An Old-Fashioned Hymn Sing!!

This Sunday morning I was so excited to head to church to hear my friend, Gloria Jesperson, at the piano. Now some of my quilting friends know Gloria because she was the pianist at the church I attended in Prior Lake and where I hosted my quilting group, Hearthside Quilters. I haven't seen Gloria since we moved almost five years ago. I realized one Sunday before Christmas that I just really missed hearing her talented hands at the piano keys. I was wishing I could hear her play again when I thought..."why not invite her out here to play in my new church?" Why didn't I think of this before? The church council thought it was a good idea and so Pastor Brigit and Gloria set a date. All was looking good and then...............the weatherfolk started talking about a big storm. First there was a Winter Storm Advisory. Then there was a Winter Storm Warning and then it was a Blizzard Warning! I thought "oh, my, Gloria won't be able to get here and if she does, what if no one else can get to church to join the singing?" Ah, but the weatherfolk were just a wee bit off in their predictions. The snow arrived later than they anticipated and didn't begin to fall until just as we all gathered to begin worship. It was gorgeous, big flakes and at least three inches fell while we enjoyed the Old-Fashioned Hymn sing (and a baptism, too....love new babies!) but nobody cared. We enjoyed listening to Gloria's fingers roll along those keys and singing all the hymns that we all enjoy. In addition to talented fingers at the piano, Gloria also plays the accordion!

And her husband, Jim, plays rhythm with spoons! In addition, to sharing her gifts as a pianist at her home church, Gloria also takes her talents to area nursing homes. And yes, Jim the Rhythm Player accompanies her! I'm hoping she can return again so that those who could not make it because of the weather can hear her on a future date.

There was coffee hour after service and Gloria shared some fun tunes like "You are my Sunshine", "Take me out to the Ballgame" and other songs so many of us know. It was such an enjoyable morning! I came home and could not stop singing. My husband had to ask me to "hold it down" so he could hear the opening of the Daytona 500. LOL!

So, no real quilty news in this post but it did my quilter's heart a world of good to hear the music of my dear friend, Gloria. And a bonus.......she gave me a gift of one of her CD's so I don't have to miss her music anymore!

The rest of the day was very quiet as the snow continued to fall ...... and fall! There was almost no traffic by the house. In fact, I think the only traffic was the snowplow that has gone by a couple times. It's been a good day to read and enjoy the day. Oh, and finish up my taxes. Thank goodness. Our son got his done before us this year. Now that's a first! LOL!
I have something really sweet to share in my next post. See you then!
Sandi

You can find a little bit of video of Gloria and some more photos........here

My OWOH winner is.....

Miss Mary! and you will find her here.....at Lillian's~Stitches.
There is other news to share and I will get to it soon. Just very busy and time to blog is in short supply. :-)
Sandi

No chocolates here.....

and that is A-okay! I do love chocolate but I was not looking for chocolate for Valentine's Day this year. Instead, I got a phone for Valentine's Day and I like that even better! I wasn't expecting it so it came as a nice surprise. ;-) And what did I surprise my husband with.....well, I made this.......
It's his very own personal giant sized placemat/mug rug just for watching NASCAR races. You see, at this time of year, while I am thinking Valentines Day, all his thoughts are on the upcoming NASCAR race at Daytona for the season opener. And so, he usually buys chocolates just because that's all he can come up with but I told him last year.....no more chocolates, please put some thought into this one day of the year. He's not a flower man so that's not gonna happen at our house. And I gave only one tiny hint about Valentines Day a couple weeks ago so I was impressed that he remembered the day and that he remembered not to buy chocolates. :-)
I really was so surprised by the phone gift and he was surprised by the placemat. He was worried "what if I spill something on it and ruin it". I told him......"it's meant to be washed!" It's just made from the scraps that were left from the NASCAR themed quilt top I made for him in 2005. Having that top quilted was his Christmas gift this past December. And now, it's all finished and I'll be picking it up on Friday. I think I can get the binding on so it's finished by the start of the race. Photos will follow when it's finished. :-)
So, will you be watching the big race on Sunday? I'll sort of watch but I'll be more interested in the sewing project I plan to work on while those cars go around and around the track....... :-)
Sandi

What's on the line?

Happy Valentines Day!! I wanted to make this a red and white post but I didn't have anymore heart quilts to share. Then I remembered this red and white quilt ....................Isn't is lovely? And the bonus in this quilt photo is all that sunshine! Now, you all know that I live in Minnesota and there may be sunshine here but all the green grass is covered with snow at this time of year. However, when I went out to church yesterday, it almost felt like spring. That's right!! The temp reached 46 degrees which is awesome for us in the month of February!! It warmed my heart just to feel that warm air and a bit of sunshine.
And speaking of a warm heart, it was a warm-hearted friend who gave me this quilt. I've shared it before in a post last summer. Take a trip back to this post ...... Summer*and*what's*on*the*line?! ...... and you can read all about it and a few other favorite vintage quilts from my collection.
Since it's Valentine's Day, I thought I'd share a little greeting...........
This is a little cross stitch piece that I designed and stitched sometime in the late 1990's. The little bear is purchased and is about 3" tall so that gives you an idea of scale of the items in the photo. I like that message "Be Mine". Simple and sweet. That same message is what will be on my mini block of the month project this month. It's not finished, so "coming soon" is the ticket for that project. I also used "Be Mine" on the the little Valentine the bear is holding. It's one of many that I drew to use in my miniature scenes. To see some of the Miniature "Eye Candy" that I have created from bits of fabric, clay and other goodies, just click here and you will see a tiny world full of sweet Valentine treats. I rarely make any miniature projects these days as I am always stitching something now, but I made plenty in the almost twenty-five years that I belonged to the Midwest Miniature Guild. One of these days, I have to get a shelf or something so I can get them out of storage and display them. I miss seeing them as I only get them out for special holidays. Hope you enjoy them! And I hope you have a lovely Valentine's Day!!!
Sandi

