Sunday slump.

Today started out to be a tough one......I found myself exhausted, overwhelmed, and discouraged.

But it's amazing what the love and support of family and friends can do.
Even friends I've never met.

First, I got this email from a return customer...........

.".....THE RUG ARRIVED ON FRIDAY EVENING AND WE THINK IT IS GORGEOUS!  THE COLORS REMIND US OF OUR FAVORITE BEACH ON MARTHA"S VINEYARD, IT IS SO LOVELY AND HARMONIOUS.  YOU HAVE A WONDERFUL TALENT AND SENSE OF COLOR ...  .................................................

.......YOUR BEAUTIFUL WORK GIVES US PLEASURE EACH AND EVERY DAY AND ADDS SUCH PEACEFULNESS AND HARMONY TO SPENDING OUR SUMMERS ON MARTHA'S VINEYARD.  

WITH MUCH APPRECIATION,

JUDY"

 Here's their rug.

It is a lovely, warm feeling, to be appreciated for what I am passionate about.  One of these days, I  am going to get back to it without distraction.

Then I got an  email from my bff, reminding me of stuff I knew, but needed to hear anyway.  That's what best friends are for.
My oldest childhood friend called me on the phone to offer  up some words of wisdom.
One of my daughers called, just to let me know she was thinking of me.
I got texts, and emails, and phone calls, and before long, I was feeling better.
Remembering all the things I have to be grateful for.   A great family, good ......exceptional .....friends.  So many things.

I made this tonight.  It was one of those Facebook things that get passed around.  

There are sauteed onion and garlic underneath slices of zucchini, yellow squash, potato, and tomato.

I only had one tomato.

The recipe called for thyme.  I used fresh basil.

It called for Italian cheeses, I used feta.

You cover with foil, and bake at 400 degrees for 30 minutes, then uncover it put the cheese to melt.

And I was liberal in my use of salt and pepper.

As I am wont to do.

I've always loved that phrase.  Wont to do.

I had it with Morning Star Asian veggie burgers, which I am somewhat addicted to.
I guess it could be worse.

Did I mention that I am just doing one day at a time???  
Cause I am.
Thank goodness it works.

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Ack, ack, and double ack.
Don't ask me where that word comes from.  I have no idea.  I make them up as I go along.
But when the world seems to tip on its axis, ack comes to mind.  Along with a couple of other words that do not seem appropriate here.

Sydney says:   It's like sometimes you just don't fit in your own box.

Yeah, I get that.

 If you don’t like something change it; if you can’t change it, change the way you think about it. – Mary Engelbreit

It is so hot in the northeast, they have actually issued a heat warning, so my granddaughters, who came overnight for a riding lesson today, won't be doing that today.   Their teacher cancelled, this high heat and humidity is not kind to her horses, even if the kids would go for it.


They were about as digusted as Sydney.

My poor grandson has been up all night after a bad reaction to anesthesia for a simple wisdom tooth removal, and my daughter has been frantic.  No one likes to see their child sick.

My mother is fading before my eyes, and from one day to the next looks sicker and more frail.
This, of course, has everyone depressed and dealing with impending loss.

Everytime I think I make an impromptu plan, I realize that I can't just "leave". 
Ack, ack, ack.

And when the h.e.l.l. did my hair get so white?????  
Mother of God.

 

Ack.

Deep breath.
Close eyes.
Another deep breath.

It's time to take a look at what I can do.   A quick run to Walgreen's to see if they have swim goggles, and if that doesn't work, maybe a finagled quick trip to Target.
Wait.  I'll call K Mart, it's on the way to the studio.


Time to go through my summer clothes.  It's mid July, chances are if I haven't worn it yet, I won't.  Chuck it.
When winter comes, the same routine will happen again.

I still have strips to be sewn.  There is still a warp on the loom.
The refrigerator needs to be cleaned.
I have a book from the library.  A good one.

The girls want to renew their kumihimo skills, if we can find their kumi looms.

There are things to do, life to be lived.  Things to be grateful for, and more positive than negative.


