Strawberry Moon: Be the Change You Wish to See

June 30, 9:49 a.m. EDT
The full moon for the month of June is known as the Strawberry Moon. It was named, as most full moons are, by the Algonquin tribe of Indians of North America. This same full moon in June is often referred to, in Europe, as the Rose Moon. The North American version came about because of the comparatively short season for harvesting strawberries which arrives each year during the month of June. By the same token, of course, June is the month of the flowering of many beautiful roses.

Whether you believe in astrology in any sense (even in a playful 'fun to check out' kind of way), this full moon is known as the 'full moon in Capricorn.' As such, this Strawberry moon arising as the full moon in Capricorn, symbolizes a calling out to each and everyone of us to find ways to express love and and feelings of connectedness in our lives. This is especially true when love is not our first response. When we feel other emotions because our sense of love is drowned out by pain, or fear, or even hatred...... it drowns out the inner voice of love as a universal emotion, a path towards communication and union with others.

This full moon is one of facing the reality of love lost or even love denied. That lost love may be simply the missing of opportunity, or it can be represented by an actual loss, or even the death ,of someone you have loved. It is a time to be open to loss, a time to open our hearts and share that love, that loss with others. It is hard at times like these, to allow ourselves that openness, because it also opens our hearts once again to pain or perhaps even to judgment. If we can allow ourselves to have the courage to face these possibilities and rise above them, then we also allow ourselves the opportunities for further growth and transformation.

As the moon seems to pull us in our own human cycles, she also pulls us in her full moon energies. It is an invitation to look with depth at the suffering in our lives. A chance to see how being connected to love and loving is also an opportunity for releasing our attachment to the process of holding on to emotional wounds created by that love. The energies at this time can become a test, if you will, to see how selfless and openhearted each of us can be. It is also a time that calls out to us for self-care, lest we become too emotional or too sensitive. So on one hand, we reach out and open our hearts to sharing our inner truths, but on the other, we increase our chance and re-opening our own wounds. This is the power of the full moon energy. A time of release of the old, the promise of the healing those old pains and beginning anew.

On a global scale, it is also an opportunity for each of us to come to terms with deep rooted fears and to look at the war within as it pertains to the war we see outside of ourselves. As such, it creates a thoughtful space to willingly transcend the human-made divisions of race, religion, nationality or gender. If we can acknowledge that we are all, somehow connected, that we find parts of ourselves within the other. Then and only then, can we reach out with our hearts to feel those heartstrings that bind us together instead of the differences that hold and push us apart.

The Full Moon in Capricorn, the Strawberry Moon of 2007, is therefore an opportunity, a potential point for transition . By allowing ourselves to see our own fears, our own loss, we also allow the possibility in a global shift of human consciousness. A chance to move away from our ego's need to separate and feel superior to the heart's much greater need to connect and to feel a part of all that is. When we open to the transparent and transcendent Self, realizing that love is the true nature of all existent life, we open to change. When we open to change, we open to possibility and begin our own inner process of transformation. As Mohandas (Mahatma) Gandhi said so eloquently: “we must be the change we wish to see in the world.”

Whether, we 'stop to smell the roses' or to savor the sweet juiciness of a fresh strawberry. Look up at the full moon tonight, in all her glory, and reach out with your hearts to another. Release your own inner pain and judgment and allow yourself to receive a feeling of acceptance and connectedness.

Finding My Center Amongst Life's Challenges

It has been a week filled with endless activity. My husband and son working long into the nights to finish our model home for Pringle Creek Community. I, myself, struggling to help them and yet still help my mother-in-law, who we had managed to get out of the nursing home and back into her own little home. Trying to make sense of change, trying to accept new limitations and many new adjustments. Trying to find a place of balance for her, a place of balance within myself.

Amidst all of this, we faced some milestones. We completed the house with a wonderful sense of accomplishment and had possibly double the normal traffic of a Tour of Homes house. We attended all open house hours, greeting visitors, answering questions, and keeping up with the organization and clean-up afterwards. We were delighted with the turnout, proud of the house and our part in it, and happy to be able to share our passion and our knowledge with others.

