Libby Lehman is home!!

This is the first year since sometime in the 90's that I haven't been at the Sewing & Stitchery Expo in Puyallup, Washington. So, of course, Sew Expo has been on my mind -- and many of you ARE AT THE SHOW -- having a wonderful time, I am sure.

 I thought it would be the perfect time to update you on Libby Lehman's progress. One of Expo's most popular teachers -- and always an inspiration to everybody who had the pleasure of working with her -- EVER!!

To review -- last spring -- Libby had a burst aneurysm and then, she suffered from a stroke. She was in the hospital, then a rehabilitation center -- for nine months. But the very good news is that LIBBY WAS ABLE TO GO HOME IN JANUARY...

This was Libby at the 2012 Sew Expo -- teaching and ALWAYS laughing...

Here's a recent update from Libby's Caring Bridge page.  Her sisters write on it almost every day, and they are doing a WONDERFUL job of writing updates for us -- Libby's friends and fans...

Monday, Feb. 24 - Soul of a Quilter Written Feb 24, 2014 8:12pm by Cathy Arnold

Today in the mail Libby received a check for a very significant amount from Jim West of Sew Many Places for Libby's Medical Fund! The funds were raised on the Sew Many Places' "Libby Lehman Soul of a Quilter" Cruise and a seminar by Jinny Beyer right after the cruise. Wow! How wonderful! The check was accompanied by a letter from Jim. It was so nice that I want to share parts of it with you:

Dear Libby, Hello my sweet friend!
As I write this letter to you, I am overjoyed with the results of our fundraising cruise that we held in your honor a few weeks ago. In addition to the donation from Sew Many Places, funds were raised with the onboard silent auction, the sale of Carol Moellers' Aurifil thread packs, and the 2-day workshop that Jinny Beyer hosted right after the cruise. Jinny Beyer was so lovely in that she donated her time, paid for her flight to Florida and made special quilt blocks to auction off, all in an effort to help toward your medical expenses. Between what Jinny raised with her class and the money Carol Moellers made with the thread boxes, 27% of the total collected was generated from their efforts.

Everyone who participated on our Soul of a Quilter cruise was very generous, especially the teachers, Sheila Frampton Cooper, Pam Holland, Dana Lynch and Carol Moellers. Libby, you were a teacher on our first Sew Many Places' cruise and I will always remember how lovely you were to me and everyone who participated. You are one of the classiest people I have ever met, and by far, one of the most inspirational quilters in the industry.
Hugs and lots of love, Jim West

When I told Libby, she was thrilled and said she was "overwhelmed!" If ever a group has Soul, it is Quilters! Kudos and love to Jim, Jinny, Sheila, Pam, Dana, Carol, and everyone else who went on this cruise and contributed to this fundraising effort. You are all amazing!

 Thank you, Cathy Arnold

Libby, teaching at the Sewing & Stitchery Expo in Puyallup...

Libby is working every day to regain her ability to walk and talk -- and she has wonderful support from her husband, Lester, and a corps of caregivers and her wonderful sisters.  WE ARE ROOTING FOR YOU, LIBBY...

To keep track of Libby’s progress, visit her page on the Caring Bridge website at
http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/libbylehman

My Pinterest Point of View

Weight is my lifetime challenge. But talking about diets is THE MOST BORING topic under the sun. So I try to NEVER write posts about dieting -- and I seldom consider it an interesting topic for real conversation. But bear with me here...

While analyzing my bad eating habits, I realized (AGAIN) that I do a lot of night time eating... unconscious eating...boredom, bad habit eating...

Hummm....I wish I knew how to crochet...what I need is a mindless activity that would keep my hands busy...something that might keep me from putting a potato chip in my mouth...

Then -- BAZINGA!! Why not use Pinterest time as my "reward points". Hey -- THIS COULD WORK.

So, last night, I went on to Pinterest and here are some of the pins that caught my interest...

Sister Wives, HILARIOUS!!

Yes, my name is Rita Farro and I am addicted to crappy reality television. Hey, people -- IT'S BEEN A LONG WINTER.

It may seem like a waste of time -- but I am telling you -- sometimes it REALLY PAYS OFF.

Take the recent episodes of TLC's Sunday night show, "Sister Wives". I have never laughed so hard in my life.

Here's the set-up. Cody is married to four women. They live in Las Vegas, and have decided to have a commitment ceremony. But they cannot find appropriate dresses. Three of the wives are overweight...they want something modest, yet festive...

Meri, Robyn, Cody, Janelle and Christine.

