Pineneedles4's Blog

I have been so busy, and it seems like life is flying by so quickly. I had a memory pop up on my phone a few minutes ago and it was a flash of pictures from this day one year ago. It was a difficult time, and it was a happy time. We had buried my younger sister Sharon two days before. Sharon and I were very close and even though we lived a half of a continent away from each other, she lived by Lake Tahoe, and I live in rural Oklahoma, we talked on the phone almost every single day. She got sick in November of 2020 and went into the hospital with pneumonia before Thanksgiving and THEN was diagnosed with COVID. She remained in the hospital through Christmas and passed away three days later, the same day the hospital placed her on a ventilator. She did not receive decent care in the hospital, they dropped her in the floor at one point, refused to answer her call when she pushed the button, often making her wait four hours or more for assistance. No, I don’t want to hear about how busy they were, no I don’t want to hear about their long hours, this is the hospital’s fault for not letting family in to sit with her and help take care of her. How do I know? Because I was on the phone with her several times during the day and the hospital refused to even let her husband visit. I wanted to fly out and go to the hospital but because of the current rules she asked me to wait until she was released from the hospital. Yes, this is a hospital in NV whose staff showed no compassion for my sister, and this statement was based on what I heard the nurses saying to her while I was still on the phone; one nurse came in and asked why she kept pushing her call button and Sharon said she had called three hours ago and the nurse hatefully responded they were busy and started to leave without even asking what she needed and before my sister had a chance to respond so she called out that she needed to use the restroom please (per doctors’ orders she was not supposed to be out of bed without assistance) and could someone help her and the lady said she’d send someone in a little while! I called the nurses station to tell them she needed to use the restroom and had pushed the button over three hours prior and asked how long was she expected to hold a full bladder? The nurse said they’d get to her when they had extra time and hung up on me! Yes, I get it that the nurses were probably short staffed and overworked (we know because they constantly complained about it) BUT they are a fully functioning hospital providing these services and the patients should be able to expect decent care. At one point I called the main office of the hospital and they sent someone up to help Sharon and check on her, they called back and said they checked the charts, and nobody had documented checking on her since early that morning, but she was doing fine. When I asked who had checked her blood sugar levels they stated they had a nurse go in with them and they had just given her a shot of insulin. She wasn’t fine, she was diabetic, Type I, yet they served her foods that she was not allowed to eat! Their solution? Making her wait hours before they came in and checked her sugar levels and give her an insulin shot and made comments about her blood sugar levels being extremely high. Sharon stated they waited too long to administer the insult shot after her meals and they were serving her the wrong foods so she couldn’t eat half of it and the nurse replied they were shorthanded yet refused to let Sharon monitor her blood sugar levels and administer her own insulin. She would have her bed sitting up at an angle due to the fluid in her lungs and she’d fall asleep only to wake up coughing because someone came in the room and lowered the head of the bed FLAT! Who does that? I called and talked to the nurse at the station on her floor and she stated nobody would do that because nobody had been in her room since that morning (it was late afternoon), admitting they hadn’t even checked on her in over four hours! When I asked the last time they checked her blood sugar levels or took her to the restroom I was told it was none of my business even though I was listed on the charts as being able to discuss her medical issues. But I digress, can you still see the hurt and anger I have regarding the lack of care my sister received while hospitalized? She begged the nurse to charge her phone so we could talk but the nurse refused saying they couldn’t use their electricity to charge her personal cell phone. There was no phone in the room she could use except her cell phone. She died alone, scared and isolated, she died from a man-made warfare virus and yet nobody has been held accountable. Our own people/government (Obama for one, Bill Gates for another) funded the development of the virus and yet nobody is being held accountable for the deaths of hundreds and thousands of people killed world-wide by the manmade virus. She was only 59 years old, too young to die from a man-made inflicted virus, she was too young to die needlessly.

Sadly, it was also a happy time because the hard truth is, with families that struggle financially and live over a thousand miles apart, it seems like the only time everyone gets together is when there is a marriage, or a death, and our family members have experienced death too many times. I’m glad we took the day to drive up to Lake Tahoe and enjoy the scenery. Sharon loved Lake Tahoe and we would spend days driving around the lake, usually stopping at a beautiful spot to enjoy a homemade lunch or sometimes splurging on lunch in a restaurant. She would have been saddened to see the area after the fires burned up this whole area just days after we visited. One day Sharon and I took an entire day in the middle of winter to drive all the way around the lake, stopping for lunch at a beautiful pullout overlooking the valley. The blustery winds were so icy cold and almost knocked us over when we jumped out to run take a picture. We laughed about how foolish we were to be out in that weather, but it was such a fun day, and the snow was beautiful! It seems hard to believe it’s almost two years since we last spoke. I miss her, I miss her jokes, I miss her cards, I miss her laughter, I miss her company, I just plain miss my little sister every single day.

