A change of plans...........

In the "blink of an eye", plans can change. And that's almost exactly how quickly things changed about 4:30 p.m. this past Friday afternoon.  My mother, Mary, fell and broke her hip. The afternoon was nice so she decided to go out for a little walk around her apartment and lost her footing just before she got back to her door. She was wearing her Lifeline necklace, though, and pressed that so it set phone calls in order, then neighbors saw her and soon the ambulance was there.  My brother happened to be away for the day in southern Iowa and my sister is in Maryland to help with her new granddaughter. And I'm here in Minnesota so it was a lot phone calls and hard to know what to do when we were all so far away. Neighbors, Tom and Dee, were there to help my mom who remained quite calm. I talked to her before the ambulance arrived and she said that her hip hurt abit but it wasn't all that painful. Once at the hospital, tests showed a break in her right hip. Her doctor called and said that she was doing well and he has tentatively scheduled surgery for noon on Saturday.   I'll leave early in the morning and will go straight to the hospital.  Prayers and caring thoughts for my mom are much appreciated.

A Quilting Celebration!!!

Will you be celebrating National Quilting Day this Saturday? 

I will!  We will also be honoring Women's History Month! 

You'll find me at the Henderson Public Library

with lots of quilt samples and fabrics and supplies.

There's still time to register. The class and supplies are all free!

If you are in the Henderson, MN area,

just give the library a call at 507-868-4058.

 

But wait!  There's more fun to share! 

You may be familiar with..........

............hosted by Ricky Tims and Alex Anderson............

 

They have lots of fun planned for quilters and stitchers.........

a big celebration of International Quilting Day! 

They are opening up free access to over 140 of their shows

from their www.thequiltshow.com website

starting today........Friday, March 15, through Sunday, March 17. 

Just click  here  to get all the details.

There will be oodles of prizes from companies like Bernina, Gammill,

Superior Threads, AccuQuilt, C&T Publishing, RJR Fabric. 

Ricky and Alex will have gift baskets to give away too. 

And the grand prize is........... 

 

 

 a new Bernina 550QE sewing machine!

 

Now winning that would really be a way to celebrate International Quilting Day!!

 

Have a Great Sewing Day! 

 

 

One more thing..........

if you'd like to see samples of the little quilt project we'll be working on at the library,

just take a peek at this blogpost when I shared the quilts on "What's on the line?"

It's all about Living............

doing it authentically, making it real.............
              and FOLK magazine is where you can find it.............

 

Last August I received a subscription to FOLK (check out this post to see how I learned about the magazine).  I keep the issues by my bed and I love to flip through an issue and find something nice to read before falling asleep.  The photography in the magazine is gorgeous. I dearly wish that I could take some of my quilts and things and create the look that you can find in FOLK. I tried to get "that look" in my photo above. I took one of my favorite old quilts that my friend, Judith, gave me and put it on the bed, placed my dulcimer atop it and spread out my three favorite issues of FOLK.  It took me nine tries to get a photo that didn't have glare so I clearly need some photography lessons!  I do have a friend that might be able to give me some tips so I'll have to give her a call. When it comes to lessons, though, the real thing I want I want to learn is how to play that dulcimer! It was custom made for me by Leland Ilgen, a wonderful dulcimer player that I met when I worked at Historic Murphy's Landing in the late 1990's (it's now known as The*Landing).  I spent a couple summers there as Martha, the dressmaker, and sharing the history of the late 1800's. Leland would often be on the porch of one of the houses playing tunes for the guests who visited the recreated homes and businesses. It was like "stepping back in time". Such a peaceful setting!  When Leland played those folk tunes, he loved to tell people how easy it was to play the dulcimer. He convinced me and I decided I needed one. I placed an order and he took the flower design from my business card and added it to the front of the dulcimer. I remember that my husband and I drove to his home in a terrible snow storm to pick it up. I kept it safe in it's case and some days, I'd get it out and just strum it a bit. I tried to play it and even bought a lesson book.  Then Real Life got busy and I wasn't able to spend as much time at The Landing so I never really got the lessons I needed from Leland.  And then last week, I discovered lessons on YouTube! Oh, my, I gave it a try and I may finally learn to play that beautiful instrument after all. As I strummed a rather off-key version of "Amazing Grace" tonight, I could not help but think of the stories my mother has shared about her Grandpa Whitt and his fiddle playing. He was from Missouri but his father, Elijah Whitt, was born in Fayette County, Kentucky in 1800 and the fiddle was handed down in the family. Maybe my dulcimer will be passed down through the generations. You never know. All I do know is that there has been a lot of good music and real authentic living going on through these many generations!!  I'll keep you posted on my musical progress. If I succeed at this, maybe I'll even share a tune on You Tube!

