Happy Friggatriskaidekaphobia Day!

For those that suffer from "triskaidekaphobia", the fear of the number 13, or friggatriskaidekaphobia, a morbid, irrational fear of Friday the 13th, you'd best beware of all of the other ill omens and myths surrounding this day of great portent of impending doom. 

And besides being Friday the 13th, it is also a FULL MOON! June's full moon 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 and buzzing bees that create honey. So, many refer to it as the "honey moon" and not just because of the prevalence of June brides.

What makes this year's June full moon so rare is that it coincides with the perigee, which is the point at which the moon is closest to the Earth, making it appear larger in the sky. The moon reached fullness shortly after midnight Eastern, but will still be nearly full tonight. Moonrise tonight is 8:30 p.m. Eastern.   Full moons on Friday the 13th aren't particularly rare, occurring every couple of years, but the last time it happened with June's "honey moon" was in 1919.

And a Full Moon On Friday The 13th Won't Happen Again Until 2049!!!

Here's hoping you all have a good day with no ill omens of any kind, and an even better weekend eating strawberries and smelling the sweet honey aroma of roses.

I've been sewing, wildcrafting, raising my three little 'babies' and transitioning them from small bins to bigger ones and making sure the' older two girl's are never left out! The little girls are getting in their tail feathers which makes me laugh and remember my mom who passed last August after 8 very long years of our taking care of her with Alzheimer's Disease. My mom always talked about swishing her tail feathers when she was all dolled up with a nice outfit and some lipstick. Guess, my little girls are doing the same! Doing the chicken dance for sure!

And for me, it's "Frugal Friday!"

When I'm too busy or too tired or distracted for a long sewing day, I find a leftover "orphan" quilt block and make a little pillow. This little hand-sewn sunflower was just the right size for a tiny pillow and the perfect complement for my antique chair and a quilt. And best of all, I made it all in about 20 minutes using the pre-made block, adding it to a self folding back piece and creating a little inside pillow for the fluffing. Everything out of muslin, no fuss, no muss, and almost no cost as it was all made from leftover and scraps!

Also found, this fabulous bird nest. Once of the prettiest we've found (other than the really cool unusually shaped ones!) The birds used moss, ferns, flower stems with a flower still attached, and beautiful bits and pieces of grasses and stems.  I can never resist bringing nature inside once things are no longer in use by their builders! Thank you little bird friends. I love displaying your nest on my table!
 
My three little chickens, Edith, Dorothy, and Little Nell, are growing so quickly, they more than doubled in size in the three weeks that we've had them. I've gotten them used to hand feeding ..well, perhaps too used to it...now, they see me coming and started Hugh Jackson bouncing trying to reach the screening, aiming for my hand with hope of it bringing gifts of food!  Oh, my. I'm spoiling them already.

Yes, that's right, my two big girls, Penelope and Matilda,  come up onto the deck and get handouts, too!  Our chickens are our free range friends who go into the safety of a coop at night. But love to follow us around and get handouts during the day. The big girls have come up to the little girls bin when I put it outside on the deck for sunning themselves but so far, have not shown much interest in their soon to be coop sisters.

I do love my chickens..and I don't mean for dinner!

Triskaidekaphobia

Friday is Frigga's Day.... Frigg, or Frigga.... was an ancient Scandinavian fertility and love goddess, equivalent to the Roman Venus, who had been worshiped on the sixth day of the week. Early Christians believed that Frigga was a witch and any Friday was the witches' Sabbath. For them, Friday the 13th was neither silly, nor a joke. For them, it was a day that caused anxiety... if not outright terror.

For those that suffer from "triskaidekaphobia", it is the irrational fear of the number 13. But if you suffer from the fear of the date itself, Friday the 13th, then you suffer from " friggatriskaidekaphobia", a morbid, irrational fear of Friday the 13th.
 
The origin of the association of this day as being a day of 'bad luck , like most mythological symbology, has altered with time. But common Biblical beliefs link it to a variety of symbols. Biblical referencing most commonly link it to Friday, the day of Jesus Christ's crucifixion, the beginning of the Great Flood, Eves' offering of the apple to Adam, the day that Noah faced the Great Flood, or the Last Supper, at which Judas Iscariot was said to have been the 13th guest to sit down at the table. Judas later betrayed Jesus, leading to Jesus' crucifixion.

