Early Sunday Morning in Wisconsin

two quilters who have the same last name; I decided we are 8th cousins

I have been on a quilting retreat in Wisconsin since Thursday afternoon. We are staying in a house designed for retreats. It is very comfortable, and we are being treated like princesses. I am getting a lot done, and staying up late, following my usual nightowl circadian rhythms. Quite fun. It will be hard to return to the real world.

After we arrived here a snowstorm arrived, and we were pleased to be in a warm, comfy place with lots of quilts to work on while living in a winter wonderland and nowhere else to go. We even had the "staff" arrive and plow out our driveway and shovel the walk. We got about six inches of snow. Gorgeous!



made this for Wrap a Smile



someone else made these blocks; I put them together for a project that my guild is supporting; it will get another border eventually

Friday Books: Unbroken

Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand is the true story of an American soldier, Louie Zamperini, during WWII. His plane crashes, and he and two colleagues drift at sea for weeks in a small raft. Near death, they are finally rescued, but it's not the rescue they were hoping for. They are captured by Japanese soldiers, and their nightmare continues.

At times this book is hard to read due to the situation Mr. Z must endure. But it was a fascinating story which I had a hard time putting down. Mr. Z survives and apparently achieves some fame, although I don't recall ever hearing about him.

A very good read that will keep you enthralled. I give it 4 stars.

I Made a Giraffe!

This is the Feb doll quilt I made for the monthly doll quilt exchange I joined this year. This was sent to my partner in Canada.

The theme for the month was "something you love" - so making a giraffe was my first inclination, and I was so happy with how it turned out.

We are supposed to keep it a secret until it arrives at its destination; word is that Ms. Giraffe is now in her new home in Canada, reminding her new owner of warmer days to come. So she is no longer a secret and is being revealed right here at Giraffe Dreams!

Doll Dress and Doll Blankets - I'm a Kid Again!

I have been having such fun making and purchasing home-made doll items. I gave two pretty Barbie dresses to my mom to deliver to my great-niece who is six. She loves all things girly and pretty, so I expect she will love the dresses.

Here is another dress I recently bought on e-bay. A different outfit came with the veil and the gloves, but I felt they didn't seem to match each other very well. I decided I would get a white dress to go with the veil and gloves, and voila! - a lovely bride outfit was born for Ms. Barbie.



As I accrue scraps, I am trying to use them right away to make doll blankets. These will go to our neighborhood agency that serves families in need. I'm planning way ahead, as most of these will be Christmas gifts ten months from now. As they are completed, I pile them on top of a baby doll I have here at home. She is keeping track of them until it's time to give them away. Here are my four doll blankets made so far in 2013. The two on the left are tops only; the two on the right are done. (I like blue.. I sew with a lot of blue!) I recently purchased (at a bargain price!) some great backing fabrics that will be perfect for doll blankets, so I'm all set for the year. As scraps accumulate, doll blankets they will become.



Having these doll clothes and blankets to make and photograph gives me giggles, bringing back fond memories of my own childhood. My sister and I used to play with our dolls for hours, and our older sister made doll clothes for us. What fun! My childhood was a happy time. I was a lucky kid.

Friday Books: Minnesota Authors

This week's book: Angle of Declination by Doug Mayfield and Sally Mayfield. The story is about a newly married couple and their first year of marriage. They do some moving around, take a couple of jobs in a cavalier, "why not" sort of way, have various adventures and moral dilemmas. As newly married people, they are trying to get used to being together as a couple. There is something of a mystery-like feel to the book, although it is not classified as a mystery. The mystery part is very mild (just enough for me, a person who doesn't read mysteries).

This was a really good book, showing the twists and turns of values and ethics. One can declare this is right and that is wrong, but life throws you curve balls, and the answers are not so clear. This book illustrates those dilemmas perfectly. It's very well written and a good "grabber" - a page turner. Added bonus: the authors are from Minnesota.

I give it 5 stars.

Dazzling Quilt Show, Part 2

As promised, here are a few pictures from my guild's annual quilt show. And here is my self-absorbed caveat -- most of these pictures are of my own quilts. I did, however, try to include a wider view so you can at least get a glimpse of the other quilts. A few of these are by other folks, and one is a row of quilts we made as a group to donate to the two charities we are supporting this year.

