Rain!

The rain arrived!  After I wrote yesterday's post, the rain began and continued off and on for hours, with lots of thunder and lightning adding spice to the afternoon.  And when I woke this morning it was raining again.  More storms are expected today.  This reminds me of visits here when our children were young, and they saw thunderstorms for the first time.  Once we let them play in the rain, and they ran barefoot through puddles, dripping wet.  Another time a storm in the middle of the night woke them.  So different from rain back home.

Yesterday I helped Claudia cook, knit several rows on a sock, talked with both of them, listened to music with Dad.  It's always fun to hear of Claudia's grandchildren in England, how some things are different than here.  For instance, there it's the father's responsibility to give the children baths.  The grandson is about 5, the little girl nearly 2.

Today more of the same, probably.  Watching birds in the yard, talking, maybe practicing some music I brought.

On the road again

So here I am in Illinois visiting my dad.  Quilting did not happen this past week, which I spent working on the biographical sketch of each of my parents, sorting through papers and pictures, thinking about questions I might want to ask Dad.  He has a different view of family history than I do and often does not want to talk about his family.  But I've already heard a good story today, about his first girl friend, Thelma Kay, in third grade.  When I first booked a trip in January for this week of spring break, I planned to visit...yes, you guessed it, Phoenix.  My trip would overlap Liz's visit, so I'd see her as well as e and her parents  Then Dad had some health concerns, and I knew I had to come out here.  Sometimes I feel bad about not making a bigger effort to see my mother during her last weeks, not that Dad is dying, but he is getting older.

Thunder!  Rumbling in the distance, grey skies, no rain...yet.

I flew to Indianapolis yesterday and spent the night with my sister, who lives about 20 minutes from the airport.  This morning I drove over to Dad's, then will return to Cynthia's Friday afternoon and fly home Saturday.

Strawberry Ice

Since I'm not sure I like the darker patches on the stack and slash quilt-top, I made another top using mostly leftover fabrics from the quilt I made for my sister last fall.  It's a simple rail fence pattern, with small squares popping occasionally.  I think I'll call this one "Strawberry Ice" or maybe "Pink Ice."  I'll let Carole choose the one she prefers for her great-granddaughter.  The other one will stay in reserve for the next time I need a baby quilt.  Today I'll begin pin-basting top, batting, and backing together for one of them.

Quilt top done

Thursday night I finished sewing together the 16 large squares for the baby quilt.  It is about 56 inches square.  I do not plan to add a border; I'm not sure how I will quilt it, perhaps in an overall meander or loopy pattern.  Perhaps next week I'll have time to quilt it, before I go to Illinois a couple of days after Easter.  Carole said the baby is due in June, so there's plenty of time, though she is going to Iowa for a birthday celebration next month, and it would be nice if I could finish it by then.

Little e and her mom have started swim lessons.  She is now an Aquatot, minnow level 2.  You can never start too young when you have a pool in your backyard.

Stack 'n' Slash baby quilt

A new project!  My friend Carole is expecting her ninth great-grandchild this summer (the 8th girl) and is no longer able to sew, so she asked me if I would make the baby a quilt.  Of course!  She came over to meet e a couple of weeks ago, and we discussed fabric, patterns, and colors.  She liked some of the prints I already had, but I needed more variety.  A couple of days ago I bought 11 new 1/4 yard pieces to add to the 9 I had.  I paired a light or medium with a darker fabric, then put two pairs together, ending with five groups of four fabrics each.  (Clicking on a picture should enlarge it.)










The cutting was simple.  From each fabric, cut a 7" square, two pieces 4 1/2" by 7", and two pieces 4 1/2" by 15".  From one pair, sew a short rectangle to opposing sides of the square, then a longer rectangle across the top and the bottom.  One quilter calls this making "a positive and a negative," with each fabric as center square then as frame.



Then take the large block, 15" square, and cut it horizontally 6 1/2" from the left side; without picking it up or separating the pieces, cut it vertically 6 1/2" from the top edge, as shown here.  Standing at the corner of my cutting table made this cutting easier, since I could move myself instead of the fabric.





Now mix up the pieces from the four fabrics in the group and sew them together like the original block, making sure you have one patch from each of the four pairings in each block.  As you can see, each block has four different size patches.

I have sewn 12 of these blocks so far and hope to finish the other 8 today.  They go very quickly!  Unfortunately, I did make a couple of mistakes in cutting and have had to unsew a couple of things, but that was easily done.  The next step is to mix up the blocks into a pleasing arrangement of colors and sew them together.

To trim or not to trim?

Because I was not precise while sewing together the little postage stamp patches, I now have a decision to make.  The quilter who described her own process on this quilt just trimmed down all the blocks, which is certainly an option.  And as I began sewing I figured I would just follow her actions. The seams could be less than precise because the finished blocks would be trimmed to the same size.  But now that I have all sixteen blocks made, I see that some of them will need maybe 1/2 inch cut off so they can match the imprecise ones, and that offends me because that leaves the end patches of each row smaller than the others.  Does that really matter?  Would it be noticeable?  Unsewing patches then resewing them takes time but saves a uniform appearance.  On the other hand, from a distance the smaller patches might look OK.  So instead of making a choice I began cutting 6 1/2 inch squares from the old shirts I "de-boned" a while back.  But I will decide soon because I'm looking forward to seeing my jelly candy quilt complete.

In other news, e has been sick again, this time with an intestinal bug that has apparently passed on to her mom.  Bummer!

Resolutions check-in

How are you doing with any new year's resolutions you made?  I decided to check my own progress on the nine I recorded here on January first.

