Thursday, October 30, 2014

a mini quilt and a commission

On Saturday Oct. 11 our quilt guild presented a show in a local senior residence called Maplewood. It was the 10th anniversary of this show and my 2nd year exhibiting work of my own. This year we also held a silent auction of mini quilts, each donated by members of the guild, to raise funds for our treasury. 35 quilts were donated in all.
I donated a mini quilt made of 4 log cabin blocks and three outside borders embellished with raw edge appliquéd leaves on front and back.


Jerome fell in love with the colors and decided he wanted it for our own. When we arrived at the auction table an hour before the close of the auction Jerome was surprised to see that there were several bids on "his" quilt. What we discovered, much to my dismay, was that the director of Maplewood was determined to have the last bid on my quilt and was willing to stand at the table until the close of the sale to do so. Each time he added his name, she added hers below it! Before the close of bidding Jerome had left the building to attend the harvest parade in town with Anne and Matthias, instructing me to be sure to get the quilt for him. What was I to do??
Two of my quilting buddies came to my rescue. Mary quietly took the director aside and explained the situation, suggesting she inquire if I would make another one just for her. Verda took me aside and suggested I offer to make the director one of her own. And that's what we planned.
Jerome bought the original quilt, that shown above, and we took it home. I immediately went through my stash and realized I had almost all of the original fabrics, but not quite. Well, I went right to work on the second quilt and as I sewed and quilted it discovered I liked the new one better than the first. Since we planned to keep this one we felt I could make some changes, and so left the front unembellished.



In the end, Jerome got the new quilt and I sold the original to the director. I brought it to her at Maplewood yesterday and she was like a little girl on Christmas morning. And then she handed me a check. Amazing.

Tuesday, October 28, 2014

a new year

Been on the farm for 50 months now.
Been blogging 4 years today.
Sallymomsprouts has not essentially changed in format from its beginning. But my reason for doing it has.
No longer alone… Jerome here full time 16 months now, Anne and Matthias in town a year this weekend, Phil at the farm mostly since June, I'm writing it primarily for me now.
It helps me a great deal to look back through prior posts and see that I actually do accomplish things. That life is beautiful. My new blogging year's goal is to post more often and by doing so be more frequently uplifted by sharing the graces that surround me.




This amaryllis has bloomed 3 times in 2014.


 First full bloom on plant grown from cuttings from Anne's plant.



Two orchids in my collection that have been in continuous bloom since April.

Thank you for wandering over in the past and please continue to do so.






Tuesday, October 14, 2014

recently

our guild's annual quilt show
mini quilt for silent auction


and one of 3 I entered 


tail end of eclipse



and moon rise 12 hours later


gem of a church on St. Mary's Ridge Cashton, WI  that hosted a most enjoyable concert



on a newly restored 100+ year old instrument


we discovered they say a Latin mass every Sunday at noon... now that would be a treat for both of us.

drying and shelling beans for winter meals


checking out the town's harvest festival



keeping an eye on the beauties just outside my window


a week of blessings 

Sunday, October 5, 2014

Hello, October

Snow yesterday


which melted as soon as the sun shown.
Then later preparing for a predicted frost by picking all we could and covering the tenders



and early this morning the house temperature falling below 60 and jump starting the furnace despite our determination to resist so early in the season.
Yesterday apple upside down cakes from some of the last of our windfall apples to be delivered to two neighbors who've been in the hospital.


And in the moments between, despite promises to myself not to, having to rush with projects for our guild's upcoming quilt show



Ah, October.