The Good along with the Bad

Life sure takes some unexpected turns, doesn't it? Early last week, I heard from our sister-in-law, Ruth, that her father was gravely ill and not expected to recover. It came on suddenly, and within a week or so, he died from congestive heart failure. Her dad, Jack, was a good man, always ready with a joke or a funny saying, one of which was that every time you greeted him, asking after his well being, he responded by saying, "I'm vertical and ventilating!" Apparently, we were not the only ones he said that to because when the funeral mass began, the priest had all 200 folks stand up and said out loud to Jack in his casket that we were all standing for him and were "vertical and ventilating!" That brought on a good laugh from everyone.  We took Maureen with us, and sister Lisa and her husband Danny were there, as was, of course, our brother Pat.

Jack told his family he was more than ready to go, having lived a full life with no regrets. When it is time for me to go, I hope to be able to say the same as I know you do as well.

I'm going to be all over the map today, so bear with me!

Friday night I got to meet several more of the Earl's girls in town for the convention. We had a wonderful dinner together, at, you know where!

They were all super friendly, and nice to me, with offers to hook me up with things to do while we are in Vancouver. I'm getting more excited by the day!

That said, I won't have all of the wonderful friends that I have here, including Bev who alerted me to an estate sale held at the home of one of her friends from church. Sewing stuff she said. I scooted over to Winter Park Saturday morning, arriving early, not only because I thought it would be crowded, but also because of the early afternoon funeral. From the photographs posted online, I figured she must have owned a fabric store at one time, and my suspicions proved true. Who else would have a room full of zippers? Honestly, there must have been ten boxes, at the very least, filled with zippers of every color and size.

There was a closet full of velvet, a room full of lace and trims, a back porch with fabric galore, including many unfinished projects housed in clean pizza boxes and plastic bags.

I shopped fast and furious, coming away with all manner of things, including a vintage dress pattern. Yippee!

That second stack from the left hand side has something of interest. I found a bag, that when I peered inside, looked to me like Lily Pulitzer fabric, mainly because it was so crazy bright. Cut into 9" squares, I wasn't entirely sure I wanted it, but good sense prevailed.

Coming home from the sale, an unfamiliar light appeared on my car dashboard, and sure enough, I had to take it in on Monday. Bruce took a late flight to Dallas on Sunday night, following the thrilling Masters tournament, so I went to bed early, and got up super early. On my way to MINI, I stopped by the cemetery and found Mama up in the tree, which was kind of weird because I've not found her there of late, aside from feeding times.

It was only myself, and the only woman who is a constant there that does not carry around a camera. Instead, she is a real birder with binoculars. She thought perhaps Mama was on the lookout because the mowers were going underneath. Now I'm not so sure that was the total explanation, as you will soon learn.

It took more than three hours at MINI which ended up being fine because it forced me to sit still and finally finish a really good novel, Miss Jane.  Also under warranty which was nice too.

I'd only just arrived home at maybe 1:30; after getting the mail and caring for Baxie, I realized I'd left my phone in the car. Lo and behold, there was a text from Sally saying the owlet was out of the nest!!!! Naturally, as one who is obsessed will do, I raced back to the cemetery, and here is the little puffball.

Cute, cute, cute!! A local celebrity, otherwise, how else to explain the nature paparazzi I found later in the day when I returned for the feeding time?

Later I got to thinking that perhaps the owlet had "branched" earlier in the day before I arrived, and that is why Mama was on the lookout? Hard to know.

In any case, Tuesday I stayed away, instead all I did was eat, and sew. After working so hard on my last project, I wanted to make something simple. In good news, regarding that quilt, my friend Mary Whitaker suggested I layer it over my existing ivory quilt, and I am now very happy with how it looks!

The ivory quilt is oversized, and mine is undersized, so it's a happy medium!

