Update on Fat Quarter Challenge Quilts

This year (starting in November) I became the coordinator of the Fat Quarter Challenge (FQC) at Quilts Beyond Border (QBB). It has been fun to get so many pretty quilts in the mail!

Here are some examples. So far we have received 21 FQC quilts, so I won't show them all to you - just a sampling. Just imagine how much fun it is to receive these quilts and see them up close. That's the fun I'm having! And everyone who sends in a quilt gets their name in the drawing for prizes. Send five quilts? Your name goes in five times!

Book Review: The Sound of Gravel

The Sound of Gravel by Ruth Wariner

The author grew up in a polygamist Mormon family, the 39th of her father's 42 children. She grew up in a colony in Mexico with occasional forays into California and Texas. Her family was large and poor. The story is similar to "Educated" which I also read recently. This family did send their children to school, but it isn't valued for very long. Many of them only finished up to about sixth grade.

Wariner endured a lot of deprivation and some abuse before finally finding happiness in her late teen and adult years. A captivating story, but too similar to "Educated" to have read so soon afterwards.

Book Review: Brideshead Revisited

Brideshead Revisited by Evelyn Waugh

Greater minds than mine have dubbed this book one of Waugh's finest achievements. Waugh himself was very proud of it and stated that only about six Americans will understand it. In that case, I believe I am in good company. I am not part of the six.

If you asked me, I would tell you this book is about friendship, love, family, religion, and lost people searching for meaning. Waugh himself says it is about religion. It's a story of a family and a few of their friends at the end of WWI in England, continuing up until the beginning of WWII. Brideshead is their family mansion.

Parts of it made for a good story; parts I had to slog through. I was happy when I reached the end.

Giving Away Quilted Hearts

Have you heard of this little project: "I Found a Quilted Heart"? You can read about it here: Ifoundaquiltedheart.com

In a nutshell, you make a small, quilted heart and post it somewhere out in public for a random person to find. If you're lucky, the finder will go to that website and tell about finding the heart. I like doing this simple kind of random thing... sometimes I feel a little embarrassed, like it's just a silly thing. But some of the finders' stories are really poignant. They might find the heart on the anniversary of their child's death, or they find it right after getting engaged, or they find it after getting good (or bad) news regarding surgery, or they find it where they enjoyed their last walk with their grandma. Those stories make me keep making the hearts, even though I may never hear about "my" finders' reactions.

I will admit, I would love to hear more reports from finders than I do. I tell myself "Self, these hearts are out there just to give someone a little bright spot in their day, not for you to get a pat on the back" and I do believe that. Yet..it would be fun to get another report now and then.

Since I'm getting very little feedback from finders, I decided to show you pictures of a few of the hearts I have dropped around Minnesota. (I try to hide some every time I am in a different town or suburb from my own, and have left several in my own town as well.) And I'm excitedly looking forward to dropping these in an exotic place that I will be some time in the relatively near future (details will show up here, eventually).

If you decide to join in the fun, be sure to go to the IFAQH site and read the rules. There are some places we are not allowed to leave the hearts, and they want only certain wording on the little tags.

Here are the finders' photos (of hearts I made) from the site:

Giving a Quilt to Two People

Today I met Bonus grandson and his mom at a McDonald's that has a playland. I had a quilt to give him, but he was more interested in playing on the climbing things. His mom loved it! It's a very simple pattern, but she was overwhelmed with the soft minky backing. It was fun to see her loving it so much. We could only get Bonus' attention long enough to touch it for a split second. Couldn't get more than his hand in the picture. (I have a feeling he and his mom will be sharing this quilt.) He does love to climb and play! It was a fun Bonus day. He always makes me happy.

Book Review: The Audacity of Hope

The Audacity of Hope; Thoughts on Reclaiming the American Dream by Barack Obama

I listened to the audio version of this book, read by Barack Obama. It was so nice to hear his voice and listen to his eloquent sentences. He examines what makes government work and how decisions affect things such as economy and the welfare of our citizens. I love his intelligence. He likes to fully understand issues and maintains high confidence in the goodness of people. He wants government to be more intent on working for the good of everyone. After all, he says, "we have a stake in each other."

