Monday's Mantra.....Mary's gift..........

Have you driven in a car for many hours, taken a solo walk for miles, spent a moment in quiet and let you mind wander freely?.........This morning I awoke in the wee hours of the morning and the next 4 hours were all mine.....What a trip....

This weekend was a CELEBRATION! of family. Sharon, my sis, and I had so much fun working on projects together as the boys napped and played with their uncles. As you can see in this photo, my sister have such different piecing styles but the delight in the hobby could not be more the same! Mom was playing with us using her seam ripper on some of Sharon's snakes and was giggling saying that she loves to "Malinger".....she can malinger all she wants because it is always a fun time when she is around!

It was a movie moment.....Chariots of fire theme song played in the background, my eyes met the Glue sticks in slow motion and I just stopped in my tracks...It was like a chorus of angels.........I HAVE NEVER SEEN SO MANY GLUE STICKS IN ONE PLACE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! And the rest is history or at least helped create it as you will see in the next 2 photos.

Are you familiar with the fun and creative talent of Joe Tulips postcards? Well, last week I celebrated the flag she had gifted me and it was my turn to play with her inspiration! Sunday I awoke in a mild panic..."I do not have any projects to glue when we go fishing today. Well, a fine oppurtunity to go to Walmart on the way out of town and grab some supplies...." 2 Cheerio boxes, a JOY ice cream cone box, Shel Silverstein book and a quilt magazine...Hunkered down with my feet in the pond, had a riot chatting with sibs and was in awe that my 4 year old nephew continued to reel in trout, it was a hoot! And the cherry on the top for him? Finding a snake. I had enough material to create for hours as though I was at the dodgeball arena and could not believe that after a couple of hours we were ready to head....darn fish, we caught our limit to quick! But in this time frame, I made this fun postcard CELEBRATING! shopping for a mate. The front is the little town and thinking OUT OF THE BOX...the back, a little poem that when in fact one is looking for the perfect someone out of the box, they may just find them literally to be one! Excited to mail to my dear soul sister, Ms. Duff!

Last night was the winner for these sweet little boys, "It is like the Wild West at your house, Uncle Aaron!"....I will never forget the proclamation as they played in the "fort" and spent the night in the tent. They had a rope that they set by the tent door to catch a desert fox if it were to be lured too close to them....and of course the infamous flashlight was a must!

Do you recall that when you began reading this post, I asked about a long drive in the car.....Sniffles and tears as I recant the remainder of this post. I placed my desert scape pictured above on my front seat to inspire the final touches it is needing.......Easy to be critical of a couple of things I wish I would have done differently until.....Ms. Mary begins a sort of conversation with me....Blessed Be His Name by Newsboys played on my radio and as I listened to the words of traveling in the wilderness....I looked at the quilt and saw the buttes, the dirt, and Ms. Mary....She took on a new meaning this morning as I began to cry. Price is my hometown and where I spent this past weekend. On my brother's kitchen table was a newspaper and on the front page was an article that could have been from the Wild West of years ago....but instead is current. A young man, a son, a brother, a friend, a cowboy was shot dead by an envious man who then went on to kill himself. The young man and his family are icons of our town and the epitome of kind, loving, giving people. I was distracted through the weekend by the grief that the family would be experiencing and as a mother could not fathom losing my boys to death and be subjected to violence and as I drove home and saw Mary...I imagined her praying for Jeanie and whispering to her as a mother who had lost a son to violence and death, "I know the sadness heartache......" And as I cried driving home I knew that this quilt needed some steers and a cowboy on a horse that I spied at Quiltique recently. A CELEBRATION! of a young man and my hope that their faith can help comfort them.

I now understand why I love quilting with Mary of Guadalupe. She is a CELEBRATION! of woman, motherhood and an embodiment of strength.

My boys just arrived home as I am wrapping up this post and the hug of welcoming me home is just a little tighter as I think about Tate.....

Love, Em