Dark No More

For those of you who have followed this blog in the past, you will have noted that I was not doing any posting since February this year and possibly, you thought I was not quilting. Well, the secret is out and now I can let you all in on it. I have been quilting my little brain out and my fingers to the bone. I challenged myself this year to make 15 Christmas quilts in one year and I made it. I started last December 2012 and finished them in time to give them away to my birth family on Thanksgiving Day 2013. Over the next few weeks, I will share them with you but you can also follow the entire project on my blog on the American Quilters Society page. Here is the link: www.myquiltplace.com/profile/VirginiaGinnieLeiner. The AQS got into the project as well and posted three articles about me, the project and the progress of same. Here is the link for the last article which references all three articles: http://www.quiltviews.com/covered-up-with-love. So let's get to it. I will start with some pictures when the project was completely finished and then show you each quilt in subsequent posts. I have asked all my family members to send me pictures of themselves with the quilt they chose or were given - the folks who weren't at Thanksgiving were sent their quilts the next day. About half have complied. The rest of you, and you know who you are, get on it! Now some pictures of the completed quilts before they went out the door. Merry Christmas everyone!

A toast for my Father's 80th birthday

A TOAST ON THE OCCASION OF MY FATHER’S 80TH BIRTHDAY –FEBRUARY 5, 2013 Who said: “Boys are like buses, there will be another one by in 10 minutes.” MY DAD. Who said: “God is not mocked.” MY DAD. (and neither was Dad). Who said: “You reap what you sow” (which I thought he meant “sew” and so I became a quilter) MY DAD. Who sang the soundtrack from “Student Prince” around the house? MY DAD. Who waxed his car every Memorial Day listening to the Indy 500 while I sat in the back seat reading my book? MY DAD. Who said, “I think you are a little young to get married, Virginia” but gave me a lovely wedding anyway. MY DAD (and he was right but no regrets here; that marriage gave me my two lovely daughters). Who had a copy of “Everything You Ever Wanted to Know about Sex but Were Afraid to Ask” in a drawer in the kitchen by the phone? Believe it or not, MY DAD. In response to my sisters’ and my broken romances, who said: “There’s plenty of fish in the sea.” Yep, MY DAD. Who beat the preacher regularly at ping-pong? MY CHAMPIONSHIP DAD. Who tried and succeeded in convincing us that hot dogs were really tube steaks? MY DAD. Nice economizing trick, Dad, but we now know better. No fooling us any more, we will have the prime rib, thank you very much. When my sister Bev got her first car, a mint green Rambler, who constantly intoned, “Check the oil.” DAD. And Bev, I want to take this opportunity to tell you how impressed I was with your knowledge of that car, a STANDARD transmission and you knew how to pop the clutch, whatever that means. Who is the best looking guy in a fishing boat? MY DAD, of course. We always thought he looked like Perry Como. Who was forgiving when I sideswiped a car going down 7th Street hill to Wilson’s gas station (and didn’t realize it til the insurance agent called?) Who took me with him, all excited, to Wilson’s Filling Station because there was a 26 cent gas war on? He made it seem like such a special occasion! Who was understanding when Mom backed the car into the back porch or when one of us backed the car out of the garage with the passenger door open? DAD, of course. Who said “Ask your mother.” More than once. Many times. Countless times. You guessed it, MY DAD. Who put me up on water skis, instructed my sister to make sure I was upright and then gunned the boat without checking that I was still above water? DAD Who taught me to bait a hook, catch a fish, and take that fish off the hook? MY DAD. A skill set, I might add, that really surprised and impressed my husband, George. Who roasted hot dogs and marshmallows late at night on a fork over the gas burner on the stove? And if you were a lucky girl, you woke up and heard him coming home from second shift and he would share his late night culinary skills with you. DAD. I would wager almost every daughter at every age idolizes her dad. I have been no exception. My father was the hardest working man I ever knew. He taught my sisters and me to work hard by his example. He worked long hours for his employers (the 1967 spring flood when he hardly ever came home for weeks), kept a well maintained home and a meticulous lawn that my sisters and I were privileged to share the chores of trimming the edges and sweeping the sidewalk and