Much to Be Thankful For

A year ago just now, we were in a car accident. While the car was totaled, we were ultimately just fine. A few months before that I required surgery. And I was ultimately just fine. Though last year was challenging, I was one grateful gal on Thanksgiving 2010.

There have been some low points this year—funny how you just can't squeak by without a downturn or two—but I continue to be grateful for all that I have: Smart, funny, loving daughters and a husband who is my best bud; extended family who cares; friends who support me when I need it and accept support when they do and who also play with me; work that fulfills me; an exhilarating new sport—the list goes on and I am so lucky it does!

Whether you're enjoying some much needed solitude or thrilled to be surrounded by a crush of revelers, I hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving. Cheers!

Feeding My Obsession

Can you believe that one on top of the box? Totally wild!

Since last April, when I attended the feed sack show in Ainsworth, I've been under the spell of feed sacks. In every antique and thrift store, at any quilt show, wherever vintage textiles are found, I poke through stacks of fabric in search of them. Typically they're very, very pricey, and given that I'm not sure what I'd do with them, I've never splurged.

Sweet little floral

Earlier this summer, no doubt when I should have been doing some work, I was noodling about online and decided to check Craigslist. Lo and behold, there was an ad for feed sacks, nearly vintage itself at several months old. I figured they'd be long gone, but wrote for more information. Amazingly, they were still to be had, but for a price that was a bit rich for my blood. Turns out here were about 23 (including several duplicates) of them, plus some scraps. I offered to buy them all for a lower price and the owner countered. I told her that I would pass, but if she'd ever consider my offer to let me know. Sure enough, she did and they arrived today!

So graphic! I've got two

It turns out that the feed sacks belonged to a octogenarian quilter from a small Iowa town. Her daughter was selling them for her. I felt a bit guilty having bargained for them, although the ad had been placed months before, so I guess she was glad for the sale. My real worry is that her daughter said that her mom wanted to know what I would do with them and asked that I send a photo of anything I made. Yikes! That feels like such responsibility...I can barely imaging cutting into them. But I promised when I did use them, I'd share the results. And she obviously used them, as there are many small bits in addition to the complete sacks.

A bold take on florals—flower in a flower

With feed sacks, I expect the sweet little florals, but am always amazed by how contemporary many of the designs are. In my Etsy story I mentioned that it took three feed sacks to make a dress, but the only bag I have three of would make anyone look (as my mother used to say) like the broad side of a barn.

Apparently owl imagery isn't new

For now, I'll just be folding and re-folding and admiring my feed sack stack. Heaven!

My favorites!

Yup, I've got three of these...

Quilt Market Update: Links, Photos, and a Bit of Commentary

--> The most charming Lucie Summers with her fresh, fantastic Summersville collection [Photos fixed and a few added..thanks for your patience!]


I'm far behind my other bloggy friends when it comes to sharing Market photos. Since you may have seen it all (or most of it) on other blogs, I'll just share some highlights. Market, as always, was awe-inspiring—the fabrics, the colors, new bells and whistles on sewing machines, the clever patterns, the booths that look like living rooms from Elle Decor. It's always sensory overload.

Maggie, Anna Maria Horner, and Pierette

While the goods were fantastic, catching up with people was really a pleasure. Yes, it's tough to have a heart-to-heart with a designer or editor when people right behind you are taking her photo. But I think there's such pleasure in talking with others who love the same things you do. Because so many of us work at home and because of blogs, we've learned about each others home lives and that makes these business relationships a little more personal, too—how are your kids? Is your mom feeling better? Are you really on an ice hockey team?

Finally, I had the extreme pleasure of sharing Market with my Texas daughter, Maggie. The Home Ec team decided they just couldn't make it to Market and so Maggie came in their stead. She gathered lots of goodies for the shop, some that Codi specifically requested and some we thought she and Alisa would like. There was one crazy moment when Sample Spree was about to end and Codi and I were calling back and forth so I could find out if I should purchase fantastic Japanese zippers and we kept losing our phone connection. The announcers were saying Sample Spree was over, I was frantically trying to describe the zippers, and the guys were starting to pack up—mania! In the end, victory (and zippers) were ours.

Apologies for the funky layout...I decided it was better to finally get it posted than to make it perfect!

-->

Yoshiko Jinzenji fabric and perfect quilting

Marny and Jill of Modern Quilt Relish--Iowa gals!

