I Am Still Missing Her.......A Memory Quilt

~~ Dottie Rose ~~

~~~

Grief is a funny thing. You think you have things under control, you’re going along well,

or so you think. Then something triggers the sad feelings that come, and you suddenly realize you’re not in control. It’s like waves of the sea that you don’t see coming, and boom- you’re engulfed. No way to get out of it now. So there you are.

Once you’re there, hopefully you can find a way to console yourself, because there’s really no one else who can. Everyone will experience grief at some point in their lives, so you’re not alone, but grieving is a very personal experience. You want out of it, you don’t want to go back to that first initial shock wave, and you slowly recover from it, but it does eventually come back.

 I try not to fight it. I try to ride this wave. I try to find things that perhaps might make me feel better, somehow.  Today, it’s just looking at pictures of Her. And pictures of a quilt I made for her, which I’m so glad I did. I want to share this with you.

 The quilt idea is from Wendy Etzel’s book called The Collectibles Quilt. (Don’t know if you can still get a copy of this, but here’s the info on it: RCW Publishing Company, 1995, Wendy Etzel; Rebecca C. Wilber Publishing company, RR #3 Old Post Lane, Columbia Cross Roads, Pennsylvania 16914-9535; ISBN: 0-9627646 9-8.) I fell in love with this quilt book and it looked like a fun project.

I made a list about what things were my mother’s favorites: movie stars, food, vacation spots, clothing, flowers, books, quilt block, hobbies, etc. I sent her the list in the mail and she wrote her answers on the page. ( I kept the list for myself as part of the quilt documentation.) Then I set to work, adding my own things into the quilt, from my memories of her at home.

I love how this turned out. The pictures are horrible, as I had only a 1 or 2 megapixel camera at the time, but I think you can get the idea of how it turned out. It is such a precious keepsake. It is a great way to remember someone in this way.

So this is how I have comforted my self today, remembering Her, and how great a time I had communicating with her about her "Favorite Things". I think the worst we can do to people is not remember them when they are gone. The best we can do is create memorials about them or to them when they are gone. I hope you enjoy this memorial of Her..........And think about making your own quilt for your loved one while they are still here.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Nothing's Happening.......

Nothing’s really happening these days.....unless you consider

there’s some magic beans in the field

 

French Hydrangeas blooming

 

Turkey’s visiting

 

Rabbits running

 

Blueberries almost ripe for picking

 

Roses blooming

 

and

Garden’s growing....

 

No not much happening.....but summer, I guess!

Candy Flower Magic

Am extremely homesick today.  Maybe, just maybe, these

Candy Colors will make me feel better. 

I found this piece of Grandma's Flower Garden piecework

on Ebay years ago, and have never known just what to do with it.

The blues just got me today, and then I had a brainstorm.

This window was just too bare.

All I did was fold over one edge of the piece and sewed it

down to make a casing, using a Long stitch length, in case there

comes a time to take it down and use it for something else, the stitching will be

easy to remove.

It needed the little "V" in the middle, like my other valances, so I found:

a Vintage Turtle pin, which I used as a younger child. (I'm an "older child" now!)

 I simply pinned up the middle just a little.

I like the way the turtle shell echos the hexagons in the

Grandmother's Flower Garden patchwork.



These are some of the bears in the corner chair.

This little one is only about 2 inches high.  I made this little one

several years ago.  It's so small, it's a wonder it hasn't been lost.

And, holding up the corner, is a wooden church box.

~~~

I really think the person who made this patchwork really

understood what a Grandmother's Flower Garden patchwork

ought to look like.

It really captures the wildly bright colors I love in flowers.

Above:  Flowers from my garden: Red Rose, Purple Zinnia,

Coral Zinnia, Pink Peony, and Orange Zinnia.

~~~

The valance is hanging on the window that you see going upstairs

to the Playroom (sewing room). 

Will it cure my "blues"?

I pray it works it's magic.

~~

You have to get up and do something when you

are missing someone or something or someplace.

Make something new, rearrange the furniture,

go play with color, even if it's your kids' crayons.

What else would be fun is to buy yourself a

set of watercolors- I like Windsor and Newton colors -

and a couple paintbrushes and some watercolor paper.

Then Play with Colors.

It's the best medicine.

XXOO,   BB



Dottie Rose

From Bebe: This is my mom, Dottie Rose, and two of her quilts. The quilts were both given to me. The log cabin is the first quilt I quilted, before I knew how to do the rocking stitch with one finger to make small stitches. The flower garden quilt is all sewn by hand, and is not quilted yet.

Dottie Rose is a retired homemaker. She made many things around our house - like curtains and pillows, but she mostly sewed clothes. And not just simple things to wear. She made SUITS and jackets that required tailering. She is a smart cookie, this one!! She taught me to sew - first with needle and thread, then embroidery, then sewing by machine. I remember her teaching me on her lap at the machine.

I spent many hours playing under the fabric bolts in stores and sitting looking at the buttons on cards on the wall. Where ever there was fabric for sale, we went! Dottie Rose is whom I first learned the names of different types of fabric - twill, wool, duck, ticking, woven, cotton, gingham, paisley, eyelet, calico, homespun. . . .

The love for texiles and sewing has never left me! Thank you, mom!

Rodeo Rose

 

She features completely removeable clothing: Hat, shirt, bandanna, jodphur style pants, Batwing Chaps, with hand embroidery; she carries a Lariat; she rides her Stick Horse, and she has a "Center Medallion Rose" quilt, that has an embroidered center. The hat also comes with a hatbox, and she has a cloth storage bag. She has re-dressing instructions and a document brochure. Everything is handmade, including the hatbox.

She is weighted for sitting. She looks really cute sitting on the edge of a shelf.

Peony #8 was inspired by all the cowgirls who used to ride the rodeo in the 20's and 30's. See more about them at: http://www.cowgirl.net/, at the National Cowgirl Museum and Hall of Fame, located in Fort Worth, Texas.

She was also inspired by Linda Carter Holman's work. See her work at: http://www.carterholman.com/.

Take Care and Have Fun! Ride-em Cowgirl!!