I have been so busy since retiring spending my time traveling and working on arts and crafts. My Aunt Daisy Quilt Along is going well and we are on month three but if you would like to join in on the step by step fun directions they will remain on the blog (vanessavantreasequiltalongs.wordpress.com) and Facebook page (Aunt Daisy’s Quilt Along) through the end of 2022. Here is a better picture of the Aunt Daisy Quilt. I used Redwork Gatherings fabric for this quilt.

And I finally put the binding on my Botanica Park Quilt. I used mostly Summer Breeze Fabrics by Moda.

I’ve pulled out my rug hooking and finished the Pumpkin hooking but haven’t finished the binding. This is my newest rug runner I’m making. I drew out a design on paper and then transferred it to rug warp. I’m enjoying using the rug warp and choosing my wools for this rug. My dream is to be able to afford the Sizzix wool strip dies sold only at The Old Tattered Flag. These are the best and quickest way to cut wool strips.

I designed the rug and from the picture above I wasn’t happy with the green background against the light off white/silver in the border, so I took out a line of line and put in the blue but, now I’m not sure about the blue. What do you think? Without (above) or with (below), I’d love some feedback on this.

I also made a baby quilt for my DIL’s cousin’s granddaughter. I used the Exploding Heart pattern but made the blocks smaller.

I’m going to start teaching quilting this month at Prairie Moon Primitives in Wayne, Oklahoma. The first classes will be Beginner Quilting, only $35.00 for all three sessions. You will make a table runner and the kit (sold separately) is available in two colorways or you can buy your own fabric. The kits will contain everything for making the top, batting, backing and binding. The first class begins April 20th and the then the two following Wednesdays. Call the shop at 405-650-5061 to sign up!

And the second classes we have lined up is a Quilt As You Go Hexagon class. This is a fun block to make and you can make a coaster, table mats, table topper, table runner, baby quilt, lap quilt or all the way up to a full size king quilt. The templates we will be using will make many different sizes. Here are pictures of lap quilt and the king quilt that is still in progress.

I have more projects to show but I’ll save those for another post.

I hope everyone has a great day!

I just LOVE fall and all it brings with the cool crisp air, swirling leaves, the smell of bread and pies baking in the oven and fall projects. I just picked out yarn to make a new hat for myself using a new pattern called Alaska by Camille Descoteau (find pattern on Ravelry.com).

I cast on to knit a new pair of socks and a cowl for myself! I finished a red and white quilt top using Primitive Gatherings fabrics and it’s ready to be quilted. This is a huge quilt and measures 128″ x 128″….overSIZED king!

And I received these two beautiful quilt patterns in the mail Saturday. I’m making quilts only from my stash and luckily I have fabrics for both that I just need to pull when I’ve finished my Christmas sewing/quilting. I love this pattern company Red Crinoline Quilt Company, it used to be called Bonnie Blue Quilts, and I’ve made several quilts from their patterns. I simply love civil war, reproduction and 30’s fabrics!

I’ve also been busy on this little beauty, a pumpkin rug hooking project that finishes as a Hexagon! I joined local and national rug hooking groups and have two rug hooking retreats coming up in the near future! I’m so excited! This pattern is designed by Christine and is available for purchase at Prairie Moon Primitives for a very reasonable price and comes printed on linen. Website: https://www.prairiemoonprimitives.com

I’ve traveled, quite a bit and was surprised to learn last week when I went to get an oil change, car wash and tire rotation that I’ve put over 20,000 miles on the new tires, over 6,000 miles were from August 3 to September 25th. I love traveling by car and enjoying the sites. In August we were able to enjoy Lake Tahoe and surroundings areas before the fires hit. If I could afford a house on Lake Tahoe, I’d buy in a heart beat, yes, even regardless of the fires because it’s such a beautiful area of the United States.

