Saturday, December 30, 2023

 Christmass 2023 Letter


Dear Friends and Family:

 

We find that God has continued to bless us this year!

Deki continues to do well and has his last visit to Seattle next month.  At that point, he is expected to go on the survivorship program, where the Seattle Children’s Doctors come HERE for visits.  (OK, they do visit all the other survivors also.)  Way cool.  We are tired of obsessing about driving Snoqualmie Pass in snowstorms…like the possibility in January….

Jack is still not retired.  He improved from his ministroke of 2022, and went back to work 3 weeks later, and they are even giving him more projects, and he gets to work overtime.

Marion was finally able to return (after 3 years!) to the English camp in The Czech Republic, to lots of cheery greetings and hugs.  Well, also teaching English, games, liberal distributions of candy, and such.  Was it because of the candy?  We will never know for sure, because she will ALWAYS bring candy.  But she stayed for 2 English Camps this time, and is looking forward to returning.

We had a great time with Yasmin:  trips to Seattle, the Oregon Coast, back to the mountains, lots of talking and playing cards, and then said a teary goodbye.  But wait!  This year she is in New York City!  We can still chat on the phone!

But now for the most recent news:

Tuesday, November 21st of November, Edalynn Circe Minerva was born to Laurie and Chris, at 34 weeks gestation.  She got to stay in NICU for a week, then in Peds, and is now home.  One of God’s little miracles here.  Babies do not eat, breathe, or poop in the womb.  This occurs at birth, normally after 40 weeks.  But Edie (so far the leading nickname) had to learn to do all that early, and before they would send her home.  She is doing well, and the boys are ecstatic!  (Just wait until she gets into their stuff…)

Edie wanted out on a day when:  Marion was supposed cook a turkey for an ESL potluck, go and set up and take down the potluck, not to mention be there for 4 hours, and pick up Connie and Dean at the airport.  Now she had to add watching 4 boys to the list.  It all worked together wonderfully! (Mostly because she gave all the ESL responsibilities to someone else.)  Connie got reacquainted with the nephews and Dean got thoroughly acquainted.  (We are looking forward to more visits from them in the future.)  And Marion even worked in an eye appointment! (Secondary cataracts.)  It was originally scheduled for December 14th, then Laurie scheduled the c-section for that day.  There was a cancellation, Marion got an appointment on November 22.  Kind of ironic…but more audiences for the brand-new baby pictures!

We hope all is well with you!

Jack and Marion

package from Brazil!

Horseback riding in the mountains

Proud Mama

Happy Place

"Who is this guy?"



Saturday, April 01, 2023

Complicated Quilts Require Complicated Stories.

Two years ago, when I finished this Lone Star  (8 by 8 diamonds, 15 different fabrics) with at least 90% points matching, I felt that I had reached the epitome of quilting.  Sure, there were other techniques to learn, but this required precision piecing and I had conquered that.


Then I realized that I did have something else:  the Dahlia Quilt, with curved seams.  So I started playing around with it in my mind.

I made Jack pick the colors, since we started having disagreements about that.  How can I be married to him for 40 years and not know that he disliked turquoise?  So, he picks yellow, which he had previously sneered at.  (Well, he lets me buy expensive quilting tools, so OK.)  (Plus he stopped complaining about the size of my fabric stash.)

I took it to a quilt retreat last fall, and it went together so easily it was ridiculous.  The seams were not curved very much, so I almost didn't need to pin them. But I did.  There were only 96 points to match (as opposed to 368 on the Lone Star), and I missed 3 of them by 3/16 of an inch, for a 97 percent match rate.  It only took 2 days, and opposed to 2 weeks for the lone star.

This is important for later:  Our Brazilian exchange student Yasmin, saw the dahlia when I brought it home and said they were Brazilian colors.  (And has anybody ever noticed the similarity between the Brazilian flag and Washington State flag?)

