More than a month of news... flowers, people and quilts..

It has been awhile since I last posted- longer than I intended to leave my blog- Somehow these last weeks have flown by...At times, I could not sit down to write- my heart was aching for the tragic events that happened in Newtown Connecticut.I have spent many years working with young children. I still can not describe the sadness and grief that took hold of me in mid December as the story of those children and teachers came over the media. We hugged our students and said our prayers and wrote words of condolence to somehow come to terms with the senseless loss of those beautiful little ones and dedicated teachers. Sometimes there are no words... I have been finishing projects and was very busy at school as well as fighting a cold and cough that often arrives just before Christmas break. These beautiful orchids were sent to Bruce and I from my school staff in remembrance of Bruce's mother. They were a stunning arrangement that graced our table for days. We appreciated the thoughtful cards sent by others that were of comfort after her passing.

Bruce brought home these gorgeous red roses with some babies breath for my birthday. It was a quiet birthday but as always, it was marked with a dinner out and something special. This year we went to see a concert - a band called Blackie and the Rodeo Kings. They had some guests with them that included Murray McLauchlan, Matt Anderson, Janiva Magness and Amy Helm( Levon Helm's daughter). It was a great concert - my favorite was Matt Anderson- His voice reminds of the lead singer of the Committments band. He has a great album called Coal Miner's Blues..

A recent photo in Christmas red that my mom took...

And some poinsettia plants that grace our table each Christmas season. We decorated our wedding reception with poinsettia plants as we were married on Boxing Day(December 26) I also received a beautiful plant arrangement that has a poinsettia plant in the middle of it.

My students wrote letters to Santa in late November and one day just before Christmas break, Santa arrived at school with some special presents for each of my students. It is a wonderful afternoon that reminds one of the specialness of the holiday season. There is nothing like the magical experience of Santa Claus as seen through young children's eyes.

Dusty the dog likes to be close by us all the time. Recentl, she got a little too close to one of the roller chairs and ended up with a sore paw. We took her off to the vet to make sure that her foot was alright- which is was but her ears were not so we got some ear medication for her.

Mars didn't want to be left out- she is a senior cat who was having her own health problems. Off we went with her to the vet and came home with some antibiotics for her too.

Here they are sleeping peacefully together- it is a rare occurrance these days. They both a bit of a diva, so it is hard to convince them that they both are equal pets. My money is on Mars- she really does own the house(even if Dusty disagrees with the concept). LOL

Our son Kevin celebrated his 25th birthday in December. This photo was taken awhile back- we often Skype him and I love this photo of him laughing at something that he was sharing with his dad. Happy Birthday Son- We are so proud of you and love you very much.

We spent the first part of this holiday season with my parents. It was lovely to have a few days with them. I hadn't been to see my folks since September so that is quite a long time between visits. It is nice that they have a computer so we can Skype with them too.

Bruce and I celebrated our 32nd wedding anniversary on December 26th. We had a lovely time in the mountains in the summer where this photo was taken. If you get a chance to visit the Canadian Rockies do- it really is a beautiful spot and very majestic. On this day, the temperature was cool and gray. The sun on the rocks is particularly spectacular!

Last year my brother and his wife celebrated their 25th wedding anniversary. I thought it was about time for another quilt for them. It took me longer than I would have liked but I was pleased with the finished product. I spent Christmas Eve day quilting and binding the cream and blue quilt as well as the pink pansy quilt below. I don't recommend marathon quilting. A dozen hours later I finished the two quilts. However, I was thrilled to have completed these two quilts.

I will show you the back of this quilt and the labels next time...  The  back is a wonderful pansy fabric that a friend had in her stash. It really makes this quilt. It was a gift for a friend who celebrated a special birthday. Her favorite flowers are pansies and she was thrilled with it. A big Thank You to my friend Linda for being so generous with her stash. It worked perfectly for this quilt.  As you can see, Mars approved of the quilt too.

Today I spent the afternoon quilting- I have now quilted this poinsettia quilt. I hope to trim it and bind it in the next couple of days. It has been a productive holiday and I am not finished yet. I have another quilt that I want to get quilted and I need to make a couple of block of the month blocks. I also need to get some baby quilts made up and there is always some school work to do. I am glad to have these days off to get caught up to myself...LOL I would love to sort some fabric upstairs so that the fabric was better organized. There are too many piles of unsorted fabrics and it makes finding fabric a challenge- a fun one but never the less still a challenge.