Since June 1, 2020 I have traveled to the Lake Tahoe area in Nevada and California and Sacramento three times. I’m glad I was able to spend the time with my sister Sharon before she passed away and my two younger sisters, Tina and Bobbie Sue. I spent a little bit of time in New Mexico (Albuquerque area) and they have a great quilt shop called Kokopelli! Theresa and I traveled and spent the day at Arches National Park in Utah, I’d like to return and spend a week camping and hiking, I love their camp grounds. I’ve camped out in Missouri at Truman State Park, right on the lake. I’ve traveled to Branson twice and just love Missouri. I’ve visited my brother Jim and SIL Yolanda in Missouri a couple of times, they live east of Kansas City, MO, about an hour east and south of where we grew up as young children. One of my favorite quilt shops in Missouri, on Hwy 49 heading north from Joplin is Rocking Chair Quilts in Butler, MO. It makes for a nice break in the trip and she carries Lori Holt fabrics and notions! Great price and super sweet owners. I spent a week in Nebraska enjoying the sites and going to a few antique stores that weren’t closed due to the Chinese virus. And, I LOVE Wyoming with the large open spaces, fewer people/less traffic and beautiful scenery. I’m planning to return to the northwest and hit the far northwestern point of the continental US and then swing around and travel south along the coastal highway to southern California. My dream is to kayak through the caves off the coast by San Diego. If you’ve ever watched Traveling Robert on YouTube it will make you want to hit the road. This will be a trip planned for next summer hopefully.

I’ve been to a quilt retreat at Hobby House Hill in Bowie, TX that was fun and I met some great new quilting friends. And because I just love Texas, I spent a year and a half of high my school days in Lake Dallas, TX and still have friends in that area so I’ve been down there many times this last year, not to visit friends but quilting and sewing related trips take me south! I’ve taken a few day trips with my sister, Theresa, who lives here in Oklahoma, to explore different areas of Oklahoma and visit our favorite quilt shops in Checotah and Gore and we love the lake just north of Gore. I always search for small town, local diners for the best meals and secretly hope they have my favorite dessert….pie!

My friend Debbie, who is an expert quilter, gave me hand applique/needle turn applique lessons to improve my applique work and since then I’ve been working on the Lori Holt Prim Quilt and even taught a hand applique lesson to my quilt group this month. I only have the first five blocks completed so I need to spend a day prepping new blocks! I really don’t care for the log cabin style border blocks so I’m going to change my quilt. I’ll use the star blocks in the corners but then I’m going to do panels with appliqued flowers and leaves in place of the log blocks.

I’m also making Lori Holt’s Grandmother’s Garden Quilt, it’s so cute but for some reason it got put on the back burner and I’ll pull it out and finish it when I finish Prim. Both of these are free on Lori Holt’s Blog, Bee in my Bonnet, but you do have to purchase the shapes to be able to make the quilts and honestly the best price for these are found at https://www.fatquartershop.com/, she carries all of Lori Holts fabrics, notions, rulers, etc.

I did sit down last week and used my orange/black Halloween fabric to make 9 log cabin blocks to make a table topper that I seriously need to finish and get on the table to use before it’s too late! I also made two matching blocks for pot holders! LOL….running late. I’ll post pictures when they are completed.

And, because I’m a Virgo and love to get excited and start new projects, YES, there are many more projects I’ve been working on such as wool applique, embroidered pillow cases, more socks and hat knitting but I’ve either gifted before getting pictures or they are still in the WIP bins!

Living in Oklahoma has it’s ups and downs. The positive attributes are the friendly people, affordable cost of living and my boys live here. The negative attributes are the high winds and tornados and hail such as happened last night, the high heat and humidity in the summer with ticks and mosquitoes that are monsters and relentless in their pursuit of blood. My BIL gave me a great hammock that I’ve yet to be able to use due to the monster mosquitoes! Maybe after the first freeze I’ll hang it up and take a book outside with a coat and enjoy the hammock and the cooler weather! I know it’s going on my next camping trip!

