Bright Hope

The other day, Josh and I were sewing (yes, both of us) while watching the classic She-Ra cartoon.  I was working on a quilt, Josh was re-sizing a fleece jacket (which is a manly sewing endeavor), and She-Ra was saving some miners from the Hoard.  We were all enjoying what is a perfectly acceptable evening in the Reese household, when She-Ra accomplished what Josh and I had not been able to for a couple weeks:  She-Ra named our boat!

She and her team were sailing off in a boat she had just purchased, and She-Ra declared in her noblest voice, "We shall call it The Bright Hope, in honor of our journey."  Josh and I decided that was exactly what, and exactly why, we would name our boat. And so, I give you our anniversary boat, The Bright Hope, in honor of our journey:

We took her out for her inaugural row on Saturday, and I discovered a side effect of naming the boat Bright Hope.  I spent most of the evening with the classic hymn Great is Thy Faithfulness stuck in my head.  You know, "...strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow..."  At least it's a lovely song!

Anniversary Stories

For our first anniversary, I wanted to get something great for Josh - and I had an idea that I wanted to follow the traditional gift guide.  Now, I'm not really sure when that whole gig started, but whoever began it decided that the first anniversary gift should be something paper.  I needed something awesome...and made of paper.  I felt pretty lucky when it came to me that I should blow up a photograph he took and have it framed for our new home.  It was no ordinary picture, you see, this was a Tulsa State Fair third place winning picture of Mount Hood from the yard in front of Pittock Mansion.  There was a couple in the way of the shot, and I remember being disappointed that we couldn't get a better view.  But they brought a nice warmth and balance to the whole thing, so I guess I owe that mystery couple a "thank you."

Anyhow, I had it matted and framed and I wrapped it up and presented it to my husband.  He opened it and got the strangest look on his face.  "Dangit," I thought, "he hates it.  I should have gone with a different frame or something."  After a minute of me feeling like a failure, he got up and told me to follow him into the garage.  In the back of his pickup truck was a fantastically done painting of the same picture he asked his brother to do.  At that moment, I think we might have yelled "MFEO!" (Made For Each Other?  Sleepless in Seattle?  Anyone?) because we got each other pretty much the same present.  We hung them next to each other in the living room as a testament to our synchronicity. 

Here is the painted version, plucked from the background of another picture

We've done well at following the gift guide since then:
Year 2 (Cotton):  I commissioned a Tulsa-inspired painting on canvas done by his favorite Saturday Market artist, and Josh got me tickets to see James Taylor because he mixed up the first two years and thought it went cotton then paper, instead of the other way around.
Year 3 (Leather): We picked out cowboy boots together
Year 4 (Fruit/Flowers): We got a membership to a local vineyard

Today is our fifth anniversary, and the gift this year is supposed to be wood.  We thought about a nice piece of furniture, or maybe a tree, but we don't have a house anymore.  So that's out.  Instead, we've been looking at little boats on Craigslist.  I'm getting pretty excited about it!  I like our tradition.  It makes us get a little creative, and our anniversary gifts have always been memorable!

Old Timey

A few months ago, I went to karaoke with my Aunt Laura.  *Fun Fact: I was named after her.  Fun Fact 2: She was named after the song Laura that was composed in 1945 and performed best (in my humble opinion) by Nat King Cole, whom I love.*
Anyhow, before we joined my Aunt Debbie and Uncle Jim at the Elks Club to sing the night away, she gave me some treasures to complete:

They are quilt squares made of what I always want to call "scrunchies," but are actually "yo-yos."  If I remember right, it was her husband's grandmother that made these 24 squares, and Aunt Laura asked if my mom and I could figure out how to connect them into a full quilt.

Well, I had seen these before at my favorite tea/antique shop in Beaverton.  So the next time I went out to Tea Thyme and Lavender, I brought these squares along and asked Claire, the owner, for some advice.  Aside from making delicious tea and French treats, Claire makes quilts out of yo-yos and she was kind enough to walk me through how to put them together.  So, I've been working on connecting them (by hand) intermittently these past couple weeks.  I'm not very far yet, but it's been fun!  And I'm enjoying having a portable project.  I can sew outside in this gorgeous weather we've been having because I'm not tied to a machine.  I'll get a picture up once they're all together, but be warned, it may be a while!

I Made It!

