Wednesday, January 31, 2018

Tilda Sewing By Heart: New Patterns and Fabrics from Norway

Tilda Sewing By Heart cover with patchwork pumpkins 
These fresh quilts and sewing projects from Norway are ADORABLE!  

Tone Finnanger is the founder and sole designer of the internationally recognized Tilda brand, which she started in 1999 at the age of 25. She was at the 2017 Quilt Market in Houston, TX and won "Best Newcomer."

Bumblebees quilt on left. 
The book features 7 full-size quilts plus smaller sewing projects such as pillows, pincushions and  soft toys.

All the projects use the Tilda fabric lines including Cabbage Rose, Bumblebee, Circus, Harvest, and Cottage lines. You can view the fabrics at https://www.sewandso.co.uk/category/saq-tilda-crafts-tilda-fabrics?TRE00049.



Sewing From the Heart is the first Tilda book in English. Expert technical editing from Linda Clements, bestselling author of The Quilter’s Bible, offers in-depth instructions. The photographs are gorgeous and the book is filled with illustrations showing construction and fabrics used.

The instructions are detailed. There are 21 pages for The Bumblebee Quilt, 55" x 73," including:

  • multiple full and close-up photographs of the quilt
  • swatches of fabrics used and yardage chart
  • preparation and cutting instructions
  • overall quilt layout illustration
  • cutting instruction with illustrations
  • block construction instructions with color illustrations
  • border construction with illustration
  • and assembling and finishing the quilt instructions

I love love love this soft fox

The patterns have some unusual methods. For instance, the stuffed Santa doll's legs are made with pieced fabric. To construct, one sews the various widths of fabrics into one unit. The leg pattern is laid over the pieced unit, traced, and cut with seam allowances. Each leg has two pieces which are sewn and turned.
Projects include

  • Bumblebee Quilt, pillows, pin cushion, and stuffed bees
  • Flower quilt, pillows, and fabric flowers
  • Circus Quilt
  • Tree Pillow
  • Applique Elephant quilt
  • Cabbage Rose Quilt
  • Patchwork squirrel and rabbit stuffed animals
  • Birds and Sunflowers quilt and pillows
  • Patchwork Fox stuffed animal
  • Pumpkin Harvest Quilt and pillow
  • Patchwork Santa and stocking

Cottage Quilt
Visit the website at https://www.sewandso.co.uk/product/tilda-sewing-by-heart/402389

I received a free ebook from the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for a fair and unbiased review.

Tilda Sewing by Heart
by Tone Finnanger
F+W Media
SewandSo
ISBN: 9781446306710

Tuesday, January 30, 2018

The Winter Station by Jody Shields

https://www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/jody-shields/the-winter-station/9780316385329/
The Winter Station by Jody Shields was just the read I needed. I was experiencing a lack of motivation and knew it was time to pick up a book that would sweep me along into it's world.

Based on a "true story that has been lost to history," the atmospheric setting is beautifully detailed, the mystery revealed with a slow build up of suspense, the characters fully realized and sympathetic.

The story takes place in the winter of 1910 in a remote Manchurian city built as a train station and hub of the railroad that brings freight and passengers across Asia. Divided into quadrants, each with its own character and government, Chinese and Russian, with Japan champing at the bit to invade Manchuria, the city's peace is precarious.

The Baron has rejected the life of wealth and privilege to become a doctor. He embraces Manchuria, marrying a Manchu woman and learning the customs and language. He is more comfortable with smugglers and misfits than with his own class. He is open to new ideas, including modern medical practices such as hand-washing and the use of masks.

The Baron is a student of calligraphy, struggling to find the calm center which allows the brush to lead his hands. He enjoys the formality of the tea ceremony, boiling water poured over a hand turned, unglazed clay teapot to warm it, the rolled leaves set inside and steeped three times, each steeping of tea offering a new experience. His lovely young wife is his refuge, and he marvels at his happiness with her.

