the third act

 It's been a very long time between postings

For a while, I thought I might have reached the end of blogging -- so little uninterrupted time

 And now I need to (briefly) explain the absence for the last year and a half

 When I  last posted in February, 2019, I had just brought the DH home from over a month in the hospital and then rehab.  He came home needing more day to day care -- he could no longer see well enough to handle his blood sugar testing and insulin injections -- he needed higher levels of oxygen making it a lot harder for him to go anywhere -- and he took blood thinners twice a day because his heart was not beating in a regular rhythm

Despite all that we had only two choices -- assisted living, which he hated the whole idea of and refused to even discuss -- or I could take care of him at home -- so he came home and we found a new normal

We had a big family gathering for his birthday where he got to see all of his grandchildren and his great grandchildren -- and we did it again at Christmas -- and he did love Christmas -- all the planning and the decorating and the cooking and the wrapping -- it was his favorite time of year

Then in March, 2020, the world around us went crazy -- COVID 19 shut down everything -- and his already limited world became a lot more limited -- and he was slipping away into his memories about playing baseball as a young boy -- and exploring caves when he was away at school in Missouri in his teen years -- and he was sometimes angry because I wouldn't let him go out into the garage and work with the power tools unless I was right there to guide (and protect) him so he wouldn't get hurt

And of course, in the end, I couldn't protect him from the inevitable

So on August 14 we decided we were going to stay up past our usual bedtime and watch the PBS recording of "The Sound of Music", a stage production that we hadn't seen before -- and at it's end, I said "it's time to go to bed" -- he started to answer and then he was unconscious -- and I was dialing 911

The paramedics and the ambulance were here really quickly and they tried for an hour doing CPR, giving medications -- creating an emergency room in the middle of our family room -- trying everything that an emergency room would do -- but at 12:15 in the morning of August 15 he slipped away and was no longer bound by medications and leg braces and oxygen tanks -- he was free

 Parts of the last three weeks are a blur -- talking to the coroner at 3:00 a.m. -- picking a spot at the cemetery -- asking for mass with the parish priest -- being able to have only a small group standing in the cemetery to say goodbye 

And now life of a whole other kind moves on for those of us left behind -- moving forward -- moving sideways -- some days just trying to stand still -- time doesn't let us do that

On now to that third act --

yup, I'm still here!

somehow the entire month of August slipped away without any posting here --- YIKES!

it was a busy month

we are approaching the Christmas crazy phase of the year, so some of what I'm working on can't be shown just now, but I am working on things every day

and here's what else is happening in the studio (in no particular order!)

this piece, which was the very first in the Parched Earth series, has gone to a gallery in Webster Groves, MO for a show titled "Green"

I have just finished the quilting on this piece -- and I hope to enter it in a show titled "Landscape:  Real and Imagined" -- that particular theme is a perfect fit for a lot of my Parched Earth series, so I will probably enter three pieces there

this piece was started while I was at Caribou in July, and I'm pretty pleased with how it is progressing

it was fun to pull out the InkTense pencils and do the graffiti  on the water tower!

this piece is being done specifically for a SAQA show titled "Forced to Flee"

the deadline is the end of October, but I am already working on the quilting

when finished, it will be three individual panels that will be hung together in this order (but with a little more space between them)

I made a few changes in the design of this piece -- adding a certain bridge at the top right hand corner that will add a bit of color -- time to start the fusing

I have until mid December to get my piece finished for Caribou, and I have finally decided what it will be

this is Charlie, posing behind the wild grass

my plan is to make this 16"x20" and to mount in on a canvas for hanging

time to get the pattern drawn!!

of course there have been other things happening here too

with a little bit of assistance from me, the DH has finished this end table for our daughter's house

it is made of oak and was intended to replace a small round table she was using in her living room

big success!

in the middle of the month we had a big hail storm that trashed our garden

these were the tomatoes that I picked up off the ground the next morning, and since then I've been picking tomatoes off the damaged vines as they've started to turn orange

seems like the grasshoppers moved in right after the hail stripped most of the leaves off the plants

we won't get as much production as we hoped for, but I'm not letting what we have go to waste

so far it's been either made into pasta sauce which has gone into the freezer, or tomato sauce

my sister brought me some peaches right after that hail storm, so the canning kitchen has been busy with that too --- lovely peach jam for the winter
 
over the Labor Day weekend, we had our kids, grand kids and great grand kids all together to celebrate my husband's 80th birthday

the girls

the grand kids

the great grand kids

the cousins

we did this at my daughter's house as she has more space to let this fun group romp and play together

it was warm enough for water play and the basement became the "war zone" for Nerf gun play (each kid supplied with safety glasses for that activity!!)

