I Have Had Better Days

Believe me I will not be upset if you pass this post by! I will probably take it down soon anyway. I am just disillusioned these days by those who victimized others, who feel no guilt for what they do. As many of you know, I am the parent of an adult with developmental disabilities. Dan is not perfect, no one is, but he is kind and friendly and willing to help out others. Unfortunately, this can mean he is often taken advantage of. A couple of weeks ago as is my habit I visited Danny with his usual weekly money. Grocery money, money to eat out one evening, and cash for every day. He gets four dollars a day to spend on soda, etc. This was taken care of on Sunday night. On Monday around noon he was calling to remind me that he needed his money for the week. His support staff was coming and he needed the money soon! I argued with him but he was so upset I finally went over to his apartment. Sure enough all the money was gone. I emptied my wallet so he could shop and asked a few questions. Turns out he has been befriended by a young man living in the same complex. This guy often borrows from Danny and uses his phone and hangs out in his apartment. He was there that morning, and he was there the next Monday morning before eight o'clock. . Told Danny he needed to use his phone because his truck was not running. By nine  I was getting a call that all his daily money was once again gone. I have changed whet we do for grocery money and eating out money or that would probably be gone as well. Danny lives on seven hundred dollars a month. This was devastating!

If you are familiar with the innocence of many of the disabled you will understand why this can happen. What I don't understand is the person who thinks this behavior is okay. This is one of those times when I have to say I am done. I hope you are having a better month than I am. I know things will get better and it could be worse.

Christmas on my mind!

 Hello again, it looks like I am not finished with Christmas just yet. In my last post I spoke about family and the creativity of those I grew up with. So, now I will show elements of a wreath my sister Kathleen gifted me with. First of all, I think we have a rather unique relationship. Kathy is five years younger than me. If you look back on the post that includes my wedding picture you will see her looking very young. As the years passed and we were both married, we started to hang out more. When the children cam along we found the age difference had begun to fade. We became friends, confidants and as close as sisters can ever be.

 We are separated these days by distance. My husband, and son and I moved to Mo about ten yearts ago to be with our daughter and subsequently our granddaughter. My husband had retired and began to say such things as he would rather see his friends a few times a year and out daughter once a week or even more. I was born in California, raised there, raised our children there. I miss the Christmas fun we had in the days. We always met for lunch and the sort of shopped. We didn't buy much that day but walked around acting smug because we were finished with our own shopping.

 She cried with me when our youngest child was born with developmental disabilities and always treated him as if he were just like the other kids. So he always thinks he is. He still asks about her every day.

 We are at a time in our lives where the hard stuff gets harder. So, we hold on to each other despite the distance and for me it is a great comfort.

 As many of you know, my husband is in a wheel chair because he has had four strokes. Kathleen's husband is now also ill with cancer. We cannot physically comfort one another, but we keep in touch as much as we can offer all the support we have to give. I am so lucky to have a baby sister who loves me enough. I hope you have someone in your life who can give you hope.

Two days before Christmas I received this beautiful wreath hand made by my dear sister just for me. You already know how much I treasure hand made gifts and when someone makes something with me in mind, I am so honored. So Kathleen, thank you so much. I am so happy to have you in my life.
I hope you all have someone to love and be loved by as I do.

For Love

Well, hello. I have not blogged for quite awhile but now that the holidays are somewhat behind us I have decided to check in again. I want to share something about the women in my family. We all seem to have a creative bent. My mother, Dorothy Jewell Bates Wareham had a talent for crochet. She never learned to use a pattern but that did not stop her. A mother with ten children she made sure each and everyone of her children owned an afghan made with her own hands. Her sister Verna Bates Sutterfield was an accomplished artist. Another sister, Vera Bates Epperson also had a talent. Aunt Vera made her girls wedding dresses. She was able to design these dresses herself.  Because of their wonderful examples I was able to explore my own options. I am the oldest of ten children and as soon as I was able I would go to the local dime store and choose a baby sacque or dress ready to embroider. Over the years I have dabbled in many crafts. Today I limit myself to embroidery, cross stitch and especially quilting.  My sister Kathy makes gorgeous wreaths. I will share one soon. My daughter, Kelly is continuing the tradition. She is a wonderful cook, she makes cheer bows for her daughter as well as the team, she has been the wardrobe mistress for several local productions, often making the costumes and she crochets.

