Wow! It’s been almost a week since I’ve posted. Mea culpa, mea culpa, mea maxima culpa! It’s also been a very busy week, and an exciting week. Mostly, exciting. I’m not sure what the busyness was, but the week sure went by in a hurry!

My son, who lives with me, was gone for the week house-sitting for friends. I had so many plans for the week, and none of them were realized. But I did get several copies of Brother Rat mailed out, and now I am getting the word from several people who have read it they have enjoyed it. One young father is reading it out loud to his two children every night, and he’s enjoying it as much as they are. A couple of “fans” have even admitted to shedding a tear or two at appropriate places. Can I have higher praise than that?

My friends have returned from their trip, Aaron has returned home, and now I need to return to some semblance of a schedule. So, now that the temps are down into the high 80s, I’ll start sewing a quilt I cut out last winter. It’s a jeans quilt, so once sewn together it’s finished, except for trimming all the seams (it’s a ragged edge quilt). It is very heavy, very warm, very green, and very winter. And winter is coming, whether I like it or not.

My Gratefuls:

1. Friends who give me their old jeans

2. Whoever it was who came up with the idea of ragged edge quilts

3. People who sharpen scissors

4. Friends who unstintingly share their expertise with me—whether sewing, making jam, writing—whatever help I need, they give

5. The www. it makes research so much easier than having to get dressed and go to libraries

My Wonderment:

Because downtown Kennewick was blocked off for a parade, Judy and I went to a different restaurant for our Saturday morning breakfast. I felt a little “off” because I really enjoy the restaurant we normally go to, O’Henry’s Go Go. One of the really nice things about O’Henry’s is we can eat outside in nice weather, and it’s relatively quiet. So, yesterday, not knowing where else to go, we went to IHOP. IHOP is not known for it’s quiet, and our IHOP does not have outside dining, so we ate inside, where it was noisy, and under air conditioning (fortunately, I brought a long sleeved shirt, or I would have been freezing!). There were many people there, from senior citizens (like me) to young families. There was lots of noise from the dishes banging behind me (server work station), to the talking among the customers. BUT NO whining or crying children! All of the children, at least those I saw and heard were either quiet or laughing!! Now THAT is a wonderment! And a blessing. I enjoy well behaved children, and I love hearing them laugh—is there a sound more pleasing to the ears than a child, or anyone, laughing?

This is the first ragged edge quilt I ever made. There are 150 squares in the quilt, 10 across, 15 down, and each square is made up of three squares of fabric-2 of flannel and one of old jeans. I now make the squares larger, so there are fewer, and the squares have the pockets, and once in a while the fly. This quilt was made for my foster son in Korea, and cost over $20.00 to ship it, by sea, the cheapest way. I spent more on shipping than on fabric! The hardest part of making these quilts is the trimming of the seams after the quilt is made so the ragged edge “fluffs” after washing. However, they are very heavy and very warm, and virtually indestructible once made.

Ragged edge side:

Flannel side (My extra special helper, also shown, is Tashiko Akuma Pestini):