Treasures of Life

Happy Wednesday! I didn't plan on sharing sappy stories this week but it just worked out that way.

My lovely online friend, Roxanne, made me one block a month for the past year. These little cuties will finish at 3"!! They are hand pieced with precision.
I know I have many readers that were not on the Alzheimer's journey with me. There are many who have been.
Roxanne started to send these after my mom died one year ago in July. Unfortunately Roxanne is on the Alzheimer's journey with her mom. I'm glad she can be encouraged by the things I have shared.  I was encouraged by many of you; your comments, ideas, support.

She felt funny asking for them back to assemble, but I thought it was a perfect request! 

Here were the last 2 I received. 

There are so many things I wished I would have done differently when dealing with my mom. 

One is this (from a previous post) It is hard to do, but making them happy or smile for the moment you are in is important. Yesterday is not important and neither is tomorrow.

"Without a memory of today or an understanding that the past is past, the future ceases to have meaning."

Alzheimers Art Quilt Initiative was a huge part of my therapy. My feelings came out in my quilts:

If you are on this journey I encourage you to read this:

AAQI- HERE

And this:
A tribute to my Mum- HERE

Thank you again, Roxanne, for your thoughtfulness. My prayers are with you as you move your momma this week.

Faith*Love*Hope

My stepmom died late fall last year and I got the quilt back from her estate that I had given to my dad. It took me a couple of days to be able to take it out and look at it.

 I made this when my dad had a fall and was recovering from surgery in a nursing home near his home. We really didn't expect him to make it through that rough patch, but he's a hardy Dane. He lived 7 more years and was still fairly mobile.  This is a Bonnie Hunter free pattern that she calls Smoky Mtn stars,  which you can access HERE.

 We were raised religious so I knew my dad would like the addition of the words on top.  FAITH*LOVE*HOPE is what we needed during the difficult days of rehabbing.

 My dad grew up in Montana and Wyoming and although he was raised very poor by his single mom and grandmother, they made sure he had strong men in his life. He learned to make things, fix things, grow things, hike, fish and camp. I know he enjoyed this backing a lot.

His love for the outdoors left an impression on all four of us kids. I know that's why I fish, hike and camp now. I've since passed the love of the outdoors to my children.  (my husband too!)

He made reel after reel of video of our camping trips. We grew up in Seattle, but we went on many vacations, always camping, to Yellowstone, Zion, Grand Canyon, Old Tuscon,  and many other places. Our vacations included investigating old ghost towns, spelunking, visiting family and friends. He wrote a lot of letters and kept in touch with friends from his hometown. It is hard to believe it has been 3 years since he's died. 

I give my mom a lot of credit for doing all of that with 4 kids!

Have a fantastic week, friends!

The Modern Side of Sisters Quilt Show

There were so many modern  and liberated style quilts at the Sisters Show so that's my focus today. Although I don't do them myself, I can appreciate them. They do make me smile.

Portland Modern Quilt Guild had an wonderful exhibit with this being one of them. I love the quote!

This quilt was made by Kristen Shields. I thought I took a photo of the complete quilt, but I can't find it now. I love the use of the reproduction and modern fabric....side by side- it's perfect! It was a log cabin challenge quilt and you can see the whole thing (and more!) at Kristen's blog- HERE. 

A fun Beatles quilt.

This one was a 365 block a day for a year quilt. That was very ambitious!

I thought this one was very sweet with the plaid sashing, 1/4 and 1/2 blocks.

Here's my Instagram feed for the week.

Oh my! It has been the longest busiest week I've had in a long time. Every night I've been exhausted and now I understand why hubby falls asleep in his chair after dinner. I've got the weekend to recuperate then on to another busy crazy work week next week too! Then the next week is our Alaska cruise!

Have a wonderful weekend, friends!

I've got the Summertime Blues!

I was drawn to several indigo/blue quilts at the Sisters show. Here are a few of them. 

 This was in the teacher tent made by Rosalie Dace.

 This quilt was part of a group challenge. Choose page 38 of any magazine and make a quilt using that page as your inspiration.  I'm having issues with my new phone sending my photos every which way! It is annoying!

 Here is the magazine page.

 This was a soft lovely quilt made with a variety of chambreys on linen with a sprinkling of red polka dots.

 Looks like a good two color scrap buster.

 This charmer was in the Portland Modern Quilt Guild display. They had some lovely row-by-rows and this was one of my favs.

And this was the quilt center I was working on at Randy's. 

I signed up for 2 classes in Houston- One is indigo dying  and the other is sashiko!

Looks like the blue theme will continue through this year. 

I hope you all are having a great week.  This month brings lots of vacations for our 

employees and more hours of work for me. 

Take care!

Quilts and Community

What a wonderful last few days I've had! I'm reminded again that quilts do more then keep people warm and foster creativity.  They bring people and communities together!! I'll have plenty of quilts to show, but first and foremost it is about the relationships and how quilts bring us together.

 Here we are Friday night waiting to get into the high school for dinner and lecture by Joe Cunnigham. 

L-R, Me, Sandy, Carrie and Michelle. 

Joe started us off with a bit of music.

 And moved to his hilarious and entertaining lecture. 

 These quilts are much easier to understand when he is explaining them.

 "Try to think of something so dumb nobody else will think of it. "~ Joe Cunningham

 Saturday morning, bright and early ready to see some great quilts! L-R  Anne, Claire, Randy, me

 We spotted one of Randy's quilts right off the bat. it's a beauty!

 Around town. 

 Sue Spargo was named Inspirational Teacher of the Year. She has done many classes in Sisters. I love to work with wool but not so much the fancy stitches, so I've never taken a class, but she is still very inspirational to me! And very gracious to let me get a photo.

 I ran into my friend, Pam. We met at the Sisters show several years ago. I even bought a used sewing machine from her last year for my daughter. (we managed to get it from CA to OR with Randy's help)

There were 5 of these quilts hanging together that were all the same. Five friends worked on the quilt together throughout the year and committed to exhibiting them at the Sisters show. You could tell how excited they were to have them displayed!  I loved that story!!

Mary C came from Walla Walla with her hubby and we finally got to meet! 

She is a faithful commenter! Nice to meet IRL!

I showed these on my facebook page: My 2 favorites from the show.

This quilt by Sarah Fielke. Two years ago she had another one of my favorites- you can see it HERE. 

 This quilt was very appealing! read about it in the next photo. 

This was Saturday night and our last night together before heading home on Sunday.  Cheers!

More quilts on Wednesday!