Fabric, Flowers and Funky Stones

Remember that shop hop we went on in Arizona?  (click HERE for a refresher)  If you don't want to bother clicking that link, that's ok, I'll remind you....we went on a 2-day, 8-shop hop, all over frickin' Phoenix area - about 250 miles and countless hours and discussion.  Well worth it, as you'll recall, since I was the winner of a $100 gift certificate to one of the shops, where we had to go spend MANY more hours, deliberating and selecting fabrics for a charity quilt and TWO twin sized for us to use in our recliners.  Well, I got a chance to get started on them.  And just WHAT did I find when I read the pattern?  Well, hell's bells.  Neither one of us like the twin sized layout that was conveniently hidden INSIDE the pattern instructions.  Darned thing looked like a swastika!  Ok, so, that's not gonna happen.  Plan B, let's just do the lap-size, but I'll finagle it somewhat so that they get to a larger size.  After all, we have lots of extra fabric, 'cuz we had purchased enough for two twins.  So who buys yardage, goes home and cuts it up, then sews it back together again?  We do, we do!

Here's the first one I did.  Confusing as all get out, but I'm happy with it.  Mostly.  Not really caring for the light pink box; I think it needs a bit more color saturation in that row.

Nice to have fabrics to pull from....here is the next one, made with the darker blue fabric in place of the light pink.  Love this one!  Still have lots of fabric, so there will be another, skinny border, then maybe a wide border, to showcase those lovely flowers.  Might even have enough left over after all that to add some matching placemats.  Yeah, I know...I just spent $125 and lots of time making those watermelon placemats, using that very special cactus fabrics. That's a quilter for ya!

Our neighbors, Larry & Sharon, had to unexpectedly fly back home to Colorado, to help care for their adult son, who had suffered a series of strokes, due to a blockage of his carotid artery.  At 53 years young!  As a result, they were unable to use the tickets they had purchased to the local theater 's production of always Patsy Cline.  There were several warnings in the playbill that any videography or photographs of the production were strictly prohibited, but I was able to snap a few shots of the 50's style set.

And the audience.  What a bunch of Q-tips!  What's a Q-tip, you might ask?  Ummmm...in a nutshell, it's an old person.  Why do I call 'em Q-tips?  Well, I can't quite remember, but I know it has something to do with white hair and white sneakers, hence, white tips at both ends.  I don't know about the stick part in the middle, I don't know of ANY skinny old person!

Along with warnings that photos were forbidden, we were admonished to stay out of the crew area behind the magic curtains.  It was a good show; Don & Lynn had gotten us great seats, right up front, so even I could see well, and they were very close to an open area, so even though Bailey was not with us, I was able to stave off the anxiety by glancing over that way every so often. 

The next day, our mail arrived.  We use Good Sam's mailing service, and they're getting pretty pricey, so we only call for our mail about every 6 weeks or so.  And take a peek at this number that showed up.

Apparently, I now own a small plot of land.  In New York, no less.  And, whoohoo, I get a say in how it's run.  Well, yes, I do share it with Charlie, but, I bet he doesn't want it any more than I do.  He mentioned that he and Nina have plans to be planted under a specific saguaro cactus on their Cave Creek estate, and Dick and I are hoping we will end up together, maybe at Chuck & Stu's creekside meadow (hope y'all heard that...) where we have our dogs' cremains.  The cemetery has already told me, in writing no less, that we cannot sell the unused portion of the family plot once someone has been interred.  Well, that was YEARS ago that the first person was interred, soooooo, now there will be a nice green space that we can pass down to our children and their children, and their childrens' children.  Ad infinitum.  Did I even use that/spell that correctly?  And, ya know, I don't have a clue who those old guys are, or even if they're currently on the board, or what.  So how could I possibly make an informed decision about whether or not I should give them our proxies.  Well, the way I figured it, as long as they aren't planning to come after me for money, they can do what they want.  So I signed it and sent it right on back.  Have fun boys, one less thing I have to worry about.

But, moving to another cemetery, a little (a LOT) closer to home, Lynn took us on a tour of the Rockport Cemetery.  We had gone geocaching there, MANY years ago, but it was summertime, and there really wasn't much to hold our interest, as I recall.  Well, what a difference a few years and a change of seasons make!

Across from the cemetery entrance, we found this little guy, a great blue heron, waiting patiently for dinner to swim by.

