Today at lunch I was exhausted. Getting the second meal of the day for the three of us, all eating completely different foods. Bella had pizza and raisins, I had leftover fish stew and was mincing steak and potatoes and raisins and broccoli for Sophia.
And Bella was chattering away, wanting to play some kind of word game, where she says something and I must respond and she repeats and I must repeat. Ad nauseam. Literally. I was fighting not to be ill, knowing it was mostly the exhaustion. Counting down the minutes until nap time. And no patience at all for Bella’s games and need for affection which she expresses by circling my chair or Sophie’s and butting against me and wanting to sit and squirm in my lap. So I was answering her shortly or ignoring her overtures.
I even put my head down on the table and closed my eyes in between shoveling food at Sophie, who can put away more food than Bella at a sitting. Really.
And Bella noticed and said, “Mama’s tired.” And then continued to try to get me to respond to her game. And I almost snapped at her. And then she started on a new game, “Holy Mary and Baby Jesus, Mama.” I’m supposed to respond to her prompting, repeating it after her.
Sigh. “Yes, Bella, Holy Mary and Baby Jesus.”
“Holy Mary and Baby Jesus, Mama.” I guess she was looking at the icon on the wall behind me.
“Yes, Bella, Holy Mary and Baby Jesus.”
Yes, Holy Mary and Baby Jesus wouldn’t want me to snap at my poor little girls who were only being little girls, hungry and tired and needing affection and attention. It didn’t eliminate my exhaustion or my frustration, but it did make me pause. Indeed, I’ve been trying to turn more to Our Lady and ask her for help during my trials. And this is my trial. Not a huge mountain to climb, but responding pleasantly and with affection to my annoying child. Who once again all so innocently reminds me of where I need to turn.
Oh my goodness, what a stunner of a quilt! Goes to show what beauty can be created with something as simple as a nine-patch. I’d have had a hard time parting with that one!
Your RSS feed doesn’t work for me, Melanie, and I always realize how feed-reader-dependent I am when I click over here and see how much I’ve missed. I’ve GOT to be better about checking in on favorite blogs that don’t show up in my reader.
What a beautiful quilt1
Hmmm, which feed reader do you use? I’ll have to consult my <strike>technical support guy</strike> husband to see if he has any ideas. If not, then I suppose I can put in links to your blog every few days to remind you I’m here.
It’s funny the nine patch is so simple but it’s really my favorite quilt pattern to sew. I really like blocky patchy quilts and I like the challenge of doing something fancy within the nine-patch limitation. I guess it’s rather like a sonnet.
As for the quilt. Thanks I think it’s my favorite of all the quilts I’ve designed. I’m not sure I could have given it up to anyone but my sister. At least I’ knew I’d see it again. But she’s my best friend and the quilt was her maid-of-honor present too, a thank you for all her help with the wedding prep. And now that she’s come to live with us, the quilt has actually come back to live under my roof. I keep meaning to pull it out and do a photo shoot. I never did get shots of the finished piece with the bright yellow binding and the blue striped backing, which is probably my favorite fabric I’ve ever bought.
I use Google Reader. When I try to subscribe to your blog, it says “can’t find a feed.” Weird!
LOL on the linking!
Hi Melissa, try this. In Google Reader, click on the “Add a subscription” button and then paste in the following address: https://www.thewinedarksea.com/index.xml
I just tried it in my Google Reader account and it worked.
Mrs D,
I actually don’t quilt my quilts. I hand tie them, which is much, much faster. I use embroidery floss in a matching or contrasting color and I tie a little know every 3 or 4 inches.
The idea for this quilt came to me as I was falling asleep one night. The next day I drew out a rough pattern for myself on graph paper with colored pencils.
I think I might have actually done two or three different patterns before I was done. The original was very ambitious and had too many squares. I’d never have finished it.
Wow, that’s gorgeous. I love that color scheme and pattern. I have a quilt sitting in a bag that’s half-quilted, and likely to remain that way for a while…
BTW, did you work from a pattern making that quilt, or did you just put it together as you went?
really beautiful! Makes me sad that my sewing machine doesn’t work anymore!