Laura & Gabe's Wedding Quilt

For the past 18-20 years I've met on Thursdays with a group of quilting friends. We call ourselves The Grateful Threads. Threadheads, Threadlets...Sydney is often referred to as the "Snippet." The membership of this group has changed and morphed over the years. I guess I'm the only original local member left. Bev and Judy have moved to Oregon. About a year after we started Lynn and her sister Ann joined. We've had others move in and out of the group and seen a second generation of quilters join. There are now eight local members and two out-of-towners. We run block swaps between us and have a tradition of making quilts for members at special times in their lives. Weddings especially. Laura is currently working full time and going to college full time so in the past year she hasn't been around on Thursday nights much....that is, until we decided to make a quilt to celebrate her marriage to Gabe.
When we make a special quilt we gather up all our orphan blocks and fit them together and they turn out beautiful. This time though we wanted a plan. So everyone was given 1/2 yard of the turquoise batik background. Instructions were to use it and our "theme" was turquoise and purple. Use mainly batiks and what would look good with the theme colors. Ann and Bev sent blocks. We each made some blocks, some "filler" shapes (checkerboards, flying geese, half square triangles, pinwheels, etc). What problems did we encounter? Mostly that Laura suddenly seemed to have every Thursday night free.....I don't know how many times we had to scamper to cover blocks, half-sewn rows, entire tops! Liz and Larissa spent hours quilting it. Sydney had been sworn to secrecy. She wanted to know why we were keeping it a secret from Laura but even today when I was finishing the binding at the store she told me she had a plan on where to hide the quilt if Laura popped into Redwood Sewing Center.
We have two block swaps going right now....One in Civil War fabrics with block from The Civil War Diary Quilt and one with 1930's fabrics from The Farmers Wife Quilt Book. To be festive with our swap we decided to meet at Babetta's Italian Restaurant. (Yum...Chicken Picatta is South Beach Friendly and I always get it....sooo good.) After exchanging our blocks and oohing and ahhhing over them we said we had more blocks to exchange. Laura looked worried as if she'd forgotten something. I said I had blocks to exchange, Lynn said it too and then all chimed in about blocks to give away. I carried the card and bag to Laura and we all said, "Happy Wedding!" It was great.....she cried!
And here she is with a great big smile with her quilt. Can you find the cat block Sydney helped me make (her idea) and their dog too.

What I did on my Summer Vacation

It seems that every year in September when school would start we would be assigned a speech or an essay entitled: "What I did on my Summer Vacation." My family went camping. Tent camping mostly but in Jr. High my dad bought my uncle's tent trailer. I think it was a Coleman brand. We'd go to Yellowstone National Park nearly every other year and then go to Mammoth Lakes, Mt. Shasta, Big Bear Lake...anywhere you could fish, roast marshmallows over a fire, hike and enjoy the outdoors.

Mr. Scottie Dog and I have had many adventures but this Summer we hitched up our trailer and drove across the country to Minnesota to visit the grands. We said goodbye to Sydney the end of May and drove through Susanville, CA, Reno Nevada...coming to the Rocky Mountains. Still a lot of snow!We drove through Salt Lake City, Utah and into Wyoming. At Fort Bridger we toured the Fort and Trading Post, then posed by a Callistoga Wagon actually sitting on the Oregon Trail.

In Minnesota I met up with two dear quilting friends, Ann and Carol at the Minnesota State Quilting Guild Show in St. Paul.What fun we had checking out all the wonderful quilts, buying fabric and sewing goodies. Beka met us for dinner at Dixies on Grand. Oh, my! I remember I had a seafood pot pie with a crab cake crust!It was wonderful being with Beka, Jason and the grands for nearly a month. We went on picnics.We went to Split Rock Lighthouse.We went camping at Duluth.and that's just the start of the story. More tomorrow.

Yard Sale

Stuff, STUFF. Do you have too much stuff? I certainly do. Mr. Scottie Dog and I have been married for 39 years. Lots of time to accumulate stuff. We read books and they go on a shelf. We see a good deal at Costco, Target, etc. and we buy it. Friends and relatives give us more stuff. I checked and I have 5 Pyrex 9" X 13" pans. FIVE. Now I know I have one or two that I inherited from my Mother-in-law. I don't need them. I also have a metal pan I make Mr. Scottie Dog his brownies in. I like metal best for that. So 4 of the glass pans are just excess stuff.