In the bitter snow of winter the dead appear, frozen and blood splattered. As the weeks go on, it is clear there is an epidemic of monstrous proportions. Dr. Wu, the Baron, and other doctors clash over methodology, and the Baron argues against the orders of secrecy and the disposal of the deceased. The Baron seeks a balanced path between East and West, the interests of state and business versus medical practice and wisdom, considering needs of the poor and rich and even the quick and the dead.

Scenes of unimaginable hell become commonplace, and every decision made could mean life or death. The historical plague took 40,000 to 60,000 lives over the winter of 1910-11.

Shields' novel brings alive a city and place that was totally new to me. I loved the descriptions of the tea ceremony and calligraphy lessons, although some readers may complain that these scenes impede the plot. I say, bosh, the scenes make the world come alive. My only disappointment was the open ending. I had invested a great deal in the lives of the characters and I was left stranded on the ice.

I received a free ebook from the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for a fair and unbiased review.

The Winter Station
by Jody Shields
Little, Brown  & Company
Publication January 30, 2018
$27 hard cover
ISBN: 9780316385343

See photographs of the historical plague at http://hahn.zenfolio.com/manchurian_plague_2
Viewer discretion advised.


Monday, January 29, 2018

Lynne O. Ramer's Memories: Lt George H. Ramer

Last week my grandfather Lynne O. Ramer's article referred to Maude Shannon Ramer and her husband Harry W. Ramer. Today I am sharing the 1963 article which appeared in Ben Meyer's We Notice That column of the Lewistown Sentinel about their son George W. Ramer. George died in the Korean War. Ben wrote the article based on a letter received from my grandfather.
*****
Honors for Lieut.
George H. Ramer
A former local school teacher whose son was killed on Hearbreak Ridge, Korea, has been notified that a new combat training facility at Marine Corps Schools, Quanitco, VA., is to be named in his honor.

The mother is Mrs. Maude D. Ramer of 424 Burnley Lane, Drexel Hill. Her son who died in the Korean War was Second Lieutenant George H. Ramer.

Mrs. Ramer has received notification from Lieut.-Gen. F. L. Wiesman of the U.S. Marine Corps that his command is planning a dedication of a new building, naming it Ramer Hall as a memorial to her late son.

“We believe that naming this facility after Lieutenant Ramer will be both decorous and appropriate since the facility will primarily serve newly-commissioned lieutenants in the Marine Corps, says the notice received by the mother.

“Mrs. Ramer, you are most cordially invited to attend the acceptance and dedication of Ramer Hall. Your travel expense to and from Quantico can be provided for, if you desire.

“I hope that you can accept this invitation and that we may have the honor of your presence with us Oct. 4, 1963.”

Scholar at 3 Yrs.

The Ramers formerly lived in Milroy. George, or Bud Ramer, the Marine lieutenant mentioned above, was the only son of Mr. And Mrs. Harry Ramer. The father died some time ago, and the mother is now residing in Drexel Hill with her daughter, Mrs. Ethel Coulter.

The then President, Harry S. Truman, awarded Lieutenant  Ramer the Congressional medal posthumously.

News of the dedication of the new building at Quantico to be known as Ramer Hall comes to us indirectly by way of Mrs. Ramer’s nephew, Lynne O. Ramer.

No doubt some of our teachers will recall the episode concerning Mrs. Ramer and her daughter Ethel, related for this column by Lynne Ramer some time back.

It seems that Mrs. Ramer was substituting for an ill teacher in the Burnham schools during the 1915 era. She had taken the assignment at the urgent insistence of the school board, which was unable to secure a regular substitute.

Well, Mrs. Ramer not only took the assignment, but she took her three-year-old daughter Ethel along to school with her—in her crib! Believe Ethel was the youngest “scholar” ever to matriculate in the Burnham district.

“Ethel and I plan to accept the invitation and be in Quantico for the dedication,” says Mrs. Ramer in her letter.  “Naturally we are thrilled, but after all we will have mixed emotions during this experience. Harry’s branch of the Ramer tree ended with Bud, but his name will go on at Quantico.”
Maude Pearl Ramer, Evelyn Ramer (Lynne's wife), and Ethel Ramer
at Lynne and Evelyn's home in Royal Oak, MI. 1960s.

