A visit to the Post Office

I made a visit to the Post Office today. It's the first time I've been out since last Friday when I went out for groceries. Our wintery weather has been........well.......very wintery!!! While we had snow, the wind blew so hard that the driveway was clear of snow and only the end of it had to be shoveled. It was good to get out although kinda cold.
It was good to see Connie, my Postlady and I had lots of packages to mail to winners of the prizes at last Friday night's Quilt-In. I used to go to Quilt-Ins at our guilt group and enjoyed visiting with friends. This was visiting with quilting friends but just not meeting them in person. We still had a lot of fun!!!! So here are the packages that went in the mail........

I had some others to mail, too, so when Connie saw the whole pile she said, "hey, while I do your packages let me show you what I have"..............and she went to the back room and brought out a big old scrapbook and it was filled with Valentines and Christmas cards from her great Aunt Anita. They were lovely. The book is huge - 15 x 15" at least and I think it was an old sample book as it has advertising on the pages. This was a common thing to do back then. Connie said it dates to the 1920's and I was thrilled that she shared it with me.

That big full page valentine has a pull-down section where it says "To My Valentine". It is lovely.

I was just in awe of this treasure............

I have three old Valentines that are from the same era and belonged to my great Aunt Bell, plus some of her Christmas cards with penny stamps on them. This album, though, was just amazing. Interestingly, I have scrapbooks of my kids valentines from the late 1970's to mid "80's. Do you suppose one day someone will go "ga-ga" over those, the way I did over Connie's album today?

On a more serious note, some of you who read my blog are quilters who made a block(s) for the fund-raising quilt for Connie's granddaughter, Emma, who has cancer. Emma had been doing so well in treatment but the tumor has begun to grow again. To read the Caring Bridge post that Emma's mother wrote, you can go here . The quilt that was made, was given to Emma, both the large one and the smaller one. Pulling it all together was hard as I found myself still coping with my dad's passing and my mother's health issues. But making that quilt is what led me to make the blocks for the quilt I am now calling "Grace and a Prayer". That quilt will be in memory of my Dad and also all the men from our town of Lehigh that fought in WW II. I am not sure where the quilt will go when it's finished but just working on it means they are not forgotten.

It's time to call it a day. Goodnight all and have a great day!

Sandi

Emma's Quilt Update

I said it would be a couple hours and I'd be back but I called my mom because this would have been my Dad's 83rd birthday and then, also talked to my brother............but I'm here now. :-) I told my mom that I had posted the story about the flagpole to my blog and she said there had also been a nice little piece in the local paper. :-)

It's time for me to give you an update on the quilt made for Emma's Hope fundraiser. I have thanked everyone who made a block(s) for the Emma's Hope quilt and want you to know just how much your time and talents were appreciated!
The large quilt made $400 at Silent Auction. This was not nearly the amount one might have thought the quilt would make but the good news in this ............ the person who bought the quilt has presented it to Emma and her family.

As you know, I chose some blocks for a small quilt that would go to Emma and I did that for two reasons..........one, while I noted in my first post that this was to be a fundraiser quilt, some of you thought the quilt blocks were going to be used in a quilt for Emma. And two, I had a hard time making a quilt that was just for fund-raising and wanted something that would go to Emma so I laid out all the blocks and the ones that needed to be in the big quilt just fell into place and the more personal ones just worked in the smaller quilt. The large quilt was then handquilted and bound. The smaller quilt is being handquilted by Esther, the lady who organized the group for the larger quilt. Connie, Emma's grandma is going to back the quilt with the small lap quilt that was received in the block donations. When that one is finished, I'll post a picture. I also will post a picture and the names of each person who made each of the blocks. I think I will get to that later this week.

I loved the end result of the large quilt. The pictures make it look good but when you saw it in person, it was truly stunning. I don't say this just because I was involved in the process. I am hearing this from people who saw it at the post office or at the fundraiser. I want to make this same quilt and keep it for my family. As I noted earlier, I never really made a quilt for my father. I still haven't finished quilting that race quilt for my husband. The last quilt I made for my grandson was his baby quilt and that was ten years ago. I have a small wall quilt I want to make for my daughter and one for my son that will have a music theme. I think it's time to make quilts for my family. I've been involved in many fundraiser quilts and I have found that a lot of work is put into them and they don't bring that much in return. This doesn't mean I won't make quilts for other folks. Nope, because I have already set the dates for our Sew and Share event - Oct. 19 & 20 - where we will make quilts for local families in need and also Christmas stockings to fill. Plus, I have baby quilts to make for my niece and my son's friend. And I just finished one for our new Pastor's baby boy. There was a baby shower at church this morning and I haven't seen so many cute little boy things in years (as in ten years since my grandson was born). Here's Joe, the new papa, and Pastor Brigit, as they opened the gift I made. They got so many lovely gifts! It took several trips just to get them from the church to the parsonage!

