a tribute to Alecia

It is both difficult and rewarding to finally say that this quilt is finished. Fair warning, there is a lot of emotional text ahead, both sad and awesomely funny :)

Alecia was the oldest sibling of the four of us. She passed away almost a year and a half ago, on December 23rd, 2009. It was a huge shock, unexpected, without warning.  I was back in Minneapolis from Atlanta for Christmas. Al and I had drifted apart to say the least, and when she called my parents' house on the 20th, I was the only one home, and I didn't think I had the energy to pick up the phone and talk to her. So I didn't. And that was it.

The process of collecting clothes was too quick. Every item was a memory, but there was no time to sit and remember. My other sister and I had jobs and school to get back to a thousand miles away. I packed up what I could and brought as much back to Atlanta as would fit [including a couple of space bags, which, by the way, are NOT reusable].

Then it all sat while I tried to heal. I would pick it up every now and then, but every piece smelled like her, and every shirt was a reminder that she wasn't coming back to wear it. My therapist [yes, therapist. if you can go through a sudden death without assistance from a non-family member, I commend you] recommended that I document the quilting process on a blog as a sort of homage to Alecia's memory. I kind of am doing that now.

My sister had her issues, but don't we all? She did care a lot about other people. She was always trying to make you smile, and she would give you all she had if it meant your happiness. Her acts of kindness were what kept her going so long. And her lasting gift to me is helping me realize that I need to make the most of every second that I have.


name from a sports shirt, orange shirt stolen from my closet years ago, yellow hip strap to some fancy undies, doll blanket from her childhood


blueberry muffin? (from Strawberry Shortcake) charm still in her jewelry box after all these years, blue linen (also found in a multitude of other colors), flannel pj pants, green shirt also taken from my closet (probably looked better on her anyway)


all the rest of the pieces. I am well aware that it kind of has a high-school-craft-project-modge-podge flare to it, but I think that's what I love, and I hope my sister Nicole loves too :) the more memories, the merrier!

Enough sobs. Here are some fun facts :).

Alecia was the person that taught me to use tampons. And by "taught," I mean I was visiting her at college, got my little package from mother nature, and Alecia would not buy me anything but tampons. I liken it to throwing a puppy into a pool and expecting it to swim.

She also had a slight obsession with finding deals at Old Navy. We would have more gifts from Alecia than from Santa some years. But, to Santa's credit, she would put just one piece in every box. And then she would leave the price tag on it so that she could show us just how great of a deal it was.

She was also obsessed with g-strings. Yep. Take a close look at the quilt and you will see some (the hip straps of course!) sewn into nondescript shapes like flowers and bows. And there were sometimes some of these under the Christmas tree from her too.

Alecia taught me the gloriousness that is a taco salad using a Doritos shell. Mmm...dinner tonight? Don't mind if I do.

She was a killer swimmer, particularly at the 200 fly [I think it was the 200 anyway]. If you know swimming, you know how B.A. the 200 fly is. One night she decided to go "north of the river," which was out of bounds for us, and she got rear-ended. She was still awesome after that, but it really threw her body for a loop.

Speaking of car wrecks, she also once ran into the pole that guards the drive-thru window at Burger King (where she worked). When she got home, I was outside playing, and she tried to shush me as I was yelling "What happened?!" Like you can hide a huge indentation and missing light on the driver side from mom and dad. Coincidentally, I worked at the same BK Lounge years later, and I am pretty sure the navy blue scuff marks were still there.

My mom threw a spade at her one time. Hahahaha. This makes me laugh out loud. We were reconstructing our back yard and basement, and during a huge storm, we had a lot of water pouring in. So my mom and Alecia went out to dig trenches away from the house (while my dad was out of town, because he was always out of town during these gems), and upon a very close lightning strike, the spade miraculously flew out of my mom's hands (aka was thrown) and landed inches from Alecia as mom ran around to the front of the house repeatedly screaming one particular cuss word that rhymes with 'fit.' All while I watched from my window.

She once let me take her car on a road trip if I repaid her by cleaning it. Another time, she convinced me to clean it by letting me keep any change I found. WIN. Seriously, if you had seen her car, you would know just what a jackpot that was for me.

I got her drop-handle bike as a hand-me-down. At least I think it was hers. That's what lead me to love bicycling. Okay, it's more of a love-hate, but I plain old love drop-handle bikes.

So, if you made it this far, thanks for trucking through my homage. I miss her, but I know that she is much happier now, and that can't do anything but make me smile :)

best to you all.
Mary

works in progress 6.15

It's that time of the week again. You know, when I look around my sewing area and tell myself that I am in fact getting things done. Bahaha, gotchya! That's why I am thankful that this linky is about progress.



I'll admit, my primary focus has not been sewing. I spent some time in DC this past weekend with some friends. It was a nice distraction from the extreme heat that kept me from leaving our basement last week. [I  tripped the breaker trying to sew in our basement. Not happening]. We have been doing more bicycling than usual because the off-road paths here are so much better than those in Atlanta, and me and my clip-in pedals like the off-road business. All in all, finding a nice balance I suppose.

Enough rambling. I have managed to keep on trucking with the grandma memorial quilts. I finished most of the piecing on the purple one (yep, pretty much going to refer to them by their color now). I actually completely finished the blue one. I'm waiting until they are all done for a big "yay they're finally done!" reveal, but here's a little peak.



