So, um....yeah

Is anyone still there?

I really have a hard time believing that I haven't posted since April. But then I think of the many strange twists and turns of the last seven months and ... I get really tired.

This is not even remotely quilt or craft related beyond an explanation for my near complete disappearance from the interwebs.

In May, my mother was feeling poorly and finally admitted that maybe a trip to the doctor was in order. (Stubborness is a family trait that has definitely NOT skipped a generation!) We actually went to the ER because it was a weekend and the situation went from bad to worse so quickly I found myself wondering if my mom was going to make it through the day.

It's strange to write some of this - sharing such personal details - especially when it feels like it is really her story and not mine to tell. But this whole experience has absorbed all of my "spare" time and drained me of all creative momentum and inspiration. So, it seems mildly therapeutic for me to share.

Anyway, my mom was diagnosed with a heart condition which causes a very rapid heartbeat. it's like your heart is running a marathon even thought you're pretty much just hanging out, watching television or reading a book. And that can make your heart very very tired. And THAT can sometimes cause fluid to build up around the outside of your lungs. Weird, huh?

So, after sucking some of that liquid out and sending it off to a lab for analysis she had various scans and xrays, which revealed blood clots in her lung as well as some sort of mass. I'll spare you the step-by-step proceedings, but my mom was ultimately diagnosed with small cell lung cancer, atrial fibrillation, and pulmonary embolism. And all of that really sucks.

She was a champ, seriously. Went through three rounds of chemo (lost her hair and had multiple transfusions and infusions of all the stuff that chemo completely depleted from her system), 23 radiation treatments, and several hospitalizations. Somewhere in the midst of all this, another scan was done that revealed she also had colon cancer - completely unrelated to the lung cancer. Lucky, right?!

Well, this new diagnosis required surgery, for which my mom was obviously not an extremely great candidate. But she did it, and ended up with a brand spanking new ileostomy! After an extended stay in ICU, where things were quite touch-and-go for a time, she bounced back and was really doing well. By the end of summer, we were able to go out and actually have some fun enjoying simple pleasures like grocery shopping.

And then she fell and broke her hip. Can you believe it?!?! Of all the dumb luck. She had to have surgery again to put some lovely new hardware into her left hip and has spent the last few weeks at a rehab facility regaining her strength and working with various therapists. The good news: she is due to come home this Friday!

So, any and all good thoughts, prayers, healing light and love are all welcome and needed. There is still a lot to look forward to, including a check in regarding the lung cancer and a procedure to slow down her racing heart, which seems mercifully straightforward.

And that, my friends, is why I disappeared for awhile. So if you're still here, thank you. I am vowing to myself to get back to creating in the new year - if for no other reason than I enjoy it.

Meanwhile, love your family and your friends and all the people important to you. Life is precious and fleeting. It's easy to wait, easy to procrastinate; but what are we all waiting for? During this holiday season, especially, try to spend quality time with the people you love. Don't get too bogged down in the stress imposed by commercial interests. Time and love are the most important things to share with one another.

Oakshott Lipari Tote

Have you heard of Oakshott cottons? They are GORGEOUS. And their Lipari line is nothing short of stunning.

 The colors are rich and the fabric itself is beautiful to work with. Thanks to Sew Mama Sew, and their Oakshott Lipari Tote Challenge, I was able to play with these beauties and designed this tote.

Once I saw the fabric in person, I knew I wanted to keep the design of the tote simple to show off the fabrics themselves and the gorgeous colors. In fact, I used every single color in the line because it was too hard to leave any of them out!

This tote measures approximately 13" x 14" which makes it small enough to use as a purse but large enough to hold a laptop with ease.

The inside includes some useful features such as a cell phone pocket and a key clip. I hate losing my keys at the bottom of a bag!

There's also a large zippered pocket for other essentials that you don't want rolling around at the bottom of your bag.

This is the first time I've ever used this type of handle for a bag and I must admit - I LOVE it! The handles were very easy to attach with pre-made holes for stitching and I think they really elevate this from a simple tote to a pretty classy bag.

I will definitely be using more Oakshott in the future because it is wonderful to work with and very high quality, beautiful fabric. What's not to love?