I would post a picture of the baby but I didn't ask permission so I don't want to do it without asking.

Here is picture of the quilt that I took outside yesterday afternoon. It's all flannel pieces and then fleece border and backing. I took some detailed photos as I stitched it together and tomorrow I will do a post on it in case any of you want to try this. And then..............I am going to begin taking you through block designs so that I can make my own red, white and blue quilt and you can, too. I'm giving the quilt a new name..........."Grace and a Prayer" and on Wednesday, June 18th I'll present the first blocks and some variations of blocks so that we can make a nine block wall quilt or a lap quilt or a really large quilt. Gather up some red, white and blue fabrics (and I opted for some green and purple, too) and get ready to quilt along with me. And if red, white and blue aren't your colors, choose ones that you like but I do think that keeping the colors to three or four makes for a more attractive quilt. I'm going to make a nine block wall quilt first, so that I can finish it and take it to the Care Center in July and then I'll also be making blocks for the larger quilt for my family. I will be offering some block patterns and those will be posted in my SeasonsBOM Yahoo group. If you are not a member, you can click here to join. All block designs that I give instruction for are blocks that are in the Public Domain and/or my original designs. I have a cool design for a heart that used stripes so be sure and have some stripes in your fabrics.

So, now the day is almost over and I have just a couple more photos to share. I have never posted as much as I did today, but I had loads of stuff to share. I took a break and ate lunch out on the front porch. I took my "front porch basket project" (this Thimbleberries runner will get done by the end of the summer!) and stitched for a bit after I finished eating.

Here's what I would see when I would look up from my stitching. It was just an incredibly beautiful, warm summer day!!!

Even Kaiser, the wonder dog, was enjoying the scenery.

Yes, it was a fine day and it sounds like there will be more of this weather the rest of the week. There might be some thunderstorms but the rain is needed and so it will be welcome. That's all for now.

Sandi

The Thrift Shop Stop

I told you yesterday that I would share my finds from the Thrift Shop stop that I made yesterday after I left the dentist. Almost forgot, so here it is..........

As I went in the door of the Lutheran Home Thrift Shop in Belle Plaine, I told myself you can find just "one thing" to take out the door. Oh, sure, and I was only a few feet in the shop when I spotted the little basket (Dept. 56 it says-did they make baskets?) that will become a pincushion. It's bone china and is light as a feather. That was it, my "one thing". Riiiiggghhht............because then I saw the Chinese teapot and cup. I picked it up and put it back, then picked it up and said "well, it would look so good with some of my other Oriental things". :-) That was going to be all and then I passed the fabrics and books and there was this piece of vintage upholstery velveteen and that needlework book. I don't do needlework but I "see penny rugs" in those designs. Plus

the foreward was by thee Rose Kennedy. By this time, I was juggling too many things and had to get a cart. I found the little Sunbonnet items on my way to get the cart. I am not sure what their purpose is but they are well done. Someone did them in a ceramics class because their initials are carved in the bottom of each one. Do you suppose they were napkin holders? Two toothpick holders for the table? Square candleholders? :-) Who knows? And who knows what those rhinestone things are? There were three of them at just 50cents each and there's a loop at the back of the little top piece. There was no chain with them and no earring pieces. They look pretty when placed on black velvet so I think I will make them "Art". :-) I had a very fruitful shopping trip and instead of coming out with just "one thing", I came out of the shop with just "one bag". Hee hee!

Now to the teapots in the photo above. These also came from the LH Thrift Shop but were all bought on seperate trips. I found the little one last summer, then another trip found the medium one and when I went to the dentist in December, a quick stop at the Thrift Shop yeilded the large one and it had it's lid!! I am going to use the two without lids for plants or dried flowers. And then again, the small one might end up as a pincushion. Who knows?!! :-) This little thrift shop is my favorite of all the ones I frequent. Don't miss it, if you are passing through Belle Plaine, MN.

One last thing......earlier today I took the quilt top for the small Emma's quilt down to the post office and gave it to Connie, Emma's Grandma. I added two borders to it and Connie is going to see if the ladies who handquilted the large fundraising quilt for Emma (see it here ) will also quilt this one. I had planned to machine quilt it, but after seeing the lovely job the quilting group did, it didn't seem right to machine quilt this one. Plus, I just didn't have time. The fundraiser is this Saturday and you can learn more about it here . Connie said there are more items for auction than space to put them. Here's hoping that the entire auction is a huge success!! Sometime next week, I'll give an update on the quilt at auction and also identify each block by it's maker. I think there were 37 of you that kindly donated blocks for this project and I thank you one and all!!