I finished piecing my sister's memorial quilt (the last of them) and I decided that, with its total randomness in pattern and texture, it would be best to finish it by tying instead of machine quilting. Insert: sore fingers and hands, broken needles, and lots of cuss words. Can't wait for this to be over.



Sometimes when I look at this quilt, I see certain patterns and wonder "what was she thinking?! please tell me she did not wear that in public." Like that lime green / blue / pink flower number....? Really? Then I remember there are other shirts that she straight-up stole out of my closet. Shirts that I was positive my mom had lost in the laundry. And then there are the shirts that I so desperately wanted to steal out of her closet, but I knew the consequences, and I wasn't going to go there with her. Oh the perils of older sisters. ;)

That's all for now. Wishing y'all a great week :) Stop on by Lee's place to see what everyone else is up to!

Mary

throwing my hat in the ring

I've been looking for something to do with my Hideaway fabric. After all, it's been on my WIP list for...ever.





I am excited to join the fun over at Don't Call Me Betsy!



In the mean time, you will have to excuse me while I embrace the 100 degrees with no AC in the main living area.

twisted shoulders are all the rage

right?



because if so, this dress was well on its way to the runway. Let me tell you a story. From the beginning of using this pattern (Simplicity 2886), I was convinced the zipper was up the back. Convinced. So you could understand how, after finishing the bodice, I was wondering where the seam down the back of the skirt was. It was up the side, that's where.

I grabbed my seam ripper, took out the side seam, and removed the back basting that I had invented. In the process of sewing the back seam according to the pattern, I somehow managed to twist the front of the bodice a full 360. Result: a fancy twisted shoulder strap. One more round with the seam ripper and I was all squared away.



fancy nancy! now I just need a place to where it.

and my favorite part?



pockets!

I got this fabric while shopping the Memorial Day sale at Joann's with a friend (hi you!). in total, it was $8, plus a $1 zipper, and $1 to get the correct size of pattern. That's a $10 dress. Okay maybe a little more to pay for the lining fabric, but still.

Hope y'all are having a great week :)

May bee blocks - check!

With all the business this month brought, I knew I would end up a bit behind on my May bee blocks. The queen this month (Laine) asked us to make mondo bird blocks. My fledgling self had no idea what this block was, but a few quick searches and a great tutorial from House of Krom later, and I was all set to go.



Laine asked for lime green to be included in each block. I do not have a TON of lime green, so I used it in the little accents.



My mondo birds are a little heavy-set :) One thing I definitely learned - do not overestimate the size of the wing when you piece the body color onto it. I hope my little guys go well with what the others girls have made!

Have a great Memorial Day weekend! [and if you are traveling, be safe please!]

work in progress 5.25

I'm back! Thank goodness. Still haven't accomplished much, but I encourage you to check out how everyone else's week was over at Freshly Pieced.



Seriously, the most I have gotten accomplished in the last three weeks really does not involve sewing. It did involve a week of this...



then a fun pack drive up the east coast for our move to Baltimore. We probably looked like crazy people with all our stuff. Our car looked like we were trying to be low ridin' except we weren't trying to at all. I would have taken a picture, but I didn't want to admit it looked that bad for fear that we would blow a tire or a shock or an axle or something. I'd say about a third of the car (a grand am) was filled with sewing stuff. Sean and I each had about a carry-on's worth of clothes. The rest was camping and miscellaneous stuff, plus two road bikes strapped to the back.

Onto the fun stuff. Thanks to my hard-working husband, I now get to sew a LOT in my new floor workspace.



The ironing board did not make the cut, and since we have roommates, I don't feel right taking up the entire kitchen table. I worked for the past couple of days to finish one of the memorial quilt tops.



I plopped it in the pile with the blue quilt from this post. Lack of AC on the main floor means I have to really be in the mood to quilt or be willing to sit in our cave of a bedroom for a while.

So...where does that put me in my list? Not sure, so I am starting over.

In Progress
memorial quilts (2 pieced, 4 to go) - definitely a top priority

To-do
hideaway quilt (one day I will actually get the courage to cut into this fabric)
May bee blocks
lots of other stuff...

work in progress 5.4

I am not sure I would really call this progress. I have not sewn in a week. It feels a little weird, but I have to concentrate on preparing for our big move.

Without further ado, this is what I've been up to...



Yes, that box is labeled "STUFF." I got kind of burned out on trying to describe what was inside.

I am kind of proud of my husband and I for how much we have decreased the junk. This pile contains the boxes we're storing (in addition to a couple more kitchen boxes, and a couch, bed, and table/chairs). All this stuff pays us rent, so to speak, by providing some sort of value. So, we're willing to pay to store it :) Anything else goes. Much better than our last move...this pile was 3-4 times as big plus all furniture, and an extra bed. Seriously, how long do I need to hold onto that hideous candle holder I never liked anyway?

Here's the "to Baltimore" pile, from the green box to the left:



Yep, that's pretty much all sewing / crocheting supplies :)

Anyway, I'm not going to link up to Freshly Pieced because I have not really accomplished much, but you should go over and check out everyone else's Work in Progress, and hey, maybe even leave an inspirational comment or four!

Mary