Thanksgiving Blessings

Ok, I'm a little late sending a Happy Thanksgiving to all of you, so here's a day late wish that you all had a wonderful day, counting your blessings and giving thanks. Simple to say, easier still to feel in your heart and in my heart as I give thanks for all my friends and family near and far. Every day I feel so blessed to know so many wonderful people.

 

A new blessing arrived November 19 in the form of a darling and healthy baby girl, Madison Marie. Here are my beautiful girls.

So I'm a proud grandmother.

 

and so proud of my daughter, Rachel

 

and Matt is the proud uncle

 

Madison's room

 

I made a few quilts. and sheets, and changing pad covers, and a dust ruffle. :-)

 

 

During this holiday season, treasure time spent with family and friends; I know I will.

 

Until next time ~

my best to all of you

Betsy

Back from Quilt Market

I know I promised to write more often. Insert big sigh here. Things get away from me....excuses, I apologize.

 

I'm pretty bad at taking pictures, I forget.   Here are my favorite quilts from Houston. Blurry, taken with my phone which is out of date...note to self: contract is up...Go get a NEW one!

It is sideways, but looked the same if rotated.

wonderful for Fall

the Cow says BOO...I love it!

Awesome!!! Hand quilted, Australian quilter...Viewer's Choice and 1st Place.

Next time...better photos...

 

 

 

I was quite happy to see my line in the Newcastle Fabric booth. You can see the line by going to this link. http://newfabs.com/gallery/item/67-catherine-s-courtyard  Two aqua raindrop prints are shown, don't know why, we will only have one. I had the line ready at Spring Market and then it finally appeared online the Friday of Fall Market. Still wondering why it took so long?

 

I had great plans for a Quilt Market/Houston vacation. The trip and getting away were good, but maybe a working vacation is not what I need.  Seeing good friends only once or twice a year and reconnecting was wonderful, as was keeping up with business contacts. I ordered lots of lovely reproduction fabrics for the store and have gotten very excited about the Crossroads line of denim used in the creations of Amy Barickman for Indygo Junction.  Yes, I'm going to make some garments! http://www.indygojunction.com/patterns/new-arrivals/ I especially like the jackets. Can't decide which one to make first...ok, I have time, fabric hasn't arrived yet.

 

Fall has come to North Texas. Leaves are aren't turning much, we don't have the wonderful color, that other parts of the country enjoy. Our changes won't appear until nearly Christmas, when few leaves are left to turn! We have had a good bit of rain and the air is cooler.

 

I'm almost ready to start a new page. I've been talking about this for quite a while. There is a contract on my parents house and my first granddaughter is due really soon. I need to renew, energize and focus. While I'll always miss my folks, I won't be miss the burden of caring for their house. UGH!

Wish me luck as hopefully the contract goes through and baby arrives safely.

YES, a new page will open. Stay tuned. I've bought the journal!

Now to go bind 2 baby quilts, make one more changing pad cover and one more sheet.

 

Until next time~

Betsy

In the Pink

I am teaching these two quilts below at Happiness is Quilting in a couple of weeks and I'm thinking, both are PINK!

Pink fabrics were so plentiful in the 1800's you can hardly find a scrappy antique quilt that doesn't have pink as the setting or at least in the blocks.

Personally. I love pink. Somehow double pinks just 'set off' the other colors.

It is a happy color, don't you think?

 

Both quilts are in Lizzie's Legacy. The first, I called The Lounge Quilt as an illustration for the journals entries of one chapter. It's a comfortable quilt, very utilitarian as Lizzie would have intended, to serve as a bedcover for guests.

 

 

The second quilt is a perfect baby quilt, a cradle quilt as Lizzie called quilts for the babies.

I named the quilt Twist and Spin for all the many references in her journals to endless hours and days spent at the spinning wheel.

Look at how different the pinks are.

 

A few of my antique quilts with pink fabrics.

 

 

I barely turned to grab the camera....

Molly says, "YES, antique quilts for me!"

 

I'm working on baby quilts now. NOT pink for my granddaughter that is

due in November, but purple!

So many choices for patterns, tons of fabrics in the stash, what to make???

I'll post what I make at a later date.

 

Come sew with me!

 

I need to get organized, don't laugh too hard, and have my calendar available with speaking and teaching engagements here on the blog. One step at a time. Mom's house is nearly cleaned out and that is a good thing.  What is not so good is that much of it is HERE. I had a hard time letting things go in the estate sale and now face an even harder time finding a place for what I've brought home.

