Friends Visiting

It has been a fun and busy start to September... and here we are looking at the first day of fall. Where has the summer gone?

I had a friend, Laetitia, from South Africa visiting and she brought along one of her friends, Ilette, as

well. Laetitia and I were in the Jacaranda Quilt Guild together and were members of a home group (bee) that met just about every week in the evenings. I collected them at O'Hare on Saturday and from there we visited a Quilt Shop. Quiltfabric.com, one of my favorites when I lived there, and I always try to stop in for a visit when in town. I love the huge selection of batiks!! We made a stop at a retailer for some necessities and then dinner at Portillos, burgers and beer long what could be better after a long flight? Does Laetitia look happy and excited?

The following day we did Chicago. We did a lot of walking. Navy Pier, caught a lake tour boat, and we saw one of the tall ships sailing about as well.


We then took a friends suggestion and made our way to the Chicago Cultural Center, which had escaped my notice ... when I lived here. There are 2 dome rooms, one on the north end of the building and the one we wanted to see the Preston Bradley Hall with the Tiffany Dome is on the south end. The Mosaic is absolutely stunning and worth the few minutes it takes to visit it. My photos are not the best. I had the zoom lens and it does not do so well in low light, but this will give you an idea....  those tiles are about 1/2 inch square, so there are millions of them.... and many of them glitter too.

We next walked across the street and spent a few minutes under the trees listening to the Jazz Festival music and viewing some of the artists on our way to 'Cloudgate' otherwise known as the BEAN. I have never seen so many people at the bean. I have even  been there when, the only reflection has been us, no other people on the square!!! It was very very busy... and I forgot to mention HOT in Chicago.

Our next stop was the Buckingham Fountain, which was under renovation when I came in the past and you would think I would take a picture of it.... nope... We continued our walking tour... on down to the Field Museum and then along the waterfront back to the car.

It was a long day, and we packed a lot into it.

I will share more in the next few days.... More for sure Beth

The Fast Lane

Since my last post about Mark…. life here has hit the FAST lane, well that is how it seems. Sure there has been down time… but not enough to do much with and certainly, nothing to write on the blog about, and the time thieves (those little things that eat up the time… but you can’t remember). Of course it doesn’t help when we are waiting for “The DATE”. I don’t think I have mentioned here on the blog…. that we will be returning to the states. 1 year before our tour is up, and a bit earlier than the 5 year plan we came with. The DH has been offered a new position, and of course he accepted. We will be returning to the DC area!!! Of course all the headaches that come with a move are now showing up. But more about those as they become more of a reality…. Once we have a date, it should move really fast.

One of the time thieves -one of my co workers was moving… and needed some assistance. She had some scheduling conflicts… so I volunteered to sit with the movers while they packed her belongings. The next week I took her to a medical test…. and picked her up later in the day. The other was Axel, since we have been here… his allergy thing has been much easier than in the states, but for some reason he has had 3 subcutaneous cysts burst. The most recent one was on his neck…. can we just say oh YUCK!!!! The physical part is easy, but it’s the twice a day meds that take up the time… and energy.

In the quilting department (and finally some pictures)… I have completed 2 more Birthday blocks for my friends and took my turn hosting the ladies. I nearly forgot that my date for hosting was at the end of June…. whew… I made Baked Ziti for dinner and strawberry short cake for dessert. It was delicious.

At the beginning of June we celebrated Corriannes birthday. She selected birdhouses for her blocks and provided a black background and a color swatch…. we could make any size of block…. She wanted ‘bright’ primary colors.

In the middle of the month we celebrated Laetitias birthday. Her block was very specific in size and background, which she provided. She has a plan and wanted a flower. If she had provided more background I would have made another!!!! Somehow I let that block out of the house without a picture!

The small group, belongs to the larger group, the Jacaranda Quilters Guild of Pretoria. Each small group was asked to make a block to represent their small/home group. This was our block. We have all participated in the building of the block in some way. I did the quilting!!!

I also finished the last of the baby boy quilts. I was planning to ship it, but I don’t think I can squish it down enough to fit in the size box I can ship from here, (10” x 8” x 2”).

I also had to put a sleeve on the black, white & bright quilt, so it could be hung at a small show. So I spent a morning playing with a little Embroidery machine, a Brother, I bought before we left the states…. WoW how much fun can they be? I put the name of the quilt on the Sleeve, playing with several fonts and thread colors. I can see how and why some have the ‘super duper’ embroidery machines.

