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Wednesday, April 7, 2021

Happy Day!






Knowing that my Dad reads my blog, I'm saying, "Happy 91st birthday today, Dad!" 

Isn't it nice of him to take time to read all the stuff and fluff I write about in my blog posts? He's often said that for not being a quilter, he knows a whole lot about making quilts! Isn't he the sweetest?

Last week I made and mailed this birthday postcard to him. I was skeptical about sending it through the mail without an envelope. But at the post office the fella made sure it fit through his "slot" template, and then measured and remeasured it before sticking a 36-cent stamp on it. I hope it arrived okay. 

I've continued to work on my Scrap Challenge quilt, and finally reached a point in adding big stitch quilted circles to it that I thought "enough." The quilting isn't very visible in this picture, but trust me, it's all over the quilt.

I couldn't begin to count the number of full and partial circles I hand-stitched across it, but if I were to guess, I'd say 70-80. 

Initially I'd thought to bind it with a black and white striped fabric, but black and white polka-dot seemed more suited to all those circles. I'm hand-sewing down the binding now. 

Happy news has been rolling in for the past several days, the first being that I was notified on Instagram that I won this Benartex giveaway. 
The company let me know I would receive the book A Quilter's Guild to Solids, written by Weeks Ringle and Bill Kerr; and 100 fat quarters of Benartex solids! Wow, huh? These are right up my solids-loving alley! Being a die-hard fan of Painter's Palette solids by Paintbrush Studios - I buy PP from The Quilt Place for only $5.96 a yard - it will be interesting to compare Benartex solids with PP. 

I was also asked for permission to share my Scrap Snap quilt in an upcoming issue of Make Modern, an Australian digital quilting magazine.

Since Scrap Snap blocks were designed by Kari Vojtechovsky @quiltsforthemaking, I asked Kari for permission before submitting photos and a blurb about the quilt. My quilt will appear in the gallery section of issue 40 that comes out in May. The issue is about color wash quilts. 

Zappy Dots, an apparel, accessories, and notions company invited me to choose any of their leggings and t-shirts to have sent to me in exchange for wearing them and posting selfies on social media. I declined that one, as I'm not comfortable having my face everywhere. Does anyone besides me worry about security?

Easter Sunday worship was again online with Lutheran Church of Hope in West Des Moines, Iowa. Pastor Mike delivered a beautiful, meaningful message

Since it was just the two of us celebrating the day, Dan made what we wanted. He wanted traditional deviled eggs, and made them for himself. But of course, we both ate his delicious homemade pizza. It's an interesting Easter meal, isn't it?

Book Recommendation

This book, Something Beautiful Happened, by Yvette Manessis Corporon took me by surprise. First of all because it's a true story that occurred on the beautiful Greek islands of Corfu (Did you watch The Durrell's of Corfu on public television?) and Erikousa. Second, because the author ties into the story a personal family experience that happened on Palm Sunday, seven years ago, in Overland Park, Kansas. A shooting. When it happened, our daughter called to tell us about it happening at the Jewish Community Center. The family, who lost a father/grandfather and son to the shooter, belongs to Methodist Church of the Resurrection where we worship whenever we visit our Kansas City family.  (Here's my blog post about the church and its "world's largest stained glass window.") So, not only is the story interesting - about the author's grandmother who helped hide a Jewish man and three young girls during WWII - but it's factual, about a tragedy that hit a Midwest community. This isn't an uplifting story, but it's about lessons-learned, and hope. 

Linda's score: 4.0/5.0

Though Central Florida MQG is no longer meeting on Zoom, I'm still Zoom-meeting with South Florida MQG. In fact we have Sip 'n Sew Thursday evening, a time I always look forward to. SFMQGers are chatty, entertaining and just plain fun! And, I've heard similar remarks coming from them. 


😂 Ahh. Good times and, someday, good memories of pandemic times. Linda

15 comments:

  1. Happy birthday, Dad!! Congrats on all that good quilty stuff, Linda. SEW much happy at your house!!!

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  2. All those hand stitched circles are a wonderful addition to your quilt. I love them! Hope your Dad has a lovely birthday. 91 is definitely something to celebrate. I read Something Beautiful Happened a couple of years ago and really enjoyed the story even though it's tragic in many ways. Enjoy your sewing and zooms.

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  3. Great week for you!!!!! thanks for sharing

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  4. Hope your postcard got to your dad, and Happy Birthday to him! How fun that he reads your blog to keep up with what you are doing. The circle quilt is looking great!

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  5. Happy Birthday to your dad! I'll bet that postcard arriving in the mail would have been a very happy surprise for him.
    I absolutely adore your hand stitched circles on your quilt. I'll bet they have a lovely soft texture too.
    Wow, you've been a lucky duck in the winnings department. Well done!!

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  6. Happy birthday to your dad! How nice that he reads your blog too! Your Easter dinner sounds great, we were just talking about that at our quilt ministry yesterday, one gal mentioned that her husband had cereal and she had leftovers. We also ate leftover enchiladas since the fridge was too full to add new leftovers. We had our Easter dinner tonight.

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  7. oh happy birthday to your dad - what a fab birthday card ! (and a very belated happy birthday to you too xx) I love all those hand quilted circles on another happy quilt :) so exciting that you've won the book and all those fat quarters - I expect we'll see a lot more amazing solids quilts (ala Maria) soon - woohoo and congratulations :)

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  8. Lots of fun things happening in your life Linda. It’s lovely to hear you so upbeat! Happy birthday to your dear Dad! I love that he reads your blog! So sweet! Does it really only cost 36c to post a card or letter in the US? Can you guess how much it costs in Australia? You will surely sew up a storm with those fat quarters....they picked the right person, that’s for sure!

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  9. Happy birthday to your dad from another April birthday person. How great that he keeps up with you on your blog. I love your circle quilt and all the hand quilting you've done on it. Congrats on your winnings. You will put them to good use, I'm sure.

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  10. p.s. I meant to tell you that Jan sent me the newspaper article of you and how you make use of your Covid time at home. That was a nice surprise and a great article and picture of you. I felt honored to say "she is a friend of mine" even though we have never met in person. :)

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  11. Happy birthday to your Dad! I'm glad the postcard arrived safely. Round and round you went in your quilt, so of course the binding needs to be dots! Good choice. Your Easter dinner looks like one I'd have enjoyed, too. Simple, delicious. What fun to win with Benartex. And I guess "welcome to the world of influencers" with the clothing + selfie offer! I'm with you- the idea is not very appealing.

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  12. Happy birthday to your Dad!! And congrats to you on winning all those FQs. What fun you will have!

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  13. Linda, say happy birthday to your Dad. My dad will be 90 on 26th May and again a a quilt from you will be published, congratulations!
    Edith
    P.S. I have to smile when I saw the textil postcard you sent to your father because I think to remember you asked me when I started doing textile cards, what I am doint with them and if I could send them by mail and now you are doing quite the same things as I did :-)

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  14. Happy Birthday to your father! wow 91. He'll enjoy your quilt card.
    I love the circles on your scrap challenge. All the colors make for a joyous quilt! I had to laugh at your seance photo. What a hoot. You are so right too. I'm a little zoom weary at the moment.

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  15. I'll be interested to hear whether your postcard got through the mail safely. I always put mine in envelopes--sort of protecting all that time I put in!

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