Thursday, October 8, 2020

Didn't mean for that to happen. But it did.

Oh, dear.

Grief is not conducive to sticking to no-purchase resolves. I caved on two quilts that have been calling to me all year.

Sage & Sea Glass Star Chain quilt, by Kim Diehl, using her fabric line of the same name:

And Harmony, by Nancy Dink, which will be perfect on the bed of the basement room:

And now I found the pattern for this one, and it would be a great use of all the Halloween scraps I have. Wonder if I have enough of something for the background on hand already. . . "Scaredy Cat" by Jedi Craft Girl.

So, three quilts screaming at me, two purchases. I guess it could have been worse. . .

And it's cheaper than a psychologist, eh?

Monday, October 5, 2020

BOMs Away - Goodbye, Mom Caulkins

Welcome to the link-up for BOMs Away Mondays!

Where we share what we're doing on a BOM-type project

so they don't stall out in UFO-land!

(Linky at the bottom.)

Well, in the very wee hours yesterday, we lost Scott's mother.

While Mom has been experiencing strange difficulties for most of this crazy year, she found out only five or six weeks ago that she had metastasized lung cancer. We were able to travel to her state twice during that time to visit - the first time while she was still lucid and mobile and enjoying company, and this past weekend, where we were able to be there with Dad and Karen for her final days and passing.

This is my all-time favorite photo of her, at their wedding in 1958:

I have to say again how very, very amazing Scott's sister, Karen, has been.

She gave up her job and her personal life to move in with their parents so that Norma could stay in her own home until the end. Karen cared for her ceaselessly, using her home health care training to provide physical and nursing care as the needs arose. It was an absolutely priceless gift, one that went beyond anything Karen could have been expected to do, one that came at great emotional cost and had to have been taxing, as she could only extremely rarely leave the house for any kind of break. She is an amazing woman that I am glad to be related to.

The only BOM work I did this past week was some stitching on the current Octopuses Garden block in my hand applique tote, while I was sitting with Norma Saturday morning. In a desire for her mind to have some indication that she was not alone, I just babbled aloud for a while about what I was stitching - "now I'm going to start on this yellow blob on the right hand trigger fish, mom. It's not as tricky as that black tail piece was!" Kinda funny - inane conversation, but the important thing to me was to make my presence known and keep company with an unconscious patient. I can't help but feel a connection can be "felt" at some very basic level that is meaningful to a departing person. I hope so, anyway.

And I hope you're in the midst of better times than we are right now.

~*~*~

Did you do any BOM work lately?

Kate over at Katie Mae Quilts has joined me in hosting this meet-up,

and linking up from either end puts you on the party at both sides.

Thursday, October 1, 2020

Goal Post October 2020 - OMG & Finish Along Q4

Oh, 2020, you Bad, Bad, Boy. And hard miles yet to go. . .

The whole pandemic thing that everyone is experiencing*Continuing personal issues*AZ-CA-CO-OR wildfire smoke making our air seriously unhealthy for the last six or seven weeks running*Broken drain connection creating unseen mold issue requiring drawn-out rebuild of part of the house*Parents with truly alarming behavioral issues followed by a rapidly deteriorating terminal cancer situation seven hours away*Thank goodness for a happy little wedding amongst it all*Impending funeral, household reckoning, moving of father-in-law to another state*Fourth quarter, can we just be chill and work quietly through the remaining weeks once Dad is settled?

I am so very deeply depleted today, hoping some formal organization can help provide some quilting therapy. So, for October, my OMG is to get all the quilting finished on my Sew Spooky quilt.

One Monthly Goal October - Link up here