Yard Sale: Set up a bunch of tables on the drive, put up a bunch of signs and wait for people to come and decide they can't live without adding MY stuff to THEIR stuff. What do I have that anyone else might want? A huge box of books....I enjoyed every one of them (except one I only read two chapters and put it on the shelf). Will I ever read them again? Probably not. Now I DO have books on my bookshelf I won't part with. My hardback collection of Little House on the Prairie books I'll always keep. I've also got a few extra sets of dishes to put in the sale. I have a Christmas set, a blue willow set of stoneware, Bill's Mom's china and a set of Pyrex I will be keeping. But what about knick nacks? I've also got way too many. I can't remember who gave me all the country angels, but it's not my style any more. I've got too much furniture and tons of movies (both VHS and DVD) and music I'm going to let someone else put in their home. I've got TV's, linens and more.
So I've got a bunch of friends bringing some of their STUFF too. We'll set up a bunch of tables, the signs are up. Just need to put it all together Sat. morning. Sydney is going to sell lemonade and cookies. I bought donut holes for breakfast. Sydney likes donut holes...... hope I unload a lot of stuff.

The Humboldt County Fair

Day 8 of the Humboldt County Fair. I've been coming to the Humboldt County Fair in Ferndale, CA for about 39 years. I remember the first year Mr. Scottie Dog and I attended as newlyweds...actually it was the first county fair I'd ever gone to. Then over the years we brought the girls. Loved to look at all the animals, the flowers, the quilts, the attractions and of course eat a bit of "fair food." Most years when the girls were young we'd bring a picnic lunch or dinner and just buy a treat. Then there were the years I judged the quilts at the fair....and the past few years we've been vending at the Crescent City Quilt Show and missed the fair entirely.
Well this year we are vendors in the commercial building here at the fair. Here are a couple of shots of our booth. We were quite pleased with our location.

Pfaff gave us great pricing for all our machines and we've sent many happy sewers home with new machines. We are also selling quilt kits and a few other things. Business is booming at the Fair!

One of the truisms is that you will eventually see everyone at the fair! I saw Ferndale native, Guy Fieri with his family.

Finally back to blogging. I'll post some vacation pics tomorrow. Hope your summer has been as fun-filled as mine!

I miss you, my friend!

I've been traveling with Mr. Scottie Dog for about 6 weeks and we are finally home. I have lots of photos and tales to tell but they will have to wait. While I was gone, my good friend Loris Kay Dinsmore passed from this life. I miss her already.
I first met Lori when she was about 15 or 16 and a junior at Eureka Senior High School. I was her Young Life Leader. Young Life is an evangelical Christian Youth Group ministry and Lori was an enthusiastic, kick in the pants kind of girl. I was only 21 or 22 but I was married and somehow that made me mature and responsible enough to be part of the leadership team. Mr. Scottie Dog and I and two other young couples met weekly with the Young Life "kids" to sing silly songs, act out silly skits, be their friends and earn the right to tell them about a relationship with Jesus Christ. The group ranged from 35-100 each week during the school year. We clowned around, went on snow trips, made ice cream sundaes and made elaborate, man-powered rafts to hold 50 and race down the American River in Sacramento, CA every year. I remember the year I wore Sarah in a Snugli pack and cooked pancakes for 65 one morning before the race. Lori was my right-hand. She loved everyone and was cheerful and sunny even then. The next year I have a picture of Lori in my mind with Sarah toddling on a "leash" with Lori all over the riverbank. I knew I could trust Lori to keep my baby daughter safe and happy.

After graduation I lost track of Lori. Our family grew to add Liz & Beka and in my spare time I sewed and quilted. I didn't know any other quilters, but it was my creative passion. In the late 1980's I found the Redwood Empire Quilt Guild and joined this group of like-minded women.
In the early 1990's the Internet found it's way to our house and I soon discovered a huge Internet world of quilters. Chat rooms were popular and I soon found my way to a Chat Room exclusively for quilters around the world. A couple evenings a week I joined in one particular room and talked quilts with some regulars. Sometimes a chatter would call out: Where you from? And we'd all chime in. I never got too specific (you knew that there were axe murderers out there!) as to where I lived usually said something like, "Northern CA Redwood Forest." My screen name was BrendaLou8 and one night LorisKay said she was from Northern CA too.

BrendaLou8: Near Eureka?

LorisKay: Yes, where are you?

BrendaLou8: I live in Eureka.

LorisKay: I live in Hydesville!

BrendaLou8: We should get together.

LorisKay:OK

BrendaLou8:Do you go to the quilt guild?