Sunday the 17th, was Father's Day, it was also my husband and my 35th wedding anniversary and sadly, it was the 10th anniversary of the death of our best friends and neighbors of over 20 years. Ten years ago, I had to face the death of a best friend I had known for 28 years. I lost her and I lost her 12 year old daughter, a talented young runner who had been my own youngest daugher's best friend since birth. Driving from from Oregon, enroute to the Jr. Olympics in Florida where the daughter was to race, and expected to win, a national title as a Junior Olympian in her division. The five of them were in a car accident and rolled over on a long stretch of highway in Idaho, a tragic and unforseeable accident.

I lost my best friend and next door neighbor of over 20 years and my youngest daughter lost her own life-long best friend. We had to deal with our loss, our grief, and the loss and grief of her surviving husband and two sons. People we had seen and shared every single day of our lives with, now seeing and sharing in loss and grief. They had all been in the family car when it lost control and rolled. But only the husband and the two teen boys survived. Survived only to face the loss of their wife/mother and daughter/sister. A dear and precious family that we had raised our three children each with, shared every day with, and now had accept the loss of.... and go on without. It was a crisis point in all of our lives, one that changed who we were, and how we saw ourselves, forever.

Each and every year without them has been hard, but some days are harder than others. As I have sat in this lovely model home, admiring the quiet beauty of earth, wood, stone, and fired glass... I could feel myself reflecting all of those qualities within myself. I have had to grow and to change like the seasons of our mother earth, be willing to change and become a catalyst through fire like wood, learn to cope and seek to be strong and durable like stone and yet still open my heart and soul and become transparent, through that fire, like glass. It has not been easy,but it has taught me to me so much that I would not have learned otherwise. I am grateful for these gifts, as challenging as they have been to learn.

My heart is open now to loss. I understand grief and grieving. I know the value of love and loving. I know that nothing is certain and nothing lasts forever. We treasure each day and each gift that we are blessed with and we allow that which hurts us, or takes from us, to have its turn within us.... and then send it gently off again.

Finding my center amidst life's challenges is not easy. But it is something each and every one of us is called to do for ourselves. We must balance, we must center.....in order to grow, to change and to transform into that which we are destined to be. I learned that then, ten long years ago, and I am learning it now. It is all a part of the cycle of change, all a part of the on-going cycle of life.

Dogwood Blossoms into a Wedding Quilt

I am so grateful for quilts that have been put away, whether they are not quite finished or not quite to my taste, or perhaps, just needing a different border and binding. Suddenly, what was once considered a lesser quilt, can be added to or updated a bit, and can become a much greater quilt.

One of my nieces by marriage just recently got married and then celebrated, later, with a wedding reception. Not knowing her taste, but still wishing to give her something made with both hands and heart, there was such joy in remembering this dogwood quilt top just waiting to be finished! This young niece loves hot pink and had used this exact shade for her wedding announcement.

While the border might seem a bit overpowering here, in real life it brings out the deep pink of the lovely dogwoods in the primary fabric. And when I noticed that the Illinois Roads went off into the border, I decided that I rather liked that...it is like a road into the future without a defined ending. I didn't mind so much that some of the strips seemed irregular after tieing the quilt down..... or even that some of my ties weren't quite perfect. Adding a simple muted art floral for the binding seemed just right...and best of all, it all came from my stash and could be finished quickly. It may not be perfectly constructed, but it was made from the heart and still given with love.

In an extra busy week.... when I am juggling open houses at our Tour of Homes ( on display all week, and two full weekends) and keeping contact with my own children and my mother-in-law and other elderly relatives, having an easy wedding gift was a true gift for me, as well as an easy gift for the young bride and groom.

At times like this, I remember that all quilts have value and sometimes we just need to view them with different eyes and a more open heart to see that the love we have put into them is even nicer when we are able to share it with someone else!

Summer Solstice

The celebration of the summer solstice, known for being the longest day of the year, traditionally it occurs on or around June 21 or 22. It marks the point when the sun reaches its northermost point geographically. The turning point of balance, from the lengthening of our days, to the process of once again, shortening them.

