Tuesday, April 12, 2011

6?

Behind by 6.  Sheesh!

This moment I'm thankful for....

-Azithromycin and Tylenol.  Lucy has another ear infection.  Looks like we're going to the ENT next week.

-SPRING!  I bought 3 ferns and a basil plant this week.  I couldn't hold back any longer.

-Kevin's cooking.  I feel lucky because I really like to cook, so many people don't and for them cooking feels like a chore.  That said, I also love that Kevin likes to cook. I don't mind handing over the pots and pans on the weekend!  Im hoping he cooks from both of these cookbooks this weekend.  Yum!


-Speaking of Kevin, I'm thankful that tomorrow marks his last travel day in his current job.  He'll begin a new position with the same great company on Monday.  This job will mean much less travel, like only one week of travel per month.  GASP!!  After 7 years of crazy travel I'm incredibly happy and so very, very thankful.  The girls are too, we have visions of evening bike rides, picnic dinners and the sort.  That's what happens when you're not traveling, right?

-Night time read aloud.  We're reading some E.B. White classics right now.  Sharing books I loved as a kid with my kids is such a treat.  I remember my mom reading Charlotte's Web to my brother and me. Over 25 years later and it still makes me cry.  


Sort of funny that Lucy has my iPhone on our family quilt.  Wonder what Granny would make of that?
-This quilt. It appears in a lot of our pictures.  It's nearly always on the floor, so easy to throw in the wash after a few hard days.  My Great Grandma (who I was named after, did you know that Emma is also named after her Great Grandma?) made it.  That's right my Grandpa's  (who would be 90 this year) mom.  It's a kind of crazy quilt, looks a bit like it was made out of whatever fabric was leftover from other projects.  The stitching, while very strong is far from neat.  I think this quilt was made for function. It's soft and strong all at the same time.   I love that  the soft spot where my kids so often play was made by someone who never knew them but loved them far before they ever arrived.  

2 comments:

Grandpa...Bill said...

Just to add a little post script to your note - Last Thursday night ... past bedtime…Emma wondered down to the kitchen seeking advice and sympathy. We had a nice talk. After a while she grabbed Granny's blanket and said ... "sometimes I just like wrapping myself in these flour bags." I'm so happy that Dad and Granny live on in all of us.

ben said...

Melissa,

Granny made quite a few quilts in her time. They were often stitched together from scraps (she also sewed clothing) and as far as I know all were made to be functional. Her quilting frame hung from pulleys screwed into the dining room ceiling and could be lowered to quilt and raised for meals.

Visiting Mississippi in November or December meant sleeping in the unheated back room. No insulation either so each bed was piled with three or four quilts for warmth. The stack would be so heavy that I sometimes felt almost strapped into bed. Waking up too-warm under a pile of quilts and being able to roll over to a cooler spot is a refreshing memory I still relish.

Granny was most likely in her 80's, fingers bent with arthritis, when she made the quilt in your picture. No doubt, this affected the quality of her stitches...but not the love she put into them.

Thanks for reminding me.