Whatever is annoying, I tell myself, "get over it".
Life goes on.

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Catching up on some quilting...

So last year I was determined to finish up all the tops that were piling up or give them away. Yay! I pretty much did that and have been determined to quilt each top as I make it ~ as all of you do?

I've done well, by keeping an ongoing list. Something about putting it down on paper, {or whiteboard} that keeps me on track. Until now... oh no, I've got 5 tops on the list. There's something about that pretty fabric that keeps calling me to cut it up and sew!

Today I promised to make a dent and pin-basted 2 tops. So hopefully, I'll have some finished quilts to show soon!

Even though this lovely fabric pile keeps calling my name. I won't touch it ~ promise. 

{I'm doing "Fresh" from Simply Retro}

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Changes

Settling into a new schedule is difficult enough without this oppressive heat. 
Next doesn't care for it any more than I do.

When I got to the studio this morning, L had a surprise for me, in preparation for the warp we needed to put on the Toika.

A PORTABLE AC, to keep us from melting while we worked.

Since I had only a few available hours, and she had things to do, we got right to work on it.

 

It's a good feeling to have it done.  Now we have to thread it, for rugs 7 ft wide, and probably 10 ft long.  Walking on Sunshine rugs.

Then I went home.  I am modifying what I do in a day, so my mother isn't alone.
Roy likes me to go  outside with him.  Crazy dog, he doesn't like to be out there by himself.
And he sleeps in the "blazing sun".

 

My mother is getting a lot of company.  Roy thinks they all come to see him.

 

 He is an equal opportunity love giver though, he spreads it around.

 And then he gets exhausted with it all.

I am somewhat exhausted, too.  I am doing more things at home than usual.
Sewing strips for rag rugs, for one thing.  Finding closets and drawers that need cleaning.

 I am actually surprised at how calm I am about this change in my life.
It seems nonproductive to get upset about it.

 I am a regular at the library, keeping myself in good books to read.  I have my loom at home warped for tencel scarves in 8 harness shadow weave.
I got my lounge chair set up by the pool.

This too shall pass.
I will work at the studio when I can, and not worry about the small stuff.   I have always said that you should do the work right in front you.

Then while I was cleaning out some shelves, I found an old children's book, and sat down to read it.
Somehow, it spoke to me of what's going on here right now, with my mother at the end of her life..

“Real isn't how you are made,' said the Skin Horse. 'It's a thing that happens to you. When a child loves you for a long, long time, not just to play with, but REALLY loves you, then you become Real.'

'Does it hurt?' asked the Rabbit.

'Sometimes,' said the Skin Horse, for he was always truthful. 'When you are Real you don't mind being hurt.'

'Does it happen all at once, like being wound up,' he asked, 'or bit by bit?'

'It doesn't happen all at once,' said the Skin Horse. 'You become. It takes a long time. That's why it doesn't happen often to people who break easily, or have sharp edges, or who have to be carefully kept. Generally, by the time you are Real, most of your hair has been loved off, and your eyes drop out and you get loose in the joints and very shabby. But these things don't matter at all, because once you are Real you can't be ugly, except to people who don't understand.”

It is still a beautiful world.

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Still.

I got sick of using paper on the warps I wound on the warping board.  I only have a few looms with a plain warp beam, most all my looms have sectionals.  But I get annoyed every time I use heavy brown paper, and it doesn't wind tight.
So I ordered me some CORRUGATED.
I guess I didn't realize how big 250 ft of it would actually be.

YIKES.
Guess I'm good for a while.  And I know a few of my fave weavers who will want some.

 

I have been home with my ailing mother all week, but today daughter #1 came and stayed with her grandmother.

I went to the studio for the day.  Alone.

Can I just say, "wow".

Peace.  Quiet.  No requests.

It was pretty special.  I needed the break.

I wove on an order for a while.

 

I weeded around the barn, and checked out stuff.
My trumpet vine has gone bananas.

Here's my high bush cranberry.........

 

I have been so busy with my head issues, and now my mother, that the garden has somewhat gotten out of hand.