driveway. Every. Damn. Week. His cars were usually in excellent shape as well, with the exception of the “3M Special,” his work car he claimed was held together with duct tape. I think it was the color of duct tape as well, wasn’t it? Kind of a dull gray? My dad also gave time to his church, helping to build it, serving as a deacon, then an elder, and keeping a careful eye on its finances. He regularly gave blood. When people ask me today why I give blood, I tell them it is because my father did. My father loves his country. He flew the flag everyday (so did his father) and now, so do I. I know for a fact that we have different ideas about how our country should be governed and who should lead it but I do not doubt we love it equally. He knows I am one of those damn liberals ruining this country but he loves me anyway! My father loved his parents. The first time (and possibly the only time), I ever saw him break down and cry was at his mother’s funeral. I was 16. It was very disturbing to see the rock that was my father sobbing. I have always felt safe with my dad. As a child, I remember trips to see our grandparents in St. Louis or in the Missouri Ozarks. Dad would get home after working second shift, pile us all in the car and start the long drive south, staying up all night while we slept in our makeshift beds in the back of the station wagon. You’d get a seat belt/car seat ticket for that now, Dad. When we made the change from station wagon to sedan, I remember staying awake with him as he made the long drive and he would call me his “driving buddy.” I had the seat right behind him in the back. I have childhood memories of crossing dark parking lots holding his hand as we made pit stops in the middle of the night. NOT TOO MANY, mind you. He was “a get in the car and get going” kinda guy. As the sun came up, we would stop in Bowling Green (is that right?) and have breakfast at a truck stop. His heroes were Arnold Palmer and the St. Louis Cardinals. He once told me the two things he misses most are golf and driving. My father has known a great deal of disappointment and sorrow in his life but I hope he would also say he has known fulfillment , joy and love. I have no doubt that many times he despaired but it is important to recognize that he also prevailed. As the writer of Ecclesiastes states: “The race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, neither bread to the wise, nor riches to men of understanding, nor favor to men of skill; but time and chance happens to them all.” [Ecclesiastes 9:11] Without talking about it directly, my father taught me that life does not promise you ease and success and sometimes it even denies you your heart’s desire but one does not give up and die. You carry on. If my father was British, he would have a stiff upper lip. My father does not talk a great deal about the past. I wish I knew his life story better, what he was like as a child, a teenager, a young married man. Maybe that is something he will choose to do in the time still left. I do know he has always let his actions speak for his beliefs and I know that he loves me. In closing, I want to share with you the truest thing my father ever told me about his life and it has been the primary tenet of my existence: “I was there when you were conceived; I was there when you were born and I’m still here.” Thank you, Daddy-o, for always being there. I love you with all of my heart. Happy 80th birthday.

A quilt finished in 2006 finally goes home - Ati's quilt

In 2003-2004, George and I had the privilege to host an AFS student from Germany for a year in our home. It was an excellent match and we think of Atilla as our son. While Ati was with us, he was very interested in the quilt I was making for my mother, Marian Long. He told me if she did not want it, he would take it! So before he left, we visited a fabric store together and picked out fabric for his quilt. Two years later it was finished but Ati asked me to keep it while he was in college and really did not have a place of his own. He is now finishing up graduate school and we arranged to send it to his girlfriend's place until he has his own place. It arrived today (I am so relieved!) and here are some pictures of Ati, Marie and the quilt. The back of the quilt has a quote from Archbishop Desmond Tutu that says: "You don't choose your family. They are God's gift to you, as you are to them." It also lists us with love as "Ginnie and George, your American Parents." The pattern is a log cabin with a star variation. You can see more pictures of the quilt in my albums. So another quilt has found its home. As I packed it up, I felt like I was sending one of my children far, far away when actually, I was sending a boxful of love to my son and his sweetie. Life is good!

