As I have told my adult students many times, new skills, like hand applique, are difficult for adults because we are accustomed to being adept at anything we undertake. Being awkward is unpleasant for adults, but children do not mind.

Learning is as much a part of life for children as meals and bedtime. Thus, they keep trying when things are hard and they are not disappointed when their first attempts are not perfect.

As you have probably guessed these students are my granddaughters and we had a great time together. I prepared in advance by charting their names on 7-grid to the inch graph paper and then transferring the cross stitches to a slightly heavy weight cotton fabric—kettle cloth. Each of the three chose their own color of floss and we were off.

Threading needles and knots were a bit troublesome, but they definitely caught on quickly and the next time I visit I think we will be ready to sew their creations into pillows to decorate their beds.

There was plenty of other fun to be had during my visit too.

Being around such youth and enthusiasm for life is rejuvenating. I returned home rested, relaxed and ready to get back to work.

I am now in the process of making American Girl doll quilts for each of the three older girls and will be sure to show you pictures before I send them off.

We took a vacation last week and visited The Grand Canyon, one of the seven natural wonders of the world.

About sixty miles south of the South Rim is a little town of Williams. There is a vintage train there that daily makes the journey–very slowly–to the South Rim. We were among the passengers last Thursday.

The landscape for miles around the Grand Canyon is desert. It is monotonous and unremarkable. Then suddenly there is a glimpse of the Canyon and you can’t believe your eyes. It is more than “grand” and bigger than ever imagined.

When we finally stood on the edge of the Rim there was total silence among those looking on and over the edge. The grandeur of that gigantic canyon is beyond words. How and whatever happened here is beyond my limited understanding.

As I stood speechless on the edge of the Rim, the words of a hymn, “The Mighty God,” began to play in my head. The presence of the words to that hymn were unbidden and yet they seemed appropriate for the view before us.

Whenever I see something remarkable in nature, such as The Grand Canyon, I always think about the first human who ever saw it. He probably jumped up and down and said “I have got to show this to someone.” At least that would be my reaction.

I was there with my four sisters for our yearly four or five days together. As you can see, the five of us look unrelated and yet we are connected on such a basic level that when one of us hurts, the other four feel it.

In the everyday circle of our daily lives:  a stay-at-home mom, an accountant, an elementary school teacher, a landscape gardener and a quilter, we would never cross paths or even find interests in common. Yet here we are sisters from birth and still joined to each other in a way so deep that the connections can never be severed.

When we were young we fought on an almost daily basis and I am sure our mother despaired of our ever being civil to each other, let alone be friends. It would make her very happy to see us now and know that not only are we friends, we honor her with love and respect for each other.

On a raining afternoon in July my friend, Linda, and I chanced upon a most wonderful and charming restaurant that was serving afternoon tea. We had been told there were good antique shops in the small town of Holly, Michigan, and we had taken a detour to investigate. It certainly was a great place for antiquing—more on that in another post—and by late afternoon our pocketbooks were almost empty and we were ready to rest.

On a side street, Battle Alley, just off the Holly’s historic downtown area we spotted this view and decided to investigate. There we found the Historic Holly Hotel that is now a restaurant only with a sign announcing a Victorian Afternoon Tea. It was the perfect opportunity to rest our feet and get out of the rain. Stepping inside we knew that we had just found a treasure.

We ordered their three course afternoon tea and waited to see what came. We were not disappointed.

Our first course consisted of a Cinnamon Scone, a Cranberry Muffin, Dessert Cream and Herbed Nuts. It was all delicious. The Herbed Nuts were especially interesting with a coating that combined the flavors of cinnamon, sugar, and cumin (yes–cumin). They were surprisingly good.

Next, our main course consisted of Herbed Chicken with Peach/Mango Chutney, an open-faced Cucumber Sandwich with Diced Red Pepper, and a Lawash (rollup) made from a spinach tortilla spread with a cream cheese and pimento and generously topped with crispy onions, bacon and leaf lettuce. How could it get any better we wondered? And then it did….

Our dessert course was served on a flat metal tray that held a Shortbread Cookie topped with Mango/Pineapple Salsa, a decadent deep dark Chocolate Truffle, and Kafir (sweet lemon variety) Lemon Cheesecake. Oh my!

Diana, our server, was friendly, eagar to answer any request, and most generous with her time and explanations about the Hotel and it’s history. It was a perfect visit. Long will memories of a delightful day of antiquing in Holly Michigan and afternoon tea at the Historic Holly Hotel stay with me.

This past month I have been preparing for a new venture. This weekend I will have a vendor booth at the Tucson Quilt Show. I am excited to try out a new way of sharing with the public. I will be able to introduce my techniques and talk with many more quiltmakers than is possible in a classroom setting. And, to make the prospect even sweeter, my sister is coming along to help out. It is going to be a fun road trip!

