two things i learned about quilt blocks

1) They are a lot of fun to plan, create, invent, work color schemes, etc.

2) They are a lot harder to actually sew than it would at first appear.

Our Quilting Day Blitz at my church was a spectacular success! Over 200 quilt blocks sewn in one day! It was fun helping kids (and adults, but I mostly stuck with kids) make something that looks really awesome at the end- something they didn't think they could do. It was also fun watching all the interactions between everyone there- my 82-yr-old Mennonite grandma who's made more quilts than you can shake a stick at who came up to help, my aunt JoAnn who made her own very first quilt block but was an expert sewing machine sewer resource and "mentor" for several kids, my mom who started helping a first-time adult quilt-block maker and ended up spending all day with that woman making one of the most intricate quilt blocks of the day (no, they didn't really know what they were getting into... well, my mom did kinda but couldn't abandon Judy once they'd begun- and it WAS awesome), all the kids interacting, the teenagers (including BOYS) making blocks for the youth pastor's ordination quilt, all the adults chatting, hanging, asking for and giving advice, encouragement and praise... it was so cool.

It was also incredibly exhausting. Wow. The hot tub at mom's hotel was certainly appreciated...

So, I did make one of my own. And I would very much like to continue to delve into the world of quilting. But here's something I learned about quilting as a process: it also is a lot harder than it would appear. Time intensive. The blocks are all done, but now people have to take all the blocks for each quilt, make sure they are all a uniform size, cut all the material that goes in between all the blocks, sew the material and blocks together, then actually quilt or knot the pieced quilt-block top to the one-piece backing, and then bind the whole thing.

I always knew that quilts were the products of a lot of time, energy, (and in my case with my grandma- LOVE) but this experience has started to show me exactly what all that time and energy and money really looks like.

I also thoroughly enjoyed the time spent laughing (a lot) with some of the wonderful women in my family. Mom, Grandma, Jo, Cindy and I laughed until we cried at points... we also enjoyed Thai, Mediterranean, and Cambodian food, Cambodian traditional dancing (at a Cambodian New Year celebration hosted by the Cambodian congregation of our church on Sunday), and playing games (with Dana too) and laughing some more. All in all, an excellent weekend!

 

excited about this weekend

So, I am excited about this weekend. My mom, other grandma, and aunt are coming up Saturday morning and we are going to go to my church building and spend a good chunk of the day making or helping other people make quilt blocks for FIVE quilts. 4 wedding quilts and an ordination. They are spending the night at a hotel with TWO pools AND a hot tub. Then, after church on Sunday, the Cambodian congregation of our church is hosting a Cambodian New Year's Celebration, with food, music, and dancing, and we are going to spend time there, too.

I am excited mostly that my family members are excited. I mean, it's not everyone that would spend money to come up and sew for total strangers and think that Cambodian New Year Celebrations were cool. Of course, I KNOW the real draw is that they get to come spend time with us, me and my wonderful sister.

We miss them, too.

 

My first-ever Guest Posting

Okay, so my sister read my blog, and actually emailed me a response, and said she'd greatly like me to post it if I approved. I have to say, she put into words better than I have. Makes me feel not quite so silly about the four little rocks sitting under my computer screen... each one chosen to go there because it was unique and amazing. Thanks, cindy.

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The following entry is by Cindy....

 

Yes, she really, really, really likes rocks, all shapes sizes and colors...it doesn't matter...MLE likes rocks.  There is just something about what they symbolize I think that has her fascinated.  Rocks are little pieces of history, a tiny (or not so tiny) snap shot of the world as it was when the rock was formed. From weather patterns to pollen levels there is a massive amount of information contained in each and every rock.   When you hold a rock you are holding an incredible amount of information.   Information that may be hundreds or thousands of years old can be found in a rock of any shape, size or color.  A rock can travel over such an incredible area over its extremely long 'life' cycle.  You can hold in your hand a rock that may have been held by a settler heading west hundreds of years ago. The rock you hold may have been brought to a different continent by a young child using it as part of his game.  Each rock would have an amazing story to tell if only they could.  The pebble you kick off the sidewalk today may have been part of a mighty mountain in times past, you just never know.  Aside from the history of rocks there lies within rocks such beauty that one can never tire discovering the next one.  Just go to any lake, stream, or ocean and look at the rock along the water line.  The smooth well worn curves, the vibrant colors of some, the neutral simplicity of others, these are things that MLE notices and admires.  The shocking difference in appearance between the same rock when it is wet or it is dry. The wonder and power of God to have incorporated such awesome things as rocks into our everyday lives is something MLE is thankful for.  I get a little frustrated with the amount of rocks that Emmy wants to bring home with her every time she goes to the lake, or woods.  Sometimes I need to remind myself why she likes them, and that maybe I should join her more often in looking at the wonder of creation that lies all around us....even in a city like Chicago.

 

 

 

oh dear, what a long time...

too long, i know. i've missed so much.
right now, i'm at work, and my head hurts. and since i've missed so much, i'm not really going to try to write anything out. i'm going to take the "bare bones" approach, and simply write some one-liners that may tell a little bit about what's been going on in my life. i'll even put in some pics. the pics may not actually match what i'm writing, but they'll be nice pics.
If you read something you'd like some more detail on, please feel free to comment, or to call me and i'll tell you anything you'd like to know. or call me and i'll call you back using the minutes i never use up every month on my cell phone plan. :) seriously. okay, here we go:

1. i'd forgotten until yesterday how very humid the midwest is during the summer. it wasn't even humid yesterday, it just was that you could feel the tiniest bit of humidity when you walked out the door into the balm spring morning air- and i remembered in that instant what it is going to be like for months on end in the not-too-distant future.
2. yesterday i checked craig's list every hour on the hour for free or unbelievably cheap air conditioners, and no longer felt slightly silly for the two already in the trunk of our car (we may not be able to use the one, but it was free).
3. this is the time of year when the weather can't decided anything other than that it's not going to decided. therefore, it's a crap shoot as to whether the particular building you walk into will be imitating a sauna or an igloo, depending on which decision the buildng engineer has made.
4. i dress in layers, and brought my heater/fan in to work to try to counteract whichever choice the weather and our building have seen fit%2