This led to the fear of having 13 guests at a dinner table foretold that one of them would die within the year. This also led to the superstition that the first person to rise from the table, or the last one to be seated, was an ill omen and created the concept of all waiting to be seated at the same time, standing up at the same time, or breaking groups into smaller tables to avoid the seating of 13.

Eventually, by the late 19th century, people went out of their way to avoid anything associated with the number 13...whether it was hotel rooms, desks, cars, floors of a building, rungs of a ladder, or steps on the stairs. These 'ill omens' led to the avoidance of even using these numbers in many places, and led to the renumbering (without the number 12) of hotel rooms, floors and so forth.
Other fear of Friday beliefs include:

• Needleworking: "I knew an old lady who, if she had nearly completed a piece of needlework on a Thursday, would put it aside unfinished, and set a few stitches in her next undertaking, that she might not be obliged either to begin the new task on Friday or to remain idle for a day." (1883)

• Giving Birth: "A child born on Friday is doomed to misfortune." (1846)

• Getting Married: "As to Friday, a couple married on that day are doomed to a cat-and-dog life." (1879)

• Recovering from Illness: "If you have been ill, don't get up for the first time on Friday." (1923)

• Moving: "Don't move on a Friday, or you won't stay there very long." (1982)

• Starting a New Job: "Servants who go into their situations on Friday, never go to stay."(1923) ....and my favorite.....

• Hearing News: "If you hear anything on a Friday, it gives you another wrinkle on your face, and adds a year to your age." (1883)

Michele Bilyeu blogs With Heart and Hands as she shares a quilting journey through her life in Salem, Oregon and Douglas, Alaska. Sewing, quilting, and wildcrafting, with small format art quilts, prayer flags, and comfort quilts for a variety of charitable programs. And best of all, sharing thousands of links to Free Quilt and Quilt Block Patterns and encouraging others to join her and make and donate quilts to charitable causes.   Help us change the world, one little quilt, art quilt, and prayer flag at a time!

Making a Heart Pillow: Breast Cancer, Cardiac or Recovery of Any Kind

Making a cardiac heart shaped pillow for those undergoing bypass surgery is a quick and easy gift and a wonderful way to show that you care! Whether you make one for a loved one or many to donate to your local hospital, they can be as simple, or as complicated as you wish!

As I wrote in my post Heart Felt Wishes for Comfort and Care a firm pillow is an essential aid for recuperative cardiac care. Many major hospitals actually provide a heart shaped pillow, either a sturdy balloon-like pillow or a volunteer created fabric one.

Patients hold the pillow against the sternum while moving or coughing in bed, or even while walking, later on. And since patients must be deliberately encouraged to cough to clear their lungs of acquired fluids to prevent pneumonia, pillows become an essential part of their recuperative care.

For cardiac patients, it is used when they are moving or coughing in their hospital beds and later it can be placed under a car's chest seat belt when riding home, to both protect and to defend from the often painful pressure of the chest strap of the seat belt upon a chest wall that has literally been cracked open.

The one that I made for my BIL's post cardiac bypass care involved strip piecing fabric on a foundation piece and then turning that into a back opening pillow with a velcro closure . I also made an inner lining pillow to enclose the fiberfill stuffing.

If you are making them for charitable donations, use the idea with single fabrics and skip the lining and velcro.

Cardiac 'Cough and Hug' Pillow Photo Tutorial:

1. Cut out a simple heart shape out of fabric of choice...big enough to clasp to one's chest. Mine is approximately *15"x 17". I chose to make a hypoallergenic fiber filled inner pillow, with a strip pieced outer pillow that opened with velcro for removing for laundry etc. But an easier way is to simply use one fabric for front and one for the back and fill it up with fiberfill and stitch closed ;)



2. String Piecing: strip by strip across the pillow top. See my post String Quilting (Primers and Patterns if you've never string pieced and would like to make this version.



3. Begin strip piecing process, laying one strip after another (r. sides together) and stitching on...one after another. I didn't photograph all of the strings ;)




4. Cut out backing piece either a solid section, or an overlapping velcro'd closure section if using an inner pillow.

5. Stuff your pillow with fiberfill; turn right side out; stitch opening closed.

6. Finished pillow with velcro opening shown on back edges.

My own dear BIL came out of his surgery, just fine after about 4 hours in the operating room another hour before being brought to post-op care where his family could be with him.Unfortunately, due to complications,he was only able to receive a triple bypass instead of the quintuple one he required.