In the ancient Celtic countries of Northern Europe, the Solstice celebration was a joyous one, celebrating the power of the Sun God and invoking him to "put to flight the powers of darkness" and bring fertility and abundance back to the land and the people. However, at the very height of the Sun's power we also encounter the truth; that whatsoever rises must also fall and so from this high point in the solar cycle, the days will begin to grow shorter and the nights longer.

In Britain this theme of transformation from one thing to another was reflected in the story of the Oak King, god of the waxing year and the Holly King, his twin, god of the waning year. It was at this time that the Oak King fell and the Holly King began his reign which would lead inevitably to the darkness of winter and the longest night of the year at the Winter Solstice at which point the Oak King would return. It was said that at the Summer Solstice the Oak King withdrew to the realm of the circumpolar stars, known to the Greeks as the Corona Borealis, to the Egyptians as ik-hem-sek, 'not-knowing-destruction,' and to the Celts as Caer Arianrhod. This region of the stars never disappears below the horizon, not even at the time of Midwinter.

In Ireland music, dancing and story telling were all part of the Solstice celebrations. Before the celebrations could begin, prayers were recited while walking around the bonfire. Herbs gathered on the eve of Summer Solstice were most often used for medicinal purposes. Others were used for rites and divination. St. John¹s Wort, Elderberries, Yarrow and Vervain were a few that were used. Hazel branches were cut on Solstice eve and used to look for gold, water, and precious jewels.

Long ago rituals took place at Stonehenge (shown above) on the plain of Salisbury, by the Druid Priests. Contemporary Druids gather at Stonehenge during the summer solstice to watch sunrise over the heelstone and claim their relationship with ancient British ancestors, imagining that they can recapture the essence of archaic ceremonies. Only one heelstone stands now, a large block of sarsen (or form of sandstone) though some believe that there was once another such stone and that sun would rise just between the two pillars.

Druids celebrated the Summer Solstice as the wedding of Heaven and Earth. The Goddess manifests as Mother Earth and God as Sun King. Bonfires were lit to celebrate the Sun at its height of power and to ask the Sun not to withdraw into winter darkness. Midsummer Eve festivals in the countryside of Cornwall, England would have firelight shinning from every hill and peak. Dancers adorned in garlands and flowers and young men jumped through the tall flames. This ancient Cornwall Summer Bonfire tradition has been revived during the 1920's and is still a popular festival.

The symbol associated with the Solstices is the spiral, created by the patterns of sacred geometry. Ancient dances follow the Sun's movement like a spiral. People joined hands weaving through the streets, winding into a decreasing spiral into the middle then unwinding back out again. The Sun moving from contraction at the center of the spiral at winter solstice to expansion at Summer Solstice and back again.

Some call this Midsummer's Eve - one of the three spirit nights of the year, when the veils are thin between the worlds. Midsummer is truly a celebration of the primal creative force of the Sun God at the peak of power and the Goddess in Her manifestation as the Mother - fertile and blooming with abundance.

Pringle Creek Community: Cottage Home Awarded LEED Platinum

USGBC LEED® FOR HOME PROGRAM

AWARDS PRINGLE CREEK COTTAGE the LEED-PLATINUM RATING

Home is First in Northwest to Achieve LEED’s Top-Tier Honor

1 of 5 in the U.S. ; Tops 4 others in the Nation

The U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) has recognized the Pringle Creek Cottage at 1826 Cousteau Loop, SE in Salem, Oregon, built by Bilyeu Homes, Inc, as receiving a LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Platinum certification under its LEED for Homes pilot program.

LEED for Homes is a USGBC green homes pilot program that evaluates the environmental features of single and multi-family homes. Earth Advantage, Inc is the recognized Northwest LEED for Homes Provider. LEED certified homes are designed to be energy efficient, environmentally sound, resource friendly, and healthy places for its occupants. This home is also certified as Earth Advantage® and ENERGY STAR® as well. It is currently the highest scoring LEED for Homes project in the nation.

