Back from vacation

Good morning!  We arrived home from a week in Colorado on Saturday night, and I've been doing some catch up the last couple of days.  Haven't sewed at all but did get a bit of reading in.  The Maisie Dobbs series by Jacqueline Winspear is coming to an end (sob!), and I'm nearly finished with the last book.  It's hard to say goodbye to a favorite character.

Big loads of laundry have been done, the refrigerator is restocked, and the garden has been checked over for weeds and such.  Our blueberries are heavily laden and were drooping, so we staked them up and are hoping for a bumper crop.  That means I need to get rid of some of the berries we still have in the freezer.  Friday (after a check on my blood sugar and pressure at the doctor's), I plan to make a pie.  Yum!

We had a great week visiting Mom and my sister Jenny.  It was just the right mix of activity and down time.  We sat on the back porch and chatted quite a bit and also went out a few times.  I did some sashiko while enjoying the breeze and watching the birds.  Mom loves to go out for breakfast, so we took her to the ultimate:  Denny's for a "grand slam" with waffles.  

Chris and I went to the Coors Brewery gift shop for some retail therapy, and we all visited the Rocky Mountain Quilt Museum.  Luckily, they had two chairs outside for Paul and Chris to sit in while Mom, Jenny, and I did some detailed looking at the quilts.

We had a fun 102nd birthday party with Mom's Dutch-Indonesian club one day.  Mom was very happy that Chris could come along with us this time.  He's her "favorite grandson," she always says (he's also her only one!).  All of the guests brought food and a huge cake, which we all enjoyed.

Mom was very pleased with the Birch Street collage I brought her, and we hung it up so that she can look at it from her favorite chair.   At the party, I had a fun conversation with Inga, the daughter of Mom's late friend Judy.  She mentioned that when she was cleaning out her mother's house, it was full of items made by a friend who is a quilter.  That's the way my mom's house looks, too - table runners, tablecloths, bed quilts, and wall quilts are all made by me.  It's nice, since we live so far apart, to have a bit of myself there for her to enjoy.  And Paul and I enjoyed sleeping under one of my first quilts, a handquilted Amish sampler made in the 1990s.

A look back

This morning, my cousin posted a picture of the family assembled for Mom's 100th birthday back in June.  I'm not sure if someone took it with her camera or where it came from, but we are all there, making it a super memento.

I'm on the end, in the first skirt I've worn in quite a while.  I enjoyed wearing that cool skirt throughout the summer.  Paul is next to me, and Chris is way over on the other end.  Mom had hired some ladies to take pictures, but I haven't seen any and I'm not sure she has either.   It would be fun to create a photo album of the event for everyone, including those who couldn't come.

It's a busy time around here with meetings, gatherings, and chores.  There's a mountain of laundry to do since I did none while Paul's brother Jim was visiting.  Today I'll shop for groceries and head over to Burlington for lunch with Sonia, an old friend from my Syracuse days.  She and I were beginning librarians in towns close by each other.  We gave each other lots of moral support in our 20s and kept in touch all these years, through moves, divorces, various jobs.  She has retired to the Albany area so we haven't seen each other much in recent years.  I can always count on her for a laugh, a strong opinion, and a cool head while shopping for a winter coat (which I don't need right now).

The coming week will be busy:  pedicure, Friends of the Library meeting, yoga, baking cookies for an author program at the library, neighborhood ladies' lunch, quilt bingo, and the fall state quilt guild meeting.  In between I'll try to do a little sewing.  I laid out the first section of Austen Jubilee yesterday, but I probably will continue with the Scrappy Mountains quilt when I get a chance.   I'm looking forward to a quieter November.

Rocky Mountain birthday

We are back to our "real" life, after a week in sunny Colorado for Mom's 100th birthday.  We arrived last Monday so that we could help with preparations for a Saturday party at the church around the corner.  We made runs to the dollar and grocery stores, Coors gift shop, and Target for party stuff and even squeezed in a visit to the Rocky Mountain Quilt Museum.   

The museum had two interesting exhibits.  One featured quite a few quilts on appliqued clamshell backgrounds and the other was entitled "Evolutions."  I'm participating in a cake block swap right now, so this quilt really appealed to me.  My blocks are different from this, but I could add a cake block that's similarly embellished.

Here's one of the "Evolutions" quilts.  I liked it for its slices of color and the beaded embellishments in the center.

My photo doesn't do it justice.  Guess you had to be there.  Here's my favorite "Evolution" quilt:

Five relatives from the Netherlands arrived later in the week, which was just great, and it was fun to see my brother and his family, my sister, and my very vibrant mom again.  It had been almost three years since we visited because of the pandemic.  That's just too long!

