Ariel

My little sweetheart, Ariel, came over to play for a couple of hours yesterday while his parents did some shopping. We had a great time together, playing ball, blowing bubbles, reading books, going to the corner store to buy diapers. It only took an hour to walk to the store and back; Ariel has to check everything out on the way. Especially if we pass some steps: he MUST try each set of steps out at least twenty times, up and down. Every bug on the sidewalk must be inspected. Every group of girls jumping rope has to be watched, and every boy on a bike has to be observed at length. And of course he has to keep checking to see if Savta has changed her mind about stepping down off the curb into the street--and after 20-30 attempts, Savta still says No!
But the nicest time is when we are sitting on the couch, just snuggled up together, and he asks me (for the twentieth time) to sing The Itsy Bitsy Spider, complete with the hand movements. That just melts me.

Scrappy Mountain Majesties

Nearly two years after piecing the blocks for this quilt, I took pity on it today and finally sewed on some borders. Am not that pleased with them, as the inner border could have been a little narrower, but I was worried that the poor quilt wouldn't cover the sides of the bed properly, so I made that border a little wider than usual.
Am sure that the little grandson this quilt is for will not notice a thing! :-)



There are a number of bloggers out there who are running challenges to finish UFO's before the end of the year. I was really tempted to sign up for one of them this time, but after looking at my UFO list, decided not to join in. I guess I just don't need any pressure right now. There is going to be enough to do pretty soon anyway, with the great-grandchild on the way in November and a new grandchild expected in December. I'm sure that when the grandchild is born, his parents and older sibling will be moving in with us for a couple of weeks for some TLC. Hmm...maybe I should think about doing some cooking and baking in advance? Or maybe I should sew as much as I can now before things get way too busy?

Quilter's Cookbook

You may notice on my sidebar, that I have posted a new little button--Quilter's Cookbook. This is a new project from Michele Foster at Quilting Gallery, a great website for all things quilty. I just love how every day you can get to visit new blogs, chosen from her rotating gallery. Also, you can search for quilt blogs by country, which is great fun!
So now Michele (aka Mishka) has decided to make an e-cookbook. It will be available for purchase in December. I think the theme is: time-saving recipes that will leave us lots of time to quilt! Don't you just love it? Have a favorite recipe in mind? Click on the button to send in your recipe, and then look for it in the cookbook come December.

Friendship Bags

More about the little Friendship Bag: I sent a picture of it to my daughter in Houston. She showed it to the kids, and now I have an order for 4 Friendship Bags, 3 in girl colors and 1 in boy colors!
Then my husband took the bag I had made yesterday to our other daughter's house this morning. She lives right up the hill and has a BUNCH of little girls (some boys too). As soon as the little girls saw it, they started saying, "Savta (Grandma) made that? Savta made that? We want one too!" So now I have an order for another 4 bags!
My birthday is on the Jewish holiday of Hanuka, when we traditionally give presents to the children--money or other gifts. I always make a party for the kids and grandkids on my birthday. So now I know what I'll give the little granddaughters: Friendship Bags with a little something (a toy or a doll?) tucked inside!

Isn't this cute?

When I left you yesterday, I was arranging squares of Tranquility on my design wall. After a while, the fabric started to bother me, I don't know why. I think it was something about the greens--maybe the color was too "acidic" for me? Then I remembered I had bought the bird panels that went with the charm squares. Took the whole thing down, started to play with arrangements for the panels and the squares. Nothing was working!
Finally I decided to just put the whole thing away and try again another day. But I didn't want the day to be entirely wasted...

So I sewed a little friendship bag, it was the first time I had made one. The weather had been so dull and rainy, I decided to make something that would feel like Spring. Even managed to fit some of those Kaffe fabrics in there!

Isn't this just the sweetest thing? Now I know what to make the little granddaughters for Hanuka. :-)

Winter is here

The rainy season is here. I put out some buckets to catch the rainwater so I can use it for my houseplants...

Last week, I planted some collard greens outside in boxes on the porch. The weather here gets cold, but I don't think it will bother them too much. Some of the seeds have sprouted already.