I got a package of wonderful fabric bags from Sue that I won in her blog hop giveaway. We use fabric bags for our Christmas stockings at my folks so I know that my mom will love them. Thank you Sue- it was a special prize. Today is the last day of 2012. I hope that 2013 is filled with many good things for you and your loved ones. I would like to wish everyone a year of good health, happiness and prosperity in 2013. Warmest regards, Anna,

Do you like to Sew, Sister?

My spouse loves flowers and brings them home often, to decorate our table. This lovely stem of stargazer lilies graced our table in memory of his beloved Mother. We remember her with much love. The vase is a handpainted one that was given to me by Bruce's parents. I had always admired it and often saw it filled with gorgeous autumn foliage and flowers such as Sunflowers or daffodils.

The weather here in Alberta has turned colder and the snow arrived in a great flurry. The tree in our front yard is heavily laden with the white fluffy stuff. Today my school children stayed inside as we had a significant wind chill. It is beginning to look like Christmas in the neighbourhood and the snow certainly adds to the ambiance.

I have not had much time to quilt until the last few days, as my school work needed to take precedence over time for playing with fabric. I have missed my time at the machine, so it was nice to be able to quilt again. I still seem to be enthralled with the Sidelines pattern and chose some seasonal fabrics to make 3 more couch quilts. I am not sure where they will eventually live, but for now, I am just playing. One of the the three groupings is poinsettia fabrics. I love poinsettias. They were my wedding flowers and they always make me smile. I also love sunflowers and autumn leaves so it was really easy to choose these fabrics to showcase some beautiful floral and foliage designs. The fabrics are cut into the block units waiting for the strip sets to be added. This pattern really is suited to larger scale fabrics that you want to show off. 

In this image you can see the strip sets that form the outside borders of the various blocks. I have since cut the strips into the units ready to apply to the blocks. The colors in this photo are more accurate than the partially completed top below.

If you have visited before, you will know that we have a cat named Mars, who loves to play around my quilts. You can see she was feeling particularly friendly in this photo, and came to check out what I was doing. I have been piecing with my 1947 featherweight. It really is a gem of a machine and I am enjoying using it, even at home. It belonged to a friend who no longer was using it. We were able to strike a deal and I have been pleased with the results from it. As it only weighs 12 pounds, the featherweight is great for carrying to a workshop or evening class. I still use my Elna Quilter's Dream for  the final finishings of my quilts. I have my Babylock quilting machine for the actual machine quilting.

 After an evening of quilting, the strips are altogether and this is what the base of the quilt looks like without the borders. I am not sure why it has an orange cast because it really is red and green, traditional Christmas colors. I think I will add some of the lighter centers with more white, as a stop border, followed by some more poinsettias fabrics for an outside frame border. It will make a lovely Christmas quilt, don't you think?

This week Sew Sisters Shop in Toronto is sponsoring a Canadian bloghop. I am enjoying visiting some of my Canadian Sew Sisters on their creative journeys. If you would like to check out some other Canadian bloggers, click on the Sew Sister's button on the top right hand side. Their are two hostesses from each province and prizes to be won from each of their blogs, that were provided by Sew Sisters shop.

You may want to check out The Sew Sisters on line shop in Toronto if you are looking for fabrics. I have always been pleased from the prices and selection that I have found there, when I visited their on line shop.

I have reached my 150th post. Blogging has introduced me to some wonderful quilt friends from around the globe. I have appreciated your interest and comments over the years. Thanks for taking the time to be part of my quiltng and blogging journey.

Some of you will be celebrating American Thanksgiving on Thursday- I hope it is a terrific holiday with some opportunities for some great family times for my American friends.

Until next time, I wish you good health and the opportunity to go on your own quilting journey.

Warmest regards,
Anna

The collection- a retrospective

This post is dedicated to my inlaws who brought much love and joy to my life. With the passing of my mother in law, I have completed a set of quilts for them. I thought it would be fun to have a little retrospective of these family quilts. In December of 2003, my inlaws celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary, so I decided that they might like a photo quilt. It was a challenge to find a pattern that I thought might be appropriate for photos. After some searching I found one that was an Evelyn Sloppy pattern. With help, we altered some of the design and I had the photos transferred to fabric. I have made one other photo quilt for my parents using a pattern design from the Australian Patchwork magazine but that is a story for another day. This quilt also has some machine embroidery. It hung in their condo and more recently in my mother in laws room at Luther Court. Its new home is as yet to be determined.