As many know about me, antique quilts have been the driving force behind the quilts that make and it is where my true love for quilting lies. Recently I have thought as much about the possibilities in pieced traditional quilts as in applique. Last fall, while staying with my friend in Maine, I learned more about early 19^th century fabric and I had the good fortune of being able to buy a large quantity of early reproduction fabric.

I have spent the last month cutting that fabric into 1/8 yard fabric packs and stitching a couple of samples of how the fabric can be used. I have had a wonderful time and now it is time to share my largess and a couple of new patterns.

The week of Thanksgiving was spent with our daughter and her family in another state. My daughter has become a great cook and Thanksgiving dinner was wonderful and the company unsurpassed. It was a very enjoyable week.

Several years ago our daughter began a tradition of making a quilt for each of her children as they graduated from a crib to a “big girl” bed. All went well with the first two children, but as her family has grown into nearly five children (new baby due around Christmas) it has been difficult to keep up. Daughter Number Three turned four-years-old last September and she was still without her own big girl bed quilt, so Grandma Jeana decided to help.

A few days before traveling to their house for the holiday our granddaughter requested the colors for her quilt: purple, yellow, and orange. Nothing else would do. Those particular colors are not an easy combination, but my well stocked fabric cabinets supplied the fabric (shown above). After her approval of the specified colors of fabric, I brought them along to make the over-due quilt.

With an audience of three little girls I cut, sewed, tied, and bound the quilt using the fabrics I had brought from home. Following the pattern of the other two quilts that my daughter had already made, the quilt is constructed of 6″ squares sewn together. Next I tied the quilt with plenty of mint green yarn (Foxglove Cottage Size 8 Longs/Tying Needles worked perfectly for this task) and the quilt was finally bound in a purple checked fabric.

I am somewhat embarrassed to say that this is the first quilt I have ever made that was this simple and I must say it was very satisfying to see a completed work in such a short time. The quilt is perfect, Granddaughter Number Three is thrilled, and I will do this again—soon.

I have just returned from a glorious visit to a quilting friend in Maine. The leaves were beautiful (just a little past peak), the seafood unsurpassed, the walks by the ocean inspiring, and a full week for stitching with friends. Vacations do not get any better.

I arrived at my home airport late in the evening. I felt physically very tired and a little sad. After that came the two hour drive to my town. As we drove through the darkness a definite shift in my thinking was taking place and I began to feel anticipation that grew as the miles to home shortened. The thoughts of being in my very own place again lifted my spirits and I could hardly wait.

I have a sister who is a “homebody.” Her favorite place to be is at home. She attends social functions and enjoys her time there as well as anyone. In fact, she is often the life of the party, but, just like Cinderella and her pumpkin, when it is time for the party to end, she is the first out the door and is halfway home before many of us have left the event. It is as if an unseen elastic band around her ankle and attached to her house propels her home in haste.

I think I was feeling the presence of my elastic band as we drove toward home. Entering the house I was greeted with the familiar smell of my home—warm and clean with a hint of scented candles. My faithful companion cat waited at the door to rub against me and then to sniff my legs to determine what foreign scent I was bringing into her domain.

A short time later I snuggled into my warm, soft bed. My last waking thoughts repeated Dorothy’s famous line, “There’s no place like home, there’s no place……….

Over a year ago I made a strategic error on my calendar which resulted in my being away working for two full weeks in September. It has been a marathon but it is now over and I can stop to catch my breath.

My first commitment was to be a judge for the Houston Quilt Festival Show. Now I ask you, who could turn that honor down? Not me.

It was an amazing experience. Eight hundred quilts were entered. They were juried down to four hundred quilts–the cream of this year’s crop–and I had the honor of seeing and touching every one of those four hundred quilts. Oh my!!!

There are so very many talented, committed, focused and determined quiltmakers out there making amazing quilts. I am in awe of every entrant.

One element of the contest, however, surprised me a great deal—I still can’t get over it. The last time I paid attention to quilt contests, the categories with the most quilts seemed to be traditional quilts.

It is not so any longer. The entries have dropped so low in traditional pieced and traditional applique that there is only one category for each—no longer are there two categories with one being large quilts and the other being small. What happened!? Where are all of the traditional quilts? Are we traditional quiltmakers intimidated by the non-traditional quilts? Are we not competitive? Are we not finishing our quilts? Or, heaven forbid, are there less of us!!!??? Whatever the reason, there is now lots of room at the top for anyone who will enter in traditional categories. Lets get going!!

