Remembering 9/11

My sister, Lynette, bought the fabric in Denver so that we could each make and quilt a wall hanging as a remembrance of September 11, 2001. Lynette celebrates her birthday on September 10th. She expressed to me her gratitude that her birthday occurred the day before and not on 9/11.

Yesterday as I was cleaning wood floors I was lamenting to myself that they didn't look so new anymore. I clicked through the calendar of my mind to check how old that floor really was and as I went through the memorable events that keep that mind calendar in order, I stopped at 9/11. Yes, the wood floor was installed the summer before 9/11. That floor deserved to show some use. It was 10 years old!

Just like I can reflect on where and who I was during the Cuban Missile Crisis or when JFK was assassinated or his brother Bobby shot down in LA, I will always remember 9/11. In fact, it is probably the most memorable of my national memories, perhaps because I was an adult or more probably because it was horrific for so many and made us all feel so vulnerable.

The TV was on in my bedroom tuned to the Today Show as I prepared to leave that Tuesday for a brand new Augusta Ranch Elementary where I was the new librarian. I listened in horror as I dressed, combed my hair, and prepared to leave the house as the events in New York played out live. I remember driving the 12 miles or so east on the US 60 feeling so numb. Our numbers that day were lower as many parents elected to keep their children at home. I remember the drive home that afternoon without one jet in the sky heading for Sky Harbor. Here I was almost 2000 miles away and yet it was so hard to process mentally what had happened, what was happening.

Fridays at school were Spirit Days. Usually that meant wearing your Augusta Ranch t-shirt to school on Friday. After 9/11, it was announced that a special spirit day would be held that week and that we should wear red, white, and blue to show our support and respect for those affected by the current events. Unfortunately, that day was also a previously scheduled fire alarm practice (unknown to the students.) As I left the Library and headed outside to the playground, my first thought was, "These lines of students will look like targets for a terrorist." And then I saw something that made my heart turn and my eyes water.

Augusta Ranch Elementary was home to a very diverse population. The English language learning program was servicing students speaking 13 different languages. As I watched the students stream out from the building my eyes were drawn to two brothers of Middle Eastern descent. They were searching each other out and they were dressed head to toe in brand new red, white, and blue clothing. I could tell that their parents had made a special effort to show that they supported the United States of America. Tears flowed as I realized that these parents were trying to protect their sons from hate and prejudice. They had purchased new "armor" so that their sons might be protected in this new reality.

That will always be my most personal memory of that week 10 years ago. As a parent I could understand parental love and the need to protect one's own. My mother's heart wept for everyone.

Some like it hot

When I went outside first thing this morning it felt almost, hum, dare I say, refreshing.

Would you believe me if I told you that the high barely got to 100 degrees and that there were clouds in the sky all day?

I even felt a little chill when I stepped into the pool for my morning lap swim. The water temperature was 80 degrees not bathtub warm.

Watch out sweet potato vines! Your time to thrive will soon be gone. Thanks, however, for liking it hot and bringing a certain lushness to our long, hot summer.

Quilts for the boys

My daughter and her family are once again stateside after living on the island of St. Kitts in the West Indies. On St. Kitts the two boys shared a bed but now that they are in California their creative dad, Andrew, has built them an awesome bunk bed. (I don't usually use the word "awesome" but it just seems to fit in this case:)

Six years ago after retiring I started to make "I Spy Quilts" for the grandchildren. I managed to finish three and did the fussy cutting for some more. At that time I purchased this book by Marti Mitchell as well as a set of her templates. I loved the templates because I could view the fabric as I was fussy cutting from novelty fabric. I also made them "memory quilts" because I would cut two identical "pictures" to include so that they could find a match.

I always planned to make "I Spy" quilts for Henry and Raymond once they were back in the states and no longer in a tropical climate. Well the boys grew and grew, so the planned quilts grew, too, and became more twin bed size as I worked on them this summer. I had all the hexagons and triangles sewn together and wondered about colors for borders when, viola, problem solved! The above picture appeared on the Internet and aqua green or turquoise or whatever that paint color is called became my answer. I would not have thought of it on my own, but I think it worked out amazingly well.


