Odd one out and other musings

I'm feeling a little out of sorts in my spirit today ... I am feeling like I just don't "fit in" anywhere, particularly at church.  I'm in the seniors age group, but I just do not fit in with that group.  At the risk of stereotyping them, they are just too curmudgeonly for me to feel like I fit in.  Life is too short and God is too good to be so grumpy/negative so much of the time.  Obviously, I don't really fit in with the younger group, since I'm an empty nester/grandparent/retired.  I have plenty of acquaintances who I can call my friends, but my soul is yearning for a really good, deep friendship.  Maybe I'm spoiled because I had that kind of friend ... emphasis on "had".  For some reason, 5-6 years ago she ended the friendship (rather abruptly, I might add) ... and has kept the relationship at the casual acquaintance level since.  So since then, my soul has a large empty spot that I yearn to fill.  Has anyone else gone through a fairly extended season like this?  Any advice, encouragement or words of wisdom would be appreciated.  ;-)

Sorry to start this post in such a depressing manner ... time to get to something less depressing.  ;-)

My quilting of DSIL's quilt is coming along fairly nicely; it's going to take about twice as long to quilt it as I'd hoped because I've doubled the amount of quilting in each block.  But I think it looks better, so it's worth it.  I've got 4 blocks completely quilted and 2 blocks half done ... in 2 partial days.  That's not bad.  If I can maintain that pace, I'll have the blocks quilted in less than a month.  But I know that I am not going to be able to maintain that pace, so my goal is to have it done by Christmas.  That ought to be doable unless I go overboard on quilting the outer border (5 1/2" wide); I'd like to do some kind of feather-y cable pattern (note to self:  run to Jackman's to find a quilting stencil for the border) ... that kind of quilting will take a while to do.  But I'm going to try for Christmas ... we'll see how it goes.  Man, this quilt is HEAVY ... I'm a little concerned that the batting might be too heavy, resulting in too warm a quilt (from someone who's chronically COLD, that's an odd concept, since quilts can never be too warm in my world ha!).  But DSIL is Mr. Hot Box, so I don't want the quilt to be too warm.  I'm using Warm and Natural batting; the description says People in Hawaii and southern states love its versatility!  Heavy enough for cold winter's nights, but light enough to snuggle up with when there is a slight chill in the air.  so let's hope that the heaviness is just from the size (it's a queen-sized quilt with a LOT more excess backing and batting).

I need to run to JoAnn's in the next couple of days; I need to get some felt yardage ... hopefully they'll have some really heavy duty felt.  If not, maybe Hobby Lobby, which isn't that far from JoAnn's.  I've been "commissioned" to make T#3's Halloween costume ... a red M&M.  I want really heavy duty felt so we won't have to stuff the M&M ... so it'll keep its shape.  Jackman's isn't all that far from JoAnn's either, so I see a bit of a road trip in my future (note to self:  don't forget to ask for the quilt guild discount).  ;-)

Fall is back ... cooler temperatures.  No rain yet (we could use some).  I love, love, love this time of year.  Cooler temperatures and lovely colors ... what's not to love?
No, that's not my tree ... yet.  It's a red sunset maple, and we do have one in our back yard.  Ours was planted last year, so it's not that big yet (although it is showing a little of that beautiful color this fall).


DH has gone to a coin show in St. Charles (about an hour away) with John, next-door neighbor/friend.  It's kind of nice to have the house to myself.  Seeing the sunshine coming in through the dirty, dirty glass on our doors tells me that I ought to get up and go wash windows/doors.  I think I'll just go quilt instead.  ha!


Have a blessed day, y'all!