A Toast to my Mother (on the occasion of her 80th birthday, November 11, 2012)

On the occasion of my mother’s 80th birthday, I spent some time thinking about all the things my mother taught me and wanted to share a few of them with you tonight. I have entitled this little reverie: A Toast to my Mother (or how to clean a house well with some regularity) Daily tasks: Before school: 1. Make your bed as soon as you get out of it. 2. Shake rugs vigorously every morning. 3. Bring in the milk (remember Baker’s Dairy home delivery?). 4. Take Muffie out to pee.

After dinner: 1. Bev washes and Ginnie dries the dinner dishes OR Ginnie washes and Bev dries. We fought about this constantly. Denise….Denise just looks cute. Cleaning tasks on a Weekly basis: 1. Clean your bedroom closet floor and top shelf. 2. Clean and straighten your dresser drawers. 3. Scrub the oven racks OR scrub the inside of the refrigerator (take turns with your sister Bev on these tasks). 4. Do the ironing: Dad’s hankies, pillow cases, dish towel. Dish towels? On a Quarterly basis: 1. Take the four white vinyl and chrome kitchen chairs down to the basement and scrub them with Comet (or when Mom is not looking, put them in the shower, get them wet and have done with it). 2. Give Muffie a bath (ditto on the shower routine) Fortunately for us, there was only one annual household task bit it was a whopper: Tear the entire house apart and clean everything (even the walls – we were already attacking the mopboards with some regularity). As you can imagine, this was quite a lot of work for a kid and I haven’t even listed the yard work DAD had us doing so, being an inventive child, I came up with my own coping strategies and I call these: HINTS FOR VARIOUS TASKS AND GENERAL HOUSEHOLD ORDER 1. While scrubbing the floor (on your hands and knees, of course), pretending you are Cinderella, that is to say, a REAL princess, can help you get through the task. DO NOT DEIGN to speak when spoken to while performing this job, an action that will lead your mother to utter the constant lament, “talking to you is like talking to a brick wall.” (No, mother dear, it is like talking to a princess.) 2. While putting away the folded laundry, fool your baby sister into helping you by pretending your house is a hotel and she must accept delivery of the clean laundry at every room door and put it away. WORKED EVERY TIME. 3. Be constantly prepared to act cool, calm and collected when discovering changes in the organization of household items, such a dishes. When in the process of washing, drying and putting away plates, bowls and glassware, DO NOT exclaim: “Jeez! You changed everything around again!” to which your mother will reply: “the dishes have been in the same place for years now.” UNTRUE. All kidding aside, I must confess it was WONDERFUL to grow up in such a clean and well ordered house. Here then is the list of things, I actually DID learn from my mother: 1. Homework before TV. 2. Going outside “blows the stink” off of me. 3. Yes, I have eaten this before and I loved it so much, I asked for seconds. 4. If you see a mess, clean it up. Don’t wait for someone else to do it. 5. Household budgets are helpful and necessary tools and yes, we are having chipped beef on toast for dinner tonight because tomorrow is grocery day (read: payday). 6. It is a good idea not to get pregnant whiles still a teen-ager because it costs lots of money to have a baby. 7. Skin cancer is a myth. Sunbathing using baby oil and iodine is actually good for your skin. 8. Bed slats will fall out with a loud crashing noise when too much vigorous activity occurs on the bed. 9. It is very important to be there for your children. 10. In order to save time and energy, refer to your children in the plural – the girls! 11. No dancing on the living room carpet. 12. No sitting on the “nice furniture” if you are wearing jeans. 13. Curlers in your hair and fuzzy bathrobes are REQUIRED attire for Christmas morning pictures. 14. No wearing jeans to school. 15. Attendance at church and Sunday school is required every week. 16. No switching coats with your best friend on the playground at recess. 17. Clean your plate – there are starving children in China and India. 18. No lounging around in your bedroom – that’s what the basement is for. 19. The church family with the most kids will bring the smallest contribution to the potluck. 20. Get up, get it done, and quit complaining about it. The reason humans repeat the same old cliques is because within each lies great truths so I am going to use one now: I did not truly appreciate my mother until I had children of my own.