If no viable blood vessels can be found in legs, neck or arms, surgeons are forced to make do with what they can find. In his case, they found three they could use. He is still heavily sedated so visiting is limited to immediate family willing to just sit and wait patiently and quietly. Extended family has been asked to wait until the second day after surgery for visiting, at which time we will pick my dear MIL and bring her into town to see him.

The hospital staff will attempt to get him to walk this evening about 24 hours since major open-heart surgery!

Please continue to send positive thoughts for a good recovery as they are so very appreciated! And hugs and blessings to all of you for your caring comments!

Update again! Visited him, bringing his mom, my 93 year old MIL along, too. He was genuinely happy to see us, thanked me FIVE times for the quilt and pillow, he looked good, was feeling pretty good except for nausea from elevated blood sugars (common after such surgery) and surprised all of us in general! 6 weeks of bedrest/no lifting/no driving will drive him crazy! But the next 6 months after that when he wants to be himself right away will be another challenge!

And I have to add the nurses and doctors all understood the heart pillow and they can actually provide volunteer donated ones when they have them available . Theirs are much bigger than mine but obviously people come in all sizes, too!

So, if I make more to donate, I will make my future ones in different sizes from 15x17 up to 18 x22, I think!

And remember! It's always a good idea to use hyperallergenic (i.e. new and not out of old pillows etc. fiberfill stuffing!)

Links:
Make this heart shaped pillow in pink for breast cancer patients!
[PDF]

With Heart and Hands Breast Cancer Heart Shaped Comfort  Pillow

My Own Heart Shaped Comfort  Pillow for Breast  cancer. Catho-Port Chemotherapy Seatbelt Protection and Aids in Comforting Pain of Coughing (clasp to chest as with heart surgery patients who are told to bend into a pillow as they cough.

 

1.Tape 2 sheets of 8 5" x 11" printing paper together.
2.Fold back into 1 sheet using taped seam to draw a half elongated heart shape, just like cutting school Valentines 

3. Cut out both halves at once. Open and use as your pattern.

4. Using 2 pieces of fabric (front + back) sew together, leaving a 6" opening  for filling with stuffing.

5. Turn right sides out. 

Stuff with polyester fiber fill, buying new in bag from a fabric store  or using  recycled stuffing from any fluffy pillow.

6. Once fully stuffed. Pin opening edges together and hand stitch closed.


For chemo-port or post mastectomy patients,  place heart pillow below one breast angling center curve of heart underneath that area. Seat belt crosses iver tge body if the pillow when in use.

  

Another option: Make small tiny pillows to tuck under places seat belt rubs. Count mt squares by inches for approximate sizing. Anything in this range works.

With straps version.

 For a free pdf pattern, click on –

  Port Softies for Chemotherapy Patients

Bigger Pillows:

Making a Heart Shaped Pillow

Make Breast Cancer Comfort Pillows for anyone who needs a little love. 

https://www.with-heart-and-hands.com/2019/07/its-all-i-have-to-bring-today-this-and.html

These are also wonderful for those recuperating from chest surgery of any kind, as one does after Cardiac Surgery etc. See, my pieced pillows ormake your own from solid fabric or fleece using my link above.

 Another source
Pillow Specifications

image:

 http://www.allfreesewing.com/master_images/FaveQuilts/Charity/Heart-pillow-hot-pink150.jpg







Or The Hands-On-Heart Pillow

Free Patterns for Cancer Awareness: Quilts, Ribbons, Quilts, Caps, Pillows, Pouches, and other Projects

 

Making an Adult Bib

A good friend is someone who not only gives you a free pattern, but a working model of an adult sized bib and gives it just in time for a Frugal Friday idea! Perfect for my almost completely housebound MIL who can only walk (using a walker) with a lot of pain. So, many meals are prepared and served to her as she sits in her favorite chair in the living room.

As any of you who has ever tried to watch TV and eat at the same time knows something almost always spills and often you end up ruining a nice or even favorite piece of clothing. Time to protect and defend the elderly with a 'senior' bib!

