My family, quilting, gardening,
woodworking and friends
are all things I might talk about

Behind My Picket Fence.....

Sunday, September 20, 2009

My blog is broken – it’s still stuck on Brad Pitt

I cannot believe how long it’s been since I was here.  You know, when you’re on vacation with Brad Pitt or George Clooney, you just lose all sense of time.  Not that I was, I’m just sayin………You’ll hear no more about that from these lips.

I’ve got so much to share, I don’t know what to say – yes and the sun rises in the west…..I’ll find the words, ok?

There are two groups that I have infiltrated – well truthfully, I may have helped form the groups but that is only because then they have to include me.  Just a little tip for y’all.  One is a quilt group.  We are the Loose Threads – previously the Peacemakers and came close to being the Noxious Needles or the Ladies Thursday Afternoon Bowling League (we don’t bowl) or LSD - Ladies in Support of the Downtrodden. (this was meant to be a cover for the fact that this was another social not humanitarian group)   We are a group of 9 that have been together for I think 12 years.  Good friends all.  And oh, how we’ve grown in taste, ability and friendship in that time.  We’ve always a lot of laughs and sometimes a few tears AND great show & tell. 

The threads met this month at CD’s house on the lake for a sewing day.  Usually we just gather for a good time but this month we added a sewing day to the schedule.  Each person brought fabric already cut to make 12 blocks of the same pattern.  The blocks will finish at 4 1/2” and will look like this:

Crayola

There are only 2 colors and we are using the civil war type repro fabrics.

Now, if you do the math, there are 8 flying geese per block.  Times 12 blocks per person and that is 96 geese.  Next, take 96 geese times the number of people – of which there were only 6 that day and you come up with 576 geese.  Now,  let’s just carry that one step further and consider that all 576 geese need to be checked for size/trimmed on all 4 sides and now we have 2,304 cuts to make.  That was only for making the flying geese and does not include making the rest of the block.  So, try as we might, we didn’t complete our task.  But, undaunted, we stacked up our piles and will continue making our blocks by planning another sewing day ASAP.  This is what it looks like to tackle this job:

DSC00585 We started out with 3 sewers, 1 presser and 2 cutters.  The cutters had a tough job so we did rotate duties.  Then 2 sewers, 1 presser & 3 cutters…….

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Where are the sewers?

 

 

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Where are the cutters?

 

 

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They must be walking toward this lovely work station on the porch…….

 

Yes indeed, we couldn’t string 3 nice days together all summer long and when it turns into September, BAM, we get a string of 80+ degree days.  It was so beautiful.  But, I’m losing the thread (hence “Loose Threads”) of my story.  Lunch is always important to us and I doubt that we’ve ever had the same thing twice in all those years.  This day our afternoon “snack” was a great Weight Watchers Peach Pie.  Sorry I don’t have a picture but I do have the recipe:

Pie was only a minor highlight of our lunch break tho.  You see, one of our group is going thru chemo treatments.  She’s the 2nd of our group to go thru this.  We don’t want them to go thru it alone tho.  It almost could have been scripted, it was so perfect.  Ms. Jean was taking a quilt out of a bag for show & tell.  Our special gal, KL, asked if this was a quilt for someone special.  Ms. Jean replied that it was for someone very special.  You see we have a friend who is going thru chemo and we made this for her.  There was a second of silence before KL got it:  OMG, you made it for me????  Yes, KL, it’s a wellness quilt and we want you to take it to chemo with you and use it at home so you can wrap our love around yourself anytime you need us. 

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Is this quilt for someone special?

 

 

 

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You made this for ME?????

 

 

 

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Oh you girls – I love it!

And we love you KL

The yellow shirt gal received the “wellness quilt” and the black shirt gal lost her husband to cancer I think it was 2 years ago now.  (her shirt says “cancer sucks.”  Guess we’d all agree with that!!!)

DSC00601 I think I’ll save “Woolie Day” for the next post ‘cuz there’s a lot of eye candy in that story, girl. 

Some of you gals were taking pictures of textures in  your homes and they were so much fun to look at.  It got me thinking a little about textures so yesterday I took this shot.  See if you can tell me what it is….

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If you guessed the ceiling of the Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome In Minneapolis – you’re right!!!!  (no prizes)  The roof is held up with air pressure and it is so very weird when you leave the building – you get literally blown out the doors.  Hang on to your hats and  your kids and grandma!  I kid you not. 

