CRUMB PUDDING

If it takes bread crumbs to make bread pudding, then a quilt made of crumb blocks can be CRUMB PUDDING. Makes sense to me! And, it’s my quilt top.

Crumb blocks are so much fun aren’t they? This top is set up with four (4”) crumb blocks per square, set with 3-inch side sashes and cornerstones (crumb blocks trimmed to 3”). It’s the classic “Scots Plaid” pattern -- very easy to accomplish. I’m quite pleased with the taupe and cocoa sash fabric Nines helped me find. Also happy to finally accomplish a quilt top with NO outside borders. I’d brag, but Nina still has an oversized (84” X 98”) top to quilt. The size is reason enough to stash it a while, though I’m glad it will wend its way out of my hopper and into hers.

I do the easy part and am truly in no hurry at all for the finale.

Spring is well on its way in WV. We’re enjoying molly moochers, the daffodils are on their way out and the redbuds are bursting on the banks of roadways. DH is right – they should call the latter purplebud – and he does.

Changing season may mean less sewing and piecing … may …I’m not making any rash promises!

GRANDMOTHER KISSES

The quilt top pictured before is now a finished quilt (on Benjamin Seth Teel's bed). I titled the "XXX" quilt "Grandmother Kisses." And, here's this quilt's story.

The first time I was back home (a year after marrying and moving off to FL), my Mom held my face in her hands and covered my cheeks with kisses. . . before she inspected her new grandson David, even. What a sweet memory!

I tried to smother my babies with kisses like hers ... and then my grandchildren (at least seven kisses to count at all). Even the older ones are admirably tolerant, but it was (I think) one of Nine's girls who named my shower of affection "Grandmother Kisses."

Get in line ... I have plenty to spare still.

MEMORIES OF GOLD

While visiting a family friend in a Hospice House this week, we had the unexpected pleasure of seeing him joined by friends and son for an impromptu bluegrass session. What a blessing!

MEMORIES OF GOLD

Virgil picked the fiddle up
To play a little tune
And one by one the timid notes
Rang out across the room –
Each note a wee bit stronger
Than the one that came before
Virgil brought the strings and bow
To harmony once more.

The wonder of the moment was
Sealed up with tender tears
Of friends and family bound in heart
Remembering all the years
That Virgil played his fiddle
With a strong and gifted hand,
Bringing gleeful smiles and laughter
To so many ‘cross the land.

Virgil picked the fiddle up
And soon forgot his pain
The music claimed his spirit,
Soul and body once again.
How precious, then, to see him play,
His frail, beloved frame
United with his fiddle
In familiar sweet refrains.

Virgil played the fiddle
All because true friends in deed
Understood, so well, the value
Of his music; saw his need
To know again the magic
That no other hour could hold
Like Virgil and his fiddle …
Making memories of gold.

[Dedicated to Virgil and to his pickin' buddies Joe, Glen and Eddie.]

PICTURES IN POETRY, VOLUME II -- highly recommended!

Hot off the press and worth twice the price!

P.J. Casebolt's PICTURES IN POETRY, VOLUME II

Mail your request with $10.00 to cover book and postage to:

PAUL J CASEBOLT
33222 CHILDRENS HOME ROAD
POMEROY OH 45769


While supplies last, Paul will include a complimentary copy of Volume I with your order for this new book. If it is convenient to do so, you might include a mailing label with your request - to save his dear (81-yr old) fingers some writing/typing.:)

BETH'S QUILT TOP

My DGD Hannah Beth and I worked together on this one. The central fabrics were a gift to me, she approved of the colors and block pattern and once the blocks were assembled decided how she wanted them laid out. I love her design - meshing and progression of colors. It may be pictured upside-down...I can't remember whether she started with dark or light rows. I found the border fabric this week, so it's all done and ready to mail to GA. Miss Beth will quilt it by hand ... after she finishes a top she is doing for her other grandmother. Sorry, Beth, it's clearly a family addiction and you got a double whammy.

We're seeing a good bit of winter rain. We had lovely snow on Thursday, but it is warmer now. Rain or snow, I'm ready to sew. Crumb blocks may be next.

IN THE SHUFFLE

It's probably a good sign when grandchildren are happy to be going home again. No matter how much they love time with grandfather and grandmother, back to known surroundings and routines is good too. But my, how quiet the barn is without them.

The shuffle for today is a final print-out on a 100+ pages of a poetry publication I'm compiling for a dear friend. This is his second book - Pictures in Poetry, Volume One was published in 1989. We'll be delivering the manuscript to its Ohio author tomorrow and I'm hoping additional corrections will be very few. What a joy it has been to convey such talent to sheets of paper! DH has been my trusty proof reader and he has enjoyed the reading as much as I have.

Once that project is truly in the chute (to the printers), perhaps I can concentrate and progress elsewhere. Even crochet and Sudoku have taken a back seat. And forty-three umpteen fun "winter" sewing jobs are awaiting. Nothing major or pressing - January ought to be good for at least one new quilt top, a flannel shirt and a jumper or two, though.

The woodshed is full, so bring on the snow and keep the sewing lights up and running.

BLESSED BEGINNINGS ... 2009

New Year’s is my favorite holiday, I think. Not the customs of day – though I like cabbage and Hoppin’ John just fine – but the sense of new beginnings.

Get up and start over with a whole new clean slate! Of course my Lord makes that possible every morning – still, the first day of a new year adds a bit of flourish; a fresh, bright awareness of the reality to the truth of it!

A time for reflection, resolution and anticipation! Reflections equal thanksgiving – there are many things in the last year that deserve remembering with gratitude. Resolutions – even the recycled ones offer hope. I can always do better. Anticipation – Providence lies ahead on those empty calendar sheets; supplied, hour by hour according to His Grace.

Will every day be sunny? Certainly not! Will all my dreams come true? Perhaps I should hope not! Will all my prayers be answered? Most surely – according to His will!

I’ve not yet seen 2009, but I’ve been here before. The threshold of faith – stepping in His footprints, holding to His Hand, bowing to His wisdom and trusting for all my tomorrows that His love will guide me safely on.