And as someone who is almost ready for a working model for myself, I know this will not only be appreciated for its feminine look but unlike a typical adult bib, or the use of a kitchen towel upon one's front but for its practicality. It's simply made of a few pieces of fabric, a simple pattern and a little trim. And it can be opened and closed with a simple velcro closure in the back.

And furthermore, it's actually two patterns in one! One side of the pattern is a ladie's version with a round collar, and the other side, a typical pointed-end gentleman's collar. Add a bow or a little ribbon for the lady (and perhaps a few decorative buttons) and a nice homemade bow tie for the man.

Enlarge photo and notice the approximate sizing for all widths about 16", length about 29" and the choice of rounded or pointed collars shown. For the body, you create your own pattern in an elongated curved shape as shown. You want it long enough to go down onto the abdomen, wide enough to cover someone's front size with a neck opening large enough to be comfortable, but not gaping. Enlarge all photos and the rulings on the mat will help you create your own 'to size' pattern.

Cut out a duplicate front and back section out of fabric #1 and a collar from fabric #2 ...using a round collar section for a woman and the pointed collar section for a man. The collar section is folded and place on the fabric's fold and only the side you want is traced and cut-out around.

Sew right sides together, leaving an opening for turning. Top stitch around edges (adding eyelet trim previously, if desired) Trim with buttons or bows and stitch on a little velcro closure...one to each side section, one up on top, one under( on the opposite side.)

As I leave this morning, to drive DH to an unexpected trip to an oral surgeon (for a painfully impacted wisdom tooth) and wisdom tooth removal surgery at 7:40 am today, I'm wondering if there's still enough time to make him a quick gentleman's version.

And if he doesn't want to wear it, I may especially after fitting in all of those ice packs, milkshakes, bowls of soup, and ice cream I'm going to be serving in the middle of an already busy schedule!

                                           Just cut down a man or woman' shirt!

Added into my plans for working at the State Fair all day tomorrow in our Mid-Valley Quilt Guild's demonstration booth, I suspect I'll be either frothing at the mouth or drooling before the day's end, not to mention that I can never, ever eat without spilling something. 

And if I'm wearing white or something brand new, or I'm out in public...well, it's guaranteed!

So, it's an absolute given that one of these might just need to fit into my life at least for private usage ;)

Until then, thanks to 'Friday' for a great gift idea and blog post for my 'Frugal Friday Freebie' pattern give-away. And if you didn't catch this, my friend's name who gave me the bib and the pattern is truly "Friday"! Practically perfect in every way!

Other versions with collars and without!

 

Want it even longer?

 

Note:

I used cotton fabrics. Some of them have a thin layer of flannel or cotton quilt batting inside, some don't.

They all worked well and food was kept off her clothes.  For extra messy foods or lots of spills, I'd use terry cloth, two layers or even a single layer of a re-purposed bath or hand towel, hemmed with bias tape around neck and  extending out for ties.

Just about anything works really. Fabric needs to be washable of course!

Here is a pdf with measurements:

Adult Bib also known as a clothing protector PDF print off longer version

Free to Use Pattern

Please try these and remember pdf files download onto your computer desktop automatically. 

They should be under your 'Download' file under documents but sometimes we all get our settings mixed up. 

Search for files beginning with the large bib, class bib, or Michele Bilyeus bibs.

But I relisted them at bottom using files from my quilt guild which also used my files only in their own format. Hoping theirs work better than my originals!

 Best of luck to you and enjoy! 

Click purple links below they will auto download for you!  

 Adult Bib 

                                                       
Large Bib    

                                         
Michele Bilyeu Page to use When teaching.   Bib                                                                 

Adult Bib Pattern.pdf

And just for fun: Make your own fabric pattern weights:

I just cut a variety of squares or rectangle shapes from doubled fabric, sew 3 sides together on wrong side of fabric (leaving a small opening for turning and filling), then turn right side out, fill with dried beans etc.(I use a little funnel for this) and hand stitch the opening closed.

Michele Bilyeu Creates *With Heart and Hands*: My Tutorial Link Lists: By Themes

https://www.with-heart-and-hands.com/p/my-own-free-patterns-tutorials-and.html

Fractured Images

When life imitates art, creating fractured images takes on a whole new meaning! Another trip to the ER, and another long distance care taking jaunt in one week's time. DD#2 fell while cleaning up after a camping weekend and fractured her foot. This agile, flexible, articulate and intelligent little bit of a young woman who successfully graduated with a double major and impossible work load ....ends up being done in by a wet rug.