‘Polly Kicks Bucket’

“Vacation is over—back to work”, continues Mrs. Ramer’s letter to nephew Lynne. “You speak of Mackinac Island. We have never been there, but have ferried across from Upper Michigan twice. Of course, at that time no bridge.

“We hope to get back into that country some time. Our trip this year took us down one side of Cape Cod and back the other. From there to Nova Scotia along the coast. It was fascinating and we want to go back to ferry across the Bay of Fundy from Maine and drive around to Nova Scotia.

“The ferry trip is 100 mile and takes six hours, but it cuts off about 700 miles of driving through Maine and New Brunswick. Polly (her car) chirped right along for over 2,000 miles but kicked the bucket after we got home, causing Ethel to be late for work after having to get a new battery.”

‘O How Good!’
Lieutenant Ramer was among the 434,000 U.S. Marines engaging in the Korean War. Of his number, there were battle deaths consisting of just about one per cent—or 4,267 to be exact.

According to records revised by the Department of Defense, the ratio of Marines slain in combat in Korea during what President Truman called “a police action” was about twice as great as the combined battle deaths of all branches of the service being engages—Army, Navy, Marines and Sir Force—over the three year period extending from the mid summer of 1950 to the same time of year in 1953 when the armistice was signed and fighting ended within the next 12 hours.

We’ve included Mrs. Ramer’s address in the story today so that any of her old friends who might desire to get in touch will be able to write or send her a card. We are inclined to believe that she would like this very much.

Word from the old home always comes as a refreshing breeze in the heat of summer or as the old proverb goes: “A word at its right time is O how good!”

*****
Lt. Ramer was a real hero.

This branch of the Ramer tree traced its mutual ancestor to Nicholas Romer.

The Ramer family tree:

Matthias Roemer (1746 Germany-1828 Berks Co, PA) Matthia served in the Revolutionary War.
   Nicholas Roemer (1791-1867). He is the mutual ancestor with Lynne O. Ramer
      Isaac William Ramer (1829-1869) He was a blacksmith and served in the Civil War
        Charles Maurice Ramer (1855-1920)
           Harry Webster Ramer (1883-1944)
                George H. Ramer (1927-1944)

A January 8, 1953 article in Stars and Stripes noted that Second Lietenant George H Ramer, 24, was a Bucknell University graduate, who was killed while covering the withdrawal of his platoon in an assault on an enemy held hill. Medals were presented to his wife Jeanne Grice Ramer.

Somerset.org website has a detailed story about George including newspaper articles and his genealogy:  http://www.somersetflag.org/BeyondTheCall/Ramer.pdf

HonorStates.org has this story: Second Lieutenant Ramer commanded the 3rd Platoon, Company I, 3rd Battalion, 7th Marines, 1st Marine Division. On September 12, 1951, he led his platoon in an attack against a heavily fortified position. Although wounded he and eight of his men finally captured his objective. Upon an overwhelming enemy counterattack, he ordered his men to withdraw and singlehandedly fought the enemy to furnish cover for his men to evacuate three wounded comrades until his was mortally wounded. For his leadership and extreme valor.

George has his own Wikipedia page at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_H._Ramer


Sunday, January 28, 2018

Building the Great Society: Inside's LBJ's White House

I was in Seventh grade in the spring of 1964 when I was asked who I was voting for in the mock election. I asked who was running.

"Well," I was told, "there's Barry Goldwater who wants war and may use the Atom bomb, and there's LBJ who wants to end poverty." 

I voted for LBJ, enchanted by his Great Society idealism.

I have been fascinated by President Johnson for years and have read multiple biographies him. My political awareness was formed under his presidency. I was a junior in high school when President Johnson gave his speech that ended announcing he would not seek reelection.

Building the Great Society by Joshua Zeitz is exactly the kind of book I enjoy, one that puts my personal memories into historical perspective, fleshed out with insight that I lacked at the time. I also appreciated learning how the Great Society programs impacted lives and the motivation behind their critics' desire to dismantle them.