Without a great many words, my mother taught me hard work, patience, discipline, and order out of chaos. She showed me that having a successful marriage and raising children, while running a home, all at the same time, took management and organizational skills a Fortune 500 CEO would admire. You know, when you are a kid, things happen in your life over which you have no control. As you all know, Marian Louise Taylor Long did not give birth to me and my sister Bev. We were part and parcel of a marriage deal she signed on for with the man she met and fell in love with in the late 1950’s. As my dad was fond of saying, it was, “love me, love my dog,” or pups in this case. And Dad, I take some exception to the dog reference but we will save that for YOUR 80th birthday party.

So here is Marian, 26 years young, married and an instant mother of two. I can only imagine the huge breath she took before beginning that first day of married life after the honeymoon trip was over, face with the task of raising two daughters, loving a man who had been very hurt in the past, and creating a home. I imagine she put us right to work… cleaning. But seriously, I credit my mother with bringing order into what must have been a potentially disordered family, giving us routine and stability, the core values of church attendance, good grades and cleanliness, GREAT basketball skills (the woman can whoop your ass at HORSE), and quiet courage and determination. She and my father also gave me the best (and blondest) baby sister a girl could ever ask for, although we were understandably jealous and yes, we did try to kill her once or twice, but I will save those stories for Denise’s 80th birthday dinner.

My mother. I suspect she is a Republican but I can forgive her for that. I suspect she knows I love her. I don’t think she knows how much. This I absolutely know is true: I am a good mother because she was a good mother. Mom, as I watch my daughter Jamie raising my grandson, Wyatt, I acknowledge that Jamie is a good mother because of you being my mother. And my daughter Becky is a great teacher to 10 year olds for the same reason.

I am all grown up now. There are still things in my world that I cannot control but I can control this. I can tell you, Mom, how much I appreciate you coming into my life at a very young age (both of us), making the disorderly orderly, creating a home that was a safe (and clean!) haven to grow up in, loving me even though I wasn’t your own, making me your own. Helping to make me the person I am today, a Democrat! So, on behalf of my entire side of the “famn damily:” Jamie, Jeff and Wyatt in California, Becky and Todd in Texas, all who wish they could have been here tonight, and my husband George and I, please join me in raising a glass to my mother: Happy 80th birthday, Mom, with love and appreciation for all you have done to make us strong and productive, out there making a positive impact on the world. You kept us busy, you taught us well, but I guarantee, none of us are keeping our houses as clean as you do!

Rock Star Monkey for Dean is finished!

Well, it was a pell mell, hellbound for leather rush to the finish but Rock Star Monkey is done! In October, my sisters and I decided that Mom Long's 80th birthday was a cause for celebration so a party was planned for November 10th. A trip to Chicago was then planned and as I love to give my quilt gifts in person, it was imperative that I have this quilt done by the 10th. The center was done by the end of October and as I put the monkey cross stitch borders on, I realized the top and bottom borders were two monkeys short - one on each end. So I shipped the quilt top back to Becky in Plano with an urgent request for monkey stitching. Her husband, Todd had just returned from a year's deployment to Africa so she, who once had had plenty of alone time to cross stitch, now had a spouse at home again. She did stitch them for me quite speedily and by November 1st, I had the top back in my hot little hands. George was at a conference by this time for a few days and I was heavily involved in the re-election campaign of President Obama (God be praised!) as I had been all spring and summer so time was NOT in abundance. I pinned the quilt on November 1st (the back was all ready to go), pulling a late night to get it done. On Friday and Saturday nights, November 2 and 3, I quilted late into the night (til 4 AM on Sunday, November 4th). It was finished and bound by Sunday and I started stitching on the photographs on the back on Monday. We re-elected the President on Tuesday - no sewing that day as I worked at Obama HQ til midnight. We rested on Wednesday (that means you still go to work and you sew till 2 AM)and then on Thursday, we left for Chicago. I stitched the handquilting on the cross stitch borders in the car as we drove west and put on the buttons Saturday morning of the party. Whew! made it!