Last night I was knitting and watching NCIS reruns when I thought I’d better check on the weather. Storms had developed and were heading my way. I put my shoes back on, put keys and billfold in pockets, made sure my phone was charged and grabbed my purse, flashlight and rain jacket and put them by my side, ready to run to the neighbors storm shelter if necessary. About an hour later, tornado sirens when off and my phone alert started blaring. I opened the front door and looked across the street, my neighbors house was dark, I went to the street and their cars were gone. I couldn’t tell if the storm shelter was locked or not so I ran back into my house, called my sister who lives about 30 minutes east of me and told her I was headed her way. I grabbed my purse and hit the road. I was just ahead of the storm traveling east on Highway 9 toward Tecumseh. It started to rain on me before I made it to her house and listened to News 9, David Payne, as he stated they had 3″ tennis ball sized hail at 48th, east of Norman. I sped up and made it to my sister’s place. I was there about 10 minutes when the storm hit her place but luckily we didn’t experience the hail or if it hailed it was small pebbles of ice. We had small tornados cropping up and then would die down, then gain speed and pop up again, all over the state. I waited until the storms passed and the tornado warning expired and then headed back home. I could see the trash cans all turned over and debris from trees and trash on Highway 9 heading home but it all looked pretty good. I’ve lived through four tornados in my life so I take them seriously. Usually though, I have to say that the tornados tend to hit in April and May here in Oklahoma. In North Carolina the tornado hit my house in November!

Well, I hope everyone is enjoying the cooler temperatures this week! Time to get busy!

November 2020 was my last post and so much has happened since that happy day. My younger sister Sharon, the one that lived in Carson City, Nevada will never get to make the trip to the Oregon coast this summer. She got sick with a cold in November that turned into pneumonia and ended up in the hospital with COVID and she died in December. I felt like I’d lost my best friend, we talked on the phone almost every single day, sometimes for 6 hours at a time. It’s been so very lonely without her and I don’t think she would ever have believed she’d be so missed by everyone. Her husband is struggling with the loss as he also lost his mother in November and then his wife days after their 37th anniversary. Sharon was 59 years old, too young to die. I’m still so angry that she died from a man made super virus that was funded by Americans and developed by the Chinese. It feels like murder to me. I will be making the trip in August back across country as we are finally able to put her ashes to rest and have a memorial service. It will be a long, hard trip. I miss her jokes, her laughter and her friendship.

I dove into quilting a new level to occupy my time and thoughts so I’ll post pictures of the many quilts I’ve made since the last trip in November. And on a note about quilting and sewing, I’ve sold a few of my antique sewing machines and purchased the brand new Juki TL2020 PE edition machine. It’s a straight stitch only machine that I absolutely love! And the best part? It also fits in my Horn cabinet so I can change out my Bernina when I want decorative stitches. I just need to order an insert to fit the Juki but I’m using it in the cabinet with the insert anyway.

Between Thanksgiving and Christmas I pieced, quilted and gifted four quilts for family members:

Then my older brother, in my mind, needed a quilt, so I made this quilt for his birthday in February:

And then I wanted to make a quilt for my neighbors who have been the best neighbors a person could ask for in life so I made this quilt:

And then I made a quilt for my son’s grandparents:

And I made this lap quilt for my DIL, it has words of inspiration:

And I made this quilt at a quilt retreat, well I started it at quilt retreat and just finished piecing it in May of this year:

And I finished this quilt top:

And I made these for my sister Theresa’s birthday:

And I’m making a quilt using blocks from all four of Lori Holt’s books that I own, I’m making the 6″ blocks and here are the first 25 blocks I have completed so far:

I’m also working on the Lori Holt Prim quilt along quilt but only have five blocks completed, it’s hand applique and I’m slower on this process! I’ll post these at a later date. And I’m working on the Grandmother’s Flower Garden quilt but it’s on the back burner right now as I’m feeling a little overwhelmed.

And then my older son’s house burned to the ground in May:

This has been devastating. He built the house by himself and had ordered the siding, the last step before USAA insurance would insure the house. They lost everything except the gardening clothes on their backs. It’s hard to see your children go through something like this and not have the ability to ‘fix’ the problem.

And on a more positive note, this is the latest quilt I’m working on, a quilt that I’m designing in my head. I have hundreds of these tiny 1 and 1/4″ finished half square triangles I plan to sew as the center to square in a square blocks, place on point in rows with rows of black calico between. At least this is the idea in my head! We’ll see how it turns out. I’m still in the process of pressing all of them!

And, this is a long post so I’ll end it here. I have more projects I’ve worked on, knitting, beading and of course quilting but I’ll save those for another day! I hope everyone is enjoying this summer and has great plans for the 4th of July!

