As the needle bends

Seems like, lately, all I’ve been doing is linking to other folks’ give-aways… But this one is special…

Back during the spring, Nancy, who is "Blogging, Near Philadelphia," was in the midst of a fun weekend, planning some interesting fun with giveaways over Memorial Day Weekend, when life threw her family a curveball. I have followed her journey through the aftermath of her DH’s MI, almost like deja vu, all over again.

My own life’s journey has had some interesting curves in the road, a few hills, and a pothole or twelve. In 1995, we lost my mother to cholangiocarcinoma. She passed away on April 30. During the trip to up home for her funereal, I observed some symptoms in my husband which caused me to insist that he follow up with his cardiologist when we got home. After his heart cath on May 31, he was diagnosed with Idiopathic Dilated Cardiomyopathy. Memories of the following month are a blur - holding his hand while he went through the transplant clinic for the "workup" which is a precursor to being listed for a heart transplant. Asking all the "Why us" questions. Exploring the changes in diet the nutritionist insisted were necessary, much to his chagrin. Asking myself if I would go through the radical lifestyle changes, necessitated by a transplant of any organ - much less a heart - if the shoe were on the other foot! Then on June 30, 1995, 1 week after he was officially listed with UNOS as awaiting a heart transplant from an AB donor, he suffered one of those cardiac dysrhythmias that resulted in a ventricular rupture, my playing paramedic at home - doing CPR on my spouse, and life as I thought I knew it coming to a sudden screeching halt, at the ripe old age of 40.

To make a long story shorter, life is indeed full of interesting twists, and today finds me married to my childhood sweetheart - my first husband, from whom I’d been divorced for 17 years when we re-met, fell in love all over again, and re-married. And that is the man whose health challenges are now twisting my stomach. But this story isn’t about me, or him…. It’s about Nancy. It’s a celebration of the fact that she has gotten far enough beyond the paralysis that comes with suddenly, inescapably being forced to face the mortality of the person whose breath means as much to us as our own.

Nancy’s give-away is to celebrate her 500th blog post. She is offering 5 "prize packages" - one for each 100 posts on her blog. Something that I think is a novel way to celebrate. So, please, go to her blog (if you are a quilter, or wannabe a quilter) and make the difficult decision of which of the prize packages speaks to your quilty being… And leave a comment telling her which "hat" to toss your name in.

At any rate, Nancy, I salute your courage, and the evidence of your coming to grips with the fact that today is all that God has promised any of us. And the reminder to each of us to make the most of each and every one of those "todays!"

Lyn at Bluebird Quilts blog is having a "Christmas in July" giveaway. To be entered, all you have to do is go to the blog and leave a comment about your favorite Christmas memory. That should be easy enough, and reading the comments others have left is interesting, as well!

Cutoff time for entering is noon on Friday, July 25, HER time - and since I believe she’s in Australia, don’t dawdle. Click your way over to her blog and share those memories NOW!

I will not take credit for being a color genius or inspired, or even lucky, with this quilt (especially since I still have to launder some of the fabrics - the water pressure in our subdivision, out here in Sticksville, was down to a bare trickle when I first got home last night, which was all that was required for me to turn into a couch potato)… As I considered different combinations, I sent pictures to my friend Margie, the maker of the quilt at the beginning of the post, "Next on the Quilty Agenda?" She graciously consulted with the lady who taught the class in which she made her quilt, and together - they decided that the following combination/order will work best for the design.

They were even gracious enough to number the fabrics for me (which is more than I was able to do successfully in this blog post)- the quilt pattern numbers the fabrics, then combines the numbers on a key into 10 different combinations, which are put together in the precribed order, to create the diamonds on the quilt top, sort of like a bargello quilt, only completely different. <VBG>

It seems that, in my "over-thinking" the order of the combination, I had strayed away from the original idea - which is, basically, to create a pool of ever-deepening warm color, surrounded by the darker/cool bands. In the original in the book from whence this pattern hails, Traditions with a Twist by Blanche Young and Dalene Young Stone, I noticed that the deeper bands of color almost blend together into a hollow diamond which softly demarcates from the warm color on one side, and sharply on the other side. Anyway, the experts have spoken, and my first inclination, after removing the lovely lavender (which will find a home somewhere else, but not in this quilt) was correct after all. So, if I can get the fabric laundered and pressed, I will be able to start cutting, and creating strip sets this coming weekend. But, the dreaded "planning" phase is over - and I must trust my instincts, after they were endorsed by the experts <VBG>

Thanks Margie… Thanks Rheba!