 I did manage to weed my little vegetable garden.

 Then I worked on my point twill towels.

This one is going to use up a bunch of bobbins of different colors.

 

Tomorrow daughter #3 is spending time with her grandmother, so I get to play AGAIN.

Life is good.

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Scrambling

I could be talking about my brain.  But I'm just referring to the state of things.


 I've known for a while, that my mother was failing.  So I set up a loom at home, so when it came to staying home with her, I would still be able to weave.

 

 This is the 8 harness Macomber that I decided would be my "home loom".
A girl has to have a loom in every venue, you knew that right?

 The bench that came with it was hand made, and sweet, but too short for me.  So I found this one at the studio, that not only is the right height (crucial), but also seems to match the Macomber.

 

My mother has decided that she needs 24 hours nursing care.

She's right.

Her health has been in a rapid decline these last few months.

Unfortunately, she does not have the funds to pay  the $9000 a month it costs to stay in a nursing home, which means that we need to apply for Medicaid.

After a morning getting all the appropriate paperwork together, I went to Social Services to get this done.

Because my mother was not born in this country, I had to find her naturalization papers.

 

While I was sitting waiting for copies to be made, I was looking through my mother's wallet.
In behind the Medicare cards, and insurance cards, were pictures that just made me want to sit down and cry.


My mother and father, I think this is her first winter in the United States, 1946.

They were so young, and so much in love.  I guess they will be together again,  it's inevitable.

My grandmother and my Aunt Joyce back in England, in 1949.   I think about how my mother left them behind to marry my father.  It was an impulsive decision, and in later years a painful one when she realized that she had missed so much of their lives, and they hers.
 

 

 She saw her mother once more. 


She had a dream that my grandmother died, and the next week my father came home with the money to get her to the United States.  He took out a loan, just for her.
He picked up my grandmother in NYC, and she stayed with us for a year.   I was six, and don't really remember her. I was her first grandchild.  She went back to England and died of leukemia within the year.
 My mother didn't see her sister for 18 years.  1964.  A lifetime.
Things were different back then.  You just didn't pick up and fly wherever you wanted.


I am trying to do what has to be done.  I am taking care of my mother, and trying to help her with end of life issues.
But at the same time,  her life has been full,  and vibrant, and contemplating the end of that life is more than I can bear right now.

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What I'm working on...

No finishes to share this week! But I did cut into some fat quarters of Simply Style by Vanessa Christenson. Oh how I love her 2 lines - they're such beautiful, colorful, modern, graphic lines. And they work really well together.

I've had this block drawn up in my design notebook for a while. Then I saw Rita's version over at Red Pepper Quilts and couldn't wait to try it. Vanessa's fabric was perfect for the look I wanted with a couple of stash pieces added for more variety.

The half-square triangles finish at 2 1/2", which makes the star 40" square. I added a small white border to separate it from the binding.

I'm also working on finishing up my Steam Punk quilt. Yeah!

The quilting on this one is a bit unusual from most...
I started out by quilting in the ditch along all of the gray sashing strips.

Then I machine quilted around each of the center circles in the blocks and did the setting triangles. I used this wonderful graphic piece in the triangles which actually gave me some quilting lines to follow. Love when that happens! Since the edges were all stitched down, I decided to finish it off with the binding.

And now I'm hand quilting 2 concentric circles in each block. The hand quilting is giving the quilt the needed texture without super-obvious lines that could be distracting. It's making for some nice relaxing summer evenings. I've been watching Friday Night Lights and catching up on the past years' movies on DVD. I'd welcome any movie suggestions!

Finally, I love to do embroidery. Haven't picked up in years. I probably did my first when I was 8 or 9 years old - learned from my grandmother who was an amazing needleworker! Some day I'll tell you more about her...

These are from Anna Maria Horner's Love from A to Z and for my granddaughters, Elyse and Madelyn.

Well, this looks like a WIP post and it's Wednesday. Guess I ought to link up to Lee over at Freshly Pieced! What are you working on?

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