Check out the other totes made for this challenge:

Teresa of Dandelion Drift

Anjeanette Klinder

Jennifer of Sewplicity

Megan of Monkey Beans

Erin of Seamstress Erin

Michelle of Falafel and the Bee

Made it this far? Want a chance to win a sample swatch book of Lipari? Leave a comment telling me what you would make with this fabric line and I'll draw a winner next week.

                                        

My Favorites Quilt

I finally made a quilt especially for me. The idea had been percolating for awhile and I knew I wanted to use my stash of coveted Japanese prints. All of my favorites are in here.

I began cutting the triangles before being completely sure of the layout. It was both nerve wracking and exhilarating to cut into fabrics that I had been saving (hoarding) for so long. But really, what good are they sitting on a shelf? I didn't buy fabric to create a museum. I bought it to make awesome stuff!

The back is a fantastic text print from IKEA.

When I first started laying out the triangles, they were completely random. I knew I wanted to add the white sashing but the look was still very chaotic. As I played around with it all, I started to pair up the triangles into semi-coordinated diamonds. I think it really helped to bring some small sense of order to the various prints and colors used.

I really love this quilt. Like, REALLY love this quilt. It was extremely liberating to cut into all these beauties and now I get to enjoy seeing them every single day. Lesson learned: use your fabric. It gives you much more joy than just piling it on a shelf.

The binding is yarn dyed essex linen, which is one of my all time favorite fabrics. Ever.

Ahhhh....what a joy. Buy what you love, use what you have, enjoy what you make. Life is really too short to do it any other way.

Happy New Year

I can get away with that since it's still January, right? I sure hope so!

One of my first projects this year was this little mini quilt I made for a friend's birthday. Not just any friend, but a particularly mathy friend.

It's another fractal and I'm really pleased with how it turned out. It was lots of fun to work in a shape that wasn't square or rectangular, especially when it came to the binding. I used lots of precious scraps from my favorite Japanese fabrics for the triangles and black yarn dyed essex for the binding.

The back is also a numerically heavy Japanese print.

Just a fun little something to get the new year started off on the right foot. Lots of other projects in the works and a few giveaways coming up as well!

I hope you've recovered from all of your holiday festivities and that 2014 is treating you well so far. I'd love to hear what you've been up to!

Congratulations!

Wow! This last week was CRAZY! Sorry I didn't get to posting the winner of First Steps to Free Motion Quilting until today. So with no further ado....

The winner is:

JoyceLMOctober 3, 2013 at 3:09 AM

My biggest fear with FMQ is I'd ruin a quilt it took me hours & hours to make. Thanks for sharing your FMQ samples & thanks for the chance to win.

Congratulations Joyce! I've sent you an email and you can look forward to reading Christina's book and learning all about free motion quilting!

Book Review and Giveaway!

I am thrilled and honored to be today's stop on the blog tour for Christina Cameli's new book, First Steps to Free Motion Quilting! Even if Christina wasn't a dear friend, member of Portland Modern Quilt Guild, kick-butt quilter, and all-around amazing person I would have reviewed this book for you because it is That Good.

I have always admired people who can do free motion quilting and do it well. It always seemed like such an unattainable skill to me. Then Christina taught at PMQG about fmq on your home machine and I was hooked. Still nervous about screwing up a big project but I loved the personality and individuality free motion designs could give to quilts.

This book not only teaches the basics for learning how to free motion quilt but also has a bunch of great smaller projects to get you practicing. Even this amazing quilt is done just one square at a time - and is a new-to-me take on quilt as you go - so you don't need to worry about practicing on a super-beloved project right at the start.

Christina shares her wealth of knowledge about free motion quilting as well as lots of tips and tricks to help you feel comfortable as you work on this skill. And the projects are all simple to construct so that the focus can be getting in that fmq practice time.

I've always been a huge fan of leaves and branches so I really loved the placemat project featuring botanical designs.

I followed Christina's advice about practicing and doodling first, just to get a feel for how the design worked.

Then I got to stitching on simple placemats pieced from scraps from my last table runner project.

I even tried some of the pebble designs because, you know, why not!

And this is the back of the first practice piece/placemat! Seriously! I totally did that!!! High five!

I moved on to an all-over branching design on the next piece and L. O. V. E. it. This is how far I got before my bobbin ran out and made me stop and take a break.