This is Henry's quilt. I loved the multi-stripped fabric that I found. Not only did it have turquoise, but it also tied in the colors of the triangles and blocks.

The "H" and "G" are the only blocks that don't quite match. I had cut holes in that piece of fabric so many times so that each grandchild could have their first name initial X 2 that there was just no way to cut two of "H". I decided that maybe it was even preferable to have both of your name initials!

Raymond's quilt has gold color spattered triangles while Henry's quilt has green triangles with multi-colored circles. That is another reason way I was so thrilled to find the stripped fabric.

One of the things that I most enjoy about quilting is the color choices and the way a fabric color can change the look or make other fabrics sparkle. I love the color play.

I used common fabrics for the hexagons in each quilt, but I tried to make it so that each quilt had a different motif from that fabric. That way, they can "I Spy" on both quilts.

I decided to use fleece (really wanted minky but couldn't find it in the turquoise color or any other color that I really liked) for a backing. The walking foot on my machine did not do well with the fleece as I was machine quilting. I think that was part of my sewing machine woes. When I got the machine back from the shop, I just started quilting with the standard foot without thinking. It worked so much better!

I can't wait to see the quilts on their new beds and I hope that they always remember how much I love them and want to hug them every time they snuggle down to go to sleep! The quilts should be perfect for cooler weather.

Some weeks are more challenging

This week has been a busy reminder of how life is when you are responsible for a growing family. It has also been a reminder of the rewards that come when one can view life through a child's lens of perspective.

The day before the commencement of parenting duties, I was running my sewing machine on high speed trying to finish a quilting project for other grandchildren. At about nine at night, there was a not so good noise and all tension was lost. It was a good reminder that all of us as well as our sewing machines need a little loving care once in a while. I packed the machine up for a trip to the "sewing machine hospital," as I explained it to Julianna.

The goal was to have this project finished (more to come later) before leaving for California for Labor Day weekend. Bernina Southwest is so good to their customers and they had my machine ready for me in a day. My Bernina and I have followed them around the East Valley over the years as they have followed the growth from location to location.

It became a week of missteps; hard to hear news from an adult child, sick sewing machine, a true misstep and tumble on unfamiliar stairs, actual spilled milk in my purse covering everything, several of the hottest August days ever (really, soccer practice at 114 degrees), and the cancellation of California plans due to the sickness of our hosts and my misstep's hurting knee.

Thank goodness for a loving sister who always steps in to help when you need her. She was already planning to cover the weekend with the grand kids, but went into action early as I iced the knee. By the weekend, we were splitting up the kids.

Julianna spent the weekend with Becky. TJ also stayed there part of the time.

Toby still got to spend the weekend with grandpa even if he didn't get his promised trip to California. Heather worked with grandma in her sewing room making a little stuffed doll and various other things. Heather loves my sewing room. AND grandpa found an aquarium at Arizona Mills to make up for not being near the beach.

This morning the parents are back from what I hope was a very relaxing trip and a little R & R.

This morning I am enjoying my own R & R.

500th Post and blogging thoughts

This is my partner in crime this week while her parents are celebrating their 14th wedding anniversary in Hawaii. I wish you could hear her say "Hawaii." Unfortunately I fell down the last few stairs after putting her to bed tonight. Now my knee hurts, I can't sleep, and I've decided to raid my DIL's computer for a picture and to write what will be my 500th post on my little blog that was created for me by another DIL almost four years ago.


So, what are your thoughts on this whole social media phenomenon of Blogs and Facebook updates and Twitters? What are the positives? I can think of quite a few. It is a good "Place to Share." It does allow one to keep up on extended family and friends near and far. It sure beats the family letter that was supposed to move on from family to family but most often ended up in the "to do" pile.


BUT is all the immediacy necessarily good? Sometimes do our thoughts or comments or venting need some time to simmer before they hit the airwaves. Do some things need to be expressed one on one before they are released for public consumption? I will tell you that my wounded heart says that they do. Everyone, please take care as you share. Over and out.

