Life Update

I am currently reading a novel by Heidi Jon Schmidt, The House on Oyster Creek.  The setting is the coast of Cape Cod where the main character, Charlotte, has moved with her husband and young daughter.  She has befriended an oyster farmer and is working to save the tidal flats where he "farms" oysters and clams.  In her quest she has a conversation with Ada, a woman who has lived in the town of Wellfleet her entire life and pays Charlotte a compliment:

"Charlotte glanced away - the flash of Ada's loneliness was too painful, and the praise made her shy - but she felt the truth of it:  She was uncertain partly because of her openness.  Henry [Charlotte's husband] could press ahead and crush his opposition because he didn't stop to ask himself whether he might be wrong.  Charlotte let life flow through and change her; and if this would have made her a very bad critic and a dreadful real estate developer, it had helped her become a good mother; the most ordinary, most important thing on earth."

I read that last night and has an aha moment.  Life has been swirling with the accomplishments of my family ~ my children's careers are flourishing, and my husband passed an important exam necessary to renew his New Hampshire credentials.  Throughout conversations and updates I listen and encourage.  When goals are reached I celebrate.  I take in stride whatever happens, find the positive points, and work hard to keep whatever I might think to myself.  Their lives impact mine.  I adapt and change.   I like Charlotte's idea that this is important.

I have been feeling that I am the most ordinary person I know, with little to share and not much to offer, hence the lack of posts from this corner.  Nothing new to see here, while my online friends are moving and shaking the world around them.  I am grateful for the photos and stories that people share.  I have not been holding up my end in the blogging world because the stories around here lately are not my stories to tell.  My vow to keep the focus on my life leads to b-o-r-i-n-g when all the goings on are internal as things shift and I search for balance.  I am still waiting for what's next for me...

In the meantime I have a new cat in my life.  Meet Millie ~

She's an eleven year-old cat who has some treatable health issues and needed a new foster home.  My daughter forwarded the information to me on Mother's Day.  I thought for sure someone would take her in, but this weekend the situation became urgent.  I called Sunday, my application was approved Monday, and Millie came to live with us Tuesday.  She made herself right at home on my quilt squares ~

She needs fattening up, along with medication to kick a urinary tract infection.  So I'm feeding her as much as she'll eat, giving her pills and fluids, and petting her as much as she'll allow.  She likes looking out the kitchen door just like Leo did ~

I can help her, and I think she's good for me.  I will let you know how it goes ~

Blue And Brown

Over 35 years ago, while on my honeymoon in Maine, I bought a pattern for a Dresden Plate quilt.  Ken and I always said we wanted a bedroom done in blue and brown, so I started buying fabric with those colors.  I gave up the idea of that particular quilt but kept the fabric for a future project [the fabric with tiny rose flowers is fabric left from the first dress I made my daughter] ~

Three weeks ago I pulled out the other pieces of fabric for this quilt I've collected over the years [the piece with stars is from my daughter and is called "Possibilities"] ~

I lined the fabric up to see how the colors coordinated ~

This is just what I had in mind.  I decided to use squares ~

And rectangles, which are sewn together in threes ~

And cut in thirds to make more squares ~

The fabrics don't match but they go together.  The project is satisfying, playing with colors and patterns and shapes, making things fit.  After all this time it feels right to work on this project now.  I'm calling it my Harmony Quilt ~