The Five of Us, Spring 2014

The Five of Us, Spring 2014

Retrospective, Part 4

Finally, a sort of an update on our recent failed adoption and how I'm doing. Way back when (as you may recall) I began working on a purple quilt for Peapod. A is the kind of person who cannot rest until a project is completed. My mother is the kind of person who has a dozen works in progress at any given time. I sort of split the difference. I may have one or two projects going, but I have no inordinate compunction to complete them. In the case of Pea's Purple Piece, I had been waiting for a class in hand-quilting (ie--I sewed the pieces together by machine, but wanted to do the actual quilting by hand).

I took the class in April and began the work on the purple quilt in May. I took it along in the car on the way to GA to meet our potential birthmother to while away the hours of driving. I had worked on it a bit since getting home, but hadn't touched it in weeks. The other night I picked it up again and a flood of emotions overtook me. Emotions I didn't realize were there. Emotions I didn't realize were connected to my neglect of the hand-quilting.

This is a little difficult to put into words. I have turned a corner from dwelling on the disappointment and the previous situation to looking forward to a new first family and a new adoption. My thoughts have been more about what might be coming rather than what has passed. But, somehow, picking up that quilt again brought back all the weight of the emotions surrounding the last time I'd worked on it. The hope during the trip and disappointment that followed on its heels. While I was surprised to find those feelings hiding out in there, they weren't all that powerful and were easy to deal with. I guess you just never know what will bring up unresolved emotions.

I had planned on giving Siah the quilt for her birthday (she's seen it and knows it's hers, but I just thought that would be special). There's no way I'll get it done in time (5 days from now!), especially since I'm now considering appliqueing a butterfly or two on it as well!

Here's a few pictures of what I've been up to. The white "border" will be cut off--it's just extra room to work with. The idea is to start in the middle of the quilt and spiral outward. The hoop on the left in the photo is the area I'm working right now. It's very difficult to see any of the quilting in this overall view since the quilting thread is also purple.
Here's a little more detail. There are diagonal lines through the paisley borders, every two inches. And straight-ish, free-hand lines through the middles of the small bars. Some of the paler purples have free-form waves through them.

A good detail shot where you can see the stitches well. I'm really pleased with the dimensionality the quilting is providing.

I'll keep you updated on the quilt and the adoption as things progress!

1 comments:

Tarah said...

Beautiful work Rae.
Hand quilting is very tedioius.
I never did see the evite. when are you coming again?

My Man and Me

My Man and Me
married 7/7/2001

Punk

Punk
ours through biology, born 7/25/2004, home 8/1/2004

Pea

Pea
ours through adoption from Liberia, West Africa, born 7/15/2005, home 10/25/2007

Pup

Pup
ours through domestic adoption, born 1/15/2011, home 2/10/2011, final 8/3/2011

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Round Two Timeline

  • 9/24/08 Home study update home visit for Ghana adoption
  • 10/15/08 Dossier sent to AOHG
  • 10/15/08 I600A application sent to USCIS
  • 10/30/08 First heard about possible domestic private adoption
  • 11/18/08 Last spoke with contact about possible domestic adoption; expected to hear back about meeting with birthmother
  • 12/3/08 Withdrew application from AOHG
  • 1/6/09 Found out another family had been chosen for possible domestic adoption
  • 1/21/09 USCIS fingerprinting appointment
  • 1/8/09 Received USCIS fingerprinting appointment notice
  • 4/11/09 Sent Pre-Application to Covenant Care Adoptions for Domestic Infant Adoption program
  • 6/8/09 Social worker visit to update home study from International to Domestic
  • 7/24/09 Received completed home study update
  • 8/25/09 Went "on the list" for birthfamilies to choose from
  • 4/28/10 Found out a birth mom had chosen us
  • 5/8/10 Met the birth mom
  • 5/11/10 Got the call that birth mom changed her mind
  • 5/19/10 Birth mom's scheduled c-section
  • 11/30/10 Visit from DSS sw about foster parenting
  • 11/30/10 Got the call that another birth mom had chosen us
  • 12/21/10 Met with the birth mom
  • 1/15/11 @1:42 PM BB was born!
  • 1/19/11 ICPC (interstate) paperwork sent to GA for approval
  • 1/31/11 ICPC Clearance Approved
  • 2/10/11 Placement Ceremony and Pup comes home!!!!
  • 8/3/11 It's Official! Pup's Adoption Decree was issued