2/8/2025 - Goodbye Baby (Quilts)!

 I gave away my baby last year . . . not really . . . but it kind of felt like it.  I gave away my quilting fabric and I  cried.  I never thought I would, until I finally did.  

My grandmother, the cowgirl and seamstress, had two daughters with her second husband. My mother was the oldest and my Aunt Lois, the younger.  By default, they both learned to sew and, growing up during the Depression, they made all their own clothing. My mom followed all the rules and my aunt made clothes without patterns.  She visualized the clothes she wished to wear then made them to fit.  They were in high school during the 1940's and told me they were pretty stylish.

My mom made all my school clothes when I was in elementary and junior high school,

and she made sure I could follow a pattern and make a dress before I graduated from high school and left for college.  After I married and moved 1200 miles from my home town, I rarely sewed but DID make myself a denim blazer from my husband's old blue jeans.  The marriage ended but I wore the denim blazer, with pride, for years.  Making the blazer from old blue jeans was the only way I could afford one and I really wish I had a photo of that blazer.

But this story is not about sewing . . . it's about quilting, which my mother took up after she retired from 40 years of teaching elementary school.  

After retiring, my mother kept busy by taking classes in Spanish language, Apple computers and quilting.  Lots of people of Spanish and Mexican descent lived (and currently live) in my home town in Arizona.  Mother wanted to be more fluent in their native language. She had an Apple computer and became very capable using it. She also wanted to sew and quilting was new to her.  She took lots of classes and went to lots of quilt shows and worked hard to get Lois and I interested.  My father had the back patio enclosed and it became mom's sewing and computer room.  At one time she had 3 sewing machines, her serger and computer all ready to use as quickly as one could sit down in front of them.  The room was full of shelves for instruction and pattern books and chests of drawers for fabric.  

After my mom was diagnosed with Parkinson's Disease I started taking  my vacation time from work to fly to AZ twice a year to visit the folks. I would drive mom around to all the fabric shops she wanted to visit and would help her straighten up her sewing room. During one of those visits I ran across an article on making quilted potholders.  At that time I was crocheting potholders as a stay-at-home hobby so thought to myself I could probably make a quilted potholder.

I envisioned hand sewing and quilting (because I had no room to set up a sewing machine at the time) but my mom was still thrilled at my interest. We went immediately to Joann Fabric and she sent me home with a small cutting mat and rotary cutter with other miscellaneous tools she figured I'd need. 1930's reproduction fabric had caught my fancy so I had a few fat quarters to work with.  I went home and ended up making a few dozen quilted potholders and began giving them to all my friends.  I still have the first few I made . . .

Mother, as always, was kind with her critiques, she was just happy that I, and now Lois who had recently retired, had given in and joined her in her new hobby!

Mother and Lois had very different styles in their quilting.  As usual, mom follow all the rules and did her best to create her versions of traditional patterns while Lois liked brighter

colors and less traditional styles.  Mom liked to hand quilt, Lois never did.  They both made full sized quilts, I made just two.  My niche turned out to be baby sized quilts.  I never really intended to make a quilt but just happened to see one made of reproduction fabric in the window of a local quilt shop. I admired the quilt for weeks before I decided to make my own version of the quilt.  The deciding factor for me was a baby quilt contest being held by the local Walmart, to be judged by a local quilter, then donated to the NICU at the local hospital.  I made the quilt, completely by hand and, for my effort, won the contest.

When Lois finally retired, she started joining mom and I during my twice a year visit's with mom. We started having quilting 'show and tell', bringing our current projects and showing them off at mom's house, W then drove around and shopped at all the fabric stores that Mesa/Phoenix/Tempe/Chandler had to offer.  We each had a machines to use in mom's big sewing room in addition to the much used ironing board and recliner.  In 2004, mom had a slight stroke but sewing became too difficult for her so  she started handed out projects Lois and me.  She asked for our versions of Carrie Nation,

and Jewel Box,

and we each made a version of a 'Save the Children' quilt made with special fabric.

I finally gave in and started using a machine when mom purchased a used Pfaff for me, I discovered the joy of quicker projects and finished my hand sewing adventures with my favorite project, a Texas Star quilt made with reproduction fabric.

My mom passed away in 2009 and my aunt Lois in 2012.  I continued to make baby sized quilts for my coworkers,  silent auctions, my dogs and my favorite vet clinic until 2019.  

In November 2019 I purchased fabric, batting, thread and everything else I'd need for a winter's worth of quilting . . . but never used any of it.  I missed my mom and my aunt and the times we shared while quilting. When together,  mom and Lois told stories of their lives and laughed and giggled for hours.  I loved listening to them and realized that quilting was special because of the time spent with them in the sewing room.  

I gave all my little quilts away except a few favorites . . . and the fabric.

 

I had loved hunting up fabric for Halloween, Cowboys and Dogs and loved the Mystery Sampler pattern I found in a pattern book I won while on the bus for a Shop Hop in northern Minnesota.  I loved piecing words and pictures together for mini-quilts that hang on the wall of my craft room.

But what I loved the most was my mom and my aunt and the time we spent together.

I have my mom's last quilt . . .

And my aunts . . .

It took me 5 years to part with the fabric,  5 years to remember the fabric was the  representation of the fun and laughter I shared with my mom and aunt.  Giving the fabric to others who will love it as I did is a way to honor my  mom and Lois and the special memories we shared while quilting. I hope others can make their own special memories and have as much fun as we did.

(Lois Foster (my aunt) and Mary Ruth Lauer my mom).