The house is getting smaller and smaller. Too much furniture, too much fabric, and not enough room.

Just need a new house!

 

Until next time ~

Betsy

 

Sewing Circles

 

Found this very sweet OLD needle card at my Mom's.  Mom didn't like to sew. I feel sure her mother made her a sewing kit of sorts to take with her when she stayed with my dad wherever he was stationed during WWII. Mom did have to sew on patches, stripes, etc. on Dad's uniforms and buttons if necessary, maybe even hem a skirt if there was no one else to do it.

I found letters, written in later years, from several of the friends Mother and Daddy made during the war. I felt a little funny reading the intimate expressions of love, bonding the women together. One dear letter expressed how thankful Celia and Jimmy were that they met my parents when stationed in Peyote, Texas near Wink. If you have never heard of either tiny town in far West Texas don't feel left out. Mother called it "the jumping off place" because it was one, so far away from home, and two, because it was in the middle of nowhere.

For the women who arrived that weren't from Texas, it was a miserable place to be. HOT. Dry. Dust storms. Rattle snakes. The base's nickname (or real, I don't know) was Rattle Snake Bomber Base. Base housing was for officers and a few others; most found housing where they could in Wink. Tiny homes filled with love and fear, the uncertainty of what might happen next.

Celia wrote to mom many years later, " Don't know what we would have done if you and Max hadn't taken us in and shown us what to do." Celia and Jimmy were from Tennessee. Another dear couple was from Pennsylvania, Ester and Danny. Mother often talked of how homesick Ester was. Texas was SO different from 'home'.  For these women, war brought them together, bonds were built that endured until they have all gradually passed away. Christmas cards and random notes of family joys and sorrows were kept in Mom's desk.

 

Did these women have a sewing circle? If they did, Mom crocheted. Mom may have gotten this pincushion while staying in Wink. The fabric is from the early 40's. How cute is this! 

The Sewing Circle.

Mom didn't drive, Ester did. She took Mom to the store. They all liked to cook and shared recipes. And they laughed, cried and talked. Sounds a lot like my stitch group.

Friendships...

Lizzie (my great-great grandmother) enjoyed her "quiltings" as a way to gather with friends and relatives. Mother's parents owned a grocery store in the1920's through the 1940's where at the top of the stairs a quilting frame was always set with a quilt and the women who stopped in would pause in the day's routine to take a few stitches and "visit awhile".

Mom had her tightly knit group of friends to pass the time when the men away.

Thank goodness some things don't change with time.

Whether called a sewing circle, or a stitch group, gathering with friends and enjoying their company is one of  the delights of my month.

...Friendships

 

Lately, I've been preoccupied with clearing out my parents home. It took me 3 months to prepare. Several of my stitching friends helped some in prep and at the sale. Estate sale was Labor Day weekend. What a big, emotionally draining job for me. I did not hire someone to run the sale, but am very grateful for the help of husband, family and dear, dear friends. I found the answer to the question, when is a house not a home?  NOW. It is even more difficult to go over there now than when I was working daily, sifting through 72 years of collecting STUFF. It is now just a house, no longer their home. How sad is that? If you have lived through this particular trauma, you have my utmost respect and if you haven't, you may eventually. Nothing ends neatly. I was so ready for a fresh start this month, but have to catalogue the remaining items for donation and contact an organization to take the leftovers away. More sad business.

 

My son, Matt, had surgery Friday to reconstruct his nose after last year being hit with a baseball, (he was pitching and the batter hit a line drive to his face.)  Surgery went well with total reconstruction of septum and nose. Managing the pain is the biggest challenge at present, that, and me having to wash his hair! Can't get the nose wet, but have to clean the incision behind his ear where they took bone to construct his nose. That was interesting, need a salon's shampoo station set up! He is 26, 6'3" and has much longer hair than I do!

I sewed a little yesterday while his girlfriend was here, hadn't sewn in ages, wanted to sew more. It felt good, maybe can do some today, and...

 

Maybe Matt will go with me to stitch group on Friday! There's a thought!

 

Until next time ~

Betsy

 

 



Blog Hop link

The link here will take you to all the designers in this pillowcase challenge....please take a look at how different the pillowcases look. http://www.allpeoplequilt.com/blogs/apqstaff/2013/08/19/one-million-pillowcase-challenge-blog-hop-2/

Betsy

American Patchwork and Quilting One Million Pillowcase Designer challenge and Voter's Favorite

American Patchwork and Quilting magazine's One Million Pillowcase challenge( http://www.allpeoplequilt.com/millionpillowcases/) is a little over half way there!  To promote the second half million and keep the momentum going, they opened voting on Pinterest, for a reader's favorite pillowcase pattern and the winner is...a darling appliqued train! Then, the wonderful staff at APQ asked 25 designers to make the design and pillowcase in fabric of their choosing...so without hesitation I selected Halloween! You could have guessed I would, right? 