During Sunday's golf match I sorted through those Lily squares, (there are tons of them,) pulling all pinks, and a green for some cornerstone blocks. Here's what I made with them:

I'm hoping to find a green and pink stripe for the binding, and probably a solid pink for the backing. I had no notion of what I was going to do with it, however, I received an email from Ann at the church asking if I would donate some photography, or a quilt for an auction she was putting together for the fall.  Winter Park + Lily Pulitzer is a win-win! Plus, I'll still be contributing while I'm away.

In the evening Pam fed me using a recipe from Christoper Kimball's new magazine, Milk Street.

Having spent the day with pink, naturally I was attracted to her pink roses which are blooming like crazy!

So all of the above was a mixture of both good, and bad, however, the rest of this post is all bad news. Up early again this morning, I could not resist visiting the owls after yesterday's absence.

Why not?

 When I arrived, I found it so strange that Mama was way low in the tree, allowing me to get within maybe twenty feet? See her on the left ,and Papa up in his usual spot on the right?

Much to my delight, it was only me, and the birder woman. Standing under that beautiful canopy, I admired the beautiful owls up close. Life was good. Eventually, I heard a lot of bird commotion, and looking behind me, I saw a hawk jumping around between the headstones with the birds and squirrels scrambling for their lives.

Try as we might, we could not find the owlet.

Turning back around Mama looked so majestic above the nest hole, a place I'd never seen her. So two strange places in one day.

Ms Birder and I watched her go down the hatch. Using her binoculars, she was able to see inside the hole, and observe what looked like some feeding. There is still one owlet to branch, and we also wondered if perhaps the one I saw on Monday had gone back into the nest.

Around twenty past 8, I decided I needed feeding myself, and I told her I was calling it a day. She said she planned to stick around till at least 9, and I wished her good luck. Now, my friends, I've learned from another owl enthusiast that not 10 minutes later, following my departure, Ms. Birder found the owlet, dead on the ground, behind the tree. As you can well imagine, I am heartsick. Two days of freedom from the nest, and now it is all over.  Does Mama look sad to you? I bet she is. 😢

yours truly,

Gail

p.s. I've been meaning to write about this for a week or so...we are participating in an AIDS walk, Saturday evening, April 15, and if you would like to support us, we are under the banner of First Congregational Church of Winter Park. Here's the details...

Made With Love

So, while Nancy was still visiting two weeks ago, one morning I had my idea for the quilt I wanted to make for the Pulse tragedy. Thinking that quite a number of them might be going to men, I decided I just could not do an entire quilt front of hearts. Don't get me wrong, I do like hearts, but do men? I was thinking not so much. I drew my idea which was pretty good, however, Nancy suggested instead of spaces between the lines, I should put them side by side. Much better! Then I fiddled with it a little more after finishing my previous project. As you will soon see, I chucked part of the idea.

Should you be tempted to think this all comes easy for me, think again. I am terrible at planning, as well as the math part of quilting. Furthermore, I usually cut as I go, rather than the entire project, thus, while making the last quilt, I ran out of the white fabric I was using for both piecing, and the empty squares. It helped not one whit that I'd cut 21 squares 6", instead of the required 6 1/2"! Thinking I'd purchased the white at Wandering Stitches, I made a trip over there with no success. The young woman working there suggested maybe I could do an alternate color, something that in the store looked somewhat like a light gray, however, at home it looked like baby blue to me, and I set it aside.

Well, was that serendipity, or what? As my sketch above shows I'd planned on a baby blue for the sky, the colors of the rainbow like a pulse (stretch your imagination there), and a small heart. And then along came Mary with the absolute perfect fabric for the binding, not to mention the backing material pictured above. God is good.

As the mother of a gay son, how could I not make something that might bring a tiny bit of comfort?

Although the design is super simple you might be surprised to learn that sewing long strips of fabric together is not nearly as easy as it looks because the fabric often gets a little wavy the more strips you put together. I used the trick of sewing one strip from the bottom, the adjacent one from the top and so on, which seemed to help. And then there is the matter of straight line quilting which, again looks simple, and it is until you lose your concentration for a second and the line goes astray. It helps greatly to have the walking foot I showed you before, as well as a guide to follow. Keeping your  eyes focused on the tip of the guide, you can do a remarkable job. My mind wanders, if you can imagine!