The only part where it was harder was the very center.  I had 16 seams coming together in a point.  This means 32 layers of fabric just in the seams.  It made such a cute little volcano!  And that is why there is a circle of fabric in the center!  (This is an old quilter's trick.  If you see a fabric circle or diamond or sometimes a button, it may be hiding some pretty ugly piecing or quilting! In one case I saw, a lightning bolt hid the quilter's son's scissors experiment.)

Then to square up my circle.  The directions that came with my template set said to sew two pieces of fabric together to get a 58 inch square.  Then turn the edges of my circle under and sew it on top....see the outside points of the dahlia?  That's 5 layers of fabric to turn under...into 10 layers.  So I painstakingly drew a 53 inch half circle on the fabric and sewed it on.  This is simple.  If you have a surface that is about 60 by 40 inches.  Which I do have, but, as many people have heard from me, I only get on the floor for my grandchildren.  I also needed a 60 inch compass, which probably exists.  For a price.  So I made do with a 38 inch square coffee table, and a string taped to a pencil. (Note to self:  buy tape that isn't ripped by a string.)

And it miraculously lay flat!

About this time, the quilt guild is asking for quilts to be submitted for its local show.  So I asked Jodi, my quilter (it does sound like she belongs to me) when I would have to deliver it in order to get it back in time for the show.  The answer is March 6.  So I proceed to make 76 flying geese for the next border (The anal retentive among you will notice that there are only 56 in the border) and start the next border.  

Along comes February 16, the deadline for registering quilts.  This was quilt number 363, 8 hours before registration ends.  They like to have over 400.  So I entered it.  I still needed to finish the piano key border and make 28 12 inch flower blocks.  Entirely doable, especially because there was another quilt retreat the weekend of March 2-5, which meant sewing all day every day.

I decided to make 4 of each flower block -- and, because Yasmin had said they were Brazilian colors -- 4 soccer balls.  And then I figured out that I only needed to make 24 12 inch blocks!  Even better!  So I went off to the retreat with 8 blocks to go and 2 soccer balls that needed fixing.  The second to last flower block to some time to put together.  The last one I sewed together ALL four wrong, and spent 40 minutes fixing only one, ending at 10 pm Friday night.  Things were not looking good.  Talking to Jodi, she said she didn't actually need it until Friday the 10th.

I dislike pressure, so I put the quilt on time out and instead worked on a couple of community service quilts for the rest of the weekend. Happily, I might add.

Jack and Yasmin said that last flower block didn't look like a flower, and they liked it better sewn together wrong anyway.  So, by the end of Sunday the 5th, I had resigned myself to not putting the quilt in this years show.

Then I had a revelation:  the only reason I needed flower blocks is because I wrote it on the quilt description for the show, and who reads those anyway?  (I was in charge of putting them on the quilts just before the show, so I could always put it above everyone's eye level.  Problem solved!)  So I spent Monday making a Jacob's ladder (for Jack), a Marion's Choice block (for me), an Exploding Sawtooth Star (because).  Those 20 extra flying geese?  18 of them went into a Wild Goose Chase block.  Which this was beginning to feel like anyway.  I put the two good soccer balls in and two flower/non-flower blocks in. I had the whole quilt together by Wednesday the 8th. 

I delivered it to Jodi, and told her if she ran into problems not to worry about completing it on time.  I needed it back on Monday the 20th so I could put the binding on.  

The first problem we ran into was the backing, a 108 wide piece than shrunk a few inches after washing.  My quilt was 98 by 98 inches.  I told her I could piece the back with the leftover blocks I had.  But we didn't need to worry about that after all.

She ran out of one thread, and, by calling around, discovered that it was discontinued. On Thursday, March 16, she advertised for it on several platforms.  Someone saw it, called a friend who called a friend who was on the Oregon Coast.  This person called her husband, who found it in her stash.  Her husband gave it to friend number 2, who got it to Jodi Friday the 17th.  Jodi had a previous commitment on Saturday the 18th, but she finished the quilt on Sunday the 19th.  (She ended up meeting both of them at the quilt show, so the whole circle of life thing is complete.)

