Gifts from Aunt Bube!!!

Last week, Sandra came to visit us here in Pennsylvania and we had a wonderful time.  She and Dennis were good medicine for me and we laughed and shopped (a LOT).  I have to post the wonderful gifts she brought us.....

My personal favorite is the notebook but check out the pillowcase she made for Helena and the bibs for Miles (my grandchildren).  The bibs are reversible!  I love them, they are nice and thick for boys his age :)

Thank you Aunt Bube!!!! We wuv our gifts!!!!

On other fronts, my mom has been moved to hospital that is closer and has more liberal visiting hours so I am over there everyday sitting with her and challenging the doctors.  She isn't much better and now has bloodclots in her lungs.  The clots are the doctors main focus and they also have her on an IV for nourishment.  By the time I get home at night, I'm usually too exhausted to get on the internet.  I'll catch up with everyone as I can. 

Hope everyone in internet land is doing well.....Take care and see ya when I can......

3 Kitties and a Mad Lamb :D

Recently, I found a set of five embroidered blocks at a flea market (the fifth is the same kitty close up but in the wash).  I thought it would be fun to scan the blocks and use the photos to make some home made cards.  Don't you think that Nurse Kitty would make an adorable "Get Well" card?  So there were 4 kitties in this bunch and one lamb that is looking really annoyed.  Maybe because it was clumped with the cats? 

Ah the things that amuse me...

Vintage Revisited

It's been a long tough summer with losing my Nana, losing my baby Paddie (the dog), and now my mother is in the hospital with some other problems.  It's why I sew so much (therapy) these days.  Anyway, I am now working on a mini-quilting group challenge with some friends.  We love Mary Kerr's book,

Vintage Revisited, and decided we wanted to do a Vintage Revisited challenge ourselves.  When we emailed Mary to tell her that we wanted to do this, she said..."I'll play with you too!"  So we have all been given one block:

This block is from the early part of the 20th century and we were each given one.  We can do anything we want with the block or the fabric from the block but it has to be incorporated into a 24 x 24 inch wall hanging.  I know for some people it may sound tough, but I have found this challenge very stimulating--perhaps because it was a good escape.  I actually designed THREE different wall hangings that could incorporate this block.  At 5 a.m. this morning, the third idea came to me and I am now off to the races because I love the idea of it and I always wanted to do something like this.   I'm off to work on it now......I've had months to do this and it is due the first week of November so I've got to get cracking!

4 a.m.

Stress is a real bummer.  It's made me eat too much, sleep too little, and neglect both home and garden.  Anyway, what to do at 4 a.m. when you can't sleep?  Make presents for the kids.  The halloween bag I made for my son Peter and his gal Jess to hold their halloween care package and the Christmas totes I just love how they turned out. 

I 've been stopping by the dollar store on my way back from different excursions and have a nice collection of fairly nice cotton towels from there.  I added some of my favorite little pieces of leftover fabric to give them a festive look this holiday.  I love the ice skating fabric which is my favorite because it can be used after Christmas:

Faithful

Sometimes we can learn so much from our pets and sometimes they truly touch us.  This past week as I was cleaning, I decided to pack some of Paddie's things up and take them upstairs to the craft room.  My goal is to make a shadowbox honoring her and the love she brought us.  I found a beautiful box and began packing.

It must have been the tinkle of the tags on her collar because the boys ran to the table where I was working.  Both stuck their noses in the box and sniffed and sniffed.  Eventually, Seamus left.  But Teddy wouldn't.  He just stayed and stayed and sniffed and sniffed.

I wondered if we were sharing a common moment.  One box of Nana Betty's sewing accessories has a small plastic bag in it with some things she was saving: buttons, fabric, a few notions.  But when I open that bag, I can smell the scent of her home and it immediately comforts me and reminds me of all the love she showered on us.  I always close that bag right away, as if to preserve the sweetest of fragrances--which it is to me.

Teddy sniffed and sniffed but he is also my fragile child.  He is the dog that lives insecure, fearful, and can be aggressive because of it.  Paddie had kept him in line.  If he was really out of whack, she would push him against the wall and hold him gently there until he calmed down.  It got to the point in our world, that she would just have to stand up and the boys knew they better cool it NOW!  Seamus had gone back to playing but Ted stood guard over the box.  "That's enough boy," I gently tried to divert him but he wouldn't waiver.  I ended up closing the box and set it on the steps, closed the door, and returned to cleaning. 

Teddy didn't resume wrestling with his brother.  Instead he paced and paced in front of the door that leads to the staircase as if awaiting her.  Inevitably, I had to take the box up the stairs because I am certain he could still smell her. 

I have been told by some people that their dogs did not miss their dog friends after they had passed.  Strangely, to know that both Seamus and Ted had not forgotten Paddie and that Teddy was so affected helped me greatly with my own grief.  We are bonding in different ways now, not better or worse, but a different routine is being smoothed out and our lives continue. ..

Russian Proverb

Here's a wallhanging that I made for our guild challenge this September.  I have a background in Russian Studies and own lots of matroyshkas that I bought during my visits.  I've been fascinated with the trend of quiltmakers using these motifs during the past few years.  Anyway, this is the best I could draw from some of mine.  The translation of the Russian proverb is:  "The egg does not teach the hen."