“This is truly a tremendous house”, states Randy Hansell, LEED for Homes Program Manager for Earth Advantage, Inc. “This green built home looks just like any other well designed home, but its sustainability, energy efficiency, and healthier living attributes are anything but normal. This home’s functionality is heads and shoulders above any other home in the market.”

This home featured a number of energy and environmental features that reduce the house’s impact on the environment, not only in the construction of the home, but also in the operation and maintenance of the home. The features that reduced the houses impact on the environment are:- Daylighting and cross ventilation- Rainwater harvesting system to be used for irrigation of the landscaping- Solar hot water system- Photovoltaic system- Geothermal heating system tied to a community well- Energy Recovery system- Premium air filtration system- Use of Forestry Stewardship Council (FSC) certified wood throughout the house- Locally produced materials such as Pacific Madrone hardwood floors.

The home is a model home for the Pringle Creek Community in Salem, Oregon and was designed in conjunction with Opsis Architecture of Portland. Pringle Creek Community has received nation recognition by the National Association of Home Builders as the "Land Development of the Year."

Visit Pringle Creek Community Website
Bilyeu Homes, Inc. website

Virginia Tech Memorial Quilt Project

As an update on the : virginia-tech-memorial-quilt-project

Grandma's Attic in Dallas, Oregon, has now received more than 500 quilt blocks and they are currently being pieced into a number of quilts to be donated to the Virginia Tech families.

Quilters from all over the world have donated the 12” quilt blocks created from pieces of Virginia Tech fabric which were sent to anyone who requested to be a part of the project in April and the first part of May.

I was able to secure a number of packets of this special fabric and sent it off to half a dozen of my blog readers. In total, 45 yards of this licensed fabric was sent out and once the coffers were depleted, quilters were asked to simply use the Virginia Tech colors of maroon and orange, instead.

The overwhelming show of support for the students and faculty of Virginia Tech and all who were affected by the recent tragedy on that campus has been profoundly moving and deeply touching to Rachel and her husband, Stephen and they were both completely humbled by everyone’s willingness to participate in this project and the beautiful blocks that were created.

I can spot my own block.....my virginia-star with its appliqued heart in the center. Can you spot any of yours?

Ode to My Wife, The Quilter

She learned to quilt on Monday;
Her stitches all were fine.

She forgot to thaw out dinner,
So we went out to dine.

She quilted miniatures on Tuesday;
She says they are a must.

They really were quite lovely,
But she forgot to dust.

On Wednesday it was a sampler;
She says stippling is fun.

What highlights! What shadows!
But the laundry wasn't done.

Her patches were on Thursday-
Green, yellow, blue and red.

I guess she was really engrossed;
She never made the bed.

It was wall hangings on Friday,
In colors she adores.

It never bothered her at all,
The crumbs on all the floors.

She found a maid on Saturday;
My week is now complete.

My wife can quilt the hours away;
The house will still be neat.

Well, it's already Sunday,
I think I'm about to wilt.

I cursed, I raved, I ranted;
The maid has learned to QUILT!

*Happy Father's Day and thank you to all of the quilters' husbands out there! We truly appreciate your patience, understanding, and most of all, your debit cards and Visa.

Pringle Creek Community: Building Green

Pringle Creek Community is a 32-acre sustainable development located in the heart of Oregon’s Willamette Valley. It is also the nation’s first recipient of the National Home Builder Association’s (NAHB) prestigious "Land Development of the Year" award.

Pringle Creek’s eco-conscious site design began with the community’s innovative land development standards, which incorporated the use of 9,000-feet of green streets, the nation's first full-scale residential use of porous asphalt and environmentally-inspired forms of drainage, and the re-use and re-cycle of pre-existing trees to construct community gathering places.

These sustainable practices will eventually thread throughout design plans for Pringle Creek’s mix of homes, each exceeding Earth Advantage™ and Energy Star™ standards. Pringle Creek will also include a "neighborhood within the neighborhood" featuring 28 single-family and cottage-style carbon neutral/net-zero energy homes.

