For my brother

I made this quilt for my brother:

It is approximately 64" by 72".

I used a "Blueberry Pie" Bali Pop set along with a grey-blue mottled batik. I love how it looks both "carved in stone" and dimensional. My brother lives in the mountains and has always loved the outdoors. He used to be quite the avid rock-climber and is still a serious cyclist. As I was making this quilt, it (the quilt) told me it was for Kent. (Yes, if you listen closely, they will speak to you!)

I FMQ-ed it with a large jagged line, and used a wool batting.  He loves it!

Family Reunion Quilt

I made another "scrappy star" quilt! I know, I get on these binges (remember the Twister of last year? Still love the Twister tools!), but This is really fun to me.

And this is a commissioned quilt. Or a volunteered quilt. I made it for my husband's family's reunion this year. We have a great group that organizes the reunion each year and several years ago they started finding a charitable organization we could feature each year. It is such a great way to share our blessings. Well, this year's theme is a celebration of our family members who have served in the Armed Forces. I volunteered to make this quilt. We are raffling it off to the family at our reunion. All our proceeds this year are going to our local VFW to support their Flag Ceremonies that they perform at the funerals of all Veterans. They do this free of charge for the families and pay their own expenses. We want to help them out with that. 

My husband and son have already committed to buying 20 chances each!

I collected red, blue and white fat quarters. There were also some yard cuts I was given.

I FMQ'ed it in a loose, all-over meander, so it has great drape. The quilting thread is variegated shades of blue.

67" square

Some crafting going on!

I bought 2 pillow case kits that match my "Lark" quilt. These will go with the quilt as a gift. Love to make these!

I am quilting on a patriotic-themed quilt. (Yes, I will post it when I

am finished)

 My son made a bracelet for his girlfriend, and a matching watchband for himself. We are just so crafty!

 

Start of quilt for this year's Wood reunion

Start of quilt for this year's Wood reunion, originally uploaded by kheli.

My husband's side of the family has a theme and a charitable organization to sponsor for our reunion each year. It is a great way to share our blessings, and theme's always make parties better, right? Well, this year we are saluting all our family members who have served in the Armed Forces and our financial gift will go to our VFW. I am making this quilt for us to raffle for that. I have been wanting to make another patriotic quilt, so I am really enjoying this!

this is how a breaking heart feels

When I started this blog, I tried to make it a personal diary. Full of things I was angry at, mundane minutia of my life. Then it evolved into more of my creative journey, which is satisfying personally as a way to keep up with my projects, ideas, and inspirations. Actually it is still a personal journey, and record, but told through the lens of my medium, quilting. But that has come to a screeching halt this week.

One of the bright lights of my life, is fading. And this pain is like NONE I have ever experienced. My dear sweet MIL is in and ICU and we know she is on her way. 

I never imagined I would ache like I am.

If I write about my emotions right now, I probably couldn't finish, so let me write about her. 

She was born in September 30, 1929, a month before the Great Wall Street Crash (Black Tuesday), on a little farm in rural North Carolina. Farmers didn't know they were poor, because they were self-sufficient, growing their food and trading for other goods. She got one pair of shoes each year, a pair of ugly brown oxfords. (That's okay, she currently has well over 50 pairs of gorgeous shoes in her closets. And in storage boxes under her beds). She went to school, met another rural farm boy and married. (in a car on the county line because they had got their marriage license in the wrong county!). She sewed for a textile mill for 17 years, then when the youngest of her 3 boys was in elementary school, she went to collage to study her first love, nursing. She worked as a nurse for 30+ years, only letting her certification lapse at the age of 79. She paid for the house of her in-laws, as well as the house where she raised her family. She cared for her in-laws, parents and husband as their lives were winding down. Then came 10 great years of doing what she pleased. 

She has 3 sons, 3 daughters-in-law, 6 grandchildren and 3 great-grandchildren. Her great sport was bargain-hunting. She has an extensive wardrobe and was always dressed "to the 9's".

Up until this past Tuesday, she still read the newspaper from cover to cover, worked word-searches and crossword puzzles, read romance novels and watched "Wheel of Fortune" and "Jeopardy" as well as UNC Tarheel football and basketball games.

She is such a great lady, and my heart feels as if it is shredding. I feel lost. I am so going to miss her. Her political discussions, pictures of recipes, showing her my quilts. Yes, she was also a quilter.  

I know this is a part of life, and I told my son that this pain we are feeling is the price we pay for love. But I would not give back one single second of that love. 

We are both lucky and blessed to have had her in our lives.

I hit the mother-in-law jackpot. I told my mom yesterday, that because of the way she (my mom) loved me and taught me to love, I was able to love Meme. We developed a respect that grew into a deep friendship over all these years. And we laughed a lot.

I will return later.

Merry Christmas!!!

Wow! 

December has been busy and the past 2 week have been in hyper-drive.

What have I've been doing?

Been to see an awesome Christmas light display.

That included a talking/singing Christmas Tree.

With my sweet hubby!

Watched our gorgeous son graduate from Appalachian State University (yippee!)

Made 3 baby quilts for our nephew's new triplets.

And gifted this quilt to our son's delightful girlfriend. 

(Check out his sweet smile)

And it is just now Christmas Eve!

 

I wish all of you are surrounded by love!

my late uncle

As I mentioned in my previous post, we have spent some of our week-long staycation visiting family. One family member is an aunt who has had some trouble with vertigo. She also has two beautiful, really sweet labs. Since she has been ill, her dogs haven't been able to get adequate exercise, so we have gone to visit and walk her dogs a couple times this week. 