I TOLD her not to worry.  She never obeys me anyway.

I finished the binding on Tuesday at 9:00 pm, so Jack and Yasmin were available to hold it up for a picture I could put on the label.  And here it is!



So that is the story of this quilt.  Plus a few closeups


 








I am never entering an unfinished quilt in the quilt show again.

I said that 5 years ago.

Sunday, January 01, 2023

Christmas Letter 2022

 

Dear Family and Friends:

 

Well, once more we get to write a not normal Christmas letter, but this time for good as well as bad reasons!

First the bad [well, not as bad as could have been]:  Jack suffered a mini-stroke in October, putting all sorts of plans on hold. The symptoms were mild enough that Marion considered them within Jack’s normal range. Four days later, he was slurring his speech at work, and so they insisted on taking him to the hospital. He stayed in the hospital for the standard two nights. He actually took Marion’s suggestion to take the next 3 weeks off to see if he got better. It worked. Except for crappier typing skills everything is pretty much back to normal [as far as Jack was ever normal].

In May, Connie got married in Minnesota, and of course we went back for the wedding!  Jack traveled by air for the first time in decades, and got pulled aside for a TSA pat down both directions.  Marion is not sure she wants to fly with him again.  We took a day to go to Willow River State  Park in Wisconsin.

In August, we welcomed Yasmin from Brazil, who is just delightful!  She has introduced us to soccer, Brazilian style.  Which means it gets noisy during the games as she tells the team how to play.  And “Get up because you are not hurt!” Miraculously, they somehow hear her and take her advice.   She fits very well into our family, and even has a sister the same age as the grandsons.  She is experiencing a winter with actual snow and subfreezing temperatures, but very much looking forward to warmer temperatures!

In January, we went to Seattle to get Deki’s port out.  We decided to go a day early, which is good because ALL FOUR ROUTES to Seattle were closed the next day:  Three by snow, one by a landslide.  When we went home (by way of Portland), the passes were still closed.   The landslide had cleared but we were blocked by flooding on I-5.  So ... we detoured our detour and made it home in only nine hours.

And then, the next day, we all (Jack, me, Laurie, Chris, and all 4 grandsons).  Got covid.

Through it all, we have seen God’s hand in timing and graciously answering most prayers with a “Yes.”

Connie, Dean, and In-laws



Jack and Marion at Willow Falls, Wisconsin



Yasmin is an ice hockey fan too!









Friday, October 21, 2022

Now officially....old.

Jack's adventures started Saturday the 15th, when I was happily sewing in the mountains.  Yasmin noticed he was off.  I got back Sunday about 4 and noticed he was not talkative, but otherwise normal.  Not talking, for Jack, is normal.  He did drive a little slower than usual.  Monday he cooked 1 inch steaks the same amount of time he cooked 1.5 inch steaks.

Tuesday morning he forgot what he was doing a couple of times.  They started noticing things at work.  Wednesday at work it was enough for them to force him to the emergency room, telling him that it was probably a UTI and a pill would fix it.  He called me at 1:30 and said he was about to be admitted to the hospital overnight for observation

Well, that upended the days plans.

He got all sorts of tests:  x rays, MRI, CT scan, blood tests, urine tests...and the results are (drum roll please) he had a microstroke, probably because a bit of cholsterol broke off and went into his brain.  The prefix "micro" doesn't sound very serious, but the doctors are worried that he would have a more serious stroke, hence the stay in the hospital for a minimum of 48 hours.  (It was actually 46, unless you count the 5 hours in ER.)

During which I made him play cribbage.  All in the name of physical therapy:  small muscle control, hand eye coordination, cognitive ability, etc.  (He won 2 and I won 4.  That is a little higher win rate for him than normal.  He's fine.)

