More Windows And Some Chit-Chat

A body-snatcher has apparently invaded me because I am tackling jobs that are absolutely uncharacteristic to my nature. I continue to window-clean.

The remnants of the master bedroom curtains were stacked neatly on my cutting table. I had 8 pieces that measured 4' by 3'.   I figured that a couple of them would be good for valances on other windows needing an update. (Let me clarify: nearly every upstairs window needs an update!)

And you know, if you are making new window treatments, then windows MUST be cleaned in that process.

We live in the country on a very secluded piece of property, and out every window we have trees and sky for as far as the eye can see. With such gorgeous views, it is a shame that I allow my windows to get so clouded with dust and grime. My resolve to correct this situation began in our master bedroom (see this post) and continues now to my sewing room.

This window is behind my sewing chair and looks out into the back yard. That roof is our screened porch which we added in '03. The curtains are not terribly old - maybe they have been up for 6 years?? More? I am not sure, but I know I didn't do anything special with them; just found some decent yardage from my fabric stash and stitched 'em up.

Today - down they came. And window cleaning commenced. What a pretty view when the sun comes out! The screen was in this window all winter, and it also got a cleaning. So much dust!

Then for new window treatments. I decided that the remnants of the drop cloths used in the master bedroom would make attractive valances for this room. I used one full width and half of another to make this double valance.

The window across the room got the exact same treatment.The curtain here is the same fabric with a stripe of coordinating fabric inserted. This is a shorter window which sits above the garage and looks out into the front yard. I had to get outside on that roof to wash the window and install the screen.

My total number of cleaned windows is now 6 - 4 done inside and out; 2 awaiting outside cleaning.

My total number of new window treatments is also 6 - 4 in the master suite; 2 in the sewing room.

When I am not stitching draperies, I continue making Ohio Stars for my Dreamy Stars quilt. I hope to be stitching rows together tomorrow.

And speaking of tomorrow, Sharon will be here to sew! We have begun to relax our quarantining efforts. A week ago, I spent Wednesday at Terry's sewing; on Thursday, Sharon came here to resume our weekly sewing time together. We never realize how special these sewing times are until we can't do them anymore! We all NEEDED to be together! The Frankfort girls will be resuming bi-weekly Friday get togethers at the end of next week. Slowly, normalcy returns. Hooray!

Further evidence of normalcy returning: on Sunday we went to DD Erin's, who along with her husband are relaxing their quarantine. We were invited for brunch, and  DD Emma came to join the fun! What a great Mother's Day treat! Since the quarantine began, Erin and Jeff have bought a condo in downtown Columbus and have moved. It was great to see them, and also their new home.

Later on Mother's Day we drove over to Hillsboro to spend some time with my dear momma. She has remained so upbeat through this long quarantine; even though I am sure she was awfully lonely at times, I never once heard her complain or bemoan the situation.  She enjoys watching her birds and other wildlife out her windows; loving on her cat Mike; and putting together jigsaw puzzles. She is a huge sports fan, and it's safe to say she has missed her Cincinnati Reds and all the NCAA tournament.

How have your been handling the stay-at-home orders these past two months? Have you begun to relax your efforts?

Happy Quilting, Friends!

Welcome July!

My welcome to July is a day late, but once you hear about all the activities of  my past few days you will surely agree I have sufficient excuse for a delayed acknowledgement of a new month.

My June collage contains a hint to this past weekend. But first let's get through the first 7 pictures. June started with my effort on Kim Diehl's Simple Friendships II quilt along. Most of the Frankfort Girls worked on this together - and my version is the first picture. My next is of Schnormeier Garden, a day trip that DH and I took to Gambier, OH. It was a lovely day and a tour of a lovely garden. The final picture of the top row is my finished Weathervane quilt, borders included.

The middle row shows my two blocks for the Quilter's Planner QAL; one of our planters doing quite well despite the rabbits and because of all the rain; and daughter Emma sewing a baby quilt.

The bottom row begins by featuring my progress on a UFO called Six Degrees. The we have the final two pictures that represent our fantastic weekend. The card reads "Jayne, you are my favorite wife. Happy Anniversary, Love, Kevin"  - yes, we celebrated a milestone this weekend, and our daughters really pulled off a great surprise for us, which is shown in the last picture, the Granville Inn in Granville, OH.

They'd told us a good while ago not to plan anything for our 40th. So we didn't. And they were very secretive about what was going to happen. I was told that the "anniversary fairy" would call on the 28th to provide details. And sure enough, that fairy came through - a night at the very posh Granville Inn, complete with wine and cheese delivered to the room, dinner reservations, all courtesy of the girls. What a great gift!

The whole 40th anniversary experience was full of surprises within surprises. I credit both daughters for their creativity in making a truly special weekend for us. Upon arrival, flowers were waiting on us -  shown above. They were from the girls who had instructed the florists to sign their dad's name to the card. Smart girls!

