Journal: New York Beauty, Finished; & Losing A Sister-In-Law

Lilacs

Last Tuesday, after working on the binding of the New York Beauty quilt a good deal of the day, I checked the weather to see what would be happening in the morning.  Discovering it was most likely going to be raining, preventing me from doing yardwork, I decided to keep sewing away until I was too sleepy to see straight.  When I quit for the night, I had put in 10 ½ hours of hand-sewing.

The end was drawing near!  (In specific, speaking quiltwise, as opposed to in general, speaking earthwise, heh.)

Wednesday, I only got four hours of sewing done.  When we get home from our midweek church service, we like to have a late supper, and then we sit and chat for a while; and after that, I may or may not feel like heading back upstairs to my quilting studio.

Thursday morning was sunny and nice, so I worked out in the gardens for a few hours.  Too long, however long it was.  By the time I had a bath and washed my hair, I had acquired a splitting headache that refused to go away even after doses of first Extra-Strength Tylenol, and then, a little later, some Ibuprofen.  I went to my sewing room and turned on the diffuser with a mixture of peppermint, lavender, citrus, and lemon oils, as that’s what is recommended for headache and also when one needs energy.  All I wanted to do was take a nap, but I needed to sew binding!

Cassin's vireo

The oil concoction didn’t help my headache, but at least it smelled good.  I really like the fragrance essential oils give my quilting room.  Sometimes rainy weather makes the house smell mildewy, or something like damp old wood.  The diffuser helps a lot.

By late evening, I was to the halfway point, sewing the binding onto the quilt back. 

Black-throated green warbler

Migrating birds are coming through our area later than usual, probably on account of the weather.  Wednesday  I saw a Cassin’s vireo out in the black locust tree, and Thursday I saw a black-throated green warbler.

Larry has been working on power-washing the back deck and the back of the house most evenings when he gets home from work.  He’s been coming home late, though, so there’s never much time, and never enough energy.

That evening, the sinking sun was an eerie orb in a pinkish gray sky.  That a sign of wildfires filling the atmosphere with smoke.  I looked it up online, and, sure enough, there are out-of-control fires burning in northern Alberta, Canada.

Larry was supposed to have his teeth realigned Friday, but someone from the dentist office called and canceled his appointment, because their computers have a virus.  Isn’t that a fine how-do-ya-do.

That morning, we received the sad news that our sister-in-law, Annette, had passed away.  She’d battled cancer for about a year and a half.

When she was little (she’s about 6 years younger than me), I used to ride my bicycle over to her house and give her rides (I had a banana seat on my bike).  She was my good little friend, and I was happy when she became my sister-in-law.

Here is her obituary:  Annette Marie Jackson Obituary

A few days ago, from my second-story quilting room window, I spotted a robin making a nest in one of the trees along the fence line.  Friday afternoon, I noticed a mourning dove sitting on a nest in one of the Austrian pines to the east.

Here’s a baby English sparrow in the lilac bush.  Isn’t he cute?  They always have such sad, pathetic faces.  It’s to make their parents feel pity, and feed them, I suspect!

Last Saturday a young volunteer firefighter from Genoa, 20 miles to our west, was taking a kayak over a small dam; but the water was raging, and he fell out.  People who saw it happen tried to help, but the water was too fast, and they were unable to get to him.  They have not yet found him.  That was one of the areas that flooded so badly in March, and the waters cut new paths and holes, and there’s still a lot of large debris underwater.

He was the grandson of a good friend of Larry’s, who used to be a regular customer of ours when Larry owned an auto-body rebuilding shop.  He was 29, and had a wife and little boy.  She is an EMT.

That night, I suddenly discovered I was on the fourth side of the quilt binding, rather than the third, as I had thought.

When I hung it up for the night, I had exactly 12” to go.  12 inches to go!!!!!!!!!!!!! 

But it was very late... I wanted to get up early and work in the flower gardens... and 12 inches of blind stitching on that binding takes longer than you’d think.  I would finish it Saturday.

Saturday morning, as planned, I worked in the flowerbeds.  Here is one of the yellow and burgundy irises that recently bloomed.  I have numerous irises that never bloom.  I think they’re planted too deep.  I should dig them up and replant them in a prettier configuration. 

The first peony blossomed:

This baby sparrow tried to get a drink, but underestimated the slipperiness of the edge of the bird bath:

He escaped unharmed, none the worse for wear, though rather damp.

More pictures here:

Binding, Irises, & Porch Flowers

The Baby Birds Are Out in Droves

Baby Sparrows, Flowers, & a Pretty Deck

This is a silver-spotted skipper butterfly.  I wonder why they always look so astonished?  Maybe they can see their own reflection in the macro lens, and they’re amazed at their own cuteness?

After an hour and a half of weeding, I headed inside for a bath and shampoo, ate breakfast, and then hurried upstairs to finish the New York Beauty quilt.

As I’ve mentioned before, I removed the entire binding and put it back on by hand, topside and back side.  I thought this was the best way to make sure it didn’t get attached too tightly, like it did when I put it on by machine, using a zipper foot. 

It took 30 minutes to finish that last 12” of binding.  When it was done, I starched and steamed the binding and borders all the way around the quilt, and was happy and relieved to see that it lies nice and flat, and the edges are straight.  I’m so glad I redid that binding!  I wound up adding a good 8” to it!  And now I was ready to take pictures of it.

