Quilt Therapy

10:50 am

11 am

I was released from my motherly duties this afternoon so I could go to town and attend a craft and art fair and to go to the Hill Country Quilt Guild’s annual quilt show.  Had a great time with my aunt and enjoyed all of the creativity a girl could ask for!

Let me first say that I am traditional from the word GO.  I love traditional quilt blocks, I love seeing pieced quilts made from these blocks, etc.  I was extremely disappointed to see SO MANY art quilts vs. traditional quilts at the show.  In fact, I think there were nearly as many traditional quilts in a vendor’s booth as I saw hanging in the show.  Disappointed, for sure.  NOT that I don’t “enjoy” art quilts … I just feel that they should be shown and judged separately (and yes, I feel appliqued quilts should also be separate from traditional quilts).  

I’m a traditional quilt snob!

But, there was one quilt that just AMAZED me!  Here is a stunning yo-yo block quilt:

And the part that will now amaze YOU is that THIS is the real size of this little gem:

YES!  FOR REAL!  This teeny-tiny yo-yo block quilt was 6″ wide and 9″ long!  Heck, the RIBBON is bigger than the entire project!  Oy … my fingers hurt just thinking about putting all of those yo-yos together!

You know, the guy and his ark?  If you see him, please send him our way!  These are the roads to and from our house:

Is it a time to celebrate?  Or a time to cry?  Milestones are happening everyday, but a big one occurred this date.  Yes, our youngest baby graduated from kindergarten!  We’re ever so proud – and sad, all at the same time!

JD and I escaped this past weekend.  We had tons of plans that we wanted to do to celebrate our 15 year anniversary … a cruise, a weekend in Corpus, etc.  Unfortunately, time and an impending house were not on our side and we settled for running off to San Antonio for the weekend.  It was definitely better than nothing!

We stayed at a Marriott on the river walk – and walk we did!  I think we walked that river walk, one end to the other (and then some) for nearly every meal.  But, we ate well and really enjoyed having absolutely nothing to do and nowhere to be.  It was a much-needed break from the daily hassles of life with four kids, two dogs, a MIL and homelessness.

We had to play tourist, too.  It’s our general nature to learn more about where we are and where we came from — and to just spend time looking at the lives of others and their quest for their future.  We visited the Institute of Texan Cultures, on what was once the site of the World’s Fair in San Antonio.  Some may know this as HemisFair Park and others may just know it from the big tower in the sky (aka the Tower of the Americas).

What an amazing place I have adopted as home!  I recall having a conversation recently with my assistant, Kim, about whether she would be welcome in Texas.  She’s bi-racial … and is married to a caucasian man, so they have a bi-racial daughter.  She was worried that she wouldn’t be welcome in this great state – based on all of the rumors and such that folks have about Texas.  I assured her then that this is the most cosmopolitan city that I’ve ever been to.  And after reading and viewing the information from the Institute, I feel even more strongly that everyone and anyone is welcome here.

And then I saw this and thought of my virtual pal Donna – and just had to snap a photo of “Shalom Ya’ll” … about how the Jewish people came to Texas in the 1800’s:

I was truly amazed at the various nationalities of people who migrated to this great state.  It was stunning, to know that the culture was as diversified as the people that I’ve met here — and for a woman who just spent seven years in a state (Utah) where there was only one accepted culture … I loved each and every moment of knowing that I was welcome (no matter where I come from or what I come from) and that I didn’t know anyone who would NOT be welcome here!

Rounding the corner of an exhibit, I turned to see a loom.  I studied that loom for a few minutes, and then snapped this photo:

And it really brought home the state that I live in … the state of all of these strings, put together in some semblance of order.  The state that when yarn was added, it became a cultural mix of color and beauty.  The state that everything that went into this weaving was based on the love of the parts, individually and as a collective whole.  The state that I am now living in – what a grand feeling!

I hope to use this blog to showcase some of the creative things I do, besides quilt.  When I launched QuiltScrapbook.com, I had full intentions of having more fun than I should with digital projects.  And then, I met Shannon – a fabulous graphic designer who handles the magazine art for Cotton Spice Quilting Magazine.

I still plan to continue to create elements for QuiltScrapbook.com, but Shannon’s work far outshines mine by miles and miles!  So, we’ll share the website and hopefully, as her talents grow, I’ll be able to phase out a little of the additional work that I do so that she can have the spotlight.

Until then, these are the new free elements that were posted this week at QuiltScrapbook.com:

“Blueberry Hill” designed by Shannon Smith for QuiltScrapbook.com

“Bubble Juice” designed by TKHarrison for QuiltScrapbook.com

“May 17 Quilt Tag” designed by TKHarrison for QuiltScrapbook.com
A QuiltScrapbook.com quilt tag, combining a few of the elements that were added to the QuiltScrapbook.com website this date!

Some of my fondest memories of my Gramma from Tramma, while growing up, were having tea parties with her.  Last week, GM (who is in kindergarten) brought home a Mother’s Day Tea Party invitation for me.  How sweet is that?!  We were given sugar cookies and orange drink (alas, no tea) and we sat at tables adorned with plastic tablecloths and lovely flower pencils (made from coffee filters).  GM had made me my very own placemat and bookmark, with lots of love.

I think it’s very sweet that the teacher planned this, and I know that GM was ever-so excited for me to come to have a tea party with her.  And, it was fun for me, too – getting to enjoy our youngest daughter without the encumberances of her siblings.

On this date, 15 <sometimes long> years ago, we were married in the Hill Country of Texas.  Our vows were witnessed by JD’s parents and his sister’s family … as well as by my aunt, uncle & cousins (who raised me) and my own three brothers and their families.  The wedding video is a hoot as my youngest brother (trying to be a cameraman) took more shots of my oldest brother’s bald head than he did of us getting married.  Nonetheless, it’s a fun video that is also a witness and legacy to our nuptuals.

Our marriage is based on simple, solid advice:  specificity is the key to effective communication.

Yup, that’s what we’re all about.  We have faith, we have love and respect for each other and we have four kids who will get in the middle of everything we do if we let them!  And, we communicate without fear of what the other says – and we don’t read each other’s minds!

15 years.  WOW. I have been with JD longer in my life than I was with my own parents. 

A milestone to embrace and celebrate, if you ask me!

Driving to church on Sunday morning — yes, Mother’s Day — I tuned the radio into Jeff Foxworthy’s Top 20 Country Countdown.

Now, I’m not gonna say I’m not a redneck … and I’m not gonna say I are a redneck.  Let me say that my family is not southern, so theoretically, we cannot be rednecks.  At least by way of the true definition of the term.

But, these days, the true definition of the term is quite a bit skewed.

Nonetheless, I was enjoying the jokes and listening to the tunes on my way to church.

After church, we head out to a Chinese buffet for a yummy lunch.  But, my mom’s day celebration was sidetracked.

At the table next to us was a family, obviously they’d brought the matriarch of the family out to give her a nice meal on Mother’s Day, too.

“Now, THIS one came from Dollywood,” one man said while handing the mama a gift wrapped in a grocery store bag.  As he smiled, he was missing most of his front teeth.

Mama opened the gift.

“And THIS one,” said another lady at the table, missing two of her front teeth, too, “THIS came from Graceland.”   There was a revered quiet in the air as mama opened the key chain that had once sat in the hallowed halls of The King’s previous home.

It was all I could do … to sit through that exchange.  Every ounce of my being wanted to jump up, run to the nearest family reunion … and introduce our long-lost cousins.