Month: September 2012

longarm quilting

I ran away for a few days :)

Wild Rose Quilter7 Comments

But, before I did that, I loaded this behemoth on the machine and started quilting it.

It’s my first leap back into doing real “custom” quilting since sometime in 2010, before everything happened with Greg. I’ve only gotten some of the straight line ruler work done, but so far so good, I think.  And, I’ve been totally enjoying the process.  I will share a little peek with you. 🙂

Nothing too exciting yet, but still, a big step back into my life for me. 🙂

Now, about that running away.  I really, truly did.  All the way to Jamaica! 😀  It was wonderful!
And, it was another big step for me. I had never been out of the U.S. before.  I went with one of my best girlfriends and we had a great time.  She moved to Arkansas awhile back, so we don’t get to see each other that often anymore, so that made the trip even more special. I really needed that little getaway.  We stayed at the Gran Bahia Principe in Runaway Bay.

This is me standing on our balcony before we went out to dinner.

And, one of me enjoying a refreshing tropical beverage and the beautiful view before we went shopping on our last day there.

That’s it for now. I think I will go do a little more stitching on that quilt!

grief · longarm quilting · quilting · quilts

Quilting to Report! :)

Wild Rose Quilter11 Comments

For many months after Greg passed, I just couldn’t get back into my quilting. He was so involved in that part of my life. Very interested and so supportive. I just couldn’t get my mojo back. But, finally, the fire is burning within me again. I am working on my projects and it’s bringing me joy. I am trying to turn all my WIP’s into completed items. Or, at least make a good dent in them before I start on new ones. I know that I will not be able to refrain from starting a new thing, here or there, before I finish ALL my WIPs. In the past week, I have quite a little bit of new progress to report.

I finished my “chicken quilt”. Just a simple turning twenty made with mostly chicken themed fabrics, quilted with Willow Leaf studio’s Fancy This panto. I had everything but the binding finished close to two years ago, now. Now, it’s finally draped over the back of my sofa, ready to snuggle up in during the chilly Fall/Winter months. I actually took a little nap under it yesterday.

I pulled out a little pre-cut table runner kit I have had for probably three years now. I  bought it from Chery’s Quilt Corner, in Guymon. It was designed by Judy Rice. I am so happy to see it on my table in time for pumpkin season this year! I quilted it on my longarm. For the pumpkin vines that were supposed to be done by machine or hand embroidery, I just threaded my longarm with some green thread and did them as part of the quilting.

That little table runner just makes me smile. I love pumpkins!

Last night I loaded the Oklahoma Backroads (pattern from Bonnie Hunter’s Quiltville) quilt that I started making for my Mom, back before she was diagnosed with lymphoma. So, I know this has been a WIP for over two years. I pulled it off the longarm just a little bit ago. It’s a scrap quilt, with pretty much bits and pieces of any and ever quilt I had previously made in it. I could have done a better job with the fabric values, which would have made the stars and “roads” stand out better, but she will love it for snuggling up in. It’s so busy that I decided to do a freehand “paisley-ish” allover meander on it, just to give it a nice texture. Also, being that I really avoided my longarm for over a year, and the year before that it was barely used, these little projects are a good way to sharpen up my skills again. I’m a little rusty and these are good confidence builders. I am pleased to report that my longarm just took right off, and is working perfectly, even after all that sitting, waiting for me to come back to her. That was a big relief.

Now to get the binding and a label on it, and it’s soon to be a finish, as well. 🙂 I’m ready for it to go live with Mom!

Greg was in one of my dreams last night. At first, I wanted so badly to dream about him, because it would feel, in a way, as if he was still here, as if I had seen and talked to him. And the funny thing is, those dreams didn’t come right away. Now, when they do, I have really mixed emotions about it. Waking up after one is certainly  more painful. Because, it does feel as if he was just here, as if I just talked with him, saw him, and possibly even touched him. And then, I wake up.

I alluded to a “special someone” in a previous recent post. Yes, I am seeing someone. But no, that takes nothing away from the loss of what I had.  And, he lives six hours away. Long, but sweet, story. Someday maybe I will share it here. 🙂

In the meantime, I will be trying to figure out the best way to reply to your comments. While I was away, it seems WordPress changed the comment notification emails. It used to be that I could reply directly, and privately to the commenter by replying through the notification email that WordPress sent. That is no longer the case. I can click on the email address of the commenter, and send a whole new email, which is probably what I will begin doing. If I reply through the WordPress email, it posts directly here on the blog, but I don’t know if the commenter gets notification that there has been a repy. Do any of you know? I do read all your comments and have been very lax about responding during these past many months. I intend to start doing better about that again! Thanks for stopping by, and thank you for all the cyber love you have sent my way. 🙂

quilting

Setback Day?

Wild Rose Quilter6 Comments

Today has been one of those days. I worked in my Perryton office, rather than the Borger office, where I spend most of my working time these days. Maybe that was part of it. The weather changed. It was definitely a chilly, damp, cloudy Fall kind of day. Maybe the change in seasons is part of the reason. I have worked in the Perryton office several times since Greg passed, so I don’t know what makes today one of “those” days…a day I’m calling a “setback day”, simply because I don’t know what else to say to describe it. But, here I am, a year and four months past the date of his passing. And, all day it felt so unreal. Like all the space between was erased, and I had to keep reminding myself that he is gone. It started this morning when an ambulance went down Main St., and I caught myself thinking, as I used to do when this same event happened, that I should call Greg, just make sure it wasn’t him and that he was fine. Then I remembered that no, it wasn’t him, that he wasn’t fine, and all the stuff that happened from diagnosis of his brain tumor, to his death. All day I felt as if he should be coming to get me for lunch, should be down at the glass shop working away, that he should be coming home saying “what’s for dinner?” It feels so surreal again. Yep, well over a year later…a setback day. Strange how they just come along for no apparent reason. I wonder what makes it feel so fresh all over again. Just musing aloud, there…I know there isn’t a definitive answer to that question.