Here's a picture of Mom before the party:

There were about 100 people there all together, and it was fun.  I got to meet quite a few of mom's friends and also got reacquainted with some long-time ones, including a couple who now live in Illinois and drove two days to get there.  It was an action-packed trip, but oh, so worth it!

Long Time Gone

I looked in the Long Time Gone pattern book (the size of a magazine!) and it looks like I am nearing the assembly stage.  I had been dreading making the courthouse steps blocks with 1.25" logs, but they turned out to be fairly easy.  The half-square triangles were murder, and I am not looking forward to the pineapple blocks.  But I have been working steadily.  Here's a sampling of what I have made in the last week.

These blocks will not be near each other in the finished quilt, and there will be sashing.  I think they look very dark now.  I had thought I'd use a cream sashing, but now I'm thinking of a whiter fabric to tone down the gloominess of it all.  The prints, both blue and beige, are Civil War-like, but there are some other scraps mixed in.  Right now I'm working on a section with 60 degree triangles.  I have paper pieced those because they aren't truly 60 degrees, but rather 53 degrees.   No ruler I have - and I have quite a few - worked.  Luckily, I found a website with free 2.5" ones to print out.

I was surprised and pleased to receive a package from the Netherlands yesterday.  My niece (actually, my cousin's daughter) and her boyfriend sent me two photos they had blown up and framed of our visit last spring and a plaque that reads, in Dutch, You are the sweetest aunt.  

Some peppermints were in the box, too.  I sat right down and wrote a thank you email in Dutch.  My Dutch is pretty bad and stuck in 1952 which is when we immigrated, so I labored a bit and used Google Translate, too.   But Karin will appreciate my trying.  They told me this spring that they always sleep under the red and white sampler quilt I made them.  I wonder if it's big enough, though, since Marco is 7'1" tall!

Turning 70

Yesterday was my birthday and, like Paul and so many friends from high school and beyond, I turned 70.  It seems like just yesterday I was turning 21.  How did the time fly so fast?  I've had plenty of ups and downs, done plenty of interesting and dumb things, and seen a lot of places.  I started yesterday opening up some cards and lovely gifts from Paul, my mom, my sister Jenny, and various family members.

One gift I look forward to every year is a package of fat quarters - quilting fabric - from the online friendship swap group I belong to.  The ladies live in Australia, Canada, England, and all over the US.  We state our preferences and gather others' fat quarters late in December, and then mail them to one willing person who sends them out all year as our birthdays arrive.  This year I must have asked for reds, purples, and black/white prints - it's been so long that I'd forgotten - and I love what came!

Interestingly enough, around mid-day, after our Tuesday morning walk in the town forest, a lovely bouquet arrived from Mom and Jenny.  It contained deep purple gladiolas and carnations, red roses and alstroemeria, and white baby's breath.   Beautiful!

The evening was capped with dinner at the Royal Orchid Thai Restaurant with Paul and son Chris. The crab Rangoon (which really contains crab meat), chicken and basil stir fry, and fried banana with coconut ice cream were just delicious.   Chris gave me a gift certificate to Joann Fabrics which, as Paul says, I visit every Sunday.  I just happen to need some muslin...

And the fun continues this morning when I meet Cindy for breakfast at the Wayside, a Central Vermont landmark and featured in the book Road Food.  I can almost smell the French toast and bacon now.

We're melting!

This is day 4 of a heat wave, and we have all had it.  Generally, the weather people say we're having a heat wave when we have 3 days of over 90 degree temperatures.  This one is set to leave us some time Friday.  What a time for our refrigerator to misbehave!  The repair guy is scheduled for this afternoon, but the fridge has been acting strangely for about two weeks:  the freezer is working tell well, no matter what the setting, and the refrigerator is not working all that well.  We have been buying blocks of ice to keep things cool in the fridge.  But since it's been hot, we've been eating dinner out more, just to get cool for a while.  Today I hope we can actually eat at home, albeit using the grill.  Fingers crossed.

Last week, my mother and sister Jenny were here, and we had a very nice visit.  Mom turned 96 while here, so I invited friends and neighbors for an afternoon tea with cake.   Later, we had a family

dinner out at a nice restaurant.  On other days, we went shopping, out for soft ice cream (Vermonters call them "creemies" and maple is a favorite flavor), walked around the neighborhood, or just sat and talked.  I've been doing our genealogy, so I had questions about various ancestors that only Mom can answer.  We are always reminded, when with her, that she has an enormous cache of information and interesting stories to tell.  Jenny is looking into having a video interview made soon.

