Can You Go Home Again?

Is there truth to the saying "you can't go home again"?  We found that there are two answers to that question when we recently traveled back to Kansas for an aunt and uncle's 60th wedding anniversary party.   

It had been several years since our last visit to the county where my husband and I both grew up.  In the early seventies, the small high school that D attended was closed  and combined with my "larger" high school in the county seat, twelve miles down the road.  When Mr. B assigned desks in Journalism class, our lives were forever changed when the handsome new boy in class was seated next to me.  We've been together ever since!  

After attending college (Kansas State, together of course!) and a couple of years in the mountains of Colorado (perhaps another blog post someday) we returned to start a small business and our family in that same small community.  Times, careers and lives change and now we find ourselves and our family spread across the Midwest.  So after an absence of several  years, we made a trip "home" again.

This is such a sad photo. I have to admit a few tears were shed when we drove out to the farm.  The house on the family farm homestead where I grew up is no longer standing.  It was bulldozed and burned last year to avoid it's inevitable collapse and ruin.  This was the view looking out the front door to the west.  The scorched trees are evidence of the heat from the century old walls, hardwood floors and white  porch posts that are only a memory now.  The white lilacs, irises and tree swing were gone long before that.

The lonely frame of the big old swing set still stands, giving a reference point to where the back porch door opened to the yard and garden behind the house.  Most everything else, the barn, chicken houses, grain bins and garage, are all gone.  So, nope.  Can't go home.

We drove up to the little town where D grew up.  Another sad sight.  The last time we were here, someone was living in the house that his dad had built back in the late sixties or early seventies.  But now it looks to be completely abandoned and in pretty bad shape.  Hopefully, it is only temporary.

A few miles outside of town was D's grandparents farm.  All that is left here is the skeleton of the windmill.  It was getting dark but we took a few minutes to walk around and take some photos.  D spent a lot of time on this farm as a boy while his mom battled cancer in a hospital in Kansas City. He sometimes would drive the lawnmower from his other grandparents home in town out to here. Not a speedy trip, I'm sure! 

 Another stop on the tour of homes that were.  This is the house that we built back in 1980 and where we lived when our two youngest children were born.  I'm not sure who lives here now, but it was satisfying to know that they are taking very good care of it.  The workshop now seems to be a barn and home to some goats and a horse.  Something our kids(at least one of the girls anyway!) would probably have loved to have done if we'd stayed here.  

But, even though those houses are either gone or occupied, that doesn't mean we couldn't go "home" again.  After all, these last photos are part of what we think of as home!

Thanks for riding along on this trip down memory lane!

Quilts, Superheros and a Tip

Well, we do occasionally stay home.  And when I get in the mood I do manage to indulge in a little quilting time. It seems like it takes me longer than it should to get a little project done.  This little lap quilt was to be part of my DIL"s birthday present.  Her birthday was in May!  Since she lives in a house with three boys, I thought she deserved a little something "girlie"!  This little quilt kit had been languishing in my stash closet for several months.  It's made from Kate Spain's Verna line that came out quite some time ago.  The little ruffles and raw edge flowers were a fun variation.

There was enough fabric in the kit to make a little baby quilt for the "new kid" in the neighborhood!  Sorry, this photo is a kind of dull.  I used this one to practice some free motion quilting, something that still frustrates me. I guess it turned out okay but I still need a lot of practice! 

Mama got the ruffles, but little J wanted to be a Superhero!  So with a little blog browsing I came up with a tutorial for this reversible Batman/Superman cape.  It was a BIG hit!  But I think the true Superman in this family is the Daddy who does dishes!  

So being frustrated with the whole machine quilting thing,  I signed up for a machine quilting class over at the Smocking Shop.  It was a great class, but I came home realizing the only thing that I really need is to practice, practice, practice!  And maybe take another class or two!  I'm doing much better with the straight line quilting and picked up some new tips to help with that.  Probably the best tip was this, the Frixion highlighter by Pilot.

You must try this for marking lines! Use it instead of chalk or the disappearing marking pens that are sold for quilt marking.  It doesn't gradually disappear like those purple pens do. It disappears with heat and you simply iron it away when you are done!  It works great for embroidery too.  (Of course you want to test it on your fabric first, just in case.) I found mine at Staples.

Aren't you all lucky!  This makes two posts in one week and now that I've provided my one sewing/quilting tip for the blogging world, I'll call it a night!  Thanks for stopping by!