Marking a Century of Love and Laughter

Today, July 15, 2011, is the 100th anniversary of my mother's birth. She died a few months before her 97th birthday, and up until the day she died, she found joy, love and laughter in each day and reflected that joy back to the people she loved.

She grew up in the suburbs of Philadelphia, went to West Chester State Teachers College, and when she was 27, married my dad whom she met in the young peoples' group at church.

My parents had a long and happy marriage, until my father died suddenly in 1980.


My mother was a teacher; yes, she taught in the classroom for many years; but she was my sister's and my first--and lifelong--teacher, too. And she taught her grandchildren nursery rhymes, silly songs, games like "Buckle, Buckle Beanstalk," knitting and sewing, playing with string and card games (even poker!)

My mother loved being with her family, her two brothers and three sisters, and their spouses (the "outlaws.")

And, of course, she especially loved to be with her two daughters and their families. Here we are, minus my BIL Jack, who manned the camera, celebrating her 90th birthday.

By her 95th birthday, she had moved to Florida to live near one of her sisters, so the next major birthday celebration was a surprise party there.
Here she is at the party with my sister, Marce.

My parents were lifelong Phillies fans. When we asked her what she would like to do for her 95th birthday, she said, "Go to a baseball game, of course!" The Phils were not in Florida at the time, so we did the next best thing and went to a Threshers game (a Phillies farm team.) She loved it, especially when her birthday was announced during the seventh inning stretch!
She wore her Phillies T-shirt and visor, too.

A toast to you on your birthday, Mom!

A Spring Fling in Da Bronx

On Friday, Dave, Marge and I went to see the azaleas at the New York Botanical Garden. It was a cloudy, cool day, but there were lots of people in the park, including several school groups of different ages.  The gardens are spread over 250 acres, so they never feel crowded.  The azaleas are at their peak now, and they bloom in a rainbow of beautiful colors in a part of the Gardens that is gentle hills.  Each part of the garden is a treat for the eyes.  Here are some pictures.

After azalea-gazing, we strolled over to the gardens near the Enid Haupt Conservatory.  These are small, more formal gardens with a wide variety of plants, many familiar to us, and some quite startling, like this unusual plant:  These guys are almost 4 feet high!

 

                                      


I especially enjoyed the irises and tulips, two of my favorite flowers.

                                        

After we left the Gardens, we went to Arthur Avenue in the Bronx which is an old Italian neighborhood of restaurants and food stores.   First, we went to "zero otto nove," where we had a wonderful lunch of calamari with peppers and tomatoes, arugula salad with shaved parmagiano, pasta putanesca, and pasta with ceci.  All delicious!



                                   

 Thus fortified, we shopped: in the market, in the meat store, at the bakery.  Eating before we shopped was a wise decision; otherwise we would have come home with mountains of breads and sausages and olives and biscotti and cheese!

We fortified ourselves for the ride home with cannoli and cappucino at one of the cafes.

 I gilded the lily with a chocolate dipped cannoli.  Bliss!

                                  
I think this retirement thing is working out really well for us!

A Tradition Continued

My mother loved to sew and crochet and do cross stitch. All of the members of my extended family have her handmade samplers, bookmarks and potholders.   After she learned to quilt, Mom began to send each little girl in our extended family a flannel doll quilt.  I have a bag of fabric that she never got to use, and some of it is flannel that she used for the doll quilts.

Twenty years ago this summer, we moved into our house, and at the same time, a friend and colleague and her family moved into a house in the next town.  At the time, our daughter was 4 and my friend's daughter (also an Emily) was 13, the perfect age for a baby-sitter.  The two Emilys got along very well, and "big Emily" was "little Emily's" preferred baby sitter for several years. 

Both Emilys are grown now, and "big Emily" is married and has a family.  To celebrate the birth of her second child, a boy, I made a Noah's Ark quilt.  Here's the front:

 

And the back:

                                                 

Along with the quilt, I sent a flannel doll blanket to the baby's older sister.  The yellow flannel is from my mother's "stash."  

                                                 

                                                

I enjoyed making the doll quilt, and I know my mother would be happy that I'm using her fabric to carry on her tradition. 

Infinite Variety, Indeed!

Today I went to the American Folk Art Museum's show "Infinite Variety: Three Centuries of Red and White Quilts"  at the Park Avenue Armory.  The quilts are part of a collection of over 1000 quilts belonging to Joanna S. Rose and were on  view for free for 6 days in celebration of Mrs. Rose's 80th birthday.  What a way to celebrate!
Although there was no catalog or audio tour, visitors could borrow iPads that had pictures of every quilt so you could appreciate the design and the workmanship even if the actual quilt were 15 feet above your head!  (There is a book coming.)
The Armory wasn't too crowded, so you could really take your time to enjoy the entire exhibit.  I'm sure most of the visitors were quilters or friends of quilters, but I did have a trio of ladies ask me how the quilts were made, so there were "laymen," too.