Here are some pictures of the details.

The birthday party for my mom was lovely. Denise and I each made toasts. We waited til after the birthday part was over to give the quilt. Here are some family pictures of that!

Two firsts occurred with this quilt: I put the location of the quilt's creation on the back for the first time (Greensburg, PA and Plano, TX) and the very young recipient clearly indicated his feelings about the gift - Dean clapped! The back of the quilt reads: "This quilt was made for Robert Dean Mitchum III, born December 10, 2011 who is definitely not a monkey but might possibly be a Rock Star by his Great Aunt Ginnie and his Second Cousin Becky who, when they are not quilting and cross stitching are often spotted eating ice cream!" More pictures of details:

More pictures:

Thanksgiving morning 2012

Happy Thanksgiving Morning! It is a beautiful sunshiny day and I am still in my PJ's at 10:00 AM with my bare toes tucked under the toasty warm heat register. I am appreciating my embarrassment of riches this Thanksgiving morning! Thanksgiving week started with a visit from my favorite youngest daughter, Becky and her husband Todd who drove in from Plano Texas for a few days. We were the first stop on their Thanksgiving Week Midwestern Tour. The days were filled with good food, a day trip to the 9/11 Flight 93 Memorial, a couple trips to Jo-Ann Fabrics and lots of sewing. We made these two great items pictured above - a purse and a book bag. Becky found the pattern and directions on Pinterest. Beck and I always plan to sew when we are together and I will go down to Plano this summer for another sewing marathon. I gave her a Jo-Ann gift card for her birthday today (my turkey baby) and told her she was the child of my heart who loved to sew as her mother does! Becky and Todd left Tuesday for Columbus, Ohio where Todd's family is and are now at my sister, Denise's in Wheaton, Illinois for a Long (my birth family) family Thanksgiving. George and I are headed to a small gathering (of 30) for the holiday meal today. I slept in til 9 and then came downstairs to the kitchen just in time to help George truss the bird. Love sewing on poultry! The house smells like the Thanksgivings of my childhood as I sit here and type this. George will also make a green bean dish (not the traditional green bean casserole, however, which, personally, I love!) and I have made my traditional pumpkin bread. Life is good. As is also my tradition, here are the things I am very grateful for this Thanksgiving morning: I am thankful: 1) For waking up every morning next to my love, George, both of us relatively healthy and extremely happy. 2) For having a reason to get up everyday, to go work at a great place, The Westmoreland, and do work that is meaningful and adds positively to the world. 3) For two wonderful grown daughters, Jamie and Becky, who have meaningful lives of their own with spouses and families and friends far beyond the one they were born into and who are also doing good work with their lives. 4) For my terrific sons-in-law, Jeff and Todd who love my daughters so much and for my very special grandson, Wyatt. 5) For a re-elected President Barack Obama, may God hold him safe in the palm of his hand, to lead our country through difficult times, 5) To live in a time when the wheel is turning away from the few and the powerful to the many and the diverse. 6) For my parents who are still living and all my extended family: sisters, brothers, in-laws, nieces, nephews... 7) For friends and neighbors who listen to me and support me and give me the great privilege to listen to them and support them. 8) For all the many small things that give my life such joy and purpose and relative ease. 9) For the awareness that having been so blessed, I am now obligated to give back to those who have needs and 10) To be able to give back. And I am very grateful for hot water piped right into my house and available to me with the turn of a dial - I'm off to the shower! Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Angie's t-shirt rag quilt shower present

Here I am with Angie and Zack (the bride and groom to be) and their shower present, the rag t-shirt quilt. They loved it! The gorgeous blond in the back is my sister, Denise. It was a great time in Chicago and we are home now until the wedding August 11. Time to get some quilting done!