A Work in Progress

I have been making my grandgirl clothes since she was three months old.  When she was three and a half, I made her three outfits as Christmas gifts.  By the time she opened the third box, she looked at me and said, "I hope it not clothes again!"  Since I always hated getting clothing for a gift, I promised to never give her anything like that again as a gift (unless she asked for it).  And she hated the top that went with the pants, saying it made her look like a clown (remember this fashionista was only three!), so I promised to take her with me to buy both the patterns and fabric.  It has worked out fine.


Every year since kindergarten, I have made her five outfits in the fall for school.  As she ages, the clothes she wants have become a bit more complicated, as have our lives.  So I don't always get the tops and dresses and skirts completed in time for school.  This year is no different.  I have two of four things completed...and my sixth grader begins school the day after Labor Day.  It's a work in progress.

I also decided to start a new mosaic project.  I have been playing around with mosaics for a bit over a year now and have had lots of fun.  Each project I did was small but different from the previous one.  First one was with tiles.  Second one was a 8x10 picture frame size.  The third project I did three, all in 5x7 frames.  This time I decided to do a window.  When I went to the reuse store, I found TWO windows, six panels each, that had once been cabinet doors.  Perfect.

Next was finding the image/scene I wanted to create.  I found several I loved but one was seemingly great for this project.  I wanted the scene to span the two doors/windows.  Doug took it to work and increased the size so that it was split in quarters across and thirds down.

I decided to use glass and beads to create the scene.  I like lots of sensual texture--visual and touch.  When finished, this will hang outside from the porch.  I want the sun to catch it as well as just giving me visual pleasure while I sew.

First day on the project, I was able to complete the flowers at the bottom of the panels.  Except for the stems, I used beads.  I love a simple flower, but these I wanted to make rich and complicated.  So I made some simple, some complicated.  I used buttons for one.  And the large daisy will be made from glass. It's a work in progress.


When I returned home from southern California, I immediately completed two small quilts that only needed binding.  They will be going to children in the Portland Community College Adopt-a-Family program.  Each year some of my quilting friends and I make quilts for each child registered in the program.  Last year we gave away nearly 60 quilts and pillowcases.  So I try to start early in the year making quilts. It's a work in progress.  The quilt on the left was made from blocks donated to me from my friend Myra.  The quilt on the right was simple made from 9" blocks I wanted to play with and when I made enough, I put them together :)

Physically I have not been doing well.  I have had multiple flair-ups of fibromyalgia.  Perhaps someday I will find the perfect thing that will help when this happens.  And my toes have had multiple flair-ups from the neuropathy.  Perhaps someday I will find the perfect thing that will help when this happens.  But I discovered rosewood essential oil and the scent of this makes me happy :)  It's all just a work in progress.

peace~~~

The Cool Spot

I have a little cool spot in the house.  It is my desk & sewing area, a bit of an alcove with two windows.  But those windows are closed and the portable air conditioner is sitting in the entryway, venting...warming up...the kitchen while I am cool cool cool in this 100+ degree weather :)

Life is good~~~

We Get By With a Little Help From Our Friends

A young woman who belongs to my Weight Watcher's group has been diagnosed with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma.  So, a couple of the women have started putting together a care package of things she might like at the hospital.  When I heard about it, I volunteered to give her a lap quilt.  When my son was in the hospital for chemotherapy, he would at times get very chilly and wanted his quilt to curl up with.  And then he would get hot...chilly...hot from the cancer fevers.  Unfortunately I have been away for close to three months tending to family things and have not been able to sew...

Every winter I host a Adopt-a-Family Project (AAF) for the kids of students at my college who are part of a giving tree.  Many friends from an online quilting forum help by sending me quilts for the kids. It started slowly but after two years we were able to give every child (up to age 19) a quilt. Last year we had gathered nearly 60 quilts.  I am able to accomplish this by making quilts all year long and packing them away.  For every three charity quilts I make, two go to the AAF project (the third goes to Project Linus).  That stash for next Christmas is where I found a good-sized lap quilt for my Weight Watcher's friend.

 

It seemed to be a cheerful quilt, with lovely flowered backing.  Not too young and yet young enough.  I hope it brings her a bit of joy and warmth.

Now that I am home, it is time to rebuild the children's stash of quilts.
peace~~~

Sandwiched In

On June 1 my mother had a stroke. I took the first flight south and have been staying in her home since that date. At first when she was in the hospital, my sister and I took turns staying with her for hours. I would come to the hospital at about 10 and stay until five; my sister would arrive around three and stay until eight. We would then go to dinner and debrief. After she was moved to the nursing center, I come daily at about 10:30 and leave at 1:00 while my sister would come about four and leave around 6:00. And then we would have dinner and debrief.