11/11/2023 - Golden Boy

 

11/3/2023 - A Very Good Boy!

 I had a heck of a time finding another dog after Steve's death. Everyone one of my dogs has been a second-hand dog . . . all from rescues except for Walter, and Walter was given to me by his second owner.  This time, as I searched online, every rescue wanted me to fill out an application, check my referrals and approve my application before even talking to me.  I missed out on several dogs this way, by the time my application was approved the dog had already been adopted.  There were 2 dogs I passed on because they had been returned to the rescue after an 'incident' with the previous adopter (usually a bite) and one because of age and energy level.  A couple of the rescues never even contacted me back after I sent in an application.  I was disappointed and down and had just decided to stop looking and just hold onto my wonderful memories of Steve when the Babinski Foundation in Pequot Lakes, MN called to tell me that my application for 'Jones' had been approved and he was still available if I wanted to come and visit.  I was very excited and immediately called my best friend of 40 years and she said she was eager to take the trip with me to meet Jones.  

     Within an hour we were on the road and, guided by the pleasant voice on her phone map app, we made it to Pequot Lakes (150 miles to the east)  in three hours (the map app took us on all the back roads)!  While looking at blurbs written to describe the dogs up for adoption I began to notice certain key words . . . hesitant, shy, hangs back . . . because most dogs in rescues in this part of the country have been taken from high kill shelters in the southern states and transported to foster based rescues up here. The foster families usually provide the information about the dogs' personality to the folks in charge and the blurb is written.  Is the dog crate trained? friendly? good with kids or cats? etc. is info gathered by the foster families.  I started looking for words like friendly and/or happy and that is what I found in the blurb written about Jones.  However, when I arrived at the Babinski Foundation, I learned that Jones had been at the shelter and not in a foster home so many of the questions I had could not be answered. I did learn that he had been picked up as a stray in Galveston TX and had been at the Babinski shelter for about 3 weeks).  My friend and I met Jones (he WAS friendly) and walked him around the grounds (the place was gorgeous) and I made the decision to bring him home.  

For many reasons, that I won't bore you with, I choose to believe this match was arranged by Steve.  OK, one thing I'll mention is that I was looking for an older dog and Jones was advertised to be 4 years old.  Our vet says that 1 1/2 yrs is more likely . . . I'd never have gone to see him if his real age was listed.  But he's been here 7 weeks now and, although he has lots of puppyish behavior, he is a wonderful dog and a very good boy!  I'm not in love with him yet like I was with Steve, but I have no doubt that will happen.  I've been as careful as I can with his first few weeks to be gentle, kind and patient, hopefully to build his sense of safety and trust.  I was concerned, because his appearance so resembles a basenji, that I might have gotten in over my head with him but his DNA test came back as 50% Chihuahua and 50% 15 other breeds.  A real mix of everything from Pekingese to GSD and chow. His DNA percentages of herding, retrieving or hunting breeds is minimal so I don't have much in breed instincts to deal with.   I was very cautious when introducing him to the dog park (the dog park is a big part of my social life and very close to the house) because I wanted to make sure his initial experiences were good and to my great relief, he is a wonderful park dog, he loves other dogs and is appropriate in greetings and play. He just wants to play and have fun.  

I decided to call him Amis.  According to what I read on the historical names website, amis is the root word, in several languages, for 'friend' or 'friendly' and that is just what I wanted. Another friend.  Amis Jones, a nod to his rescue name.  I hope I can continue to report wonderful things about Amis, I hope he has only good experiences and lots of love from everyone he meets.  I want to love him as much as I loved Steve.

9/21/2023 - Hello, Amis Jones!

 

8/18/2023 - Good-Bye Steve

 

It breaks my heart to tell my friends that I said good-bye to Steve on Wednesday. I called the vet because his respiration rate was elevated and he just wasn't his usual perky self. He'd been a bit clingy the evening before, sitting and sleeping close even though it was a warm day and night. Because the vet didn't have any open appts on her schedule I dropped Steve off for radiographs of his heart and lungs. The vet called me later to say that Steve had a temperature, was anemic and had a high white blood cell count and that, upon physical exam, she'd found a mass in his abdomen. She also said that she and the other vet on staff, weren't able to determine the origin of the mass. Time for the hard discussion . . . because of the fragility of his heart, surgical interventions were never an option and giving him high doses of antibiotics to see if the symptoms could be alleviated was also risky with no assurance that it would be helpful. Time for the hard decision . . . I had promised Steve back in January, when he was diagnosed with CHF, that I would do everything possible to make sure he didn't suffer, not even one day, so rather than bring him home and cry all night, I chose to go to the vet hospital and be with him as he crossed the rainbow bridge. Steve had perked up and was happy to see me and the treats I brought (I even brought some gravy from the cat food). He'd allowed the vet staff to place a catheter in his leg before I arrived so after treats and kisses the vet administered the anesthesia and then the euthanasia solution. The Dr. cried with me as Steve died peacefully in my arms. I love you, Steve.

8/5/2023 - Bringing Home Covid

 My sister-in-law recently traveled to northern North Dakota where we toured the International Peace Garden for a second time . . .

We also saw Coghlan's castle . . .

And Mystical Horizons . . .

But traveling in a car for 3 days with a person who had (unwittingly) been exposed to covid before our trip, assured that I'd catch it and bring it home.  I was hoping that having had all 5 available covid shots might protect me from infection, but I was wrong.  I've felt better, but I've certainly felt worse.  My concern is for MP who takes several immunosuppressant drugs.  She could get frighteningly ill.  Fingers crossed!!!