The coaster above is designed to hold the cup below.

This is Fireside Coffee. Add three to four teaspoon sof mix to hot wate rand stir with a candy cane. Yumm.

 This darling pincushion was also made by my daughter. Lovely don't you think? She makes these to sell on her Etsy account which you can access by clicking on the pink cup cake on the left or the Etsy
emblem on the right.
 

Below is the snowflake pennants she also made for me. I love this as it added just the right touch to my holiday.

Above you see my almost finished snow flake cake. I found the original recipe in Southern Living magazine. My version is not as pretty I think but so good. A little time consuming but worth every moment. The snow flakes are made of fondant. They are painted with a small amount of vodka and then edible glitter finishes the look.

I wanted to write this post because I have a feeling that you might feel the way I do when someone sits down and sets out to make something just for me. It touches me in a way I will never forget. The work above is my daughters but I am one of the blessed when it comes to friends. and family.  I hang out with such talented women. You know what I bet you do too. Don't give up on me, I think I will become creative again soon. After all it snowed some today. That just might mean I will be stuck at home a little more with my quilt frame beckoning in the corner. I hope you will share your story of creativity with me and others who come to see if I am still around.  Warmly, Nadine

Halloween? I think not!

I live in an area where Halloween is king, queen and perhaps princess. I do love seeing the children in costume. They are so excited and are at the door for candy.  I always have more than enough.

However, I think that the wreath I made for my front door is perhaps not a Halloween wreath but  lends itself more to a more literary time. I made three of these,one for my sister and one for my daughter. My daughter, the English teacher has suggested that I look at this from that literary standpoint. Now I read a great deal of those novels a long time ago, William Faulkner, Edger Allan Poe, Nelson Algren, Asimov, Bradberry, Pearl S Buck, Stephan Crane, Emily Dickenson, Scott Fitzgerald, Nathanial Hawthorne, Ernest Hemingway, John Irving, Barbara Kingsolver, Sinclair Lewis, Herman Melville, Toni Morrison, Eugene O' Neill, John Steinbeck, Harriet Beecher Stowe Mark Twain, Edith Wharton, Charlotte Bronte, Jane Eyre, Jane Austin, Harper Lee, and so many more.

Two standouts for me are Edgar Allan Poe and William Faulkner. These are scary guys. As a young reader I was attracted to that kind of writing as well as science fiction.  I remember reading "Pit and Pendulum" around fourteen. Poe wrote," Arousing from the most profound of slumbers,we break the gossamer web of some dream. yet in a second after wards, ( so frail may have that web have been) we remember not that we have dreamed." I was fascinated with that phrase most of my life. Of course the truth is the biggest impact of that story was always the beating heart!!!

As to William Faulkner my favorite of his, is "A Rose For Emily"  I still remember " Alive, Miss Emily had been a tradition and a duty,  a care; a sort of a heredity and obligation upon the town"

As I look at what I have written I realize it is a kind of ramble but sometimes that is all I have to offer. I started to read when I was almost four, so technically when I was three. bet you are impressed. I continued reading almost everyday of my life. Sometimes it helps me survive the day, always it is a comfort and joy.

Be sure to read the green box. I have seen it happen. Good reading to you. I hope you you come by and tell me about your own journey.

Baltimore on the Prarie 2013

Having returned from Baltimore on the Prairie in Omaha Nebraska a few weeks ago I am still thinking and remembering my wonderful experience there. As an instructor I have the pleasure of sharing my joy in making quilts. Over the last few years I have concentrated mostly on Baltimore applique and and frankly any kind of applique. At BOTP, students can indulge themselves in lovely choices with something for everyone. I am pretty traditional with a world of wonderful quilts made in the past for inspiration.   My classes next year include the Bird in the Bush block nestled in the lower left corner above and is my main conference class. The one day offering is second in the top row. It is called "The Way We Were". A catchy title if I do say so myself, but the name serves a purpose. I grew up the oldest of ten children and at my mother's side. We washed on Monday, ironed on Tuesday and well you get the idea. That is the way we were. Today's reality is clearly different, but you can still re-create that time in this project. A little embroidery, a little applique. It gets no better.