I truly thought this was a skill beyond my grasp, but Christina's book is so encouraging and inspiring that I know I will be adding much more free motion quilting to my work from now on. In addition to all of the fundamentals and the practice projects, there's a GREAT section in the back on troubleshooting.

Does all this make you want to get your hands on a copy? Because Stash Books has generously offered one for me to give away! Just comment on this post and tell me what your biggest fear is about free motion quilting and I'll randomly choose a winner next Wednesday, October 9. If the winner is in the US they may choose a paper or e-book. An international winner will receive an e-book.

Check out what others are saying about Christina's book here:

9/25: Allison Rosen at Stash Books Blog 

9/26: Jessica Alexandrakis at Life Under Quilts 

9/27: Monica Solorio-Snow at Happy Zombie 

9/28: Susan Beal at West Coast Crafty 

9/29: Kathy Mack at Pink Chalk Studio 

9/30: Angela Walters at Quilting is my Therapy 

10/1: Amanda Jean Nyberg at Crazy Mom Quilts 

10/2: Megan Dye at Megs Monkey Beans

10/3: Victoria Findlay Wolfe at Victoria Findlay Wolfe Quilts 

10/4: Katie Pedersen at Sew Katie Did 

10/5: Christina Cameli at A Few Scraps

Another one.

Are you tired of my table runners yet?

Because I've had the fabric for this one set aside for, um, 2 years. Seriously.

What on Earth took me so long? It was a piece of cake to stitch up, quilt, and bind - not to mention a joy to work with these beautiful fabrics.

The whole piece is very organic - no measuring, no real pattern. The quilting is random not-so-straight lines. I love it.

And I'm very pleased that I have enough scraps left over to make a set of place mats! Sweet!

This summer is flying by and I can hardly believe that school starts up in only a month. But if I'm being perfectly honest then I have to admit that I'm looking forward to having a bit more time for sewing and being creative. I seem to still have the expectation that summer is this amazing expanse of freedom, but really it's the kids who get the freedom. The parents work harder in the summertime! I'm definitely not complaining and I love my kids like crazy, but this was a hard truth to wrap my brain around.

Maybe I'll have something OTHER than a table runner to share next time!

Summer sewing

Please tell me that you've seen Lori Holt's new line for Riley Blake, Bake Sale??? It's ridiculously adorable.

I stitched up this sweet little runner using Bake Sale and some of the blenders from Happy Go Lucky and I love how bright and playful it is. This is where I must confess that sewing 2 1/2 squares of fabric together makes me stupid happy!

The black gingham binding frames the cheerful prints nicely. I made enough squares and binding to put together a few potholders as well.

The backing is a green cherry print from Cosmo Cricket from a couple years back.

This is about the only kind of sewing I seem to have time for this summer, between heading out to the park, swimming lessons, ballet for the girl-child, and piano for the boy-child. Of course, there's also lots of time being spent picking berries, swinging in the yard, reading, and making tasty messes in the kitchen so I can't complain. I do have a new quilt rolling around in my brain so we'll see if I can make any headway on that during the rest of break or if it will need to wait until school starts up again. What are you up to?

Patriotic table runner

Life has been INSANE! No time for larger projects like actual quilts but I have managed to get some smaller  items checked off my to do list. One was this table runner for Fourth of July (or any other patriotic holiday that needs a little red, white, and blue pizzazz).

I'm a little embarrassed by how long this has been on the list and how little time it actually took to make. Isn't that always the way?

The fabrics are from the DS Quilts collection at Joann's Binding is kona red. Patchwork and some wonky gold stars make up the front. The back is simple patchwork with a couple of larger strips thrown in for variety.

I'm very happy with how this turned out and I love how it looks on our table. Now I'm thinking it would be fun to use the rest of this fabric to make a cute bunting to hang on the deck railing!

Busy, busy, busy

Has it really been that long since I've blogged? Time sure flies!

Here's a little of what I've been up to over the past month or so:

Added this fella to our family.

His name is Rufus and he's about 3-1/2 months old now. Huge. Lab/maybe mastiff mix. If his mix isn't mastiff, it's probably Anatolian shepherd. He's awesome and quite a hand full! We've managed to get him all potty-trained, now if we could just figure out how to get him to stop biting and jumping up on us then all would be perfect. He seems to be under the impression that he's a tiny little lap dog, but he's pure muscle and VERY energetic!