I’m am having too much fun, I’ve spent the last two days quilting with family. I woke up Monday morning and thought I’d make a Christmas tree wallhanging for the back of my front door. This will be in place of a tree as my home is much too small to put up a tree. Then I decided to send out last minute invitations to family members to also come make one and they immediately responded yes. So, I pulled out graph paper and drew up a design and then I hopped up and pulled Christmas themed fabric from my stash and cut out three kits. I set up three sewing machines and by the time everyone showed up we were ready to sew! This is mine before the final border, but I have some ripping to do as I don’t like the white under the tree so today I’ll rip the bottom part off and switch the white out for the print. A little unconvential but I like it. I’ll post pictures after it is ripped, changed, bordered, quilted and embellished!

And I received this picture from my sister who says her husband, Alberto, loves his new quilt I delivered to them last month.

Don’t you just LOVE it when you gift a quilt and they love it enough to actually use it? I’ve gifted quilts that my boys LOVE but they don’t want them ruined so they are put away, I get it and appreciate the fact that they cherish the quilts, so I make them utility quilts to be used daily and they love that also.

And then I made this, of course it’s not quilted yet but it was a quick fun project made using a small jelly roll and precut 1 yard piece from Walmart.

When I finished Alberto’s quilt I decided to deliver it in person. My secret mission was to deliver the quilt and pick up my sister and bring her to Oklahoma for a month (which didn’t happen) as she’s been experiencing cabin fever from isolation due to pandemic. So, off down I40 I headed to Nevada again. My sister Theresa went with me on this trip. It’s a long, hard trip, 1581 miles one way to be exact, but when you add in my little sight seeings jaunts in different directions to explore the sights you can probably add another 50 to 100 miles, then jaunts all over Nevada and Californa while there to explore and experience the sights in that area of the US I’d say we added another 500 miles on the car, then the 1800+ miles home as we took a scenic highway in California, where I lost my cell phone and spent about 1 1/2 hours walking the desert looking for it, to no avail. We did swim in the natural hot springs in Carson City and that was an great experience; I’m told the best time to swim is at night when it’s snowing, so I’ll return for that experience also. I did find this little jewel on Facebook Marketplace in Sacramento, so we made a trip over there to pick it up (another reason to drive so I can haul home my great finds)! It’s a Willcox and Gibbs, I haven’t verified the year but the patent says 1870 on the wheel.

But as I sit here thinking about Thanksgiving next week and Christmas will follow quickly on the heels of this I’m wondering where the time has gone? Time flys so they say and I believe it. But since retiring in June, I’ve traveled to Missouri three times, spent a week trekking through Nebraska antiquing, traveled to the Lake Tahoe area twice, traveled to Texas three times and truly enjoyed every minute of the time on the road. As I look at the map I’ve traveled through Oklahoma, Kansas, Missouri, Arkansas, Iowa, Nebraska, Wyoming, Utah, Nevada, California, Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas. I’ve enjoyed the sights of the beautiful landscape in the mountains of California and Nevada, Lake Tahoe, the wheat fields in Kansas, the hilly country of Arkansas, the deserts of the southwest, the Petrified Forest in Arizona, the Native influences around Albuquerque, New Mexico and so much more. I’m thankful for the ability to travel and enjoy new places. It’s been a wonderful five months of traveling but there’s no place like home and I’m ready to settle down and spend the winter quilting, knitting, beading and just enjoying my little piece of heaven in the country. Happy Thanksgiving everyone. I pray you find your little piece of heaven and contentment.

My long arm machine broke! I call and got an appointment in July and I took it to Texas to be repaired at the Gammill dealership. Try as they might, it could not be repaired there and had to be shipped back to the factory in Missouri. I picked it up the end of September! It’s working! In the meantime the quilt tops were stacking up. Here are pictures of a few, I have 4 or 5 more I haven’t photographed yet!

I ordered the Geese in the Garden from Primitive Quilts and Projects and made the table runner using scraps from a quilt I had made for my friend. I was so pleased with how it turned out and posted a picture on Facebook. They published it in their Tada section in the new Winter 2020 issue! I was so excited!