Her stroke affected her left side but not her voice. She is slowly gaining use of her left hand, but still can not sit, move to the edge of the bed, stand, transfer to a chair, walk without maximum assistance. She has severe pain from osteoporosis, so she is receiving regular doses of dilaudid. The nursing center doctor wanted something more steady and prescribed a pain medicine that came in a patch. She used it for 10 days before she went completely irrational and mean. The center had to send her back to the hospital because she was screaming and trying to escape and would not allow them to touch her. We asked that the patch be removed and her back on dilaudid. The next day she was once again rational and "normal." Her new normal, anyway.

I had been renting a car for the first two weeks when my brother-in-law said he would fly up to my home in Oregon and drive my car down to Los Angeles. It worked out perfectly.

I had been planning a family reunion since February that was to happen the third week of June, so I needed to deal with that event along with Mom. It was a success with 50 family members coming to town from Washington, Utah, Northern California, as well as nearby cities in southern California. I became the taxi driver, bringing groups of three at a time to visit Mom. She is the oldest and only one left of her generation in the family.

On the 18th of July my husband's father was to be placed to rest in Arlington National Cemetery. So I drove back to Portland on the 15th, did laundry, repacked and we flew to Washington DC.  It was a wonderful, full military honors ceremony, complete with an Army band, white horse-drawn casket, and a 21-gun salute.  I returned home on the 21st, my birthday.  No one really remembered my birthday.  Felt kinda like Samantha in Sixteen Candles.

After doing laundry, I drove back south, this trip with both my sons and my grandgirl.  They stayed a few days in order to spend time with their gramma.

At this point I visit Mom every day for a couple of hours.  Everything is up in the air regarding her stuff.  We started packing things up to be put in storage--she won't be returning to her independent-living home.  We don't know if she will recover enough to move into assisted-living.  Until then, we need to store her things.

At this point I am tired and ready to spend a bit of time with my fella and my pup.  We'll see when that will happen.

peace~~~

Needed: Good Geezer Models

I've been thinking about that middle-age thing that happens to many of us. I mean, what is a “midlife crisis” and what does it mean? To me it is a time of examination: of what we thought we wanted waaaay back when compared to what we have now, of the choices we made and the wondering if it is too late to take the risk to reach out for the brass ring, of aging and changing and loss - loss of abilities, loss of friends, of the life we think we have.

Well I think there is not much we can do if we are going to have a midlife crisis. It either is or it isn’t (and all that in between). I think more importantly to us at this age is this:

we need good geezer models
I mean - well think about it. Aging has had a bad rap in our society all these years - especially for women. (Men become “distinguished;” women become “crones.”) Growing old has been a bad joke - the majority of characters on television or in the movies are young.....and the older people tend to be cranky or selfish or lonely or spoofs - lots of old crackpots in the media. And here all we are - we baby-boomers (the generation who refuses to believe they are actually “aging” - peace brother *flashing the peace sign*) have set the pace for sooooo long.....refusing to bend to the masses and expected norms......and what? Now we have to also create our own geezer models?

I think not.

Some of us have been searching for good geezer models for awhile. I look for them at airports, at the grocery, at the movies, and at family gatherings. I am having a difficult time here. At the airport I tend to find those “distinguished gents” with barrel bellies, wearing plaid polyester pants and have on baseball caps with sayings like, “Gone Fishing!” And the women....well those “old crones” seem to have dyed fluffy hair, glasses which peak at the eyebrows, and shopping bags full of things like tissues and grandchildren souvenirs (t-shirts with sayings like, “Gramma went to Las Vegas and all I got was this t-shirt”) and the barrel-bellied husband’s pills....and they nag one another about what they left on the plane or “Now Norman, you know you always get the directions wrong” and stuff like that. Not really inspiring, eh?

What is the criteria for a good geezer model? Growing older with dignity and grace.....accepting life is as it is and not something else....accepting others as they are and not someone else......not constantly discussing their ailments (I mean I am glad they had a good bowel movement, but do I need to have that image while I eat?)....wisdom and advice but realizing that taking advice is a choice.....constantly growing and learning.....not giving up nor giving IN.

Not too much to expect from a role model, eh?

Paul Newman was a good geezer model.....so is Joanne Woodward....Katherine Hepburn......Jimmy Carter.....my mom is a pretty good geezer model (except for that annoying habit of telling me all about people of whom I have no clue.... their names and details of their lives and searching searching searching for the exact date it happened “Was it Tuesday? No, I think it was Wednesday.....*voice fading*....no no! *conviction in the voice* It was Monday last month...*slight pause*...or was it the month before?”) *rolling eyes*

Yep. GGM’s are seemingly few and far between. I continue to search. And try to decide if I want my midlife crisis today (I want to be young enough to enjoy that red convertible and those two or three young babes on my arms - what? what?....that is the male version of a midlife crisis?? damn! sex discrimination even in my own crisis?) or perhaps wait a few years until I can afford it (I could live to 135!! It could happen!). Decisions....decisions.

Meanwhile the beat definitely goes on.....peace~~~