Owen turned 7, which is hard to believe. He wanted an outer space birthday party so we made a rocket pinata and let the kids decorate their own alien cupcakes. It was really fun, but I'll think twice before having another party at my home on a rainy day with so many little boys!

Bailey graduated from preschool and is on summer break. We've been part of our wonderful cooperative preschool for four years now, so it was a bittersweet celebration. 

Owen has been rounding out his year with some fun school projects, more lost teeth, and a spring music concert. His last day of first grade is next week and then we will have all of summer to enjoy!

I was lucky enough to attend Quilt Market last month! It was right here in Portland and was a ton of fun. I had never been to market before and it was overwhelming and beautiful and inspiring! Definitely looking forward to a few specific lines coming out in the year ahead. Better start prepping my wallet!

Looking forward to spending a bit more time in this space and get my blogging schedule back on track! Hope you are all enjoying your spring and are gearing up for a creative summer!

Happy Quilts

I have some dear friends who were recently in need of quilts. The first was made for a friend going through a divorce after almost twenty years of marriage. The second for a friend who just had major surgery (and is doing swimmingly now!).

After agonizing over color palettes and fabric choices, I finally decided that I didn't care if the quilts matched their homes, these ladies needed happy quilts!

Bright and cheerful colors were pulled off my shelves and put into action. Both quilts were made using roughly the same pattern of patchwork squares-in-squares and all fabric except the backings were from my stash. I cannot tell you how good it feels to be using fabric instead of just accumulating it!

This is the quilt I made for my friend who had surgery. Even though we live across the country from each other, she's like a sister to me and we share years of memories. Each fabric in her quilt was chosen especially for her. We used to work together in Central California, where there are lots and lots of strawberry fields. So, naturally, I had to include some texty strawberry fabric.

One of her favorite colors is red and this is my all-time favorite red print from Alexander Henry's Farmdale collection.

We both used to work as stage managers and have been known to be quite passionate about office supplies, especially ones we used frequently in our work. This yellow print reminds me of those page reinforcement stickers that we used to need for our prompt books.

And the backing is another Alexander Henry print. The snails are cute as can be and a gentle reminder to slow down and enjoy all that life has to offer.

The quilting is just an all-over stippling and I must say, it was really nice to do some free-motion work after all of the straight lines I've been using lately.

I'm also in the midst of a quilt for *gasp* myself! It's provided some challenges but I can't wait to share it here. Hopefully, it will be ready for some snapshots in the next week or so.

Thank you so much for your good thoughts and words of encouragement regarding my anxiety disorder. I really appreciate the notes and comments left here and sent to me privately. Progress is slow but steady and I'm just trying to accept each day as it comes, whether good or bad. If nothing else, this experience has taught me compassion. Everyone struggles with something - and that something may be obvious or it may not. The important thing is to be there for each other. And I thank you for being here for me. xoxox

Well well well

Look who's writing a blog post!

The new year has brought some new challenges as well as new opportunities. One of the things that a few of you know (though not many) is that I have a panic/anxiety disorder. I joke that it developed after years of being a successful stage manager where I used up my allotment of stress management tools. I was experiencing some good progress but was completely derailed at the end of 2012. The shootings at the mall and in Connecticut, my husband being let go from his job (leading to a lawsuit which is another level of stress), my mother in law passing away, our neighbor's home being broken into - these all kind of hit me like a truck and made it hard for me to accept the world in general as a safe place to be. So the anxiety pretty much took over to the point of it being difficult for me to leave the house.

But things are getting back on track now. I have a wonderful and caring doctor who is helping me and a supportive counselor who is giving me some great tools for managing the condition as well as good friends who keep me smiling. And then there was the Madrona Road challenge by the Modern Quilt Guild.

It might sound a bit hokey, but this challenge was just what I needed to get my creative mojo going again. Violet Craft is the designer of this beautiful line of fabric and she also happens to be a member of my local modern quilt guild. She's a lovely person and I'm a huge fan of Madrona Road.

Some of the flowers in her prints reminded me of dresdens so that's where I went with this project. The line includes a great text print as well and I pulled a few phrases out that really represent to me some of what I've been going through.

The full text on the mini reads: Onwards and experience. She tied all the loose threads together, sometimes unravelling again and again. Stitch by stitch she pieced her soul together.