*****
In 1963 America was at a pinnacle of economic boom with the rise of the Middle Class and a huge increase in the Gross National Product. It was a time of fast food restaurants and power steering, electricity in every home powering refrigerators and televisions and stereos. My family had just moved to Metro Detroit, Dad seeking employment in the auto industry. Getting that job gave my family economic stability and badly needed health care.

At the same time millions of Americans were left behind in poverty, including populations in Appalachia and rural America. One-fifth of the population lived at or below the poverty line of $3,000 for a family of four. The majority of the impoverished were Caucasian, but a higher percentage of African Americans were impoverished--40%. And female headed households were 50% impoverished.

After assuming the presidency following the assassination of President Kennedy, President Johnson identified himself as a "Roosevelt New Dealer" who found Kennedy "a little too conservative." But his history of voting with the Dixiecrats against legislation addressing African American equality left many doubtful.

Zeitz paints a picture of Liberals' belief in the sustainability of the Great Society programs, writing that "the idea that the economy might someday stop growing rarely factored seriously into liberal thinking."

Government's impact in solving social ills was not a new idea. The programs envisioned by President Johnson were rooted in the New Deal public works programs of President Roosevelt. "The War on Poverty" was an term first used by President Kennedy in a 1960 campaign speech. "The Great Society" was the title of a book by Walter Lippmann. President Johnson used the term "Great Society" in a speech at the University of Michigan in May, 1964, drafted by Richard Goodwin.

According to Charles Roberts, Bill Moyers was the "Presidents' good angel, representing his conscience when there's a conflict between conscience and expediency."

The Great Society programs were not instituted predominately for urban African Americans; that stereotype came later from Republicans who were hostile to the programs.

Zeitz follows Johnson's presidency and the events of the time: the impact and legacy of the Great Society programs; the Viet Nam War siphoning money and energy away; Robert Kennedy's candidacy and assassination; riots and civil unrest at home; the assassination of Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr.; George Wallace and his platform of rage and hate (giving my little brother nightmares!); and Nixon's secret campaign to sabotage Johnson's peace talks.

Nixon did not dismantle all the programs; many continued to thrive while others did not. It was a time of environmental awareness, and Nixon established the EPA and NOAA and addressed clean air and water issues.

The economic theories of the early 60s did not pan out. Poverty is still with us. But the Great Society programs have impacted society for the better, especially in areas of equality, access to food and health care. Zeitz warns that the Trump administration's dismantling the Great Society programs may cause a backfire: "When the pendulum swings back, it may swing hard," with a more radical approach.

More than 'just' a history lesson, this book also informed me about the changing attitudes and policies concerning social issues and especially how we got to 'here', a time when Republican leaders are determined to dismantle the Great Society legacy.

I received a free ebook from the publisher in exchange for a fair and unbiased review.

Building the Great Society
Inside Lyndon Johnson's White House
by Joshua Zeitz
PENGUIN GROUP Viking
Publication January 30, 2018
ISBN:9780525428787
PRICE $30.00 (USD)

Saturday, January 27, 2018

Lynne O. Ramer's "Stories and Sagas" of Reedsville, Mifflin County 100 Years Ago

Between 1959 and 1971 my grandfather Lynne O. Ramer wrote hundreds of letters to his hometown newspaper which were published by Ben Meyers in his We Notice That column.

Lynne O. Ramer, age six
Today I am sharing Gramp's memories of a hundred years ago in which he recalls people and places in and around Reedsville, PA. I have added information about the people mentioned in the article wherever possible.
*****
August 1, 1960

We Notice That
By Ben Meyers
The Heights       Phone 8-8430
‘Twont Be Yours Again
Hustle this moment to yourself and hold it close,
and warm it with your flesh.
But do not spoil the new and uncut cloth of time
Around yourself, enhancing you.
Turn it gently, fit it, give it shape
And do not overstrain the weave.
You want it perfect, strong, unmended, whole.
It won’t be yours again.


Dear Ben: No, it won’t be ours again, to recall the memories of those olden, golden days back in Mifflin County. So I’ll include a few more for the sake of your readers who like to linger in memory’s lane.

He has passed to his reward, but Hyman Cohen* often recalled the time when it was my privilege as Boy Scout counsel or to initiate him into the mysteries of frying eggs on a heated rock, then making them the basis for a grand outdoors meal.

