Done and Done-er

My friend Hattie Kate came over two days ago to personally show me how to do a binding. I've been watching the videos, etc., but a real live human is so much better! I did a mug rug for practice, and tadaaa! It looks just great.

After she left, I cut a binding for my Alpine Wonder quilt. But I didn't have enough courage to try it~~until yesterday. I just sat down and sewed it right on. Hattie Kate loves hand-work, and I don't so I carefully pressed the binding down and stitched in the ditch. The back looks a little wonky, but who's gunna see that? Nosy quilters? I'm soooo happy!! This really does open a whole new thing for me. Not intimidated by binding any more. Yea! This pattern is by Mary Lou Hallenbeck and is available at many quilt shops. The reason this 'works' is the special material and then a very interesting fussy cut. If you can't find it, try Corner Quilts in Wauseon, OH. That's where I had this one quilted, too.

I'm also winding yarn for BadAmy. I'm using the warping board to go from 'factory' skein, to 30 foot loops for dying. I put the yarn on my brand new umbrella swift, then wind to the warping board. Takes me about 32 minutes from very start to very finish. The swift needs a tiny bit of paraffin or something, or just plain use, to make it a bit smoother, but other than that the system works. It's not as fast as we hoped, but I can sit in the crafty corner with the boob tube on and wind away. Speaking of which, she needs to get this batch done, so she can dye it for her next sock club shipment. She hasn't dreamed up a colorway yet, but when she does, it's like magic watching her make it happen!

The 12th Day of Christmas, my Son came to me.

Nineteen years ago, on the 12th day of Christmas--January 6th--we finalized the adoption of our older son, FTD the special delivery. He came to us in the dark, early evening, during one of those snow showers that makes you glad you're inside. We heard about him 24 hours earlier. He was supposed to show up right after school. I was teaching fourth grade at St. Richard Elementary in Swanton at the time. My class had scheduled a press conference, of all things, to announce the opening of their community recycling center. I had to be there that day, to tie up loose ends, get my lesson plans in order, and explain to the kids why I'd be gone for a while.

We didn't have anything for babies in the house. CSB (the local child welfare organization) staff made it clear that there would be no healthy white babies coming through their doors. We said fine, we'll be very happy with a couple of rowdy little pre-school aged boys. So we had two twin beds, dressers, all sorts of stuff ready for toddlers. When our caseworker said the child was 4 days old, did we want him or not, all I could think was, "What's wrong?" She said, nothing and since he's healthy the hospital wants him out a.s.a.p. .

Holy cow. I've always maintained that you can never find a ranger when you want one, and I couldn't find mine. He was closing gates in the sloppy snow. When he got home, BadAmy came over, too. She was just 21, and needed more cash for college. Talk about a weird evening, college tuition and diaper pails all in the same conversation.

We decided to give it a go.

I got to school early the next morning and was greeted by a co-worker. She said, "Why are you here so early?" "I'm expecting." "That's fantastic!! When?" "Today at 3." Dead silence.

Baby didn't arrive at 3. We waited. We paced. We looked out the window at the storm. Our house was on a road with no other homes, and for city folks, it always seemed to be so far away from civilization. And yes, it is dark out here. All sorts of horrible scenarios raced through my head. The hospital changed its policy. The birth mother took the baby and ran. The agency found someone else. . . . the list went on and on. Finally, out the window, I saw two sets of headlights, slowly creeping down the road. Our caseworker came with the baby's caseworker to be sure they could find our house. The baby had spent the entire day at CSB, where there are lots of kids, but not too many 4 day-old, 6.5 oz. babies. He so enamored the staff that they didn't want him to leave. But he had to come home. He had a borrowed onesie, 2 bottles of formula, couple of diapers, and a quilt. That was it.




During that day, my sister had rounded up the troops and by the time we got home, there were bottles (I had no idea how to use 'em), diapers, clothes, car seats, high chairs, etc. etc.. (Baby crapanalia, I calls it.) We didn't have a bassinet, but like so many babies before him, he fit nicely into a dresser drawer.

The next three weeks held few memories for me. It's like a dream now. We did run into some issues later, given that he was our foster son, in a program called "legal risk adoption." We nearly ran that risk, but just under a year later, on Epiphany, he was ours. What joy.


Yep, the gifts of the 12th day of Christmas are the best.