Sometimes we hear the phrase “life-long learning” associated with community education classes and, to me, it sounds like hard work or something that old people do.

What life-long learning really means is that once you graduate and leave the formal school environment, you get to learn about anything that catches your fancy! What great prospects that opens for everyone!

In looking back I recognize that learning about quiltmaking and women of the 19^th century has been a lifetime-learning subject for me and it has been an important part of “enjoying the journey” of my life.

Many years ago I remember sitting in church and seeing an elderly gentleman, in the row in front of me, open his Bible to the Old Testament. He turned several pages and each one was covered with red underlinings and hand written notes in the margins. I remember thinking, “Wow, I wish I knew as much as him…or that I had even once read those same pages that are so well marked in his scriptures.”

I am sure those notes were made over time and in moments of time when he settled down to study a particular subject. That is what happens with small tidbits of information and learning…it accumulates. Before we realize, we know a great deal about a particular subject.

Last week was our wedding anniversary and we took a ride to another small town not far from here. We went there because neither of us had been there in recent memory and we wanted to take a look. The ride was enjoyable. I especially enjoyed spending the day alone with my husband. After lunch at a roadside hamburger stand we stopped at the one commercial business that was not a grocery or hardware store in this town. It was a rock shop!

What a fascinating place! There were stones and elements in beautiful shapes and colors from all over the world.

I learned that near this town is Topaz Mountain…and truly there are crystallized topaz stones in perfect cylinder shapes that look as though they are growing out of solidified gray ash on this mountain. Oh my, I want to go looking for some topaz there myself one day!

(As a side note, I am not an enthusiastic exerciser, so when I walk I am always looking for things to take my mind off of exercise. Often I look at rocks and so for years I have been a bit of a closet rock collector. However, most of what I have found is interesting shapes of gravel…..only interesting to me and my grandchildren.)

Below and at the top of this posting are two views of one of my purchases that day from the West Desert Collectors shop. It is a Septarian stone that has been formed and polished into a heart shape. It is so-o-o beautiful!

This is what I learned about Septarian nodules: “Septarians were formed millions of years ago when the Gulf of Mexico reached what is now Southern Utah. (Imagine that!!) Decomposing sea life, killed by volcanic eruptions, had a chemical attraction to the sediment around them, forming mud balls. As the ocean receded, the balls were left to dry and crack. They also shrank at the same time trapping the cracks inside the balls. As decomposed shells were carried down into the cracks in the mud balls crystals formed….” And this beautiful stone is the result!

Life-long learning is exciting and I have just found a new topic to explore. I can’t wait to find another rock shop!

At approximately 7:15 a.m. on Monday morning this week my 50-something sister was on her way to work in downtown Salt Lake City. She takes a Trax train to the city. It was a snowy, wet morning.

She had just left the train and walked a little way when she decided to cross the street at the first intersection in the middle of the block. Since the light was going to turn soon she decided to run for it. Her foot caught on an uneven paving brick and she fell.

In the fall she pitched forward and tried to break her fall with her arm. The arm bone nearest the shoulder broke and her head hit the pavement.

In a dazed state she knew she had to get out of the street, even though at the moment it was deserted, she knew the cars would be coming. She got to her feet and crossed to the other side of the street and immediately sat down on the concrete sidewalk because she felt she was about to pass out.

As she sat there trying to assess the situation, plot a plan of action, and keep from fainting, a man came and sat on the sidewalk next to her. He was a UTA (Utah Transit Association) worker who had witnessed her accident. He brought along some gauze to catch the blood coming from the cut in her forehead. He sat quietly and offered suggestions for assistance.

She decided she did not need an ambulance. Instead she phoned a fellow worker, who she knew drove into work, and asked her to stop and take my sister to the hospital. While she waited, the man sat beside her on the ground and simply “kept her company” until her friend arrived.

Since she told me about this man’s simple acts of kindness I have thought about how little it can take to provide a valuable good to those around us. Big things happen in small ways.