May I say that I hate Blogger's new system for uploading pictures? They are back to not posting them in the order I chose them, and not putting them into the paragraphs where I want. Even worse, the HTML codes are all jumbled up, so it's a pain to sort them out and separate them, if I want to. Arrgghh. Are there secrets to this system that I have missed?







P.S. Happy Valentine's Day!

Dazzling Quilt Show

Well... I must say that I am not an unbiased observer. I am very biased! I am a proud member of a good local quilt guild, and I love when our show goes up. Yesterday I attended the speaker and once again browsed around the quilt show. Saw some gorgeous quilts. What fun! It's dazzling, if I do say so myself.

The speaker was Maxine Rosenthal, the creator of the One Block Wonder. She was quite funny and entertaining and had some beautiful quilts.

I loved the cubes falling off. Notice how they become more and more solid as they fall.

She kept saying "This quilt is one of my favorites." Must have said that 100 times. LOL. I guess that's how we all feel about our quilts.

I love how she is not afraid to experiment with different patterns and shapes. Notice this one has an "unfinished" side. She said once she was teaching a class, and a student said "are we allowed to do that??" LOL! Thank goodness I've never had that fear. I'm not tied to rules and conformity. Not that I'm in her league, but at least I'm not afraid of breaking rules and trying new things in my quilts.

She loves the art work of M.C. Escher and tries to emulate his spirit of conveying impossible shapes. She has entered some of these in the state fair, and the judges will make comments like "where's the sashing?" Arrgghh! She has given up entering them in judged fairs.

Here's one that's not a One Block Wonder pattern. She wanted us to know she can do other types of quilts.

Once she thought to herself, "what would happen if you unzipped a quilt? Would colors and shapes fall out?" That's what this quilt shows.

This is another version of shapes and blocks falling out of a quilt.

a beautiful example of other styles she can do. This one is a quilted copy of a painting. I didn't catch the painting's name or artist.

Another thing she enjoys is buying suits at Goodwill and turning them into pillows. Funny! (Once she found a condom in the pocket of one of her purchased suit coats.)

That's the end of my photos of quilts by Maxine Rosenthal. Tomorrow I will show you photos of our dazzling quilt show!

Filling My Hours

My daughter and "son-in-law"


My faux son-in-law asked me what fills my hours, and I'm sure my answer sounded pretty lame. To a non-retired person, it doesn't make sense. But my days sure do fill up, and I'm busy as ever.

Yesterday, for example, I spent the whole morning on the computer doing some church work (emailing, writing articles for church newsletter, etc). Some of that I took on at retirement time, knowing I would finally have time to do it. Then I had to run errands such as mail a package and drop off some things at church, and pick up the donated groceries for the food shelf. Also hit the gym, as I'm trying to do regularly... forcing myself to go.

When I came home I finally had some time to sew, and before you know it, it was dinner time. There went my day.

Today I got up and did some sewing, then went to the gym, and soon it will be time to do my once-a-week tutoring assignment. After that I'm attending a lecture on quilting and attending our guild's quilt show. Another day "shot."

I'm still busy, and the time flies, but it's no longer busy with work duties, with life crammed into the short evening hours. Now I'm busy with things I choose to do such as deliver food to the food shelf, various other church duties, sew, and read, and do my regular life (I still have to do laundry, after all.. that never ends.)

Time is a funny thing. When one is young, there is never enough of it. Now that I'm semi-retired, time works more on my side. I get to finagle it a lot more. And now I'm wondering... when I'm super old, will time weigh heavily on my days? Will I be lonely? I hope not! But there's always that possibility. As long as I can still walk around and can still read books when I'm old, I think my days will be full.

Meanwhile, I'm having fun putting things I want to do into my time. And things I should do, such as go to the gym. I have lost 3 pounds! Seems like a good use of my time, don't you think?

Borrowed an Idea; Failed

Yesterday I was inspired by a quilt I saw at Crazy Mom Quilts blog. I adapted it to a smaller size and got busy sewing. I used blocks I purchased, pre-cut, for 50 cents (what a deal, eh?!). Well, I think I was too quick, not paying attention, got confused by my own math mistakes, and just careless. It turned out very curvy. It looks awful, and I'm not sure how to fix it. Well... I should say, fixing it sounds like a big downer. Drudgery, in my book.