The house was cold in the night. We used the heat for the first time this season, just for a little while, to warm up the bedrooms before we went to sleep.
In the morning all I could think about was snuggling under lap quilts on the couch. Pulled out some charm packs of Moda Tranquility I had bought last year. Now is the time to use them!

Here they are, up on my portable design wall. If you have no place for a permanent design wall, this is the thing to get. I got mine from Cheryl Ann's website. I can put it up in 10 minutes flat, and take it down even faster. The only problem I ever had was when a certain young lady cat used to enjoy jumping up onto the wall and batting the fabrics down with her paws. That wasn't very good!

Chukar partridge sighting

Yesterday while I was out walking with my friend Sarah, a whole group of chukar partridges ran across the road in front of us. They are fat little striped birdies, always running around in a group. I think they are only in our area of the country in certain seasons. I like to go out to walk at around 6:00 a.m., but this morning the air was cold and a storm was brewing. So no outdoor walking for me today, just the treadmill. No scenery, sniff sniff.
The forecast was for severe storms, so I considered not going to Beitar for our weekly quilting group. But when I thought about it for a little while, I knew there was no way I could give it up. Took the two buses out there, had a great time, and got home just as the first drops of rain started falling. What luck!
Some beautiful quilts-in-progress were shown. I got another row sewed onto my Wildflower Serenade HST quilt. I am really enjoying the hand-sewing. It is just so relaxing.

Not much quilty stuff has been going on in the last couple of weeks, between my mother-in-law's illness, Menucha's eye problems, and working on Menucha's high school applications for next year.

My husband and I spent the weekend at the nursing unit where my MIL has been for the last week and a half; she has been there recuperating from the awful stomach virus that sent her to the hospital two weeks ago.

I'll tell you one thing: any time you are feeling down, or feeling like life has handed you a few too many lemons, go on down to your local nursing home and spend some time just hanging out over there. You will immediately start to appreciate every little problem you have in your life. You will appreciate anew the ability to think, speak, eat by yourself, dress, get in and out of bed, read, go to the store, laugh, and even BREATHE on your own.

Although it was heartbreaking and difficult to see the patients in their various states of incapacity (is that a word?), I did see many beautiful things in the Nursing Unit over the weekend: on Friday night, a group of about 20 beautiful high school girls came to sing for the residents. They braved the cold, rainy weather. They brought their little sisters along with them, including two babies and a toddler. They brought two teenaged girls with Down Syndrome, who sang along with them and one of whom even made a little speech.

On Saturday morning, a group of residents from upstairs in the Assisted Living wing (where my MIL usually resides) came down to sing for the nursing patients and to visit them.

All day, I watched as various people who live in the neighborhood came by to visit with the patients and help to feed them, not because they knew any of them but simply out of kindness.

I saw the nursing aides treat their patients with unbelievable gentleness.

I spent the day with people who have accepted their infirmities with unbelievable graciousness.

I learned that the smallest act of kindness can mean a great deal to someone who can no longer take care of him/herself.

After a long day, I am finally going to bed. With lots to think about as I wait for sleep to come...

Gazelle Sighting

As the winter approaches, more and more often the gazelles can be seen on the forested hillside below my house. From my window I can watch them grazing, very early in the morning. Our rainy season is just beginning, but as we get more rain the dry, brown hills will become green and the gazelles will have more to feed on.

I will never be able to get a picture of one of them--their coloring lets them blend in so neatly with the hillside. So I found a photo online to use so you can see what I am seeing in the morning, as I sit by the window with my coffee mug in one hand and my binoculars in the other, enjoying the wonders of Nature.

New Book Coming Soon

I have been following and loving Gwen Marston's work for many years now, so many I can't even remember when I got introduced to her fantastic quilting. Gwen has influenced us in so many ways, but especially she has created the concept of "liberated" quiltmaking, which has been so totally freeing. Gwen's book, Liberated Quiltmaking, has been out of print for a while, and her devoted fans got together and made a campaign to ask the publisher to reprint the book. (I have a copy from the original printing, and I will NEVER lend it out, don't even think of asking me!) So the new book is coming out within the next couple of months. Not just a reprint of the old version, this one will contain some quilts and material from the old one plus much, much more--new quilts, new ideas, etc. The book can be pre-ordered from Amazon.com, or you can get it directly from Gwen, complete with her signature. I can't wait!