Now I cannot speak for the other great instructors except to say they are all first rate. It keeps getting better and better. Nancy Kerns brings lovely applique to the table with her beautiful vase of flowers in the bottom row second block. Beautiful! In the top row third square is a gorgeous slightly contemporary spray of flowers. You need to see this one close up, it is breath taking.

Jeanne Sullivan is very popular at BOTP and with good reason. Her work is lovely and absolutely meticulous. She will take you through a variety of special techniques. her blocks appear on the top row, left and the bottom row right. Look closely at both. It will take your breath away.

Don't forget Rita Verroca.  Next year she will be offering two special classes using the Broiderie perse techniques as well as regular applique. Her classes are very popular and well received. her color sense is right on and her skills are wonderful. Her samples are shown in top row fourth block and bottom row third block.

Okay, now you know a little about next year and I really hope to see you there. Truth is the instructors often have more fun than the students and that is saying a lot. Come, spend a few days and i bet you will come back again and again!   Let me know what you think, what you would do and what you would like to see. Happy, happy stitching, Nadine





 

I have really talented friends

 

I am so lucky to have so many talented friends in my life. One of these is Jeanne Sullivan. She is an amazing quilt artist and has won the Northcott fabric challenge for a number of years. She has been working on her book for the last couple of years and it will soon be on the market for all to share. I am personally looking forward to working my way through the entire book and perhaps improving my own skills. Jeanne has an incredible and very tiny berry I am hoping to see in the book just to find out if I can recreate it. Okay I am also hoping to add to my own work with the skill sets I know are in this book. Now, at three o'clock this afternoon I waltzed over to   jeannesullivandesign.com and signed up for my own copy. Jeanne has wonderful sewing items for sale as well as applique items and more. I know this seems like a commercial but sometimes you just have to celebrate for a friend.  See you there

Just sharing

A Bird in the Hand

This was fun!

Freddy Lake

LibbyLu, Fast Forward 2012

l

 LibbyLu graduated from middle school a few weeks ago. There was a lot of talk among the girls about graduation dresses, dresses for graduation dance, and well you get the idea. She asked me if I would help her make her own dress for graduation. You can imagine how happy that made me. The last two years have made these kinds of activities difficult to pull off but here we were with a window. So, to pull it off we had to find a pattern, so a trip to JoAnns. I was pretty impressed with her choice of a classic dress. Now I didn't say we wouldn't shorten the skirt. I know the rules. Above she is holding the back of the dress together to humor me when I wanted to take a photo. Nice smile though.

The dress is finished but not the story so bare with me a little longer. LibbyLu has had a mind of her own for a very long time now so i made up my mind to be patient this time so we could both enjoy our project. However, I needn't have worried. She was willing to listen  to everything. So, my first suggestion was that she trace all the pattern parts she needed for her dress on vellum. You know how it is these days, a pattern is in multiple sizes and if you cut out your size it becomes somewhat impossible to easily cut out a different size. So she traced and cut out her size, As we went through the process, she stitched every seam except the one for the arm facing and she cut it perfectly so it fit without a single  problem. Towards the end I realized that I have not sewn for myself for years. So I turned to my daughter Kelly. She did the zipper. yay!  We are three generations on this project. It makes my heart sing. With all that said she looks proud and to her Mimi, adorable.  Another reminder, take time to sew with your children. You will not be sorry and they will take away memories to share with their own children. Thank you for coming by. I know I do not post often enough to hold your interest. Life gets in the way but believe me I miss you.

LibbyLu

 I have been wanting to talk about my granddaughter's first efforts at sewing. A little older than two years old and loving to go to the fabric stores as well as quilt shops made for an interesting and fun time with her. Above  you can see that she was already interested and willing to listen to Mimi, so she did not get hurt.

