And now it's really cold!!

This has been some weather week! We went from barely a dusting of snow on the ground to several inches and then wind whipped it all into big drifts. Now the deep freeze has set in and while I would love to go out and do some Christmas shopping this Friday, I am not willing to do it in nearly zero degree weather!! Too cold for me. I'll be staying in and doing projects! Speaking of projects, I finished my patriotic block for Pearl Harbor Day. I had one idea and then didn't like how it was looking so I changed the entire thing and ended up with this......... a simple star.

I was inspired by the Gold Stars that my mother has told me about that families put in the window when a son or daughter was killed during WWII. The history behind the stars is interesting and can be found here . I wanted my star to be white so I thought I'd applique white tone on tone cotton but then I remembered that I had some white wool from my Grandma Goldie. It was from a jacket she wore and I thought how fitting to have something she wore in the quilt that I am making in remembrance of my dad and his service in the war.

In the photo on the left, you can see that I cut a pentagon shape from a blue wool and stitched a star to it. Then I cut five identical triangles from the white wool. I positioned it just right and then used a fabric glue stick to hold the pieces in place while I stitched.

I bought the background fabric at "Seams to Me" which is located in Algona, Iowa. I made a quick stop there on my return trip from Iowa. This all-over flag print was in the clearance fat quarters but I liked it the minute I saw it. I also found a great snowflake print for a January project. :-)

That's my car parked in front of the shop. There's only that "dusting of snow" on the roads at the time of this photo.

And while this is not a very good photo, if you like Mickey and Minnie then you would love to see this in person.

The entire window of the shop was filled with animated Mickey and Minnie/Disney figures! I also made a stop at Heartland Quilt Shop which is also in Algona. I found fabric there for another patriotic project. Actually, I can find fabric just about anywhere. Or maybe it finds me! LOL!

I promised I'd share my Pago Pago connection when I showed you the gifts I received from Barb at BejeweledQuilts and InchWormFabrics. Barb made the Blueberry Muffin towel and potholder and her niece who owns Inch Worm fabrics sent that Pecan Praline Muffin mix. I am saving it for Christmas morning muffins. :-) Thanks to both of you for such lovely gifts!!!

So, now to my Pago Pago connection. More than twenty years ago, my parents bought a small chord organ at a garage sale in Ames, Iowa. The current owner said that it had been owned by a missionary who used it when assigned to Pago Pago. My folks paid $40 for it and then gave it to me. I loved playing that organ but always wondered if it was really used in Pago Pago or if that was just a story. One day some of the keys stopped working. My husband is handy with repairing things so he opened it up and what did he find??.........lots of sand and, of all things, Cheerios! I was pretty sure it had been in Pago Pago and I'm guessing the family had small children who "fed" Cheerios between the keys! So while I have never been there, that's my Pago Pago connection. I was near there once, though.........forty years ago I flew to Tokyo to join my husband when he was in the Air Force. The plane made two stops enroute......with one in Hawaii and one in Guam. I could hardly wait to see Hawaii, "the Island Paradise". It was sunny and the flowers were beautiful. We deplaned briefly and then took off again for Guam. What I remember about Guam was how small the island looked from the sky and I wondered how the plane could land on such a small strip of land......but we did! Oh, my ..... long ago memories!

That's all for tonight.

Sandi

My One Year Blog Anniversary - Day 5

Here I am right on time!! It's summer and it's Saturday so I hope you are all out enjoying the day with some fun activity. Maybe you are gardening or perhaps working on a quilt. Whatever it is, enjoy!!
One of my favorite words is JOY. It's a small word but it packs a lot of punch!! JOY comes in all shapes and sizes from new babies to kids graduating from high school, from a new bike to a new car, a new dress, good news, a new home, seeing your kids grow up and do well, good friends, visiting family, more good friends, kind words in tough times, lots of good friends!! That's where much of my joy comes from..........friends. Recently, my good friend Sue commented that there was something special about her friendships now because they were no longer friendships that were connected by children but instead were friendships connected by similar interests and the JOY of stitching together!! We all agreed with her!!! So, it's in the spirit of quilting friendships that I offer up today's gifties in celebration of my blogging anniversary. And here they are.......

Brown Bear has his arms full this time with a package of Mary E notecards that say "The Art of Friendship" to a purse pattern, then fabric and, of course, a notebook so you can keep track of your projects and/or your friends. :-) The fabrics are a little charm pack by Moda called Clementine that I picked up at FireflyQuiltShop yesterday afternoon. I had picked up the little purse pattern by Sherri Falls (she's a Minnesota designer and you can find her at her website ThisAndThatPatterns). I bought this pattern a month ago for me and thought it would be a great gift here for my giveaway so I bought another one! I was in search of a charm pack of fabrics that I could include with it when Janice (owner of Firefly) asked if I'd seen the new ones she had just stocked. Somehow I had missed them but the minute I saw this charm pack, I could see it as the purse, and then also as a baby quilt for my son's friend's new baby. I bought three of them, so in the picture, you can see the one you that will receive and then I took my charm pack and fanned it out so you can see the fabrics in it. They just say summer, don't they? Or in that baby quilt they will just say "girlie" which is what the new baby is!

All you have to do is leave a comment for a chance to win the gifties that fill Brown Bear's arms. Of course, there is a question you must answer in the comment you leave and here it is..........tell me a favorite quilting memory you have made with a friend or friends. It has brought me great JOY to read the comments/answers you all post and hope you all are enjoying them to!!

One last thought...............in yesterday's post there was the Mary E quote "the best antiques are old friends". Today's quote is an old one and I have no idea where it originated........."Make new friends but keep the old, one is silver, the other gold." I am so fortunate to have old, new, antique, silver, and gold friends!!!