I read some reviews by Republicans who said they also appreciated his overall look at government and his understanding of the issues while providing an evaluation of politics in America (i.e., not trying to persuade toward a particular side). I agree; I think readers of any persuasion could appreciate the wisdom that he offers in this book. A tiny bit of it is outdated as he wrote this while he was a senator, but that really is negligible.

Book Review: Educated

Educated by Tara Westover
I had heard so much about this book, I was afraid all the hype would affect my enjoyment of it. However, it wasn't long before I was hooked in and could hardly put it down. I read it all day on New Year's Eve and finished it at 3:00 AM on New Year's Day.

The author grew up in a survivalist, Mormon, very strict and conservative family in the mountains of Idaho. They did not believe in participating in any government or public services, and avoided the Medical Establishment at all costs. Consequently none of their seven children ever attended any school. Unbelievable were the ramifications of never allowing medical intervention even in the face of serious accidents and illnesses. At times the details were hard to read!

She eventually does go to college and has some seriously eye-opening experiences due to her complete ignorance of many commonly understood historical and cultural events. She struggles to establish herself as a separate person, on her own and unencumbered by strict family teachings. As she learns to think for herself, her turmoil grows more over-powering. Adjusting to what most of us would call the "real world" was incredibly difficult. This struggle between her own yearnings and the psychological/spiritual/moral background she grew up with was captivating. It brought to mind some of my own thoughts on family, culture, and independent thinking (though to a much smaller degree than she dealt with). It can take a lifetime to sort out how much is one's own choices and how much is family indoctrination, good or bad as it may be.


unrelated photo which I found at Facebook... Wow!

Our Christmas

We decided to do a different Christmas celebration this year. Instead of partying at home, we decided to stay at a hotel. We liked this alternate plan and might do it again next year.

Entrance to the hotel

Our kids had the adjoining room. This is our room.

Park lights from above:

my Christmas morning hot chocolate

Book Review: a "Stupid" Book

Girl Last Seen by Nina Laurin

A young woman who had been kidnapped and abused as a child is now free physically but not emotionally (yet). Then a young girl who looks a lot like the young woman is kidnapped, and the young woman becomes entangled in the search.

A quick read, not my usual genre. I am tired of books in which girls/women are victims. Writing them to emerge strong doesn't change the fact that they were victims of cruel men (not to say this character emerged strong). Let's change the model.

2.5 stars out of a possible five. I kept telling my husband "this is a stupid book" (not well written). I don't know why I kept reading it, except just to hurry so I could get on to other books.

Will I manage to finish another book while it is still 2019?? Let's see...……..

Book Reviews

Under Ground by Megan Marsnik

I found this book at the library and was glad to get an interesting, Minnesota-related book I had not previously heard of.

A young woman from Slovenia emigrates to the USA, specifically to a small mining town in northern Minnesota. Mining is the main employment there. The company takes advantage of the miners, paying them badly, ignoring safety precautions, housing them in company-owned, ramshackle shacks, doing anything they can to make a profit at the expense of the workers. Finally the workers get fed up and go on strike.

The incidents described in this book are historically accurate. The town, Biwabik, is an actual mining town in Minnesota. The strike and the events described here are historically accurate. The story is fictionalized by combining events or making composite characters who experience what really happened. The history was well researched; the book was written by a woman who is a descendant of Slovenian immigrant miners. It was an interesting book; I enjoyed the glimpse into Minnesota history and especially enjoyed the perspective of women's role in supporting and advancing the union cause.

A thought about my previous post: thank you so much for the kind comments. I really appreciate your notes. You are all correct; depression is complicated and difficult to solve. I'm doing a little better and hope that I continue to improve. Friends and family are helping.