This was the last quilt I made for my inlaws before my father in law passed away in 2007. It is based on the Convergence pattern by Ricky Tims. It is a great pattern and I have used it to make a number of couch sized quilts. I love how sweet they look in this photo together. The fabrics include red cardinals which were my father in law's favorite birds as well as his favorite baseball team.

When I first began my quilting journey, I found it a challenge to give away my quilts- now I find it hard to keep them.LOL This double Irish chain has a mate- my parents own the other one. The colors are rich in this Irish chain- I remember having some difficulty getting the striped corners to work out- I love the fabrics in this quilt - they are quite rich looking and do not photograph well. it also has birds on it...

After it became apparent that my mother in law had some form of dementia, I searched for a way to appeal to her sensory system. I ran across a design for a texture quilt. It was suggested that it was something that might appeal to people who lived with Alzheimers. I began to gather fabrics of different textures. I am not sure how washable this quilt is, but all the fabrics are fused on to a foundation fabric to stabilize the materials. There are some very rough knubbly fabrics as well as some very soft cuddly ones. I used shiny ones and flat fabrics... It would be a good design for babies as well.

My mother in law loved babies. This doll quilt has some fun prairie points. The pattern came from a Fons and Porter summer magazine. I love star quilts don't you?

This is the adult sized quilt that was on her bed. My mother in law loved soft colors and I am sure she would love the butter yellow border fabric in this quilt. It was a Fons and Porter pattern from their Love of quilting magazine. I made it in the fall of 2007. Lone star is one of my favorite patterns and while this is not a lone star, it was a fun quilt to make.

And the last quilt in the collection- given recently to celebrate Mum's 90th birthday. This quilt is made with batiks and one of Sandy Gervais's Piece of the heart tone on tone fabric designs. It is the Sidelines pattern and there is much written on my blog about these Maple Island quilt patterns.

Thus ends the collection of quilts that I created for my beloved inlaws. Today was the celebration of my mother in law's life. She was a grand lady who brought much to those who were fortunate enough to cross paths with her in life. These quilts will go on to have different journeys now- someone else will be the keeper of the quilts -At present, I am not sure where they will all go, but I hope where ever they reside, they will bring love and warmth to their new owners.

As for me, my quilt journey continues- some new quilts need to be created... but not for the next while..
 I am writing report cards just now.. I hope you got to check out the Blogger Festival. Lots of terrific quilts to be admired and voted on..
Here in Alberta we have had a large snowstorm- Lots of shoveling going on...
Thanks for stopping by ,
Warmest regards,
Anna

Bloggers Festival Fall 2012 - For Mum

This quilt was made for our beloved Mum ( Betty) who turned 90 on September 28. She lived at Luther Court where they were able to provide for her needs in the  most loving and imaginative way. Mum passed away on Saturday October 27. May she rest peacefully.

Our cat Mars often likes to check out my quilts. This quilt pattern is called Sidelines by Maple Island quilts. Mum's quilt is one of a series of this pattern that I began making in August 2012. The pattern measures 60X72 inches with the borders. The fabrics in Mum's quilt are batiks and a tone on tone heart tan fabric by Sandy Gervais. Since that time I have completed 6 tops (three of them are completely finished and given to their recipients. You can read more about them in a previous post.

In this view you can see that the back is a dimpled minkee fabric that was the perfect backing for Mum's quilt. The texture is quite appealing for young and old- very soft but also very textured.

All quilts need labels and this one simply states" made with love for Elizabeth". It is dated and my maker name is on it. It is machine quilted and pieced. You can see that the textured surface did indeed appeal to her.

This quilt was made with love and this post is dedicated to best MIL a girl could have wished for- I will always miss her loving caring hands in our life.  You are missed Mum !

 Here is a link for the other people who are participating in the festival. I hope that I am not too late. I have enjoyed participating in the festival in the past. There are some fabulous quilts to be viewed and new blogging friends to meet.
I will be back soon to share the rest of the story of other quilts that belonged to my husband's parents!
I hope that you will come and visit me again soon.
Warmest regards, Anna

Five Quilts on One September day...what a day that was..