My first hand appliqued quilt block

While in Utah I attended a basic hand applique class at Quilts, Etc. taught by Jeana Kimball. I didn't know it at the time, but Jeana is considered an expert on hand applique and has taught classes all over the country. Her work is beautiful and she also publishes books and has her own online store for needles and such.

My sister, Lynette, had stayed with her friend Annette a day before leaving for home back in July. She called and told me to cancel my class because Annette had just showed her the best method for doing applique. I wasn't sure when I would meet up with Annette again, so kept my class time and I'm so glad I did. Jeanna Kimball is the master of back basted applique, the method demonstrated to Lynette by Annette. (Don't you just love to say "Lynette by Annette?")

This is my practice block done with my odds and ends at Jeana's class. I took the class because I had fallen in love with "Cherry Tweet" a quilt designed by Cori Blunt of Chitter Chatter Designs back in February. It had lots of red and crisp white. I love red and crisp white. To make this quilt, I needed to know how to applique. I just finished my first block for that quilt. I'm pretty excited to have overcome my "applique mental block." Here is hoping that I can complete Cori's quilt by the time I die :)

Well-behaved women seldom make history

This month I read "Well-Behaved Women Seldom Make History" by Laurel Thatcher Ulrich. Laurel may be best known for her book "A Midwife's Tale: The Life of Martha Ballard, Based on Her Diary, 1785-1812" which won the Pulitzer Prize in History and which I read some years ago. The title of "Well-Behaved Women" was originally a phrase she used in other writings. It took on a life of its own as a slogan found on t-shirts, bumper stickers, etc. In this book she goes beyond the slogan she inadvertently created and explores what it means to make history.

As she explains, most history is backed by records kept mostly by men. Women were either illiterate or too busy to write things down. She explains her excitement in finding the dusty diary of Martha Ballard in the archives of a small Maine library. She explores the writings of women through time as she tells of their history.

Side note: This is a picture of Laurel Thatch Ulrich holding her book. She not only shares my name BUT she was born in Sugar City, Idaho! Daughter, Janae, met her at church when she visited her friend, Autumn, in New Hampshire. I had just read "Martha Ballard" and was pretty impressed. I am also impressed that she is/was a professor at Harvard. She is well-behaved and making history.

I've been pondering on the fact that perhaps "well-behaved" women don't seem to have a history because there is no record. I also remembered that several books that I have read recently are based on the writings of women who wrote letters to others telling of their somewhat common but very interesting lives.

"Vanished Arizona" by Martha Summerhayes was written by the author later in her life after she was given back letters that she had written during her time as the wife of an Army officer in the western United States during the years after the Civil War.

Her Arizona was a land of no trains, stagecoaches, or air conditioning. In the early 1900's, she looks back on that time with nostalgia and the reader learns that in some ways things were changing just as quickly back then as they seem to be now. My neighbor lent me this book but it can also be found online as an ebook.

"Letters of a Woman Homesteader" by Elinor Pruitt Stewart, can also be found as an ebook. Elinor writes these letters to her former employer in Denver after leaving to work on a Wyoming cattle ranch in the 1909. She also plans to homestead some land for herself and her daughter. Her letters were published in the "Atlantic Monthly" in 1913 and became a book in 1914. It is a fascinating look at life in the west.

"Nothing Daunted" by Dorothy Wickenden is based on letters the author found of her grandmother's written during the year of 1916 when she left her life in Auburn, New York to teach school in the small community of Elkhead, Colorado with her best friend.

They were society girls and alumni of Smith College who had most recently lived abroad in Paris. Go here to read more in a current Smith College alumni newsletter.

They had exchanged a life of privilege for horse rides through the snow to meet the students they had agreed to teach. Go here to read more about how the author used those letters to flesh out the story of her grandmother and the history and happenings of that time period and of the place that is Colorado.

As I research family history I am relying on those who have taken the time to write down their stories. Are you writing down your history? Are there letters (or emails) being saved? I think I like to blog because it is an easy way to share what I am seeing, doing, and learning. Even now as I approach 4 years and almost 500 posts as a blogger, I look back in amazement at the weddings, new babies, growing grandchildren, health crisis, travels, and celebrations. It is my history.