And parallel to that this week, a friend is teaching our Monday community quilting group a new speedier method of working with fractured image quilts and large floral repeats. And each of us was searching high and low through our stash for large enough, spaced far apart enough and without diagonal repeats for our upcoming learning curves, folds, pins and cut-ups.

If it involves directions I'll be challenged, trust me. Leaving early in the morning and driving 2 hours south to my daughter's cabin in the woods outside of Eugene, another 40 minutes to a hospital and then back to her new little home again was all in the light of day.

But after helping her out with the final stages of clutter and displacement of belongings from her recent move, and getting her to the doctor 'to boot', had me driving home late at night in the dark forests of the farmland and mountains of outlying Eugene.

Seeing deer and other wildlife by the refracted glare of my oncoming lights created an astigmatized world of additional imagery and new perceptions under stress...bits and pieces of life, art, and nature all combined into one kaleidoscoped experience of a day.

And yes, I got lost....directions, mapping skills and cell phone coverage...all gone. I wandered in the wilderness for quite a while, but finally found my way back to civilization and the freeway north ;)

Now, if fractures will quickly heal, and quilts will magically fold themselves into all the right places, I just might get some sewing time in and finish some of my other projects before my youngest turns a whole year older ;)

It's not easy being stuck in one place when you wish you were somewhere else, not a good feeling going in circles and feeling lost and certainly no fun at all, when one feels helpless and at the mercy of the kindness of others when you truly want to be strong, independent and active!

Now, it's another trip on that freeway south this weekend to help the same daughter celebrate her birthday and send more healing energy into that 'basic black fashion statement' and smooth out all of the fractured folds back into a whole cloth piece of life all over again!

shown:
quilt by one of our Monday group members and an image of DD's fractured foot. Two ways of dealing with the stress of a fractured image ;)

Frugal Friday tip:
Look out for wet rugs, don't drive in new territory at night, and use large floral patters with vertical and not diagonal repeats ;)

Reflections...Inside and Out

Each and every time I have a chance to simply sit down, and look around at the full, but still very hard working lives that we have created for ourselves, I see little snapshot areas of that life reflected in the things I save, things I collect, and the littlest of things that I create.

Some days, having time to sit down is harder that others. Some days, having time for doing the things I love to do, is even more of a challenge. Sometimes, the people I am with, the things I need to do for them, or just the way that life keeps tossing out curve balls, is just the way things are.

The secret for me, is to always wake up in the morning with one thing that makes me want to start my day. No matter how tired I am, or when the challenges of family and friends and the care taking required by them seems overwhelming, I know in my heart that there has to be hope, something that always makes me happy, and something...anything...to look forward to in that day.

At least 12 times a year, someone I love has to be rushed to an emergency room. And each time, many days are spent in hospital rooms, at bed sides, cleaning or doing things in their houses, or simply holding the hand of someone I care for.

Sometimes, it's one of my parents in Alaska, sometimes it's my 93 year old mother-in-law, here in Oregon, and sometimes its a friend in need that I reach out to with an email or a phone call or a visit. It's what I've chosen to do with my life. I help other people. I care for them, I do for them, I'm just energetically there for them, or I make things for them ;) My life's work is to create.... artistically, energetically, and emotionally.... for myself, for my family, and for others.

I help pull out the negative, I work to activate the positive, and I try to find ways that I can share the energies of those creations, with those that need them or are willing to accept them. It's not always easy being happy. It's often aggravatingly hard. But it's a life choice, a direction, a goal and a journey.

Each day, I try to find one thing.....one idea, one book, one project, one goal.... that excites me and makes me want to do something besides cooking and cleaning, laundry and yard work, and the almost 6 months a year that I spend simply helping others who need my help.

So, today...after almost a week spent helping my 93 year old mother-in-law who took another bad fall...had to have the paramedics called for her, and ending up hospitalized for a couple of days...I think of the good things in life...and not just the tiring and hard things.

My MIL is doing fine, no bones were broken or even fractured, she's finally switched to the side of the bed that's closest to the door so her walker can be used all the way into bed, and she's finally agreed to wear a Lifeline alert necklace after adamantly refusing up 'til now!