Aren't these gorgeous!!!! Recently a friend left the flowers on my desk at school for me- Just because-- I was so touched by her thoughtfulness and they have made me smile all weekend long . I love the colors- they would make a beautiful quilt- pink and purple with a bit of green are some of my favorite colors together. The pinky red leaves are quite splendid too . I really am blessed with some terrific friends.

 

Have you ever decided that you wanted to do something for loved ones, and you weren't sure if you could pull it off or not? Earlier in the summer, I realized that September and early October were going to be two very full months of events. I discovered the Sideline pattern, and decided that it might be the perfect pattern to make for some special people in our lives. My goal was to make 4 couch sized/ twin bedsized quilts, as well as two baby wraps for the new babies, that were arriving in our family. It was a fairly lofty goal considering that I was going back to work in late August and September, and school is often very hectic at the beginning of the year - well and for the rest of the school year but the fall is usually more so. Never the less, I was determined to see if I could pull it off ... Well I am happy to report that I was indeed successful in completing the quilts- the biggest one( the Sunset pattern) I had completed earlier in the summer, but the rest of the bed sized quilts I had not started until early August. I have three more that are tops( shown in a previous post) that are waiting to be quilted and bound. I hope to get back to that before Christmas, but it will depend on how well I can balance working and playing... LOL
Here is the first of the Sideline quilts that Bruce delivered in Victoria. Bruce recently went to celebrate his mother's 90th birthday there.  Here is my mother in law's quilt on her bed. The quilt above the bed is a wall quilt of family photos. The colors are not the most accurate in this photo, but you will get the idea of the design.

 Here, Mum is studying the knubbly back of it- Her quilt is the only one that I used minkee on the back.On all the others, I used cotton backings. The minkee was just the perfect width for this quilt. Mum always loved earth colors, so it was easy to choose these fabrics for her. Happy 90th birthday Mum- May it keep you warm and give you a big hug each and every day.. In the photo below, you  can see the richer colors of the batiks.

In my last post I shared the story of my great grandfather, Nels Linneberg who was given the task of  building the one room school in his community. On September 23rd,they had a grand celebration at the school to honor the 100th anniversary of his contribution to the community of New Hill. Here is the rock and plaque that was unveiled at the party. My mother and her cousin participated in the ceremony and together removed the covering from the stone. A cousin and one of my uncles, who also attended this one room school, had earlier attached the plaque to the rock.  

In this photo, you can see that the school still stands. It is used for local community events. The people in this photo had all attended school at New Hill. The school closed its doors as a school in 1956, but it still is part of the community fabric. The school is in pretty good shape, considering that it has been moved from the original field stone base and placed on a different foundation. Many of the people in the front rows are cousins on my mother's side of the family.

This was quilt #2 that was delivered a couple of weekend's ago, when we attended a special 50th wedding anniversary. This quilt was given to my aunt and uncle, to belatedly celebrate their 40th wedding anniversary. The pattern is called Sunset- the original design had a light background. There are many scraps from my other quilts in this quilt- some bits left from my mother's, sister's and grandmother's quilts. I know that my aunt will especially enjoy looking at all the bits from the different quilts. It is a double/queen sized quilt and has a dark chocolate background.

 Here is James with his parents- he is so sweet and has such long fingers. His mother has those same long fingers.

All new babies need a baby wrap( I am sure I have made at least 100 of them since 1982 when I made the first one) . His mom, Sarah, is showing off his wrap with all those cute little dogs on it.

I am sure that James is going to love dogs because his mama does- the back of it is bright orange and is also minkee. I like how soft the minkee fabric is for baby wraps.

 

allWe have another new grand niece named Sydney Reece ,who was born to my brother's daughter, and her husband on October 2nd. She has a big sister named Whitley and we are pleased to add Sydney to our clan. I did make Sydney a baby wrap too- it has Paddington bear fabrics on it- It was not yet know whether Sydney was a boy or  girl when I made  the baby wrap to give to our niece, so I tried to choose fabrics that could be used for either a girl or a boy. Sydney is a sweet little girl. I hope she will love Paddington bear.

And now for the second Sideline quilt- This one  has a prairie theme for a man from the Prairies. It was made for my mom's brother Moe and has Cowboy hats, field grass, and wheat fields. The outer border is a nostalgic piece of fabrics with red wagons, dogs and other old toys. It is a pretty fun quilt and I hope that Uncle Moe will enjoy cuddling under it on a cold winter's night. He lives in the mountains now but still has those farm roots.