I have traveled well over 4,500 miles since the second week in June covering 11 states.  Now, my next trip should be at a slower pace so I can stop and visit different sites and spend more time enjoying the areas that I find interesting.  Lake Tahoe is always a pleasure to visit and on this trip I also enjoyed spending a little time in Albuquerque, NM.  Quilting has taken on a new perspective since I’ve realized I have all the time in the world to enjoy quilting, the problem is I’m speeding up as I have so many patterns and projects I want to complete!  Here are a few of the items I’ve made in the last couple of months.  I can’t find all of my pictures, but when I get everything quilted I’ll be posting pictures of my completed projects.  My Gammill quilting machine is broken and being shipped back to the factory in Missouri so nothing will even begin to get quilted until the latter part of September.  I had a revelation last night when I cut out yet another quilt (with about 15 UFO’s tucked safely away); I love to plan, cut out and piece quilts…..I putter out and lose steam when it comes time to actually sew the blocks together.  And, if anything should interrupt my progress on a quilt, it seems to go in a UFO bag to not be seen for sometimes months!  My goal right now is to finish six quilts before the end of 2020.  Is anyone else like this?  What is your favorite part of the whole quilting process?  Now, I do truly enjoy quilting the quilts, I don’t have a fancy machine, it’s a basic Gammill with stitch regulator, and I love the 14 foot rails to make oversized king quilts.

This quilt is on the frame, but loosened and the machine is on the way to being repaired at the factory in Missouri.  I should have it back by the end of September!  I will be spending my fall quilting all the quilt tops I have, so far about eight are ready to quilt, plus I will finish three more this week as they only need the blocks sewn together.  This quilt also has two pillow shams I’ve made with the left over blocks.

This is a table runner made with fabric I found at Hobby Lobby.  I used one of my 60 degree rulers to cut this as I was too impatient to wait for the mail delivery of the pattern I purchased.  I’ve always loved math and it was easy to figure out the angle.  I’ll probably quilt it on my sewing machine this week.

This pattern was a download I purchased from Primitive Quilts Magazine called Geese in the Garden.  The flying geese are paper pieced and the rest is applique.  It was fun for something different to do.  I used the sew and turn method using light weight interfacing but honestly, I won’t use this method again!  I prefer needle turn applique or free paper method.  The perfect circles were accomplished using the new Applipops that I ordered.  I made all of the circles on this runner in about 30 minutes using the applipop rings.  This beats any method I’ve ever used before.  I’m glad I purchased two of each set (two sizes available, that is two sets are available with various sizes in each set), so as one was cooling, I could begin working on the other one and it kept me working quickly.  Now, I want another of each set so it will be even quicker!  I was worried the flowers wouldn’t show up on the background fabric but I’m happy with the way it turned out.  This, I’m happy to say was made from scraps in my stash from my churn dash quilt.

This pattern came in a kit I purchased from Running Doe Designs.  It came with the exact same fabric as pictured.  I wasn’t familiar with this designer but I loved the quilt.  I have the blocks cut out and the cross blocks pieced.  Today I’ll sew the blocks together and put it in the pile of quilt tops to be quilted!  I’m going to have fun doing ruler work to emphasize the different blocks!

This was a quilt I made using a free pattern from Bear Creek Quilting called Honeybell Green by Blank Quilting.  I used a fat quarter pack of camping fabric that was gifted to me and added a few colors such as the sky fabric.  I cut this out and pieced it in about a day so it was a super quick to sew together.  I’ll be using this pattern again as I can see so many different fabrics that would work well with this pattern.  My friend Frankie at quilt camp last weekend downloaded a copy of the pattern also and is going to make hers using her black and white prints, a black and white only quilt.  I have some beautiful black and red rose fabric or my Moda Summer Breeze prints I’d like to use in this pattern.  It would be a good way to use up old scraps.  I had to adjust the size of the blocks for this quilt as I was using fat quarters, the large blocks were to be cut at 9 1/2″ so I cut it down to 9″ to utilize by fabric more efficiently and then had to resize the smaller blocks.  So if you buy yardage keep in mind the blocks call for 9 1/2″, but it’s easy to size the blocks larger and smaller, just remember to resize the smaller blocks also.

Retirement!  The decision to retire is such a heavy decision to make.  Weighing the thought of trying to live on a small income versus stress, drama and quality of life.  Should I be tough and plug along for a few more years?  Should I just look for a new job that brings more joy?  Should I take another principal job again or a teacher job next year?  I love the children but I hate the stress.  Sometimes, as a single person, I feel strong but feel paralyzed when it comes to making life-changing decisions so I bounce ideas off my family for their opinions.  Then I make lists and analyze so I make sound decisions and don’t make emotional decisions.  In the end, I followed the advice from my sons and my brother and submitted my retirement paperwork.  As a school teacher, we closed the school after the first week of March and never returned.  We taught our students through Zoom classes online and it was a difficult way to try to meet the needs of the students but the choice was out of our hands with the pandemic.  My last official day was May 26th and as of June 1st, I was considered retired!   I suddenly felt this need to travel, get out and explore.  Some of this may have had to do with the quarantine from Covid19, some of it was the feeling of freedom that comes with retirement.  I do know I was suddenly presented with the possibility of options without time constraints.