In between these few quilty things…. I have entered a baking contest at the Embassy 4th of July Party. And I won! THE Category (Brownie/Blondie), THE Extra Ingredient (macadamia nuts) and THE Overall Best Dessert!!! I submitted the Blondies and the Decadent Chocolate Brownie. Woo Hoo! I have sort of established myself as a baker here. I usually make something for the bake sale table and for the quilters, I take the dessert to the hostess. Sometimes its extravagant, like cheesecake, but sometimes as simple as snicker doodle cookies.

Jacaranda Quilters of Pretoria

Yesterday was the winter Friendship meeting. There are only 3 a year. These meeting are the equivalent of the end of year meeting for a monthly guild in the US. There are lots of vendors, -many quilt stores are run from homes here, and going from shop to shop can really eat up a day. So the friendship meetings are for shopping as well. The meeting starts at 9, so the vendors have to get up awfully early to get here and get set up!

Like any quilt guild meeting there was a short business meeting and then, we had a program on color from a member of the guild. There are usually demonstrations at the meeting too, but this time we built a color wheel, that we used during her talk, when she would describe the relationships of color. A very useful tool.

The meetings are also a small quilt show. The small group that I belong to, Kwetterkwilters, and another, Frangipanis, were charged with procuring the displays. Each group showed off some of the things members made -projects, challenges or round robins. It was obvious once our display was up that the 7 of us are NOT afraid of color. Our group put up, last years birthday blocks (miniature log cabins), this years challenge (12x12 Word), miscellaneous small quilts, along with a few larger ones and the postcards that we have all received so far!!!

The postcard display was a favorite among the members. We each pinned our postcards to a ribbon and hung the ribbon over a black background. It really made all the colors pop.

The first stand has the Miniature Log Cabins (birthday blocks) and the last stand has some of the groups smaller pieces. Since I didn’t have much in the way of group projects, I took my Black, White & Bright quilt, and was surprised to win ‘Viewers Choice’. It was quite fun to win!!!

This may well have been my last Jacaranda meeting… The next one is in October. I have met some really wonderful, warm and very generous ladies through quilting. I am sure glad I am a quilter.

More Later!!!

Beth

Kwetterkwilters

Last night the local small group of South African Quilters, the Kwetterkwilters, met. I was there about a month ago, sharing some of the items I have collected and traded made with Peltex/Timtex/Fast2Fuse….  Postcards, Twinchies and 4x4’s. (I did a post about it here).
I gave each of the ladies a 4” x 6” piece of Peltex, 2 sided fusible to make something… and they chose to make a postcard. We all agreed to meet back last night and share our works of ART. Let me just say WOW!!! They got it in a big way!
After dinner, I shared something I should have taken last month  …. my postcard box. I keep all kinds of little things in there to make postcards…. novelty fabrics, ribbons, buttons, trinkets and findings. I think I may have started something!!!
I knew that I was going to make each one a postcard, when I left last month. So took those out to share and one more that I put in the mail today. I asked them to pick one and address it to themselves. So when I get back to the US…. I will mail them out.

One of the ladies has seen some prototype Luggage Tags I was playing with… and suggested that I bring those. I used Peltex in those too. I didn’t like them so I redesigned them and did these. Along with a couple of mini-tags to put on personal equipment… or other things that you want to mark. These all started because we don’t have any current tags for our luggage… and I left my laminator in storage and that is how I used to keep up with the changes.

So as I wrapped up last night, the ladies had a surprise for me. They had made ‘Twinchies’ for ME!!! They are so cute! It was a super WONDERFUL surprise and will now have to make a box out of them too.

The ladies had so much fun making the postcards that several expressed a desire to swap postcards. So does anyone else want to join a small Postcard Swap? (edit: the swap won't begin until January, so if you are interested, please leave a comment or send me an email)
More Later- Beth

My Hand and Other Stuff

First my hand injury is better, the stitches are out. I will have a small scar, but nothing that will really bother me…. I figure I’m lucky its not much worse. I think I just missed the nerve that runs up the thumb, at lease every time I saw a physician, they would ask me about the nerve.

Second we are without broadband internet again. It’s been more than 2 weeks, and who knows how much longer. It’s amazing how much more time I have to read…. when the Internet is down. I read the one book on the Xoom (there is a lesson here…. keep at least 2 books on it for electronic reading) and I have read 2 paper books and started a third.

