Stripes on Route 66 and Daughter Update

It's a good thing that Jerry wants to help with my quilt, right???  Well, one would think that, unless they KNEW that he is even PICKIER than I am.  He was on his way to Dallas today to visit his daughter -- YAY! -- and he knew that I was going to be working on stripes on Route 66.  He called me at least 3 times to instruct me on how to do it.  He said I HAD to have a template and I HAD to REmeasure the whole quilt, and I had to figure out how to make the template be exactly like the white stripes with the black in between -- then lay that on all four sides of the quilt to be sure that 2 inch stripes were going to come out perfectly.

I told him I didn't want to have to do calculus to figure out how to finish this quilt.  He asked if I wanted it to be RIGHT or WRONG?  (Sounds like something I would say.)  He informed me that if I didn't get the exact measurement of every space -- black and white -- that it was NOT going to go around the corners right.  I told him I didn't care if it went around the corners.  I told him I would just have CROSSROADS -- they exist, don't they? -- where one road crosses the other, and they both have straight white stripes.  He told me that would not work at all!  "Now, LISTEN TO ME, JOY, you have GOT to THINK!!!  I am so glad he went to visit his daughter this morning (have not heard a thing yet),  and he was not here to make me make a template. 

So Jerry left for Dallas and I came upstairs to figure out what to do on my own. 

I decided sometime in the middle of the night that I was going to use white knit fabric to make my stripes.  Totally against "the law" of quilting to use knit fabric in a cotton quilt top, but....  If the Quilt Police haul me off, I hope they will let me take the quilt with me!  I had a large piece of white knit, so brought it to my cutting table.  I then ironed on some 1/2 strips of Steam-A-Seam 2 which is a tape you iron on the back of a fabric -- then you peel off the paper -- and the fabric becomes iron-on.  Very cool! 

Here I am cutting 1/4" wide strips to use for my stripes.

So I had a paper plate with 56 two-inch by 1/4" road stripes in it.  I rearranged my furniture so I could bring the quilt up off the floor, and I began drawing lines with chalk and placing stripes on the quilt borders.  NO TEMPLATES WERE INVOLVED!

PLEASE -- PROMISE ME -- You will NOT tell Jerry this -- but I had to cut 1/8" off of one white strip to get it to be the right distance away from its neighbor in one corner!!!

I KNOW!  Shocking!  Jerry must never know -- but what do you bet he comes home tonight -- takes one look at the stripes -- and picks out THAT one and asks me what happened to it.  Thank God it isn't on my car!  He notices door dings that I can't even see, and imaginary scratches in paint.  I told you -- he is pickier than I am.

I have all the stripes on the quilt, and they are all ironed on permanently and they are not coming off.  I did that on purpose, because I knew Jerry would make me move them all if he sees that one short one.  Here it is ready to go on the longarm as I get the backing made for it and the batting cut.



Jerry finally called and is on his way home from Dallas.  I have pictured in my head that he shows up at her front door -- after not seeing her for over 3 years -- and they jump into each other's arms and hug and cry and say how much they love each other.

Nope.  Jerry got there, and the realtor was there.  Our granddaughter was home from school today so she was there too.  He said they couldn't talk there so after the realtor left, they went to lunch at Mimi's.  He said they had a quiet table where they could talk, and they did.   I was the big meanie that always sent her the "hateful" (although not meant that way) emails, and her Dad was the one who never called her.

Jerry -- on the surface -- is a cold, unemotional personality -- but when you get to know him, he is amazingly wonderful, generous and sweet.  That is why I fell in love with him!  I -- on the other hand -- am a walking, talking emotion that nobody can ignore -- no matter how much they would like to.  If I'm happy, you know it.  If I'm sad, you know it.  If I'm mad, you know it.  We truly are a perfect match for each other.  Therefore, if my kids do something I don't think is right -- or if they hurt Jerry or mistreat him -- I IMMEDIATELY let them know about it.  Jerry just lets it roll off his back and doesn't say anything to them.  The kids resent me because I ALWAYS say what I think, and they resent him because he NEVER says what he thinks.  What craziness, huh?

Anyway, Jerry and his daughter had an all afternoon talk, and they worked out a lot of misunderstanding.  Jerry said she is going to call me or write me a letter.  Hope that allows time for me to see her before they are in California.  He explained to her that he really is a "cold" person, and that her just seeing him all her life on weekends didn't allow her to really know what he is like.  He agreed he doesn't call her much, but he doesn't call anybody much.  He told her he didn't know WHY exactly he was that way, but it could be a protective measure after having had a mean father who never once told him he loved him or even touched him -- except to hit him -- and it could have to do with having been left by her mother.  He told her that maybe it was his way of trying not to be hurt again.  He told her that she had to understand that that was just his personality, and it did not mean that he didn't care about her.  He told her he had been very hurt over this separation, but he didn't see how upsetting her more could fix it.  

They talked and talked and talked.  I'm sure it was very healing for his daughter.  Jerry is so sweet when you get him all alone in your own private world.  I'm so thankful that she wrote that letter, and I'm so thankful that her Dad went to her instead of writing a letter.  

She and her kids are leaving for California this weekend and will be there all next week.  Spring Break, I suppose.  Her husband is already working there at his new job as the General Manager of a Mercedes dealership.  I think Jerry said he is staying in a hotel.  They have bought a home there, but don't close for a few more weeks.  Then she will be back here to pack and move.  Hopefully, I will get a chance to help her pack and have some quiet time with her myself.

That's it for today.  Jerry should be home soon.  He stopped at Sam's for me on his way back.

Hugs, Joy