It's a bit of a drive to her house, and we've gone and helped out almost every day) but my car's air conditioning miraculously healed itself after 2 1/2 years of being broken and the drive gives me time to sit down, to think, and to prepare mentally for her care. So, it's not as bad, at all, as it might have been! So, gratitude's abound!

I'm looking, here, at one of my many bulletin boards, I'm feeling gratitude for fun and for beauty, feeling the love that always lies within any reach, and sending the energy of that love outward to her and to all of you, and reminding you to feel the hugs, sense the inner smile, and remember that love and a hug are always free.

shown:
This pink bulletin board was painted by one of my daughters... a dozen or more years ago. Buy a $5 one from Walmart and just paint it! I constantly fill it with little things that I collect, that catch my eye or simply things I love. It is one of 3 such bulletin boards that I keep in the crafty areas in my house. This one is above a small art supplies table.
and:
And how I got a reflection on the photo of me that looks like its coming out of/into me is the amazing part of this post, It's one of those things that just happens ;)

Friday Winner: Freddy and Gwen Collaborate Again!

My Freewheeling Twists and Turns week is past the apex. And it's time to announce the winner of Free Give-Away: Freddy & Gwen Collaborate Again. I believe in doing things simply, using time-honored techniques that still allow for intuitive input.

I announced to the house, (husband and two cats) that it was time to pick a winner. And as my husband and I were 'talking it over'..in this case, over his morning ritual of his Sudoku puzzle, and discussing numerical sequencing and their odds, I simply used the intuitive 'pick a number' technique..in this case from 1 to 100. I had 99 numbers to choose from as we began our talk, but as we finished the conversation, a 100th came in... and not knowing the exact chronological sequencing, I 'let her in the back door' and closed the draw at the incredibly nice number of 100! I mean, what are the odds of that? An even 100 entries!!!

And the winner is Laurel. Laurel blogs as a single mother of a 9 year old daughter, works full-time, and yet still creates a wonderful assortment of lovely and creative quilts at: Laurel's World in Wisconsin.

Considering the incredibly high number who did not follow the rules and left no connecting email address or link of any kind, and his number not only worked on the first try, but Laurel was one of the dozens of blogs I've been off to visit since receiving 100 comments from my designated 7 to 7 Frugal Friday time sequence, I thought the odds were good ones. Especially, after finding once I re-visited her blog that she lists my 2,500 Free Quilt Patterns in her sidebar ;)

Happy Frugal Friday...with a totally fabulous free book to Laurel! And a big thank you to Eileen Cannon Paulin, President and resident 'Creative Custodian' for Red Lips 4 Courage Communications, , Freddy and Gwen's collaborative books' publishing services and production company for offering this wonderful book to my blog.

Everyone else. Thank you so very much for entering. I've had a blast visiting your blogs and will continue through the list until I've been to every single one of the 100 comments!!!!!

Sisters OR: The Little Town With a Big Heart

  

 If you were one of an estimated 10-12,000 people in Sisters, Oregon for the Sisters Outdoor Quilt Show this July, you might be in this 10 minute video. 

Sponsored by the Stitchin' Post and created by Zionpictures.com...it showcases the quilters of Gee's Bend (listen to them sing 'I'll Fly Away...", Janet Storton and her amazing Ugandan ministry "Sisters of the Heart" interview, and the hearts from around the world that keep on giving....the fabric postcards of the 'Wendy' Wish" project.

 

 

 

 

It also showcases the thousands of quilters walking the streets of Sisters, looking at and yes, touching! the beautiful quilts that covered every building, fence, table, store wall, quilted car, and yes filled the hearts of each and every one of us who viewed them! 

    

 

  

What it can't show, is the amazing depth of the heartfelt joy and complete and utter beauty you find every single place you look! The first quilt in this post. the dark blue one also shown above, epitomizes that joy.

 Stitched by the "The Coffee Creek Quilters", a group of minimum security inmates of the Coffee Creek Correctional Facility. It not only showcases the freedom and joy they feel when they sew and quilt, but the love and joy they feel as they make quilts o give away, to use to earn money for their continuing program and eventually, even a quilt they can keep for themselves or a loved one.(check their website link to see student quilts) In weekly classes, the students make three quilts, two to give to charity, the third one to keep. 

