Sister's Choice Quilts

Fire Update

Our golden hills are scorched looking, but the grass underneath the trees burned so hot and fast that the oaks should be ok. The fire's progress has been stopped, but firefighters remain on the scene putting out hot spots and flare-ups. In the photo above, you can see the trenches dug by dozers that stopped the fire's progression. Fire breaks have also been set up on the ridges surrounding the fire area.

People who were evacuated have been allowed to return to their homes. The air is pretty clear, which I don't understand. I guess the wind blew it off in another direction from us. The elementary school was saved, with the fire being put out at the back fence of the school property. The warehouse where my son-in-law used to store his wine has scorch marks all around the building, right up to the doors, but the building was saved and looks to be undamaged. Thousands of homes were threatened, and only one structure was destroyed. A very effective air and land firefighting strategy and dedicated firefighters are the reason for that. 

The incredible work done by the firefighters, air tanker pilots, Pacific Gas and Electric, and Cal Trans cannot be over-emphasized. Also, so many people in the surrounding communities stepped up and offered to come with trailers to transport livestock out of harm's way. So many kind people offered to take in people's pets when they were evacuated. Mr. Rogers always said "Look for the helpers" and he was right. Thank you helpers.

This was an early start to California's fire season, and experts predict that it could be a very severe year for us. All prayers are gratefully accepted.

A Happy Ending

Are you ready to have your heart feel happy? 

This past October, my nephew suffered a cardiac arrest while walking his friend's dog one evening.  A passerby saw him fall and called 911. The paramedic team in the above photo arrived quickly, performed CPR, and transported him to the nearest hospital. 

Without any doubt, those people in the picture above saved his life. 

That's my nephew, Evan, in green. His recovery has been remarkable, despite several broken ribs suffered during the CPR performance. Did you know that broken ribs are said to be a sign that CPR was performed correctly? I guess you have to do it like you mean business. 

At any rate, after spending some time in intensive care and recovery, Evan now has a pacemaker with a defibrillator and has regained most of his strength and energy. He has even returned to work!

First responders are heroes, and the fact that my nephew is standing with his rescuers is nothing short of a miracle. These individuals are committed to frontline service, preserving life, and dedicating themselves to safeguarding citizens in critical moments. They certainly have earned the gratitude of my nephew, his family, and friends. 

This situation could have had an entirely different outcome, and the fact that it had a happy ending is largely due to the courage, skill, and compassionate care of the team you see above. 

I also believe in the transformative power of prayer and am so grateful to all of you who offered your support, hope, and spiritual connection throughout Evan's ordeal. 

 

Memorial Day

Thank you for your service.  Thank you for your sacrifice.  We remember.

Hartman

Today's post is a tribute to a lovely man I knew decades ago when I was a young woman.  Many years ago I worked at a major university which was trying to attract minority students to achieve more diversity in its graduate programs.  I was a lowly administrative assistant in the Department of Graduate Studies, and my duties were to support three Associate Deans who represented three minority groups.  My bosses were all totally inspiring.  They were an African-American woman, a Chicano man, and a Native American man.  The man pictured above became my particular mentor, and I hope I can say, friend.  His name was Hartman Lomawaima, a brilliant man with a PhD in Education from Stanford (undergrad degree from Harvard!), who was also a member of the Bear Clan, in the Hopi village of Sipaulovi, Second Mesa, Arizona.

Hartman used to regale us with stories of his family.  We rarely left the office at lunchtime, and several of us spent the time playing backgammon together.  I was a novice, but after playing with Hartman for several months, I got pretty good at it.  We would often share stories of our lives while we sat and played.  He had a grandfather whom he adored who was a renowned silversmith in Arizona.  I still have a few pieces of his beautiful work that I was able to purchase.  

One of my favorite stories that Harman shared with us was how his family got their surname "Lomawaima".  In the time of his ancestors, the Hopi people experienced a terrible drought.  The crops failed, the animals died and the people suffered.  Hartman's ancestor decided to make a spiritual journey that lasted many many days.  After walking alone for a long time, meditating on his people's troubles, he finally turned for home.  As he walked home to his village, the rains began and the drought was relieved and the people and their land prospered again.  His ancestor was given the name Lomawaima, which Hartman told us means "Good Walking".