Now we go back to normal life albeit with blood pressure medication, cholesterol medication, and a different diet. (I finally get to use the word "albeit!")

We have joined the ranks of those who know they need to worry about their diet.

Wednesday, July 13, 2022

Driving In Strange Places

 I have 250,000 miles on my car.  I have, over the last 2 1/2 years, become experienced at driving to Seattle and back, lately all on the same day.  I have decided that 7 hours in the car in a day is my limit, less if I can't spend the middle hours out of it.

So, when Connie and Dean announced their wedding in Minnesota, with 23 hours of driving one way (not including potty stops), I did not even consider driving.  That is 3 days minimum in the car each way.  In an old car.  Through the Rocky Mountains in May, which is worse than the Cascades because most passes in the Rockies that are higher than most mountains in the Cascades.

Just checked: In the Rockies, there are 56 passes over 12,000 feet, an additional 8 over 13,000 feet.  Mt Rainier, our highest spot, is 14,410 feet.  Mt Adams is 12,281 feet, Mt Baker is 10,781 feet, and Mt. St. Helens is 8,363 feet, but it used to be 9,677 feet.  See?  A lot of Rocky Mountain passes are higher than most of the Cascades!  Only Rainer is taller!  (For my European friends, please substitute . for ,!)

Jack said we should rely on Dean and Connie for driving because we don't know where anything is.  But I said we should rent our own car and rely on my phone's GPS.  I won.  When we got to Minnesota, the only choice of car was a Mitsubishi Mirage.  There are a lot of adjustments to make when you are used to driving a min-van.  For one thing, the rearview mirror was where I am used to having a clear windshield in the mini-van.  Space is another.  Getting up out of the car.  I came up with the following good things about the car:

1.  It is easier to park.

2.  Is is bright blue.

I almost added gas mileage, but almost any car is going to beat a 14 year old minivan with 250,000 miles on it.  For example, a brand new minivan.  And I was also going to say it is bigger than a Smart Car, but that also seemed pointless.

Well, on to our adventures with the mile markers and exit signs.  The GPS got us lost first thing because I didn't have the volume up, and the roads between the airport and our hotel were marked with two sets of highway numbers.  (Actually, the GPS also led us astray on the way back to the airport, but whatever.)

Freeway exit signs in Washington (and Oregon, where I do 99% of my driving) are sensible:  The exit numbers correspond to the mileage on the highway.  So you know, if you take the (now very familiar) exit 31 at North Bend on the way to Seattle, you have 31 miles left on I-90 before it ends at I-5.  We (and Oregon) also have mile markers every mile, so you don't even have to keep track of mileage with the odometer.  Having driven in Massachusetts in 1989, I knew that not all states were so enlightened.  There they labeled exits sequentially, with miles between, say exit 5 and 6.  I hope someone in Massachusetts took it upon themselves to change this, but probably not. 

We went to Willow Creek State Park in Wisconsin.  It was a little over an hour drive, so not a problem.  We set out from our hotel, which was off exit 10 on I-494.  Watched the exit numbers go down to 1...then straight to 60.  We thought we must be in Wisconsin now!  But we weren't.  Then exit number 250 went by.  Hey, surely we are in Wisconsin!  But we were still in Minnesota! 

This was clarified at dinner the next day: exit numbers are dependent on which county you are in. 

I think I like Massachusetts's method better.

Never did see any mile markers.



Well, Here is the Rental Car, anyway. And Jack.





Friday, June 03, 2022

Connie and Dean's Wedding Quilt

 As I came up with the title, I began to wonder, why aren't these called marriage quilts?  After all, the wedding lasts some minutes (OK, in some churches hours), the reception some hours, and the marriage lots longer.  But I digress before I even start the real post.

The subtitle to this quilt is "Don't Put the Seam Ripper Away."

