Friday, February 22, 2008

Coincidences? Good Fortune?


Today's been a bit different. Several bloggy friends and acquaintances have reached out and touched my day in different ways.

First thing this morning, as I got my cuppa coffee, a tulip quilt Red Geranium Sharon had shown us awhile back popped into my mind. This is one I really want to make, and I copied her photo onto my computer. Here it is:


(I know that Sharon tends to skim over words and concentrate on photos, so she'll probably see this photo before she reads what I've written and she'll think it looks a lot like her quilt. Then she'll realize I'm posting her photo and she'll probably threaten to sue me. Oh, well, what are friends for, eh?!) Anyway, so I'm thinking about this quilt, wondering whether Sharon ever got it quilted, when I turn on my computer and find I have an email from Sandy No Blog (see, photos aren't the ONLY thing I steal from Sharon! I also steal the "No Blog" name--before I'm done, "No Blog" will be more common than Jones!), and Sandy's talking about the VERY SAME QUILT! Isn't that a strange coincidence? Tonight I'm thinking about looking through my scrap bins because (1) they're getting full and I need to use some scraps, (2) I want to make a tulip quilt for spring, and (3) I'm really only in the middle of ONE quilting project (bunnies) if you don't count several BOMs, so is that really enough to occupy my mind? Anyway, keep an eye on this blog--you may see some tulips popping up before long!

So, having chatted about tulip quilts with Sandy No Blog for a bit, I read a few more emails and found one from another quilter, Karrin (Karrin's Crazy World), who lives maybe five miles away from me, and we never realized from each other's blogs that we were both right here! For whatever reason, she just read my profile and realized how close I lived. And here I'd been wondering why there really aren't many quilt bloggers in my area, and all the time, Karrin was only a hop, skip, and a jump away!

Now here I digress a little. Sometime ago, someone tagged me for that meme requiring us to write about how we got into crafting, or something along those lines. I THINK it was Carole, but I'm not 100% positive. I'm not very good about memes. I get tagged and figure I'll write about whatever it is the next time I can't think of something to write about, and then that just doesn't seem to happen, so I never get around to the meme. My bad! The other day I was surfing around some crafty blog sites when I came upon A Very Mary Design. Reading through Mary Ann's last few posts, I came across THIS ONE. (I don't know Mary Ann as well as I know Sharon, so I'm not nearly as comfortable about stealing her photos--you'll have to click on that link if you want to see a photo.) Mary Ann was giving away packages of "vintage" feathers circa 1950s or so. The give-away was done and over, but I commented anyway about my first real experience with crafting. Here's more or less what I told Mary Ann and the answer to that crafting meme:

Sometime back around the mid-1960s, a woman my mom knew was making and selling lovely feather birdcages to adorn her customers' livingrooms. They were made using two styrofoam disks for the top and bottom bases and white pipe cleaners for the "bars" of the cage, connecting the top and bottom. The styrofoam was then covered up with feathers. The birdcages were to be hung from the ceiling, suspended from pipecleaner chain links. Lovely visual, huh? I'm guessing I was about 8 or 9 years old, and these were the prettiest things I'd ever seen, particularly because they could be made using any color of feathers. So this woman took me under her wing (yes, the pun IS intended!) and taught me to make these beautious creations. And THAT, my friends, was my first "real" crafting experience.

When I got home from work today, I had an email from Mary Ann, telling me she had been cleaning out some things and came across another bag of these lovely feathers, and if I'd just send her my snail mail addy, they would soon be mine! Goodness knows I have absolutely NO IDEA what I'll do with them. Perhaps I'll be so overcome with memories and emotion, I'll press them to my nose to smell that authentic dyed chicken fragrance and asphyxiate myself with the plastic bag they're packaged in!

To round out my day of bloggy friendships, my mail lady brought me a package all the way from Synthia No Blog, who is currently in Hawaii. I had sent Synthia a sketch of a little applique project and she sent me this cute little bag to hold projects to take along with me. Tucked inside one of the pockets was a shell necklace.


This little bag will really come in handy because I usually try to take some kind of hand work to the office with me to keep me occupied during the lunch hour. Thank you SO MUCH Synthia! And thank you to the rest of my bloggy buds who come into my life in one way or another!

I'm sorry if this post is a little long, but you may not hear from me tomorrow as we're expecting to be blown to the Land of Oz. A big storm's coming in that is expected to rival the one we had in early January--remember the storm that knocked down fences and took out trees? I plan to hunker down in the Sweat Shop with Toto--I mean Bernina--wrapped tight in my arms. Enjoy your weekend plans, whatever they are!



P.S. Sorry that first photo appears blurry. I don't know why it turned out that way, but I tried taking it TWICE. Good lighting, setting on close-up, and still--CURSES! A person could go BLIND reading this blog--or at least THINK they were!

6 comments:

Red Geranium Cottage said...

Ok, this time I was reading about ME and I said to myself, "self, which photo is she gonna steal this time". ROFLOL!!! Your welcome to any of my photos, steal away!!! I love that tulip quilt and I wonder if Sandy saw it on your blog? Cause she wanted a photo of it. I'll tell her to go over and see you. LOL!!
And no I dont have it quilted yet but today I did think about throwin it on Daisy and quilting it.
Hope you dont get blown too far over there tomorrow. Our storm is supposed to be on Sat. evening and Sunday. It rained alot today too.
Love your new bag from Hawaii. AlohAAAAA

Unknown said...

No wonder you said last night you were going to go through your scrap bag. That quilt is so cute. Are those tulips pieced into the block ? or applliqued on? I'm sure you will put your own magic to it.

Did I get you thinking about your scrap bags?

Cute bag you got from Hawaii.

Unknown said...

Well I think you may just need to re-create one of those stunning (cough, cough) feather bird cages....lol....Lovely tulip quilt, I'm sure you'll add your sparkle to it so that it looks completely different...

Mama Spark said...

I love that Tulip quilt. Where is the pattern from? I know you said who made it but where did she get the pattern? It looks like it would be great fun to make.
I LMAO visiting Mary Ann's blog too. Thanks for that!

Anonymous said...

I also just love the tulip quilt. Can you tell what pattern it is? Thank You

Greenmare said...

Oh I had to hoooooot when I saw the picture of your fortune! We are soooooooooo imature here that we always add the tag "in bed" to our fortunes. Try it next time you are at a Chinese restaurant, you will all be laughing so hard everyone will be watching "that fun table".