Friday, December 28, 2012

Life starts anew...

It's been quite awhile since I posted here. A lot has changed and life is evolving every day. Just over a year ago I was dealing with my 95-year-old father and his failing health. Quilting was one thing that helped me keep my sanity. In early April 2012, just a week before his 96th birthday, Dad passed away, thus ending my longer-than-expected tenure as caregiver. His passing prompted my immediate move from California, where I had been in my childhood home for 7-1/2 years, back to Kansas to make a new home for myself in the state I had called home for over 20 years before I took on parent-care. And the procession of U-Haul trucks began. Two trucks and a car load later on three separate cross-country drives in three months, I settled into my new home and began setting up my sewing room so I could get back to some semblance of normal. I found the quilt shop in my new hometown and was soon a member of two quilt guilds as well. Looking back at the months since I returned to Kansas I can say that quilting is taking a major role in my life. I have made pillowcases and children's quilts for guild service projects, made and gifted a Quilt of Valor to my older brother, and made my new grandson's quilt, Jacob's Jungle, that won a first place blue ribbon at both the Lyon County and Kansas State Fairs!



This fall, I managed to finish several quilted and sewn Christmas gifts in time to put under the tree, and am now looking at the stack of UFOs that need to be finished after their cross-country trek. The first one off the shelf is a One Block Wonder that I started in March 2011. The piecing has been done for quite some time as indicated in this picture of me holding the top in May 2011; however, the quilting has been dragging on. With about 80% of it done now, I started in again today and spent several hours ditching the mini orange border so I can free motion the blue field border to complete it. That's my first goal--to complete this beauty and have it bound and ready for snuggling soon.


There are many more where that one came from, so more projects will be completed soon.

More snippets from the sewing room soon,
Liz

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