When Connie and Dean called me in February, I offered to make them a quilt.  They chose a rough pattern based on a quilt they saw online which was blue and gray.  I asked for a third color, and they chose white.  So I asked for a fourth color and they chose purple.  I happened to look through my stash of fabric and found one that Connie approved of.  And, of course, I had to go fabric shopping.  Found this adorably cute fabric.  Since Connie has always been cute, and still is, I had to buy it for the quilt.


I figured, having Thirty Years Experience, that I could put the top together Without Significant Problems.

I picked out a center block, which had a LeMoyne Star in the center of a Feathered Star, with Lady of the Lake blocks around it.  It looked cool, so, after picking out fabrics I headed off to a quilt retreat with friends and proceeded to put together that block.

The LeMoyne Star went together well, and I didn't even need a small circle of fabric to hide any mismatched points in the center!  (It does help that the two fabrics in question are the same color, differing only in pattern.)  Then I proceeded to cut fabric for the feather star points.  (Those are the isosceles triangles, dark blue with circles, next to the white really obtuse triangles.)  That is when I discovered I needed templates, and my template plastic was at home.  So I winged it.  And when I put it all together with the Lady of the Lake blocks, nothing matched.  Got out the seam ripper, took the major stuff apart, and redid it at home, properly making the templates this time.

I put on borders.  And now the block is not flat.  So I got out the seam ripper, and redid the ends of the 8 seams at the centers, next to the points that stick out.  It now lays flat.



Then I put on the next border, with little squares of fabric set on point.  That means more bias -- for the uninitiated, that means stretchy -- seams.  Plus I fussy cut the adorably cute hedgehog fabric so that all the little hedgehogs were facing the same direction.  Well, AFTER redoing two of them, they all faced the same direction.  It also isn't flat, but I ignored that while I figured out which blocks to do next.



I decided on a block called Byzantine Star, which has two sets of half rectangles triangles.  I redesigned it with a third set of half rectangle triangles.  (Now it looks more like a Christmas Cactus.)  I bought more fabric -- 5 yards of light gray, so I WON'T run out, (and I didn't!) and cut up all the pieces.  Then I headed off to the Quilt Guild's retreat, a 5 day affair.  I figured I could make all the blocks I needed, whip them together, add borders, and send it off to my friend Jodi, the quilter, with plenty of time to spare so it could be brought to the wedding.



Do you know how many ways you can put together the Byzantine star wrong?  It doesn't help that the top background is white and the other three backgrounds are gray!  Plus the hedgehog fabric needed to face the right away.  I developed a habit of not even capping the seam ripper, just leaving it open beside the sewing machine.

On to the corner blocks.  On many of my quilts, I put in a block called "Marion's Choice."  Jack's given name is Jacob, so he gets represented by a Jacob's Ladder block.  This seemed appropriate for a wedding quilt, so I texted Connie to see what Dean's parents' names are.  Steve and Julie.

Sidebar:  The origin of quilt block names are shrouded in the mists of history.  Many are historical names, like "Burgoyne's Surrender" (whoever he was) or place names like "Ohio Star."  Then there is Pine Tree, or T-block (they all look like t shirts),  Mariner's Compass (it looks the the compass rose on old maps).  There are very few blocks with people's name.  I was convinced that I would never find a Steve or Julie Block.

So, I asked Connie what they like to do, hoping to find something there.  And then, on a whim, I decided to google "Steve quilt block" and "Julie quilt block."  AND GUESS WHAT!  THEY EXIST!  Both are relatively simple blocks, so I jazzed them up a little.  I needed complicated blocks in the corners for balance, so I put 4 of each in there.

I made three of them at the retreat.  And then came home.

The Even Steven Block didn't turn out right with the colors I chose, so I remade it at home.  The Julia block went together without significant problems, just a couple of 1 and 2 inch seams needed to be redone.  The Jacob's Ladder Block was significantly smaller  than the rest, so I remade that. My own block miraculously did not cause me any problems!  Well, except I made an extra set of triangles.  I added some borders to these.

