What I've Been Working On

Well, it hasn't been too much. We have been so busy over the last couple of months, caring for my mother-in-law until her death, and then the difficult process of sorting through all of her personal effects. A person can collect a lot of personal effects in 94 years! My sisters-in-law and I worked for weeks to clean out the apartment, dividing up the furniture, jewelry, her artwork, etc. Mommy had never done any handicrafts before she moved into the assisted living; then she discovered that she loved making pottery, jewelry, and ceramics. She painted with watercolors, fashioned pictures from clay, and even make projects out of felt. The assisted living offered lots of craft classes, and she took them all. So now most of her ceramics and paintings are in my house (yes, the house I am constantly trying to declutter). We are going to have to get a bigger house just to hold her stuff. :)

I did manage to finish quilting this lovely Orange Peel quilt. The pattern was from Kathleen Tracy's book, "Remembering Adelia".



Because it has been such an intensely emotional time (a week after my MIL's passing, our second grandson got married), I have been happiest doing some hand-stitching. I finally pieced the Civil War Baskets quilt from "Remembering Adelia". The simple act of sewing the basket handles on by hand was very soothing, in the spare minutes I could find to work on them. I will quilt it by hand too, which I love doing. My stitches aren't perfect, and probably never will be, but I love putting thousands of tiny stitches into something and seeing the beauty that results. And I love the "homey-ness" of these baskets made from civil war reproduction fabrics.