Also he leaned how to mix water and flour and wrap it round a stick and bake his own bread. And eat it amid the glories and wonders which Mother Nature so lavishly furnished.

I still remember those days. Also how I used to attend Mr. Cohen’s theatre, the Embassy, also the Rialto, long ago in the silent movie days.

If Jimmy Mann* were here, he would recall all the series of boy’s books I borrowed from his library.  Also the pheasant-on-toast I once dined upon at his folks’ table. (Haven’t had any since either!) Jimmy’s books were the beginning of a liberal education for me: Rover Boys, Rocky Mountain Boys, Motorboat Boys, mentioning just a few.

Of course “Boozer” (Lester Charles) Bobb* of Valley St. and I used to hide the contraband books such as Jesse James, Liberty Boys of ’76, A-One Books of Hobo Life, etc., in the barn and read them where Nammie [pet name for his grandmother Rachel Barbara Reed Ramer] wouldn’t catch us. And we got them all from old “Al” Nale*, Civil War veteran, Milroy’s last member of the GAR.

If Jim Young, my Reedsville pal*, is around, tell him I remember his dad’s bakery with its luscious pastries. Also how I almost broke my hip, slamming into a tree on Young’s Hills and how his mother massaged my bruised hip. And was I ever embarrassed at the age of ten!

Frank Barr would remember the time when he advanced threateningly to the front of Reedsville seventh grade room where the teacher, Mr. Manwiller, was chasing his girl friend, Hazel Shupe*.
At the instant Frank arrived up front, with clenched fists, Charles Hilbish*, principal, stepped in. Now wasn’t that a tableau! And we were all so disappointed, for we thought it would be a feast of fists---Barr vs. Manwiller.  But it all vanished into nothing.
Lynne O. Ramer, left, in his first long pants at age 15
purchased by his Uncle Charles Smithers in 1919
Stories and Sagas

Stories and sagas about the Rev. A. H. Spangler*, Lutheran divine of Yeagertown-Reedsville-Alfarata in the first decades of the present century, are legion and probably growing in numbers.
Thus, like Lincoln, if Mr. Spangler lived all the events he is reputed to have experienced, he’d have to be living still. And in the memories of many former parishioners, he probably is.

It’s well known that he outlived two wives and was married to a third. His jovial companions oft queried, “When will you make it a home run,” that is, “outlive a third and a fourth wife?”

This story about the Rev. Mr. Spangler comes from Mrs. Maude Ramer*, 7 Linn St., Harrisburg.  [Editor’s note: LOR wrote “Lives in Drexel Hill, PA (1965)”]

It seems the clergyman and Harry W. Ramer*, first principal of the now absorbed Burnham High School, were very good friends. At one time Dr. Spangler was sick and his family doctor prescribed pills and whiskey. At some banquet which Harry attended Dr. Spangler spoke thus: “I am glad to be here. I have been sick, in fact, sick enough to die. If I had died it would have been too bad because Mrs. Spangler here (seated beside him) waited so long and wanted to make home rum.

“But now I have recovered due, I believe, to the fact that when the doctor inquired about my progress in taking the prescribed medicines, I was able to tell him, ‘Although I might be a day or two behind on the pills, I’m several days ahead on the whiskey!”

This apparently was said at a public gathering and is typical Spanglersque. I would not detract one whit or one iota from his revered memory, but thought you’d like to hear this bit of folklore.

I sat in the pews of Dr. Spangler’s church in Reedsville during 1913-15 and preached my very first sermon (a horrible thing, if I must say so) in the pulpits he once graced—Yeagertown and Alfarata.  That was back in 1925 when I was still a seminarian at Susquehanna University.

The time draweth nigh when a bus load of 50 PA Dutchmen invade the Motor City en route to the famed Wisconsin “Dells” from the Harrisburg-York-Hanover area. John L. Getz*, now of York’s Hannah-Penn Junior High School faculty, will be the leader. He’s my former fellow teacher-neighbor from Kane. A Michigander spots a Pennsylvanian for the latter always refers to his home state as PA.

