News, Quilts, TBR

This week it became real that winter is coming. We had our first snowfall here in Metro Detroit. We planted bulbs on Monday, the leaves on our trees started to fall on Tuesday, and it snowed on Wednesday. By the weekend we were breaking records for coldest days.

It's all happening too fast!

photo by Tom Gochenour, my brother

We have been so busy lately choosing new livingroom and entryway flooring, driving to showrooms and calling for quotes. I finally fit in a class for my 'new' sewing machine which is now ten months old. I restarted working with the fitness coach after my surgery, but I'll have to start easy as I still can't lift over ten pounds or do any lower body workouts. 

But I made sure to attend a talk by April Anue, Fiber Artist and owner of Your Heritage Quilts LLC, about her quilt Strange Fruit at the St. John's Episcopal Church in Royal Oak, MI. 

April told the audience how God called her to find the names of the 5,000 victims of lynching between 1865 and 1965 and to undertake the sacred duty to record them in this quilt. Every stitch was blessed by her tears.

The quilt appears in the book Quilts and Human Rights published by Michigan State University Press. See an interview at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=idammoba2Po

When my family moved to Royal Oak in 1963 my grandfather would pick me up and take me to church here. I was confirmed here, knelt at this altar rail for communion. It was a profound experience to encounter both God and American sin in this space.

April brought another quilt made in memory of the child Syrian refugee found dead on the shores of Turkey, Alan Kurdi.

April said she doesn't make 'pretty quilts.' As you can see from the quilt above, the workmanship and colors and fabrics and design are gorgeous, but the message is disturbing. Art makes us see things anew.

But my latest quilt is 'pretty', meant to use some of my drawers of scrap fabrics. I created Hexie flowers and appliqued them. I call it April Showers Bring May Flowers.

 It was machine quilted by Maggie Smith.

During my recovery from surgery, I embroidered five more original designs for my Wizard of Oz quilt which has been languishing for five years.

 Our library held their semiannual book sale and I found some great books.

My NetGalley TBR shelf includes some real impressive reads:

• Lady Clementine by Marie Benedict
• American Dirt by Jeanine Cummins
• Things in Jars by Jess Kid 
• A Good Neighborhood by Therese Anne Fowler
• Eden Mine by S. M. Hulse
• The Great Unknown by Peg Klingman
• Miss Austen by Gil Hornby
• Exploring Your Creative Voice in Contemporary Quilt Art by Sandra Sider
• The Jane Austen Society by Natalie Jenner
• Frida in America by Celia Stahr
• These Fevered Days by Martha Ackmann

I still have book win Polite Society by Mahesh Rao to read and will be receiving Father of Lions by Louise Callaghan from Bookish.

I am reading The Overstory by Richard Powers with the Facebook Now Read This  group sponsored by PBS Newshour and the New York Times Book Review. It is powerful. Readers have been sharing photographs of trees in their lives. My contribution was my childhood home's Weeping Willow Tree.

We had weekend guests a few weekends ago; Hazel and Ellie tolerated us well enough but were thrilled when their people came to bring them home.

And this weekend we puppysat just Ellie.