But let's get back to the quilt shop. I wanted to make a quilt with LibbyLu and she wanted to choose the fabric herself, arrange and rearrange the three inch squares every evening, test out the response of her dolls by placing the squares on the carpet and laying her dolls on top, only to get up the next morning and do it all again. 

Finally, it was decided and I put it together on the machine. About this time her mother weighed in with concern that there were six red squares touching each other and perhaps it would be nicer if the red could be scattered over the whole quilt. LibbyLu and I reminded her that this was her quilt and she had spent a long time coming to a final decision.  I stitched it together with her on my lap making sure I did everything right. Then as you can see in the above photos we tied the quilt together. It was a time I will always cherish. She is fourteen now and not interested in quilting but I think that will change. Perhaps she will make a quilt for her first child, or maybe she will quilt for the reason I do. Maybe she will do it for the shear joy of producing something beautiful. You know it doesn't matter what she does for her heart as long as she does something. Have you made a quilt with a child? No? Oh you have to. Don't forget your boys. Many of them like this experience.

Aunty Green Alive and well

 The photo above is part of the bottom row below the large center block. I continue to be surprised at the variety of fabrics as well as design. This lady was a girl after my own heart as I just love to use as many fabrics as possible in my own work. The above circles use a fabric that looks a little the original so pleases me.

 This corner block uses both vintage look fabrics as well as a contemporary look used to make those interesting flowers. I like it. I cut the flowers with a seam allowance and used the fabric to turn under rather than drawing a pencil line. Cool!

 I suspect that you already know that I have been using a lot of flowered fabric to construct a look of floral bouquets. What you may not have picked up on is that I have used the same template over and over. The lines in the fabric have a kind of fool the eye appearance. I do love this technique and plan to use it again!

 The original quilt uses a fair amount of a broiderie Perse' look in the applique. I confess I have had a lot of trouble finding this fabric. The red flowers above have been cut from a nice cotton print with little hint of the chintzes we would ordinarily used. I am pleased however with the substitute and will probably use it again.

Okay, I have the center medallion framed and now two sides and a corner. For a couple of weeks I will be setting it aside to work on my "Baltimore On the Prairie" project for 2013 in Omaha, Nebraska. Are you going? Have you been? Oh please, treat yourself. With Tresa Jones as coordinator,
teachers: Nancy Kerns, Jeanne Sullivan and Rita Verroca, award winners all, not to mention myself, I can promise you a wonderful adventure. There is always a fabulous trip to the International Quilt Study center in Lincoln. How can you possibly stay away. I would love to see friends and love to make new ones. I hope to see you and please come introduce yourself and tell me you found out about this here! I can hardly wait for this year in September and am so honored to be asked back for next year. Thank you so much for coming by. I know my personal life gets in the way of my posting on a regular basis and some of you may give up on me. Please believe I treasure your interest and right back at you. I do look at your blogs. You are so talented. I hope to see you soon, Nadine

A really nice find

I have been away for awhile but should be able to share some more of my work on the Aunty Green quilt later this next week. I have no idea where the time goes. In any case I did make a really nice find recently at a local antique shop in my city. I purchased my first Singer featherweight sewing machine more than twenty five years ago. Over the years I found another and inherited one from my husbands aunt Bea. She bought it brand new and it was the only sewing machine she used. That one I passed to my daughter because she was a blood relative and because I wanted her to experience the ease of using a sewing machine that has little or no problems over time.

So, when I found another Featherweight I was delighted. I bought it, took it home and cleaned and oiled all the right places and sat down to sew. Works just beautifully. It was born in the forties. As far as I can tell the only part not original to this machine is the foot pedal and that is just a later version.

Recently my daughter opened a shop on Etsy. There she sells beautiful pincushions and up to now I have been offering my album patterns. I have decided  to offer my new find at the shop. If you want to know more and have another look just click on the Etsy sign on the right side of my blog. I hope you like what you see. I know you will love this machine. No plastic parts!

I invite each of you to share a featherweight experience with me and other readers. More later.

