Block #70 for Kelley M.

Tonight’s bird is dedicated to my friend and former co-worker Kelley M. I have a bunch of crafty, quilty, sewing friends and she is one of the coolest. She is a wiz with her embroidery machine and comes up with some of the neatest stuff. I have often been tempted to ask her to make my quilt labels. But I don’t really bring much to the table by way of trade.

Kelley made a comment on Facebook on one of these birds, she said “I wish I could just roll around in your stash”. That is why she gets this very cool bird and a confession…

While it is true I have bought only 5 new fabrics for these birds, they actually make my stash look bigger than it really is. Years and years ago, I decided that I could make The Colourful Quilt. It’s huge and I bought a kit for it from Patricia. It was a complete disaster and I busted up the kit which has about dozens of 4 inch strips, most of which are batiks. The majority of these birds have come from that one kit. So while my stash is pretty decent, I don’t need a whole separate room for it. Yet…

Date Made: March 14th, 2015
Block #71
Days on Project: 73
Blocks Made: 71

For Kelley M.

Block #70 for Roland

Hummingbird #70 is dedicated to my uncle Roland. He and I are not that far apart in years and he grew up having to take me with him everywhere. I even have the very best photo of me putting curlers in his hair when he was in high school and I was 5 or 6 years old. I have used it as blackmail before (sent it to his daughter) but I will leave it off the interwebs… But trust me, it’s good.

My uncle Roland is an expert Bowler. I think his name is still on the wall at the bowling alley for bowling a near perfect game, just one point shy. He tried for years to teach me how to bowl. I was always leading off on the wrong foot or something. I could never get it right. It became a tradition when he and his family would come home at Christmas, we would all go bowling Christmas night. By that time, he was mostly just doing trick shots as there was no one else in the family that could offer up any competition at all and he had long given up on teaching me. Sufficed to say, my name never made it up on that wall.

Since the accident, I have seen him and his family more in the last 2 years then I had in the last 10. And, for the first time in my life, it feels like we are both adults. It’s weird.

Date Made: March 13th, 2015
Block #70
Days on Project: 72
Blocks Made: 70

For Uncle Roland

Block #69 for Patricia S.

Patricia S. was the owner of the best quilt shop in Texas. Patricia sold me my very first “real” sewing machine and I took my first quilting class in her store. She is also one of the kindest, sweetest people I know.

Her shop was destroyed by Ike and I miss her and her store very much. But at least I get to see her every year at quilt festival. She still remembers my name after all these years and she gives…hands down…the best hug you have ever had in your life. A bone crushing hug that screams “Hey, I am really glad you are here”.

The most special people are the people who make other people feel special.

Date Made: March 12th, 2015
Block #69
Days on Project: 71
Blocks Made: 69

For Patricia S.

Block #68 for Rachel H.

I am still under the weather, but I managed to get one bird knocked out. I am getting a little faster at them; this time around it only took me 38 minutes. Sigh…

Tonight’s bird is dedicated to one of our old neighbors, Rachel. Rachel is a very sweet lady who was not happy that we moved. To be honest, we didn’t really have a lot of time to warn the neighbors before the sign went up in the yard. I do regret that.

Our last neighborhood was a patio home community with mostly retired people, and they loved my husband; Rachel especially. He was known for his green thumb so we would often get calls asking for advice on plants and trees. He would go to Rachel’s every year and help her fertilize her yard. One time, Rachel called him to see if he could help with her new cable box. He farmed that one out to me.

The thing I loved the most about Rachel was her resilience at her age (almost 80), even after her husband passed she was living on her own and always out and about, driving herself, sweeping her front stoop, baby sitting peoples dogs and feeding the neighborhood squirrels peanuts. She told us once, “If you ever see the paper still on my door step in the afternoon, you better send someone in to check on me…”

I hope she is doing well and still feeding those squirrels.

Thoughts on this process:

Well I am sad to say that I missed two birds. I need to come up with a more efficient way to both make these ahead of time and write the stories. I am also sad to say that I accidentally repeated fabric on a bird. I believe it was birds 6 and 66. When I put the stash together for this project, I tried very hard to weed out the repeats. On both accounts, I knew it was just a matter of time. Oh well… I march on…

Date Made: March 11th, 2015
Block #68
Days on Project: 70
Blocks Made: 68

For Rachel H

Block #67 For Aunt Sara

I have been avoiding writing this story because it is a hard story to write. There is so much to say and it will likely be my only very serious story on this blog. I like to keep this light and funny, and most of the stories on there will be. But for one night, I will tell you about my family and the tragic accident that happened in July of 2013. I will only tell it once, and I choose my Aunt Sara’s bird to do so. You will see why later. Why even tell it? Well, not doing so seems wrong. Telling some light hearted fluffy story about my amazing aunt just isn’t appropriate at all. And, I am hoping that you take away something from this. A lesson of caution, faith and strength.

