SO exciting!

It seems like everything in my life is exciting to me these days!

Here I am making my first deposit into my business checking account - my first summer camper's deposit!  I have 2 of 12 spots filled so far, and 2 months left to fill up the rest.

Yes, I gave the teller my phone and asked her to take my photo!

I've been much busier than I'd like, what with finishing up at my current job, planning a new business, a karate test (today!), a new puppy, etc, but I am still making progress on my hubby's quilt made from his mom's shirts, and I haven't given up hope of having the top pieced to present to him on Father's Day this Sunday.  I also think I want this one to be my entry into the County Fair Quilt Show this year.

The bottom left is already sewn together, that row through the middle is sewn together but not sewn to the bottom right section yet.  Playing with border ideas, trying to use up every scrap of the shirt sleeves and fronts for the front of the quilt and piece the shirt backs together for the back of the quilt.  The white is from 3 white oxford style shirts of hers, so it is all up-cycled shirt fabric.

And back to the puppy...we found the puppy's owners :(

But they are willing to let us have her since she's been gone over 2 weeks and they thought she was gone for good and since we've already invested in her by taking her to the vet. :)

Turns out her name is Belle.  I think that goes much more nicely with Biscuit than Jumpy.  Besides, she responds to Belle already.  Biscuit and Belle, my canine buddies!

What's exciting in YOUR life these days?

Memories

On this Saturday eight years ago (although the date was the 28th of May, not the 25th), I was sitting at work, talking with a colleague when I got the phone call.  Without even saying "Hello," my cousin Khadijah sobbed, "Uncle Craig is dead!"  I went home immediately, stunned.  My father was gone.  My larger-than-life, fun-loving, vibrant, effusive father had died in a car accident.  The thought that kept running through my head was, "Donald will never get to meet him."  I was 9 months pregnant at the time, and Donald was born 3 weeks later.

No worries, Dad, Donald has met you many times over in the stories we tell and the photos we share.

Dad graduated from college the year I turned 11.  I see that I get my aversion to ironing from him!

Luckily, he was able to meet Jason several times.  In every photo, Jason is gazing at him, enthralled.

One of my favorite photos - my dad and my brother

So this Memorial Day weekend, my father, who served in the US Air Force, occupies my thoughts.

He looked quite dapper in his uniform (with my grandmom)

So does my mother-in-law.  Knowing that she was dying didn't make losing her any easier.  I wailed after losing my father that I never had a chance to say "goodbye."  Having had that chance with Wilma, I realize there isn't enough time or words to say all that needs saying.

I've started making my husband a quilt from his mother's shirts.  She loved striped cotton oxford-type shirts, usually in blue, so I'm making a Kaffe Fassett inspired Shirt-Stripe Boxes quilt.  Luckily, she had a TON of them!  I've disassembled several shirts, but have only made one square so far.

First block made from Wilma's shirts

It is hard to cut and sew with tears in your eyes.

Has anyone seen my motivation?

It's one of those days - I'm up, I'm at work, but I fear I am pretty useless right now.  I have no energy, no motivation, no enthusiasm.  Perhaps I'm overtired?  Or overwhelmed, thinking of the upcoming two weekends that I have to work?  Or maybe I'm just in partial hibernation mode, waiting out my least favorite season?

Whatever the problem, I thought maybe a blog post would help me focus and get me moving in a positive direction.

It's been an exhilarating week for me.  People have called and emailed and stopped me in public places - "Hey, didn't I just see you on the front of the newspaper?"  I never imagined that happening to me!

And the sweet things people have since done!  One woman brought me a dozen eggs fresh from her farm - wanted to do something for me since I was doing so much for others.  Another man called me at work and told me he had a bunch of fabric he's collected from auctions over the years, and wanted to donate it to the cause.  He made his first delivery last Friday:

The Star Quilters Guild in Roanoke asked to help - I sent them 3 sets of blocks to assemble and quilt.

I've gotten two inquiries about commission quilts - one that I'll definitely do, the other, I'm not so sure.

Above all, it's been a feel-good week.

I haven't had a ton of time to sew, though.  I've gotten most of another Sandy quilt top assembled while making a quick little hand project to take to basketball games.  I made this color wheel Dresden thinking I'd make it into a clock, but I accidentally broke the clock trying to take it apart - oops!

This was a hard exercise for me.  I used just scraps, and had a hard time deciding which fabrics worked and went where. I finally just sewed together what I had, but it still doesn't quite match the color wheel I looked up online.

Maybe I'll get another clock, but maybe it will end up being a pillow or a wall hanging.  Who knows?  I just know that January means sitting on the bleachers through 3 basketball games every Saturday, so I need something small and portable to keep my hands busy.

Mostly, I've been doing prep work:

Prepping for an up-cycling workshop I'm going to do with my guild in February - we are going to make "green" shopping bags from pillowcases and drawstring backpacks from t-shirts -

I love using these bags - they are fully lined, super sturdy and machine washable. 

I can't go shopping with these without someone asking where I got my bags. 

The cashiers are always so amazed at how much these can carry! 

This is my absolute favorite - that yellow check is so cheery it almost makes me want to go shopping! 

Very lightweight, and the perfect size for a day hike 

Again, fully lined for durability - although both Jason and I have used ours so much over the last two years that they are starting to come undone! 

Prepping for our last week of the Ready to Quilt program - the kids are mostly finished with their composition book covers now, and are ragging the edges of the denim quilt.

And prepping for our next Cub Scout meeting this weekend - we'll be doing a woodworking project, but I am doing all of the cutting and drilling in advance.

I'll leave you with images from fun times with my friend, Michelle, on New Year's Day.  We went over for lunch, and ended up having a bit of a jam session.  One of these days, I might actually even learn how to play a song on one of the FOUR guitars we have at our house!

For some reason, Donald hates having his photo taken these days, but he was on keyboard. 

Jason is in the background getting some guitar instruction, while Michelle's little cutie was rocking out on his new 4-year-old sized guitar.

And Michelle and I fumbled our way through some John Denver (strum strum - wait while I reposition my fingers! - strum strum - giggle!)

Oh, and how funny, but someone who found my blog through the newspaper article, Lisa U, won my giveaway.  She chose the yellow paisley flowers and the bird print, and should have already received her winnings by now.  Hmmm, what can I give away next?  Stay tuned!