Volunteers

 Don't you just love a volunteer. I know I do. I have done a lot of that in my life and know it is so important to have people working with you who are dependable. Now you may be wondering what the fellow up above has to do with volunteering? Well, every evening for the last two weeks he has come out to sit on the top of his nest box to keep an eye on me. I am thoroughly enamored of these beautiful Missouri blue birds. Up to now I have only caught a flash of sky blue, orange and white as these gorgeous creatures as they whisked through the air outside my sewing room. Now as an aside, and  before my daughter brings it up, I am planning to share my beautiful space very soon! In any case, I just checked and he is once again sitting on the bird house. A volunteer!

My favorite kind of volunteer however often occurs in my garden. The sweet little violets you see above started showing up five years ago. I never planted a single seed but expect that the birds brought them in. Perhaps the guy up above? In any case they arrive and I let them flourish just where they land.

 In this picture I think you can see that they have planted themselves in orderly fashion along the bricks edging a large raised flower bed. I could say they demonstrate a certain intelligence but really it comes down to availability of soil. Between each brick that very thing exists.

 Now the rest of the photographs are not volunteers, but simply some of my garden. I have little time for my flowers so treasure the ones that pretty much take care of themselves. When we moved from California to Missouri I had plans to at last have a serious rose garden. Thank goodness I did not get an early start!

 The second year here I had delivered a whole lot of river bottom soil as recommended by a wonderful neighbor. he was right, everything I planted thrived in that bed.

Unfortunately flowers were not the only things that thrived in my yard! I had a sweet yellow rose bush. One afternoon as I drove up my driveway, I paused to admire that rose. Imagine my horror when I saw a lot of iridescent bugs feasting on the pretty yellow petals. I had no idea what they were but was having none of it. My daughter drove up the driveway and got out of her car to see me picking those bugs off the plant, throwing them down on the driveway and stomping on them. Of course that was not an efficient way to dispose of the nasty creatures. I persevered for a couple of years and finally admitted defeat. I hired a service to help the day we filled two traps to the top with what I now know is the infamous Japanese beetles. I also gave up on vintage roses and now have only Knock out Roses. They are bothered some by the beetles but if they eat they die and the roses begin rejuvenating themselves by the next day. Really! Would I tell you anything but the truth? I have come to care for each and everyone of you.

I hope you are having a lovely spring/summer. By the way another volunteer that has not shown up this year is Cleome. I will leave you to look that one  up and if you cannot find one ask and I will post a photo. let me know what you think

Done

Well, to be honest I am of course not finished with the quilt but the center medallion is now almost complete. I say this because I have a little adjustment to make in the corners. The loops are too long. How did that happen? I have no idea. Fortunately, it will be a fairly easy fix. But. sigh, I hate it when that happens. I will muddle through because I will always see if I let it stand. I am excited in any case. progress is always a good thing. if this kind of thing has ever happened to you drop me a line and share. Please don't let me believe I am the only one!

Trying to Say the Right Thing

I have struggled for the last few days over something that happened over last week and the weekend following. The beautiful young lady above is my granddaughter, Libbylu. LibbyLu has been a cheerleader for approximately six years. her plan for a long time was to go to college on a cheer scholarship. At one time her goal was to be a cheerleader and a surgeon. These days I am not sure but after all she is only fourteen and has a lot of time and living to do before she has to decide.

I digress, so will get to the point. A week or so ago LibbyLu dislocated both hips during practice. A trip to the Dr, ex-rays, etc revealed that she has a congenital malformation of her hip sockets.
Last weekend was the seasons first competition in Kansas City. The problem was that LibbyLu had been grounded by her primary care doctor as well as the specialist from cheer as well as track. She was and remains devastated .

Now LibbyLu was up front and center so her being grounded from performing was problematic. There was disappointment on all sides, for our girl as well as the rest of the team.

What followed was unbelievable from my standpoint. Many of the parents were pretty angry at LibbyLu as well as her mother. Many wanted LibbyLu to go on. "Can't she just go on this one time?" What could it hurt?" One of the girls told her she was just faking and also said that most of the parents thought so too. The assistant coach saw Libbylu weeping and turned away.

Now this is my point. Would any of those parents risk their own child for a trophy? Gives one pause don't you think? Even if we could separate from the fact that this is a possibly life altering problem for our girl, just what is more important. A trophy or honor?

