Quilting Philosophy from blogge, kitties

I subscribe to several (many?) quilting and cooking blogs, and Tuesday morning (4/17) I got an email from STITCHIN’ THERAPY (http://stitchintherapy.blogspot.com/) that really summed up my philosophy.  Here’s the quote from the blog

“We will mark our path by the trail of quilts we give away.”

This struck such a chord with me, because this is exactly how I feel, but would never have been able to put it into words that well!  I want to get a t-shirt that says that!!!  She went on to say:

“ For every quilt we make and share, we do leave a mark on some one's life.  We work long and hard on our piecing, learning quilting techniques.  We take classes.  We buy books and fabrics and notions.  We fret if the color is not right, or a star point is off.  And then we revel in the twinkle in eye of the recipient, the special hug and smile of the gift from our hands.    We are there in disasters, and times of pain and trouble.  We give to children's ministries, we take quilts to nursing homes, and hospitals.  We seek out neighbors, and strangers to wrap in comfort and love.  We have often been told to find a need and fill it.”

I totally feel that I have found that need with Quilts of Valor, Clinton Quilts and Beds = Dreams quilts.  And I’m doing my best to fill it  :~).  Here’s my front bedroom so far this year:  

QoV - and you know I've already given away 4 to the policemen who were shot

Clinton quilts

only 1 Beds=Dreams so far, but Vortex will soon be joining it!

This is where I am storing all of the quilts I will give away by the end of the year.  This is the first year I am storing them here and I am excited to see what that room looks like at the end of the year!  I definitely want to print out that first statement she made and post it in my studio…continuing motivation for making quilts  :~).  She had one more thing to say in her blog post that also resonated:

Do not let what you cannot do interfere with what you can do. (emphasis mine...I think she got this as a fortune cookie!)  

I love this as well…people are forever asking me if there is anything I can’t do….and to be truthful…there are hundreds (if not thousands) of things….but they bother me NOT A BIT, since I do focus on what I can do  :~).

You should sign up to follow her blog...I love her quilts and love what she says as well.  She's working on a truly GORGEOUS flowered log cabin right now.

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Michael and I both had dental appointments Tuesday morning, so we headed out at 9 AM and after a few short stops on the way home, we were finally home at 1 PM.  We found the kitties in one of their (increasingly common) spots:  

After that we headed to the studio and spent quite a bit of time discussing further progress on the convergence quilt.  Michael has been thinking about the butterflies and placement, and here’s what he thinks would look good:  

He wants one butterfly (larger than the ones I’ve already made, but in that blue/green color stuck to it) and 2 smaller ones (represented by the white paper)…along with 2 of the ones I’ve already done….so I’m going to work on those.   I spent a bit of time on the internet looking up embroidered butterfly patterns since the appliqué pattern I bought does not come any smaller, and finally ordered one we both liked.  After that Michael and Cookie headed out for a walk, while I settled in to do a series of niggling things  :~).  I kicked off another embroidery with better colors (these are from a series called BATHTIME CUTIES and will become part of a Clinton quilt):  

while doing the back stitching on the one from yesterday:

here's how it started....

and here it is after backstitching the dog's head....can you see any difference?

Anne swung by to talk about her cream and I think we hashed a few things out.  I don't think I've mentioned that I've been taking CBD oil for several months.  The difference it has made in my aches and pains from arthritis has been nothing short of miraculous.  Anne has been making a salve/cream with CBD oil in it, and it has really helped with Michael's 'golfer's thumbs'.  Several of our friends are asking for some, so Anne has seriously thought about making up just a few samples first to see if it helps other people.  This is kind of like how I got into making my hand/body cream for all and sundry :~).  When Anne left, we heated up the leftover butternut squash for dinner, then Larry picked up Michael and they headed out to see BERUIT.  I spent the evening trimming more and more HST's until he got home.