 

So here is my Boo Crew Choo Choo...

I'll be donating to One Safe Place

in Fort Worth, Texas

 

 

Molly added her approval.

Thanks Miss M!

 

Don't you want to make one? The pattern is readily available on the magazine's website.

 

Selecting Halloween colors and prints for a project is so much fun!  However, I can't narrow the choices too much by keeping the pieces all in one line, got to mix it up.

The pillowcase base, wheels, and middle car are from Sweetwater's line for Moda, called The Boo Crew (love that name!). For the band and the caboose, I chose Sweetwater's Lucy's Crab Shack. The two lines work together perfectly. The engine happens to be from my Wrappers line I created for Blue Hill Fabrics. The piece is finished out with Moda's  almost white Bella Solid for the ghostly steam.  For the appliques, I used HeatnBond Lite and stitched them in place with matching thread in a tiny blanket stitch.

 

So, for every quilt, there is a story, and as it happens one for a pillowcase, too.

If you didn't already know, my Rachel is going to have a baby in November. Yes, I'm joining the grandmother's club.  Sooo it is time I freshened up my applique skills, in case they are needed.  I'm a patchwork quilter, but do enjoy wool applique projects.  Couldn't do wool for this though, it is a pillowcase for a child. Soft cotton fabrics are needed, and even a soft selection of colors for the season. Hate to admit this, but I really dreaded doing the applique, and called my friend Carol to enlist moral support, not having machine appliqued for YEARS. To my surprise, the fun and ease of stitching the appliques in place returned without problem. Fears and doubts abated, I can still machine applique. Rachel is having a little girl. For her, I can repeat the colors here, but substitute the green with purple, and when she is older, she can sleep with the Boo Crew, too.

Rachel doesn't like lime green. Oh maybe granddaughter will!

Why a Halloween theme? Smiles. Halloween makes me smile. We all need memories of happy times that are triggered by something, whether a smell, or a fabric, or a project, or a photo, whatever. Whatever the trigger may be, suddenly without thinking you will find yourself smiling. I love that feeling, and when it comes, I drink it in!  If you know me at all, you know Halloween makes me happy, the decorations, the costumes, the parties, love it. Silly fun. Guess Rachel will come to this year's party as pumpkin, although that is pretty predictable. Last year she came dressed as her childhood's favorite stuffed animal, Bamboo the panda bear.  Panda bears are the theme for the nursery. hmmm coincidence?

Making new happy memories gives me hope for the future and when this pillowcase is made again, it will bring me back to today, writing this post about a very rewarding project, that will bring a million smiles to recipients everywhere.

 

Until next time~

Smile

 

Betsy

 

Quilting Treasures and more

Last week I had the pleasure of giving a program and workshop to the Colorado Valley Quilt Guild in La Grange, Texas, home of the Texas Quilt Museum.

Just look at the quilt mural on the outside of the building! A beautiful old building dating from the 1890's has been restored to serve as a fabulous venue for quilt exhibits.

La Grange is about half way between Houston and Austin and well worth the trip should you be in either city. Exhibits change quarterly I think, so check their website...google Texas Quilt Museum and take a peek. The current exhibit is America the Beautiful and in October will change to Stars.

 

I got away, also this month, for a 5 day retreat with my 19th Century Patchwork Divas.

 First time I had really sewed in months.

Most of the time I'm over at my parents house cleaning and sorting through 72 years of married life, and collecting all sorts of stuff from dishes to toys to matchbooks, tools and cookbooks.  What a job!

 

Here a few of the quilts from my parent's house...

 

This little 9 patch quilt is proof mom did quilt, not well, but did quilt. She hated quilting, but this was made with her mother, a doll quilt, so it was cherished. Mom was born in 1920 so the fabrics would date from mid to late '20s. The unbleached 'domestic' on the back and binding is super thin and loosely woven. 'Domestic' is what we call muslin today.

 

The Improved Nine Patch quilt may have been made by mom's mother or by a friend of hers that sold quilts in the 1930's for a few dollars each.  I horrified my mom by dying a white chenille bedspread yellow when I was a teenager. This quilt then went at the foot of my bed...loved it growing up. The picture is upside down and sideways, hmmm thought I fixed it.

