Vintage Finds, Quilt Projects, and fun with my Sister

I have been so excited about this weekend that I’ve felt like a kid at Christmas!
A week or so ago my sister emailed me and said she didn’t have class on Thursday or Friday.
It turned out that my kids had a fall break on the same days, so she and her husband decided to come down for a few days.

On the list of things to do:
design a Christmas quilt and shop for fabric, hit the thrift store in search of cool old picture frames, do something creative in general.

This is my lovely sister Kristen and her husband Jake.
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Thursday night we went to the thrift store and had a blast.  Now, I enjoy looking for wonderful old things, but usually I’m doing it alone.  I learned that it’s much more fun when you’re with a friend.  I had so much fun!  Kris bought some cool old frames for a project she’s working on.  Here’s what I found.
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The pitcher is silver plate, but was black.  I bought it for $5.00 and polished it a little when I got home.  I’m not usually really into candlesticks, but they were pretty and really inexpensive.
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And I love the little cup.  I’m totally into silver things on pedestals.
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And for the first time in my life, I decided to sort through the vintage jewelry.  I think I scored pretty well, and now I have a few things to play with.  I’ve got a bunch of ideas bobbing around in my head involving fabric, rosettes, vintage rhinestones, and so forth.
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The big rhinestone broach is about 2 1/2 inches long and every stone is clear and intact.  And the rose is actually quite pretty with the marcasite.  It was $1.  Lots of fun!

I also picked up an old picture frame that will look great painted white.
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We came home happy!  It was a lot of fun.  Yesterday involved a little bit of cooking, taking care of all the children, and a trip to the spa for a pedicure.  Kris gave me a gift certificate for my birthday which I hadn’t used yet.

This is the ONLY time I wear flip flops.
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Don’t our toes look pretty?
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After the pedicure we went to work on the Christmas quilt idea.  I had some ideas in mind, and when I sketched them out, she liked my proposal.  A little math to work out the pattern and generate a shopping list, and we were off!
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We’re trying a twist on the traditional Christmas color scheme by tossing in some black and white.  We found a great bunch of fabrics that she really likes.  It’s way too much fun to shop for fabric.  It’s like shopping for clothes, but you can buy a little bit of every color and pattern that you like and you don’t have to worry about whether anything fits because the creating is all up to you.
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We’re going to try to cut it before she has to leave for home.  If we don’t get to it, we’ll have to plan another weekend like this soon, very soon.  I’m liking this project so much that I’m feeling tempted to make one for myself as well.  So far I’ve resisted, though.
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I tried my hand at making my first rosette with some silk fabric.  Needs some work and I could use a real lesson in how to do it.  I was just sort of making it up.
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Last night my brother and his wife came over for a late dinner, an impromptu movie, hot chocolate floats and a hilarious reading of my 10 year old daughter’s most recent story.  Brent and Christa are awesome;  they are expecting their first baby in just a few weeks.  They’re like we were,  stuck on a name.
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This morning we made some pear french toast and got the logo she designed for my blog all set up.  (Hope you like it; I do!)  Little sisters are the best!
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So, we’re about to wrap up the weekend without any finished product, per say, but we’ve had so much fun and are full of plans.  We miss our Mom and other sister and have to do this again soon.  After all, we’ve got a quilt to make.  We’ll show it to you soon!

Sorting

Today has been a day of emotional sorting.  Sorting through a whole bunch of unrelated things that are all related because I’m feeling all of them at once.

My son’s band teacher was killed in an accident on Saturday night.  She died trying to save the lives of 50 students.  She did it.  Did I know her?  No.  I had spoken to her, but didn’t really KNOW her.  This is my son’s first term in Junior High.  He really liked her.  And so, while I am on the edge of it all, I still feel affected by it.  And affected by the knowledge of the hundreds of people who are much more acutely affected than I am.  And I guess I just feel a heightened awareness of the fragility of life and the blessings of it.

I’ve been sorting through some of the natural disappointments of life which feel so big in the short run even if they aren’t in the end.  Sorting through the humbling reminder that God has a lot of much bigger needs out there than mine, like all the people mourning the loss of a loved teacher right now.  Teetering between feeling ashamed that I have my own small concerns to bother the Lord with and feeling grateful that he cares even though my cares might be silly.

Sorting through a pile of fears that I didn’t know I had until I became a Mom and my kids started growing up and each of them unveiled their own set of challenges.  Sorting through all the questions about how to respond, how to help, how to be sure it’s the right thing to do and not a decision made out of fear.  And wanting to be certain that my fears won’t prevent us from doing the right things.

I guess today was kind of a going through the motions day while my mind and heart was sorting, sorting.  I wish I could say that I have it all sorted now, but I don’t.  In fact, I think I’m ending the day with more new questions  and no answers.  But I’ve been reminded that it doesn’t work for me to tell God how to take care of things; he has a plan all his own and a way to take care of things and achieve much more than I can dream of.  I just have to have the courage to give him my fears and exercise faith.

I’ve learned that much of life’s sorting is done while our bodies, or hands at least, are on autopilot.  Often when I’m processing things I end up cleaning, preparing food, ironing, and so forth.  Some people go for a walk or a run.   Sometimes my husband goes skateboarding when he’s got things to think through.   Today I ended up in my sewing room.   This is what my “sorting” produced:
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A baby blanket for my little one.
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It’s made with that soft minky fabric that’s so perfect for babies.
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I bought the last of a bolt a couple of weeks ago, thinking this would be the perfect little blankie for her.
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I love the pleats.  I think it was the monotony of the pleats that made it the perfect activity for me today.
Not to mention the fact that spoiling her a little sort of eased the sorting my heart has been doing over yesterday’s haircut .  And the fact that I’d really like a big one of these for myself.

So here’s my question.  What do you do when you’re grappling with life’s questions?  What activities help you to sort through it all?  Do you have something you consistently do, or do you end up doing any of a number of things?  Just curious.

I wish… or perhaps someday

The day I decided to try my hand at what I call a “real” quilt (meaning something other than patchwork) was an important day in my life.   I’ve made many things since, and have many projects in various stages of progression.  I think that on most occasions I would even call myself a quilter.

Until I saw this quilt the other day, and wondered if perhaps I still deserve the same kind of ranking that I gave myself years ago.
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I found this at American Jane , and I love it!  It’s called Mothers and Daughters.
I love the colors, the pattern, everything.

But I’m pretty sure it’s way out of my league.
I find myself wishing that I was a REAL quilter.  And then I think that someday, just someday, I might be.

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