A few years back, we traveled to Hill Country and spent a week visiting with John and Lora (yes, the same friends we just visited in Surprise) and touring around Fredericksburg.  Lots of bluebonnets and other wildflowers up there, but I had no idea they were down here in the coastal bend area!  I hope your computer screen displays these colors as vibrantly as they were in real life.  The flower carpet was simply spectacular!

One of the hallmarks of this cemetery are the monuments that honor the residents and their contributions to the community.  Here lies Mark Gilliam, with space reserved for his loving wife.  He appears to have been a lawman since he was old enough to get hired, and died in a tragic auto accident, at only 53 years old.

Even though we were in a cemetery, there was plenty of life around!

Apparently, this firefighter was a scuba diver as well.

And then Lynn took us to her favorite headstone.  This would be the Coxwell family plot.  Nope, there's nothing like this up in New York, I promise you!  This was FUN!  You could see bits and pieces of broken dishes, whole dishes, a compass and little mini ship's wheel, telephone pole insulators, all kinds of fun stuff embedded in this monument.  

There was even a little vignette of shells inside this inverted dish.  Other shells were embedded directly into the mortar of the monument.

Around the side, a tribute to the Southwest, with a Kokopelli and a roadrunner.

There was a plot surrounded by wrought iron. We expected to find perhaps Mr Fulton, founder of the town of Fulton, or at least, SOMEone significant....but, we didn't even find a marker inside, so we have no idea who's planted here.  Or why there is a wrought iron fence...the only one in the whole cemetery.  All I knew was I wanted out of there, quick, before we had another experience like we'd had in Greensboro, GA....where we found ourselves geocaching in the middle of a historic marker dedication.  With the State Representative, the historical society rep AND the local news reporter all on hand to document the dedication.  Yup, show me the way out please and thank you!

Really, though...the flowers were beautiful.  And the whole field was a-buzz with bees.  If you stood still, you could hear the crash of the waves in the bay, just beyond, and the hum of thousands of bees, gathering sweet nectar.  Truly a beautiful and restful place to spend eternity.

Kelly loved his beer, and apparently, dolphins.  These appeared to be handcarved, but Harvey was not kind to them.

Dot, founder of The Boiling Pot, has been resting here since 2013, but her son Mike, and his wife, are carrying on her legacy, and from what we've seen, the food and service must be outstanding, as the place is always packed.

Not so sure what's up with this one, we couldn't really get close enough to read any markings that might have been there.  The house is flanked by matching pink planters that held only dirt today.

Then we came upon this brightly painted bench and plot just overflowing with flowers...and a toy truck.  ??  We thought, maybe another artist?

Sadly, no.  This marks the grave of a 9 year old boy, and mom's grief is only surpassed by her love.  Heartbreaking.

We drove around some more, still looking for Mr. Fulton and Connie Hagar.  We knew they were both interred here, but I guess we'll have to consult one of the locals to find their actual final resting spots.  

When we got home, it was time to launder that charity quilt I'd been working on for oh, so many months.  I figured I'd better get a picture of what it looked like, PRIOR to washing, juuuuust in case that smelly red fabric or that (ugly) red thread bled.  You can see it's all stretched out on our king bed, and there's only overhang at the very bottom.  It should fit a twin bed nicely, and that's what most kid beds and shelter beds are.  So, it should be perfect for someone else.  Hopefully, someone that likes red.  Which I don't, as you all know.

I quilted it entirely by the embroidery module of my sewing machine. The thread, though ugly, was an absolute perfect match for the smelly red of the starburst, so you can't even see that there is stitching inside each one.  Oh well.  It's done, it's over, and it's fine.

Yup, there's my beautiful machine and my tiny sewing space/dining table/office/shipping station.

I had one block left over, after all the others were sewn together, and a little bit of the fabric I had added, so I made a matching pillowcase.  I didn't want to drag the serger out of the closet, so I just did French seams, so no raw edges inside.

Hip, hip, hooray!  I washed it and dried it, and IT DID NOT BLEED!  Of course, I put 3 color catchers in the washer, and they all came out PINK, but, look - there is NOOOOOOO pink fabric in the quilt - it all stayed WHITE!  Whew, I can breathe again!  I totally dreaded the thought that after all the hours spent, it might come out of the washer with pink edges around each block....but, thankfully, NOPE!  Pink color catchers, I'm good with.  I presented it to the quilt guild ladies and they will offer it up to the local nursing home.  Good enough for me!  I am honored to have been a part of it, but, truthfully, I am glad to have it done and out of the house, and the ladies were thrilled to get a fully finished quilt to deliver.  Win-win!

Next up, Oysterfest!