Spring is just around the corner, even though here in Minnesota there is still a lot of snow covering the ground. But the calendar says spring arrives next week and I am ready for it. I'm also ready for the Spring issue of FOLK.............

It will be here soon! If you'd like to see this issue arrive at your home, you can subscribe at 50% off, just click here and enter the code #FOLK.

And then, just like me, you can have a relaxing read before bed........

or with a cup of coffee in the morning .........

or a cup of tea in the afternoon! Just enjoy!

Have a lovely day!
Sandi

Oh, and yes, those are teeth marks on the FOLK issue that features the candy apples. Dear beagle Kaiser took a liking to the magazine and must have thought those apples were real!  :-)

 

A worthy venture.......

I don't think I've ever posted about something where I sent you to a link that asked you to donate. But..........I'm sharing this link because it's such a worthy venture.  The vision of young film producer and actress Nicole Kruex is an independent film titled "Boys Cry" and is about bullying and the chaos it brings to many people's lives. Please check out the link here and if you feel so inclined, please read .......... make a donation if you wish..........feel free to share the info on your blog or Facebook, too.
Thanks!
Sandi

Springing forward...................

Yes, I know that spring is near and yes, today I did "spring forward" and all our clocks are now one hour ahead. I am not fond of Daylight Savings Time. I hate losing that hour and wish that the time could be one way or the other and not switching back and forth. Anyway, it was an especially busy week and I seemed to be short on time. I spent some time working on the "Happy Town" quilt project but today after church, I just felt I needed to do something different. I have a "to do" pile of projects that is really getting deep and so I decided to work on one of them. This one to be exact............

 

This is a pattern project that Pat Sloan featured on her blog titled "Seasons of Grace". The stocking quilt is a part of the plot in Emilie Richards book "Sister's Choice" and she and Pat teamed up to share their designs and stocking patterns.  I read the book and really enjoyed it, and I decided I wanted to make the quilt. I did really well on getting the first eight blocks finished. And then..........oops! other things came up and the project went in the "to do" pile until this past weekend.  I had the blocks in my "car bag" so I finished up the circle stocking on the left and the star stocking on the right last Friday while in traffic. No.........I wasn't driving.......... however........... if I sew while my husband is driving, I am able to be more relaxed.  ;-)  And so today, knowing that I was down to just two stockings, I thought.........I could finish them this afternoon. I decided to make a boy and a girl........because I have two kids, a boy and a girl. In Pat's pattern, there is a stocking that is made from the selvedge edges of fabrics and I decided not to make that one so that I would have room to make two gingerbread folk.  Next Sunday, I will sew the blocks together. I have spring things to do and the "Happy Town" quilt to finish this week. If you want to get a head start on Christmas, you can check out Pat's blog. You'll find the pattern and info on Emilie Richards book here.

 

Winter is really hanging on here in Minnesota and the upper midwest so that might also be why it seemed appropriate today to work on a Christmas project. If the weatherfolk are right, we will may get to 40 degrees on Friday. Wow! Heat wave! 
Have a good Monday and a great start to the week!

Sandi

Making progress!!

I am making progress on the quilt I am making from Jacquelynne's Happy Town fabrics! Oh, yes, I am!!  Those charm squares that I added corner squares to are going to be the border around the HAPPY*TOWN panel...............

This afternoon, I'll be sewing the charm squares together as I listen to Pat Sloan interview Jacquelynne and Linda Arye from Quilts for Kids. Check out Pat's blog for all the details.....right here! And, if you want to learn more about the Quilts for Kids project just go here or check out Jacquelyne's blog today and even enter her giveaway!!

I am also making progress on another project.......
              ........ getting my Christmas stuff put away. Oh, yes I am on that one, too! Considering that it is the first of March and I'd like to put out some Easter decorations, I thought maybe I should finally put away the last Christmas tree and all my bears and books.

All the bears are tucked in baskets and stored in the closet now and the books are back in the special box for my treasured stack of Christmas books. Up next is taking the tree down. This one is in the family room in the basement and I would love to leave it up all year but I am getting some serious resistance from my husband. I'm hoping to get my mom up here for a visit this spring so it may not come down til she visits. She couldn't be here at Christmas but warmer weather will allow a trip soon. Well, that is if it stops snowing. We are getting another round of snow here in Minnesota. It's all good, though, because we have been in a bit of a drought, so I will not complain. I am thankful, though, that we have no place to go. I might complain if I had to drive in this stuff.
Happy Monday to you all! Off to the sewing machine..........
Sandi