Do you ever get "signs" from the items you see while thrifting? You find a salt shaker to match the pepper shaker you already have? Or you find a plate that matches some that you've seen on this blog or that. You see an item that reminds you of one just like it that used to sit your your grandma's counter. When I found this bamboo souvenir plate at the Value Village for .99, I thought well, this obviously means its time to go back. I had to have it.
Oh, and the boys and I are making a quilt square for this project. We have been assigned to Penelope's quilt which will be yellow. Here are a few fabrics I put together. I have never done a whole quilt made of individual squares so to speak. So, what do you think? Should I include the green? I thought it might be nice to have a little bit of another color, but now Im not sure. Thoughts on this would be appreciated.
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(Warning, this section is just me putting some thoughts down. It is long and probably pretty boring)
Eighteen months ago we were living in Virginia Beach, Virginia. We had great friends, a supportive church, a wonderful house, and our families had a scenic and restful place to come visit us. Really, the only thing missing was our papa was gone a lot, a lot like 9 months out of the year when all added up. It was hard, hard on the boys and hard on me. But you heard my midnight hour prayers and when orders to Great Lakes in N. Chicago came up, we thought about it briefly, but jumped at the chance to have some down time. And Uncle Sam, we were supposed to be joined by our dear friends, but well, by now I know things can change. And that is another story all together.
So, here we are in South Eastern Wisconsin a year and a half later. It has been wonderful, hard, comforting, challenging, quiet, and loud, tiring and restful and many more adjectives that are as polarizing as these mentioned. It has been interesting to say the least. We are in a much smaller house and we have gotten the togetherness time we asked for whether we liked each other at the time or not. *wink*
Kenosha is a blue collar town through and through with salt of the earth people who have seen (and are still seeing) hard times. Unlike Virginia Beach, fashion and decorating is the least of anyone's concerns. Which has been a blessing in many, many ways. Things here operate at a much slower pace and in turn we have been given the gift of time and reflection.
We have enjoyed many, many day trips together as a family to Chicago, Milwaukee, Madison, Woodstock and many other little places here and there. S has established a real connection with the older two boys for the first time and it does my heart well to see them go to him first, instead of me, for advice on how to tie the perfect knot or how to draw a bow and arrow. I can not think of a better role model for them and I am glad they have had this time together.
As for me, I have had time for junking and thrifting and have rediscovered my love of chippy peely painted pieces, for dishes that I don't really need, of vintage wool sweaters and more. I have re-learned how to crochet and sew. I have gotten myself back into the kitchen and know that we are all healthier because of it.
S has had time to concentrate on his health and we now know that the stomach problems he has experienced for so long actually have a name... celiac's disease.
But our supposed 3 years here is being cut short and we will be back at the beach in 6 months or so. We kept our house there, so at least I know where we will be headed. So in preparation I've gathered up all of my research materials, the eighteen months worth of magazines I have collected, and have started tearing out pages that look like they might fit our beach house. S will be so glad that the mountain of mags. have served their purpose and now can be gotten rid of. By the way? Anyone want a gazillion copies of old magazines with a few pages torn out for the price of shipping? I will gladly send them to you as opposed to sending them to the Goodwill. They would be great for decoupage or for making paper beads. Email me at ssanpedro(at)wi(dot)rr(dot)com if you want them.