All In A Wednesday.

The title of this post should be edited to include “And the wee small hours of Thursday morning…”

It’s been quite the madhouse over here.  One thing after another.

Just when you think you’ve caught your rhythm, someone or something changes the dance.

But we keep on going!

I’ve been on the phone constantly with family in Idaho regarding my Father-in-law who has been defying all odds even though the end is immanent. So much love being sent out to him from here.

And in the midst of it all comes a text message from the hubster with a photo of a featherweight that was found in the basement.  WHAT?!

After all of these years of sewing, no one thought that I might be able to use that “old dirty machine in the broken black box?!”

The serial number dates it to 1941.

It is thought to have belonged to Dave’s grandmother on his mom’s side, Grandma Snader, but we are checking around to be sure this didn’t belong to his step-mom’s family. (Dave's own mom died in 1983 and his dad remarried several years later.)

More cutting during back and forth photo-text sessions.

I planned on just doing some cutting and kitting up last night.  But it was nearly midnight by the time I went to bed, and 2:30am when I woke up unable to sleep.  The blocks at the top of this post were sewn between 2:30am and 5:30am when I headed back to bed to try to get some shut-eye.

It was Dave’s grandma on his dad’s side, Grandma Hunter that gave me my first cardboard templates for a churn-dash block back in the summer of 1982.

We had been through a lot already in our short marriage, having just buried our first child, a daughter born with trisomy 13.  I was 20.  Dave was 22.  And Grandma knew that my hands needed to be busy to heal my heart.

At this time there were no rotary cutters.  I traced and cut with scissors.  I sewed and stitched and layered and hand quilted in the ditch. (With a double length of thread and knots showing on the back because no one told me otherwise.)

And because I didn’t know anything about binding or how to do it, I figured out prairie points by looking at another quilt that Grandma had made and finished mine the same way.  It was a baby quilt for my baby sister Mary who was born 5 months after my loss. 

So many emotions running through my 20 year old “grow up fast” heart during this time.

I’ve been reflecting on this much over the past several days.

I thought about it while doing this -

I am where I am today because of everything I went through early on.  I had already done a bit of quilting before Grandma got me really going, but without her there at that time to encourage me, it may have taken much longer to take hold, if at all.

Oh, I’d been sewing clothes and household items like curtains, but Grandma Hunter fanned the flames of my love for patchwork.  She lived to be 104.  And now we wait for her youngest son to pass from this life to join her.  My relationship with this family is completely related to where I am on my journey and I recognize that.

And all of these things are whirling and keeping me from sleeping at night.

And Sadie kept watch!

Click to play:

A post shared by Bonnie K Hunter (@quiltville_bonnie) on Nov 1, 2017 at 9:56am PDT

She is doing much better today than she was yesterday, and yesterday was better than the night before so it is safe to say we are making progress.  She is eating, drinking, taking care of business, resting and keeping me company.

And I managed to trim about 4’’ off of that cone so it isn’t as huge on her.  She is dealing with it.

Her wound is on her side, near the armpit of her front leg (leg pit?) on her left side.  Many have suggested her wearing a shirt which will be fine in a few days but she has staples and nothing is supposed to rub there.  Right now the cone is fine.

8 tubs to the post office!

I have been assured that MORE Simple Folded Corners Rulers and Essential Triangle Tools are on their way with an expected delivery date of Monday.  We have several weeks until the Mystery starts, so don’t fear.  We WILL have them in stock.

Every year I put this out here because there are many that do not understand how the “royalties” system works when you are an author or designer. If you buy an item from another store or amazon, your designer friend only gets a token royalty for that purchase you made.  In my case it’s about 1/2 of a book royalty on a ruler which amounts to about 50 cents.  That’s all.

If you want to support your quilt author and designer friends, please be patient and order from them directly if you really want to help them out.  One of the reasons I can keep offering these mysteries for free is that they are subsidized by offering the needed tools, at a discount, on my website.  I appreciate your patience and support!

And so does Sadie!

This happened last night!

Check out what happened overnight on my Quiltville Facebook page! Due to the upcoming On Ringo Lake mystery excitement we have reached more than 110,000 followers! To the new ones who have joined in and to those who have been with me from the beginning I welcome you! Thank you for being part of my quilty life!

As to that not-much-sleep thing: I have a feeling there will be an after-lunch nap coming on:

Quiltville Quote of the Day!

This reminder is for me personally. I allowed my stress and my fear to keep me from sleeping last night. I need to not take those heavy loads to bed with me.

And neither do you!

Have a pieceful Thursday, everyone!