Fifty Years Ago

Once again, in honor of my mother... I started this blog because of her ten years ago. You can read it here. And today, it's 50 years ago since her passing. Fifty years? And it was on Friday the 13th that she moved onto another life, and it's Friday the 13th today too.

Dear Mom,
I still miss and love you.

And I can't believe I haven't posted since December 2018. I've been a bit out of the social media arena. Is that what you call it, arena?

Dear Mom,
I'm still going to the Post Office and receiving letters, and writing back anyone who writes me. As you know it's my favorite form of writing... my favorite love. I did find a new love though and I may have mentioned it before... quilting. I thought I had mentioned it in previous posts, but I guess not. Or at least I can't locate it. I call it my Letters of Love quilt.

The story... I was with Ruth (younger sister) who is the quilter, shopping with her for material for a quilt she was going to make. I was along for the ride. Inside the shop I spotted material that had writing on it. Whoa, I thought. Maybe I'll make a quilt with writing on it. I bought seven or eight yards of each writing material they had. FYI, I spent more money than Ruth that day. I stuck the material in the closet and it sat a year. I was waiting for the right pattern. Then on some blog I found the perfect pattern, bought it. And I believe another year went by. I decided I better do something with this or what a waste. I called upon the experts, mainly Ruth, Jan, and Elsie... what do I do? Where do I start? What should go where? The questions were numerous and the suggestions were even more so.  Ruth suggested I join the quilter's guild that her and Elsie belong to and then I could go to the retreat where all those who attend gather and sew. This seemed like the only way I would accomplish this task. I did what was required before the retreat: to cut out all the pieces, so when you were at the retreat, all you did was sew, sew, sew.  And so, so, so I was sure, sure, sure that I would have my quilt finished before the end of the retreat. HAAAAAAAAAAA. Little did I know. My quilt block required 8 small pieces to be sewn together. That doesn't seem too bad, right? But the size quilt I decided to make was for a queen size bed, and that required 240 blocks. I was still hopeful, until the end of the retreat and I only had 25 blocks sewn. Two and half days of straight sewing... okay not completely as one stopped to eat breakfast, lunch and dinner, and then there was exercise, and show and tell, and gabbing with various people. Who knew? I didn't do a lot after that retreat until Ruth told me that the guild was going to have a quilt show and they like all members to contribute. I decided that would be a good goal for me to have this quilt finished for the show. And by golly, I sewed every day, even if it was for five minutes. I'll share more about the process if anyone is interested, but I did finish sewing it, and then had a professional actually quilt it. It was too big for me to handle. And viola, Ruth and I both entered our quilt pieces. Ruth and I both won second place. Mine for the large quilt size and hers for the miniature size. How about that? I'm still in shock. But mostly in shock that I actually finished it and the quilt is now on the bed in my writing room. How appropriate, eh?

Here it is:

Well Mom, since you were a seamstress and could sew anything even without a pattern, I thought you'd enjoy this huge accomplishment. I must have inherited some of your creativity. Thank you.
Love, Lynn