Mr Benson did not get to go to the birthday party, but he got lots of extra attention afterward

time to get back to work

 

doing some very happy dancing

Early in the week I got some very exciting news!

I had entered this piece in a juried show that will be held in an Art Gallery in Denver the end of October.....

and it was accepted!!

I'm pretty excited about seeing me work in that setting!

this piece is coming along

the backing is on, the edging is done and I've started making the chain -- I decided to do this chain that is actual hexagonal links for this piece -- it's a bit "fiddly" and more time consuming than what I've done on some other pieces, but it has a better look for this piece

I hope to get this finished in the next couple of weeks

I have started quilting on this piece

the deadline for this piece (and the two others that go with it) is the end of October, so I need to move this one right along

progress is being made on this piece too

although this week I spent a good deal of time removing and replacing pieces in the sky, and even replaced one of the blades on the windmill

but I'm much happier with it now

meantime, the DH was very busy in the garage workshop

the frame that was originally on this painting had gotten damaged, so he created this new one for it

and now the painting has gone to my daughter's house to be properly hung

and after a long saga of not being able to get the materials and then having to have the table saw repaired, the headboard for our bed is complete!

he used beetle kill lumber that was tongue and grooved for use as paneling or flooring, but I really like the gray tones with the browns of the wood

beautiful!

I had hoped to have this project done, but I've done some moving backward and forward on this as well

the pants were just too small at the first "fitting", so I have remade those and now I can move forward

I got Mr Cute a new book recently, that is titled "Monster Needs A Costume" -- which seemed especially appropriate as a gift from me as I've been the chief costumer for Halloween for him

we had a good time reading it together over the weekend

Last Thursday I made a visit to a specialist to see if there was something that could be done to improve function and decrease the pain in my shoulder that has lingered on since I painted the deck back in September.   She gave me a cortisone shot in the shoulder and I've been resting it as well as doing icing and stretching.  I believe it's getting better --- now I just have to be careful not to overdo it and re-injure it!

the little box that could

sort of like the mild mannered Clark Kent, this box should be wearing a Super Man cape

my friend wanted the contents to be put to good use, and she thought of me

so she packed up the box, and sent it along

problem was, she didn't have my new address -- so it went to the old address

and after a VERY long time, it went back to her -- causing a flurry of messages back and forth -- WHAT?!

she very kindly shipped it out again 

and because it wasn't delivered until long after the rest of the mail, I didn't see it there on the porch (heaven forbid the mail man would actually ring the bell or knock!) on the only day in weeks that we had rain

so when I opened the door to get the paper the next morning -- there it was -- slightly forlorn looking, damp around all the edges

fortunately it's contents were not something easily damaged by a little moisture!

and it's a gift received at just the right time and just the right thing -- perfect materials for some rusting and dyeing projects I have in mind for a new quilt series

thank you!!

last week was filled with lots of "arty" things

a few years ago I entered some pieces in a show that runs regularly in Fort Collins at the Lincoln Center

I didn't get in, and I had never had the opportunity to go and see the show so I could see what the pieces that "make it" look like

so on Thursday we took a drive and took a look

it is an amazing show!

now I understand why those first fumbling attempts at art quilts were not good enough to get into this show

and I have a bar to aim out for the next entry

Thursday was a big day for Mr Cute too

his first day of Kindergarten

we can say I'm a really proud grandma!

on Friday I attended my first session of a Master Class with a teacher in Boulder

this piece was the one I took with me to work with because it was the most portable of the in process pieces

 

 by the end of the class I had made some big changes in this piece

some rearranging of the trees, adding more ashy ground on the right hand side, less sky so you actually are drawn into the devastation of the fire

I have some more work to do on this that came out of the class too

this is going to be a great opportunity to improve the quality of my work

 Saturday I was out again, "hob nobbing with the wizards" as  the DH says, attending the very first meeting of an art quilt critique group that a friend of mine and I organized