 

The quilt below  belonged to my dad's paternal grandmother. Dad's mother NEVER quilted, but she did help teach me to sew. Grandmother Reed had a bunch of children, 3 who never married and lived with her on the farm. Either Aunt Hettie or Aunt Ella was blind, I can't remember which, but sewed and quilted anyway. I was too little to remember dad's grandmother, but I do remember his great aunts, dressed in long sleeved black dresses on the porch of their simple and pristine, but un air conditioned white farmhouse, surrounded by fields of cotton.  Hotter than you know what! Anyway, Grandmother Reed and two of her daughters made this quilt. Fabrics dates from the 30's.

 

Look at the mistake.  I have trouble with the notion that mistakes were on purpose. In this quilt I'd like to believe my blind great great aunt pieced the green block and my great great grandmother chose to leave it as it was.

 

Mom's mother did make this very scrappy hexagon quilt from all the dresses, shirts, aprons etc. she made from her family.  It is HUGE quilt. Mom did tell me that matching the fabric pieces and handing them to my grandmother was something she enjoyed. Thank goodness she enjoyed something related to fabric! Fabrics date throughout the 30's and early 40's, including some feed and sugar sacks.

 

Mother wasn't ever interested in her quilts like I was. For her they symbolized hard times. They made her sad, keeping most of them in a closet. Wish she could have seen the beauty in the quilts, the resilience of the makers to create something beautiful, as well as practical, during those hadr years of the Great Depression.

 

Had to include two photos of  some of mom's things that she loved. The china dolls were my grandmother's and her sister's when they were little girls in the 1890's. The burnt wood boxes are but a sew of mom's huge collection, dating from early 1900's to mid 1910's. The bulldog is a candy bank from when mom was a little girl.

 

Three more dolls and  other toys mom kept from her childhood. Don't you love her doll sized kitchen cabinet?

 

When mom was staying with me, she asked me one day to bring over her toys.  Her things always made her happy.  And now they make me happy too.

Miss you mom!

 

Going to eat a bite of lunch then head over to sort more stuff.

Hope everyone's summer is going well.  It is a hot summer here as usual, temps in the 100's this week....Summertime in Texas.

 

Until next time~

Betsy

My MOM

I have spent several days composing this post, reflecting and crying....

My Mom passed peacefully early Friday morning,  May 31, ascending into Daddy's waiting arms. While a huge hole is left in my heart, I'm comforted in knowing she is with Daddy, her beloved parents, brother and sister, who was her very best friend.

Mom was a petite cutie. She was shy, smart and stubborn, a fabulous cook, devoted to family, and loving wife, mother, daughter, sister and aunt and grandmother. She was a true homemaker in every sense of the word.

 

 My son, Matt said she led a princess life...she never learned to drive a car... I think because Daddy tried to teach her! Sissy, her sister, and Daddy took her, where she needed to go. She never paid bills...I can count the number of checks she wrote on one hand. She never worked outside the home and in the last few years she told me she was never made to do anything she didn't want to do.  Good thing she never told that to my brother or me when we were kids! She was unbelievably slow at everything, eating...meals took forever! Getting ready for a doctor visit had to begin at least 3 hours prior and even then we would be late.  Daddy's patience would be stretched beyond reason, and mine too, on occasion. the more we tried to hurry her up, the slower she became..She had two speeds, slow and slower.

When Daddy met Mom in elementary school, he claimed her as his, put her on a pedestal, where she stood the rest of her days.  They were married 72 years.

Mom taught me lots of things, but she didn't teach me to sew. She didn't like any part of sewing or quilting. I teased that she couldn't sew on a button, but she could, reluctantly though. She could not hem a skirt or a pair of pants, so I had to learn that myself. Mom liked to crochet and LOVED to cook. I cook like she did, because I was a good observer and remembered how her recipes smelled and tasted. One time I had to prepare a complete meal for Mother and Daddy for homemaking class, I thought she was going to have a coronary! Giving up contol of her domain nearly killed her. As a very young child I stirred the batters and licked the bowls, never getting sick from raw eggs. She handed me a butcher knife and showed me how to chop the pecans and that was my job from then on...I was probably 7 or 8. I could help her, but it was HER kitchen, her kingdom where she reigned supreme.