I was delayed getting back into the sewing room, due to the hand injury. I was asked by one of the “home groups” to show my small Twinchie, 4x4 and postcard collections, I have received from swaps and friends. More specifically, some of the ways to display them. The postcards were easy…. since I have displayed them. I use a chain, and hang them by hooks on the chain… like a clothesline (no picture). The Twinchies and 4x4’s had been languishing and not displayed.

So I whipped up a couple of boxes- one Twinchie Box and one 4x4 box (no top). I also put 6 4x4’s together…. that if folded would make a box or left unfolded as wall display. I also showed one in a frame (no picture), added a magnet to the back of a 4x4 (red heart 4x4)…. because sometimes the kitchen needs some fabric art too. I put the rest of the Twinchies on a fabric panel display.

I passed the Postcards around, and there were lots of questions about them going through the mail…. They just loved looking at them, reading the notes, and where they came from. In South Africa, the mail system is not quite as reliable… as the US. The interest was also in the filler we use (Peltex, which I brought samples of) and at the end gave each a sample of Peltex and a challenge…. to make a postcard. Which we will exchange at the end of October….

And 2 weeks ago I was taken to the Oriental Market in Johannesburg by my friend and (sister) Elmarie. What a fun place. I could spend a day or more poking around in the shops and stores. Lots of fabric, mostly decorator… but a few gems here and there. I did purchase this fabulous hand embroidered Elephant panel, which is destined as a Christmas gift…. (click on the picture for a larger/better view). There is lots of gold thread and many bright colors…. but it is not over powering…. I did not realize that the elephants were not identical… until I took the picture. The shop where I purchased it has aisles that are barely 2 feet wide…. so seeing the whole thing was impossible…. in the shop.

More Later-

Beth

The Jacaranda Quilters

Today I managed to make it to the Pretoria Jacaranda Quilters meeting. I missed the meeting February. Meetings here are a little different. They are large gatherings several months apart. A place to meet, shop and share. I think it’s mostly about the shopping…. just like in the US. I went for several reasons. I wanted to see some quilts made by South Africans. The Guild has a small quilt show. Maybe about 30 quilts on racks and hung over the pews. Some the quilts on the pews were there for the best part of a Guild meeting, the SHOW and Tell. (the pictures are the best I could do… I did not want to take a large camera and flash.

The quilts on racks were made by some of the small groups called home groups, and what we would call a ‘bee’. One of the themes for the year was Round Robins, most of the quilts were from the same group, and some were really quite fun. My personal favorite was the bright giraffes

and the viewers choice was this one.

One of the members Danel Muller, created a fabulously beautiful piece of art. A well known South African painter, Pieter Janse van Rensburg, asked her to recreate one of his pieces in fabric. It is stunning in person!!!

Of course I shopped and bought some fabric… mostly South African Da Gama cottons, (not the Shwe Shwe made by the same company),  that are designed for quilters of soft cotton and soft colors.

Some of these will be making their way back to the US via swaps, trades or gifts.

I also picked up 2 pieces of South African hand dyes,, (the colors are off a bit- the yellow not quite so bright and the blue not so washed out) and a piece of US fabric, (the red/pink marbled one), which I don’t recall ever seeing in the states. Also picked up the floral batik.

Of course I picked up a few more of the embroideries that are made by local women to support their families.

There were a few new designs this time, a gecko, basket, a tree and a woman with a basket on head and a baby on her back. These also make their way back to the states as gifts or swaps. The overall size is about 3 x 5 and would make a great Needle Case cover or the center of a throw pillow.

While shopping, I was flagged down by a friend and told about another American that came to visit the meeting. The world is indeed small. It turns out we are living in the same neighborhood, and our paths have come very close to crossing in the US, (specifically Nebraska!) and I may know one of the cousins… in Grand Island. Several of the quilts on the pews are ones she has made, and brought to Show and Tell. Nancy and her husband (a pastor) are here visiting children and grand children that are working with a church/school. She will be leaving at the end of July, going home to Montana. They have been here since January.

I had a very enjoyable day with the ladies and October is a very long way off - which is when the next meeting will take place.

On another note my DH is home, and will be here for a bit (I hope). He was lucky the dogs remembered him and let him in!

As always… … More LATER!

Beth