Now I have:  A 29 inch center block, four 28 inch byzantine star variations, and four corner blocks all larger than 28 inches, but can be trimmed without issues (or so I thought.)

I redid about 5 seams on each side on the center block -- remember they stretch -- I miraculously brought the center block back to 28 inches.  And it lays flat!  Now I need to trim the corner blocks.  A friend has a large mat, so I went over there.  I forgot to bring my own rotary cutter, so I used hers.  It is one of those funny ergonomic things I have never used before, and I promptly veered off into the dark blue border that I wanted to keep.  So I dug out the seam ripper, which I had thought safe to put away.  Fortunately, I had enough fabric to replace that piece.

Sewed everything together...keeping all those adorably cute hedgehogs facing the same direction.  Fortunately, on the corner blocks, I had them facing all 4 directions so it didn't matter which way I put those blocks in!  (Well, except for the Jacob's Ladder block, but Jack doesn't always obey me anyway.  So there is a metaphor.)

Auditioned borders, and put three on.

It doesn't lay flat at all!  Jodi said not to worry, she can quilt around it, there is only a 2 inch difference.

Three days later I decided the borders need replacing, because why not, I've redone nearly everything else on this quilt.  But it turned out only two of them needed replacing.  Returned the now flat quilt to Jodi for quilting.  She got it quilted and returned to me.  I put the binding on without any problems!  And here it is!


Corner blocks, clockwise from top right:  The Julie Block, Jacob's Ladder, Even Steven, and Marion's Choice.

The quilt was finished, label and everything, on Sunday.  Wednesday we left for Minnesota.

The land of 10,000 lakes.

Now I know why I put the Lady of the Lake blocks in the center:  Connie is now a Minnesotan!






Tuesday, May 31, 2022

Connie and Dean's Reception

 The reception was at the aptly named Lagoon Park:  the park has a lagoon.



We arrived early to help set up, and met loads of extended family, ranging from 2 to 94.  Dean's parents, Steve and Julie, are experienced at putting on big parties.  They had everything planned, Jack and I just did as we were told:  set up tables decorated them, put out food, took pictures of everything.  It took about 5 hours to set up (not including food prep on Thursday).  Even the youngest helped move tables!

They also have their own bouncy house, which is smaller than commercial rentals.  But that means the motor needed to blow it up was quieter.  And the kids loved it.

I need to mention that is was 55 degrees (13 centigrade) and windy and cold.  Everyone wore jackets. Julie had brought a heater for her grandmother, 94 year old Elizabeth.   But the elementary aged kids had taken their shoes off and were running around barefoot for hours, even on the ground and on concrete.  This means one thing:  You know those temperature scales that describe the temperature by activity?  (At 40 F, Minnesotans go to outdoor concerts, at 0 F Minnesotans put on their hats, at absolute zero Minnesotans admit it is chilly.  etc.) 

It's true.

Just do a search on Minnesota temperature scales.  My favorite is at 0 F, (-16 C):  Floridians die, Minnesotans lick flagpoles.  (One of the attendees admitted knowing someone who had licked a flagpole at subfreezing temperatures.)  Check out the bare feet:

(I also learned never to compare winters with a Minnesotan.  Unless you are from Siberia, you will lose.  If you are from Siberia, you have a fighting chance of winning.)  You can see in this picture that Dean, a native Minnesotan, is wearing shorts and Connie, a native Washingtonian, is wearing a sweater.  An oversized, heavy sweater.


They got their wedding cakes from "Nothing Bundt Cakes."  And they were really good. Connie and Dean opened presents.  We gave the happy couple a wedding quilt, about which they were speechless. (It deserves its own blog post.)

I wandered around talking to people, then decided to sit next to Elizabeth (the 94 year old) because she had a heater.  And she was great to talk to!  We compared travel stories, kid stories, grandkid stories.


And after seeing Connie and Dean's quilt, she made me promise to make her one next time she gets married.  (There is Lisa, Dean's grandmother, photobombing Elizabeth and me.)