Changing topics, our online class is going great. Altogether there are over 70 students enrolled in my Cottage Garden class and great versions of the quilt are underway. We are having fun discussions in our Yahoo group about subjects are varied as thread to Saturday morning memories. It will be a grand party when we all get together next August here in Spring City!

I have been advised by some of my students that I did not emphasize nearly enough all of the good things the Cottage Garden class includes in the description of the class.

So if you are still thinking about joining our group (registration is open until May 2012), here is additional information about what the class includes: You will receive the patterns and several close-up photos of every block (enough that you may as well be holding it in your hands). You also receive detailed Color in Quilts (Jeana Kimball style) instruction, plus a Technical Support section that explains my stitching technique in such complete detail that it will take the full year to tell it all (it would make a very big book), And, finally with each lesson you receive an interesting historical biography or review spotlighting a person of interest from the early 19^th century.

We are all having a great time, looking forward to August, and we invite you to join us!

A Cottage Garden Quilt Center

During the past five years I have concentrated my teaching solely in this direction by teaching several small classes once a month at quilt shops in Northern Utah. It has been highly satisfying for both me and my students.

Unfinished border

Each year I design a new project. Everyone chooses their own fabric. They have learned to rely on their own color sense and at the end of the year we have an amazing array of individual versions of a single quilt.

Nasturtiums

In addition to receiving patterns each month we have a short lesson on a topic that is related to the new project. For example, for this year’s project I designed, “A Cottage Garden.” It was inspired by and stitched from authentic 1930s fabrics. So our topic this year is related to lifestyles and trends of that time.

We meet for 2 hours once a month, except for July. In July, class is held here for three glorious days of stitching, eating, show and tell, and visiting.

Carolina Wren

Recently one of my Journal readers wrote to ask if she could join my classes even though she could not attend the monthly sessions. As I thought about her request I could not see any reason why my class format could not work as an online class.

This year I am inviting all of you to join our class. Beginning August 1^st I will mail online students a hard copy of the designs for that month. You will also receive a written lesson on my chosen topic and color photos of the month’s appliqué blocks. Online students are invited to our three day retreat/class in July 2012.  I have also set up a Yahoo group for members of the class and all students—both local and online—will be members.

For those who do not know about Yahoo groups, members of a particular group correspond via e-mail that is delivered to everyone’s inbox. All questions, answers, and discussion includes everyone so we are all “on the same page” all of the time. Also, members can post photos of their finished blocks on the group’s page so everyone can watch the progress as each quilt develops.

Iris or Flag if you are in my mother's garden

I have just sent the information and a signup sheet to my web designer. Very soon (within a week) the signup sheet will be posted under the Online Classes/Retreats heading on my website’s home page.

I am very excited to be able to include all of you in this year’s project!

Have you noticed that many quilters are making pincushions these days? I have too, and I have been gifted with several in the past year. Each is unique and is a reminder of the kind one who made it.

Recently, a long-time friend showed me a pincushion that she is teaching at a local quilt shop. It is the peasant lady pincushion shown above.

The minute I saw this pincushion I was flooded with memories of a similar pincushion I made many, many years ago. I was first learning about quiltmaking in 1979 when I took a class on making this same pincushion lady.

She is made from a series of stuffed circles with a ruffle and a head scarf to hide the hand stitches that hold her layers together. For a flat base, a canning jar lid is placed at the bottom of her full skirt. She holds lots of pins and she is always upright. She is a great sewing asset altogether.

I cannot imagine what happened to my original mauve peasant lady with a flowered muslin head scarf. In my mind’s eye, I can still see her.

But, since she is no longer around, it is great to have a contemporary replacement who will keep me company while I am stitching in the future.

Here is my grandson with the quilt I made for him while visiting. I must admit it is made completely from fabric in my collection (stash)—even the back.

A simple pattern of 6-inch squares works up quickly. Even better was the constant companionship of the quilt’s prospective owner. He kept me company while I cut and stitched and he helped with the layout…choosing block placement, etc….and we got it made in a little less than three days.