As this group of women quilt, they try to imagine just who might receive one of their quilts, what kinds of lives they might live, and just how much they might feel the love that they, the quilters put into every bit of fabric, and each and every stitch. And in that emotive process, how can they not help but to feel just how their own lives might transition, growth and develop in that process of empathic, joy, caring, and giving back? 

 The heart of the Sisters Outdoor Quilt Show, of the quilts, of the fabric covered buildings, and the of the people of the town, itself as to be felt to be believed. It's a feeling that can only be described as a super charged atmospheric rush of emotion and pure heartfelt joy as you see the beauty of gifted hands combined with loving hearts and the undeniable gifts of creation. 

 

Whenn Jean Wells, owner of the Stitchin' Post imagined the very first Sisters Outdoor Quilt Show in 1975 and its showcasing of !2, yes 12!, quilts, she could never have imagined that it would skyrocket to being one of the premier quilt shows in the country and one of the very best outdoor quilt shows in the world! 

 

 

 

 

  Jean Wells speaking of the Sisters Outdoor Quilt Show: "My whole goal was for people to be able to share what they had done rather than to have a judged or juried show to pick the best quilt. I wanted it to be a day of sharing."

  

And a day of sharing it truly is. You walk the streets, parks, alleyways and lawns of this beautiful little western themed logging town, and the beauty of the people, the quilts and the every present sunshine just flows into every pore in your body. As Ann Richardson, the Quilt Show's executive director says "Think show and tell...that's what our show is. 

If you're proud of your quilt, we're happy to show it." The show relies on over 500 volunteers to make the portable hanging frames (and the Sister's High School cross country team puts them up!) to hang the quilts (everyone from the owner's of the building's own family, to every volunteer in and out of town) with regular clothespins from guide wires, wood stripping bars, to teepee-like wood frames, and the walls and storefronts of buildings. 

 With the week before the show known as "The Quilters Affaire" , dozens of classes taught by 36 national, even world-class teachers, lectures series such as that of the ladies of Gee's Bend in the High School auditorium, to the fabulous picnic with indescribably good food catered by Tate and Tate of Bend, on real plates served by members of the Sisters High School Cheer team, the fun begins on a Monday and culminates in the big show on Saturday. 

 And the heart of the show lies in just not the spirit of the showcasing of the textile art of quilting, but it what quilting creates and gives back to a larger community. This year quilts were showcased as part of Janet Storton's "Sisters of the Heart" ministry which now teaches young girls in Kapchorwa, Uganda to quilt as a means of earning a living (watch the video for details!)  

       

         

        

 

And then there was Cindy Pierce's project "Wendy's Wish'" a fabric postcard sale that has earned almost $50,000 in just three years in memory of her friend Wendy who died of colon cancer. With donations of fabric postcards from all over the world, it's personifies the very spirit of why we quilt and what that gift can give to others in so many different ways. (Click on link to see how YOU can donate a card for next year's show!)

         

Combined with that project, the lovely framed postcard art of the showcased Quilt Show teachers. Individually custom framed by the High Desert Gallery, the postcards were outstanding examples of the quality of not only this year's teaching staff, but of the beauty of this fabric art in even miniature versions. 

 

 

 

The atmosphere of this charming little town, the unbelievable beauty of quilts splashing color everywhere you look, and the warmth and the love that just pours out of every stitch of creation, and every heart beat of intention flows forth with a radiance that is not only seen but felt! 

  ****And for my usual Frugal Friday freebie : enjoy a free visit to the big heart of the Sisters Out Outdoor Quilt Show in news and video...**** Nuggest News-- Sisters Oregon: video

Free Gee's Bend Quilter's Pattern:

Loretta Pettway Bennett created a Pine Burr Quilt for the State of Alabama while participating in the Alabama State council on the Arts Foklife apprenticeship grogram. Loretta's mother, Quinnie Pettway, was one of the orginal Gee's Bend Quiltes and taught Loretta how to make it. On March 11, 1997 it was officially designated as the "State Quilt" of Alabama. 

  PDF: Pine Burr Quilt Pattern by ree Give-Away: 

Freddy & Gwen Collaborate Again 

  The Gee's Bend Quilters Gee's Bend Quilters Sing 

Sisters OR: The Little Town With a Big Heart 

Sisters Outdoor Quilt Show 2009