2020 hasn’t been an easy year. Things started out pretty well, but by March, we were circling the drain and have been ever since. It has been a great year for reading, quilting and solitary things that can be done while you are “sheltering at home” or just not socializing like you were BC (before Covid). I will say, I have spent very little money on eating out and entertaining but have spent LOTS of money on fabric. Now, as we start to wind down the final months of 2020 with presidential elections in November, the holidays and the unknown I can’t help but wonder what all that will look like. We are a week away from Labor Day Weekend and haven’t had a single “all family holiday weekend cookout”. I have a couple of granddaugthers that I haven’t seen since mid-March. I am traveling to Ellettsville one day a week to help another grand with e-learning. It is a crazy world in the midst of a epidemic and I can’t help but dwell on how life is going to be forever changed….

So, till the next time, Keep Calm, Keep Praying and Keep Quilting……..

So I am staying busy with quilting, keeping an eye on my Mom, reading (cozy mysteries) right and left and have just finished the first of eight weeks were we will be e-learning with our first grade Granddaughter. I haven’t posted pictures for awhile, so here goes. I completed quilting (and finishing on several) community quilts.

That is eight quilts. Seven of those have already been donated to the guild for distribution and the second one will be going to the Lutheran World Relief along with two that are still in process (I am putting the tops together as we speak. Apparently, they lost over 22,000 quilts in storage in Beirut during the recent bombings there. I was hoping that the guild would want to make tops for me to quilt and I could get a bunch together to donate but they didn’t decide to do that. So, unless someone sends me tops that are 60X80, I will only have 3 to donate. That takes quite a bit of fabric and supplies so I don’t think I am going to use my supplies to make anymore than that.

I still a total of 7 smaller tops to finish, 2 of which are quilted and waiting on binding and 5 that aren’t yet quilted. So, I still have plenty to do to keep busy. So, until the next time. Keep Calm, Keep Praying and Keep Quilting!

So today, John and I went to Ellettsville to “babysit” and help the oldest of Jeremy’s girls with “E-Learning”. Cora is in first grade. Today was the first day of E-Learning. She attend school in an actual classroom on Monday and Tuesday and will be doing e-learning Wednesday-Friday for the next 9 weeks. Grammy and Peepaw are on for Wednesdays. The other 1/2 of her class does e-learning on Monday -Wednesday. Today on Zoom, she was surprised to see a girl she knew from Daycare, as the whole class does e-learning on Wednesday.

We are still going to try to do a beach vacation the second full week of September. John says as long as the hotels and our favorite restaurant is open, we are going to the beach. Of course, it goes without saying that the beach needs to be open also. We are going to stay at the Days Inn a half a block from where we normally stay, as the Days Inn is $40 cheaper a night. Even though we really enjoy the straight walk from our room to the beach, that is a big difference and with a new hotel right next to where we used to stay, we are hoping for a little less crowding on the beach if we stay at Days. I will wait until the week before to make reservations.

I have lots of new pictures of quilting to post, but that will have to wait til the next post. In the meantime, KEEP CALM, KEEP PRAYING AND KEEP QUILTING!

Tomorrow, if he was still in his human form, my dear Daddy (Pops) would have been 86 years old. Hard to believe he has been gone for 9 years. Daddy died in June, Jeremy got married in October, John and I got back together before Christmas, it was a busy year, an emotional year, a trying year. The first 5 months of that year, I spent more time on the road and in the ER and hospital than I would have thought possible. Starting at the end of January when daddy had pneumonia in both lungs and they didn’t think he would make it. I spent a whole week at the hospital so I was there as they moved him from room to room to room as he improved AND there was a terrible ice storm, and it was safer to stay put.

They say the firsts are the worst after you no longer have that human form here on the earth with you —- in this case, the first Father’s Day, first Birthday, First Thanksgiving, First Christmas (especially hard since Daddy LOVED Christmas), our/my Birthday, Easter………… the Anniversary of his passing.

But wait ~~~ 2020 brings the unbelievable. COVID, my Mom slowly slipping away due to dementia. When I changed her dry erase calendar from July to August on the 1st, she said, someone has a birthday August 12 and then repeated it sounding more like a question than a statement and I said, yes, it is Daddy’s birthday. Oh well, I don’t need to remember that was her response and I said oh, yes we do, always we will remember, you just don’t have to buy a gift. So, she didn’t remember which means it is no longer short term memory being impacted, it is also starting to expand into long term memory — of course, he has been gone 9 years.

I’m here Daddy and I love you………………..

Hard to believe it is August and even harder to believe is the fact that since it is August, where did March, April, May, June and July go? This cooties thing has everything turned upside down. More quilting going on here. I am getting ready to load quilt top #10 on the frame and I worked in one from a lady from my guild. ALL charity quilts. I donated 5 last meeting and will have (most likely 6 ready for the next meeting, possibly more).