We are so glad they came and so glad they left before the heat wave hit.  While they were here, we had perfect weather with temperatures in the 60s and 70s and beautiful blue skies, with just a little rain.   Living in Colorado for so long, neither of them was used to the humidity, but it didn't really get serious until now.  I have air conditioning in my sewing room, so I've been making a few 6" blocks for a new quilt made up of "Blockheads 2" and "The Splendid Sampler 2" blocks.  I'm cutting up the "kitchen towel of the month" set that I got years ago from Yve into 6" blocks as well.  It will be a nice memento of her and of my 71st year.  All the backgrounds of this scrappy quilt will be low volume prints and shirtings, so I'm tentatively calling it "Low Volume at 70."

Happy Mother's Day!

These were last year's Mother's Day flowers from Chris.  It has been 36 years since I became a mother.  It seems like just yesterday.  I don't feel a whole lot older although I've travelled many a mile, figuratively speaking.  Chris was just 18 months when he and I moved into the "handywoman's special." 

When he was little, he drew pictures of me as he saw me - with a pony tail in sweat clothes - because after work and on weekends, I was taking down wallpaper, painting, cutting the grass, digging the garden, and doing other indoor/outdoor stuff.  Now he helps me with all that.  He's coming over today to wash the car.  Maybe I can persuade him to clean the garage, too?

We had some interesting times during Chris' childhood.  Some I'd rather forget, and some make me laugh.  Fooling around on the bus after camp, he had the misfortune of throwing someone's bathing trunks out the window.  (He was not the only boy who got in trouble that day.)  Then there was the wilderness camp a few summers later.  He wanted to go, but, riding over, he didn't want me to leave.  Yet when he met another Chris while settling into the cabin, he hardly knew I was leaving.  Both mothers walked back to the cars, still worried but happy they'd found each other.  

And then there was the summer he decided to become a vegetarian.  I have some nice ground beef defrosting because, thank goodness, he eventually gave that up.  Tofu pups just weren't that good.  Here's to mothers everywhere.  I'll try to call mine but know she's going to the opera Falstaff today.  At age 96, she is active, both mentally and physically, thank goodness!

Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day to all!  We all had mothers, after all, and some of us are mothers.  I feel very lucky that my mom is still vital at age 94.  Still driving, attending classes, going swimming, and buzzing around.  I rarely call her because she's never home!   She uses a walker when she's out, just for stability, but it's hard to keep up with her nonetheless.  At right are Mom and Paul at a park near Denver last fall. 

It's raining here today (what else is new?), so we won't be grilling or gardening.  Yesterday I did do a little gardening and hope to do some planting during the week.  There are a few places in the yard that could use some new perennials.  I would like to plant dahlias and iris, too, near the house where the soil is less than optimal.  Last year I had tomatoes there, but I'm going to use pots for those this year.  I like to go to the garden stores during the week, so if I get a chance, I'll do that.  We don't plant vegetables until around Memorial Day here anyway, so even though I'd like to plant, it's good to wait.

Yesterday I finished appliqueing the wool piece and squared it off.  I'm setting it aside while I work on a small Rail Fence Diamond quilt using what's left of a jelly roll.  Everyone in one of my guilds received one from a rep of Quilting Treasures, and it's been fun to see what folks do with them.  I'm using a pattern from Missouri Star Quilt Co. (https://quiltingtutorials.com/tutorial/make-an-easy-fence-rail-diamond-quilt-quilting-quickly-with-jenny), with black diamonds.  My goal is to have a piece small enough to practice quilting in a spiral with my walking foot.

Chris helped me gather and load miscellaneous junk around the house to take to the town-wide bulk trash day yesterday, and he'll come over at noon to join Paul and me for lunch at the Chinese.  Eating Chinese food is a long-time family tradition.  Dad used to boast that he could feed our whole family of six for $10, so we used to go for birthdays, anniversaries, graduations, and any other special day.   For dessert we'll go home for a blueberry pastry I made yesterday with refrigerated puff pastry dough.  That was so easy that I'll be working with it again soon.

Traveling

We are still recovering from a marathon trip to Michigan for a family funeral last weekend, or maybe it's just the high humidity that's making us move a bit more slowly.  On Tuesday, August 2, Paul's middle sister Brenda was to have a fairly routine operation to replace a heart valve.  Unfortunately, it didn't go as planned, and she passed away that evening.  Everyone scrambled and made plans to travel - from California, Washington, Alabama, Connecticut, and Vermont, a typical American family.  Four of us left last Saturday morning on the two day drive, taking a route through Canada.  Luckily Paul's brother in law Jay did all the driving in his very comfortable, aging Cadillac.  I was relieved not to have to drive around Toronto and Detroit with their intimidating traffic.

