QUILT A-FAIR

Quilt A-Fair was this past weekend, and as usual I was a little disappointed. Oh they had about 4 booths that I really liked, of course they were either scrap quilts or reproductions of old quilts. So much of what I saw was big, big blocks with ugly colors. I know, I know, I really like the traditional quilts. I did like this quilt from a store out of Oklahoma. It is very "french" looking with the ruffled sashing, however I saw it last year at this quilt show in the same booth.

See what I mean, nothing new.

Bonnie Blue from Texas had a wonderful booth. I loved the Irish chain quilt set with a dark blue background. Yes I bought the pattern, it meets 2 of my quilting criteria . One, it is made with small scraps of fabric and two, it is a traditional pattern that is simply beautiful.

Liberty had a beautiful booth also. Again traditional patterns, however the blocks were sized quite small and the finished quilt was smaller than anything that could be used in a practical manner.

Most of her quilts were on a background of tea dyed cotton. The colors I loved as well as the patterns. She would not allow any photos, stating she did not want anyone to copy her patterns.

I certainly understand her not wanting to be copied but her patterns were all old traditional blocks that she just made smaller. She copied the original blocks herself. So why the big deal about taking pictures?

After I left the quilt show I went to one of my favorite quilt stores "Little Wool Shop" for a huge sale. I know,I do not NEED any more fabric but I WANT MORE fabric . And I bought allot of fabric too, 40 yards to be exact!

OUR HOMES

Our homes and the way we decorate them is an insight to the people who live there. Some families like all new modern furniture, chrome, leather,very clean lines. Others , well they kinda like the willy-nilly look, anything will do just so I have a bed , chair and TV to watch. Some might call these homes low maintenance.

I like my furniture to have a family history story to them. I love knowing that my grandmother used this chair for over 50 years in her home and that my mother saved it for me when Nell could no longer care for herself. I have 3 beautiful chairs from Nell, their is a couch that went with these chairs but it was sold to a neighbor....so sad!

This couch was bought for Eric and myself when Nate was 3 months old. Eric's parents,Betty and Don, bought it for us for an anniversary gift.The couch is a queen Anne style with the high back. Betty said this would suit our tall bodies better than the other couches. Don said it was the only one in the store that was made like furniture should be made. And the price tag revealed that it was indeed the quality Don was looking for, it is now 28 years. I have only had to recover it once, about 6 years ago.

The table belonged to Betty and Don and was always a favorite of mine in their home. The Amish scene on the table was also Betty's.

Betty stitched this sampler in the late 60's and as she says after she was done the eye wear became permanent. I can see her sitting in her chair stitching by the light watching Johnny Carson, drinking coffee in a real china cup with a saucer and a cigarette burning in the ash tray.

I love walking into my home , looking around and see my family members still with me on a day to day basis. It is home, quite, safe, a place to rest and refresh. Where I walk through life's problems and know I will come out on the other side of the problems OK. I know this because those that went before me all came out OK and they are still with me in my home today.

CANNING and FOOTBALL

Eric and I went to a football game. Neither of us had done this since the kids were very small. I think the last football game for Eric was with Nathan before he was 5 years old. We had a great time , spending the whole day eating , it was Ag day, sitting in the cold and rain watching the game. However that field was a long way off for my eyes. I had to keep asking "what happened"?
This of course was my favorite part of the game, HALF TIME with the band! Nothing says Fall to me like a marching band. Life is good !

We returned home to can 2 cases of pears

2 cases of peaches.

And these are the results of our labor.

The following day I put up 2 cases of tomatoes for sauces and winter soups.

I am not sure what it is about doing things that my ancestors use to do that has a calming effect on me. Is it because we have to slow down ( canning must be done carefully so as not to poison anyone later). Or is it simply a way to identify with them, to understand a small part of what their lives were like. Do I have similar thoughts running through my head that they had when they were canning? Like" why is canning always in the hottest month of the year"?, or" I hope people enjoy eating these fruits as much as I enjoy canning them", "where did I put all those jars I bought last year" and "where am I going to store all these full jars "? Not to mention my prize of lining up all the beautiful jars and say "this is what I did today"!

A small request to anyone who reads this blog, please leave me a comment! i know you are out there!!

More China pictures, we took so many in the 2 weeks that we were with China.

My visit to China is a trip that I seem to appreciate in time lapse moments. Something will be said and I say "oh yeah we did such and such " in China or saw this cool site or had the best laugh here with the kids. Remember trying to convince Erin to think about something else than her need to vomit every 5 minutes on the train. Caitlin told her to think that her ankle was really hurting and Erin's reply was " but I don't want my ankle to hurt" ! Erin did not see the humor in this but Caitlin and I had a good laugh. And yes Erin did recover several hours after we reached our destination and got off the 16 hour train ride.

The Xi'an train station