Now that I’ve recovered from the shock of getting the "Beauty and the Beast" piece to the flimsy stage, and the challenge completed, my mind has been bouncing from trying some of the blocks in the Quilt Mavens Perfect Paper Piecing book that I received as my prize, and starting a completely different project.

I’ve always absolutely loved the designs in Navaho (and other Native American designs) blankets and rugs - the first scarf I knit was done in an ombre yarn that made diamond patterns with a simple garter stitch, and the first afghans that I crocheted were ripple stitches with variegated yarns creating the intriguing diamond shapes. I can’t explain it - I guess it’s something that speaks to my soul - but it’s the same uplifting inner feeling I get when I cross into the plains, riddled with hills, ravines and mesas, of my native "Big Country" portion of Texas.

So when my long-distance quilting buddy, Margie in Arkansas, sent me this picture of her recently completed Zuni quilt top, I was hooked. The pattern is from "Traditions with a Twist" by Blanche Young and Dalene Young Stone - the book I always associated with the Blooming Nine Patch quilts that were all the rage in my part of Texas a couple of years ago. There is so much more in that book!!!! After my brain got an image of Margie’s beautiful version of "Zuni" imprinted on it, I was compelled to start collecting fabrics to make my own version. Now, a month later, I am almost ready to start cutting. Well, first I have to wash all those pesky fabrics I’ve collected - since most are batiks, I DO recommend washing because there is SOOOO much dye in the richly color-saturated fabrics, and most were bought specifically for this project, as I don’t normally get large enough pieces for my stash to "shop my stash" for this quilt. But, never fear, I did get a "little something extra" of most of them, in order to add these to my NYB ’scrap’ stash.

The dilemma now is deciding the order in which to number these fabrics. You see, that’s the secret to Blanche and Dalene’s quilts - they use strip sets, and each fabrics place in the "pecking order" determines where they will appear in the quilt. I have learned that taking a picture of the fabrics together sometimes helps a lot.

This is my first combination:

I liked each of the fabrics - but together, something is just so wrong. So… Out with the lovely lavender hand-spray.

Second try:

Out with the lavender… In with a lively yellow, and black. Reminds me of a Texas sunrise - or sunset :0) But seems like it’s too "blendy?" I think I need to move them around where there is more contrast between each fabric and its neighbor - after all, that’s what will form the outline of the diamonds.

Another try:

I think I like this one best. There are still other combinations to try. Now that I’m looking at these in a line in this blog post, I’m thinking that, perhaps, the solid yellow along with the yellow-orange should move to the left. Allllll the way to the left. That would place the yellow next to the black - it’s hard to get much more contrast than that, which should make those diamonds absolutely POP out of the quilt. Whoa…. Calm down Bobbie… There are other combinations to try. Maybe you should get professional help - maybe those "professionals" in white coats with butterfly nets. It’s JUST fabric… It’s JUST another "UFO" - but somehow, this one seems so different. It seems like this one wants to be made so badly that it’ll finish itself :0) That would be, as Martha says, "A VERY good thing!"

P.S. Suggestions for color arrangements are greatly appreciated. Once I start cutting, I’ll remove this line, so you won’t waste your "breath!"

Update:

After Tracy’s comments sunk in, and I started considering the placement of warm colors and cool colors, which I had totally ignored before, I came up with this possibility:

Not only does it better alternate the warm and cool colors, it also seperates the 2 most intense ones - I think that might be another "Martha-ism" - VERY good thing!

This is one of the most absolutely adorable quilt ideas I’ve ever seen. And, much like Tracy, it’s terribly tempting to keep the give-away at Pumpkin Patch Primitives Quilt Shoppe a secret. But the Summer Giveaway for the PatchAbilities Sandcastle quilt kit is much to marvelous NOT to share. So, RUN - don’t walk - over there, and leave yourself a comment, and get your OWN chance to win this epitome of Summer Fun!

SIGH…. so many quilts…. SOOOOO little time!!!!