It doesn't look too bad in this picture, because I mooshed it around on the design wall enough to fake that it is fairly straight, but it's not. See all those wrinkles? Those are the mooshey things I did to "fix" it.

It's a small quilt, so if I ever get it fixed (big if), I'll donate it locally to Bundles of Love.

To make myself feel better, I put a binding on this quilt and photographed it in the snow -- while it is snowing! This was made by me and quilted by Diane, and I will donate this to Bundles of Love.

Snowy Sewing

OK, we don't have fresh snow yet.. but a storm is on its way to my area, starting tomorrow, so I'm already in the "snowed in" zone and am sewing as much as I can.

I got these three blocks in the mail to Tammy for Sunshine. As I looked at the photo, I thought that arrangement would make a cute quilt pattern (alternated in each row). Another idea to add to my bank of zillion other ideas.

Today I got this top put together. It really came about through cleaning in my sewing room. I found a bunch of these crumb blocks in mid-progress, so I finished them up and made this top. It's small, so I plan to quilt it myself and donate it to my guild project, Bundles of Love.

Now I'll sit back and wait for the real snow to come so I can do my Snowed-In Sewing, which I love!

Friday Books: Slavery

Books unlock doors (which is why it was illegal to teach slaves to read and write)!

This week I read Kindred by Octavia E. Butler. At first I didn't want to read it, because it is classified as "science fiction" which is not my usual cup of tea. But it sounded interesting, so I gave it a try.

What a good book! It is about a young black woman and her white husband. She finds herself suddenly being transported from the year 1976 back to the mid 1800s on a slave-owning plantation. As a black woman, she must adapt quickly to her new status and prepare for danger at every turn. She travels back and forth in time on several occasions, always back to the same plantation and then back to her home in 1976. Once her husband goes with her, causing new stresses as their perceived status inequalities put a strain on their relationship. Usually she "flies" solo. It is never her choice; she just goes. Boom. There she is.

The juxtaposition of the times was so interesting! Butler did a great job of conveying the fear and oppression and anger and very mixed emotions and experiences that happen among slaves, between slaves and slave owners, and of course, with a modern woman confronting a radically different past. I read the book in a day and a half. I could hardly put it down.

I so appreciate a well-told story that helps me further understand the nuances of our history. This one gets 5 stars.

Zumba Gold

I went to Zumba Gold. Good thing I didn't go to plain Zumba. Zumba Gold (for old people) kicked my butt! I was exhausted. In fact, I left early, because I was that out of shape and pooped. There were 5 women and 1 man. All the women but one were "traditionally built". Even the instructor was not a svelte young thing. I am not sure if I like Zumba Gold (or any other color). At least this one class was reminiscent of aerobics classes I used to try back in the old days, cardio moves to music. I never liked those classes too much, and this was just a jazzed-up version of aerobics.

It was a good work out, though, and I could use a good kick in the butt at the gym, so ... maybe I'll convince myself to attend this class weekly and see how long it takes for it to become easier for me. I'm stiff and sore this evening, but I must admit it hurts in a good way.

Our annual quilt show (my local guild) started today, and I can't wait to go take a look. I'm going tomorrow. I have not seen any of it yet as I was unable to help on set-up day.

This is a quilt I made (and Diane S. quilted) but it's not hanging in the show... it belongs to someone else, so the show organizer allowed me to display a photograph of it instead.

Loving Life

Things are going really well these days. I'm most-of-the-time happy! Life is good.

As you may recall, I joined Anytime Fitness on January 15. I have actually been going! I get three free sessions with a trainer, and I have completed two of those. Most of the time I'm on the treadmill, but I'm slowly and gingerly branching out, thanks to the ideas I got from the trainer. I still can't remember most of what she taught me, but I'll get there, eventually. I'm not trying to be Body Builder Queen, just to work some of the other muscles besides what I do on the treadmill.

I kept my goals low and realistic (for me), hoping to go three times a week, which I have accomplished so far. Tomorrow I am going to do my first Zumba Gold class (Zumba for old people).

I am feeling really good. After the first two weeks of exercise I noticed a difference in my general well-being. I just feel better. So that makes me happy.

Hubby and I are both happy, sometimes working, sometimes hanging out, getting plenty of sleep, and feeling very little stress. It rocks!

Sewing and reading and doing church stuff fills my other hours, and that's all good, too.

Can't complain about much, so I try not to!