We stopped for the night in or near Toronto both coming and going and arrived in Michigan Sunday night in time for the calling hours.   Brenda's three grown children, who had lost their father to cancer just a couple of years ago, were there with their families, and it was good to see them again, despite the sad and unexpected situation. It was hard to make small talk at the calling hours, especially with people we didn't know, but that is what people do at these times.  Monday morning's funeral was very nice, with Brenda's younger daughter giving the eulogy, supported by her brother and sister.  We left right after that, changed clothes quickly, and started back for Vermont.  We ate a lot of snacks in the back seat and were glad to cross the Vermont-Canadian border easily Tuesday afternoon.

Needless to say, I didn't get a lot of quilting done this week.  I did take my knitting to work on in the car and actually made good progress on a lacy cotton scarf with variegated yarn.  When I got home, I finished the throw I started quilting the day Brenda was being operated on.  It's made with blocks from the Lovers Knot block swap, and I finished it Thursday.   I'll send it to Brenda's Michigan daughter who bore the brunt of all the arrangements.  It's been hot and humid, so my sewing room is the place to be this weekend.

Gorgeous Colorado!

Despite the flooding and the threat of government shutdown, Paul and I headed to Colorado last Saturday.  We met my Dutch sister Jacqueline in the airport, went to rent a car, and then headed to my parents' in Golden.   Just about every day was sunny, with temperatures in the 70's.  Amazing!

The first day, Sunday, we browsed around downtown Golden and stopped at the Rocky Mountain Quilt Museum.  The exhibit featured challenge quilts made with RMQM fabric (lovely) as well as an art quilt exhibit (so-so).  On the second day, being more acclimated to the high altitude, we headed up Lookout Mountain to Buffalo Bill's grave and museum.  On the way down, we hoped to see some buffaloes which often hang out by the interstate.  No luck, unfortunately!

 



 We visited Red Rocks Amphitheater and had a great lunch.  Tuesday, we visited the American Mountaineering Museum in Golden, had lunch at the Capital Grill (Jacqueline's first buffalo burger!), and did a little shopping.  Wednesday found us on the road for Colorado Springs and the Garden of the Gods.  Isn't it beautiful with Pike's Peak as a background?  Jacqueline (below right) was just amazed at the view, especially the snow.  

Thursday, we met my sister Jenny and her friend Mart for lunch at the Dushanbe Tea House in Boulder.  Although Mart's apartment was a total loss and her car needs extreme cleaning, she was pretty chipper about the whole flooding experience.  Parts of  Boulder are fine; parts are devastated.  Much of the worst flooding is north of the city, so we walked down Pearl St. and enjoyed the buskers and sun.

Friday was a surprisingly rainy day, so we visited the Colorado History Museum in downtown Denver.   Many school groups cleared out at lunchtime, leaving a relatively peaceful set of exhibits to enjoy.   You could go into a simulation of a mine shaft, open a buffalo statue to see how body parts were used, learn about Native Americans in Colorado, and learn about the Japanese internment near Granada during World War II.  Having read quite a few books about the latter, that was my favorite exhibit. 

Saturday came all too soon, and it was time to say goodbye to my family.  Dad is looking more frail, but Mom is still very vital at age 91.  Jacqueline headed back to the Netherlands, and I hope a year doesn't pass before I see them all again.

Oma's muumuu

I've been working on a quick but pretty quilt for the last few days.  My to-do list included a windowpane quilt of Indonesian batiks for Chris, and last summer I bought a nice brown/burgundy batik for the sashing.  Sunday, I cut 5" squares and 2.5" sashing and went to work.  It now measures about 70 x 70" which is plenty for me to quilt in one piece.

There are some batiks I bought and some I salvaged from clothes my mother sent me.  The last border used to be my mother's muumuu, hence the name.  As I was working, I noticed some of the fabrics smell a bit odd and I had to soak one to get a label off.  The water ran a bit, so I'm going to stitch all the way around before treating the top with Retayne.  Then I'll quilt it with a dark back, just in case it continues to run.  Fingers crossed!

In June, my sister in the Netherlands is going on a "pilgrimage" tour of Indonesia operated by an organization that cares for the graves of war victims around the world.  There are several sites in Indonesia.  I can't wait to hear all about it.  The quilt will be a nice reminder for Chris of our heritage.

Snow!?!

Heck, this is Vermont!  We have a about 6 more weeks of snow to deal with.  Might as well enjoy it.