John’s brother and most of his family visited last weekend, which meant no longarm quilting anyway. I finished the quilting on a quilt late last week, put the binding on the front with the machine and then took it with me to my FIL to sew the binding on the back and finished that late on Monday, the last day they were here. Pictures not taken yet of that one or of the 3 smaller quilts that Vivian put the binding on. Will take pictures soon and get them posted. Here is the quilt that I did for the guild member — remember quilting only.

So, I have just made my Dr. appointment for my annual physical (have been putting this off for several reasons but the reason I will give to the Dr is COVID). My prescription runs out later this month for my blood pressure medicine and I am sure they will not renew without me seeing the dr, that means I need to get my @$$ in gear and dump some of this weight. I also made one for my mom and that will happen the first of October also. She is out of her aricept, so they will hopefully renew her prescription X2 to get her through until she sees Dr. John.

I thought I had more pictures to post, but it looks like I need to take several first, so I will post those in the next go round.

I the meantime, KEEP CALM, KEEP PRAYING AND KEEP QUILTING

So, here it is the 26th of July and things are still somewhat crazy. Starting tomorrow, our Governor has mandated that if you go out in public, and cannot social distance (simplifying what the mandate actually says) that you MUST wear a mask. When he originally made the announcement, he said that violating this would be a class b misdemeanor with the possibility of jail time and up to a thousand dollar fine. Two days later, he backtracks and says, no criminal charges and the Department of Health with enforce it with “education” (whatever in the h e double hockey sticks that means). In other words, no consequences, so how is that going to help!!! Might as well not mandated at all and just kept the “strongly suggested/encouraged” face mask component to this resume to normal that has been going on for the last 2 months and obviously isn’t working. I wrote him an email, to which, I do NOT expect an reply.

I am expecting a replacement piece for my longarm frame tomorrow and not sure how involved it will be to put it on. I just completed another one of those “big” quilts that I am quilting for community quilts. I have a top and backing from a gal in the guild, which I will put on the frame next and get back to her so she can bind it.

Here are the quilts that were donated at the guild meeting last week. There are 5 of them. Vivian did the binding on 2 and I did the rest. I’m not excited about her binding job, but it would really slow down my quilting completion if I had to do the binding also.

Since I turned these in, Vivian has returned 3 more little ones that I quilted for a total of 8. There are 12 more tops to be quilted (in addition to the one for the guild member). Actually, 11 more as I just finished one of the larger tops. Of those tops, 6 were larger and the rest are more like 40X45 ish.

My sisters and I went on a day trip on Friday and went to Cincinnati to a quilt shop, Jungle Jim’s International Market, with a stop a Graeter’s Ice Cream (Black raspberry chocolate chunk —- yummy) and then we stopped in Rushville, IN on the way home at JustRite for an early supper. We had a wonderful day, it was great to have a little get away and spend time with my sisters.

Until the next time, KEEP CALM, KEEP PRAYING AND KEEP QUILTING.

I have thought about getting back here to write a couple of times in the last few weeks, and life has kept getting in the way. I am working frantically on the 20 quilt tops sent to me from all over, trying to get the quilting done. I did finish my li’l’ sister’s 1/2 birthday quilt and have gotten 8 tops quilted. 2 of those went to a lady who volunteered to help and she is binding. I took the other “big” quilt and I am working on the binding on it. I think I am most likely going to have to “bite the bullet” and do the binding completely on the machine because it just takes to long to do the binding on the back by hand.

My sister’s husband calls her ladybug and she calls him turtle. If you look real close you will see a turtle in the lower right hand corner of the quilt. It will be even “extra” special for my sister because I made her youngest grand a quilt from the fabric line I cut the turtle from.

On July 7 it was the anniversary of my granddaughter earning her wings. Hard to believe that was 13 years ago. I also received an email that day saying my friend, former boss, mentor has fast onset dementia and her daughters are moving her (this weekend as a matter of fact) to near Atlanta, GA where her youngest daughter, SIL and grandchildren live. I went to visit last week and know in my heart of hearts that I won’t see her again and that is very sad. This is a proud woman who has fought cancer fairly recently and back several years ago her heart stopped and she has a permanent defibulater in place to keep her heart going. She new she was having memory issues and actually would have preferred that the cancer had metastisized to her brain versus dementia. I will miss her a lot.

I am hanging in there. Nothing new on the Madre front, the staying with her round the clock is looming, waiting for the world’s worst time to raise it’s ugly head. And so it goes, and goes, and goes. Tomorrow John and I will rise much to early to go to Ellettsville to sit with our youngest two grands, it will be fun, tiring and I’m tired just thinking about getting up at 6:00 a.m.