That's all for now. See you late tomorrow afternoon with Day 4 Celebration fun!

Sandi

Emma's Quilt is finished!

Connie, our local Postlady, called me on Thursday afternoon and asked me to come to the post office on Friday morning for a photo taking session for our local newspaper, The Henderson Independent. The handquilting was finished by Esther and her quilting friends and Connie had finished the binding, so it is ready to be taken to the Fundraiser for her grandaughter, Emma. If you are in the area of Waconia, MN on Saturday, May 30th, you can stop by and bid on this beautiful quilt. Just click here and you'll find all the info. That's Connie in the photo with the quilt and then I took a photo of just the quilt. If you don't see your blocks in this quilt, remember that I took about a dozen blocks to make a small quilt for Emma and her family as a wall quilt that they can keep. The large quilt will be auctioned and monies raised go for costs related to Emma's medical care.

The ladies who did the hand-quilting were led by Esther Wroge. She gathered together Eldora Miller, Marilyn Jensen, Kathy Schrader, Elaine Graupmann, Kathy Stuedemann, and Ardeen Graupmann, Bev Wilkens, Mary Lou Wroge, Leona Wroge, Luella Prehn, Sharon Dummer, Donna Schmidt, Adeline Miller and Violet Zebell to get the hand-quilting finished in record time!!

I took two close-ups of their quilting work. The fan above is a favorite block and was made by Claire who is a cancer survivor and wanted to contribute blocks.

And I loved the simple way they quilted in the center of most of the star blocks. Much of the quilting is "stitch in the ditch" and that allows the design of the blocks and the colors to really "pop"!

When the photo taking was all finished, James, the reporter who will write an article about the quilt gathered info from Connie and me on how the quilt came to be. I'll be sure to link you to that article when it appears in next week's issue of the paper.

After that, I came home to continue some closet cleaning I've been doing this week. I am organizing vintage linens and quilt tops and such, although "playing with them" would be a more appropriate term. I took photos of some things that I'll share as the weeks go buy but I decided to pick one to show you why I'm having so much fun. This is a small tablecloth that was probably used on a cardtable. The color is just as vibrant as you see in the picture and the embroidery is just beautiful. It's in very good condition and has the same flower design on all four corners.

I am not usually an orange fan, but I absolutely love this piece. I have loads of treasures to share, so keep watching for more.

Time to turn out the lights as my grandson will be here at 10:00 tomorrow morning!

Sandi

What's red, white and blue and being quilted?

It's the quilt for Emma's Hope Fundraiser! Connie, Emma's grandma went to see the quilting-in-progress on her noon break and she just e-mailed me these photos. I should have downloaded and saved them so I could get them larger. Was anxious to get them posted. May try that later. So here are the ladies from Plato, Glencoe and surrounding communities who are doing the handquilting of the top made from blocks from so many of you!

And don't they look like a happy group? And who wouldn't be when there is fabric, needle, thread and friends involved?!!!!!

The finished quilt top for Emma's Hope!

The quilt top for the Emma's Hope fundraiser is finished! I used every single block that was sent to me! I bought a blue fabric and cut it into 1-1/4" strips and used that to set each block apart. I really love the end result! When it was finished, I could hardly wait to take a picture. I took several shots to get the best photo I could. In fact, I took several shots before I noticed the problem in the upper right hand corner. See that?

Yep, I managed to sew the fan block in the wrong direction. It took only a few minutes to rip it out and sew it in correctly, but I marveled at the fact that I took so many photos and it took me so long to notice my error! LOL!! Here it is after I fixed my mistake.

This afternoon, I took the quilt top to Connie, my Postlady, who will deliver it to the church ladies in Plato for the hand-quilting. She was so pleased with the finished quilt top. After the quilting is done, Connie will do the binding. The corners will be rounded and I think it will look awesome. I loved the variety of blocks that came in and I was amazed at how well they all complemented each other. As previously posted, I chose to make one large quilt from the blocks and a smaller quilt that will be a memento for the family. I got that top sewn together, too. I am going to do some embroidery and some other embellishment to the top and then I'll finish this one. When that's all done, I'll tell you why I selected and positioned blocks as I did. I'll also tell you exactly who made each block.