So, that's the update on me. Thank you to Violet for your beauty, talent, creativity, and words. And thank you to the Modern Quilt Guild for sponsoring this challenge.

Simple gratitude

I've been debating about whether or not to write this post at all...started and stopped a few times before finally jumping in. I really try to keep this space positive - a place to escape the mundane and enjoy this amazing creative online community. But sometimes an event occurs that changes your perspective and makes you see everything in a new light.

Many of you may have seen the news about the recent shooting at the Clackamas Town Center shopping mall in Oregon. Two innocent bystanders were killed and another girl injured as a 22 year old man in a hockey mask and body armor sprayed bullets from a semi-automatic rifle. My family and I were in the mall when it happened. We were there to take the kids to see Santa and were next in line to have our picture taken. There were a few loud pops and everyone looked around trying to figure out what was happening. Then there was a loud burst of gunfire - too many shots to count - and everyone around us realized it was someone with a gun. My husband was across the concourse to videotape the kids' visit with Santa. I grabbed both Owen and Bailey and pulled them in behind the little doorway area at the entrance to the Santa area, covering them as well as I could. There was another long burst of gunfire that sounded louder and closer than before.

My husband rushed over to us as well as one of the employees from the Santa area. She kept yelling at Gary to get down, but he said that it sounded like the gunfire was coming closer and we needed to get out of there. I have never been so terrified in my life. Needing to make a decision about whether to stay hunkered down or move wasn't easy. But in that split second we realized that the gunfire had stopped for the moment so we decided to try to get out. Gary grabbed Bailey and lifted her over the fence surrounding the Santa line and I lifted Owen over. I have no memory of hopping the fence myself, but I obviously did.

We ran to the nearest store, Macy's, and got on the escalator going to the upper level. I remember yelling "Why are we going up? Why are we going up?" When we were out in the center of the mall it had seemed that the gunfire was coming from the upper level. I was terrified that we were heading up to a situation that would be worse than the one we had just left. Someone shouted back to me that there was no exit out the store on the ground level, which is true. My son kept trying to get me to stop because his shoe had fallen off and we left his winter coat on the floor at the Santa land. I kept him moving and told him that those things weren't important.

At the top of the escalator we all ran straight ahead and out the door to the parking lot. We managed to get out before a lockdown went into effect. We went straight to our car and left the area. My son was still upset about his shoe and we kept telling him that it wasn't important and we would get him new shoes.

And that's what became abundantly clear in those moments. None of the things that had seemed so important just 30 minutes earlier seemed important any more. It's so easy to get caught up in small stuff and an experience like this really brought everything into focus. My family, my babies, people are what is important. Looking out for each other, taking care of each other, being kind to each other, that's what's important.

As we watched the news coverage in the evening and got a better sense of the course of events, we realized that we were very very close to where the shooter started to fire his rifle. Apparently, after firing several bursts of gunfire in the food court area, he started to head down the mall in our direction when the rifle jammed. It was during that quiet time when he was changing out the jammed magazine that we made the decision to move and get out. I cannot bear to think of the many "what-ifs" of the whole experience.

We are so very fortunate. And our hearts ache for the two people who lost their lives and their families. I'm just sick that my children had to bear witness to such an event. There is an undeniable loss of innocence that has touched their young lives. And I'm sure we will feel the effects of this for quite a time to come.

So, please take care of each other. Let go of anything that is standing in the way of love and compassion for each other. It's a cliche, but don't sweat the small stuff. Hug your kids, or your parents, or your neighbor, or your dog. Life is such a wild and precious thing.

Itty Bitty

Oh my goodness, look at the teeny tiny sweater I just knit up! Well, I say "just" like it took me twenty minutes and I made it with my eyes closed. In reality, it took several days and I cussed pretty bad at one point. Seriously, tiny things are hard - they're so TINY!

A certain little someone I know had her sixth birthday recently and was the recipient of an American Girl Doll. Her mama is a sewist extraordinaire so the wardrobe was covered - except for a sweater. That's when I got busy with some tiny knitting needles and sparkly pink sock yarn.

It's seriously small - that's a quarter on it for scale. But it was loads of fun to make and I hope it is enjoyed.

