Another one bites the dust

Gary and I went to Utah this last weekend to see our youngest grandbaby, Isaac, on his first birthday.  Just one short year ago, Carolyn, Bridget, and I made that same drive over and arrived in time to see him come into the world (and I got to cut the cord!) so it seemed fitting that Gary and I make the drive one year later.  Besides, Bridget had flown over the day before and she HAD to be home in time for class on Monday, and flights looked "iffy" so we needed to have a car over there so we knew she'd have a way back.  I gave her my seat so she could ride with Gary, and I flew back Tuesday in time for work (but wow, the work day is LONG when you get up at 4 a.m. to get to the airport in time for a flight that gets you to work for your whole day...)

Anyway, since I was in the car for the whole drive over, I got another baby blanket done.  This one is mostly white with little flower shaped holes and a rainbow border.  It can be for either a boy or a girl.  So that makes um... five?  (I should go count them.)  So anyway, I also started the next one, which I should be able to finish in the next few days.  I told Carolyn she could choose which one would be for Cassie, and I figured I'd give the quilt to Audrey Marshall (since she crochets she probably already has an afghan or two for her baby) but I'm not sure who will get which of the remaining ones yet.

I need to get busy on the others...

Another finished baby afghan...

Okay, so at last count I had seven baby blankets to do.  I have the green and peach one done, the white grany square with the red rose buds done, both pictured in previous posts, and the Disney baby quilt done, and now this one:

I don't know if you can tell or not, but those are little baseballs and footballs around the edges.  This one is for a boy baby.

My goal is to make these seven baby blankets out of the yarn I currently have on hand, we'll see if I can get that done.  I hope so, it'd be nice to make a dent in my stockpile.  But even if I end up buying a little bit, it's been fun and kind of challenging to come up with patterns that use up the little bits and pieces I have available.  Most of these (okay, so far ALL of them) are patterns that I've created out of my own head or combinations of various patterns that I've seen and thought would look better changed up a little bit.  And all of them (except the little Disney babies quilt) are small enough to use in a car seat or swing, because really no one seems to use big blankets anymore, they seem to want more portable sized blankets.

Fun.  :)

The heart wants what the heart wants...

Last week Gary went to Boston on business.  Years ago I could have bet that if anything was going to go wrong it would happen when Gary went out of town.  I’m not talking about little things like, “Oh darn, we’re out of milk, whatever will we do for breakfast?”  But big things like, “Why is there a foot of standing water in the basement?”  But for the last decade it seemed like that was a thing of the past.  Until THIS business trip.  On Tuesday night, about 8:30 or so, I got a call from the missionaries.  They asked if Gary was home and I said no, he was in Boston.  They said, “We’re in Commerce City, and there are some police cars at the Lxxxxx’s house.  And the coroner’s wagon just left.”

I got a horrible feeling in the pit of my stomach.  This was the home of our friend Dave L.  Dave is the same Dave I wrote about a few months ago, who married Marti when she was on her death bed, Marti who died shortly after they were married.  We’d been keeping in touch, of course, especially Gary.  Gary spoke with him on the phone nearly every day, and stopped by to see him a couple times a week.  Dave was struggling to get on with his life, was having occasional good days and more than his share of bad ones.  He’d used some of the insurance money to get an ATV, he was looking forward to getting out and using it.  We’d had him over for dinner, because other than that he mostly just ate stuff out of the freezer. 

Anyway, I called Gary and told him what they’d said and he told me he’d call me back as soon as he could find someone to go over and see what had happened.  About twenty minutes later, he called back and with a catch in his voice, said, “He’s gone.”  I was stunned.  Once the dust settled and the coroner’s report came back we learned that Dave had had a massive heart attack. 

As a result, we had houseguests from Missouri for a few days (Dave’s brother John and his wife Colette, who used to be in our ward years ago) plus their daughter who drove over from Provo.  They came to help clean out Dave’s home and to plan the funeral.  It was surreal, sitting in the chapel of the same little building where I had sat only a few months ago for Marti’s services.

The morning after the services John and Colette left for Missouri and their daughter left for Provo.  We have a few of Dave’s household items scattered here and there around the house, and when I see them I will think of Dave and the difference he made to us, the lesson he taught us about unselfish love and devotion to the woman he adored.  Yes, I will always think of how much he loved his Marti.  And how it’s possible to die of a broken heart.  Of course there are those who will say that this was just a matter of a man who had a heart attack.  Whatever.  

Wow, so many babies on the way...

There are a gazillion babies on the way and I'm trying to get an afghan done for each of them.  So far I have two done.  :)  I have to get three or four more done.  Here are pictures of the first two.

Bridget doesn't like the one with the roses on it, but that's okay.  When she starts a family I'll make sure she doesn't get that kind.  :)  I like it, plus it was easy enough that I could work on it at church.  (I don't like to work on one so difficult that I have to constantly refer to the instructions  during a lesson or whatever.)