 

Here is the final quilt of the day-it is the last of the three Sideline quilts- it has Asian flavored fabrics that have butterflies on it. The back is a gold stripe, which seemed appropriate for a Golden Wedding Anniversary Couple. I really liked this combination and I hope that the Golden Couple will know what a golden pair they are...May they enjoy some time cuddling together under The Golden Ways.

So  there it is - on a Sunday two weeks ago- I gave away 5 quilts- 3 bigger ones and 2 baby wraps- an event not to be repeated any time soon. I am now in the throes of school work, so it will be awhile before I have any new work to show you. I have a couple of quilts on the back burner for now..

I haven't  had too much time to read many blogs lately, but I was very lucky, and did win a copy of Jennifer Chiaverini's new book "The Giving Quilt". I have read all of the other books in her Elm Creek Quilters Series. I have enjoyed all of the stories very much and particularly liked the Aloha Quilt. If you have not read any of the series do check her out- I am confident you will enjoy her stories.

We celebrated Canadian Thanksgiving last weekend with a turkey for two. We have been enjoying the leftovers ever since...-a small turkey goes a long way with just the two of us, to eat it.

Yesterday my beloved celebrated his birthday- I took him out for dinner (we thought it was delicious) and then we went to a house concert, to see two musicians Dale Ladouceur and Nathan Aswell, who both played an instrument called a Stick. Dale plays a Chapman Stick and Nathan plays an (Ned Steinburger) N/S Stick. For those of you who are fans of Peter Gabriel's music - you will be familiar with Tony Levin playing the Stick. It is a string instrument that has roots with a bass guitar, but one taps the 10 strings. It has a great sound-and it was a very nice evening.

September was a full month and we are half way through October already- Life is indeed busy these days.
 Happy creating dear friends- Thanks for stopping by-  do leave a comment- I always enjoy hearing from by blogging friends and reading the comments from you all.
Warmest regards,
Anna

A Story of a One Room School.

Life is a series of special events and happenings that mark our connections with the past and form links to our futures. Both of my parents came from farming backgrounds. Their grandparents came from different parts of the world(my dad's side came from the United States and Central Canada)and my mother's side came from England and Sweden. All four sets of great grandparents came to my home province of Alberta in the early 20th century. Their stories were all unique but the common bond they shared, was that they all desired the opportunity to start a new life. Life on the Canadian prairies was pretty difficult at that time. There were long journeys to travel before arriving at the place they would call home on the rustic prairies.

 Here was my Swedish great grandmother's journey. It took quite awhile to come by boat (my great grandmother with two small children came in 3rd class on the Empress of Britain ocean liner). She then got onto a 3 week train ride that she boarded at Quebec City. The journey was followed by a wagon ride for a day and a half to get to a piece of land that was covered by forest as far as the eye could see. Her new home was a one room shack where they would live until my great grandfather could build another. It was back breaking work to clear the land with an axe and a grubhoe.

My Swedish great grandfather Nils, married my great grandmother Frida on Boxing Day (December 26,1902) I would later marry on that same date in 1980. Here they are on their wedding day. They came from Northern Sweden( Malmberget) where my great grandfather Nils was a fire boss in an Iron Mine. Frida found the prairies somewhat frightening- she had no close neighbours and did not speak English. She had one other lady in the community who could speak Swedish. Nils often was away from home earning a grubstake so that his family had an income. There was no school there until 1912.
.My great grandfather Nils built the school in 1912 - Today there was a 100th Anniversary Dedication of the school. Here is an excerpt of a story that I wrote for our local teacher's magazine. I updated it for the dedication.

" The actual land title location of the New Hill School is SW 18-37-3-W5.The land had belonged to an Eric Bergstrom who donated the land to the school. My great grandfather, Nils Linneberg bid and won the contract to build the school for $600. He later discovered that his bid was too low and he so used some of the native tamarack hewn square with an axe, for the sills and the floor joints. The studs and rails were made of spruce and were also hewed by hand. The foundation was made of field stones. The school was originally located on the southwest corner of the quarter section. It was moved in 1952 to its present location on the north east corner of the same quarter section. It was placed on a full basement, which contained a wood and coal burning furnace. The school closed its doors in 1955 and all the children in the area were bussed to a larger consolidated school in Condor. In 1960, the school was purchased by the district for $250.00 and is used for a community centre. In 1980, the school furnace was changed to an oil furnace with forced air for $1000. Within the last ten years, they have put the school on a different foundation and the door now faces the east rather than north. It is still used as a place to gather for community events such as ball tournaments, picnics and district suppers. Many a social gathering was held in this building. People would bring pot luck suppers, their voices and other instruments and enjoy a family social evening together. The school has also been used for church services and Sunday school. Like most old school houses, it was and still is, used a multi-purpose building. "

 .  It looks pretty stark in the bottom photo . My mother and some of her siblings attended the school. Her youngest sister did not - instead she road a bus to the Consolidated school . 