Bilyeu Homes, Inc. are the proud builders of Pringle Creek's first model home. It is Salem's first LEED-H home (United States Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design), the State of Oregon's first LEED-H "Platinum (highest possible ceritification) home and one of five in the entire nation.

I can't help but be very proud of my husband and son, for even their small part in the building of the unique cottage home that is now being displayed as the model home. Based on current ratings, this model home has the highest rating for environmental/energy efficiency of any home in the entire United States! As such, it and its community, set the standard for green building for new home construction for the nation.

My husband and son have worked incredibly long and hard hours, long into the night on some occasions, to have this home ready for Salem's Tour of Homes, which opens this Saturday, June 16 and runs for two weeks. In the past our tour homes have welcomed as many as 1,000 visitors in that two week period.

As an even smaller part of our home building business,I am involved with varying aspects of each building project, usually involving color and surface selections and interior decorating duties. Because this home, was designed by the developers, architects, and interior designers, I have not been involved with my usual roles of interior design and selection.

But I still had to get my usual two cents in by creating my own little project...a pillow, for its built-in bench seating area in the kitchen. I have also been busy with my secretarial duties of creating displays, handouts and business cards for our business and will have multiple opportunities to hone my other varied talents of 'set out, sweep up ,and clean-up after' duties for the next two weeks.

In honor of this award winning community, its model home, and the determined efforts of the two builders of that model home...my husband and son, I offer this post in their honor. Wish us luck in our grand opening and please check out the development's links if you are at all interested in the environment, environmental building or other ecological or sustainable building practices.

Bilyeu Homes, Inc.

Change and Transformation: The Ongoing Balance of Life

Just three weeks ago, I posted about being a member of the sandwich-generation, the middle years when one is still parenting at home, but caring for elders, either in or outside of the home, as well. I talked about one aunt by marriage in a nursing home, an aunt and an uncle in crisis in their home, and my mother-in-law's fall in her own home which landed her in the hospital with a broken pelvis.

Now, three weeks later, my aunt by marriage has passed away in her nursing home, my aunt and uncle underwent a health crisis intervention and were each placed in separate care facilities, and my mother-in-law was placed in a nursing home, as well. Four family members, all in different cities, different nursing homes, all needing love, caring, and family support at once.

It has been a very challenging three weeks for all of us, but ones which have taught me so much about the true value of caring for our elderly. I learned to phone and send photos to the ones far away, when I could not visit. I learned to visit the one nearby, even for short visits. And I learned the importance of almost daily visits to another neighboring town, for my mother-in-law .......who is defying the odds, at age 91, of recuperating from a deteriorating arthritic hip combined with a broken pelvis.

The aunt by marriage..... passed away on Sunday....the day I was going to see her for the last time. Knowing she was in the final stages, I missed my chance to go on Saturday. I knew the end was near, but I decided not to interrupt her own children's' visiting. It turned out, that no one at all visited her that day, which breaks my heart. I prayed for her and sent healing energies from my heart to aid in her passing. But I missed my own chance to perhaps, just hold her hand as she lay passing and let her know she was not alone. I know that the majority of us pass in the night, and most of us choose to pass alone. But still it is sad.

The aunt and the uncle......I have maintained almost daily contact of one kind or another with, still regretting that I hadn't noticed their deterioration sooner and perhaps, acted more quickly on care options having done so. But I have done what I could, based on geographical and time limitations. My only regrets for them is that after a lifetime of closeness together, they are now, because of negatively interacting dementia, needing separate placements.

But the mother-in-law.... I have no regrets. I have given her my all and it brought a relationship to a wonderful healing place that I have always wanted with her. She went from being totally 100% bedridden, to being able to move a bit, to being able to get out of her bed, to sitting up in a chair, and now to being able to walk with a walker. She has totally amazed us all. And I know in my heart that it was only because of all of our support, that she was able to choose to live longer.... instead of giving up and giving in.