A week before the big party (hundreds of people, planting a tree, writing a mission statement, etc.) -- they decide to HIRE SOMEBODY to make their dresses. The four of them will design their own dresses -- you know -- make sketches, pick out their fabric, etc. WHAT A GREAT IDEA...(oh, yeah -- that's sarcasm...!).  I perked right up -- because I KNEW this was going to be hilarious... 

And, of course they hire this young woman -- fresh out of design school!!

When the overly-confident young woman walked into the room -- I knew they were in trouble. What was my first sign? Well -- let's start with the fact that she was carrying a $100 sewing machine. Oh-Oh...

Meri's brown dress made her look like a Sherman tank.  She ended up buying the green dress instead. Poor Christine wore the orange curtains -- and Janelle wore the puckered royal blue debacle...Robyn (in black) had to find something in her closet 5 minutes before the ceremony...

That young woman actually did make two dresses that were worn...but they were both amatuerish and butt-ugly. At the very last minute, Meri (green) and Robyn (black)  had to find their dresses elsewhere. BIG SHOCK. That young woman was sooo in over her head.  This mission was a COMPLETE FAIL.  And the fact that she even agreed to take on this four-dress-challenge was simply a measure of her own ignorance. SHE HAD NO CLUE how much work was involved -- or how difficult it was going to be.

Here's the thing that strikes me. If you are really good at something -- NOBODY gives you any credit. EVER. No matter what it is -- baking bread, sewing, quilting, painting, writing, cleaning...if you're good at it -- you make it look easy. Which is why NOBODY THINKS IT'S HARD. But it is!!

THIS is where my head is at...

Life is so funny -- and full of surprises. The only thing you can rely on is CHANGE. And my taste has changed, too.  It would be so much fun to look at my Pinterest boards when I was 30 years old...They would have been full of Little League ideas, tolepainting ideas...I can hardly remember...

But here's what is lighting me up TODAY...

I pulled some images off my "Style" board.  I'm getting ready to paint a leather purse...and this design is in the running...

This was a hard lesson for me...I wish I had learned it sooner...

Another cool design, in the running for my purse paint job...

I have always known this to be true.

I love the swirly designs.  This could be my winner...

You know who you are...or, maybe not....

One of these days, I've GOTTA GET BACK TO IRELAND...

Enough said.

Textile Artists

There is ALWAYS SOMETHING going on around here.  A few weeks ago, after our usual exciting breakfast-at-the-grocery-store-and-catch-up-with-each-other's-lives...our Tuesday crew headed across town to the Fairmount branch of the Davenport library. A textile art group meets there once a month. Lin went last month -- and she said the ladies were amazing.

Did I mention it was 20 below zero that day? Hey -- WHAT ELSE ARE WE GONNA DO??  Actually, it's even too cold to go snowboarding...

So -- we went to the library. Even though I am a bit jaded about textile art. I love it -- but in the last 20 years, I've written about and worked with the best textile artists in the country. I've seen a lot of things come and go -- recycled denim, painted silk, felted sweaters, prom gown challenges, needle felting, embroidered beads, fabric jewelry...

And who are we kidding? My name is Rita Farro and I am addicted to t-shirt fringe...

My point is -- I walked into the meeting feeling a little smug....I have been there and done that. It was going to be hard to impress me...right?

Wow.  I can get pretty full of myself....

And, I am pleased to admit I WAS WRONG...There were about 30 women in the room -- and they took turns sharing what they were working on.  I was blown away by the big variety of projects and techniques...

A mixed-media journal -- using tickets, cartoons, zentangles, painting...I LOVE THIS IDEA...What a wonderful, creative way to capture a "year in the life"...she used a lot of quotes. 

About a dozen of the women were showing off the needle-felted cuffs they'd created that morning during one of their "fun day"sessions...

One woman shared a whimsical landscape quilt...

ZENTANGLE is going to be my new passion -- and I have a Pinterest board with over 500 fabulous quotes.  What a great way to use them!! I AM IN LOVE...

This box is full of fabric beads from an earlier "fun day" session  Can you see how they used the smallest scraps of fabric to create beads?  Still don't get it??

Here's the magic -- they glue the fabric around a drinking straw!!  HOLY COW...Genius.  Why didn't I think of that??  You wrap the fabric, and glue it -- THEN cut it down to size.

This is a close-up shot of some of the wristlets.  As they were doing the needle felting, instead of working the felted sweater as a flat piece, with a brush underneath -- they left the cuffs in circles, and put them onto swimming noodles.  GENIUS, RIGHT??