I'll see you late Sunday afternoon with another post for Celebration Day #6. Til then, have a good afternoon and a great Sunday!

Sandi

The Firefly is back...............

and I hope you enjoy your visit! It's not a big shop (go here for their website) but it is packed full of lovely fabrics, great samples and friendly staff. Owner, Janice, is shown below in the classroom area. Isn't that a gorgeous quilt?

Now, remember that I only went in for "a couple of fat quarters".............

but there were sooooooooo many fabrics...........

and so many colors.....................

and there were patterns and samples...............

and I really spent a lot of time in the corner behind this display because the staff told me it was "Fat Quarter Friday" which meant that all fat quarters were just $1.50 each so, of course, I had to pick up a few and then...........

just when I thought I had covered it all, I went around all the shelves once and back around again .................

and that's why I came out the door with all of this! It's just a little more than "a couple of fat quarters". Now it all had a destination and since you already know that I am behind in posting pics, you'll see where it all went in the next few days!!

I hear thunder! I hope we are going to get rain! I love raindrops on the roof and we are sorely in need of moisture!

Back soon.....

Sandi

So where's the firefly?

Right here.............It's a quilt shop!

And I'll have to tell you about it later because it's been a busy day and I will have to post all my comings and goings later tomorrow. I have pictures to share and will tell you that I only went in to get a couple of fat quarters and I came out with a lot more than two fat quarters. LOL!

Thank goodness the wind died down but no rain fell so the flowers didn't get a drink.

See you tomorrow night.

Sandi

A visit to the Gingerbread House and more........

Yes, it was more than a couple of weeks ago that I was home for a visit with my mom in Iowa and I am still posting pictures of the three days I spent there. The day after I presented the quilt program to the Women's Club, my mom and I went shopping. We headed to Webster City and she took me along a "back-roads route" that she had found that has less traffic. Nice thing was the it was also very scenic! We went to Hy-Vee for a good lunch at the deli and then some groceries and a stop at the Dollar Store and around the corner to the Gingerbread House!!!

You'll find the shop at 309 Bank St. in Webster City, Iowa and it's open Mon-Fri from 9:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. and Sat. 9:30 to 2:00 p.m. There are even Gingerbread men waving at you and saying "yes, you can buy all the fabric you like!" :-)

This is such a cute shop, that is chock full of fabrics and bears and all sorts of good gifty items.
I was short on time, so did a quick "look see" and found the cutest little farm boy and tractor fabric and got a fat quarter of each - one for me and one for my mom who was waiting in the car because she was a bit tired.

I've been to the Gingerbread Shop a few times and have bears to prove it, plus some fabric. One fabric I purchased was the "challenge" fabric for our Prior Lake Quilter's group. Each member received a fat quarter of fabric that was chosen by the leader of the group each year (I was the leader at the time) and then the challenge was to make a project that incorporated that fabric. I chose the geranium print fabric that you see in the picture frame below. Edit: Leaders didn't have to cover the cost of the fabric that guild members received. Our dues covered the cost of the fabric and the leader of the group each year got to go out and select a fabric that she felt would be a good challenge in a quilt project. I love to share my fabric but that would be costly to cover fat quarters for the entire group! Sorry if I mislead anyone!

If I remember correctly, I bought almost the whole bolt in order to get enough for the group. I loved this fabric the minute I saw it as it reminded me of my Grandma and the white umbrella like plant holder that sat in the front yard of her farmhouse. Sometime, I will remove the glass and take a close-up of the piece as it's fairly detailed. I fused a section of the fabric to interfacing and then individually cut all the little flowers and leaves to put in the geranium pot. I found the frame at a garage sale for a couple bucks and it was the perfect frame for the little quilt.

Because I am so behind in sharing pictures, I will be jumping all over the place for the next couple of weeks. Here's one, I wanted to show you because I think it would make a great quilt shop. It's "FOR SALE" and it's located in the little town of Vernon Center, MN just off Hwy. 169.

I was telling my son, Devlin, about it because he said he would love to turn an old church into a house. I told him I had the perfect place for him. Unfortunately this would be a long commute to the Twin Cities and his job. Speaking of Devlin, here he is along with his girlfriend, Stacia.

I took this one this past Saturday afternoon when it was a lovely, sunny day but actually a little chilly which explains why they are wearing coats. I was going to give you a sneak peek of the project that we are working on together, but too much of what we are doing shows up in my photos, so I will wait to share those til June.

One last thing for tonight............We're having a "sock swap" on my Wooly Buddies Yahoo group and it all started when someone mentioned colored socks and I posted that I was one who only ever wore white socks. Within minutes, my buddies said that I had to get some colored socks and before you knew it, talk of a "sock swap" began and so socks are crossing the country in our first "sock swap". My moderator for the group, Pat, took pity on me and sent me these cute and comfy socks................

and then, Anett, who is coordinating the swap, sent me these "Quilty Girl" socks and that oh, so awesome bag that she made for me. Yep, just for me!! Don't you love the bumper sticker?

I found some fun socks for my partner at Michael's, of all places. I was looking for totebags and literally "stumbled" upon the cute socks that I ended up buying. I can't show you a picture til I know my partner, Kathy, has received them. Hope she likes them. My package from her is crossing mine in the mail. We were partners in the Egg Swap and by pure chance ended up being partners in this one. Who knew that nearing 60 could be so much fun?

One more last thing............remember the bug bites that bugged me? Well, I went for my yearly physical today and my doctor confirmed they were sand fleas or "Noseeums". Connie, my PostLady mentioned to me last Friday that they might be the bug I encountered. I just know I don't want to encounter them again. I don't like a bug that I "no - see -um" and that bites me and I don't know it til the itching starts!! So, time to turn out the lights and hope those bedbugs don't bite!

Sandi