-->

Modern Quilt Relish booth-they also one made for Daisy Janie

-->

Seven Islands booth-lunch bags

-->

Malka Dubrowsky and her new fabric for Moda, A Stitch in Color--Wow!

-->

Cloud 9 has a new line based on Grandmother's drawings

--> Alexander Henry's booth is always a knock-out

-->

The lovely Alyssa's work in her Penguin and Fish booth

-->

Maggie with Amy Butler's clothing in the softest-ever voile

-->

Deploy that Fabric camouflage quilt

Love this concept and the cover quilt (above)

-->

Weeks and Bill Ringle have launched Modern Quilts Illustrated and it's gorgeous!

A cow quilt from Mary Lou and Mel's new book

-->

American Jane (Sandy Klopp) knocks my socks off every time

-->

Ty Pennington's booth with (get it?) ties

Making the most of down time: Kaffe knits and Liza binds

-->

Tina Givens knows how to make the best of chocolate brown paint

Heading to Houston

Does Pearl look a tad miffed in her stitched portrait? It's likely because I'm once again leaving her behind. I'm off to Quilt Market. Photos and commentary to come!

(This amazing Pearl portrait was created from a photo by Codi and Alisa at Home Ec Workshop. Check out their shop window for lots of other critters, some nearly as cute as Pearl.)

Have Letterpress, Will Travel

Kyle in the Type Truck

Interviewing Kyle Durrie was a pleasure. She's the proprietor of a Portland printing business, Power and Light Press, and is touring the country in a renovated 1982 Chevy step van equipped with letterpress equipment. (You can read her story on my Etsy post, here, and on her blog, here. The photos in this post are hers—she's a fantastic photographer.)

Kyle is 31 and after talking with her I was in awe—because of her commitment to her craft and trade, her thoughtful answers to my questions, and simply because of what she's doing. I learned about Kyle's journey when she drove her Type Truck into Iowa City earlier this summer and parked it outside Home Ec Workshop (where proprietors Alisa and Codi kept her parking meter plugged while she printed with the crowds). It was a hot, hot day and I didn't make it to the Type Truck—and have kicked myself ever since, but several of my UI Center for the Book friends met Kyle and printed with her and had great things to say about the experience. You can read about it on Kyle's blog, here.

After hanging up the phone, I gushed about my conversation with Kyle to my husband, but I admit to one funny comment. I said that if one of our daughters had come to us and told us she was going to do this, my first reaction would be "No way! That's crazy! It's dangerous! You can't possibly!" And yet here I was thinking Kyle was such an original thinker and so impressed with her willingness to put her life on hold for a year to pursue this experience. There's a lesson in there somewhere, about fear, taking risks, and letting go. Thanks for that one, Kyle,  for reminding me that being a visionary isn't just for people "out there," but those in my own backyard.

Heading to Tahoe

I'm off on what has become an annual (year one and year two) Lake Tahoe retreat. It is with both excitement and fear that I leave—fear because there are plenty of undone things, but excitement because I'm actually going to sew for an extended period of time...can't wait!

And I also can't wait to see my quilting buddies, who are moving from the category of new acquaintances to longtime friends.

I spent last Saturday finishing up my witch blocks and can't wait to see what the others have come up with. I'll share them with you soon! Have a great week.

Outfitting Babies for the Best Life Has to Offer: Reading and Eating

Cotton fronts

There's nothing better to celebrate than the birth of a new baby, and no better gift than a quilt. But in reality, I often don't have time to get a quilt done for every new bambino—Paul and I are lucky to be surrounded by young folk who keep on popping them out. We get to hold them, and oooh and aaaah over them, and then hand them back when they're crying. Best of all possible worlds!

Although I can't quite get a quilt done for every baby, I still like to make a little something. And so my go-to gifts these days are some of our favorite baby books, accompanied by a couple of bibs. I typically make one side of quilting cotton, and one side of flannel for soft face wiping. I add a little rickrack, impractical but too zippy to resist. I'm hoping to get a slew of these stitched up on my upcoming retreat.

Flannel backs

As for books, we typically give those that were our daughter's favorites, including The Snowy Day and Whistle for Willie by Ezra Jack Keats, Dr. DeSoto and The Amazing Bone and Sylvester and the Magic Pebble by William Stieg, Noisy Nora (a great rhythm for reading aloud) by Rosemary Wells, Blueberries for Sal (kerplink, kerplank, kerplunk) by Robert McCloskey, and Bill and Pete by Tommie DePaola.

