THE CORN WAGON

The Corn Wagon, a quilt shop in Springville, Utah, was featured as a Top Shop in American Patchwork and Quilting a while back. I have been wanting to visit this shop for quite a while! In fact a couple of bloggers have offered to take me. But since it was during the rush of the Christmas holidays, I didn't contact anyone other than family while in Utah. I really hope to meet a few of you Utah bloggers at another time!

My darling daughter-in-law drove me to this shop on a cold and snowy day in December. The exterior is old looking and beautiful. I love this big porch on the front!

 Can you see the flurries of snow coming down? It was really quite pretty. Also take note of the Beehive. I love this symbol. Aside from the fact that it is just plain cute, it is also meaningful. The paragraph below, taken from a website about Utah, tells you why.

The Beehive State

Most of the nicknames associated with Utah are related to the members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, or Mormons, that first settled in the territory. Deseret, in The Book of Mormon is actually a honeybee. Early Mormon settlers have been described as having carried "swarms of bees" with them. This nickname commemorates the industry of the people of Utah. The beehive was adopted, in 1847, as an official emblem and represents the qualities of industry, perseverance, thrift, stability, and self-reliance, all virtues respected by the region's settlers. The beehive is the centerpiece of the Utah State Flag and the Utah State Seal.

Naturally, I found things I needed at this shop. I bought a few Japanese FQs that have a really neat texture to them. Someone out there probably can share the name of the type of fabric that this is. I don't know what to call it, except that it has raised threads in the weave and it looks so old-fashioned that I couldn't resist it, even tho it was twice the cost of American FQs. Not something I want to get into the habit of doing, but it will add some nice old-fashioned texture to this new pattern I got while there.

 You all know that I design patterns, but this doesn't stop me from being inspired by the designs of others. I fell in love with a quilt that was on display at The Corn Wagon. It is an old-fashioned album quilt with names embroidered in the center of each block. The fabric choices were wonderful and took me right back in time. I decided I want to make it to take to a family reunion next summer and embroider our ancestors names on the blocks. Here  is the darling thing about this quilt that won my heart. All around the inner border were hand embroidered "Blessings". Things like, "Faith - Hope - Quilting", and "Song of Birds, Pioneers, Prayers and Flowers".This was irresistible to me! The designers are Leslie Ison and Norma Whaley from Salt Lake City. I couldn't find a website for them, but The Corn Wagon has their patterns (801-491-3551). Be sure and tell them that I sent you! I am hoping they will buy my patterns as well! :0)

A WEEK IN PROVO

Yes, a week in Provo, not Provence, but we loved it!  We got home from Utah late last night and we are still recovering. After sleeping most of the day, I just showered and am now pouring myself a Diet Coke. Ahhh.

We spent a delightful week with my son Renn, wife Keira, and baby Isaac Michael! Isaac is three weeks old and we loved every minute of time we had with him. He coos and gurgles and squeaks and even smiles sweet little baby smiles as tho he is having the best dreams. Sometimes when his daddy starts laughing at something he appears to laugh as well. A good omen, as we laugh a lot in our family. This was their first Christmas together as a family and it was wonderful to be able to share it with them.

I will try not to overwhelm you readers who are looking for quilt-action here, but having just returned from what is facetiously called Happy Valley you must forgive my exuberance in baby sharing!

More later on my visit to The Corn Wagon Quilt Shop in Springville, Utah.

It was snowing in Utah yesterday and we were afraid our flight would be cancelled. Son Renn drove us to the airport, and it got icier as we progressed. We got there by 10:15am and found our flight had been changed to leave at 1:00, an hour later. We watched out those big airport windows and saw the snow stop and the ground visibility clear. What a relief! We caught our connection in Dallas with no problem and got home late, but happy to be home again. Sigh. Yes, Dorothy is right, there is no place like home!

And I really should add Happy New Year to all!