Pat's Cook Book Surprise

One of my favorite movies is Forrest Gump. And one of my favorite lines from the movie is when Forrest says, "Life is a box of chocolates...you never know what you're gonna get."

And that's how I live EVERY SINGLE DAY. But, one day, an actual REALLY BIG BOX came to my house. It was so heavy because it was jam packed with books. Cookbooks. Of all kinds...with some silly titles....What a treasure trove!!

So, to add to the fun -- I took it with me to Tuesday morning breakfast...

We opened the box, and decided who would get what...I thought of my friend Marion with this one...

Years ago, Marion and I were on a road trip -- shopping at an Outlet Mall in New England. She found some great deals on cashmere sweaters...or maybe it was a cashmere blanket or throw (Marion has a LOT of cashmere). I admitted I'd never worn cashmere. She seemed surprised. I said, "do you know how many goats would have to die for me to have a cashmere sweater?"

OF COURSE Pat would send this title to her Iowa friend...

The box was sent to me from Olympia, Washington. My friend Pat, who is simply the BEST COOK I EVER MET...was purging her enormous collection. When Joanne Ross was the textile part Pierce County Extension -- Pat was her cooking counterpart. Pat is retired now -- but she used to have her own radio show, and write a newspaper column. Long after she retired, she was still teaching cooking classes at a local gourmet market. PAT LOVES TO COOK...it is the music in her life.

And cooking, like sewing, is always better when you SHARE.  I will never be as good a cook as Pat is -- but I know the thrill of planning a wonderful meal for people I love...or taking a delicious pot of soup to a sick friend....baking cupcakes with Lilly.  I can't imagine my life without cooking.

Or SHARING...

So, THANKS, girls, for playing my "who-wants-another-cookbook-game"....

And, of course, thanks, Pat, for all your help with recipes and cooking advice. My kitchen is a kinder, gentler place because of you!!

YEAH -- the Sue Starches Video

Sochi and Quilting!!

Watching the Olympics has been a nice winter diversion...and I was DELIGHTED with all the quilting motifs. Did you notice? After a conversation we had at breakfast the other day, I did a Google search...and found this...

”The Olympic patchwork quilt", developed by Bosco’s creative department and given to the Sochi 2014 Organising Committee, will be the official Look of Russia’s first Winter Games.

Our goal was to represent a diverse range of emotions and feelings, connecting concepts like Motherland, Family, Culture, Time, Olympism, Peace, Nobility, Friends, Memory, Honour, Dreams, Beauty, Freedom, Pride, Warmth, Happiness, Greatness, Reliability, Victory, Creativity, Hospitality, Creation, Future, Russia, Planet Earth.

Every region in the world is proud of its unique origins, and it is no different in Russia. That is why there are so many different local traditions, songs and crafts that highlight the individuality of their creators, each valuable in its own right. Bosco had a wealth of choices to represent Russia’s rich diversity, but in the end we settled on something familiar, warm and welcoming: the patchwork quilt.
In the concept design, every patch was infused with the history and personality of traditional crafts from each of Russia’s 89 regions: in a single tapestry we combined Uftyuzhskaya painting and Vologda lace, Gzhel and Zhostovo painting, Kubachi patterns and the flowers of Pavlo Posad shawls, Mezenskaya painting and Khokhloma, Yakutsk patterns, fabrics of Ivanovo and other distinctive Russian patterns. That is how we arrived at a modern, distinctive and unmistakeably Russian Look of the Games.”

LOVE IT...

These jackets were the first time I noticed the quilt motif

Apparently, it's EVERYWHERE...

I only understood about half of that Press Release -- but out of respect for all that went into their design process, I decided to print it in it's entirety. I'm just saying -- NICE JOB, RUSSIA...!

Sue's Linens

You know my friend Sue. We met in the 7th grade -- and we've been friends ever since. We ALWAYS enjoy spending time together when we get the chance...

But Sue's interests are different from mine. She LOVES to garden and work in the yard -- good thing, too!!

Because she and her husband spent several years restoring the old farmhouse on her family's Century farm in Scott County, Iowa. And there are HUNDREDS of trees planted on the property....along with flowers, and shrubs, and bushes, and a huge garden. Well -- IT ALL KEEPS HER BUSY.  And she loves it...

And the inside of Sue's home is always neat as a pin. I don't know anybody who starches linens any more. But SUE DOES.  Sue has them in every room...this is a corner of the kitchen...

Hanging on the shower door in the downstairs bathroom...

On a small table, situated in a corner of the formal dining room.

There is a dresser scarf on every piece of furniture in the house...perfectly ironed and starched...