I look at these four relationships, with their varying degrees of closeness...whether geographically or emotionally, and I know each had to be as it was, for each of us. Life is always about balancing the hard with the soft, the good with the bad, the easy with the challenging. I have just had a variety of those at once and learned from them all.

Quilts of Gee's Bend

" All Cash, No Flash" read the headlines out of MONTGOMERY, Ala., Associated Press article on Jun. 6, 2007 reporting that an elderly quilter whose hand-made quilts have been so acclaimed by the art world along with other quilters out of Gee's Bend, Alabama has now accused William Arnett, an Atlanta art historian, of falsely representing the proceeds from enterprises associated with the quilts.

In recent years, the quilts have been displayed in prestigious museums and even been chosen for the U.S. Postal Service's American Treasures stamp series of colorful postage stamps. The lawsuit, filed last week in federal court, seeks a share of the profits from the quilts for Annie Mae Young.

Earlier this year, several of the quilters told The Associated Press in an interview (at the center where they make the quilts) that they were disappointed that the publicity for the quilts had actually generated money that might help the small and impoverished community.

"We need something else here. We need stores, we need our roads fixed, we need day care, we need a washeteria," quilter Nancy Brown said at the time.

Apparently, some of the money has gone into a foundation to be used for community improvements and that it will be up to the members of the Gees Bend collective to decide how that money will be spent. It is believed there is between $75,000 and $100,000 in the foundation's treasury.

The lawsuit calls the actions of the defendants "an extensive fraud" and complains that little money from the quilts has come back to Gee's Bend.

In any case...it sure makes me take a second look at these amazing quilts and perhaps an even deeper appreciated for a style of quilting that is now making a comeback. I'll never look at vintage quilters or their quilters the same way again!


For more information:

Commodification, Intellectual Property and the Quilters of Gee's Bend

digitalcommons.wcl.american.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article...File Format:
PDF/Adobe Acrobat

by VF Phillips - 2007 - Related articles
Article 12. 2007. Symposium: Commodification, Intellectual. Property and the Quilters of Gee's Bend. Victoria F. Phillips. This Article is brought to you for free and ...

And to just note, Barbara Barran has commented that she was one was one of the first people to sign an agreement with the Arnetts an that she had been interviewed by a reporter at the Chicago Tribune and is working on a story with full explanations to come. She has been quoted as saying : "please keep an open mind about the Arnetts; they may be inept businessmen, but they care deeply about the women, and I would be extremely surprised to find that they had done anything dishonorable."

It will certainly be interesting to see just what comes out of all of this..."flash or cash" as the AP article has said!

Button, Button, Who's Got the Button?

Children's Game:
The players are seated in a circle with one person in the center. The players try to pass a button back and forth undetected. They keep their hands in motion constantly as if receiving or passing the button while the center player tries to guess who has it.

There are days when I am an empty bowl, ready to receive anything and everything that life offers me. I am filled with the joy of endless opportunities and new adventures. On other days, I feel filled up to the brim, and I wonder, where oh where am I going to put one single more thing into my life? How am I ever going to even get part of this list done? But, it's a good feeling, not an overwhelmed one. Just busy and good.

There are days, when life does feel like a treasured collection. My days, then, are full of the lovely choices and I want and need to dabble in bits and pieces of them all. I rush through the house with joy, doing odd jobs, then hop into the car for a few quick errands, then home to sew and quilt for a few happy hours, then a bit of cooking or laundry or whatever. I check in with my childen, I visit some one dear to me, I do a favor for a friend or help out someone that I love. I want to do good, be good, feel good. And when I do, I am. And I love how that feels.

Some days, I am the box. Other days, I am the collection. And once in a while, I am just a button. Button, button, who's got the button? I feel so filled to the brim, I am so many things and am doing so many things, that I wonder... "where am I?" Where am I? We say that, we think that, and we live that. Where did we leave us and who has a piece of us today and where are we truly hiding?

The feeling makes me want to laugh. I don't feel overwhelmed. I know deep inside, I can get it all done, even in one short day there are still 24 long hours. But, sometimes, we have to search through the box to find just the right button, and then when we do, we have that 'aha' moment. Here it is! I found it!

