Progress report

Thought I should show you a little of what we are doing this long weekend. Leisl picked me up Thursday morning and we drove the ~2 hours to Nancy's house near Long Prairie. Moved all our sewing equipment into her luxuriously large sewing room and kicked into gear. I did go out for some groceries on Friday but otherwise we have been perfectly content to sew, cook, talk, watch movies, etc., without interruption. Here's a sampling:

Very Important News!

We have been working on our fundraiser at Bear Patch Quilting Co., and have a great chance for you to donate to Susan G. Komen Foundation for breast cancer reserach and take home a wonderful handcrafted item. Even if you are far, far away, we want to include you in the fun! So if you look at the front page of the store's website, you can click through to a display of each item. Then you can call or email the store to find out what the current bid is and add your own bid. We have 17 items from little things (like a dishtowel and dishcloth) to big things (like quilts) so there is sure to be something to interest you. Please take a look and help us make this a super fundraiser! Thanks!

wonders of nature

We are treated to some great images with our changing seasons. On Saturday I took some pictures of the pretty fall colors, which never seem to look as good in the pictures as they do in real life with real sunshine highlighting the leaves.

Then yesterday I watched the snowflakes coming down and piling up on our patio furniture which hasn't yet been put away for the winter. Most of that snow has disappeared by today, but there is still some white stuff out there. This is only October 14 and already I've had 3 snows--one out in CA and 2 here in the week that I've been back home. Very odd weather, but at least so far there has been no shoveling!

family heirloom

One of the fun parts of preparing for Brita and Ben's wedding was knowing about the quilt that my mom was making for them. It started last winter, I think, or thereabouts. The Tessallating Leaves pattern (I don't know the designer) was a good pick because the kids have an affinity for the outdoors and nature. The fabrics came from Bear Patch, the border fabric was from a Moda line and then I picked out numerous coordinating prints. It was a major chunk of sewing time for Mom and required careful planning to get the layout correct. Then she loaded it up on a frame in the living room and handquilted the whole thing. It turned out beautifully! It was fun to keep the secret, even when Mom made a set of coordinating pillowcases and gave them to Brita at her shower in August.

This picture was taken after the rehearsal dinner with my mom and dad, Ben and Brita. It was very special to also use the quilt as part of some wedding photos. The golden fabrics in the quilt blended perfectly with the tall grasses. Future generations will be able to know the history of this one!

Cheers!

If you are looking for some good ideas for free motion quilting designs, take a look at this good website. A new design every day! One thing I really like about this is that there are not just pictures of the finished design, but a video showing the actual process. And the designer narrates with such a calm, cool voice that it makes everything seem totally achievable.

This came to my attention from my sister, Jan, who also loves needle and thread. She has some good info and even tutorials on her blog, so give her a visit!

You will find a bit of overlap in some of the things we have posted, most noticeable recently because her son and my daughter each had a wedding within a month of each other. Jan lives way out in San Francisco, so for a long time that has been one of my favorite places to visit. And she has been a great surrogate mom for both my kids who for a variety of reasons have migrated to CA, and that helps ease my mind a bit when I think about my kids (young adults, I know) living so far from me. This picture was taken at my daughter's wedding reception one week ago yesterday, and is appropriate because if she's not holding a needle, she's likely holding a wine glass! So here's to you, Jan!

Truly Vintage

So about 59 years ago, a lovely young couple were wed in a little church in a little town in Iowa. Fast forward to 10/3/09, and the same cake topper graces the wedding cake of their grand-daughter. What a good feeling when the circle keeps going on and on and on...