There are so many great books for babies and toddlers—what are some of your favorites, old or new?

A Gift from a Quilter

Friday afternoon I attended the funeral of a quilter. S. was unbelievably talented, particularly with appliqué. Years ago, decades really, I took an appliqué class from her and while appliqué didn't really stick, it's one of those things I have on my "when-I-retire" list (as in, "when I retire I'll alphabetize all my spices, finally read War and Peace and Moby Dick, and learn to appliqué really, really well.") It intimidates me.

But S. never intimidated me. There wasn't a kinder, more self-effacing soul around...her workmanship and color sense were exquisite, but she'd act as though her quilts were just any old thing, in a way that made you laugh, both because she laughed all the time, and because you knew her quilts were really something special. In the program from her funeral was a paragraph she'd written about her quilting, and one line in particular struck me as so true—"Indeed, it is the this initimate relationship between the quilter and the cloth—the needling and holding of the fabric—that makes quilting a uniquely personal art form."

I want to share a poem that was read at her funeral—there were two, and both by Czeslaw Milosz. The first was "Encounter." The second is reproduced below. Thanks once again, S., for sharing a glimpse of something beautiful.

Gift (1971)

A day so happy.
Fog lifted early.
I worked in the garden.
Hummingbirds were stopping
Over the honeysuckle flowers.

There was no thing on earth
I wanted to possess.
I knew no one worth my envying him.

Whatever evil I had suffered, I forgot.
To think that once I was the same man did not embarrass me.

In my body, I felt no pain.
When straightening up, I saw blue sea and sails.

Thinking Outside the Usual Box

Interior of the New Melleray chapel

If you've read my post on Etsy this weekend, you know in early September I visited the New Melleray Abbey near Dubuque, Iowa. The abbey is in a lovely, rural setting—indeed, until last year the monks farmed the surrounding land. I've known a number of people who visit New Melleray for retreats—the monks rent out 18 rooms for quiet, contemplative stays. The people I know who spend time there aren't all Catholic, but appreciate the opportunity for quiet, reflective time.

Signs demarcate areas in the shop

I went to learn about Trappist Caskets, the business that supports New Melleray. Sam Mulgrew is the general manager of Trappist Caskets. Sam is not a monk but is a woodworker, and actually made caskets himself before bringing the idea to the monks. He explained that creating these furniture quality caskets fit well with the life of the monks—the attention to detail and care with which the caskets are made matches the calm, reflective lives the men lead.

On left, Brother Felix, who has made more than 1,000 caskets

As I walked with Sam around the workshop floor, I saw men engaged in the work at hand. While they talked occasionally, there was no shouting across the room, no blaring radios.

Cremation urns drying

The monk's approach to their work—evaluating each piece of lumber to determine its best use, managing their forest sustainably, keeping the end use of their product in mind—is wholly integrated with the lives they lead. I don't know that I've ever seen a place where work and values align so closely. It made me wonder whether this kind of attention is possible only in a place that's separate from the world. The concept of intertwining your belief system and your daily life so completely is enticing.

I'm not Catholic and I don't plan to be buried when I die, but I left Trappist Caskets having gained insight into embracing both those decisions in life.

Flippin' Knitting

Last spring, a woman at a meeting sat next to me with the loveliest scarf. It was short and flippy on the ends and had the most charming little bobbles. I complimented her on it and lo and behold, the very next week (okay, so the meeting was Weight Watchers), she brought a copy of the pattern for me. A total stranger did this. I love people who love textiles.

The pattern is by Kat Coyle (just found her blog and it is well worth a visit—a super-talented designer with a bold and bright color sense—her lace knits are lovely) and was originally in Interweave Knits Holiday Gifts 2007. You can find it on Ravelry here.

 I made the red one in the spring for myself and was delighted to learn how to wrap and knit stitches and make bobbles...two new skills to accompany my learning to knit cables earlier this year. I settled on Blue Sky Sport Weight 100% Baby Alpaca from Home Ec—very cozy against my neck and it knitted fairly quickly. I decided to knit one in green for my Minnesota sister for her early June birthday. I'm feeling a little sheepish that I just finished it and sent it off, but she probably wouldn't have gotten much use out of it in July and August, anyway. (The colors really don't look nearly as rich in the photo as they are in person.)

And did I keep going to Weight Watchers? Well, yes, for awhile. But I got derailed by Italy, visitors, vacation at the lake, etc. Will. return. soon.