Shop Hop Day Two and More

Today I whipped up a little doll quilt for Ayla for Christmas. I just used leftover charm squares. Nothing spectacular, but her doll baby should be warm.

I also made and attached the binding for Short Story in Figgy Pudding.

Pinned it...have just started hand binding it while watching football today.

Pretty impressive stack of fabric I bought on the shop hop yesterday huh? I think I am officially out of control! I need to get sewing!

I finally bought this book though I didn't think it had as much information on the history of barn quilts as I would have liked. I need to go through it slower. I doubt I will be making one of these but I love the idea of it and want to know more.

Here is the fabric spread out so you can see. I got quite a bit of it on the clearance section for really good prices. Stuff I paid full price for I was really in love with. Those there lights with snowflakes on them just had to come home with me. I want to put them in the next Bonnie quilt as shirtings. That black with the flowers is Mary Englebreit fabric...June did her Carolina Christmas mystery with a similar fabric for her background and I loved, LOVED, loved it...so I want to use this in a similar way I think.

You can see I found three grays. I was really happy about that because I think grey is often an overlooked color and I want to do a quilt that features it. That little pink calico just called to me and that cream with the different colored swirl/circle designs on it is the same line as my Bargello Seasons quilt has in it in various colors. It may wind us as the backing for that or something, but I had to have it. The black with the larger colored flowers I also love. I think it would be good for Ann's NYE mystery this year. She usually tells us to have a focus fabric and that may work. I hope I have enough of it, if that is what it goes for. You can also see the figgy pudding fabric which has mostly already become the binding for Short Story.

Here is a picture of most of BJ's purchases. She got a gift for a friend, and lots of fabric. We both bought two of the same fabrics which we got a kick ut of.
I also wanted to show you the clipping from the Spooner Advocate that my sister and I had put in in memory of our dad. I can't believe it has been a year. I found the poem by author unkown on the internet and made a few changes so it would apply to our situation.

And MYSTERY SPOILER ALERT: Stop reading here if you will be making the shop hop mystery and don't want a peak at one version of how it comes out. I have all the clues and would like to make it but it isn't at the top of my current list. I have bindings to put on four quilts, and Carolina Crossroads needs to get done, my quilt history blocks need to get done, my quilt along nine patch/snowballs need to get done, and another QOV from the Amy's Passions blocks needs one more block and then to be put together as well. I also have Pineapple Blossoms in progress with one four blocks done. Plenty to keep me busy!

Enchantment, this one on display at Quiltz.

Oh and I am doing well on my bike almost every day and am down 4 pounds this week! (Total loss 14 pounds!).

NOBODY KNOWS IT BUT ME by Patrick O'Leary

My dad picked the poem below for his service and I think it really fit him--my sister and I heard it for the first time while planning his service. Strangly enough I had sent him a similar poem (The Road Not Taken by Robert Frost) the night before he died...and even stranger...I was reading "Await Your Reply" on the plane to see my Dad just a few hours before he passed and the author mentioned the poem iI had just sent him in the book...then I found out he had picked this poem which has some similarities, and then I was reading an article for work (about Deaf culture being similar to Harry Potter's world) and it too mentioned the one I had picked....comfort from Dad I guess....there are no coincidences some say...so here is Dad's pick:

There’s a place that I travel
when I want to roam
and nobody knows it but me.
The roads don’t go there
and the signs stay home
and nobody knows it but me.
It’s far far away and way way afar.
It’s over the moon and the sea.
And wherever you’re going
that’s wherever you are
and nobody knows it but me.

And the one I picked to comfort him (and us) because when I skimmed through my small selection of poetry books only this one and one other stood out to me:

TWO roads diverged in a yellow wood,

And sorry I could not travel both

And be one traveler, long I stood

And looked down one as far as I could

To where it bent in the undergrowth;


Then took the other, as just as fair,

And having perhaps the better claim,

Because it was grassy and wanted wear;

Though as for that the passing there

Had worn them really about the same,


And both that morning equally lay

In leaves no step had trodden black.

Oh, I kept the first for another day!

Yet knowing how way leads on to way,

I doubted if I should ever come back.


I shall be telling this with a sigh

Somewhere ages and ages hence:

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—

I took the one less traveled by,

And that has made all the difference.

The other poem I sent him was called "To One Shortly to Die" and though that seemed kind of morbid, it fit too. My dad's girlfriend read the two poems I sent him to him all that day and into the night and had me read them to him after my sister and I arrived--in that precious hour that we had with him before he left this earth. We miss him everyday...

RID Convention in Philadelphia, PA

Just got back from five days in Philladelphia, PA. Went to the Reading Market which is so cool! They have a zillion different kinds of food (including Indian which I love) and a farmer's market type place and everything in there. We ate there several days and all of the food was really good.

Right next to our hotel was the Hard Rock Cafe and we ate there one day, I was not really impressed with the food there but the atmosphere was really nice.

Hannah, Lori and I rode on a horse and buggy thing all around Philly and got a cool tour.

We also saw the Liberty Bell which was really exciting to see. This was my favorite sightseeing type thing we did.

This was a cool building and I believe this is the one the Liberty Bell used to ring in.
The conference was decent, I learned some new stuff and loved seeing so many people using American Sign Language in one place. It was like being in a different world for a week! I saw a CODA comedian who was amazing and some song performances about the history of RID that I will not soon forget. I flew back on my birthday (hello 40) and got awful news that my dad's cancer is back and all over. Needless to say birthday kind of sucked, but that is how it goes sometimes. Kathy and Randy tried to cheer me by taking me out to the Claim Jumper for dinner, but half way through I realized that my son will most likely never see my dad again and that really got me. I am planning a trip back to Wisconsin to see my dad though it will be short since work is about to get rolling for me. Life should be easier.

I have been trying to think of things to cheer my dad and make me feel like I am doing something when there is really nothing I can do....I am gathering pictures and scanning them to put on a digital frame to give to my dad and I also wrote out a list of "Thank you's" to my dad for the many, many things he has done for me or given me. The list is good and reminded me of so many good times and the generosity of my father. If anyone has any suggestions for things to do for someone who is terminal please send them on...any good books for him or I to read, etc. I was trying to decide if he would like "The Last Lecture" or "The Five People You Meet in Heaven" etc. but not sure if that would just be more depressing. So advice is welcome. My sister and I are nowhere ready to lose our dad and I think it is hard for him to leave us knowing that so we need to find a way to get ready--he is going sooner than we would like.