This aunt is a widow, having lost her husband (after 52 yrs of marriage!). And this late uncle of mine was quite the folk artist. 

It has been so fun to revisit their home with the time to walk around and see his work. 

 This bird house is a small work, 

but has always been a favorite of mine.

It was always a fun place for me as a child, but as an adult, I really appreciate his skill and vision even more.

He created his work from oil drums and tractor parts, remaking these materials from the mundane into the magical.

This is a large (6ft tall) wind chime, the air tank moves and 

makes such a soothing sound when it hits the side tines.

The life-sized mermaid sits at the edge of a pool.

Peeking out of the trees, this ram stands guard at the gate.

a week off

Well, hello! We took this week off of work and had a good ole "staycation". Sleeping til we naturally woke up, drinking coffee, cleaning, making a new patio.

While we adore our "still new to us" home, there had been minimal landscaping. The most problematic for us was known affectionately as the mud pit at the base of the deck step. With our man-cub home, a new patio was built. Red dirt evened-out, landscape fabric laid, metal edging installed, white river rock for a zen feel and an 8 ft square paver seating area. LOVE it!

 

We bought a cool fireplace and deck chairs for this new area. This has really helped keep the dirt down in the house and given us a nice outside living area. We could not have done it without the help of our son!

We were also assisted by our able hounds. They were especially helpful with the sand. they love digging out a cool bed.

 

We have also visited family. Seems the busy-ness of daily life doesn't give us enough time for this. So, we have taken advantage of the extra time. The man-cub and I went to one of my aunt's and walked her dogs. The old family home still stands and the weathered door is so beautiful.

More quilty stuff to come. I have an exhibit to prepare for!

Happy Independence Day, and credit where credit is due

I hope all of you are having a wonderful Monday, July 4. We are celebrating Independence Day in the traditional way: with Hot Dogs at Mom and Dad's.  The hubs and I went and bought my favorite fruit this morning, BLACKBERRIES and I have made a blackberry cobbler for desert. We also went Blueberry picking so I put blueberries in the cobbler as well. Can't wait to dig into that.

Bold Glory made in 2009 donated to Quilts of Valor 

©Kelly Wood 2009

I have also remembered the way we celebrated Independence Day in 1993. We were in Gold Hill, CO, visiting my brother who lived in Boulder at the time. We drove up to Gold Hill, which has a quaint, unpaved Main Street. We were delighted to enjoy their 4th of July parade, TWICE! The parade went down main street, then all the spectators ran between the buildings to watch the parade go up the back street! We all had flags and it was an awesome experience. 

I also want to credit the phenomenal quilter who made this beauty. Her name is Marianne and she blogs here. I found the photo on Pinterest, but did not chase down the link. Fortunately, Marianne found me! She does such wonderful work! Please visit her blog and feast on her quilts. Thanks Marianne! I really LOVE  your work!

Vive leTour!

Always means it is summer to me! My family loves the TdF!

A very special day

50 years ago today, these lovely people 

 got hitched!

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY MOM and DAD!!!!

depleted....

my sweet Pepper gets tired too!

...burned out, washed up, overextended, pooped, sapped, run ragged, fatigued.

Get it?

Well it has me. And so I must take a break. Not that blogging really requires a lot of high-maintenance, but I need to try and rebalance so I can spend more time doing what I want to do, instead of tending to others. Maybe now is just the time I am supposed to be taking care of others? Don't know, I just know that it is frustrating to have an 8-to-5 job, commute, ill hubby and MIL, family commitments, etc, and make time for my passion. So, now, for a little while, the passion has to take the back seat. But I know that situations change and time passes, so I will be able to jump back on in a little while.

Fear not! I am sketching during this time and doing much reflection. I hope to blog next the answer to this burning question:

What kind of quilter am I?

Stayed tuned, gentle readers!

the best laid plans

 Cartoon by Graham MacLennan ( www.grahammaclennan.co.uk ).






This long weekend quickly morphed into a hospital stay for the hubs. His 3rd kidney stone in a month has been quite problematic, so after waiting and aching, he is scheduled for surgery in the morning. Needless to say, no sewing or quilting here. Hope to get him better and back on track soon!

a mid-week update

No sewing going on right now. I am staying with my sweet MIL who was just released from the hospital Monday after 7 weeks (the first 3 were very tense), but thanks be to God, she is on the recovering path now. Anyway, we are rotating night time sleep-overs and I was there last night and tonight. So, I am taking this time to recharge some creative batteries. That being said, I have bought some (old, $1 each) quilt mags, ordered 2 new FMQ books and just today bought a pattern on etsy!

This pattern, as a matter of fact!

I believe the large solid areas will be great to show off FMQ stitching.

Saturday at a Quilt Show!

(squeal of delight) I spent this gorgeous Saturday afternoon in Statesville, NC at the Quilting and Needle Art Extravaganza. And did I have fun! I went with my Mom, our friend Kim and her lovely daughter, Casey. Four chicks out for a day filled with laughter, beautiful colors, inspiring patterns and delightful vendors. 

This is the 3rd year of the show and it seems to have settled into the Civic Center nicely. It started as a way to get a lot of the local brick-and-mortar quilt shops together under one roof to stimulate business in this rural area.

Judging by the crowd as well as the the lines at the registers, we quilters were doing our part to stimulate this little bit of the economy!

For me, it was a great way to add to my stash as well as fill in some specific projects. I bought this group for a specific baby quilt:

And these lovely batiks just had to come home with me.

It was a perfect day!