While I was employed in this position, I became pregnant with my daughter Sara.  I worked throughout the pregnancy, only going on leave a week or so before her birth.  Sara was born at the university hospital that was associated with the institution where I worked.  She was born in the early afternoon, and a few hours later (after my husband had gone home to be with our son), my very first visitor was my boss, my friend, Hartman Lomawaima.  He took the time out of his day to walk over to the hospital to offer his respects.  I remember him sitting at the foot of my bed smiling, no, Beaming at me.  He barely spoke, just sat and smiled at me, with the expression much as he has in the photo at the top of my post.  I was a bit dazed from the birthing experience, so I didn't have much to contribute, so we just sat together smiling at one another.  It was actually kind of a spiritual experience, just having him sit with me after all the excitement and hubbub and joy of my daughter's birth.  I could feel his silent good wishes and blessings for me and my daughter so strongly. I won't ever forget it. 

He was a great listener, a kind person, and a wonderful inspiration to me.  He was a fine man who anyone would be wise to emulate.  In later years he went on to become the first Native American Director of the Arizona State Museum.  Hartman dedicated his life to fostering educational causes such as serving on the Boards of the Hopi Education Endowment Fund; National Museum of the American Indian, Smithsonian; American Association of Museums; and the National Trust for Historic Preservation.

I recently learned that he passed away in 2008, and all the sweet memories of this lovely man came back to me.  If I had half his kindness, his inner peace, his empathy--I would be a finer person.

That day we sat together silently occurred exactly 40 years ago today.  Happy birthday Sara. 

Did You Know?

The new Miss Rosie's Quilt Company patterns are now available!  The pattern on the far left is called Bounce (sorry, I cut off the bottom in my excitement to take the picture), and was pieced by my friend Thelma (Cupcakes 'n' Daisies), and quilted by the amazing Linda Hrcka (Quilted Pineapple).  I cannot wait to make that quilt!  The Schnibbles patterns look awesome as well, and it will be fun to see how they play in the Another Year of Schnibbles line up Sinta and Sherri are doing.  So, run right over to the Miss Rosie store and order yourself some of these fabulous patterns and start sewing!  You can get them instantly in a PDF download if you don't want to wait for them to be mailed to you.

I had a birthday recently, and used some of my birthday largess to pick up a couple of things I have been hankering for.

The fabric bundle on the left is Seasonal Gatherings by Primitive Gatherings for Moda.  I got a fat eighths bundle of 50 different fabrics, and not a bad one in the lot!  I am envisioning a Fall quilt, a Christmas quilt....  There are dark greens, blacks, browns, oranges, rusts, reds, tans and purples in this collection.  Two patterns that have a lot of possibilities came from Country Sampler, along with the roll of fat quarter neutral prints.

My loot is all gone, but if you have any spare change burning a hole in your pocket, these are some awesome ways to spend it!

Hello Sunshine, and Let's Meet a New Friend

 
"Honey?  What's that strange light coming from the sky?"  Oh, it's the SUN!  Hello sunshine,  hello.  It's been dark for a very long time....We have had something like 25 consecutive days of rain here, and today it didn't rain!  With any luck, we will have a few days to dry out before the next storm blows in.  And if we are really lucky, there won't be any more storms and the sun will keep on shining until next November.  Wouldn't that be lovely?

Speaking of lovely things, I want to introduce you someone you may not know very well.  Her name is Monique Dillard, and she is the designer behind the pattern company Open Gate Quilts.  Bet you are familiar with her patterns!  She has been designing marvelous quilt patterns for years, and has a strong presence in many of your local quilt shops.

 
She often features one of her beloved Old English Sheepdogs on her pattern covers.  Are you placing her now?  lol She is also well known, and beloved, for her two fantastic rulers "Fit To Be Geese" and "Fit To Be Square", both essentials for every quilter, in my opinion.

