Christmas Gift for a Quilter

 
Christmas Eve 2008 - John and the Seven Grandchildren. Top Row, l to r - Nikki, Brandon, Grandpa John, Jack, Sam. Front Row - Ben, Ryan, Natalie. Julie and Ed hosted us all. Aunt Chris, Uncle Jerry, and Molly joined us as well. The food was terrific, the kids well-behaved, and adult deportment was impeccable. One of the highlights of the evening was Uncle Mark's DVD "10 Years of Mo Christmases" which began with a picture of Grandma Sophie Moscinski - not a dry eye in the house. Entertainment was courtesy of Ryan, who played John Lennon's "So This Is Christmas". Julie, Molly, and Nikki sang along. Lovely evening. (No, I didn't give the children MORS bags for Christmas - thought I'd save that for Christmas 2009!)

Black History Tribute via Valentine's Day

My husband, aka Mr. Jazz, requested yet another wall hanging made from some of his tastiest new jazz t-shirts. I'm passing this off as his Valentine's Day present (yes, I know it's late). It's beautiful, isn't it? John has named this quilt Some of the Great Ones. Mr. Jimmy Heath in the upper left corner is someone I've actually met on jazz cruises - he's a gentle man with a charming sense of humor who makes fabulous music. The Dizzy shirt in the lower left is clever. The inner border takes its cue from the Duke Ellington shirt, and the Count Basie shirt inspired the outer border. Click on this picture to see some of the fabulous detail in the shirts and borders. Our front hall has dark paneling, but this wall hanging brightens up the room quite a bit. 36" x 52"

Made Possible by a Grant From....

My productivity level can be pretty high at times. It's amazing what one can do when devoting 6 to 8 hours a day on one project. But here's the real secret to my productivity: my husband John.

I don't do housework. I don't shop. I don't pay the bills. I don't do the laundry. I do cook but not often. This household pattern began when John retired in 1993 (ok, it probably even started before John retired). And it continues. Any quilt I give is as much from John as it is from me. Any workshop I do is possible because John even helps me load my car. Any commission I complete is because John carries the workload of the house.

Here's a great example: in running off copies of directions for my current workshop Blocks from the Underground Railroad at the Lawndale Christian Church, I not only ran through all of our white paper but even used all of our pastel paper as well. John needed to make copies for something he's doing for the Brookfield Jazz Society. When he saw there was no paper, he cheerfully announced he needed to stop at Office Max for paper on the way home from visiting his father in the hospital and doing the weekly shopping.

I love that John loves the studio as much as I do. I catch him going upstairs just to check things out. He painted the ceiling and all the trim, he configured and installed the closet hardware, he hung the full-length mirror. He finished the trim on the CD shelves and then painted them so that I could finally get all my CD's out of storage. I couldn't figure out what to do with some of the things I wanted to hang like my Imari needlepoint, the Seurat print, and a Baltimore Album quilt print from my sister. He not only figured out where to hang them, he then did it! Even the fabulous color of the walls (Koala Bear from Home Depot) was his idea - I would have gone much mintier if left to my own devices and that would have been so wrong) is something I must give him credit for.

John's devotion to all things jazz and NFL equals mine to quilting. My goal is to be as supportive of his interests as he is to mine. In May we are celebrating our 25th Wedding Anniversary. I love John. A lot. I'm a lucky girl.