This is what you saw when you walked into the room:

The quilts were suspended from the ceiling and looked almost weightless.  They were arranged in circular "pavillions" three rows high; each pavillion was numbered so that you could locate the quilts on the iPad.  Here's one of the pavillions:

There were also rows of quilts hung across the back wall of the armory:

And here are some quilts that I thought were especially interesting/beautiful/intricate:

As you can see, there truly was "infinite variety."  I went with two friends from my quilt guild, and it was great to have three different perspectives and preferences.

Many bloggers have posted a video of the exhibit.  Here's the link from Tonya of Lazy Gal Quilting:

http://lazygalquilting.blogspot.com/2011/03/red-and-white-quilts.html

And, if you want even more, there's a Flickr pool of photos here:

http://www.flickr.com/groups/1587925@N24/pool/

I'm so glad I had the opportunity to see these wonderful quilts.  If you live anywhere near NYC, try to go see them in person.  But hurry; the show ends Wednesday!

Traditions with a Twist

Earlier this year, I visited the school where I worked to attend a baby shower for one of the teachers who had become a good friend.  She knew she was having a girl, and she and her husband had already chosen a name.
Although I have retired, I still think of myself as a librarian.  When you combine librarian + baby, you get books.  And of course, when you combine quilter + baby, you get quilts. 
Well, I upheld one tradition and purchased a few board books for Baby Shea (every baby needs Goodnight Moon  and Sandra Boynton's Going to Bed Book,  don't you think?)  but I deviated from  the traditional quilty gift and made a stuffed animal instead.
I used 1930's repro fabrics to make the toy elephant in Joelle Hoverson's lovely book Last Minute Patchwork + Quilted Gifts.
Here's a picture.  Isn't he cute?

 And to tie it all together, I made what my mother used to call a "ditty bag."  The dictionary says that a ditty bag is a bag that sailors use to carry small tools and personal items.  My mother used to make them for my daughter Emily to keep small toys in, and she made one for her to use to hold her "rest towel" for kindergarten. 
Here is one of Emily's that holds the letters from a long-forgotten Sesame Street magnetic board.

And here is Baby Shea's.

I used more '30's prints, and lined it with the fabric used for the elephant.

So now Baby Shea can cuddle up with her elephant while mommy or daddy reads to her, and she can carry her books, her elephant and her "personal items" in her ditty bag.

Thanks, Mom, for teaching me to sew and for starting traditions that I can continue.

The New Jersey Quilt Fest and Traveling in Style

I went to the New Jersey Quilt Fest last week.  It was an opportunity to see a lot of amazing quilts.

One of the quilts I liked best was "Leaves II" by Susan Schweikhart that won Third Place in Best of Show.  Here's a picture with the quilt info, too.  The quilt was designed around sun prints of leaves.   Gorgeous, yes?

















Another quilt that I really liked was part of a special exhibit of quilts made using photographs and Photoshop.  This one is called "Fire and Ice" and was made by Sandy Hart.  I love the use of modern technology in an art form with such a long tradition.

One of the members of my quilt guild won a judge's choice ribbon for her quilt, but I'll let her show it to you at her blog, Fun with Barb .  Congratulations, Barb!

In addition to the opportunity to gaze at such gorgeous eye candy for a few hours, I checked out all the vendors.  I managed to avoid buying a lot of fabric (only a few fat quarters, honest!) but I did come home with a Tutto wheeled sewing machine tote!  I have been looking at totes for a while now because taking my machine anywhere is a struggle; I have to carry it and it's HEAVY!  So now my Bernie and I will travel more easily and in style with my new red Tutto!

I'll get to try it out this weekend when my Guild has a machine quilting workshop with Michele Scott.

Now I can hardly wait to go to Lancaster next week for the AQS Quilt Show.  Looking at quilts by other quilters is fun and inspiring.

Star block #1 and a Pause in the Action for a Little R & R

Although it has been finished for quite a while, this is the first opportunity I've had to post a picture of Star Block #1 for Natalia's Quilt-Along.  The block is a Friendship Star, which I thought was a good choice for the first block.

The photo isn't so hot; I'm determined to improve my quilt photographing skills!  


Posting this picture was delayed because we have been in Florida for 12 days, relaxing, swimming, reading and escaping from the snowy landscape that has been the view out our windows for far too long.  This was the first time I have ever been on the East Coast of Florida, and I loved it.  We visited two botanical gardens and enjoyed walking among plants and trees not seen in the Northeast. 

Lily pads

Banyan tree

Palm

My biologist husband says this is the fruit of the tree from which it is hanging.  Some fruit, eh? (Of course I neglected to record the name of the tree!)

My friend Marge and I went to water aerobics every morning.  Fun!

We saw the launch of the space shuttle Discovery from the beach!

And, of course, I visited some quilt shops in the area.  My favorite was the Dragon Fly Quilt Shop in Vero Beach where I bought some Australian fabrics and some Kaffe Fassett fat quarters. No vacation is complete without fabric souvenirs!

So now we are home again.  The sewing machine is plugged in and ready, the fabric has been washed, the rotary cutter has a fresh blade, and I am going to do some serious stash busting.