LibbyLu was there last weekend to support here friends because it was the right thing to do. Did she learn anything last weekend. Sure, it seems she now knows where the unkindness comes from. We all know that children learn their behavior from their parents.

As an aside I would like to tell you that my daughter Kelly posted her own story this morning. A couple of cheer parents saw it and there was Libbylu in the middle again. If you were one who commented just know Kelly pulled the post to protect LibbyLu. Bullying is against the law in MO. I will be looking into that.

Slowly and Perhaps not Surely!

It is probable I think that many of you have not seen anyone work as slowly as I have on this project. I seem to be running a Tortoise and Hare race and I think we all know which is me. I would like to say however that slow or not I love this quilt and believe the original artist was ahead of her time. I believe she gloried in the making. Slow I may be but I can hardly wait to ove on to the next corner and I suspect many of you are thinking finaly! Me too, actually.


I thought I would share a close up because I want you to see some of my strategy up close. From the beginning I was intent on including some broiderie Perse work in this quilt. I so thoroughly enjoyed the roses in the center bouquet I intend to use the technique wherever appropriate. In addition, I would like to point out that the small flowers on the left have blue ultra suede centers.
Also I confess that the tiny flower in between the two blue flowers at the top also has ultra suede. The leaves are teeny tiny and I decided I would rather use the ultra suede that be unable to make that particular flower perfect because of the small size. Finally, don't you just love those blue flowers? Broidery Perse again. I cut the roses from fabric taking care to leave a quarter inch all around. I turned under one eighth leaving a nice eighth inch to frame the flower.

Please remember to share something you are working on. For me show and tell has always been more fun that anything else. Happy quilting.

Birthday

My beautiful daughter and very dear friend turned a year older this last week. I have decided not to reveal her age as I think that is a personal thing and lets face it. This is a time to be discreet, don't you think? She is a woman of many talents, a collector of vintage aprons, Christmas ornaments, china, vintage linens and more. So, when thinking of a wonderful gift, one thing came to mind at once. Why not another apron? I found this Kwik-Sew pattern and knew right away I would make this for her. I have to say it was easy to make with really good directions. I think she loves it, I know I do

Now my story is far from over. This pattern also included a pattern for a child apron. Bingo! Kelly has a sweet little granddaughter known as LucyLu. I have spoken of her before. She is the whiz at opening packages. She will sit in her high-chair in Nana's kitchen for a very long time supervising the construction of yummy cup cakes. So an apron of her own seemed a very good choice. They were so cute together! If you want to see the real deal, just click on the cute cup cake in the left hand column and find yourself in in Undeniably Domestic. You will not be sorry you looked. I hope to hear from you soon, Nadine

I Think You Will Like This

If you have not seen this book it is time you check it out. As you can see at the bottom this is published by the wonderful French publisher "Quilt Mania." For me this was a Christmas gift from my dear friend Kathleen J. I am so blessed with friends like her. This book is written both in French and English. There are thirty two featured red and green quilts and five of them are profiled with templates and and instructions. With little time to sew these days, I am so glad for books like this one. I hope you go to the Quilt mania web sight to view this in all it's glory. You can turn the pages and see many of the wonderful quilts. Come back and tell me what you think.

Aunty Green January 2012

I know it has been a long time but hope you like what you see so far. Don't forget I have to draft the patterns myself as we only received one corner of the medallion, the lower right. It is not easy for me to draw so I have to agonize for sometime before I get it right. In any case I was able to work things out and so here it is. I love working on this but have little time during the day and am often too tired in the evening.
I continue to rely on my fabrics for inspiration in this special class. I hope you have seen the original quilt. Full of flowers in every shape and size. I hope to have more time to work on this project as winter sets in here in the Ozarks. There is a little snow in the forecast tonight and perhaps that will mean time to stitch after therapy, laundry, cooking, well enough to give you an idea.

I do notice that a great many of you are also quilters. How about an online quilt show. I would so love to see what you are doing. There is something about a quilter, don't you think? I do appreciate all of your kindness and concern for my family and hope you continue to drop by. I will be watching for you.