Since Larry has been working on the back deck, power-washing it and getting it ready to stain, and that’s where I usually take pictures of my quilts, we drove out to Loren and Norma’s to use their deck for the photo shoot.

Problem:  In between the time we left our house and arrived at their house ten minutes later, the wind had come up – and it kept a-blowing until we quit taking pictures, folded up the quilt, and stowed it back inside the Jeep.  

Above is a shot of my brother on hands and knees, laughing as he tries to hold down one corner. The next picture shows what happened when he let go. 😄

After the morning church service yesterday, we retrieved our flowers at the cemetery. 

Being disappointed with the rumpled-quilt pictures of Saturday, after we ate lunch Larry moved his power-washing paraphernalia and the deck furniture, and I retook the quilt photos on our deck.  The wind cooperated this time.

The quilt measures 117” x 117”.  It is comprised of 32 different white-on-cream fabrics and 25 different white-on-white fabrics.  I used extra-loft poly batting.  The top thread is #40 Signature, and the bobbin thread is #60 Bottom Line.  There are about 6,660 pearls sewn onto the Venice lace.  I have 593.5 hours in the quilt – and I still need to sew a hanging sleeve onto it (for quilting shows), make a machine-embroidered label, and finish the two king-sized pillow shams.  740 pearls still need to be sewn onto those.  I designed the quilt in EQ8.  More pictures are here.

A friend wrote asked how much I’d sell her the quilt for.  She was teasing; she knows it’s for Jeremy and Lydia.  But I sent her this:

“Well... I have $378.47 in the materials for the quilt... 593.5 hours... I think I should make lawyer fees – that’s $500/hr., right?  Okay, that’s $296,750 for labor, plus the materials – wait, I think I’ll charge what they would’ve cost, had I not gotten quite a bit of it on sale:  that’s $648.60.  Therefore, I will sell this quilt for $297,398.60.  Sound good?  Going... going...”

She answered shortly:  “Not gone.”  😅

A quilting friend gave some helpful advice to another lady, then added this:  “I seldom practice what I preach, but that does not make me wrong.”  hee hee

The baby sparrows were in the lilac bush again today, right outside my kitchen window.  They’re so much fun to watch.

This evening, Larry came home from work a bit early, we ate a quick supper, and then went to the church to attend visitation for Annette.  Sad times.  But we smile through our tears, and are thankful that she is no longer suffering, and that she awaits us in heaven. 

Kenny is sad, but he’s still Kenny.  He was talking to Larry (they’re just a year apart), and then told him, “They’ve told me that I need to keep the line moving –” he gestured at the friends coming his way to offer their condolences “– so you’d better go.”  

And so, as I said, we smile through our tears.

Levi, who is 9, decided he needed to give his classmates and second cousins Ava, Sophia, and Carsen, who are each grandchildren of Annette (and first cousins to each other), sympathy cards.  So he spent some time this morning writing this poem, and Hannah printed it for him and put it into a card.

Card front

That made me cry, reading what that sweet little boy wrote.

Tomorrow is the funeral.

After leaving the church tonight, we went to Wal-Mart for some fruit and dairy products.  We walked into the Garden Center to look for a large plant to put in a big pot on our front porch, and two small plants to put in the little lamp/bird feeder/planter station my brother gave me and Larry put together a week or two ago.  The large Garden Center was plumb empty; we were the only ones there.

Spotting a big pot of blooming flowers that I didn’t recognize, I turned it around until I could find the name:  Dipladenia.  I’d never heard of it before.  But I promptly turned to Larry and cried, “I want a Dip-la-denia!  I want a Dip-la-denia!”

He laughed, picked the thing up, and put it into the cart.

We went on looking for a couple of small potted plants that would fit in the little planter.  We hunted and searched... and searched and hunted... and then I spotted some little baskets of succulents that I knew would be exactly the right size.  The only drawback:  each basket cost $11.84.  I don’t spend that much on flowers for myself!

I stood there and looked at them – and then Larry, on the other side of the display rack, called, “Hey, how about these?”

I walked around to the other side – and there he was, pointing out some little baskets of succulents, exactly like the ones I’d been looking at. 

“Those are just like the ones I found on the other side of the rack!” I told him.  “They’re the right size, but look at the price!”

He looked.  I stood there.

“Well, make up your mind!” he said, laughing at me.

“It’s your money!” I retorted.

He shrugged.

So... I unhooked two little baskets, and put them into the cart.

After leaving Wal-Mart, we drove to Dairy Queen and indulged in a couple of Blizzards.  Larry got a New York Cheesecake Blizzard, and I got a Summer Berry Cheesecake Blizzard.  Yum, those things are good.

We headed toward home, driving west into a beautiful sunset.  And I didn’t have my camera!  We pulled into the drive, I dashed into the house, grabbed the camera, ran back to the car, and we drove a little farther up the hill, where we could get a good view.  The sunset was almost gone by then, but still pretty.

When we got home, I put away the groceries, Larry put the Dipladenia in the pot on the porch, and I set the little baskets of succulents into the planter and carried it outside.

I went out and took some photos a couple of minutes ago, but it’s black as the ace of spades out there, and the pictures aren’t the best.  I’ll take more in the sunlight tomorrow.

While I was outside, I heard what sounded like a whole volley of coyote pups yipping and howling, their high-pitched voices carrying clearly on the hillsides.  Is that why Teensy’s tail was all bushy when he came indoors a few minutes ago?

Time for bed.

,,,>^..^<,,,          Sarah Lynn          ,,,>^..^<,,,