Turns Out I Was Right

[featuring random pictures of quilts made by me]

Once upon a time there was a woman named Carol who loved quilts and wished she could make some by herself. She didn't consider trying, because, she thought, "I'm not patient enough." With the encouragement of friends and her mother, Carol finally decided to try. Her first attempt was a pot holder (haha.. it turned into a quilt).

After that she was hooked and has been making quilts like crazy ever since. It has been 20 years and 4 months, and she is still going strong. Or is she?

That Carol is me, of course. Lately I have been feeling uninspired.

I know, slumps are normal. I go through them periodically and just wait.. eventually I once again get enthused.

In recent weeks I have been dealing with some major-ish depression. I'm getting help with it, but it is causing me to ponder and re-think everything about my life. This includes my quilting.

When I see all the gorgeous things other quilters create, I realize, "I will never make that. I'm not patient enough." So, while my quilts are pretty, and I enjoy making them, and people seem to appreciate them, I will never achieve that awesome level that so many have achieved and seem to maintain. It turns out I was right about myself. I'm just not patient enough.

I don't have what it takes to do the projects that require stick-to-it-ive-ness. Once in a while strange things happen, and I make a masterpiece. I have done that twice. Most of what I make, however, is "nice." I think I'm OK with that. I don't need to be famous; I don't need to be making top-of-the-line awesomeness every time I sit down at my machine.

my masterpiece

I get the most joy out of making charity quilts. I love to make them pretty. After all, poor and/or sick kids deserve some beauty in their lives, too. I have never uttered the words "it's just for charity" in the sense of making ugly stuff is OK because it's for charity.

Meanwhile I'm waiting for my enthusiasm to return. I have been sewing, but I can only manage the mindless stuff. Things that don't require careful 1/4-inch seams, for example. Scrappy stuff. Quick stuff. While the depression rages on, it's all I can manage.

And when I get back to being enthused, I will be happy with "nice" and accept the fact that I am not patient enough to achieve that certain level of art and beauty that I so admire in other people's work. To be honest, I'm even OK with not being patient enough to do that type of sewing.

Charity quilting is what makes me happiest. Meanwhile, I'm trying to remember how to feel happy. It's just one of those dips in life. While being not fine, I'm fine. Things will look up once again.

Misc

Giving Away Quilts

Recently I decided that I own way too many quilts. Most of what I make is for donation to charities, but occasionally I will keep a quilt for our household. I had not noticed that the number of "keeps" was getting quite high -- so many that we couldn't possibly use them all. Therefore I decided to give some away, and let me tell you, it was SUPER FUN!

I took some with me to our Thanksgiving gathering and offered them to my nieces and others. To be honest, I was surprised at how happy they were to choose a quilt from the pile. It was fun for me to watch.

Nieces and my first-cousin-once-removed

Next I sent this one to a former co-worker. I knew she would be blown away. She always has the nicest comments about my quilts, but never in a million years thought I would send her one. I sent her this artsy one that seemed to be her favorite style. This is what she said on Facebook:
When an old (as in, from long ago) friend makes and gifts you a *perfect,* GORGEOUS, exactly-you quilt just out of the blue (pun only partly intended) and for no particular reason other than she’s amazing...OMG, Carol! *T*H*A*N*K* *Y*O*U*!!!

Then she changed her Facebook profile picture to this one, with the following caption:
The amazing Carol Egan made this for my Human. I know. I can’t believe it, either.

Then I sent this one to an old (as in, from long ago) - [see how I borrowed the above person's wording?] - friend from high school days. She is also a quilter, so it's not that she needed a quilt from me. I just wanted to communicate my appreciation of her, and this more traditional pattern seemed right, in my mind, for her. There's even a block that says "I love quilting," appropriate for her.

And finally I sent these two quilts, along with some other gifts and supplies for Christmas, to Rosebud Reservation in South Dakota.

This was surprisingly fun and satisfying for me. I recommend it! Do you have a pile of quilts not being used? Try surprising people with the gift of a quilt. They and you will have a blast.