haven't sent them yet because I am making more!

It appears that the old picture of me and my brothers didn't show up in my last post so I am trying again.

Me, Ed, Mike

Mike, Ed, Me

Ed, Me, Mike, Mom, Dad

Actually, three pictures of my family. My mom used a large, really large, like 4 feet x 3 feet large, frame and grouped pictures of all of us that were taken through the years. It included pictures of us when we were small all the way to now with pictures of our kids. My brother who was born after me, Ed, has 5 grandchildren now.
Anyway, Mom disassembled the frame to remove pictures of Mike for the photo boards displayed at his funeral. She wanted my sister-in-law to keep them afterwards. I had my son use his phone to take pictures of the pictures.
As you can see, Mike was always happy. I never knew him to get mad, except in recent years when his daughter was making some bad relationship decisions. He was so upset, but she resolved it and is on a better path now. I am so thankful that it happened while he was alive to see it.
He was a great uncle to my son, as well. More like a brother, is how my son puts it. He is an only child so their relationship was very special to him. Mike would make sure they had a good hunting spot every fall during deer season. He made it an adventure for them even when they didn't have any luck seeing deer. October will be hard for my son this year.
So many people miss him. He was a great family man, well loved by his co-workers and community.

I Can't...

...ever think of a clever title so I will just start right in with the post.

I have been having a bad week. I am not sure quiet why. The weather is awful - it has been so hot! My school building stays hot once the air temperature and humidity increase. We went to the air conditioned library for fun educational videos on Thursday and Friday and released the students an hour early on Friday. That will be repeated on Monday. Weather predictions call for a cool down after that. I hope they are correct.

This group of Kindergarten students is larger than we have had in a few years. I don't know if it is because of the increased number or the heat or the immaturity but this group seems to be taking longer to learn the rules and routines. I am tired.

My monthly quilt group met for the first time for our new exchange. We decided to make house blocks this time. Here are mine.

It was fun to see what everyone is doing. There were houses made with Civil War Repros, solids, flannels, 30s prints, one color family (teals), black & white with red roofs, calicos. Mine are mostly batiks in bright colors.

Several of them had lovely show and tell projects and I felt like such a sloth. They seem to get a lot of work done and I can't seem to do much of anything. Thinking about that right now I realized that I am the only one not retired. I have not turned on my machine for a few weeks. Why? Because Kindergarten makes me tired. It's not like I don't have any projects. After talking with my group this morning about all the unfinished projects some of have I decided I needed to just pull a project to work on and work on only that project until it is finished, even if it only for a short time every day. Well....I looked through my nicely mostly organized projects. I finally decided on one that would be fun and is a little smaller thinking it would go quickly. I got all the parts/pieces out and figured out what I needed to do next. This project is paper pieced and I need to copy the patterns from the book. My printer is out of ink. Rats. Ink is on my list, but the last time I tried to buy more the store was out. Hopefully, that can be fixed when we go on our shopping trip tomorrow. So I put that away and am trying to decide what I want to work on. Why is it the the projects that need finished are just not as enticing as a new one?

We were swarmed with hummingbirds a few weeks ago, but hadn't seen any lately until yesterday. There has been a lone hummer flying around once in a while. I am keeping the feeders cleaned and filled.

My Autumn Joy Sedum has been blooming for a little while. I love how it starts out white and changes to dark pink. The bees and butterflies are loving it.

I am also struggling with this. It seems so unfair to me that someone who was so loved by his family, friends and community should no longer be with us. I am sad and angry and grieving. I have days when I think I am finally starting to get past it and then some 'thing' makes me realize I am not. I play the radio in my car so loud I can't hear myself think. I try to keep busy with anything I can to keep my mind occupied, but I have been restless, listless, unable to settle on a project. I know things will change and I will be able to move on, but today I am struggling.



This is me, brother Ed and brother Mike, in birth order. My youngest brother, Mike, is the brother who was killed in late May in a traffic accident. He was always such a happy person, even as a child.
I miss him.

This is the most recent photo of the 3 of us, taken July 3, 2016.

Monday Already?

To see what other quilters are working on visit Small Quilts and Doll Quilts.

Wow! This week went fast!

The first few weeks of Kindergarten are usually a challenge. New faces, new routines, new rules. Sometimes it takes a while to get used to it, but most are doing well.

My school district has a tradition of  adding books to their libraries in memory of employee's loved ones who have passed. I was given the chance to bring home the books that will be added in memory of my brother. He was a retired security officer from the local univeristy, part-time small town police officer and security officer at the local hospital. He was also a bee keeper and active in conservation. The books selected are The Bee Tree by Patricia Polacco and Police Officers on Patrol by Kersten Hamilton. 

There are labels on the inside ...

... and pages that brought tears to my eyes. 

My brother's name. 

They will be added to the library in my building for the students to 

check out and take home to share with their families.

I like a sentence on this page

'Such things...adventure, knowledge and widsom. But these things do not come easily. 

You have to pursue them.'

My brother made everything an adventure. He was on a quest for knowledge and wisdom, learning about conservation and how to make his environment better.

I miss him.

I made a decision and got the borders on the top of this quilt.

I am waiting for the backing to arrive so I can get it quilted.