On Monday, of the storm, no one was venturing out and I had to join the quilt top with the back and tie it that day or it would not be done before I left on Tuesday. My only choice was to put together bits and pieces that had not been used on the front. It is a little crazy looking on the back, but I felt so frugal having used nearly all the fabric I had brought from home, and in saving the money I would have spent to buy yardage for the backing.

We even tied it with yarn my daughter had on hand. It was left over from the “blankey” his mom had made him before he was born. I’m not so sure how that fuzzy yarn will hold up in the long term, but he was delighted to have part of “blankey” in his new quilt.

Here we are at the eleventh hour putting the finishing touches on his quilt. No binding….no time….only a knife-edge finish (front and back turned to the center and stitched down) I stitched twice around it on the sewing machine and at another visit I will add a bias binding.

There is only one quilt yet to make, on another visit, for the littlest one. Here she is with her big sister. I couldn’t resist showing you this one last picture!

During the big storm in Georgia earlier this month I was in town visiting our daughter, son-in-law and grandchildren. It is such a delight for me to see them and spend quality time with them all.

It was a treat for them to see snow. The two younger ones had never seen snow before. They spent most of the day outdoors squishing around in the slushy snow. Here is a photo of their best efforts at snowman building.

I think Mr. Frosty is quite charming in spite of his stature and his very brief life expectancy.

On Saturday before the storm we visited the Aquarium in downtown Atlanta. We all had a great time and even though the kids had been there several times before they were very enthusiastic. (Notice their faces in the reflection on the glass….aren’t those granddaughters of mine darling?)

Here is another photo of everyone except my son-in-law…he was the one with the camera phone.

At this point you have probably noticed that my daughter is very, very tall. She really is my biological daughter. My husband is also very tall and slender. And, yes, in all things physical she certainly does take after the Kimball side of the family, but I like to think I am in there somewhere too.

While there I also made another bed quilt for our grandson this time. I am waiting for photos of him with his new quilt and then I will post a few more pictures.

It was a very full week and a great time. Thanks for humoring me and taking a look at this proud grandma’s pictures!

If we are brave enough to admit it, we all have secret pleasures that we may be embarrassed to admit to out loud. Usually the enjoyment of such pleasures is politically incorrect and sometimes just silly. But there it is….something we enjoy that we would hesitate to acknowledge.

Mine is fruitcake. No one likes fruitcake, right? It is too sweet, too rich, too over-the-top to be healthy, etc. And yet, every year in the autumn, grocery stores put up displays of all those rich, gooey, and enticing ingredients.

At first I resist, thinking of all the calories and how nobody (except for me and my sister) likes to eat fruitcake. Passing by the tantalizing ingredient displays throughout the holiday season I am tempted, but I resist again and again.

Then finally one day I resist no more and buy enough candied cherries and pineapple, golden raisins, currants, spiced gumdrops and nuts…lots of walnuts and pecans….to make one glorious batch of fruitcake. Whew, just a list of the ingredients makes one dizzy with sugar overload.

I set aside one full day for the baking of my fruitcakes. Long and slow is the secret to baking great fruitcake. As it slowly bakes the smell of spices, fruits and other rich ingredients fill the air. Sometimes I think that the baking is as enjoyable as the eating.

After swaddling the baked delicacy in parchment paper and carefully storing it in a special tin, and letting it age…at least one week…it is ready for serving.

For me, this day usually arrives after the New Year because of my earlier procrastination.

Slicing and then biting into my first slice of fruitcake, I am transported. I visualize afternoon tea in a sunny garden in England.

I am visiting with a few like-minded friends and enjoying the sound of birds singing in the trees that surround this fanciful place. I can smell the earthy smell of sun-warmed soil and softly scented flowers nearby.

The spring-like weather warms my neck and shoulders. (In fact, I can practically feel the sun on my shoulders right now.) It is a perfect time and a perfect place. And fruitcake, of all things, takes me there.