My aunt and uncle have four girls (yes – it’s crazy).  I will use their initials to protect their identity, M, S, A, and R. They live on a farm and in July of 2013 the two youngest (10 and 11) were in something called a “gator” which is like a cross between a golf cart and an ATV. A and R were crossing the road in the gator when they were struck by truck. They both had very serious injuries and were life flighted to the nearest big hospital. R had several injuries including a lacerated spleen. A had so many injuries, I still don’t know them all, but the primary concern was a traumatic brain injury or TBI.

R was fully recovered within a couple months. A is making great progress everyday but she is still recovering and it had and will continue to be a long road. Why were R’s injuries so much less than A’s? She was wearing her seat belt.

This is dedicated to their mother, my Aunt Sara. She is one of the strongest women I have ever known. How she kept it together and kept her family together during this I will never know. It was awful but they made it. I don’t know if it was her personal strength, her unwavering faith, or just a mothers love for her children that kept her from losing her mind. Most likely it was all three.

I would like to share an excerpt my Aunt posted on FB near the one year anniversary of the accident:

If A & R’s accident has effected you at all I pray you will do 2 things;
1. Always wear your seatbelt and make all passengers do so to. A & R are clear examples if what a difference it makes 
2. Trust in Jesus. He’s our Rock & salvation. The bible is true. Read it. Often. and pray-often.
Psalms 145.

Date Made: March 9th, 2015
Block #67
Days on Project: 68
Blocks Made: 67

For Aunt Sara

Block #66 For Ricardo

I am back at it. Sort of. I am still sick, but I figure if I can sit on the couch knitting I can make a bird. This bird is dedicated to Ricardo, I can’t get into details but I was reminded today of what an awesome person he is. Ricardo is one of the kindest people I know. He puts everyone before himself and genuinely cares for people. He is one of those people that you actually think, “good things should happen to this person” who gives so much of himself to others. Ricardo, this “green” bird is for you.

Sorry for the brevity tonight. Still not 100%

Date Made: March 8th, 2015
Block #66
Days on Project: 67
Blocks Made: 66

For Ricardo

Block #65 for Aunt Wilma

You may or may not have noticed, I haven’t done a lot of family birds. There are several reasons for this, mainly, it’s been a tough couple years for my family and I am just not ready to tell that story. But not telling it and just doing something fluffy feels wrong as well. So I’m going to do it, but not tonight because it’s late. I am going to start on family birds tonight; easing into it with a fun patriotic bird for my aunt Wilma.

My mom and Dad and aunt Wilma and her husband are all going on a vacation together in a couple weeks. I hope they all survive. *just kidding, sort of*. I can promise you there will be lots of laughs, probably some fishing, shopping, but most of all, there will be a lot of games played. My mom and her brothers and sisters are very competitive when playing cards, dominoes or any game really.

My mom prays: “Oh please Jesus let this be my card” and when it doesn’t work out she *used to* say something like: “Well shoot a monkey”. My husband and I would always give her crap for this. “Man a lot of monkeys lost their lives tonight”.

My uncle Roland will flat out leave a game if it is going the wrong way, and if he doesn’t leave he will gripe and accuse you of cheating. He’s not always wrong.

But my aunt Wilma… Well I haven’t played much with her. But my mom always looks forward to her coming down so they can play. Oddly enough, after she has played with Wilma or learned a new game from her, she plays with me and the rules have always changed. “Mom, why did you do that?” “Well, Wilma said that this is the rule and not that… We’ve been playing it wrong” Yeah… Right…

It really doesn’t matter, I am better than all of them.

Date Made: March 6th, 2015
Block #65
Days on Project: 65
Blocks Made: 65

For Wilma M.

Block #63 for Dung

Tonight’s bird is dedicated to my friend and co-worker Dung. He is on my mind tonight as I have a trunk full of diapers with his name on them.

Super Powers

If Dung had a super hero name, it would be “Marathon Man”. Dung has committed to running 5 marathons a year for 10 years and he is about half way through. You just said “Oh My God” out loud, didn’t you? So, let me blow your mind (if it’s not already). He is also an Iron Man. He completes one a year. And, he doesn’t count them in his marathon count. Crazy, right?

Well… If he can do that, surely I can continue to sit on my butt making birds for the rest of this year.

Date Made: March 4th, 2015
Block #63
Days on Project: 63
Blocks Made: 63

For Dung

Block #62 for Rick J.

This one is dedicated to my current boss Rick J. He gets a block tonight for two reasons. #1 He gave me some pretty good news today. #2 He got me a new laptop. I love my new laptop, we have only been together a few hours but I know it is going to be a wonderful relationship. I have even named him, “Bubba”.

The Thing About Rick

Obviously, he is an awesome boss (recall items #1 and #2). But he also puts up with me on a daily basis and never gives me any crap. I like that in a boss. He has been my boss for a little less than a year so I don’t know a lot about him other than he has a freakin’ cool car, comes from a big family, and he is very chill. One day a group of us were at lunch, one of the guys at the table looks up and says “So Rick, do you have any hobbies?” It was the strangest question, especially coming from one dude to another dude. Rick just looks up and says “Scotch”. Since of humor… check.

Date Made: March 3rd, 2015
Block #62
Days on Project: 62
Blocks Made: 62

For Rick J.