Since the dinner reservations were at 8:30, they'd ordered a charcuterie platter and wine to be delivered around 5. Yet another surprise, and what a treat. It was delicious and did the trick in tiding us over for a late dinner.

The Inn is a beautiful 1924 structure situated on the spacious, historic main street of Granville. Folks from around the area know Granville as a college town (Denison University) as well as a quaint New England-style village full of historic landmarks. After checking in, we took a walk from one end of town to the other (not a very long walk at all) enjoying the architecture, beautiful homes and yards, and reading historic markers. People we passed were friendly, and I actually exchanged IG handles with one man who is a prominent landscape designer. (That whole bit was rather remarkable and warrants a story to be told later.)

The best surprise of all was yet to come, though. We headed down to dinner and instead of seating us at a quiet table for two, we were taken to a large table at which sat the kids! What a surprise! Neither of us had an inkling that they would come to join us, but oh, how glad we were to see them! It was the best of all possible surprises. I still get teary-eyed and emotional when I think of it.

Our dinner was divine. Every single bite was delicious, and all was so beautifully prepared and presented.

My dinner ~ Cajun Salmon on a bed of cauliflower rice and fried green tomato.

Kevin's dinner ~ New York strip on sautéed asparagus with a side of mashed potatoes (not shown).

Special anniversary dessert ~ crème brulee with shortbread cookies.

From the appetizers and drinks all the way to the desserts, the entire dinner was wonderful in every way. I don't know how it could have been made any more perfect. Having the kids there was just the best of all scenarios. My heart was so full. The bride I was 40 years ago surely never imagined how much more love could ever come into her life.

And that is why I am a day late in welcoming July here on the blog. Well, that and the fact that from Granville we drove over to DH's hometown of Coshocton for the funeral of his Uncle Tom. A sad part of our weekend, to be sure, but such is the way life works. The pendulum of time brings us a fair measure of highs and lows, and along the way the love of family propels us on our journey.

Happy July, dear readers, and
Happy Quilting, Friends!

Family Time

I interrupt the regularly scheduled chit-chat about quilts to share a bit of my family with you.

Last night my siblings and I had the wonderful opportunity to spend time together with our mom at a local sports pub in my hometown, Hillsboro. The gathering was very much an impromptu one, but we had such a terrific time!

Pictured are Sandy, Jayne, Mark, Carol, Mom, and Alan. Just six years separate me (oldest) from my baby sister Carol (youngest), so we are close as families go. On Mother's Day, we weren't able to coordinate our times for a group picture, so I am glad this worked out for us.

Do you see a family resemblance?? *smile*

Quilting chit-chat will resume tomorrow! Thanks for indulging me!
Happy Quilting, Friends!

Christmas Is In the Air

Are you all feeling Christmas in the air? We are making our season festive and fun. On Friday night, the entire family - our immediate family, that is - met at daughter Erin's apartment in Columbus and later went to dinner at a fine German Village establishment known as Lindey's. We all went last year, and it was so enjoyable that we - DH and I - wanted to repeat it this year.

A night-time photo taken under a brightly lit entrance makes picture quality suffer, but the important things are the people. Kevin and I are on the left with our children - son Adam, daughters Emma and Erin along with son-in-law Jeff and Emma's long-time boyfriend Geoffrey.

Also becoming festive are the decorations here around the house. I can't recall if I have shared this yo-yo table topper or not. The pattern is from Thimbleberries, and I made it about 25 years ago. It has held up pretty well, even with an occasional spill of candle wax. I like bringing it out each December. This year, I have it spread across the top of an old trunk and topped it with a trifle dish full of bows and bells.

Hope it's festive where you live!

Happy Quilting, Friends!

Handwork - More 4-Patches

Some quilters and seamstresses have a hard time sewing in the car, but I have never minded it. I actually have stitched quite a few projects on the road.

We were away for the weekend, so I took a ziplock bag of 2.5" squares - just in case, you know - for any down time on our journey. Finally, on the way home I dug it out and proceeded to make the 4-patch blocks you see below.

Eleven blocks done on the road. Pretty darn good, if I do say so myself. In the process of straightening up my sewing room, I find bits of fabric that can be cut into 2.5" squares, so new stuff is going in all the time. It definitely increases the scrappy factor in these little blocks. I am still considering options on how to use them. My count is up to around 140 now. I could probably make that many more from the squares I have cut.

The trip to Belmont County was wonderful. DH, our very excellent driver, said he thought it was a 9.8 on a 10-point scale. That's pretty good coming from one of our group who is an in-law in this family. Our travel party consisted of the following: Great Uncle John, Great Aunt Nina, their daughter Marilyn, my mother Jeannie, my sister Sandy and her husband Tim, and my brother Alan and his wife Beth, myself and husband Kevin. A merry party of 10 in a 15-passenger van for a 2-day trip to visit old family homes, workplaces, schools and cemeteries. We heard a lot of stories from the elder members of the group. We took tons of pictures. We did a lot of laughing.