About once a week all winter long I indulge in a cup of peppermint tea, a slice of fruitcake, and my spring time fantasy. For me, fruitcake is the perfect tonic for a long, dark winter.

More than half a year has passed without a post to my journal. In summary, I’ve been busy (haven’t we all) and remiss in thinking about what may interest you my online quilting friends.

There is a group of 50 plus quiltmakers who have become the focus of my creative energies of late. A quilt shop in the Salt Lake metropolitan area is the venue where we meet.

The pictures in this post are of some of them when we held class at my house last summer.

Once each month I drive two hours to the City and spend three days teaching classes. I like to keep my classes small. So in three day’s time I teach six classes and we have time to both learn and enjoy the company.

Well over twenty years ago I tried teaching a year-long class at a local quilt shop. It was a great experience and I found that situation is the one that suits me best as a teacher.

In a year’s time not only are stitching techniques refined, the why’s and how’s of design can be taught, and there is time for in depth learning about the history of quiltmaking. A one day class simply cannot provide the environment that allows for the sharing and learning that can take place over time.  

However, the best part of such long classes is the close friendships that form. This past summer there was a wedding between two young people that was a direct result of two mothers who became friends in one of my classes.

I have found many long-time and dear friends through these classes. I wish there were a way to bring all of you into our classes and perhaps one day I will figure out a way to share more widely.

But for now I will try to be more diligent in posting to my journal.

My Old Fashioned Christmas quilt is finished and it will hang in my house this Christmas season. I will be selling the pattern soon.

Spring Quilt Market is being held in Salt Lake City in 2011 and I plan to have a booth there. I will introduce it there and the pattern will finally be available.

Although I dislike the thought of another year passing away with many things yet undone, a new beginning brings new hope.

For me, last year was a year of reset and rejuvenation. For far too many years I have neglected some basic things, like saying “yes” when the answer should have been “no”, and I have let work commitments override the needs of family—saying to myself “they will understand”. And, yes, they do understand but our little ones kept growing and we all kept aging whether I was there to enjoy them or not.

With my focus now clearer, my energy renewed, and my resolve strengthened, I am ready for the challenges of a new year.

This year I have plans for two new publications. I am making this announcement to you with great trepidation because I know that you all will take me at my word and that you will remind me often of my promise.

My first publication will be the long-awaited publication of “An Old Fashioned Christmas”. The delay has mostly been all about indecision—book or pattern format. I have now decided that pattern it will be……I think. I will know for sure when I get a final quote from the printer. Depending on my daily work load, it will be ready late this month (January) or February.

The second publication is a quilt called “Izzy’s Choice.” Unlike “An Old Fashioned Christmas” the pieces are large, the pattern is easy, and the colors are fresh and quite different from quilts you have seen me do in the recent past.

It is a nine block quilt with a swag border. It’s name was inspired by one of my granddaughters, whose favorite colors inspired the quilt’s color pallet.

Now that I have committed myself I am off to work.

I hope that you find time in each day to do the things that are most important. I know that I will be focusing on that one most important goal myself.

A couple of years ago I decided to stop traveling around the country to teach quilting and to concentrate on teaching nearer to home. One of the things I did is to start a couple of different year-long classes at a shop in Salt Lake City.

Once a month I travel 100 miles to the City and teach several two-hour sessions of classes. Each year the classes have become more popular and we have kept adding more classes. Right now I am teaching five two-hour sessions, which equals well over fifty students in total.

Included in the year-long class is the understanding that for one of the monthly classes I stay home and they drive the 100 miles to come here. We turn it into a day-long sewing and eating retreat.

It is held over two days, Friday and Saturday. It was this past weekend.

This year we were close to maximum capacity on seating in my house, but we will keep figuring out ways to fit more in. Here are pictures of a few of those who attended. I didn’t think about pictures until the second day and these pictures were taken near the end of the day.

Do you think they had a good time?

And, as you can see I have not forgotten the rest of you, when I had a spare minute I was quilting away on the Christmas Quilt. It is coming along nicely.