Today they will have put a dedication on the school that recognized Nils contribution to his community.

My great grandfather, Nils Linneberg, wanted a place for his children to be educated. The fruit of his labor remains standing 100 years later- It is not a grand building but its walls could tell some wonderful stories of those who have gone before us. They would tell about a simpler time where teachers wrote on chalkboards, had very limited supplies, stokes fires and ran to use the outdoor toilets. The one room school house meant teachers had lots of grades and children to teach. The ways we teach and group children may be different today, but the desire for our children to have the best education experience so that they can be contributing members to our society, remains the same. While this little white building no longer houses children during the day, it remains part of the social fabric of the farming community know as New Hill ( Hespero).

Have you ever read the book " And the Ladies of the Club" by Helen Hooven Santmyer? This book is a story about ladies who gather socially to create and be together. It is a terrific story and well worth the read though it is a lengthy novel. The ladies often referred to themselves as Mrs. ( insert husband's name.) It is a reflections of a way of life that is now gone. 

My grandmother belonged to such a ladies women's club in her farming community. One of the things that they did was embroidered squares and created signature blocks for one another. This one is a living legacy of the pioneer ladies in the community. I don't believe that there are any of the ladies who have blocks on the quilt are still living. There are a couple of ladies who later moved into the community that would have been members of the ladies group. This bedspread was made with blocks that are dated from 1939- 1945. I know that the ladies group existed after that. I remember many of these women from my childhood visits to my grandparent's farm. 

Each block is made on feedsacks or muslin and  was embroidered by different ladies from the farming  community.Mars loves all quilts- she came to check this one out when I was taking pictures.

Here is a close up of a block done by my great aunt. She was married to Frida and Nils youngest son. I love the beautiful flowers she embroidered on it. Her block is dated 1939.

Below- Mrs. T. Linneberg( her first name was Nora) was married to Nil's and Frida's oldest son Ture. She did a lovely fan block- didn't she, with some more pretty flowers. She had lovely penmanship . It was interesting to see how they referred to their farming area- some called it Eckville , which was the closest little town and others called it New Hill or Hespero or even Stauffer which are all names for some parts of that farming community. The mailing address would have had Eckville in it . 

Below- My grandmother Grace's signature block  . This is the only complete coverlet that she ever made. Like all the other blocks she has embroidered her name and date. It was interesting to look at all the blocks and see the great variety of detail . It reflects the different talents of the contributors. The coverlet had a drop side and I believe that my Gran's intent was to make it as a bed spread. I should have pressed it with spray starch before taking photographs of it but did not want to use any fabric preservatives on it. I have it in my possession so that I can back it and stabilize it . I think I will probably stitch it in the ditch to fasten the layers. Anyone got any advice for keeping it in good shape?- the one person I showed it to felt that I should just leave it as it is but I would like to preserve the work. It is most valuable to the families who lived in the area.

Mrs. T Weninger obviously loved birds and flowers - her block is particularly lovely with gorgeous satin stitched flowers. 

My mom and I taken a couple of falls ago. My mother, Dolores, is the matriarch of her generation . She and her cousins all lived within a few mile radius of one another. They spent many happy hours together, in and out of the school house. Today they would have celebrated those  connections- ones that they have with one another, still. Their fathers, and some of their mothers, would have attended that one room school house that their Grandfather, Nils, built. The school house would have been a hub during the years that they were growing up. 

This is a photo of my beloved Gran with a quilt that I made especially for her to celebrate her 85th birthday. She passed away suddenly in the fall of 2003.

 I dedicate this post to my mother's family.
I am sorry that I was not able to join them for this event but, I was with them all in spirit.

Those One Room School Houses were important to their communities- the heart of the social network. Today I pause to remember one that was built by my great grandfather, Nils. Happy 100th Anniversary!

Warmest regards,
Anna