I recently started a new quilting project. I was inspired by this blogger. I am approaching it in a slightly different way. My cranes are going to be constructed with fabric scraps from completed quilts. In this way I will have as a souvenir a component of the quilts I have given away and the people who have received them.
April 28, 2013 my grand-daughter was baptised at Notre Dame in my hometown. She was a vision in an heirloom baptism gown handed down from my son’s paternal great-great-aunt. It is beautifully and intricately embroidered linen. I don’t think it is hand done, it is quite uniform and symmetrical. She looked beautiful and didn’t squawk once during the entire mystery.
Ezekiel 16:13 You were adorned with gold and silver, while your clothing was of fine linen, rich fabric, and embroidered cloth. You had choice flour and honey and oil for food. You grew exceedingly beautiful, fit to be a queen.
A few days ago, I was trying to convince the freshmen and sophomores in my Western-Civilization survey to sign up for my upper-level class in the fall. The upper-level class will cover the history of Late Antiquity, roughly the years 250 to 750. We’ll talk about the fall of Rome, the rise of the church, and the formation of the medieval kingdoms of Europe.
Treasured childhood memories for spring is the burning of grass around the edges of the fields and out buildings. It was an event that we looked forward to with high anticipation. Dad taught us all the ‘safety’ procedures for burning – starting a line of fire downwind, carrying a shovel, waiting until the wind died down and knowing there would be a heavy dew that night. We would put on our oldest spring jackets, our Ukrainian ballet slippers
and out we headed with dad in the lead. He would start the fire and we would pull up hanks of long grass, twist it, touch it to the fire and then drag it long the edges of the fields to extend the burn line. If the fire got too close to buildings or ran the risk of escaping, we would stomp out the fire. That was much more exciting than using our shovels. Just after dark we would return to the house, covered in soot and smelling of smoke, circles of fire on fields of black imprinted in our vision. It was great.
April 26th was my parents’ 55th wedding anniversary. Dad is 18 years older than my mom, and turned 91 this last December. He had a minor stroke a year ago and has slowed down quite a bit. My sister got the burning permit for spring refuse. After dinner she walked the saluki and made the comment that the wind had died down and she was going to burn the ridge along the old garden. I haven’t seen my father move that fast in over a year! He was in his glory. Ribs for dinner and grass burning after, the perfect anniversary.
My holidays are going splendidly! The grand-daughter’s quilt was finished well in advance. Great grandma (my mom) loves it, my son and his girlfriend think it should be hung on the wall. Completely their choice. I was really pleased with the quilting, towards the end. It took a little time to get in the ‘groove’. The idea was to emulate the swirls in the border/binding. It worked, eventually. It is not entirely uniform throughout the entire surface. I am not ripping it out, thank you very much, in spite of my anal retentive attitude toward ‘perfection.’
I bet you can’t even tell, unless you click on the picture to enlarge. (Made you look!)
Exodus 35:29 All the Israelite men and women whose hearts made them willing to bring anything for the work that the Lord had commanded by Moses to be done, brought it as a freewill offering to the Lord.
Holidays! It’s an event packed weekend. My parents are celebrating their 55th wedding anniversary. My brother is turning 47 on the same day. And Sunday my first grandbaby-daughter is being baptised into the family of God.
Today my two sisters, my parents and I traveled to visit my brother who lives 2 hours away from the Farm. The day was filled with laughter, strange movie references “These are not the ‘droids you are looking for!”, stories that might have sounded like a kidnapping to someone evesdropping, “You are not listening to me. I have the pizza.”, and twenty questions on the trip home that started conversations about food, bucket lists, places we’d been and a few tales out of school about school. Nana, sisters M and N played Wii Dance Off 4 with nephews GR and Y. Even dad had a pretty good day. Naturally we had to stop at Morden’s Chocolates for Russian Mints, Mixed Nut Brittle, bags of ‘seconds’ and Almond Crunch Clusters (I should have bought some of the latter…).
Pictured above is the quilt I am racing to finish by Sunday for my grand-daughter. I am half done the binding as I type. Cute, isn’t it? Just like my A.A.E.P!
Originally, this quilt was destined for the women’s shelter in a neighbouring city. All winter a colleague and “Sister” in ministry was living in the local RC rectory because her apartment was damaged in a fire. April 1st she returned to her home and I gave her this quilt as a “welcome back” gift. It is simply quilted, with parallel lines of stitching at varying widths. Quick and effective.
Luke 8:39
