Life is Good, Times Two!

Many of you have probably made a T-shirt quilt or two. Not me. A friend from church asked me late last fall if I would make a quilt from his wife's T-shirts as a tangible memory of her. We all loved Judy at church; she passed away almost two years ago after an awful battle with ALS. "Sure" I said, immediately without hesitating; he indicated that he had all of the shirts bundled up together and we agreed that sometime after Christmas I would get started. Quiltkeemosabe offered to help me, that was reassuring as I felt that I might be dipping a toe in charted waters. Well, a few weeks ago he brought the big bag of shirts to church for me to look at. "I was wondering", he said, "if maybe these couldn't become TWO quilts, one for each daughter". I smiled at the thought, "sure", was my response. Never mind that I'd never done one before and really didn't know were to begin. I sorted through the T-shirts the next morning, they're ALL Life is Good and there were 29 shirts! Definitely there was enough for two quilts! Gleaning all that I could from various T-shirt quilt making sources I set to work stabilizing the shirts fronts and other usable shirt parts before cutting them apart. I had a plan, each shirt would contain 20 blocks: 14 shirts fronts on one and 15 on the other, I decided to use plain backs for the alternate blocks. I carefully cut out sleeves for cornerstones and logos from the back necks, where I could. I had plenty of shot cotton for the sashing and borders. After a week and a half of working on nothing else, at every chance I got, I finally have two completed tops (and a huge bag full of shirt parts and pieces)!

And I thought that I had a lot of Life is Good shirts! My collection is only about half this size. I will pick up the backing fabric this weekend, I'm using the same print but in two different colorways, see below; one with a white background and the other with yellow. 

This backing, with its happy and inspiring words of affirmation are wonderful tributes to Judy and her always cheerful personality. Wish me luck getting these quilted up and off to Quiltkeemosabe in short order, she's going to bind them and attach dedication labels that she'll design, with help from Judy's husband, and machine embroider. He was hoping to have them ready to ship to his daughters in time for the second anniversary of their mother's death (mid-May). Can you imagine being a daughter and receiving one of these?! I get choked up just thinking about it. 

Life is Good!

It really, really is!!

Curious

I am curious. I found these blocks stacked neatly in the closet, they're from a block of the month class that I attended in 2007. I'm not surprised to have found them, I knew they were there. There are twelve of them, a years' worth, or so I thought! Here's the curious part: how in the world did I (would I?) make two of the exact same block? (Row 2 block A, Row 4 block C). The twelfth block kit, and pattern was folded up neatly with the blocks. I just don't get it... I can't be expected to remember what I did (or didn't do) five long years ago. I have enough trouble remembering what I did five days, or hours or minutes ago sometimes! I'm curious too as to why I purchased one and a half yards of  the very pretty stripe (used in the Row 2, B block), what was I going to do with that amount?  Okay... so here's my new plan: (I'm committing this to print so I can refer to it later) I'll make the twelfth block as prescribed, I'll put the spare pink/purple block on the back or in my Orphan Blocks box. I have a few ideas as to how I'll proceed with this one; how would you sash and or set this one, what would you do if these blocks were yours? I'm just curious! Curiosity may have killed the cat but satisfaction brought her back... "Satisfaction Stars"!

Life is Good!

Low Tech Memory Stick

My memory is jogged in the shower for some reason; it's there that I think of those items needed at the store, the get well card that needs to be sent, the phone call that should be made. I used to assume that I would remember these great revelations when I emerged from the bathroom after getting ready for the day, assume nothing; they would be promptly forgotten until the next day when I was showering once again! Recently I placed a small notebook and a pencil in the top drawer of my vanity. Now, I jot down all those things that float to the surface when I think of them first thing in the morning, that little sheet serves as my external memory. It's a small action that makes a large difference... for me. In fact, it works so well, I "remembered" to blog about it!

Life is Good!

Do You Remember?

In case you didn't see 60 Minutes on Sunday night, Lesley Stahl presented this story; it was fascinating! Five individuals, including the actress Marilu Henner, were interviewed about their amazing ability to endlessly recall almost every day of their lives! This gift, termed 'Superior Autobiographical Memory', is being researched with truly surprising results; the scientists have only recently discovered the possible link between enlarged areas of the brain and this rare knack for recall. After watching this piece I admit to feeling sad when I think about how much I've forgotten! This blog will need to suffice as my external memory, at least until they invent a memory stick that works for human beings!

Life is Good!

Loaded, Piped and Serged!

There's a LOT going on in The Strawberry Patch these days... but it's little things, and each one requires sufficient time and attention; to the point that I feel like nothing is being accomplished at all. Ever have days like that? I feel a little bit like a cricket, hopping from one thing, then to the next. My brain must be about the size of a cricket's brain, too... herein lies part of the problem. I have loaded this quilt, pictured, onto Sundance. Simple enough, right? Not really. While attending long arm instructional classes, the week before last, we were given step-by-step loading instructions to facilitate the process for eventual quilt turning. It seemed simple enough, when we were there! It's not the way I've been doing it for months now, and something new always takes me longer. Eventually this new method will become second nature, but for now it's loaded and I'm proud of the way it all lines up. I hope to begin quilting it soon, that would seem like progress to me. But, there's the Zoo Train wallhanging for my grandson. Remember that? It's languished in pieces long enough. After consulting with my daughter a while back (months ago) we decided to sash the entire piece with solid navy blue and pipe around each block (there are 16!) with red to set them off, visually. I can make piping, and insert it straight and square, I just don't do it often enough for it to come easily to me. Detect a pattern here? Uh-huh. I think I know now what had become the roadblock to progress with this project, my hesitation to dive headfirst into the piping. Well, each block has it's piping made now and I'm closing in having them all piped. The rest will be easy, I feel all comfy-cozy with this process, at long last. Then there's the puddle pads... huh? Yep, puddle pads. For Mason's changing table. My daughter paid nearly $10 a piece for these and the edges aren't even finished! They are flannel back and flannel front with a rubber liner, the first time they are washed they fray and ravel like mad. She asked if I would serge around the edges. "Sure" I said, out loud. "Groan" I whispered silently, to myself. I don't use my serger often enough to even remember how to thread the darned thing, and I've had it for close to twenty years! Thank goodness I found it still threaded up from the last time I used it, that way, the simple act of finishing the edge of this only took half the afternoon. It's done, all serged! I guess it's safe to say that this cricket has a very low rate of retention; but for now, it's time to "hop to".

Life is Good!
~chirp~

Uh-Oh!

I had a crash on Thursday, well... not me, but my lap top. It wasn't good... noises I shouldn't have been hearing coming from a computer (squeals and whines) and the screen flashing black-white-black... then black, full time. Kyle was able to open it in safe mode and extract my files onto an external hard drive, so nothing's lost. Except me. I feel lost. The most frustrating part of this is my embroidery software, I'm not sure what I still have on file as that's what was running when things went from bad to worse... I can always recreate anything I really need, I've done it once; and I can load the software onto a new laptop, I own the discs. And yet... there's a feeling of helplessness when things like this occur. I am also experiencing a feeling of abandonment, of a trust that's been broken... silly, to feel that for an inanimate object manufactured by Hewlett-Packard, and yet I did (perhaps blindly) commit to it my plans and schedules, my files, everyone's contact information and my photos! I can use the PC that we have in the study, (that's what I'm doing now) but it's just not the same; it's a "right church-wrong pew" kind of feeling. This will impact my blogging short-term; I'll be back, though...

I'm down, but certainly not out!

Life is Good!