After one day at home, I was off again to teach at the Utah State Quilt Guild’s Annual Quilt Fest. It is home turf for me (as many years ago I served as President of the Utah Quilt Guild). It was a fun and exhilarating week. I saw old friends, met new ones, and in general had a great time.

Several long-time quiltmaking friends reminded me of the days when I brought my young children along to board meetings and even to class when I taught. They also all reminded me how good my children were and that they played quietly under the table while we worked and learned above their heads.

They were good kids

and still are, however, as much as they appreciate my quilts, they don’t have a passion for quiltmaking the way I do. When our daughter married, she immediately began making her first quilt, which delighted me. At the time I mentioned to her that I was surprised at her interest since she had not shown any before she married.

Her answer was unexpected when she said, “Isn’t that what all moms do?” She has since learned that is not the case and she is much too busy with her young family–but maybe later.

I have been away spending time with our daughter’s family. Coming home is an intangible pleasures that I savor. Another such pleasure is the time I spend with my children and grandchildren. I spent my time this past week playing Go Fish and Old Maid, telling and reading stories, cooking old favorite dishes for my daughter and making an ice cream cake (my most important contribution in the eyes of my grandchildren). Although there is more than enough work to keep me busy here without a break, time with family is an investment in the future and in myself that is more important than the work I am now spending overtime to catch up with.

In elementary school my favorite piece of playground equipment was the merry-go-round. I remember racing out of the classroom at recess time to claim my place on the twirling disk. Sometime I would run alongside pushing my bar to help my classmates make it go faster and faster, and sometimes I would sit and simply enjoy the ride. After a certain length of time, regardless of my position on the merry-go-round, I had to get off to regain my balance and to rest.

My life these days is somewhat like that merry-go-round. I can hardly wait to get to work when I get up in the morning. I love my work, I love to create, I love to stitch, and I enjoy talking to quilters who call on the phone. When bedtime comes around I am often still at it, stitching or working. Needless to say, my existence sometimes becomes one dimensional and I need to get off the merry-go-round to regain my balance and to rest.

A few weeks ago I did just that. I took a week off and spent the time with our daughter and her family in Texas. As you can see, their family is very young (six years and younger) and I am sure that my daughter’s life can become a bit like a merry-go-round too. One of the things I always do when I visit is send the grown-ups away for a weekend alone while Grandma Jeana stays with the kids. When Mom and Dad are not there as a buffer between me and our little ones, we get to know each other very well. It is quite a workout I must admit, but I love the time alone with the kids. This year we played “Go Fish” and “Old Maid” until we nearly wore out the cards, we made a surprise bouquet of flowers from cardstock and pipe cleaners (and lots of glitter glue), and a Red Velvet Cake to celebrate Mom and Dad’s return.

I returned home refreshed and ready to jump back on my merry-go-round. I am having a great time working again!

On my last night in Michigan my friend Linda arranged for a rare and delightful treat; we were to have dinner in the home of a young Amish woman

Sarah Borkholder is twenty-eight years old. She chooses to remain in her Old Order Amish community and has chosen not to marry or live in the family of a sibling, thus she has had to find a way to provide for herself. Her answer to her financial dilemma is two fold, she hand quilts for hire and she cooks twice a week for the “English”. Sarah cooks a fish fry on Friday nights and a farmhouse breakfast on Saturday mornings for anyone who shows up to eat. She also caters meals by special arrangement and serves them in her home. She lives in a “doddy house,” located next to a much larger farm house, that she rents from a young couple in the rural community of Lakeview. 

On a cold and icy Saturday night we set out for the long drive to dinner. Megan and Artie, both quilters, drove with us and showed the way to Sarah’s house. They are long-time friends with Sarah and they had made the arrangements for our dinner. As we drove further into the country it seemed to get darker and colder. We finally arrived and walked up a very slippery driveway. We were greeted at the door by a smiling Sarah. We stepped into her home. It was a large room well-lit by kerosene lamps and well warmed by a very large wood stove. The room smelled faintly of wood smoke and of Sunday dinner. Although the room was sparely furnished it felt cozy and inviting.

Sarah served us a perfectly prepared fried chicken dinner with all the trimmings and pecan pie with homemade maple ice cream for dessert. Under any circumstance the meal would have been excellent, but knowing that it had all been cooked on a wood stove and the ice cream hand churned by Sarah made the meal unbelieveably excellent!

After dinner Sarah showed us her box of cardboard quilting templates that she and her mother have used for many years for marking the quilting on quilts and then she showed us some quilt tops that she has in line waiting to be quilted. It was a delightful evening and we reluctantly left at about 9:00 p.m.

I will long remember Sarah and in my mind often revisit this extraordinary young woman who cheerfully shares her life from a century past with those who come to her door.