I FINISHED MY FALL MINI...and it feels SO GOOD!!!!!

I have been basically away from my machine for six months now!  Quilting this made me feel like a total newbie...but within a very short period of time it all started to come back.  Guess it is like riding a bike, LOL. 

It took me two days to quilt and bind this mini, but I was filled with joy the entire time.  Quilting really IS my therapy.  I still don't know why I walked away from my hobby at a time when I needed it most.  Maybe deep down I didn't feel I deserved to be joyful after losing Mom.  Whatever the reason (and I'm sure a psychiatrist somewhere would have a ball with it), I'm back and planning tons of quilts moving forward.  For right now, though, Ellie (my sewing machine) is in the shop for a much needed once over.  I just realized yesterday that I never took her for her yearly check up!  Life just got away from me. 

Tomorrow I will take down my Spring/Summer mini and hang this beauty.  First thing on the agenda when Ellie gets back?  A small topper for the "catch-all" table just inside the front door.  Dear Hubby even asked if I could make different quilts/wall hangings to hang on the walls throughout the house and change them throughout the year.  That is a request I will be happy to fulfill! 

Toodles....

I DECIDED ON EMBELLISHMENT...

Somewhere between my last post and now, I decided that my mini quilt really DID need "something more".  I "think" I love it, but I'm still not completely sure LOL.

What I WAS sure of was the need to sew up a tiny table topper for the little white table also in the foyer.  I cut off one of the other panel blocks to use as the center section of the topper.  It turned out to be the entire topper!  Some quilting and a multicolored binding and it was good to go!  Easy, Peasy!

That is the extent of the quilting/sewing I have done since we lost mom.  I just haven't had it in me.  Until recently.  During a meeting with the bereavement counselor who had come to my parents' home, she began commenting on the beautiful quilts in their family room.  They were the quilts I had made for my dad and then, the following year, for my mom.  The counselor has encouraged me to get back to my quilts.  My quilts have been my therapy, but in my time of greatest need I have failed to reach for my machine.  Maybe she was right.

So today I began rummaging through the TON of mending piled on top of my sewing table and came upon a Fall mini quilt I had begun way back...when?  To be honest I don't remember when I began working on this piece, or if I even showed it to you before, but I think it is time the work continues!  I need to get back to the creative side of my life.  This year has seen the full gamut of emotions for me....concern, confusion, anger, disbelief and heartbreak.  Now it is time to concentrate on the future and the happy times ahead.  Mom would want it that way.

Wedding plans are moving ahead and G and J will be married on my mom's birthday next year.  She loved her only grandchild with all of her heart and wanted nothing more than to see him married and meet her first great grandchild.  While she may not be here in person for their wedding, she did spend time with The Little Guy and was as crazy about him as he was about her.

I'm sure that when they say their "I DOs" she will be watching from above, proud of the wonderful man her grandson has become, and filled with love for the wonderful woman and precious child who have filled our lives with joy.  And, for every ensuing anniversary, as they celebrate their love, they will honor the woman who loved them with all of her heart.