I kept almost every envelope and can tell you that blocks came from England, Australia, Canada and the states of Texas, California, Virginia, Pennsylvania, Georgia, Delaware, North Dakota, Alabama, Missouri, Ohio, New Jersey, Oregon, Utah, and Minnesota!!! That's a photo of my "filing system". In addition, I took a photo of each block with the envelope from the sender so that I would be able to accurately identify who made what block(s). The newspaper article was one that was published a few weeks ago in our local paper. You can see Emma's photo and you can also go to http://www.hopeforsweetemma.com/ for further information.

I thought I'd also include a picture of Connie, Emma's grandma, and my Postlady. This was taken last summer when my grandson, Jacob, and I were taking Brown Bear for a visit around Henderson and photo-taking ops. :-)

SO, with the Emma's quilt off to be hand-quilted, I will move on to the next project - getting caught up on posting and loading photos to my blog!!!

Here's a peek at a quilt top that I was "gifted" with on my visit to Iowa last week. You'll find out it's origin and I'll take a full view photo to share in my next post. Til then.........it's lights out and off to bed.

I'm beginning to think I should sign my posts.........

The NightOwl!

Sandi

Oops!

When I do a blogpost, I load all the photos and then add the text. As some of you know, it is very easy to accidently delete a photo. I did just that when I did my Happy Joe's post. I deleted this photo of my daughter Collette and her husband, Daryl. Collette is smiling because she had doilies to show me. Last weekend when I had my quilt gathering, she got inspired by some of the gals who were knitting and crocheting. She found a book at the Library with over 300 crocheted block patterns and she said she can't stop making blocks. They are just "practice blocks" but I think they are really cool. I especially think that since I cannot crochet!!

I also thought I'd show you half my sewing room. Devlin took a picture of it when we were working on his project Friday night and I'm like ..."oh, no, you can't take a picture of this mess". He thought it was just fine and the friend that he's doing this project for thought it looked like "Santa's workshop"........so, that's almost what this is............. it's "Sandi's workshop". :-) As you can see there are piles of projects everywhere. I clean it up and then I mess it up all over again. There's another half to the room to the left as this is the "Bonus room" over the garage. My grandson Jacob, loves the room. He says it's cozy. I agree. It is such a treat after the small basement room with no window that I had in our previous house.

I have good news on the Emma quilt. I had been waiting on just one package that had been mailed from Julia in England over two weeks ago. It was sent Airmail and when it didn't arrive by Friday, I feared it was lost in the mail. I gave up hope and so when I went to the mailbox today and there was a package with a Royal Mail post on it, I knew exactly what it was. And inside were two perfect blocks that fill the last two spots on the quilt layouts. How perfect is that? I had no idea whether the blocks Julia was sending were the 6 1/2" ones or the 12 1/2" ones so I was thrilled that these blocks were just what I needed!!

She also tucked in a lovely card and note and two of her handmade soaps for me. Oh, how lovely they smell. What a treat! I came to know Julia when she was my swap partner in a recent mug swap. I loved overfilling that mug with things for her because in reading her blog, I knew I had some vintage things that she would love and I picked up a few things for her, too. I have worried about getting it right on some swaps because I couldn't get a good enough "picture" of my partner from their blog. Not so with Julia. Her blog is MarmaladeKiss so take a peek and see all the creative things she does and beautiful photos, too!

I am heading to Iowa tomorrow and leaving the dog and hubby at home. More on that later on tonight as I have a little surprise to leave you while I am gone............

Sandi

One last Easter egg to share......

and it comes from my swap partner, Kathy in the Spring Egg Swap that I hosted on my Yahoo Wooly Buddies Group. Those who signed up to participate were sent the little pattern I designed for 16 different Easter eggs (they're the ones on my Easter egg trees). The pattern was for making an egg pin that is smaller than those shown on my Easter egg trees so this was a challenge to sew such tiny pieces. Some members really rose to that challenge and created some lovely little Easter pins. You can see that Kathy found the perfect little piece of white wool for the sheep on the pin she made for me. Then she stitched lots of little French knot flowers!!

And then she made me a larger egg with my name on it and I have it hanging on my sewing room door now so that if you were to come upstairs you would know ...... that's Sandi's sewing room! :-) She also packed in some goodies and that lovely fat quarter in that pretty little box. I've thanked her more than once but I'll say it again - Thanks, Kathy!

If you want to learn more about working with wool and/or woolfelt and making penny rugs and other projects just click here and you can join our Wooly*Buddies group. It's a fun group!