     Sincerely,
     Lynne O. Ramer
     514 Gardenia Ave.,
     Royal Oak, Mich.

[Editor’s note: LOR wrote: “Dr. Spangler was once president of the “S.U.’s board” and “Lottie: I wrote this right after a trip ‘home.’ This is the last year I met you and Kep! (No! 1962!)” My grandfather often sent the articles to friends, who returned them. This clipping must have been forwarded it to Lottie to read.]

*****
Notes:
* Hyman Julius Cohen (b. 1878 in Lithuania, d. 1952) appears on the census with his wife Lena and their children Harold, Miriam, Wilton, Miles, Isabella, Solomon and Samuel. In 1910 and 1920 he owned a clothing store. In 1940 his occupation was listed as Real Estate. The 1930 census shows his son Harold D. was a theater manager. The City Directory of 1929 shows the family owned the Embassy Theater at 380 S. Main in Lewistown.

* Jimmy Mann appears in the records as James Hutchinson Mann (b. 1900) to Walter Mann and
Mary A. The 1920 Brown Twsp, Mifflin Co. Census shows Walter manufactured lumber. Lynne's grand-father Joseph S. Ramer had operated a saw mill. In 1930 James was an office clerk living with his uncle Percy G. Mann.

*Lester Charles Bobb (1895-1981)was Lynne's cousin, the son of his mother's sister Carrie Viola Ramer Bobb. After the death of Lynne's mother Esther Mae Ramer, he and "Boozer" were staying with their grandmother Barbara Rachel Reed Ramer when she died. Lynne then lived with his Aunt Carrie or Aunt Annie Ramer Smithers.

* Albert Weidman Nale (1844-1932) See more at Find A Grave here.

*The James Youngs I found, of which there are several generations by that name in a Reedsville
family, did not have an occupation of running a bakery on the census.

*The 1910 Brown Twsp, Armagh County, PA census shows Hazel Shupe/Shoop 9b 29015, d 1998) was the daughter of William P. Shupe and Edith G. She had siblings Andrew C., and Rebecca. William was an axe polisher in an axe factory. The 1920 census shows Hazel was a department store clerk.

*Charles Edgar Hilbush was a 1909 Bucknell University graduate from Northumberland. The 1910 Census in Northumberland shows him living at home, working with his father in real estate at age 25, with parents John and Melissa and siblings John and Sara. A WWII draft card show Charles, age 57, was the Sunbury County Superintendent.

*The Reverend Alexander Hamilton Spangler appears on the 1900 Derry Township Census with his wife Cynthia and their sons Thaddeus and Luther who both worked in the steel mill.
Find A Grave has his obituary of Feb. 21, 1924 published in the Lewistown Sentinel:

Rev. Spangler was born near Shanksville, a son of Daniel & Sophia (Myers) Spangler. After being educated in the local public schools he attended Wooster University in Ohio, graduating in 1873.
He began the study of law in New Bloomfield, Perry Co. and was admitted to the bar at Johnstown. In 1885 he entered Union Theological Seminary and graduated three years later. He served as pastor of the Lutheran congregations at New Bloomfield, Middleburg, Port Royal, Braddock, Yeagertown, Reedsville & Alfarata.

He was married to Cynthis Penrod in 1874. They had three sons, H. Kelly, L. Stoy & Thaddeus S., all of whom survive. [In 1920 the census shows his second wife Catherine.]

Rev. Spangler was vice president of the Saxton Coal Co., director of Saxton Vitrified Brick Co., Russell National Bank, Burnside YMCA (also 1st vice president), Gettysburg College Theological Seminary & Burnham Medicine Co., member of the board of trustees of Susquehanna University & Tressler Orphans' Home (president of the board), member of the State Democratic Committee, Masonic Lodge at Mifflintown and the Harrisburg Consistory, grand chaplain of the Masonic Order of Pennsylvania, etc.

*Harry Webster Ramer was a distant cousin of my grandfather. His wife and gramp's pen pal was Maude Shannon Ramer. Their son George Henry Ramer died in the Korean War.