There are a few other things on needles and hooks these days, though I haven't been getting much sewing done. It all seems to go in cycles and I'm just going with the flow. Hope you are enjoying the start of this beautiful holiday season!

Eeeeeep!

Such a strange post to write. Forgive me if it seems like bragging, but I was jumping up and down like a little girl when I received this lovely in the mail.

Well lookie there - that's my Fractal Quilt!

Madeline Roburg wrote a lovely piece about math quilts and she was kind enough to feature mine in her article. Such a thrill!

*******

Thank you for all of the well-wishes regarding my last post. Helen is missed but our little family is doing well, enjoying happy memories,  and experiencing gratitude that she is no longer suffering.

Love and Light

My mother-in-law passed away this past weekend. Her life was punctuated by incredible hardships, but she was a survivor. Thank you, Helen, for welcoming me into your family.

Helen Dye (Galina Ivonova Lebedeva) March 19, 1923 – November 17, 2012 

Helen Dye was born as Galina Lebedeva in a small village near Rzhev, Russia (100 miles west of Moscow) to Ivon Lebedev and Katerina (Yermolinski) Lebedeva, the second of three children.  The family lived on their agricultural estate provided by Helen’s maternal grandparents, whose Polish family had large land holdings in the area.  Helen’s paternal side had an extensive history as civil servants in the Czar’s court.  Indeed, her father, Ivon was a Colonel in the White Russian Army, but was soon discharged after having contracted typhus.  Foretelling her future, Helen experienced tragedies at her birthplace:  When she was two years old, a fire in her home resulted in the death of her younger sister, which she remembered her whole life.  Her young uncle, who had lived in her house, was a notorious womanizer, but met with a pre-mature death when a jealous boyfriend clubbed him over the head.  But many extended relatives on both sides of the family lived in the tranquil area, and life was generally good.

When Helen was four years old, the NKVD (fore-runners of the KGB) knocked on their door at three o’clock in the morning and demanded they pack their bags within an hour and board a train headed for a labor camp (the Gulag).  The government would confiscate their home and property as part of their collectivization program.  The family was loaded into a boxcar along with other internally exiled families and sent to the Ural Mountains to work in a gold mine.  Helen remembered the long trek from the train and through the snow to the labor camp.  There, the family was assigned a small corner of a warehouse as their home, separated from others by a blanket hanging from the ceiling.  Helen’s father appealed to the authorities to, at least, have them sent to an encampment where other extended family members were being exiled (their crimes being landowners and being associated, however minimally, with the Czar), to no avail.  Later, the family escaped from the labor camp and made their way back to Rzhev and relatives, only to find their jewelry, heirlooms, and possessions that they left behind (hidden from the government) had been sold to keep the villagers from starving.  They also learned that many of their extended family had perished under the harsh conditions of labor camps or had been executed as enemies of the State.  Thus, they went into hiding, staying with friends and relatives.  Helen’s father tried to barter and sell goods to bring food to the table, and was thrown into the Lubyanka Prison many times for this illegal activity.  Eventually, the family was re-absorbed into society, and settled in Klin, about 50 miles northwest of Moscow.  Helen went to school, and later trained as a midwife at the local medical school.

In 1941, the Nazis invaded Russia, and quickly overran Klin.  Helen was working at the hospital when panic struck:  many of the doctors and nurses decided to run and hide in the woods, but Helen chose to stay.  Good choice, as the Nazis rounded up those who had hidden from them, accused them of being partisans, and hanged them as examples for all to see.  Helen later learned that her 16-year-old cousin had been accused of stealing food by the Nazis, and his punishment was to be put inside a pen with hungry dogs and mauled to death.  Helen’s aunt hated all Germans for the rest of her life because of this incident and other atrocities she had witnessed.  Helen’s older brother, Mikhail, escaped and joined the Red Army (he suffered a bullet in the head at Stalingrad), and amid all the strife and chaos, she lost all communication with her family.

Because Helen studied the German language in school and was fluent, the Nazis found her useful. (It also didn’t hurt that she was a beautiful, young woman). She was put to work in a commissary to serve German soldiers, and was generally well-fed and well-treated.  When the Russian Army counter-attacked, she was transferred by train to Minsk.  Things turned for the worse when her friend sent her a letter in which she gave the opinion that the Germans were losing the war.  The letter was intercepted by the Nazi authorities; Helen was accused of siding with the enemy, and was thrown into a concentration camp, and her friend was detained by the SS and was never heard from again.  A German colonel, who knew her, rescued her from the camp and sent her to work on his farm near Wiesbaden, Germany.  There, she lived and worked alongside the family, and ties were so strong that they continued their correspondence throughout their lives.

