It was great to once again be on the grounds of the Maumee Valley Antique Steam & Gas Association Show. After a year’s hiatus due to Covid-19, the show was back with its demonstrations, concerts, sweet corn-on-the cob, the flea market and most . . .
When I attended the 2021 Celebration at the Quilter’s Hall of Fame in Marion, Indiana I had every intention of interviewing Marti Michell, this year’s inductee into the Quilter’s Hall of Fame. Since The Celebration was cancelled last year, due . . .
Let’s take a moment to remember and reflect on those 56 brave men who risked their lives by signing the Declaration of Independence. What they set in motion would have repercussions far more significant than they could ever imagine: Not only for . . .
This story begins on Sept. 17, 1941 when a young couple spoke their wedding vows to each other. Virgil and Christine Curry Shell began their new life in the foothills of Pine Mountain and Black Mountain near Harlan, Kentucky. Virgil earned his living . . .
My friend Priscilla Miller is such a great seamstress! She takes great care in the dresses she makes for her granddaughters with their smocked fronts and their frills. Her love of sewing goes way back as she recalls…
“One fine spring day, my maternal . . .
Easter Sunday has now passed, but Eastertide lasts for 50 days up to Christ’s ascension into heaven. So, while we are still in Easter mode, for those who celebrate, let’s delve into an Easter tradition: the Easter bonnet.
The Easter bonnet got its . . .
March weather is kind of like November weather; You just don’t know what it’s going to be like from one day to the next. Some days are warm and others are breezy or downright chilly. Both months are harbingers of the month to follow, March with . . .
I’m sure many of you have heard the expression “From the cockles of my heart”, but have you ever wondered what the heck are cockles and how do they emulate from your heart? I decided to research the idiom and found out cockles are the heart’s . . .
The holidays are over, and we’re in the wintertime stretch to spring. January invokes low energy, gloomy cloudy days, and the bone chilling winds that greet me as I walk to work, when all I want to do is curl up and take a nap. It’s that time to . . .
We’re counting down the days to Christmas as we spiritually prepare for the birth of the Christ Child.
This period is known as Advent, a time of spiritual preparation. The Advent season begins on the Sunday closest to the feast day of Saint Andrew, . . .
It’s a story as old as time: A man and woman meet, over time they fall in love and get married. That’s what happened this Halloween to my son Robert and his beautiful bride Kimberly. How they met, I don’t know, how they fell in love, I don’t . . .
Back in the late 1980’s, I met Deb Steeg when I worked for a doctor where she was a patient. It was on Valentine’s Day 1989 that she delivered her beautiful daughter Jamie and ten months later I delivered my son Robert. Flash forward and we became . . .
It’s the Dog Days of Summer and we’re feeling the heat here in the Northern Hemisphere. The “Dog Days of Summer” run from the third week of July to the third week of August coinciding with the rising of Sirius the Dog Star found in the constellation . . .
A glorious 4th of July to all! What a great time for fun, food and fireworks with social distancing and masks thrown in for good measure. Beyond the 3F’s it is also a time to reflect on our country and the struggles and hardships our founding fathers . . .
Happy Father’s Day to all the fathers and father figures out there! What a special day to relax and enjoy your children whether they are young ones or young-at-heart. If you are a dad of a certain age, you will remember your children gifting you . . .
In the early 1990’s when son Robert was young, I became a Tupperware Dealer. Using my marketing skills, in my first full quarter I was the top dealer in the seven-state region! I had a chain of parties going through the local Filipino Community that . . .
This Mother’s Day was different. My mother didn’t recognize me no matter how I tried to jog her memory. “Mom, it’s Lois. You like my quilt shop and touching the pretty fabrics.” Even speaking to her in German did not bring a response. All I could do is read our Mother’s Day card to her, stroke her hand and speak to her of things we did together not knowing if she could comprehend what I was saying or not. Although God may grant her many more days, our sharing time is coming to a close. Reaching out to her with patience and kindness on good days and bad is now my greatest gift to my mom, my first needlework teacher.
Memorial Day comes early this year and I’ve marched in all the parades since becoming a Waynedale writer. This year Memorial Day will be different too as there will be no parade due to the pandemic. I always enjoyed the number of people who would come out to cheer and clap us on, but what I liked the most is the parade’s final destination: The Prairie Grove Cemetery. The ceremony at the cemetery is powerful in its simplicity. The Wayne High School band plays patriotic music and the names of the recently departed veterans are read while a bell tolls for them. Then, there is a speech reflecting on the day, and a 21 – gun salute, all amidst veteran graves marked with American flags. It is a somber reminder of the gratitude we owe not only to the fallen but the fathers, wives, children and especially their mothers who mourn their ultimate sacrifice for our freedom.