Today, I am looking for the special button. The one that gives me the 'aha' moment. I will reach in deeply, I will make my selection, and I will enjoy appreciate and enjoy my choice. Really and truly, it's all good.

Strawberries, a Party and a New Pair of Earrings

Almost all of Oregon's strawberries are grown west of the Cascade Mountains, here in the Willamette Valley. Fertile soils, mild winters and relatively cool summers allow growers to produce high quality berries with good flavor, color and texture. Our strawberries are exceptionally sweet and an usually red color compared to berries from other states.

Our tiny backyard berry patch allowed the picking of just a few ripe berries to bring as a gift to my 91 year old mother-in-law. An enticement and a reminder of the world outside of her nursing home walls.... in hopes of our convincing her to join us in a great-grandson's high school graduation party.

After three previous rejections, we just showed up with a pair of her freshly washed and ironed white slacks, her favorite blouse and (suprise!) a new pair of earrings. It wasn't the berries or the slacks or even the blouse that did the trick...I think it was finally having a pair of earrings to put in her 'naked' ears that had gone without a single pair for the entire two whole weeks away from home, that finally did the trick! But in any case, sending my husband out for the blusher and lipstick, while I got her all gussied up, I managed to get her into a wheelchair, hair fluffed, blusher, lipstick and new earrings on, and then with his help, into a car, and off to join family and friends!

It was a beautiful, sunny day. And although we only knew a few family members, her adult grandchildren and great-grandchildren gathered around "Grandma's" wheelchair to greet her as she smiled cutely with new earrings proudly displayed on her little ear lobes. We had good food, ice cold drinks, young children to watch playing their lawn games, and a sweet little great- grandmother enjoying every single moment of it, all.

It was worth the effort, the work, the preparation and the process. For one day, she was back to being a part of the big family and could see that as hard as it might be to do it all, her life doesn't have to be confined to a small, dark room and a television set.

As Emily Dickinson said:

Hope is the thing with feathers
That perches in the soul,
And sings the tune without the words,
And never stops at all....

Sometimes, to give hope, we have to be hope. We perch quietly, singing our songs without words and we keep trying and trying. We may get 'no' for an answer, but if we don't give up......we discover that each of us still has a song to sing in this world and we get others to sing their own songs, as well.

A song to sing, fresh strawberries to eat, and maybe, just maybe...a new pair of earrings!

Quilting Tips from Around the World

*I use an electric personal shaver as an electric seam ripper. Just gently pull the two pieces of fabric apart so that you can see the threads, and touch the shaver to the threads. It really comes apart quickly and easily and what a time saver! - Cassie in Louisiana

*If you need to rip out a seam, give it a quick shot of spray starch and press it first. It's easier to rip out and helps stabilize the fabric so it doesn't distort or fray as much. - Sandra in New York

*When I use a pattern that says to sew and flip corners, and trim the excess, I stitch a second line 1/2" away from the first (closer to the outside corner), then cut between the lines of stitching. This gives me a variety of HSTs (half-square triangles) in various colour combinations and sizes that can be used as filler or to make a miniature quilt. I also use Gladware lunch containers (3 sections to it) to store these HSTs and other cut off triangles, extra squares, pieces cut slightly too small, etc. They make storage easier because they stack and you can keep different sizes separate. - Gerda in Alberta, Canada

*Getting small block pieces from the cutting table to the machine can cause arrangements to be out of order sometimes. I had my husband cut a piece of paneling about 16" square. I used a thin piece of batting and put this on top of the piece of paneling. Then I covered the batting with 100% cotton about 2" bigger than the paneling. I then wrapped about 1" of fabric all the way around to the back side and hot glued it down on the back. Makes a mini design board portable. Used it when I was teaching some quilt classes so the ladies could pass it around and see how the blocks were laid out.