I AM NOT KIDDING -- it can be very annoying, people...

See the doilies under her formal dishes? Really, Sue??

Sue is the kind of friend who makes you feel like YOU SHOULD BE DOING MORE....

And it seems funny to me that, nowadays, there are so many articles and pictures and classes about how to "recycle linens".  Maybe we don't give enough thought to USING THEM AS THEY WERE INTENDED??  So I asked Sue to walk me through it...how do you actually STARCH linens??

Stay tuned...(you know me and videos)...fingers crossed...

Bald Eagles

The Quad Cities Chamber should be paying me for promoting this beautiful part of the world.

The temperatures have been really cold -- it has been a brutal winter. But, even so -- this amazing thing happens here every January...

Bald Eagles come here to eat. And roost. And do whatever it is Eagles do in January...

And I'm not talking just a few birds...

There are dozens...scores....hundreds of Bald Eagles....

This didn't happen when I was a kid. But, ever since the Cordova nuclear power plant opened, about 30 years ago, they started dumping hot water into the Mississippi River to keep it from freezing over. So the open water in the dead of winter means easy pickings for the Eagles...

I took this picture myself -- on the road leading to Princeton, Iowa.

Apparently, they tell their friends, who tell their friends -- and before you know it -- we have HUNDREDS OF BALD EAGLES coming here to spend the winter.

The other day, John and I were driving along Hwy #67 (which runs right along the river). We went 10 miles and counted 46 Bald Eagles sitting in barren trees.

The next morning, John drove on that road at sunrise. The Eagles were still sleeping -- there were 19 of them in ONE tree. Driving the same 10 miles, he counted 120 Bald Eagles....

This picture was taken with my cellphone -- there were TEN eagles in that tree...

They are quite a sight....

I grabbed this picture off the internet -- but WE SEE IT ALL THE TIME.  I just don't have a decent camera...

There is a group of semi-professional photographers (that means they spent big money on fancy cameras) -- who gather in Davenport, Iowa, just below the Lock and Dam. They're all lined up, along the levy wall -- with their cameras and long lenses on tripods - then they use a giant slingshot to shoot dead fish into the water. That's how they get these amazing pictures of Bald Eagles swooping down to snatch the fish.

Rita's Turn on the Blog Tour

It was an honor to be invited to participate in this "blog tour"for the launch of Nancy's new autobiography, Seams Unlikely. Yesterday, the official "launch" took place in Madison, Wisconsin at the Wisconsin Public Television studios.

I was planning to go -- and REALLY LOOKING FORWARD TO IT. Then I got sick -- and as it happens -- we had another big dump of snow Saturday afternoon -- so I am glad I wasn't on the road after all. WINTER JUST WON'T QUIT, EH??

See that empty chair in the front row? THAT WAS FOR ME...!!

Nancy autographed everybody's books....

AND she always has to TEACH SOME KIND OF SEWING thingy...

I was really sorry I missed eating lunch with my good friend John...

In the book, Nancy thanks everybody who helped her along the way. But real gratitude always goes both ways. The handsome man chowing down on the appetizers is listed as "John Handsome" in my cellphone. John started working in the warehouse when he was still in high school. Now he is the well respected manager of a multi-million dollar state-of-the-art warehouse -- and I'm pretty sure he could get a job anywhere.

That's what Nancy and Rich Zieman did for Beaver Dam, Wisconsin. They took pride in building a business that provided good jobs for people. The kind of jobs that could support a family -- you could buy a house, a car and pay for your kids college tuition.

I don't want to get all mushy here -- but Nancy Zieman has been the wind beneath a lot of people's wings in the sewing industry -- not just in Beaver Dam.

And -- hey -- you will love the book.  My husband John read it cover-to-cover -- (mostly he only reads Civil War history books).

If you have a book club, or a sewing club -- make reading Seams Unlikely a goal for this year. It is a great read that makes for very interesting discussions. Nancy Zieman is, at her very core, a teacher. And one of the lessons of her book is that your life is what you make it. It's always about that glass half-empty, half-full, isn't it?

Nancy teaches by example.  And reading about her life -- the lesson is that kindness matters.  When you treat people fairly, every single day -- it always comes back to you.

Thanks, Nancy!  (again!)

P.S. If you want to WIN A COPY OF SEAMS UNLIKELY -- click on this link -- Nancy's kick off blog --February 4 Nancy Zieman http://www.nancyzieman.com/blog/blog-tour/seams-unlikely-book/ Post a comment there -- many copies of the book will be given away!!