Happy is the heart that smiles, so smile big all day!!!

A Quiltbox is a treasure!

I thought that I would share a little something that I bought just for me last fall. It's a Quiltbox.........
And it's a very special Quiltbox. It's made by Dave over at ......... Quiltboxes , of course! Someone posted about him on Facebook so I checked out his blog. I was taken with the beauty of his wood boxes and so I wrote and asked if he took requests for quilt block designs for the boxes. He said "yes". Then I asked if he had any "purple heartwood" in his stock and again he said "yes". So, I sent him a sketch of my favorite block pattern, one that I had used in a quilting block of the month for a group of friends that quilted with me at my church group "Hearthside Quilters". He took my sketch and turned it into that beautiful box that you see above.

Now perhaps you wondered why I asked if he had "purple heartwood". Well, I had seen some in a woodworking shop and saw how lovely it was. I always thought I'd like to have something made with a bit of that wood in it. When I saw Dave's boxes, I thought of that "purple heartwood". The box has a special purpose and is a memory box for some of my dad's things.....a ring, a watch, some pins from tractor and thresher events, some old photos. My brother has most of my dad's things and some medals from WWII but my dad never earned a Purple Heart. And that is why I wanted the box to have "purple heartwood" in it. It will hold my dad's things and they will be in a box with purple heart! Look inside the box and you can see that each treasure will have it's own place......... The work on these boxes is exquisite and I am so glad to own one that I can treasure both for it's work and what it contains.

When Dave makes these boxes, he makes four of the design in varying wood colors and if you look on his blog, you can see the four variations he made. I got to choose which one I wanted. I initially asked him to do one with brown in each corner but when I saw this one above, it was like he made the one I really wanted! Before I made my final decision, I sent the photos of all the boxes to my son Devlin and asked him to pick the one he thought was the nicest. His response was "they are all VERY AWESOME!" He chose the one with the lighter burled wood that you can see on Dave's blog. It was hard to choose just one. And you know what? I couldn't choose just one. I bought two and just between you and me, the one above is mine but there's another one that somebody I know is going to be gifted with one day soon. It's a secret for now but I'll let you know when I give the other box so I can share it's beauty with you, too.

That's all for now. I am doing a bit of stitching these days and working on some projects that I'll eventually share. I'm also still coping with some allergy issues that nag at my time but it's just annoying, nothing serious. The most exciting thing about today is that we are going to be in the 30's for temps and by midweek here in Minnesota it could be in the 40's. Now that is something to celebrate!!! Perhaps our long winter is getting a kick to become an early spring! Oh, I can hope!

Have a great weekend!
Sandi

What's on the line?

I've got another sweet look at warmer weather for all of you! And because it's nearing Valentine's Day, I had to share this little heart-themed quilt..............

This is the February quilt from the series that I made in 2000 to celebrate the Millennium. I love hearts and plaids and combined the two in this piece. I drew hearts in all shapes and sizes then appliqued them to all shapes and sizes of squares and rectangles. I embroidered and blanket-stitched around all the hearts, pieced the blocks together, and then hand-quilted the little quilt (it's about 20" x 24"). I call it "Crazy for Hearts", of course!
Things are still busy around here. I'm not posting real regularly but soon will. There is stuff to blog about, just other stuff taking my time. :-)
Have a great Monday!!
Sandi

What's on the line?

With all the snow and icy weather that is covering much of the Midwest and east coast of the U.S., I thought I would bring you a bit of summer in my "What's on the line?" feature..................
For those of you who are snowbound, just look at this quilt for a few seconds. Then look at it a few more seconds. Continue starring at this little quilt until you can feel the warmth of summer, smell that fresh cut grass, taste that sweet watermelon and imagine yourself picking a bunch of daisies to put on the picnic table. Yes, there may be ants who will join you, and even a ladybug or two, but at least it will be warm and you will be able to walk without slipping on the ice. Ah, summer, I am really going to enjoy it when it finally arrives!
Oh, and the story behind the quilt........it's number seven in the series of twelve quilts that I stitched in celebration of the Millennium. Wow, that's already ten years ago!! This is the July quilt and it's the month that we hold our Linn Family Reunion. In fact, today I verified the reservation date for the Lehigh Ballpark Shelter so if you are Linn family member, please mark July 17, 2011 for the 82nd Linn Family Reunion. So do you and your family hold an annual reunion? And if you do, what fun events do you always do that we might want to know about so we can do them at our reunions?
Here's hoping you have a good day!
Sandi