Well, it’s about halfway done, but I DID IT!

Still, people are asking me about retirement, and how I feel about it.  And if you have been reading this blog at all, you know it has been some kind of journey laced with a little self-pity, now that I go back and look at what I wrote, to a little acceptance, and I think finally to some anticipation.

 
It started with a pipe dream of sorts.  One of my granddaughters remarked that although her sister had a quilt made by another grandmother, she didn’t have one – as she is holding tightly to my arm and snuggling right in.  So I did what any good grandmother would do, decide I, who had not made any kind of quilt in over 40 years, decided I would make her one.

 So, I designed one in my head, super simple, - the idea - not my head, and bought some fabric.  Wow, that was an experience.  The last time I bought fabric four bucks was a lot and this good, I was told, quilting fabric was $12.99 – a yard!!  And do you know how may yards even a small quilt takes? 

Anyway, I got home, along with some books about quilting and found out I needed a self-healing cutting mat, a rotary cutter, a plastic 6 x 12 ruler and a sewing machine that works. Hmmm.  By now I have the material shrunk, and actually laid out in the order I want to sew it, and realized I needed a couple more pieces to complete the pattern I ‘designed.’  Back to Joanne’s and found out that the tools I needed are half price this weekend, so far so good, and I found my little Singer sewing machine – which I was told was junk as far as quilting.

But I’m gonna try it, and when I hit the wall, and prove to my husband that I am really going to do this thing, we will go machine shopping, and as my friends have all warned me to, we will go to a real shop so I can try the thing.

 That’s not the halfway done thing though. While I wait for the sale this weekend I decided to take care of a coffee table, oval cherry and severely beaten by a number of little and big grandchildren (and their parents.)  So, me who has never refinished anything, bought three kinds of sand paper and a can of paint (the label said it was the right one), and set to work.  Would you believe, it looks pretty good – the heat marks and chips are mostly gone.  That’s the halfway mark…now I have to get it good and dry, and turn it upside down and do the legs. 

So, today, I’m thinking retirement is pretty good.  I think I am adjusting and I have hope and even at this stage of my life, I can still learn new things.  Who knows what is in store!!