The Process

Strips are being sewn, wedges are being cut, fabric is being tossed willy-nilly about. Not sure exactly where I'm going yet but the process is way over half the fun!

I spent 20 minutes or more sitting at a picnic table eating lunch yesterday. I was totally absorbed with this wall. All of the beauty of Tuskegee valley was invisible as I sat and stared at this. Anybody see a quilt pattern? I was intrigued by the proportion of the various widths of stone and how they meshed with larger and smaller pieces to make up a mostly uniform grout line. 

One other thought. One of the fabulous fringe benefits of having a blog is that the links you put there are available to you by simply looking at your own blog. No more searching for those things you saw but can't exactly remember what the website was called. 

Have fun today, I intend to do so! Hugs, Sue

Interlocking Season's Quilt Block

I surprised myself. I found this cool tutorial link on Amy Badskirt's blog. The actual tutorial is at The Parfait Cafe. It is called Interlocking Seasons Quilt Block. The surprise is that I was able to do this in one short evening. 

I have been reading Amy's blog from the beginning. It is fun, fun and fun, all wrapped up together. I wish I lived next door so I could invite myself over and breathe some of that creative air surrounding her. Breathing in your own creative air gets old after a few decades. 

I think I will set it with big triangles at the sides on point. Gotta go to Iron Horse to work right now and shift gears to paperwork and hospitality. Hopefully it is busy so I won't have time to daydream. I have big ideas for all of that negative space. More to follow..... 

Enjoy this beautiful day! Hugs, Sue

Where did that come from?

 How did that six foot wooden ladder get in my car? If you read yesterday's post where I had the car completely full of boat cushions, I must confess that on the way to deliver them I saw this beauty at the local "strip mall." I must also confess that the term "strip mall" refers to the Graham County garbage collection area. 

When I was growing up we always had residential pick up of our garbage. If the neighbor had something interesting you put the dog on a leash and pretended to take a leisurely stroll down the street while checking out possible finds. Then you had two options, you could wait until dark and sneak down there and run off with it...  OR, as my Mom did, I always marched right up to the front door and knocked and asked if I could have it. 

When I moved to North Carolina at the tender age of 50, I discovered that there was no curb side pickup. You have to take your garbage to a central location and put it in dumpsters. I thought I had died and gone to heaven. I was shopping at the "strip mall" at every opportunity. Then I found out this was illegal, GASP! I had to learn restrain myself.

To complicate matters, people who have something they think someone might like desperately need, will leave these items on the ground next to the dumpsters. This is a grey area. this ladder was standing fully open and upright a good foot away from the dumpster and as I zipped by and saw it I did a 180 to go back to check it out. 

The next issue I faced was that the car was already pretty full of boat cushions. I had to be careful not to harm them while loading the 6 foot ladder on top of the headrests, sideways. sort of. My luck was with me as I accomplished this task in complete safety. Thank you infinite universe, I have been wanting an old wooden ladder for quite some time. I have two projects in mind for it. 

For the next "Where did that come from from," I bring you this:

Take in that loveliness and have a blessed day, Hugs Sue

I've been busy!

I am trying to get caught up with things in the shop but that may be impossible during the summer. I try to get my clients to bring me their stuff in the winter when I have relatively little to do but no,.. they wait until I start back to work at Iron Horse and I'm working five and six days a week. Eventually it will all get done. This week I have recovered some seats for David Prince. He calls me when he is in a jam with his boat rental fleet. Memorial Day weekend is upon us.

This is my little truck. It is a 1999 VW Jetta and his name is Felix. I haven't had many boy cars over the course of my driving career but he is a winner. Fun to drive, dependable, and you would not believe what I am able to cram inside him. I asked my husband about the possibility of adding a roof rack but he told me I was pushing my luck. Today I am hauling a small load.

Three bench cushions in the back seat 

and as you can see below, 

the captains chair in the front seat. 

Only the seat bottom was cracked, 

While the rest of the upholstery 

was somewhat discolored, 

it was in good condition. 

                                                                                                                                                            I also have a bunch of flower pots in the trunk for a co-worker who is one of our work camper. They have a motorcycle and it is not so handy to bring home flower pots and I had a stack stored under the house.  Next we need to plan what flowers she wants and make a run for those.                                                                                                                 Unfortunately while I have much more to share, I have to get a move on and get to work early. I have to deliver these cushions before I go to my real job. Hopefully I can squeeze out a bit more time tomorrow to sit at the computer and eat chocolate while I type. Enjoy this beautiful day!    Hugs, Sue

36th wedding anniversary.

I dreamed about a quilt last night and it finally woke me up and I had to get a pencil and paper at 3:30 am and sketch it so I could go back to sleep.That usually occurs when I spend most of the evening online, reading quilt blogs but I didn't do that last night.

Rat Pack rally at Iron Horse in 2013. This kind of stuff goes on all season. 

Earl and I spent a delightful evening at Iron Horse. It was the annual, for the employees, Cinco de Mayo dinner which coincides with our anniversary. Some of our regular guests were there and people I have gotten to know over the past four year working there. I feel like it is a wonderful second family we have been given.

