Better Late than Never?

SEVERAL years ago, my daughter married a really great guy. Before the wedding, which was basically a big family/friends picnic celebration in a hayfield, I sent out blocks to grandmas, aunts, great aunts to embroider. Most of them were returned, and I set them together into a quilt.  The quilt frame was set up in the field next to the reception pavillion, and anyone who wished could sit down and put in some quilting stitches. After the wedding, my mother and I moved the frame to her house and worked on it for the next few months. We ran into an issue with the border, and could have done a quick & dirty fix, or removed the tiny handstitching in the border and fix it correctly. Frustrated, we took it out of the frame and the quilt was folded and sent along with me to the apartment.  It sat there in the cedar chest in "time out" for a while.  Years.  I dreaded picking out all of those stitches, but refused to do a slipshod job of it.

I wonder if other crafters wonder what will become of their partly finished projects if they died suddenly. That's what went through my head in January. New year, new energy, new determination. There are other half-finished projects, but I made Anna's quilt top priority. It took less than a day to pick out all of those little stitches.  The border was re-pressed, basted well, and I used a smallish quilting hoop to work my way around the edge.  The work went more quickly than I expected... each time I got to move the hoop was a little victory. I even bargained with myself as an incentive!  But oh, it was so worth it. It was completed and I was able to deliver it to Anna this weekend.

Anna's Wedding Quilt

As you can tell, the weather was really nice Saturday and Sunday. We spent time outside, pulling a few weeds, watching the 6 new calves. I sat in the sun and worked on a crochet afghan, nearly falling asleep.

The weather was lovely yesterday too.  I drove down to the Route 66 Park and rode 6 miles on the bike. It was my first time out this season besides testing brakes and tires over the weekend, and felt absolutely great. I even slept with the windows open and the fan blowing on me.  I love this time of year! It's been threatening rain today though nothing has fallen, and if it holds, I hope to get a walk in down at the park. There's a smell of morels in the air and I've found a few down there before.