It's almost as if it was waiting for Memorial Day to arrive. The significance of the first bloom on a red poppy on this day isn't lost to me. I went in search of some information about how red poppies came to be associated with Memorial Day, and I found this article. Interesting.
Yesterday, I went out to clip off the rotten bud. While I was there, I took a picture of this one, which appeared to be the next most likely to bloom. You can see that it hasn't even begun to open, and so I expected to wait another several days.
It's truly an incredible flower. The red is so bright that I've had to back off on the saturation in Photoshop to avoid losing the details.
It's just a little shy and not yet fully opened. I expect it will open all the way as the temperatures rise with the sun.
Yesterday I had some cooking to do. I baked a loaf of bread and made two salads for our Memorial Day get-together with Erik and Mae this afternoon. Looking forward to that. I was able to make my way into the sewing room in the afternoon, however, and I cut the remaining pieces for the Guatemala quilt. (I'm going to have to think of a better name for it.)
Now it's just a matter of sewing everything together. I wanted to finish the cutting so that I could fold up the fabric and set it aside. I needed to make way for the next block for the Dancing Chickens and Flying Pigs quilt. These are so cute.
All the applique is fused and top-stitched, and it's ready for hand embroidery. The little quilt is made from individual pieces, each fused individually. I stitched around the edge with the usual blanket stitch, but I wanted the interior seams to be suggestive of a crazy quilt.
For that I used Stitch #308 on my Bernina 750QE machine, but I needed to make the stitch both shorter and narrower, and so I turned the width and length settings down about halfway.
And that took almost all the rest of the afternoon. This being Monday, I'm linking up to:
This morning, I'll spend some time slow stitching on the barn. I expect to finish that today, and then I hope to get at least a little more sewing done on the Guatemala quilt. I'd really like to have that into a finished quilt top by Friday. Also, I'm one block behind on the Tiny Tuesday blocks, and a new one will come out this Tuesday. I'll probably wait until then and do both at the same time.
For now... Happy Memorial Day, everybody. I grew up in a military family. My grandfather was a WWI veteran. My father was a WWII and Vietnam veteran. Our family was fortunate to have never lost anyone on the battlefield, but we knew many families that were not so lucky. While we remember our heroes lost on the battlefield, I want to acknowledge one of the unsung heroes with this picture of my mother, a championship military wife. In this picture, she's getting ready to make breakfast for our family in one of our many treks back and forth across the country.
She was the glue that held our military family together. She didn't serve in the military, but she kept the home fires burning while my father deployed for years at a time to serve his country in far-off places. It takes a village to raise a child, but it takes a military wife to raise a military family. Here's to you, Mom. Gone, but never forgotten.
11 comments:
How special to have that poppy open on today! Yeh, the first one got too wet and I hope the rest of your buds bloom with the same brightness as this darling.
Kansas City, MO has the national WW I museum. You walk in across a "glass" floor. As you look down, you are walking through a field of red poppies. It is most moving, as is so much of the museum. I'm glad you have a great poppy of your own.
What a fun surprise to find today. The poppy is very pretty. I didn't realize they had purple centers. Enjoy the family time today.
What a lovely comment about your mother. And the photo.
Well said. I also grew up in a Military family, with my father serving in WWII and Vietnam. I agree it takes a Military spouse and family to serve, not just the soldier who is sent off to serve. They all sacrifice on behalf of our country.
I love poppies, got my first ones this year and I have a mix with red, yellow and orange, love the colors.
Your new projects are wonderful, it amazes me how many you work on at a time and actually get them done, I am so behind. Wonderful photo of your mom, my dad retired before I was born, since I was the last of eight, so luckily we got to stay in place.
Debbie
Military wives have never gotten enough credit for "serving their country" They truly are the "glue" of this country
So glad you finally had a successful bloom of the poppy! It is gorgeous! Amazing it picked that day to bloom....very special.
My dad was a soldier who served 23 years, 3 of my four brothers wore a uniform. Two retired from the military. One sister in law also served. Currently a niece is serving. Living as a family with a military member is a lifestyle as no other. We moved every few years. By the time I reached high school I’d gone to 14 schools. My mom was the one responsible for packing up the house and setting up the new place. There were limits in pound of what you could take so each move had her purging all things not loved or necessary. My dad was usually at the new duty station as this was being finalized and mom would get us to the next place with the orders in hand. Getting each kid into the next school and getting acclimated to the new place needed to be done quickly. We usually were stationed in remote areas. It was a lot of work just to live the daily life when you throw in the constant moves with 5 kids one needed to be extremely organized. Some have difficulty with the constant changes. For me it was an adventure.
My parents were married after my dad came back from the war, but I completely get the tribute to your mom. I wonder how many times she said goodbye to your dad and wondered if he'd come home, along with having kids to raise. She deserves a tribute; it can't have been easy. That poppy is just glorious! What fun that you woke up to see it too, and on Memorial Day. We have had rain here yesterday and some today, but it is clearing. We have the funeral today, so a little sunshine would help.
A poppy with perfect, precision timing!
My Dad was a WWII Navy SeaBee in the South Pacific. 4 of his brothers and 1 sister-in-law all served - and came home - in that war. I do agree that your mom was one of many unsung heroes of military families.
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