To the left of the walking foot you see two lines quilted quite close together which in my little world was meant to signify the hope of never walking alone. Sorry, just can't help myself.

I did a practice run on the little heart applique, sewing all seven colors together, tracing a heart dish B gave me for Christmas, and using the blanket stitch, it went pretty well for a novice. Joining the ends of the binding stymies me most times, however, this time it went together like magic. Here's my awesome needle threader gadget with the needles ready to finish up the binding.

So here we are, all ready for the washing machine before I turn it in.

While finishing the binding I watched a FANTASTIC documentary that tells the story of the legendary Carter family. Called The Winding Stream, if you are a music fan, don't miss it!!

A little close up of the aforementioned heart, quilting, and the binding which is like icing on the cake.

Remember how I mentioned I can't do a thing without help from everywhere? You've noticed I mentioned Mary again, as well as Nancy, but how about Bruce who works so hard allowing me the time and money to do this sort of thing? And then there is Irene, Pam's friend, who I've learned so much from about quilting. I'm pretty sure we are kindred spirits in some ways.

She sent out a request to accompany her to an estate sale this morning over in Audubon Park. How crazy is this....the large home is on the shores of Lake Rowena, with several streets leading to the house. I chose to park on one of the roads a few streets from the house because I knew the crowds would be large. Amazingly, I pulled up, and there was Pam who'd also chosen that street to park. Seconds later Irene texts us saying we should park on such and such street...Pam replied, "we already have!" Crazy, huh?

Pam, dressed for her Pilates class, Irene, and myself, walked up the beautiful tree lined street, entering a wonderful home filled with fair priced treasures.

You already know I have a love/hate feeling regarding estate sales, however today Irene may have turned my thinking more to the love side. She said she hoped people would find pleasure in all that she'd collected during her lifetime, and I kind of hope the same. The rooms were filled with people, amazed at the prices, the lowest I've seen at an estate sale in a long time. Here are some of the goodies that made their way to our home. Not only are there eight hand embroidered linen placemats, there is a little runner as well. Plus, the napkins with bird eggs!!

I kept wondering about the woman who made these and now I know something about both she and her husband. Sounds like pretty amazing people to me, so I am now honored to have a part of their life. As an aside, his brother is also a physician, a neurosurgeon whom I worked with in those long ago days as an x-ray student!

Who could resist a little Fiestaware dish for $2.00? Not this blogger!

Nor could she resist this beautiful cake stand made by Aynsley.

In fact, I think when I finish this I'm heading into the kitchen for a little cake baking just so I can keep it on the counter for a few days! I wonder if I have enough carrots for a carrot cake? Doesn't that sound tasty? Actually Bruce is working from home today, and his idea is that I should buy a fake cake in order to keep it on the counter all of the time. :)

I bought two books, one, a signed copy of the Rowena Restaurant cookbook, which will only mean something to long time Orlandoans. Speaking of long time Orlando residents, if you are of a certain age, you will have gone to the Infinite Mushroom near Colonial Plaza. Sadly, our  high school classmate Nancy Noyes, who ran it first with her Mother, followed by our friend Phyllis, died suddenly last Saturday. You just never know, do you?

There was just something about this children's book that had my name written all over it. Little did I know it was the first book by Arnold Lobel who went on to write the Frog and Toad books.

Who also, as it turns out, in spite of being married to Anita, and fathering Adrianne and Adam, admitted to his family in 1974 that he was gay, dying from AIDS 13 years later.

No, you just never know.

On a lighter note, I've written not much about this growing out my bangs business because it has been painful. Resorting to barrettes and headbands, I am happy to report that the Duchess of Cambridge is sporting a headband here. I can now go around with a bit more confidence knowing she's wearing one!

Happy weekend my friends,

Gail