Bringing Back Old Times

Now that my son has moved back in with us (albeit temporarily) he's also brought music back into the house. Since he is a budding musician, most of his musical equipment came with him. This inspired me to drag out my keyboard & play again. I'm really rusty at it, but i, at one time, wrote some tunes. I may try it again. I did enough songs for 3 or 4 CDs. Although I shopped the songs around, none were ever sold, but I did get good reviews from everyone who heard it. We'll see where that goes.

Also, some of you know I have a granddaughter diagnosed with autism. I'm in the process of starting up a foundation to support the families & others affected by autism. It will help navigate the info maze associated with the disease. I know from experience how steep the learning curve is and how much stuff there is to sift through. If I can help someone else with that maze, so be it. Besides, there is no such group in my town. I thought I'd start one. Right now, I'm in the research & planning stages, nothing is official yet. Once its all said & done, I'll post info about the foundation here.

BTW, we won the first round in court, now to get dear son through this divorce & come out even. That's the next step. Stay tuned to see how it goes . . .

Off Topic- Blind Sided

I got a disturbing phone call yesterday- I had to bail my son out of jail! Talk about a rude surprise. He's not the type to get into trouble. Anyway, it all stemmed from a fight with his wife over the phone, the police got involved & it went from there. Long story, short- he had to move in with us temporarily until things get worked out in court later this week. I see another divorce in the family (my daughter was the first about 7 years ago). I knew, yesterday morning when my internet connection would not work correctly, it was going to be one of those days . . . Today, however has been very calm. I just hope the rest of this week will go smooth. I feel confident that the court thing will be resolved easily. We just need to get the rest of my son's stuff from his house. Then he's done with that. The only hitch in the plan is that there are children (2) involved & they are not quite sure what's happening. That will be worked out as well. We will survive, we've done it before. BTW, I have a king sized lone star quilt in the works to take my mind off this drama. I'll be fine. Stay tuned . . .

Too Hot Today

This was the temperature on Thursday afternoon about 4:45 in central KY, Lexington area. Its only mid July, what will it be in August? This weather is nuts!!

Latest Adventures

Actually I haven't been too adventurous lately. I'm caught up on weaving projects. I made 3 scarves & 3 prayer shawls. They turned out okay. I have a challenge quilt in the works, its 30" square & is a landscape, using fabrics specified in the challenge. At this time the piece is too dark & needs highlights. I plan to use colored pencils to do the high lights.

Things at home have settled down tremendously. Daughter has a new to her car, her ex is finally paying child support, as he's supposed to. For a time he quit & the law caught up to him. Anyway, family things are going well, so far. I'll post pics of the new projects when finished. Stay tuned . . .

Alpaca Scarf

This alpaca scarf actually turned out nearly the way I wanted. Originally, wanted vertical stripes, but the warp(vertical threads) were spaced too wide apart - my fault- so i got horizontal stripes instead. Its 8 inches wide & 64 inches long. Its light weight, yet warm & made from hand painted/dyed alpaca yarn. I'm getting better at weaving, just not quite where I want to be yet, but, then again, I'm still learning.

Quilting arts Magazine Challenge

This image was published in the June/July issue of Quilting Arts magazine. here's the link, http://quiltingarts.com/media/p/15823.aspx. I entered the challenge back in the winter but never heard anything more about it so I thought I didn't make it in. the other day I purchased a copy of the new issue & found some of the entries for this challenge shown in the issue. It said there were more entries online. I went online & looked for mine. Low & behold, there it was on the second page, second row on the far right. Its encouraging to see that someone likes you work enough to publish it. Will I enter more? Maybe, it depends on the challenge & what else I have going at the time. Finding this was the best thing that happened all week.

Sewing for Charity

I've always been one to help out wherever I can. Lately that means sewing for charitable causes. The latest cause is the million pillowcase challenge from All People Quilt.com. The idea is to make pillow cases, the goal 1,000,000 (not all from me of course)& donate them to charities in your local community. The website is keeping up with the numbers donated so far. My quilt guild is making them too, we're giving them to a foundation that services the military & their families. One of the guild members started the foundation in memory of a soldier she befriended as a pen pal. Shortly after he returned home, he passed away from cancer, which he didn't know he had until it was too late. Anyway, I've made 12 pillowcases so far. I was making them with my serger until it decided not to work correctly. I re-threaded it (a picky job itself) & finally got it to work again. I'm not sure how many more I'll make since I've met my goal of a dozen.
You know, just when you think things are going your way, life hands you another problem. Tuesday, my daughter's car quit on her in the middle of the road. It was towed home, but it still won't start. Hubby is working on it, we've tried a new battery- that wasn't it, next is to test the starter. I'm afraid the little car, which is old & worn out, just made its last run Tuesday. If that's the case,we'll have to figure out what the next step is. Since she's unable to work, she doesn't have the funds to get another car & mom doesn't have it now either. We'll work it out somehow. Stay tuned, life gets interesting every day . . .