Dear Friends

I admit it, I have wonderful friends. My friends are dear to me and I could not even begin to count them all. Some came into my life early and some friends I met while raising my children. Others are new to my life. Some share common interests, a common Faith, perhaps we share a common interest. My first two friends were the Meyer sisters, Lynda & Maralee. Our families moved to a quiet, "Father Knows Best" kind of neighborhood in Los Angeles when Lynda was about 3 1/2, I was 3 and Maralee was about 2. Our parents were life-long friends.....Here is a photo of Maralee and I on our recent Mexican Cruise.

Right after the cruise I had a chance to have dinner with some other friends...We'd been friends since kindergarten! We attended Cimmarron Avenue Elementary School in Inglewood, CA. We were also in Camp Fire Girl's beginning as Blue Birds all the way up through Jr. High Camp Fire Girls. So the night after the cruise Liz joined us at the Tangerine Grill in Anaheim, CA.

Here we are: Liz and I in front; Terri, Gail and Vicki in the back. We hugged and chattered and laughed and shared for hours. Missing were Toni, Olga & Lorna and I am hoping we can all get together in 2012. It would be so much fun! Just because I hadn't seen them in 46 years didn't mean we couldn't just pick right up. We shared about our children, our parents and brothers & sisters. We chattered about jobs and world events and so much more. I am sure if we lived close by each other we'd still be besties.

There was a time I said I wouldn't be my children's' friend. I would be their MOM. They didn't need a friend, but they needed a mom. Interesting because since Liz & Beka are now in their 30's we are friends. Oh, I'm still their Mom...but now we can share as friends do too.

I have young friends, old friends, men friends & girl friends. I have school friends, swimming friends, quilting friends, FaceBook friends, church friends and more. They are all dear to me. I hope you have friends in your life too.

It's fun to sew with friends!

Are you a quilter, crafter, knitter and such? You enjoy creating your craft...the planning & choosing of a project, picking out your materials (be they fabric, paper, plastic, yarn, wood, etc.), beginning it, working on your creation whenever you have time. One thing that can enhance the whole process is to share it with like-minded friends. My hubby plays music. Tonight while I was working late, he and 20+ other musicians gathered at Somoa Cookhouse for a dinner with a musician from Ireland.

I like to gather with my quilting friends for Sew-Days. I went to my good friend, Loris' Sew-In a week ago Saturday. What fun we all had, laughing, eating, sewing and getting great inspiration from each other's work. Nancy made this from a Jelly Roll. I really like the squares and rectangles.

This past Saturday Laura invited us to a Sew-day.
She made the inside of this quilt from little tumblers cut on the AccuCut machine. Looks like it's being enjoyed already!

I've been working on a 1930's French Roses Quilt (Heather French is the designer). All the flowers are sewn with raw edges. After the quilt is washed they edges of each layer will fluff and ruffle. This quilt is for the small guest room bed where Sydney sleeps on a regular basis (and my Minn. grandchildren when they come too!). I'm still working on some applique (again, raw edge) for the borders.
Lastly I sewed up this, as yet, un-named Tree Skirt. It will be the 2010 Tree Skirt pattern that we kit up for Christmas. I imagine we'll do it in two Christmas lines. Watch for a matching Table Runner soon!

It's so much more fun when you can sew with others. At Scottie Dog Quilts we have Sit 'N Sews on Monday nights, Tuesday mornings and Thursday mornings. There's always a teacher there so no excuses if you can't understand what to do next! Get those UFO's (unfinished objects) finished.

FOUND: Olga!

Many thanks to my friend Darlene who read my blog entry about friends and did some research for me. After the work and tips she gave me, it was just a matter of time. I thought I had found my childhood friend, Olga......just had to wait for confirmation. It came tonight and lo & behold! She's just a couple of hours north of me in Cave Junction, OR. A place I drive through (and often stop for a bite to eat) several times a year. Thanks Darlene! I'm ecstatic and so are my friends, Terri, Toni, Vicki, Lynda & Maralee. Now to find Gail (and I think we're really close on that one too!)