Out of the Past

Something fairly amazing has happened. It turns out that the very first quilt I ever made is not dead and buried, as I had thought. The quilt, and all its polyester loveliness and durability, has moved on to its second generation of service. And--surprise, surprise--like most of us, it turned up on Facebook. I nearly fell off my chair when I saw it...

Feast your eyes:

Baby Harriet is lovely even when she's chewing on her shoe, but the quilt...

The year was 1976, and a good friend was the first expectant mom in our whole crowd of college friends. Since it was the year of the Bicentennial, patriotic colors were on the menu. And I always did like gingham checks... This one hits the trifecta of 70s quilts. Repeat them with me:

Poly-cotton gingham--check,

Puffy polyester batting---check,

Tied with yarn---check.

The recipient of the Bicentennial quilt was the oldest of five, and the quilt endured plenty of dragging around in its first life. It's nothing short of amazing to see it survived. Madeline, the original owner, also survived this work of art and is now herself a mom, shown here reading to her own little ones on Christmas Eve.

Those early quilts are certainly growth experiences, and artistically I surely can do better now. But if a measure of quilty success is in numbers of happy kids cuddled down through the years, I guess this one was a success.

It's a satisfying way to round out the year. The wheel of life, and of fiber arts, keeps turning. Onward!

Christmas in Just a Few Words

Low-key Christmas; sunny, no snow.
One kid home.

One kid on Skype.
Too much food.
A whole case of Cincinnati Chili spice mix!

iPad!

Reflecting.

Thankful for a great family.

Graced by a new family member.

Nostalgic for those no longer with us. Wish they all could be here too, to enjoy it all.

Is there any spinach dip left? It IS a serving of vegetables, isn't it?

My Month So Far...

The last few weeks have been a blogless blur. And what better things do I have to do these days besides keeping up with the blog?

Well. First there was a long weekend deep-country quilting getaway with four good friends. Ostensibly we were working on our Spargo projects, and--ta da!--I did get my blocks assembled.

But then I moved on to other things.

This, above, is Nellie's Wedding Quilt, (the project calling for 1100+ tiny HSTs) which already is a long-term project. I now have nine blocks done, out of 36. Don't expect this one to be finished any time soon.

I got home from the retreat, and left the following morning for Washington DC, to meet my granddaughter. Sigh. Is she perfectly gorgeous? Why, yes. Yes, she is.

(Among all the electronic devices in this picture is my Christmas knitting project. More about that project in another post...)

My job in DC was to act as companion and co-pilot for first ventures out in public. C and her husband have a brand new car which C had not driven. We packed the baby up, and ventured out to the burbs, on that awful Beltway, in pouring rain. We also mastered the DC Metro with a stroller, did a couple lunches out,

and even visited a library lapsit storytime Huge successes, all.

When I got home, I was flabbergasted to discover it was mid-December for heaven's sake, and very little Christmas had happened at home. And was anyone surprised by this? No.

In the interest of sanity and serenity, we've dispensed with the tree and other trim this year. A couple big poinsettias were purchased and plopped in strategic spots and we're calling it good. I had a mind to switch out red candles for the usual neutral-colored ones. But last year I must have packed away the red candles with the holiday trim

Oh well. Next year, the house will be a freaking winter wonderland, I promise.