It also coincided with someone's birthday so there was singing and candles and applause and much laughter. At our end of the table Earl and I had flowers and cards and one dear lady bought me a box of crackers she knows I enjoy. I suppose that sounds silly but she know what I like and she knows I only buy them as special treat.

Toward the end of the evening, a dear friend Bonnie came to sit with me to congratulate us for surviving 36 years together.Whenever I see Bonnie around she is listening to someone. No matter the story, she stands there so connected and caring you cant help but tell her all about yourself. She is such a deeply devoted christian the light just seems to glow around her.She and her husband make such a cute pair, wherever she goes in the room his eyes follow her with such love. Just looking at them makes you feel all warm and fuzzy about the idea of everlasting love and commitment.

I wound up telling Bonnie how Earl and I got together and about our incredible journey through life. We have been so blessed. That realization is with me everyday and it is so uplifting that when I have problems it gives me faith that everything will work out. It wasn't always that way. It took me a while to stop worrying. I considered myself a optimistic pessimist. I figured if I obsessed about the things I feared the most, they might not happen and then I would be pleasantly surprised. My husband was not a worrier, he was too busy working for the power company and he worked a lot of overtime. As a result, most of the daily child rearing fell to me.

 Earl and I didn't have any children after we married but we adopted one and had custody of two more. That's when things got complicated and more fun. A little girl moved next door and her mom worked all the time. She was lonely and started coming over and she finally declared her place in the family as the big sister. The kids got old enough to go to school and the boys brought home two friends that needed a place to stay because their family was having problems. Those boys also became a part of our family.

Because I thought these kids needed a stay at home mom Earl and I decided that was the best thing to do. Then our friends started asking if their children, could stay with us for day care. Those children came to call us Aunt and Uncle and our family expanded more.

It wasn't long before our house was too small so we built a bigger one. My sister was having problems so she came to live with us with her girls. Those four little girls became so close, that now as adults they still thank me for the years they spent with us.

There are so many children I think of as my own. I'm not trying to take anything away from their parents. We are friends with those people and think of them as my sisters and brothers. We were co-parents. That old saying, "You can't pick your family," is so wrong. It truly does, "take a village to raise a child."

Foe example, the island we lived on was very supportive of our endeavor. The school refused to let me pay for lunches. People would give me the clothes their children outgrew. When I went to the goodwill store to shop with the kids, no matter what we had or how many bags we filled the total bill was always $5.00. The Methodist church gave me furniture. the Catholic church gave me food. I never asked for anything but people responded to what they perceived as a need.

For the most part, our life was been wonderfully happy. I had a bit of trouble when things first got complicated. I laid my troubles on the pastor of my church. He knew how much time I spent in the car driving kids around so he taped two notes to the dash board of my van. The first said: Live in the moment, don't obsess about the future or beat yourself up about the past. FEAR= False Evidence Appearing Real. The second said: Surrender to the flow of life and allow it to provide for you, easily and comfortably. Don't forget to breathe.

Even today when I feel stress creeping up on me my mantra is "Surrender to the flow, surrender to the flow. Breathe"

I"m sorry this post is particularly wordy with few pictures. I just had to share with you my experiences. If you are worried or afraid, try to surrender to the flow. God wants to help but you have to allow him to do his work. When we are stressed, our breathing becomes shallow so take a deep breath and blow it out slow. it relaxes you a bit. Worry never accomplishes anything. Things turn out the way they are going to anyway.

It has been a wonderful journey with the man of my dreams, and I thank God every day 

for helping me find him

Have a blessed day!

A beautiful day!

After prolonged rain and overcast, chilly days we are having a small run of beautiful weather. I have tomorrow off  and I am hoping it holds so I can be home to enjoy at least one of them.

Last week I finally got the monster on the boat. I promised pictures of what I had on the shop table.

It was a 10' x 10' bimini top. 

This whole boat needs work. Next I will be working on the rear mooring cover, upholstery of the seats and finally, side enclosures. This project is like adopting a child. It feels like a long term investment of my time and physical resources. 

It was so pretty outside this morning I grabbed my first cup of coffee and wandered into the back yard. The next thing I knew I had climbed the fence and holding on tight to the fence wire and posts, I was leaning over the steep embankment below our cabin, pulling weeds. I was tugging on a particularly stubborn clump of something and something ELSE slithered away. Without loosing my grip I squeaked "Hay-ya!" and jumped sideways. Then I saw the little guy. A grass snake was looking at me, totally unimpressed with my karate kid moves. 

I decided to climb back over the fence and get dressed so I did't look so silly. After all, I don't see any of my neighbors gardening in their PJ's. No, wait! I don't have any neighbors.

After breakfast I went downstairs to straighten up in the shop. I was cleaning off a shelf and spotted what I thought was one of our dog Tom-Tom's squeaky toys. When he tears them up I often sew them back together a few times before I give up on them. 

 I grabbed it and yelled "Hay-ya and threw it. Fortunately no-one was around to see me hurl a dead mouse in a trap halfway across the shop. It landed conveniently near the front door. All I had to do was pick it up and carry it outside to open the trap to dump it in the bushes. At least he might become a meal for some critter. Karate Kid part 2. 

I don't know how many episodes to expect today but now it time to get ready for work.

Have a blessed day.