Quilt Therapy

I have been quilting, quilting, the last two days. The title of this post explains part of the reason that I have almost finished three quilts in three days. More about the reason for therapy after the quilting part.

I finished my friend Karen's T-shirt quilt that will be a gift for her husband. I would name this quilt, "Labor of Love," if it were mine. Imagine working hard in the construction industry all year, getting a couple weeks off, and spending part of it sleeping on church floors and pews while fixing houses in poverty- or disaster-stricken areas. I admire the folks who can do this. The t-shirts in this quilts are all from various Reach construction missions over the years.

Can you tell these are authentic souvenirs of a construction project? There are little traces of paint, stain, grout, whatever, on many of the shirts.

I decided to do a right-angle meander, which is new for me. I thought the linear design mimics the skyline of the cities on some of the shirts, and also brings to mind boards and schematic drawings.

I have also added some basic tool outlines in the tan outer border between shirt designs.

I'm afraid most of my tools look like they have been dropped from the scaffold and bounced on the concrete, but I think they will at least be recognizable.

The third of Karen's quilts is a pastel Take Five quilt in Wizard of Oz fabrics. Very fun and quite feminine after working in tans with carpenter's tools, LOL! This one is getting fantasy flowers worthy of the Land of Oz, and some starbursts and other fun designs. I only have one more pass to go, but just couldn't do any more today.

So, why call this frenzy of long-arm quilting "therapy?" Well, don't want to be a "whiner," but this has not been the best of weeks. The main reason is that Wall Street has reached Main Street at this address. Did I mention that my husband is a stockbroker? He and others had to watch the market collapse when it became obvious that the government economic package would not pass. Before the day was over, Wachovia Bank had been purchased so it would not fail. That hit a lot of the stockbrokers at Wachovia Securities very hard in the wallet. But they are not unemployed since the Securities is a separate entity.

So, he comes home Monday in a state of semi-shock, and due to our remodeling project, can't even crawl into the Man-Chair and watch his beloved TV or reach for one of his fourteen remotes. So we sat on the porch until sunset, and then watched Dancing with the Stars while we drank wine on the bed.

Yesterday, good progress was being made on the floors. Here is how it looked at about 2:30 when Scary Tattoo Guy called me downstairs. I thought it looked shiny and gorgeous.

He announced he was stopping work because of a defective product, and was calling his supervisor to come out. Turns out the wood was not milled correctly, because there were gaps where it was supposed to join.

The supervisor agreed. I was now feeling doubly sick, and went back out to see about replacing the wood. I chose a different kind which is almost twice as expensive, hoping that it would be better. I don't know anything about construction and flooring. So confusing! It will be at least another week or two before we start up again.

Meantime, here is what the comfort of home looks like as my poor husband comes home from the trenches in this grim week of explaining to all his clients what is happening to their investments.

The front entrance with the most of the 31 cases of unused wood piled up in the dining room and the scuffed-up tar paper exposed.The floor that he laid is covering part of the living room, followed by new tar paper and plywood sub-floor.I know, at least I have a roof over my head, electricity, and no flood damage. And things will get done some day. In time for our client appreciation party on November 1? Looking doubtful!

Well, the sun has come out. Think it's time for me and Maggy to go exploring around the yard. A little nature therapy!

We're Not Moving...

But it seems like we are, with all the packing up we have done for the last couple of weeks. Today Phase Two of our remodeling has begun...hardwood floors for the dining room, foyer, and living room. Remember our virtually empty kitchen from last week? We have moved a lot of Stuff from the other rooms into here. I spent six and a half hours sealing the grout on Saturday. That tile floor gets hard real fast! I found my old garden kneeler foam pad in the garage and used that while down on the floor.
Here is the living room with nothing in it but some furniture. And some of the cartons of wood flooring that have to sit in your house for at least three days before installation. My dog, Maggy has freaked over all the changes. She was a rescue pet that had been thrown off the back of a pickup truck before we adopted her. Like many troubled students I have worked with, she responds well to structure. This disruption in her space has not been good. I would say she has only been upstairs about once a year in the twelve years we have had her, but she has been bolting upstairs every night after sniffing all these cartons of wood and losing her prime napping space in front of the fireplace.We were told that the crew would move all the furniture, but we had to empty all the drawers, bookshelves, take down knick-knacks, disconnect electronics,etc. Last week, the crew consisted of a Travis Tritt look-alike and three Mexican hermanos. Today the new "crew" showed up. It is one young man, with long goatee, bald head, and multiple scary tattoos from his ears to his Doc Martens. Appearances aside, he seems very pleasant, and I immediately recognized his Long Island accent. I hope he can move everything by himself.

If you ever read the comments from readers of my blog, you will see that I have just reconnected with Kathleen. She is not related to me, but is a cousin of my cousins. Isn't the Internet wonderful? She is from a very artsy side of the family. My father's sister Jeanne, a wonderful artist also, was married to Kathleen's mother's brother, I think. Can't wait to see her blog when she gets it going!

I am actually going to get back on the Gammill this week and start on those customer quilts.

Here is something pretty funny: I have invited Martha Stewart's blog team to look at my page. She will feature some bloggers on her TV show. Now, I have done lots of Martha-type activities in my time, such as growing herbs, stamping my own Christmas wrapping paper, making note cards from pressed flowers, and of course sewing up a storm. But, the whole cooking scene is not exactly my favorite. I throw about two big, big parties a year, one of which is catered. I cook when necessary, but why spend all that time working on something that is going to disappear within minutes? LOL I do like pretty things, and I hope that my quilts are all Good Things.