LorisKay: What's a guild?

BrendaLou8: we meet this next Thurs. night at 7 pm at the grange

LorisKay: It's about quilting?

BrendaLou8: yes, it's fun & you'll like it. I'll meet you there.

LorisKay: How will I know you?

I didn't know how old this LorisKay was, what she looked like, if she was married....only that she liked quilting enough to be in a quiting chat room. But I'd be safe if she was an axe murderer at the guild because there would be 150 other women there to keep me safe. Thursday night came and I had told LorisKay I'd be in the back corner at a table as I was the Block of the Month chairperson. That night I looked up and saw my old friend Lori coming in the door across the room. Our eyes met and we pointed at each other and exclaimed at the same time, "I know you!" What a wonderful reunion! Nearly twenty years had passed, but we started right up again. Lori and I had lunch the next day. We were Buds! We quilted together, we shopped together, we visited back and forth. Hydesville was about a 20 minute drive from my house.

I met her husband Dirk and her boys, Nate and Nolan. Oh how she loved her "Dinsmore men!" Lori was a She-Bear when it came to her boys. She was the first to volunteer for any job at their school, organized fundraisers, baked cupcakes, made quilts for raffles and more. She took a couple of quilting lessons from me and then organized a group of women to come to her house once a week so I could teach there. My prized pupil, Lori was. A loyal friend to all (just don't cross her or tell her a lie....she was honest and expected the same from her friends) and generous to a fault. She loved giving gifts to those she loved. My girls enjoyed her company too. We traveled a few times to quilt shows in other towns...Lori loved life.

When I decided to open Scottie Dog Quilts (later renamed Redwood Sewing Center) Lori was there to help out, working for us for many years. She helped decorate the store, made samples and had a good eye for fabrics. In the last couple of years she made a space in Fortuna in which she sewed with her friends on weekends.
Lori loved my granddaughter Sydney. She gave Sydney her first bathing suit (complete with grass skirt!), her first roller skates...she loved buying pink things for that girl!

Last summer my family had a Family Reunion at Yellowstone National Park and Lori and Nolan came too. Several of us noticed that Lori didn't seem quite herself but we shrugged it off. In December she consulted her doctor because she didn't feel "right." It took until late February to find the answer was cancer. Lori fought cancer with all she could. She spent some time at Stanford Medical center doing Chemo and then came home. I tried to keep in touch with cards every few days...she didn't take calls. The last few weeks she needed a driver to help her around but she still showed up at our store two or three times a week. She never came empty handed. Thin and frail with a pink cap on her head (Pink, Pink, you STINK!...I can hear her say it with such glee) she came with things she wanted people to have. A quilt for her sister Lila, paints for Sydney....Lori was giving away her things to people she cared about. I saw her at the store the day before we left on our trip and we hugged, but she couldn't get out of the car. Mr. Scottie Dog and I left on our trip to Minnesota on May 28 and I had a couple of reports from Liz. Lori had come to the store and was better than she'd been for a long time. She come into the store and looked around at everything. She laughed and kidded around. The morning of June 8 I got a call from a tearful Liz. Lori passed early that morning. We'd all be so hopeful, but cancer is a terrible thing. It robs us of special people, of our family and our friends who are family too.

Brat, I'll miss you. Every time I see a hummingbird I'll think of you. Take care of my girl in heaven. I treasure the quilts you made me and I know I'll see you again.

The last 3 weeks.

Haven't heard much from me for the past 3 weeks......we've been on holiday! Mr. Scottie Dog and I hitched up our 30' house on wheels and took 6 days to drive from Eureka, CA to Savage, MN! We drove through cities and towns and hamlets, deserts and valleys and mountains and forests, sun and rain and snow! Yes, there was a lot of snow still on the ground in CA, Nevada, Utah and Wyoming and just a tiny bit in Nebraska. We braved the cold, the heat and thunderstorms. I'd never been to Nebraska and Iowa...both states were green and growing and the towns were so inviting...we drove mostly off-the-beaten-path kind of roads there.

We've been here in MN with the grandkids for two weeks. Little Shiloh even says Grammy now. She takes a few steps and then crawls again. Jakob rides his two-wheeler like the wind and Sadies has fun at every turn. I'm reading "A Secret Garden" to her now.

Thanks to those back home taking care of the kitties and the old home place, we appreciate you. A HUGE round of thanks to Liz holding down the fort at Redwood Sewing Center and doing a wonderful job. Photos to follow of everything.