*Teacher John Lewis Getz (1898-1970) appears on the 1930 Kane, PA Census and the York, PA 1940 Census with his family: wife Goldie and children John, Donald, and Richard.


Thursday, January 25, 2018

Dust by Mark Thompson: A Loving Portrait of Boyhood Friendship


"Early in life, my grandfather told me that only three things were certain: birth, death and time. And time only ticked one way: it went forward and never back. It came to be a recurring wish with me, the desire to turn back the clock, to undo what I had done." from Dust by Mark Thompson
For as long as I can remember, part of me has faced backward, tied to the past by nostalgia and longing. When I read Maria Rainer Rilke's advice in his Letters to a Young Poet that one's childhood "treasure house of memories"* offers the creative artist a wealth of inspiration I knew it was true.

I share this to explain why I so enjoy writing that is turned backwards, considering a childhood's treasure house. The newness, the first contact, the adventure of life--and its sorrows and disappointments and questions--always has a poignancy for me.

Mark Thompson's slim debut novel Dust  is about the friendship and adventures of two eleven-year-old boys growing up in New Jersey in the late 1960s. It is full of lyrical nostalgia as J. J. Walsh recounts his last summer with his best friend Tony 'El Greco' Papadakis.

The boys still imagine sticks are swords, but they also sneak Kent cigarettes and drink coffee black. They imagine the larger world, planning a trip to see the Pacific Ocean. In a freedom rarely allowed today, the boys get into trouble and have misadventures, and they come to terms with death and pursue knowledge of sex. Details of American life offer a deep sense of time and place.

Near the end of summer, Mr. Walsh takes the boys to see his hometown of Savannah, GA, whose exotic beauty enchants JJ. During their travels, the boys experience the Jim Crow South with its poverty and division.

Dust is a love song to the endurance of love, love of a boyhood friend, a wife, a son.

I received a free ebook from the publisher through Net Galley in exchange for a fair and unbiased review.

Dust
Mark Thompson
RedDoor Publishing
ISBN: 9781910453223




*"For the creative artist there is no poverty—nothing is insignificant or unimportant. Even if you were in a prison whose walls would shut out from your senses the sounds of the outer world, would you not then still have your childhood, this precious wealth, this treasure house of memories? Direct your attention to that. Attempt to resurrect these sunken sensations of a distant past." 


Wednesday, January 24, 2018

CAMEO Quilters Guild Hosts Award Winning Jan Berg-Rezmer

The local quilt guild hosted Michigan quilter Jan Berg-Rezmer this month. Jan's quilt odessy started in 2007. She quickly catapulted to being on the 2017 AQS quilt calender!

I first saw Jan's quilts in the West Branch Quilt Walk shows (read about it here and here).

Jan's quilt in the West Branch Quilt Walk


After a career as an Oakland County, MI police officer, Jan gained a ground in art through adult education classes before turning to fabric. She has studied with well known art quilters including Jean Wells, whose book Intuitive Color and Design I will soon be reviewing on this blog,  Katie Pasquini Masopust, who I saw speak years ago at the Capital City Quilt Guild, and Laura Heine, who I wrote about on my blog after seeing her booth at the Grand Rapids AQS show.


Jan's art quilts incorporate many methods including photos printed on fabric, thread painting, painting with fabric dye, hand dying, and confetti, raw edge, and turned applique. I think she has tried every new method and surface design method out there!

Confetti are small fabric pieces that are not fused. A tulle overlayer and machine quilting holds them in place
The quilts were  smaller scale, from wall hangings to framed pieces.


Jan led a class in thread painting for the guild. Here is her class sample. She printed a photo on fabric at Spoonflower and used cotton threads to thread paint.

Back side of the quilt showing the thread painting
 Here is another sample of her thread painting of photos on fabric, in which she also used fabric dye.


She finds inspiration everywhere. These quilts were inspired by photos.


I was inspired! I need to return to making more art quilts!
Jan Berg-Rezmer at the 2015 West Branch, MI Quilt Walk

I was so pleased to hear Jan talk and to see her amazing quilts. And I thank the CAMEO Quilters Guild for bringing her to our community.