*If you have trouble threading your sewing machine needle or any needle for that matter try this: for the sewing machine, place a small piece of white paper behind the needle with the left hand and thread with the right. For sewing needles, use any white or very light colored background. This was my Grandmother's trick and it works. - Pauline in Arizona

*It's so frustrating to find your blocks are short in size. I find it worthwhile to make each part a bit larger, then square them to size after pressing. When the directions call for sewing two 2" strips together, I'll make my strips 2-¼"...sew the seam, press, then slice & square up. I do the same with half square triangle blocks. Make a bit bigger, then trim. - Pat in Ohio

*I was at a quilt away retreat this past weekend. I looked for my wooden spool for the bigger cone type thread so I could use it on my machine. Well I could not find it so I had just emptied a small spool and so I used the button hole cutter and removed the top part of the spool and put it on the machine spool holder then slipped my larger thread over it. It worked great!!! - Pat in Ohio

*If you are sewing mini pieces together - in the instances where instead of sewing triangles, you sew a square or rectangle and trim. Do the small pieces tend to loose their shape or warp with the bias when you press them? Try trimming off only one layer of your square or rectangle next time. Leaving one layer to back your small piece stabilizes it and holds the bias. Well worth the little extra thickness. - Vella in Canada

*I label my quilt blocks the same way the cells in spreadsheets are labeled in the computer (ie. Excel). The columns going across are letters and the rows going down are numbers. The top left hand block is A1, then the ones below it are A2,A3, and so on. The second block from the left, next to A1 is B1 and the third from the left is C1. If I ever am confused, I can pull up a blank spreadsheet on the computer and see which is which. - Lisa in California

*As I take my rows of quilt squares off the design wall, I pin a sticky note on each row, with the row number and an arrow for the direction to press the row. I put the note so it shows at the top, so I know when I finish a row as I sew them. - Margaret in Indiana

*When making quick triangle corners (such as in making a snowball block) I use glue-stick SPARINGLY to hold the corner blocks in place. I then sew and trim as usual. - Cindy in California

*Use your walking foot when sewing flannel to reduce stretching. - Renee in North Carolina

*I use light gray thread for just about all my quilting and blends in with all fabric, to make things easy I pre-wind about 20 bobbins at a time so when I run out all I have to do is pop in another. This saves lots of time. - Kimberly in New York

*I had trouble with my sewing machine always moving on my kitchen table. I bought some rubberized kitchen liners, cut a piece for under my machine and pedal. Works like a charm.... Barbara in Dorval, Quebec, Canada

*I use 2 rubber wedge shaped doorstoppers behind my sewing machine to tilt it forward,so much easier to sew and see where you are sewing. - Earnestine in Auckland, New Zealand
Sit directly in front of your line of sewing when sewing by machine. It will help to make your seams straight as an arrow. If you sit even a bit to one side or another, your line of stitching will go just that little bit with you. ~Rae Cooper, Arizona

*I purchased a telescoping magnet at the hardware (available also with car parts) store for about $3-4. I keep it in a drawer by the sewing machine and use it to pick up pins, scissors, etc. that fall when I'm sewing. Otherwise I either have to get up in the middle of my sewing, or I wait to get it when I get up later, and usually forget! - Deborah in California

A fabric eraser is ideal for removing those annoying bits of thread left after you have been "un-sewing" - just run the eraser over the seam and the thread comes right out. - Anne in Ontario, Canada

*Do your fabric pieces slip while you are sewing them together? If you press those pieces with an iron (just press by holding the iron on the pieces, then lifting off), the heat will set them together for you. They won't slip as easily and you won't need pins or as many pins which can distort your seam line! - Rae in Arizona

And my all time personal favorite:
*When sewing, slip an old tricot/nylon nightgown on over your clothes. Threads won't stick to your clothing and they will just slide right off. You may look funny, but it works. In case the doorbell rings, don't forget to take the nightgown off! - Linda in Utah

Note:
Best excuse for not getting dressed that I've heard of yet!
"Sorry, about the nightie, I quilt a lot and I have to wear this so the threads don't stick!"

Disclaimer: If you have, indeed, not gotten dressed and worn it all day. Omit the last step. Otherwise, the postman might see more of you than he had originally planned!