By "it," I mean my deadline, not just the quilt this time.  Josh's dad was in town last weekend, and in order to not have to pay shipping on the quilts I was making for some Oklahoma folk, I wanted to finish them in time to pack them in his car for the trip back.  And I did!  Three of them were posted in my last update, but the crown jewel (read: the most time consuming) has yet to be seen.  Well, voila!

This was my first time doing applique and my first time doing a pieced back - I will definitely do both again.  Also now that the weather is clearing up, I plan on snapping more of my pictures outside.  The colors look so much better in the first picture than the last picture.  I was kind of sad to say goodbye to this one, but I have more projects up my sleeve that will soon get my mind off of this one!

Successes

 I may have been a little unsociable this week, but I finished so many projects!  I finished the third quilt in the collection of quilts made from my friend's mother's gardening shirts.  This is for her 10 year old son:

Josh approved it's manliness at each step along the way.  I am especially pleased with the cozy, furry backing.

I finished this quilt for Josh's 11 year old cousin.  It's even kind of (unintentionally) OU colors. 

I finished this quilt for one of Josh's chief residents who has a brand new baby girl:

Every time I closed my eyes for the past couple nights, I saw clusters of circles because of this quilting:

And I even made a hat and a larger-than-anticpated-but-still-loved felt dahlia to put on it.  I've been wearing it all day even though it's almost June. 

Now I have one more week to finish the little leaves quilt I started ages ago so we can ship it to Oklahoma via Josh's dad next weekend.  Here's to renewed motivation!

Confessions

My friend Laurie at The Corner Slice is a wonderful writer and often uses the theme of confessions to write honest, witty, and heartwarming posts.  So I thought today I would follow her model and offer some confessions of my own:

It's not a secret, but I have neglected the blog.  I think my self-discipline comes in spurts, in blogging and in other parts of life.  I'm a bit sad that my last post was kind of cranky and was on the top of my blog for so long, so I am pleased to solve that today.

I have four quilt tops piled up that are not quilts yet.  I never do that!  I used to be quite responsible, making one or two quilts at a time and finishing them completely before starting another project.  No longer!  I basted all four last weekend, and I have to finish them in the next month so we can deliver them to Oklahoma upon our next visit.  The previously mentioned spurty self-discipline will need to kick into high gear!

I feel indignation toward people who set their bags on the empty seat next to them on a crowded bus.  It's silly of me, they probably would move their bag if someone asked to sit down.

I love spring in Oregon.  I don't think I will ever understand people who tire of the rain.  Spring rain is so pleasant!  And I had forgotten how long spring is here - things bloom for more than two weeks!  We've had at least a solid month of blooming trees, azaleas, rhododendrons, and bulbs and they feed my heart every day.  That said, I also am grateful for spring sunshine.

Every time I see Laurie's blog posts titled "confessions," I get the Glee mashup of the song stuck in my head.  This apparently also applies when I title a post the same way.  I will be tapping my foot to it the rest of the day!

An Unexpected Stop

Josh picked me up from the train station after work, and as we were on our way to do some errands, we passed a little girl about nine walking down the side of the road.  In the rain.  Without a coat.  Crying.

Of course Josh stopped the truck, and I got out to ask her if she was lost or needed help.  It took a minute to get her to tell me what was wrong, and as it turns out she was running from her dad who was not far behind in the car.  He would stop, get out, talk to her, and she would run off.  He would jump back in the car, catch up, get out, talk to her, and she would run off.  I don't know how long this had been going on.  And it was all because she didn't want to go to a church club.  This poor little girl was so upset because there is another girl there who is mean to her and to her friends.  She was telling me how this mean girl hurts her feelings when her dad came up again and told her she didn't have to go.  "Please get in the car, and we'll go home."  Aside from her hysterics, things seemed to be on the up and up.  And it was kind of awkward, and not my place, to try to handle the situation with her actual parent there, so I said goodbye and got back in my truck.  As we were pulling away, I saw her running up the street again.  *Sigh*  Since her dad was there and handling the situation (well, kind of) and it wasn't anything that needed outside intervention, we didn't follow.

So, this kind of broke my heart on a few levels.  First, it's going to be a while before I get that sad, sad image of the forlorn, wet child out of my head.  Second, she was just so beside herself that she wouldn't even calm down when her dad suggested they go home.  The poor thing was pretty traumatized over something.  Third, the mean kids were at the church!  There's nothing worse than mean church girls.  Church.  Where you're supposed to feel safe and loved and accepted.

I wish there was more that I could do for her.