I took the forest and the farm pieces to get some other eyes on how these are progressing

got some great suggestions on how to make these pieces better too

since I was out and about so much during the week, I didn't get quite as much work done on some other things

this is the very last of the leaves for the Greek inspired piece, and now I'm working on the collar -- maybe this week I'll actually get it finished!

work on this sample piece continues

I've used some fabrics in here just because the have the correct sort of patterning even though they are not traditional cotton quilting fabrics

so far so good!

it's peach season

and it's become a yearly ritual for my sister to bring me a box (or sometimes more than one) of peaches that she gets from a group at her church direct from the orchard over in Palisade

yesterday was the day, and I invited her to bring mother along and spend some time with us for a while

which of course meant we would have lunch, and I made a great peach cobbler for the occasion -- messy, but delicious!

I also invited my daughter and her family to come and spend time so my grand son could get a chance to know his great grandmother in a less stressful and confusing time than holiday gatherings are

not long ago I ordered in a big tub of perler beads and the tools to work with them, thinking of them as something my grand son would enjoy

yesterday by the end of the afternoon, just about everyone had been at the table sorting colors, making patterns on the bead mats

my son in law was remarkably productive, creating the set of four coasters for his recreation area, my daughter put together the parrot, my grand son created the free form vehicle and my mother put together this cute little bug piece

it was in my mind a very successful gathering!

I hope to have more of these

this week will be a bit less busy -- the DH and I are going to quilt show on Friday, and there will be the usual errands for groceries and a trip to the hardware store, but I hope to get in more studio time this week

time to get to that laundry then on with more fun activities!

going faster by slowing down

last week began with a trip to Ft Logan National Cemetery for my dad's committal service --  here is what I said there:

Dad didn't want us to make a fuss.

When he told us that he was not going to do any more surgeries he said there was no need to hold a gathering 

Sorry dad, as the survivors, we just over ruled you 

A few years ago,  we took mom and dad with us to Springfield,  MO, where we were doing an art show  

Dad had a baseball cap that said WW II Veteran on it 

During that weekend I saw people stop and talk to him and thank him for his service  

He never talked about it, and we didn't really grow up thinking of him as part of what has been called the “greatest generation” -- but he was 

Which brings me to why we over ruled him  

We believe he deserves this tribute and the honor of a final salute

In the time since he passed, I have received a number of cards from people I barely know that are members of my local quilt guild -- it has been a sweet reminder that even strangers will give you a hand up if they know a little bit about you

On three occasions during that time I have had a quote from Marianne Williamson included in either a personal note or some other communication online:

Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate.  Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure.  It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us.  We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous?  Actually, who are you not to be?  You are a child of God.  Your playing small does not serve the world.  There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you.  We are all meant to shine, as children do.  We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us.  It's not just in some of us; it's in everyone.  And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same.  As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.

This reaching out by others has resulted in an odd phenomena -- the odd sensation that as all this caring is a stream of water pouring into the glass and running over the sides in the form of ideas and art work

here is what that art week looked like:

 the bead embroidery on both of these is complete -- I still have a few more of these to do for the project, but these came out really well!

the quilting has begun on the first piece of my Evolution series - the forest

and I have begun the work on the next piece - the farm

the tree for the second Parched Earth series - the tree is coming along well -- as soon as the order from Dharma Trading arrives with the needed silk organza I'll be able to start quilting the background of this piece too

I have finally figured out a background for the truck piece I created earlier in the year

this piece began as a "one of" stand alone, but now it will be the third of the Parched Earth series

this was what the first parched earth piece looked like before I decided to cut that top third off of it

I saved that piece because while it didn't look like dust (which was my original idea), it did look like fire

unfortunately, I had already done quite a bit of quilting on it before I decided to chop it, which meant I had to "skin" it so that I can move forward with the idea I have to make it into a piece on it's own

a piece that will involve using some of these shapes

I don't know yet is this is another "stand alone" piece or if it will fit in the parched earth series -- I'll have to decide that later

of course there is the required picture of the wild ginger dog -- we started a new obedience class on Tuesday and she is doing very well -- sometimes a totally different approach is what is required

Onward to another full week!!