1.  Use fabric:  I made the raggedy bull's eye quilt and donated it to the youth program fund raiser.  I am still working on the postage stamp quilt, though not much.
2.  Blog at least once a week:  yes.
3.  Visit e once every 3 months:  yes, I went in February.
4.  Visit Liz:  not yet, waiting till school is out
5.  Visit Sarah:  not yet
6.  Visit my dad and sister:  trip booked for end of March
7.  Clean out my closet:  E and I worked on the games closet, but Imhaven't tackled my clothes closet yet
8.  Walk 4 times a week:  almost.  My average so far is 3.8 times a week.
9.  Do something with a friend once a month:  yes.  Scrabble with Dena, lunch with Carole, a walk with Sue.  And several meals with other couples.

So, not too bad, over all!

Musical fun

Saturday evening we joined several people at the home of a friend for singing.  She usually hosts a carol sing a couple of weeks before Christmas, but she was laid up after a fall in December and couldn't do the party.  So she decided to have us all come to sing love songs.  It was fun to try some new arrangements.  I brought a medley of four old standards (just the words) and was surprised that several people didn't seem to know them.  But we enjoyed the music, conversations and cookies.

Then Sunday night Randy and attended a chamber music program at Trinity.  Our choir director played flute, joined by violin and cello.  They chose a variety of trios and duets, which they played with feeling.  I remember my first exposure to chamber music, when I was 13 and attending Summer Youth Music camp at the University of Illinois.  No doubt the performers were quite skilled, but it was certainly not my kind of music.  Even though my tastes have changed through the years, I seldom go out of my way to hear string trios.  In this case, knowing the individual members of the group probably helped, as did the addition of flute.

Tonight the community band presents a concert.  We have not decided if we will attend.  I'm still annoyed with the director for not finding a way to seat Randy away from the trumpets blowing in his ears.  Randy enjoyed playing in the band for more than 40 years, but the trumpets finally drove him out.

Re-booting

Saturday morning when I came downstairs the house was quiet.  That was not too unusual since I'm often the first one down.  In a while Randy joined me, frying an egg and cooking his oatmeal.  Still rather quiet.  Oh, that's right!  E, K and e have left, so no more early morning crying or little hugs or vocalizations as breakfast is prepared.  It's just Randy and me again.

E and K each worked a half day Friday.  They asked me not to put e down for a nap after lunch, hoping she would sleep in the car for quite a while.  So while K finished loading the car and and E took a last phone call/meeting, e sat on my lap in front of my iMac and looked at pictures and little videos of herself, often asking for "more" or "again."  What fun!  They left about 2:30 for Palos Verdes and K's mother's house.  I soon began to pick up toys and return the living room to its normal configuration.  Randy stripped the guest room beds, and I put some of the sheets in to wash.  He suggested we go out for supper since I had cooked a lot recently; we sat down at Burgermeister about 5:30, just beating the supper crowd.  Then we headed home and watched a bit of TV.

Meeting new people

Saturday morning my friend Linda came over to see E and e.  She became a grandmother about 3 weeks ago and has been following my experiences closely.  She already has been to Chicago to meet the baby and care for the family by cooking and cleaning.  And holding the baby, of course.  😀 She has come over to visit with e each time e has been here, so has enjoyed seeing the growth and talking with E about pregnancy and new motherhood.  I think she will move to Chicago later this year to be closely involved with this bundle of joy.

Yesterday I took e out and about with me.  As I was unstrapping her from the car seat at the church, Bill and Carol walked by with their two collies, so we chatted a bit before going into the church office to visit with the staff there.  After e's nap we visited her great-great aunt and uncle; Lynn was recently hit by a car while crossing the street by her house, suffering broken ribs, cuts and bruises.  But she is much, much better now.  Anyway, while we were there, the wife of Randy's cousin came by to bring some food, so e met another relative.  (I say "met," but e had actually met most of these people on previous visits, though I doubt she remembers.). Chave watches her grandchildren three days a week and very easily drew e out of my lap by pulling various items out of her purse.  An experienced grandma!  Last night e went out to dinner with her parents and some co-workers, charming them as she ate her spaghetti and meatballs.

Then this morning I took e to the board meeting of the East Bay Genealogical Society.  She behaved well, charming the older women for about 45 minutes, then we came home when she became more restless and distracting all of us.  Her uncle Clay just arrived from Davis and will enjoy playing with her when she wakes up from her nap.

Last year the physical therapist told us that many babies learn new skills when they are in new environments, like on vacation.  Last June e learned to sit on her own when she visited us.  This time she has learned to climb up into Randy's recliner and also onto the couch and coffee table.  You should have seen the look of satisfaction and pride on her face as she sat in that chair!

Belated 1st Anniversary

February 21 marked the first anniversary of my blog.  In that beginning post I spoke of my new adventure, caring for little e in Phoenix, commuting between here and there each week.  I have no idea if anyone has read all 150 of my posts; perhaps one or two of you have.  But trying to observe an infant's behavior and progress, to notice my own responses to living in my daughter and son-in-law's home, to make time to continue some of my favorite activities--these are some of the topics which have inspired me to write.  And I have enjoyed this so much that I plan to keep writing.  Thank you to all who have read any or all of these random thoughts.  What a year this has been!

Today I took advantage of e's nap to make some whole-wheat pineapple muffins.  I hope e likes them.  I also took the remaining half-roll of date nut pinwheel cookies from the freezer, sliced, and baked them.  We all like these cookies, but they are especially for K.  He, E and e are going out to dinner tonight with a couple of his co-workers.