See if you can tell by our travel companion’s clothing what we were doing there:

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Son #1 and wife.

 

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Son #2 and friend.

Minnesota Twins Baseball.  The Boys of Summer.  The young men who get paid a lot of money to do what they love to do anyway.  Scratch & Spit.  Did I say that? 

Anyway, it was another 80 degree day and we drove 3 hours to go INSIDE to a ball game.  But I wasn’t alone.  Me & 42,999 others were there to watch the game.  And a few more besides.DSC00653DSC00654

DSC00655 Only 4 games left to be played in this stadium before using a new outdoor stadium next year.  Now, I’m all for watching baseball on a beautiful day but come on, this is Minnesota.  Do you know how cold it can still be in April?  Or October?  Or any month in-between?  Can we say Rain?  Sleet?  Snow? 

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And this?  This is Mr. Baseball, Joe Mauer, the face of baseball for the Twins.  A catcher who is a power hitter.  (and a cutie).  We were in row 7 & he was warming up just below us.  I waved & said Hi Joe!  He never even looked.  But I really wasn’t having a “good hair day”.  You hear what I’m sayin?  In any case, Joe won the game.  I mean, the Twins won the game.

Our little precious (sick) Baxter went to the Bed & Biscuit again and had a sleep-over because it was late when we got home.  He loves it there.  As soon as the Mr. dropped him off, he took off like a rocket to play with the others and forgot all about his “master”.  AND he brought home a very good report card.  It was almost perfect in fact – just like Baxter.

 

13 comments:

Anonymous said...

Lovely post....nearly brought me to tears with regards of the cancer quilt and yes, loved the shirt Cancer Sucks....I loss my dad last Dec to cancer.

Chatty Kathy~Palmetto Prims said...

What great friends you are!! My sister in law is an eight year survivor of cancer. Your friend can beat this!!!!

So, where is the peach pie recipe??

Pat said...

Faye, another great post. I love the idea of the "wellness" quilt. And, aren't sewing groups the best ever!

Jan said...

What a beautiful post and prayers going up for KL! Love that cuddly fabric you all chose for the back of her quilt and the front is gorgeous!

Carrie ~ Cricketwood Prims said...

Oh what a wonderful post for Monday morning, I know I'm late.....what's new... do you see my tear, You gals are the best, thanks for sharing your personal story. I totally agree, cancer SUCKS. KL enjoy your wellness quilt, I hope it brings comfort to you when you most need it!!

Linda - Behind My Red Door said...

OH I love the wellness quilt! What a wonderful gift! I often gave my ChemoAngel patients an afghan to take to treatments but a quilt made with living hands is so much more special!! You made my eyes leak!

I hope you will share the WW peach pie recipe. I need all the help I can get!!

Looking forward to your next post.

Karen said...

Give me a chance with Brad!

Tootsie said...

what a sweet thing to do for a friend who needed a pick me up! I love it...it is just so pretty and I am willing to bet she is thinking it is her new all time favorite blanket!
The ball game looked fun....you have some handsome family lady!!!
hope you have had a wonderful week....I am off to make supper and check again if I can touch all my teeth with my tongue! get it? lol
love you!

Kristi said...

Miss O thinks it's really funny that uncle #2 has a girlfriend. She can't stop giggling about it! (but we can't read what you posted cuz his picture is covering up the words) And she didn't recognize uncle #1 with that stuff growing on his face!

Best wishes to KL.

Maggey and Jim said...

Hello,
What a wonderful group.. My best friend just finished her chemo and has lost all of her hair, she is doing ok, really been down but now is getting back to her old self.I love the fabric choice, very pretty and soft. Looking forward to reading more of you blog.
Maggey

Holly said...

I think you've become my favorite new blog, even though I've been following you since the beginning. You are such a gifted writer and a Hoot to boot!!! I do enjoy reading your posts!!
What a lovely gift, a wellness quilt. A Beautiful thought and gift! May healing come quickly to your dear friend. How blessed she is to have all of you along side her through this awful illness.
You're a cheery group and I want to join!!!!
Thanks for brightening my day! Holly

Tootsie said...

frost around here usually starts in
sept...and last year my garden was pulled out completely by this time. This year we have had record heat! today I got hammered with 3/4 inch hail and soaked in seconds with a downpour from a sneak attack storm!

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