I'm thankful for:
1) fresh, new snow - so pretty
2) feeling great
3) good books
4) my mom, still perky at almost 92
5) making quilts - such fun!

(Almost) Too Much Sewing

This was a fun sewing weekend! My on-line guild, Sunshine, decided to dedicate the Super Bowl weekend to sewing for Wrap a Smile. We had little prizes, and had volunteers for various positions, posted lots of pictures, and kept track of numbers.

From Friday afternoon to Sunday night, I got six quilt tops put together, and I finished 8 blocks. That was a lot of sewing, and by the end I was tired of sewing. I settled down to watch the Super Bowl and promptly fell asleep! When I woke up, they were doing nothing, due to the power outage, so I watched Downton Abbey. After the break from sewing I'm once again feeling refreshed and ready to face the world. I might even sew some more!

When slapping quilts together in a hurry, they don't always end up to be masterful beauties, but they'll look cuddly once they're quilted and bound, and will keep some little kids warm after cleft palate surgery.

Here is what I made:

Started a day early and made this from scratch

made from blocks that I won

made from orphan blocks

I used blocks that were made by a friend

made from scratch

on this one I only had to replace an ugly border

blocks were made from challenge fabric that one of our members sent out


My only regret is that I stayed up sewing way too late on Saturday night, so I slept in on Sunday and missed church.

Oh - almost forgot - on Saturday I had a sewing break and enjoyed a fun gathering with my knitting and crocheting friends.

JW with hat she crocheted


I'm thankful for:
1) quilting friends and the fun of sewing together for kids
2) staying home most of the weekend
3) time to squeeze in a gathering with my yarny friends during a busy quilting weekend
4) yellow curry chicken with fried rice from Big Bowl
5) remembering to make this gratitude list!

My February Goal

The Lovely Year of Finishes is asking me to name my February goal. What I hope to accomplish this month is to create four more verb blocks.

I am making these gradually, plus have collected some from friends, to make a quilt commemorating my 60th birthday which was last fall. I am hoping the 60th birthday quilt will be done by my 61st birthday, but that is waaayyyy down the line (7 months from now.. I know the time will fly). For now I am hoping to create four more verb blocks for this to-be-done-later quilt.

Here's an example of one sent to me by Brenda S.:

Click here to see other quilters' February goals.

Friday Books: The Good and The Not so Good

Four Souls by Louise Erdrich
I love Erdrich's writing, but I must admit that sometimes I don't feel smart enough to grasp everything in her books. Part of it is the world view of American Indians spirit-based view juxtaposed with my western European science-based education. I just can't wrap my mind around some of the differences. Wish I could, but, it takes a lot of time and effort... and lots more reading. I keep trying.

This book was so beautifully written; I felt that each paragraph was full of so much deep thinking that floored me. It took me a while to get through the book, though, so I don't think it was a favorite, though some of the characters were such interesting conundrums that they endeared themselves to me. I give this book 3.5 stars.

My Secret Mother: An Adoptee Speaks to the Girls Who Went Away by Robert J. Bannon
Last spring when I read The Girls Who Went Away by Ann Fessler, I also found out about this book, My Secret Mother by Robert J. Bannon.

The first book is about girls who became pregnant and then "went away" to give birth and then place their babies for adoption. This focused on the years after WWII up to the 1960s. Mr. Bannon read the book and was instantly amazed at the insights it gave him about his own life. As an adoptee, he learned from that book what his birth mother might have experienced - something he had not thought much about up until reading The Girls Who Went Away.

He then wrote his book, My Secret Mother, which describes his thoughts as an adoptee and mostly his messages to his unknown birth mother. (Now in his mid-60s, he has never met his birth parents.) It was an interesting idea and an issue that interests me. Luckily, it was a very short book, because it was not well written. It reminds me of my own autobiography, which I started working on a few years ago. My own story is interesting to me, but is written by an amateur (me) and would surely not interest anyone else. That's what My Secret Mother reminded me of.. amateurish attempts at writing a life story.

Sorry, Mr. Bannon, to be so rough on you. I know this project was very important to you. I hope your birth mother was able to find your book and read it. But for me, it was not something I would recommend to anyone else. It's a good tale for you and your family to hold onto... a gem for them, showing your thoughts on this important topic. That's about where its value ends, in my opinion. This book earns only 2 stars from me.