Even though there is no parade I’ll still drive out to Prairie Grove to reflect on what it means to live in freedom and the ultimate price so many have paid for it.
Did you miss your favorite Waynedale News writers? The downturn in the economy has left very few businesses unscathed including the Waynedale News, that didn’t publish two weeks ago. Soon, we all hope, organizations and people will be having garage . . .
Happy International Quilting Day!
This special day is always celebrated on the third Saturday of March and this year you will have a great spot to celebrate it. The Appleseed Quilter’s Guild (The Guild) is having their biennial Festival of Quilts . . .
The plantation mistress would have instructed her slaves on quilt patterns and construction. At the same time slave women would have shared their quilting skills with each other and developed their own patterns as well. I have come across a few antique African-American string quilts made up of narrow pieces of fabrics sewn together to make blocks that in turn create the quilt. The quilt stitching is often long crude stitching as one would expect when you are stitching through thick layers of fabric and batting. Yet, in that crudeness you find the artistry of the maker. They made do with what they had, manipulating faded and worn fabrics into works of quiet beauty. String quilts have been made famous today by the Gee’s Bend, Alabama quilters as their works have been exhibited in museums all over the United States. Their exhibition Souls Grown Deep featuring quilts made by four generations from 1930-2000 was hailed by Michael Kimmelman, in the New York Times, as “some of the most miraculous works of art America has produced.”
Fort Wayne is blessed to be the home of the Sisters of the Cloth Quilt Guild. They had an exhibit entitled “This is our Story” last summer at the Allen County Public Library.
I learned about the exhibition from guild member Linda Jones. Linda’s husband “discovered” Born Again Quilts last summer when he stopped by for coffee next door. He noticed my shop, came in, looked around and said his wife “has got to see this place!” He got a hold of Linda, she came in and told me she had three quilts in the library display.
I’m glad I took the time to tour it. There were quilts with a nod to traditional quilts such as Amy Powell’s The Choir. It featured a traditional square-within-a- square design with women choristers in colorful robes exuberantly giving praise in the center of the block. It showcased a nice blend of traditional and modern techniques. Another quilt featured Sisters of the Cloth and their motto “Each One, Teach One”. It depicted an elderly woman teaching a young girl how to sew, another woman pressing a piece of Kente cloth on the ironing board, where another woman explains quilt patterns to her rapt audience.
Now one of Linda’s quilts was the best example of mixing up the old and the new. It mixed traditional nine patch, pinwheel and square-within-a-square quilt blocks with family photos and vegetable fabrics! Linda’s father, Walter Hayden’s photo is surrounded by bowling pin fabric, as he took home the first- place award of $10,000 at the Ponderosa Singles National Bowling Tournament in Lima, Ohio. The quilt photo is of a GTE newsletter article and photo. The article related how he almost didn’t participate, and when he won he spent a good chunk of his earnings on a phototypesetter for his home printing shop. Way to go Walter and you too Linda for creating such a personal family memory quilt! Other photos of the quilts will be posted to the Born Again Quilts Facebook page when the article goes online.
If you missed the exhibition The Sisters of the Cloth will have quilts on display at the Appleseed Quilter’s Guild’s Festival of Quilts at the Turnstone Center on March 20-21.
The Super Bowl game will soon be here and it looks like there may be an unfamiliar champ as regular contenders, New Orleans and New England, have already been knocked out. I recently came across four vintage NFL pennants most likely from the 1960’s . . .
Over the years I’ve created all sorts of Christmas stockings: golf courses, bowling pins, light bulbs, dog bones – you name it. I’ve also beautifully embroidered a few that are very special to me.
My friend Priscilla Miller recently recounted . . .
You read a lot of them in the newspapers and online these days: Estate auctions and tag sales with the word DOWNSIZING prominently in the title to alert the readers that whole lifetimes of possessions are soon to be sold as their soon-to-be-former . . .
Once again, I had a great time at the Maumee Valley Antique Steam & Gas Association Show. The corn-on-the-cob still at $1 an ear was great and the quilt show was full of wonderful vibrant quilts.
You couldn’t help spot the vivid pink flamingo . . .
It was a beautiful Friday afternoon when my friend Priscilla and I headed to Marion, Indiana to meet Marianne Fons and Liz Porter on the eve of their induction into the Quilters Hall of Fame.
I was only familiar with “F&P” for their book on . . .