February 10, 2015

Good-Bye, 68

February 10, 2015

Current quilt in progress.

This was a beautiful day, after the fog burned off.  The afternoon got rather warm, but many of my customers commented on what a beautiful day it was.  It was the kind of day that I want to spend working in the yard.  It was my last day of being 68 years old.  I remember the year I turned 49.  All year long I kept thinking, "Next year I will be 50."  When 50 came it was not bad at all because I think I had thought about being 50 for a year.  I may be that way with 70.  For now, I will see what 69 is like, starting tomorrow.

My alarm went off at 6:00 but I was already awake and getting up.  Tiny and I left the house early this morning.  She was going to Ladies' Bible Study with Mom where she was speaking about an area of ministry she and her husband Gene served in before he passed away.  They were part of a group that helps at Speedway Race Tracks across the country by volunteering their time to keep things behind the scenes flowing well for the attendees and sharing God's love any way that they can.  I picked up Mom and took both of them to the church and then went to the office.

Sometimes Ron's work is just plain dirty! He spent two days working on the floor, under desks.  Thought about titling this  posting as "Ron Gets Down and Dirty" but wouldn't want to give anyone the wrong impression.  He is covered in a very fine dust from head to toe.  He was exhausted.

Ron was again out on jobs most of the day and like yesterday, the morning was quiet, but the afternoon was busy.  One of our friends brought Tiny to the office after the Bible Study was over and we had lunch.  She finished making the blocks for her quilt in progress.  After lunch she ironed and trimmed them.  I worked on the bookkeeping but every time I would get started I would have a customer so I would have to start over.

When Tiny and I got home, this welcoming committee was standing

 on the bank of the resaca hoping I was bringing food for them.

 

We left the office a little early so we could get ready for the quilt group meeting at my house tonight.  The ladies honored me with birthday gifts and each was so useful and unique.  One brought a gift card to Hobby Lobby.  That works well!  One brought me a cookbook (with fabric for gift wrapping) to use with the Grandchildren when I want to take a break from quilting.  One lady brought me several pieces of fabric, and the other brought me small iron which will be good to use on the small ironing board beside my sewing machine.

At quilting, we are always ready for anyone to share their projects and Patty brought several last night.  She made this shawl that she was allowing Tiny to try on.  It is made from thousands of tiny "yo-yo" quilt pieces.  When she wears it, she must allow time for being stopped by people who want a closer look at the work.

 One of Patty's many scrap quilts.

I now have 42 blocks made for my quilt in progress.  I also found a pattern today that I think will work for the last square in another project that was on hold until I found the perfect pattern to finish it.  I had hoped to make more progress while Tiny was here, but I have made some mental progress, deciding on direction in some of the projects.  That is important, and I am refreshed after spending 12 days with a good friend who is a good listener with lots of good input on a variety of projects.  I will hate to see her head home.

Here is the project Tiny has been working on all week.  I am so impressed.  All blocks are now made and she is ready to sew the squares together, but that may have to wait a bit due to the busy schedule she has ahead.  It has been fun to watch it come together.  This is just a portion of the blocks.  She has many more made and this will be on a day bed in the future.  Good work, Tiny!

As for my hearing  today, it was not great. Tonight at quilting, all the voices blended together into a loud rumble.  One lady came and stood beside me to visit and that helped A LOT, but still other sounds in the room were overwhelming.  Poor Tiny has to repeat 90% of what she says to me.  She is soft spoken and I am sure she will be hoarse by the time she gets home.