Stories from the Sewing Room

I'm afraid I don't have much to share this week. I haven't really felt like doing much. I already knew I wasn't going to feel like doing much over the weekend due to getting a booster shot Friday. However, I also received some sad news that really took it out of me. 

I've been meeting over Zoom several times a month for over three years with a group of women who are also quilting business owners. We also text often and have become good friends. Even though we live far apart, I have met all of them in person, Lin at an APQS maintenance class, Christina and Holly at Quilt Con in February. Like me, Holly had brought her husband along and we enjoyed hanging out with them for the day. 

Friday Holly let us know that her husband Tim had passed as a result of a tragic accident. Even though I only met him once, it was easy to see what a bright light he was, just a truly happy, positive person. Holly and Tim have three school-aged children and my heart is just breaking for their entire family. There has been a Go Fund Me started to help her. I realize that most people don't wish to donate money to a stranger, but I feel powerless and this is something small I can do. 

I decided to give myself grace and just slow down.

I prepped several things that need to be sewn. This is part of the September clue for Meadow Mist's Marble mystery. 

I put my Bedford Tiles blocks on the design wall.

I made the outside borders, kinda, for my RSC quilt. I made one giant strip that I will cut according to the measurements of my quilt top. I didn't have quite enough of the fabric that I'd used for the inner sashing strips. I was about 40" short, so there are a few other fabrics mixed in. Hopefully it doesn't end up looking too weird when I get it sewn on.

I've completed a few quilts for others. The first few belong to Ann K. I stitched Moon and Stars on the first one.

I stitched Scribble Hearts on the second. I attached her binding to the front of both of these.

I quilted Mike's Swoosh on Jae's quilt. I think she's planning to display this one at the local show in October. It is a double quilt show weekend--both my guild, Bloomington Quilters Guild, and hers, Quarry Quilters of Bedford, are having their shows October 4 and 5. There is so much going on around town that weekend--the Lotus World Music & Arts Festival, Hilly Hundred bicycle tour, Hoosiers Outrun Cancer, the Science Fest at IU, and some sporting events. You can also see John Mellencamp's art all semester at the Eskenazi Art Museum on campus. So if you ever had the desire to visit Bloomington, that is the weekend to do so. LOL. {The only one of these things I've ever attended besides the quilt shows is the Science Fest. We are planning to visit the Eskenazi though.}

I've started stitching Faux Free Motion on Susan's quilt. This is definitely going to be a two-day job. 

We've been enjoying the antics of the squirrels. I don't know if it's just one or multiples that do wacky things on our deck. They usually go for the drip pan on the grill and also chew on the mat on the deck underneath the grill. They pick flowers from the hydrangea and nibble at them on the deck. They try to climb up the wall and throw themselves at the slider door. We sometimes ponder whether they are intoxicated from chewing on the mat.

There are many rabbits in the yard right now along with all the squirrels. We've seen lots of different birds, but most so briefly that we don't have enough time to figure out what the unusual ones are. We had a large flock of nighthawks for a few nights. We saw some sort of waterfowl, possibly snow geese, flying by in a v-formation. The hummingbirds are still here and battling for feeder dominance. I also saw a hummingbird pecking (?) at the suet a few times.

Other than taking time to smell the metaphorical roses, robotics has officially started for the season. Lots of technical discussion is taking place, during and outside of practice. The team is all boys, the mentors all men. I am vastly outnumbered. I miss having my daughter home. 

My son and I are slowly working through some camera classes. He's become quite interested in photography, and, being the engineer brain that he is, he has to figure out all the settings and how they affect each other, how the different lenses work, and so on. Above my pay grade. I'm trying, but he has to re-explain everything to me.

Not to be a total downer, but my mom told me that my high school gym teacher/driver's training teacher/father of my classmate, died this weekend too. He enjoyed a full life. I obviously knew he was the wrestling coach, but didn't realize how many awards and honors he'd received for wrestling/coaching throughout his career. Here's to you, Mr. Lehman. Well done. My parents were both teachers and I feel like almost every time I talk to mom she tells me that another of my teachers is gone. I guess I'm at that age. Or they are. 

Well, hopefully I'll be more uplifting and will have sewn something for next week. Thanks for reading if you made it this far.

Linking with Quiltery, My Quilt Infatuation, and Alycia Quilts.