I left my rural home in Oklahoma in June and traveled north through Kansas to Blue Springs, MO and stayed with my brother and SIL for a week as my SIL was having knee surgery.  My plan was to meet some new on-line friends at Lake of the Ozarks and camp out for a week but I received a call from my younger sister that they moved her surgery date up so I left Missouri and traveled north to Iowa, though Nebraska to Wyoming, oh the beautiful sights!  Then I traveled through Utah to Nevada.  I stayed for a couple of weeks with my younger sister in Carson City, Nevada.  I have three sisters that live in that area and one day we all went to lunch.  My siblings live from Nevada to Oklahoma to Missouri, we are spread out across the US, so it’s rare when we get several of us together and as I sat and laughed with my sisters and looked around the table the thought came to me again that this is what life is about, enjoying the company of those we love, laughing so hard my abdomen hurt and cherishing every minute with them.  While in Nevada we went to Lake Tahoe, Frenchman Lake in California, Genoa (the oldest fort in Nevada), Gardnerville, Reno, Dayton and other towns in the Lake Tahoe area.  I love exploring the local sights and I love small towns.

When I left Carson City I made the mistake of traveling south toward Las Vegas rather than going to the east side of the state to travel through forestry land.  The highway was under construction and we kept stopping for flag teams and at one point sat for over 45 minutes waiting to be flagged through, then being routed onto a gravel highway for miles!  It took forever and the scenery was not the most enjoyable to me personally.  Then I traveled through Arizona where the sights were so beautiful I find it hard to describe.  I took many pictures but we all know the pictures do not do the landscape justice.  Then when I hit New Mexico I wanted to stay for awhile but knew I needed to get home but I did spend several hours in Albuquerque and visited a great quilt shop called Kokopelli where I purchased some beautiful serape fabric and several patterns.  Then I traveled to the Texas panhandle and finally back home to Oklahoma.  I love vacations and traveling by car to stop and experience the areas and see the sights but it’s always a great feeling to return home.

While on the road I thought about home and all of my hobbies at my home and I was itching to get back home to work on my quilts.  I may be retired now, but my body and mind seem to still be in a rush, to experience everything in a hurry as if time is running out.  I haven’t figured out how to slow down and enjoy life, I still seem to be putting myself on schedules with timelines.  I had to laugh at myself last night as I spent six hours yesterday trying to clean, adjust, set the timing and attempt to trouble shoot my quilting machine that refused to make stitches.  I felt angry and frustrated at the wasted day and once again I realized it was because I had set a deadline in my head for finishing this quilt.  I need to slow down and realize I don’t have to live by strict deadlines now but I feel antsy and unsettled.  I keep running through a list of home repairs and projects I ‘need’ to finish.  I wonder if I made a list of everything that needs to be done if it will help me organize the thoughts running wild in my mind?  Maybe two lists, quilting and hobbies as one list and home repairs as the second list and then I can put the items in each list in priority order.  Again,  I am retired but I still feel a need to get organized so I can settle down and enjoy life.  So, technically I am retired but I’m still sliding into the retirement mode of living!

I cherish my time and love the fact that retirement brings peace from drama and negative energy that some people seem to carry with them constantly.  I love the fact that I am free to choose how my day will go and that I’m only limited by my choices (well, that and money).  I don’t have great wealth, I don’t have a great home but what I do have is a great family, a few acres I call home with my humble little house, and my talent and love for arts and crafts.  I have been gifted with the ability to enjoy the simple things in life and be thankful for what I have in my life.  I don’t need an expensive home, expensive clothes and great wealth for I find my joy in the simple things, at least when I slow down enough to enjoy them!  Sliding into retirement is hard and I find this a surprise!

I finished the Disappearing Hourglass blocks and they are ready to hang on my design wall to arrange into rows BUT I’m playing with these fabrics from Darlene Zimmerman called Southern Belles that I purchased from Quilt in a Day. The solid colored fabrics I purchased from Bluprint.

This is a fun little book but I was struggling to keep all the pieces separated so I came up with the system of numbered bowls. So far these are the blocks I have completed.

I’m enjoying this project so far. I’m cutting each block as I go, sewing together and then choosing the colors for the next block.