Anticipation versus the event

A friend invited my daughter and myself to a Y-Me breast cancer fundraiser.  In the invitation it said to wear Tea party hats so I got 3 at TJ Maxx and we were all so excited about this event.  My daughter even invited a friend and we met my friend there, who didn't wear a hat.  The fundraiser turned out to be pretty much an odd sortof of tribute to the woman who organized it and loved the microphone.  Sigh!  Sometimes the anticipation is more fun than the event.  I think Prom is a classic example of this.  When I taught High School girls would go insane planning their perfect Prom and lots of times, it was a bust.  (I sortof feel this way about weddings also but most people disagree with me!)

Other events are the opposite.  On Monday, as you are reading this, I will be attending my Aunt's funeral.  I wrote about finding out about it via Facebook on Friday.  I am not so much anticipating the long drive and the somberness of a funeral.  Dreading something usually doesn't add to to as feared an event. I will, after all, get to see my cousins that I haven't seen in forever.

Sewing projects can be much the same.  Something you think will be a breeze, will drag on and a project you have put off may just fall together in no time.  Anticipation and the event, many times not as related as we may imagine.

I will be in Southern Illinois for the funeral and probably won't post again until the end of the week.  I am scheduling this to go online while I am away.  I hope, that all of your excited anticipations turn out to be true while none of your dreaded match your imagination.

In the meantime enjoy this little picture I found online.  I think I need a standard sign off to this blog and yes, I know I am 6 months into it and yes, it is a bit late.  Hey, ever heard of better late than never?  But from I am going to try out this one.

Sew the pieces of your life into one fabulous quilt!

Spring in Chicago - too changeable for one quilt!

In March we had the loveliest spring and I whipped this quilt up on the condo door as soon at St. Patrick's day was over.  I remember that fabulous weather and I miss it but I knew it wouldn't last even as I hoped it would.  Now it's colder than I remember it being during the winter but again, I know it won't last.  I guess it is good that I grew up in Chicago, I am prepared for all kinds of surprising weather and constant change.

Today I had a new experience, I found out about the passing of a relative while reading Facebook updates.  In the past, someone from my family would have called about this expected death of an elderly Aunt.  I am a big fan of social media but it did somewhat startle me.  Imagine if I was not a fan of Facebook, I probably would have been upset to find out that way. 

Change is the only constant, our weather, our social norms and our lives themselves are constantly evolving, ever dynamic.  Maybe it is part of the reason I love to sew and quilt.  Life may be ephemeral but the quilt is not.  It is nice to have something that stays and that you can count on.  For that reason and for the sheer pleasure of tactile work,  I am looking forward to a day of sewing, oh, and the promise of good weather for next week.

Enjoy your constants and your changes!

Third and last on Memphis

 The first quilt shop I went to and my least favorite was called Quiltsmiths.  Here is my pile of loot from there.  I didn't know I would go to 2 better shops, I always buy fabirc like the grid is about to go down and I will have to live off my stash.  It was pretty dated.  It didn't smell so great. There was an Irish setter which roamed around and sniffed my butt with impunity.

The woman who worked here was so clueless.  She couldn't get the charge machine to work for 30 minutes and seemed to have stopped trying to keep up with changes in the world.

I don't want to end up like that, I want to keep up!

My step mother Phyllis keeps up!  She is probably older than this hapless clerk but so much more with it.

When we were in Memphis we went to this wonderfully funky coffee shop and I found these two items for Phyllis for her birthday present.

She likes the bohemian look, I hope she likes them and I hope she isn't reading this blog today. :)

Here is a picture of the oldest cafe in Memphis.

It has seen the railroads dry up and it is located right across from the railroad station.

It survived the riots of 1968 in Memphis.

It has adapted and it's cool in a classic way.

It has the best sweet potato pancakes and was featured on the Food Network.  Blacks and white eat and work side by side in a city that used to have terrible racial tension.

It has adapted and thrived.  It knows how to operate its own equipment!

Life lessons for how we quilt and how we live. 

Memphis - second post

Here is my loot from my second favorite store that we visited, Klassy Katz.  She didn't have as much fabric but I did like this panel of the world.

I liked it so much I bought two panels.

And two companions fabrics - one with city scenes and the other with bits of language.  Then for good measure I got a dot fabric that matches with it all.
Oh and a bit of zebra fabric.  I like bits of animal fabric.  No, I don't know what I will do with it.

I think I liked it because of the world languages and just a view of ourselves as citizens of this world.

When we were in Memphis we visited the National Civil Rights Museum which incorporates the motel where Dr. Martin Luther King was assassinated.

It was a very sobering experience and certainly evil and hatred triumphed that day.  All of us have to fight against that and teach our children that they are indeed citizens of a wide and diverse world.  I am very glad that a museum like this exists and I support its mission.

