Holding It Together -

All is well!
Yesterday was such an emotional roller coaster knowing my grown man-child was in the operating room to remove a large tumor from his brain as I was here holding down the fort – driving on a beautiful autumn morning over to the retreat where the Brown Bird Bee ladies were departing.
My wonderful second grown man child Jeff stayed with me all day.
It is at this stage of life where we appreciate who our grown children have become.
There were video calls and phone calls and text messages throughout the entire process, there surgery itself lasting about 4 hours.
The tearful call from Dave letting me know that he was out of surgery and in recovery before moving him to the ICU was filled with so much relief.
Then later that day, a phone call – me at first thinking it was Dave, but it was Jason himself – his voice raspy after recovering from anesthesia and intubation. “It’s me, mom.”
So many tears, so much gratitude.
He will likely remain in ICU through today, and hopefully tomorrow will be moved to a rehab floor.

My view from here.

There are even fewer leaves on the trees this morning – I took this photo on Monday morning before a huge wind storm blew through…

I am finding rest for my soul in the beauty of nature and the turn of seasons.

Down the drive.
Jeff stayed the night with me so he could be on hand for anything that I needed. And here I am thinking that I am still his mom and taking care of whatever HE needs.
It’s a weird stage of life when we give over always being the caretaker and let the children take the reins, isn’t it?

I mentioned that I’ve been in a cleaning frenzy since Saturday.
That also means the fridge and the freezer were hit, and it came in really handy for lats night’s dinner.
It all started with a half-bag of white northern beans I found in the back of the cupboard. “Are you too old to cook up soft?” I asked the beans before throwing them in the crockpot, covering them with boiling water and setting the pot on low to soak overnight.
By morning they WERE soft. I have no idea how old those beans were and I admit to not always having good luck with dried beans.
So I dug through the freezer, finding half a bag of mixed veggies that were well on their way to frozen too long, and a freezer bag containing the remains of leftover pork tenderloin I had placed in there at some unknown date.
I added chopped onion, chopped celery, some chicken broth, a random can of enchilada sauce, some taco seasoning and let it simmer all day.
“Clean Out Soup”??? It was delicious for last night’s dinner with Jeff and I have enough to freeze a couple of containers for the guys to have while I am with Jason.
It just goes to prove that when the going gets tough, the moms get cooking and cleaning.
I leave to go stay with Jason on November 2nd. That means I’ve got more than a week to keep up the cleaning/organizing/re-nesting streak.
Oh, and the photo at the top? Jeff and I watched a couple of movies last night and I started in on one side border that will complete the design at the quilt sides.
I’m saving the motifs for my travel out to Portland and the 2 weeks I’ll be spending with Jason.

Finishing up stitching down the binding and hanging sleeve with Zoey snuggling close. She knows something is “different.” Two weeks for dad to be gone is a long time.

It’s done. All done. As the autumn color leaves us – this one is done.

I love how this piece of toile picked up in Paris worked with this quilt.
The fabric was a bit heavier than traditional quilting cotton, but it works. This fabric has just been waiting for the right job, and I’m glad it found a home here.
The last time I sat at a machine to sew was when I was putting the binding on Brookgreen. My mind has just been other places.
Now that Jason is post surgery and we are looking forward to his healing, the machine may just begin to call me again.
I nearly have enough Four Patch Fun Leader & Ender blocks to start thinking about a layout. How is yours coming along?

Did you enter to win on the Lahinch Gift-Away post? Click back there if you missed it.

Introductory pricing: I’ve placed the Lahinch PDF pattern at 25% off – no coupon needed -through 10/31/25. Hurry now and save!

Simple shapes and easy piecing create a stunning repeat of pattern and secondary designs – All from a photo taken of a vintage tile floor white traveling. Full color photos, Optional piecing methods, and directions to press for success!

Quilt size: 80” X 80”

And yes, there IS a Gift-Away!

I’ll be drawing for two winners who will each receive a Lahinch PDF pattern from me AND:

An Atlantic Sky color roll from Cotton to Quilts. And yes, they have other rolls to enhance your stash as well:

Along with the beautiful Atlantic Sky roll, they’ve got other Ireland themed rolls in all of the rich colors you need from Golden Sand to Cliffs of Moher (Chocolate) and Autumn Heather (Pumpkin).And be sure to check out the neutral rolls as well!

Of course, you can envision your own color plan for Lahinch Just choose 4 colors that you like together and add a background where I used lighter sand.

We will draw for our winners on Monday 10/27/25.