Until the next time, KEEP CALM, KEEP QUILTING AND KEEP PRAYING. More soon, hopefully……

It is now the last day of June 2020. The last three months have been insane. With social distancing, sheltering in place, cancellation of almost everything we knew as part of everyday life, someone else said it best, 2020 should be a do-over. I have kept busy quilting and still have lots waiting for me to get quilting done to. Right now I am working on a ladybug quilt for my younger sister, who born on December 24, really hasn’t had much of a chance to “celebrate” her birthday, just her birthday. Sharon and I are going to celebrate her 1/2 birthday on the 24th of July with a trip to a quilt shop, Jungle Jims and Graeter’s and possible smash burger if we can find one near the quilt shop and Jungle Jim’s. I am also making her a ladybug quilt. Ladybug is her husband’s “nickname” for her and I even included a turtle (her “nickname” for him) in the outside border of her quilt. The top is made, the backing is loaded on the frame, the only thing I need to do before I baste the batting and top to the backing is clips LOTS of threads. There are red prints, black pieces and lots of white pieces and lots of red and black threads that need to be clipped before I can start quilting. I bought a ladybug and daisy pantograph for the quilting pattern. I am going to put a scrappy binding on it. I hope to have it finished by mid to late week, so I can get back to my community quilts. There is a local gal (not sure how local) that offered to help, I need to contact her to see if she would like to do some binding, not holding my breath, it certainly isn’t everyones favorite part of finishing a quilt.

July will be a busy month with Zacc’s graduation party and most likely a visit from Jim and Angie. I have been picking black raspberries at my moms and Sharon wants me to go to Zinks to pick and freeze berries for her.

So, as soon as I finish the ladybugs, I will post a picture.

Keep Calm, Keep Praying and Keep Quilting……………..until the next time.

So, June is ticking away. We have had a very, very dry month. The black raspberries in my backyard are being watered on a every other day basis. The big patch out at my Mom’s will soon stop producing decent berries (even though there are plenty of red ones) if we don’t get some rain SOOOOON. I have been going out every couple of days (when my mom is gone). Apparently, she has mentioned the berries to Bert but not to me and says they aren’t quite ready yet. She lost her life alert button and I have a new one ordered and IF she decides to go to the patch she really should wear it and it would be best for her not to go to the patch at all.

I finished another charity quilt for a guild member. This one was a long time from start to completion because of the original backing being too small, the second one being really uneven and when squared, it will too small and we finally got a backing big enough.

I have a new “charity” quilt on the frame and eighteen more tops which have arrived in the mail over the last couple of weeks. Sharon was here for a couple of days and brought the nine patches for Millie’s half birthday quilt, so I am going to work on getting the top done today and tomorrow and it will be the next thing on the frame.

So, that is what I’m working on. Staying busy, trying to stay out of trouble. Until the next post, Keep Calm, Keep Praying and Keep Quilting…….

So, things seem to be slowly coming around to what our “new normal” will be. The COVID -19 certainly has changed many things, things that we used to take for granted. Like, sitting with a group of people in a restaurant (a full restaurant) and sharing a meal and visiting. We are finally back up to 3/4 capacity for inside dining, however, some restaurants still aren’t open and several are still only doing carry out with most of that happening through a drive-up window. Some, but not all, of our churches are open and (I assume) are social distancing. I see that the YMCA is getting ready to open again and other of the local gyms are open. Restaurants will be back to 100% capacity in early July. The locals here are still planning on 4th of July fireworks at the park, with nobody parking in the park space, because people will be sitting there in their lawnchairs so they can “social distancing”— you wouldn’t catch me dead (no pun intended) over there in that group.

I turned in all the charity quilts I had quilted/finished putting together and quilted for a total of 8. I also have quilted for the guild 18 since the February meeting. I have one more on the frame and 11 waiting to be quilted (and finished as they are tops made by others that are mine to donate). I have several more coming in the mail in the next few days AND I am putting together a ladybug quilt top for my lil’ sis’ 1/2 birthday in July. Sharon is working on the nine patches, I have my 16 ladybugs put together and when I get the nine patches (or at least the measurements) I will be able to add a little more to the ladybugs but won’t be able to finish (and quilt) until I get the nine patches from Sharon.

My oldest son was in Court yesterday as his ex-wife wanted to take their almost 16 year old daughter to live in Alabama and she filed a Motion to Relocate with the Court. Luckily, the Court denied her Motion. The schools here are going to require all staff and students to at least have a facemask with them at all times, so they can put it on in instances where they can’t social distance. If my quilting fabric facemask will suffice, I will have Zianna check out all my fabric and pick some and make her enough facemasks for at least a new one each day of the week. I was hoping that I was done with making masks, but no such luck —- at least I have elastic now and don’t need to make ties.

Well, guess I had less to say than I thought. Will be back soon with more quilt pictures (hopefully). I am also working on m LTP (long term project) which is EPP (English Paper Piecing) a Not my Granny’s Flower Garden quilt. It is partially hand pieces/partially machine pieced and will be hand quilted when I have it all together. It not only has EPP but applique.

Until the next time, Keep Calm, Keep Praying, Keep Quilting………..