 

As her memory slipped away, her cooking skills disappeared. It was one of my great pleasures to make dinner, nearly every night, the last few years for my parents.  Mom would say every meal was the best, tasted so good, and the servings all went together so well, as she rotated the fork over the plate. I'd say every meal, well it's your recipe, I cook just like you did and this is how you served it.  Sadly, she couldn't remember.

Mom was salutatorian of her class and always had an incredible memory. When it left her, it took part of her along. One memory Mom didn't lose was that Rachel is expecting a baby and she talked everyday about rocking that baby.

I was priviledged to care for mom after Daddy passed. I had 3 fabulous caregivers and Matt and Steve by my side to help me day to day. Rachel gave mother something very special, HOPE, something to look forward to, a great grandchild.  I thought sure mom would still be here for the birth in November.  Matt's devotion to his grandmother, Miss Ma Ma, as he called her, was beautiful. Rachel and Matt had great role models in my parents and they miss them everyday.

 

Florence Marie Carter Reed

April 12, 1920 - May 31, 2013

A high school photo circa 1935

 

Matt's biggest fans...(next to Daddy)

Rachel, me and Mom after Matt pitched a no hitter to win City Championship

in the late 1990's, maybe 1996?

 

Mother, as a black widow spider and Matt as a cereal killer at Halloween 2012

 

Today, we had Mom's service.

My days are suddenly empty, but they will fill up quickly. I spent a year arranging, scheduling, worrying about her care. Caring for her was tiring, complicated, heart breaking and so, so rewarding.

I miss kissing her goodnight and getting a good morning hug as I rubbed her aching back.

Mama, I'll miss you everyday.

Goodnight, I love you.

 

Until next time, my best to you all.

~Betsy

 

Market Report

To Market, to Market....Schoolhouse presentation given,  new fabric introduced, reconnected with good, faraway friends...a really good trip! 

 

Introducing...Catherine's Courtyard, my newest line with Newcastle Fabrics. 

 

 

Yes, I've changed fabric companies. Isn't this chintz print beautiful? The photo I have of the coordinates isn't the best. We will have to wait for Newcastle Fabrics to get the line uploaded to their website.

Here is a group picture of the inspiration fabrics. Not all made it in the line. lol I wish! Like the Gone to Texas antique quilt, the log cabin has many great fabrics....perhaps a sequel?

Interesting log cabin, started by hand then with same fabrics, piecing is completed by machine. Makes me wonder if made by more than one person. and who owned the fabulous scrap bag? All prints in the courthouse steps quilt are 1830-60 at the latest, so did the maker have one of the very first machines? Lizzie got her first machine in 1861.

 

My Schoolhouse presentation went well.  I always forget something but,

15 minutes is not enough time!

A nice market recap appeared on Lori's Humble Quilts blog...thank you Lori!

Lizzie got lots of attention, the KC Star booth sold out of all the copies they had with them on Friday, first day of Market.

 

The American Quilt Retailer, a wonderful trade magazine, gave a very nice review of Lizzie's Legacy in the most recent issue. Here is the clipping. Wow. It made me cry! Thank you!

And I here there is also a very nice review in Primitive Quilts magazine. Thank you!!!

 

I'm not very good at taking Market photos. I'm a buyer for LSHQ, so I was pretty busy looking for new fabric and block of the month programs. Paula Barnes new Hampton Ridge is beautiful and I fell in love with the wool projects at Heart to Hand.

 

I went out one night with friends for dinner and soaked up a little local flavor of Portland.

Chandelier inside Voodoo Doughnuts

Note the gorilla holding court among the array of sweets.

Weird, interesting place.

Just look at the these diet busting gems!

The signature doughnut...Silly, sugary fun with friends.

 

Will blog more when time permits. I intended to have more to add to this post, but Mom is not doing well at all and my time has been very limited.  Haven't been able to sew since even before market. During Market, Mom had to go to a respite facility, then came back to my house a week ago today. She has stopped eating and we are keeping her as comfortable as possible.  The computer is in her bedroom so I can keep an eye on her  while I type.

It is a difficult time in life, but I'm so thankful for this time with her.

Blessings to all.

 

Until next time~

Betsy

 

 

 

 

 

May musings

Preparing for Quilt Market in Portland...quilts are 'resting' in loose lumps on the bed under Molly's supervision, of course.  They have been in the suitcase, so a quick plump in the dryer and a nap were in order before they are flattened again and packed for shipping.

I would prefer to carry the quilts myself, but just in case something happens with my mom, the quilts will be there for a Schoolhouse presentation whether I go or not.