To that end, I wanted to buy things in the gift shop and Father's day is coming up.  My Dad is hard to buy for so I do actually buy him gifts at museum gift shops.  I support something I really like and get him a unique gift.

I got him a hat, a fan, a t-shirt, a bumper sticker and a tote bag to put it all in. 

On the back of the shirt it has the quote which I took away from this visit and will remember in my quilting life and my whole life.


"You can kill the dreamer but you cannot kill the dream." 

Amen to that.

Graceland - part one

 We spent the weekend in Memphis.  The trip was to see Graceland just because I decided about 7 years ago that I needed to go, needed not wanted.

Of course when you are in Memphis you also eat a lot of BBQ.  A lot plus other southern cooking.  Wow, I am darn lucky I got home before we both had heart attacks.

And whenever we go anywhere, we always seek out quilt stores, natch!

Here's my loot from my favorite one that we visited - The Quilt Barn.  It was in the suburbs, there are no quilt stores in Memphis.  In fact, Memphis has had hard times.  Its demise began with the ending of the railroad, the growth of the car, white flight, riots after Dr. Martin Luther King's assassination and then general neglect.  But, about ten years ago it began a rebirth and you can see cool stuff in the downtown.  I hope it continues.  Maybe there will be a quilt store downtown some day.

This shop was friendly, smelled good and was clean and modern.  I got a pin from there - you can see it in the middle.  I also got pins from Graceland.  All of these will go on my pin quilt.

And here is our obligatory goofy tourist picture.  I seriously cannot get enough of these.

I enjoyed seeing Elvis's house and learning about him.  It is the second most visited house after the White house and I think it's because in a lot of ways Elvis was like us.  He struggled with his weight, his marriage didn't work out.  He loved his parents and child.  He had talents but also demons.  He had a whole bunch of fun with his money and his house will remind you of every house you ever saw in the 1970's.

I like him even more since I went there.  I am glad I never had to battle his demons and I am even glad I didn't have all his money.  I got to hear his music, eat some good food, it was a good time.

Plus everyone in the family got a tacky Elvis souvenir!

Baby Quilt at Guild

 Last Wednesday I went to my Quilt Guild.  I have to leave early as I teach my Spanish class at South Suburban College but I was really glad I went.  (Sometimes I am working on my lesson plans or grading papers and don't even go to guild before.  I know, I am naughty.)

We always have great quilts in our show and tell but you know how some just speak to you more?

I loved this traditional baby quilt.

But then when she flipped it over and showed the back I loved it even more, she created a modern quilt on the back.

I hope and pray that I can use this idea to make a baby quilt for my own grandchild one day.

I wanted to post this pictures from our Guild's facebook page so when I need them, the pictures will be in my blog and I will use the same sort of idea.

OK, now I am going to Graceland tomorrow so I will leave you with a link to a Youtube video.  I am not blogging on Monday, it's Darcy's due date, I think I will just chill that day!

See you on Tuesday cause I'm going to Graceland, Memphis, Tennessee .  Paul Simon - Graceland

Good news - I finished the Indian tunic!

Bad news - I finished it today, Sunday.  The event was Friday.

That's ok, I like this tunic and I will wear it with black pants and sandals.  I would have finished it had I not taken the sleeves out and redone them.  I had made the tunic a bit more generous in certain key areas where nature has blessed me with abundance.  However, I didn't think about the overall proportions of the garment and the shoulders were too wide - the sleeves started probably 2 inches down my arm.  I took the sleeves off, cut off probably an inch from the middle of the shoulder and sloped down, tapering what I cut off.  Then I put the sleeves back on but I used the full 5/8" seam.  When I only had one sleeve back on at 5:30 on Friday night and we were leaving at 6:00, I knew I would be wearing the original dress.  On Sunday I put the other sleeve in and hemmed them plus the garment itself.  I then decided to tack down the neck facing and sew it on by machine as well.

As you can see, Emily and I had a grand time at the event and wearing our Indian garb.  Cliff did not dress up!  The best part, besides dressing up and seeing what everyone else wore was  the Indian dancing.  So fabulous.  I was smiling like a fool and pretending that I could do it too.

What I also liked was remembering how much faster you can make a garment than a quilt.  However, when a quilt is late, it doesn't really matter.

Are you wondering if I got any other sewing done this weekend?  Well, technically I do get the weekends off plus Saturday we went downtown to celebrate our 12th wedding anniversary which was on Sunday.  Happy Anniversary to us!  Sunday was book club at Emily's house.  By the way, today, Monday, April 16th is Emily's birthday.  Here she is at her very first birthday. Those 30 years have sure gone quickly.  Happy Birthday, Emily!

So, no I did not get any other sewing done but I had a great weekend!  Plus I have an exciting week coming up.  I will post blogs Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday but then we are off to Memphis.  I will post again on the Tuesday, the 24th of April.

Yay, I love weekends away and maybe I will get to visit a new quilt store, yes, something to Yelp about!