That's it for Easter this year. There's only one chocolate egg left but there are a few Easter cupcakes in the freezer that my grandson can enjoy when he comes over this next weekend. I'm thinking it's time to start thinking tulips, gardening, quilting friends, and my daughter's birthday which is coming up this weekend! There's a fun weekend in store so I'll be sure to share pictures and stories. :-)

I took the blocks for Emma's quilt down to the post office today so that I could show them to Connie, Emma's grandma. There are a lot of blocks and I am thinking there will be enough to two quilts, one large and one smaller. I've received word that at least three packages with blocks are in the mail and heading my way. I had planned to lay out the blocks today but will wait til the end of the week as the last of the blocks should arrive by then. Thank you to all of you that have shared blocks for this project. I will post pictures of the quilt tops as soon as I get them done. The quilting will be done in May and then the fund-raising event is May 30th.

One last thing........I have spent a lot of time in recent days fiddling with computer problems and hopefully new virus software will help some issues I was having. We also had an intermittent internet issue (plus loss of phone service and weak cable signal) which was resolved this afternoon by a Mediacom technician. I think. :-) Anyway, the technician was very thorough and took his time to troubleshoot the problems I described and everything seems to be working fine now!

Have a lovely Spring day today!

Sandi

Emma's Hope Update

Just a quick update on blocks for the "Emma's Hope" fundraising quilt..........here are a few blocks that have come in the last few days................

The blocks above are from Rhonda and the blocks below come from Pat, Kaye and Sherry.

The Ohio Star block in the photo below is from Claire's mom in Ohio and one will come soon from Claire, too. She is a cancer survivor (as are a couple others who have sent blocks). Then there are two bow tie blocks from Katherine in British Columbia and a block from Pat just east of here in Le Center, MN.

Yesterday, there was a fairly large box left on the front porch by the mailman and when I opened it I found the beautiful, plush bathtowel you see in the photo below. It's even embroidered with Emma's name. Virginia in Oregon sent this so if you are reading this please e-mail me so I can send thanks. She also sent the two 6 1/2" quilt blocks you see on the towel and she sent this lap-sized quilt top, too!!! Thank you!! I called Connie, Emma's grandma and had her come by tonight to pick up the towel and the quilt top, plus show her all the blocks that have come in so far. Deadline for me to receive the blocks is April 10th! Send me an e-mail if you need my address.

Next week, Emma and family will be taking a trip to San Diego that is granted by the Make-a-Wish Foundation. If you want to read more about Emma you can go to www.hopeforsweetemma.com/ . Thanks to all of you that have made and sent blocks and for those still on their way!

Sandi

EDIT: Next post on Emma's Hope project will come next Friday, April 3rd. I am still taking blocks if you want to make one for the quilt that will offered at Silent Auction on May30th. It's a fundraiser to help with medical costs for Emma. Check out the link posted above for more info. I need to receive the blocks by April 10th. Thanks again!!

Update on blocks for Emma's Hope project.......

Here's a quick update on the blocks that have come in so far for the Emma's Hope fundraising quilt..................

The four blue and navy blocks are from Kathy in British Colombia......the two 12 1/2" blocks with white backgrounds are from Denny in PA and the four 6 1/2" blocks with white backgrounds are from Crispy in ND. Then the two red and the two navy 6 1/2" blocks are from Heather in northern MN (and I think it gets cold here in southern MN - don't even like to think what it's like where she lives!!). The 6 1/2" block in the far left corner is from Jackie in nearby Arlington, MN and my block is the one 2nd from left in the top row. The blocks will not lay out like this. I was just laying them out to see how they might look. I know of about a dozen more blocks that will be headed my way so it will be interesting to see how it all lays out.

I've been a bit busy this week working on a Wooly Buddies project plus I did a little program for the local Women's Club group on Tuesday morn. They titled the program "Gifts galore to share" so I brought a basket overflowing with projects from miniatures to penny rugs and quilts and poems that I've written and tied it all together into a neat little program. It went well and was a good chance to know what I will bring to the next program I do which is for the Women's Club in my hometown of Lehigh, Iowa at the end of April. Then just a few days later, I'll be doing one in nearby St. Peter, MN for their quilt guild. I am so excited to share my projects and poems. Sometimes my projects make others smile and then that makes me smile to know that I have made them smile and well, it's contagious. :-) see :-) smiles and more smiles. :-) another one! Okay, getting a little silly. Might be time for me to go to bed.

Part of why I am so late is that I started reading a little book that I was going to read at Christmas time and never got to. It's called The Christmas Wish by Richard Siddoway. It was so good. I started reading it and couldn't put it down so curled up in my sewing chair, relaxed and read til I finished it!!

Time to turn out the lights!!
Sandi

A little edit.... Blocks you see in this photo arrived in the mail today from Deanna in MN, Kathy in British Columbia, Holly in Florida and Linda in Georgia. When the quilt is finished, I will post exactly who made which blocks with a diagram for all who participated.