Merging Warm Days with My Story Scenes

Merging Warm Days with My Story Scenes
Hi Ladies,

It seems like a long time between visits with you. I've been meeting with family and friends. Meanwhile,warm days and scenes from my stories merge in my mind. And, like vacation traffic merges onto the highway, I am merging photographs - with excerpts from my stories. I hope you find it entertaining. I highlighted the book excerpts in color. I left out some nouns - and - the excerpts are too short  to be "spoilers" for those of you who plan to read one of my "family-education" stories this summer.

I finished the toddler quilt. I enjoyed working with girly colors, piecing and then hand-quilting all 63 little hour-glass-blocks for my granddaughter. I waited until after it I gifted it before showing it here. Her mom reads my posts (on her phone). The placement of the blocks is random and playful.

A way to attach the binding entirely by machine is to make a flange. Sew a strip of binding onto the back, bring it around front to sew along the tiny strip (flange). You can see the white flange along the binding of my quilt. It is supposed to give the look of piping. I made mine wider than recommended - to make sure I could see what I was doing, this first try. I followed the tutorial on The Missouri Star Quilt Company's You-Tube - "Baby Quilt - Flange".

While quilting, Carol's sudden surge of creativity came to mind.

I was feeling creative. With the rest of the fabric I cut triangles. It occurred to me that, pieced with white, they would form a bright patchwork design. . . . A patchwork pillow would make a nice housewarming gift to cheer . . .(Blackberry Inn)

My youngest grandson's vest-of-many-colors was finished in time for his 5th birthday. It is a bit big on him.

He wore it on a cool day in spring during the week I stayed with my daughter's family.

I also gifted him "Frog and Toad Audio Collection" read by its author Arnold Lobel (deceased.)

In the first chapter of Lessons of Blackberry Inn Emma appreciates Carol's knitting.

"You have not been idle. You've been keeping the baby safe. And you've been diligent even in bed. Just look at all these books you've been reading in preparation for teaching the children. You know how to use your time wisely." She carefully lifted my knitting out of its basket. "And look at this pretty sweater. What a lovely rose color!" I had been knitting a cardigan for my daughter, Emily, and was particular about my pinks. Emma held it up to admire it in the sunbeams that streamed in through the windows. It did look pretty in the sunlight, or was it Emma's encouragement that made me appreciate it more? (Blackberry Inn)

In April my pain doctor prescribed physical therapy. I'd been to PT in a previous year with discouraging results. But I've bounced back and am trying a different practice. If I am presented with a contortion I feel I'm simple not ready for I tell my therapist. Otherwise, I trust her wisdom and am doing my homework daily with an orange band. I'm getting stronger, able to kneel on the floor and walk for ten minutes! Dean drove us to Landis Valley one sunny afternoon. We sauntered. He took out the camera. It occurred to me that some of what he photographed are those living things observed or mentioned in my stories.

The dinning room was full of hungry guests . . . One guest, in particular, a gregarious gentleman named Mrs. Fortesquieu, took Michael's mind off his backache. He is a portly man with an out-of-date handlebar moustache. His clothes, thought they look like they've come out of an attic trunk, make a perfect fit. A vigorous conversationalist, he has a deep jovial voice that dominated the others at the table. He was quite appreciative of my "tenderly prepared" fish, raving about the "palatability" of my "exquisite" green salad, impressed with the fact that is was entirely composed of greens we had harvested from the garden. I din't think the nasturtium petals I sprinkled into the salad would cause such a stir. (Pinecones)

Milkweed in bloom - with fluffy-seeds to come.

On another walk . . .  a breeze carried some fluff across our path. Emily jumped and caught a fluff between her cupped hands. She held it out to me saying, "Look, this is from a big dandelion!" I spotted a clump of weeds growing by the railroad tracks nearby and recognized among them, one of my favorite childhood plants: the milkweed. (Pinecones)

I once thought of the Johnny jump-up (wild pansy or heart's-ease) as a weed. They will take over the garden if they get the chance. In a book on Colonial herbs, however, I read that the seed of the Johnny jump-up was advertised in Boston in 1760, and Jefferson reported planting it in his garden in 1767. (Pinecones)

Beyond the geese is a spring house.

Nobody knew where Emma was. Soon after we had served our guests, she had vanished on her bicycle. I thought I had heard her say something about going to the Goslin sisters to bring back more goose down for . . . The Goslins had raised their pretty white geese since I was a girl. I remember hearing my mother talk about their notorious gander. Rumor had it that he would nip the ankles of any stranger who approached wearing trousers, but accepted the visits of all in skirts. This was told to me years back as a possible explanation for why the Goslin sisters never married. (Blackberry Inn)

Sunflower seeds are favorite snack of Dean's. 

Dean has too many food allergies to name. To fill a craving I made gluten-free apple butter muffins with grated carrot, raisins, flavored with molasses. It reminded me of the muffins Carol made for the apple-butter festival in Lessons at Blackberry Inn.

End Notes
Because I make muffins often I decided to order my un-bleached cupcake papers by the three-pack on Amazon.

You can find the Arnold Lobel's "Frog and Toad" Audio Collection there, too.

To learn more about my stories a click will take you to "Karen's Books" here on this blog.

Happy for Your Visit.
Are you getting out in a garden?

Karen Andreola

email: karenjandreola@gmail.com