This has been quite the week in my quilting life, and in my ordinary life too. Beyond the quilting is a tribute to my friend June, and to others who reside(d) at Brandywine Assisted Living.
Community Service Sewing Day
Last week was the Ocean Waves Quilt Guild Community Sewing day on Monday. I signed up to do a “quilts of love” baby quilt. When I arrived I picked up a kit and got to work. When I left, I was still stitching the rows together. Thankfully I had done the webbing method for the project, so it was easy to finish at home. Part of the fun of Community Sewing Day is visiting with people around the room. I may have chatted more than others who finished their project. (Note – webbing is a way to keep things in order while you are joining the pieces into columns and rows. Check out this you – tube video if you need to know “how to do it” https://fb.watch/mqED8ltCG9/
It didn’t take long to finish up at home, and I was on to quilting using my Janome 8900 and the serpentine stitch. Yes, I flipped that one block over before I layered it with the provided batting and backing.
The group, Quilts of Love, usually does “self binding” baby quilts, but I can never get that to look right. So, I managed to get the quilt top over far enough to the side and save enough backing to make the binding. Of course, I did Susie’s Magic Binding and found some green fabric for the piping in my stash. Check this link for video instructions if you like a binding that is all done by machine! NO hand sewing!
I just loved the backing fabric!
Special afternoon of sewing
My granddaughter and I had a sewing afternoon to work on the Virginia Star Quilt. We picked up the pace, and I pinned as fast as I could while Virginia stitched. After nearly 4 hours, we had made great progress on 3 more blocks.
Since we finished the first big block, it was easier to understand the construction and Virginia worked on all 3 at once. This coming week we will get the last 4 rounds on the remaining 3 blocks. We did a “floor photo” because I still didn’t have my Scrap Dance Quadrille (2023) off the design wall. While she was in my sewing room, we chatted about the backing, the fabric that came with the kit for the binding, and the quilting. When she comes this week, I think I will have her make the final selection on the backing fabric. We have made a lot of progress over 4 sessions!
Time for Scrap Dance Quadrille
After she left, I thought it was time to get the first round of borders on Scrap Dance Quadrille and it looks quite nice.
Once the pieced border (3″) was on, it was time to decide if more borders would be added, and what fabrics and how big. I decided to add a 2″ border (finishes at 1.5″) in green, and another border (5″) in pink floral. That will still be a manageable size for me to quilt myself.
I have about 4 or 5 yards of the pink floral, and may have enough for the backing too. It is pretty vintage fabric, from my dear friend June’s stash. I pulled it out to use because it was “so JUNE!”. She loved flowers ! I will be cutting the next round of borders and putting it on this week.
Remembering June
I’d like to just say a few words about my friend June today. She and her husband moved into assisted living long before COVID struck in 2020. My hubby and I packed up her sewing room, including the furniture and brought everything to our house. For the last few years, I have been sorting the boxes, and measuring and folding her fabrics and boxing by colors. Prior to COVID, I used to go as often as once a week to work with the residents and sew. In the photo below, they were on a “field trip” to our local quilt shop. They are holding placemats that they created, and were donating at the quilt shop to the “Meals on Wheels” drive. The photo is from August, 2019.
My dear friend, June, in the red top passed away on Sunday, August 13, 2023, at the age of 90. In the back row, on the far left is Trish who died last year. I haven’t kept up with the other two ladies since the lockdown, and because of privacy, the facility can’t “tell me” their status.
I am really going to miss June. I have known her since before I married Bill. June has treated me like a daughter and she reminded me so of my dear great aunt. Family dynamics are strange. June was my husband Bill’s mother in law, and she loved him like a son. He has been part of her family since the mid 1970’s. June and her hubby Walt were at our wedding in 2006. Bill always said “she adopted you” when she lost her daughter years ago. I believe June died of a broken heart. Her beloved Walt left this earth on their 75th wedding anniversary, less than 2 months ago, the day before her 90th birthday. It still gives me chills to think of the connection being severed, even for just a short time.
The last couple of years
June hadn’t really sewn in the last couple of years, but in the past she loved to make things. I have some of her wall hangings in my sewing room, and I think of her when I see them. I enjoyed making small projects for her. One thing I did love was to make something using her fabrics, and then gifting it to her. I would point out when the fabric came from “her” stash. She loved a handmade gift, and she loved showing off the gifts I made for her. I made her a new “walker bag” a couple of years ago, and she really treasured it and told me at every visit how it was a conversation starter. I used her stash, and had fun with my embroidery machine making that bag. I know I have shared a lot of projects on this blog that went to her.
I was sewing with these ladies at Brandywine Assisted Living, because June had asked me to come and we all enjoyed the companionship. I even had my husband helping, and Trish had taken quite a fancy to “Mr. Bill”.
When Trish passed last year, I was told to come and collect the fabric she wanted me to have. It took me two SUV trips to bring it all home. Trish was quite the lady too.
One of the last projects I worked on with the group included helping June to finish up a “block of the month” from a kit she had purchased. I was pleased to see it on her coffee table at every visit after she finished it.
June was a real sweetie. She always had a smile and was so glad to have visitors. She loved my Bill, and I couldn’t help but love her too. I will miss how her face lit up when I came to visit.
Remember to plan –
Many of the items that came from June’s sewing room and Trish’s apartment have been donated to other groups who can use them. It is so important to make a plan for disposition of your crafting items, so they don’t end up “in the trash” because someone doesn’t appreciate or know the value .
Remaining days —
If you are lucky to still have your elderly loved ones, don’t let the chance to call or visit as often as possible slip by. I am cherishing the time I am spending with Virginia. She will be grown up in the blink of an eye, and we baby boomers will be the “elderly loved ones” in our own right in the next 10 years. Plan a visit while you can. And go have some fun while you are still fit and able!!!
I want to be like June, to the last week of her life, where she still wanted to go outside, take a walk and smell the flowers! On our last visit, she said to me multiple times “Let’s go somewhere”. Of course, we couldn’t take her at that point anywhere, but I did enjoy in prior times, taking her to quilt shows and the fabric store, the yarn store, and just out “to lunch”.
What’s on your list of things to do in your “last week” ?? My list includes going out and having fun! Make plans, and go enjoy every day!!!
Stitching Grandma 