Sweetwater

On February 7, 1964, Pan Am flight 101 from London Heathrow landed at New York’s Kennedy Airport. Four young Liverpudlians stepped off the plane and were greeted by more than 3,000 screaming teenagers. For the next two days Paul McCartney, 21, John Lennon, 23, George Harrison, 20, and Ringo Starr, 23 were sequestered for their own safety in the Plaza Hotel. February 9 they appeared on the Ed Sullivan Show sporting mod outfits and pudding-bowl haircuts. Roughly two thirds of America’s TV sets were tuned in as the Fab Four performed All My Loving, Till There Was You (from The Music Man), She Loves You, I Saw Her Standing There, and I Want to Hold Your Hand. You can catch clips of their four Ed Sullivan shows on YouTube, but you can’t hear much above the noise of The Beatles' fans.

Six Little Bungalows

“If it has been demonstrated that I have been willing to die for a Mormon, I am bold to declare before Heaven that I am just as ready to die in defending the rights of a Presbyterian, a Baptist, or a good man of any denomination; for the same principle which would trample upon the rights of the Latter-day Saints would trample upon the rights of the Roman Catholics, or of any other denomination who may be unpopular and too weak to defend themselves. It is a love of liberty which inspires my soul — civil and religious liberty to the whole of the human race.” – Joseph Smith, 1843

Underground Railroad Sampler

You’re looking at the first sampler quilt I ever finished. Don’t look too close. Several of the points got “swallowed up” when the sashing and corner stones were added, and the whole affair is just a little bit wonky. I stitched these blocks in 2004 and 2005, during the same time that we renovated our Sandy house and sold it, bought another in Draper and moved in. The sashing and corner stones, back and binding were bought on sale the following summer. The blocks are from Eleanor Burns and Sue Bouchard’s book Underground Railroad Sampler. Their names are (from top to bottom, left to right) Bear’s Paw, Crossroads, Bow Tie, Log Cabin, Sailboat, Monkey Wrench, Flying Geese, Basket, Drunkard’s Path, Wagon Wheel, North Star, and Shoo-Fly. I’m not terribly fond of this quilt, but I keep it around as a reminder of how far I’ve come.

9-Patch House

I got this list long ago from Marla Cilley, who rescues overwhelmed homemakers at http://www.flylady.net/

1. Keep your sink clean and shiny.

2. Get dressed every morning, even if you don’t feel like it. Don’t forget your shoes.

3. Do your morning and before bedtime routines every day.

4. Don’t allow yourself to be sidetracked by the computer.

5. Pick up after yourself. If you get it out, put it away.

6. Don’t try to do two projects at once. ONE JOB AT A TIME.

7. Don’t pull out more than you can put back in one hour.

8. Do something for yourself every day, maybe every morning and night.

9. Work as fast as you can to get the job done. It gives you more time to play later.

10. Smile even when you don’t feel like it; it’s contagious. Determine to be happy and you will be.

11. Don’t forget to laugh every day. Pamper yourself; you deserve it!

Political Threads

The blocks in this quilt were made between September 2007 and August 2008 as part of the Quilts Etc. free block of the month class. The the kits came with instructions for both 10” and 6” finished blocks. I thought the 6” blocks would be more interesting, and they were. But interesting isn’t always a good thing. The first few months went smoothly because the early blocks were relatively easy. Coxey’s Camp, Philadelphia Pavements, and Martha Washington went together without much trouble. But when we came to the White House Steps, Lincoln’s Platform and The Alamo, it became a struggle. I’ve since learned a few tricks that really help with fussy little blocks. First, swirl press to get the corners to come out with pinpoint accuracy. When a block is finished, press it flat with a hot iron; then let it completely cool under a weighted flat surface at least as large as the block.

Bow Tie House

We first visited Walt Disney World twelve years ago. We stayed on property and used the dining plan. Our travel agent didn’t tell us we’d need reservations for full service meals. When we arrived we learned all the theme park restaurants had been booked weeks (if not months) ahead. It was inconvenient, but we found some of the best food at WDW is actually in the resorts. For last week’s trip, we thought we had our ducks in a row. We traveled off-season, we carefully selected eateries we wanted, and called for reservations months ago. Three of the restaurants we chose were already booked, but the Disney Dining representative recommended substitutes in the same parks. I wish he’d mentioned the new choices would use more than one voucher per diner, or that the dining plan no longer includes tips. Anywhere else this sort of thing wouldn’t have surprised us. But we expected better treatment from Disney.