Well, Monique has had an excellent year!  She debuted a gorgeous line of fabric called Olde World Style.  My dear friend Thelma made a quilt with Monique's fabrics, called Olde World Stars.  If you are a regular reader of Thelma's blog, Cupcakes 'n' Daisies, you may have seen it.  This is Thelma's picture of her quilt.

 
Well, the exciting news is, the marvelous and talented Monique is coming out with a new book, and has invited Lisa, Thelma and I to do a book tour on our blogs!  The three of us, plus Monique will be doing a month of periodic posts on quilts from her new book, "Fat Quarter Winners".  You are going to love this new book.

Being a lover of scrappy quilts, I am thrilled that there is a new book on the subject of using fat quarters for making quilts.  Monique is a firm believer in using one's stash, so in her book, you will find a ton of ideas on using up that gorgeous fabric you all have on hand that deserves (yes, deserves!) to be made into a quilt.  (Your fat quarters are all calling out "Pick me, Pick ME", can't you hear them?)

The book tour will start on Monday, April 4, and we promise you a month of new ideas, tutorials, information and inspiration! 

In closing today's post, I would like to say something about the designers, patterns, books, fabric and tools that from time to time I endorse on my blog.  In the past week there has been some chatter in Blogland about individuals possibly being "on the payroll" of the companies or individuals they praise.  Well, I am not on anyone's payroll, and in fact, do not know anyone who is!  Sometimes I wish I were, but nope, nobody is funding me to say nice things about them.  Quilt related goodies are not raining from heaven down on my house, I can promise you. I am absolutely sincere about anything I rave about here.  Any person or product I review will be written in my own words, from my own heart.  With very few exceptions, all items will have been purchased with my own meager funds.  If I like something, I will tell you why and how, and show you lots of pictures of why it works for me.  And I hope you know me well enough by now, to realize that if I don't care for something, I will be honest about that as well.

Let The Weight Loss Begin

getty images

I got such a fabulous response from successful "Losers" on my Friday post on needing a diet!  The overwhelming consensus is that you can't do much better than Weight Watchers for a weight loss program.  I got so many tips on healthy living, eating right, and losing weight from my blog readers!  If you haven't read the comments, and have an interest in dropping a little (or a lot) of weight, be sure to see what so many lovely people had to say on the subject.

I've decided to join an online Weight Watchers group, sponsored by Stephanie at A Ditchin' Time Quilts.  I think I will like the online support as much or better than going to a weekly meeting.  There are weekly weigh in posts, and Stephanie profiles the people who are participating, so we all will get to know one another.  I am going to get her blog link on my sidebar, but haven't figured out how to do it yet!

I have to go plan some grocery shopping and menu ideas now, but check in with me tomorrow.  I may just have something quilty to share!

French General Giveaway!

I don't know what I am more excited about--this giveaway or the fact that the incomparable Kaari Meng from French General read my blog!  Evidently one of my enthusiastic raves about her new fabric design Rouenneries came to her attention, and she emailed me to say that she would like to contribute a couple of items for me to give away in her name on my blog, was I interested?

Was I interested?  Is this not the most fun thing ever?  I am totally star struck over this gorgeous fabric collection.  I emailed her back to say I would be thrilled to host a giveaway for her.  So this week, a box arrived from French General with two cutely tissue wrapped packages and a sweet card from Kaari, saying "Thanks for spreading the word"! 

So here is the dilemma.  Don't you want to see what is in the packages?  Don't you?  I thought so.

A Honey Bun of Rouenneries and two charm packs!

Many of us agree that this fabric is the most exciting thing to hit the quilting world in some time.  I would like to hear from you just why this fabric collection is so appealing.  Comment on this post and the honey bun will go to one lucky person and the two charm packs to another.  (If you are doing the Year of Schnibbles project, just imagine what you could do with these charm packs!)

I will do the random number drawing on Thursday night 9:00 PM PST, and post the names of the winners on Friday morning.