 

Do you think Fed Ex will ship a cat? How do cats know you have just taken something out of the dryer? I moved her once, left to get another load, and there she is again.  Surely cat hair can't be seen from the audience, right?

 

Mom was placed under the care of Hospice last month.  She is staying with me most of the time. It is a pleasure to care for her, but we both have had to adapt to the situation.  Best part, is kissing her goodnight and telling her I love her and that I'll see her in the morning, and then each morning getting a good morning hug when I get her out of bed as I rub her back to ease the back pain from a long night's sleep.

I've tried, as much as possible, to continue a normal routine, teaching, working one day a week at the quilt shop, and travel for programs and workshops, and sewing. Well, not getting much sewing done.  One thing I'm doing a lot of, though, is cooking! I use to complain about eating out too much and now, I long for a dinner 'out'.

I'm ok, everyday is a new day.  I make lots of lists of things to do, usually losing the list.  There is a lot of paper gathering around this house!  Notes and records from nurses for us caregivers, bills, yuck, a journal of mom's day...now that is cool...something the caregivers started a year ago when Daddy passed away.

 

Speaking of Daddy, he helped me identify this quilt as Lizzie named it.

This is the antique inspiration hanging over my cupboard door.

 

I had asked him if he knew anything about a bird trap, he said yes, it wasn't sucessful in a very emphatic way, but did draw me two pictures of this scrap wood structure boys built to trap a bird.

What Dad drew was a Courthouse Steps block. I love the quilt I made for the book.

 Bird Trap
 

 

If any of you are going to attend Quilt Market in Portland I'm giving a Schoolhouse presentation on Lizzie's Legacy at 1:55 on Thursday, May 16. I've never been to Portland, Oregon...Market should be fun and inspiring.

 

Just for grins, and this doll does make me smile, here is a sweet doll given to me at the retreat I taught in March.  I'm calling her Lizzie.  She is dressed in one of my favorite pieces from my Wrappers collection.

 

I'm spending a lot of time thinking these days, musing really. Reflecting on mom's story and the events she has seen in her 93 years.

This time with her is precious, as everyday should be anyway, a treasure to behold with fond remembrances of yesterday and wonder at what tomorrow will bring.

 

Until next time...

~My best,

Betsy

 

 

The freshness of Spring

Here is Spring...has it arrived where you live?  The bright green of new growth seems to increase daily. Makes me smile.  Spring is so often a time for new beginnings, maybe that energy should go toward finishing those unfinished projects.  Hmmm, no, more fun to start something new.

Have you seen http://www.pickledish.com/ lately?  I was interviewed for a blog post about me and Lizzie's Legacy.  Check it out. The posting is for March 28. If you leave a comment, you have a chance at a free book.(I don't know how long this runs.) Deb asked me what I was currently working on, and Molly suggested the hexagon project, no doubt so she could be in the photo.  Random fabrics, very scrappy, no plan for colors nor size.  Hexes are on the large size, a little harder to hold for stitching and helpful kitty adds to degree of difficulty.  :-) A few hexes stitched each evening and before I know it, I just might have a good size quilt...how big is that? As big as I want, a throw, or bed size, who knows.  It is calming project, fairly portable and fun.

Molly has a thing for English Paper Piecing, but I won't allow her to help with the basting.  Thank you Sue Daley for introducing us to Sewline glue!!!!! I may never thread baste again. Grab some of this fabric glue and give it a go, running a line of glue on each side/edge of the paper , enough so your fabric's seam allowance with cover it and then press it down with your finger.  TA DA basted.....so fast!

 

Molly trying to decide on the backing of Sister's Block quilt.

 

 

She chose the paisley.

 

 Now I'm wishing I had a larger quilt, big sigh...they can't all be big.

 

I had wanted to be decorated for Easter and Spring, maybe tomorrow! The same Christmas quilt, red and cream, is still on the end table. Was ok for Valentine's Day, but not good for spring.  Taking care of my mom is about all I can do.  She is napping right now. 

 

I had a lovely break two weeks ago when I taught a workshop for several days in East Texas, wonderful food, great students and friends, fabulous sewing room and one realy good night's sleep!

Next week I host a JO Morton retreat and I cannot wait to get away, relax and sew.  When I am away, Mom has very good care...my son, or husband, stay with her at night and my comfort keepers during the day. Her dementia is progressing and it is harder and harder to get away.  I'm keeping my fingers crossed that I can go next week and in May to Portland for Spring Quilt Market.

 

My time is up, sad to say...until next time, take some time to enjoy Spring.

 

My best,

~Betsy