My brother Alan and our great uncle John.

My brother-in-law Tim and my husband Kevin.

Albert George house; my mother's family lived near here when she was a little girl; Grandpa worked on the farm.

Uncle John standing in front of the house where his family lived; referred to as the Taber Farm.

My great-grandparents; my mother's paternal grandparents.

My other great-grandparents; my mother's maternal grandparents.

I am already getting my stories mixed up, so I really need to make myself sit down and get the material written out. We said we needed a tape recorder for all the tales and anecdotes that were shared. I will count on my siblings and, of course, Mom, to help me keep my facts straight.

Happy Quilting, Friends!

Making a Memory

Quilting has done it again. Because of quilting, I have another wonderful, sweet memory to tuck away and keep in my heart.

I attended a quilt show yesterday with my mother and grandmother. We were invited by Mom's first cousin Marilyn, who is a quilter and an active member in the guild in her area. So already, we have 3 generations of the family involved from 2 branches of that family.

Now I have to say, that getting my 96-year-old Grandma to agree to go somewhere is no small task! We rarely ask her to go anywhere anymore because she always says no. Besides her Thursday beauty shop appointment, she is content to stay home!

I asked her on Friday evening to go with us on Saturday afternoon. We have learned that we can't ask too far in advance, because then she will have too much time to think of a reason why she can't or won't go. And we have also learned that we have to keep trips short. The ride to Peebles is about a 30-minute drive south of Hillsboro, and I told her she could dictate how long we stayed.

The last thing I told her was that I had a sneaking suspicion that one of her quilts was going to be in the show.

That got her! :-)

I tell you, I felt like I had returned to my childhood! Mom drove and Grandma sat in front, while I was in the back seat. Driving down the road and listening to them talk about the farms, the people, the landmarks and such along the way was priceless. One doesn't realize that as a child, so I absorbed as much as I could, and asked questions - a lot of questions. Grandma loved seeing the countryside, and reminisced about days gone by. Yesterday, while chilly, was sun-filled and the spring leaves are just popping out, so everything had a clean, fresh look.

Quilts??? Oh, yes, we did see some quilts! I will show most of those in my next post. Today, I will just focus on the family stuff.

Here is my spry Grandma Mary, age 96, flanked by my Great Aunt Nina and Great Uncle John. My grandpa, Mike, was Uncle John's oldest brother. These 3 are the only ones remaining in this generation. Grandpa died in 1997, and the two other brothers and their spouses are gone now, too.

Now, to the quilt. Uncle John and Aunt Nina were married in 1949, and Grandma made this quilt and gave it to them for a wedding gift. My cousin Marilyn, their oldest child and only daughter, says it was on their bed for many, many years. In other words, it was used! And there is some wear showing, particularly on the upper border.

The way we saw the quilt was really cool, and a first for me. The guild had scheduled a "Bed Turning" at 2pm. I'd never seen one done before, but I had heard of them. A bed is layered up with a dozen or however many quilts spread across it. A speaker tells a brief story of each quilt, and when finished, 2 volunteers are positioned in such a way as to fold and remove that quilt, so that the next one is seen. Then that story is told and so on with folding, removing, and revealing the next quilt.

When Uncle John and Aunt Nina's quilt was uncovered, Grandma practically squealed with delight when she saw it. "Oh! I see pieces I remember!" All the petals on these flowers were scraps from dresses and skirts that Mom and her 2 sisters would have had. Grandma made all their clothes, and no scraps were ever discarded! That would have been wasteful!

Marilyn had taken the microphone to tell the story of this quilt, and she introduced both her Aunt Mary (my grandmother) and her parents. It was so special. I think Marilyn was thrilled to have Grandma and her parents present for the Bed Turning. It really made for a wonderful event. I have to admit to wiping a tear. Or two.

And that's the way it is with quilting. The special times we remember; the bonds of family; the love of stitching -- so many facets of quilting bring people together. The fabrics are bits of other things. As gifts, they mark significant events. Quilts do indeed have histories and tell stories.

In just an hour we had finished our visit, and were heading back to Hillsboro. The front-seat talk was just as pleasurable on the way home, only this time added in were delightful comments about the quilts and about the family. Grandma thanked us over and over for insisting that she attend this event. It not only made a memory for me, but she and Mom were equally pleased with the afternoon's adventure. And, I would guess that Uncle John, Aunt Nina and Marilyn experienced similar delight at how lovely an afternoon we all had, and that they, too, made some memories.

Happy Quilting, Friends!