The war finally reached western Germany, where Helen experienced aerial bombings nearby, and finally, American tanks rumbling right by the farmhouse.   After the war, she chose to remain with her adopted German family, and started working in downtown Wiesbaden.  With her exposure while working with American officials and socializing with American GI’s, she learned the English language.  This was important, as she could not return home to Russia – Stalin had declared anyone falling behind Western lines were traitors, and would be met with labor camps or execution upon their return.  As a Displaced Person, she chose to live in the United States, and her adopted German family contacted their German friends, the Schaltenbrands of Sherwood, Oregon, who were willing to sponsor her.  In 1950, she travelled across the ocean by ship, registered at Ellis Island, and took a train to Oregon.  On the farm in Sherwood, she gathered filberts and performed other work, but eventually lived and worked in Portland, taking jobs with Leopold and Stevens (optics) and Jantzen swimwear.  She gained her US citizenship in 1955.

In 1955, Helen met Drew Dye, a union worker at Davidson Bakery.  Drew had also experienced much hardship in his earlier life, having been the tenth of ten children struggling to survive in Dustbowl, Oklahoma during the Great Depression.  They fell in love and were married months later.  They had their wedding dinner at The Country Kitchen Restaurant (still operating, and which remained their favorite restaurant through their last wedding anniversary) and honeymooned in Depoe Bay (convincing the owner of the Spouting Horn Restaurant to let them spend their wedding night upstairs).  They decided to have a family, buying a small home in outer SE Portland in 1956, three months before Gordon was born, who was followed by Gary in 1958.  Helen quit working to be a homemaker shortly thereafter.

Having been a victim of government pogroms in the past, the onset of the Cold War caused Helen to be very concerned with her Russian heritage.  To be on the safe side, she decided to claim a German heritage, even on her official US papers.  She told everyone she was German, including her husband and children.  Finally, the truth came out, telling her husband that she lost all contact of her family since 1941.  She contacted a person in Russia to track down her family, finally obtaining her mother’s address.  When her mother received a letter in the mail saying her long-lost daughter was alive and well and living with her family in America – over twenty years after having been assumed killed along with millions of other Russians in the war – she fainted on the post office floor.  The following years saw thousands of letters and boxes of food and essentials sent to her mother and brother (her father had died in 1952) in Russia.  However, none of this was sent from her mailbox at home, fearing the neighbors might find out that she and her children were Russian.

Because telephones were rare in Russia back then, Helen heard her mother’s and brother’s voices on the telephone in 1975 for the first time in over 30 years, to be follow by a trip to Russia in 1978 (before which, she renounced her Soviet citizenship, just in case…).  As one can imagine, the scene at Leningrad Airport upon her arrival and first meeting in nearly 40 years cannot be described by words.  Her mother died a year later.  Her brother was provided an airline ticket to America in 1985, and marveled at her good life in contrast to his own in Soviet Russia.  Her brother died in 1988, but her nephew visited America in 2001.  Her son Gary visited Russia in 1994 and 2002, acquainting himself with some of his Russian heritage.  However, Helen was vehement about being an American, and dismissive of her Russian identity. 

Helen’s interests started and ended with her family.  She loved making jellies, jams, and pies from the fruit grown in the backyard.  She achieved legendary status with kids in the neighborhood by serving her homemade chocolate pudding for lunch.  She was a classic Little-League mom; loved to take family trips to the coast, mountains, Kah-nee-ta, and scenic places; and had many friends that she’d known for fifty years and longer.  And every so often she would coax her husband to take her out dancing.

Last year, after significant weight loss, Helen was diagnosed with a hiatal hernia, causing ileus, and preventing nourishment from being absorbed into her body.  Death came slow, but relatively painless, and she died peacefully in her beloved home of the last 56 years.  She is survived by her husband of 57 years, two sons, and four grandchildren.

Can you believe that it's already November? When did that happen?!

Well, it's that time of year - time to start (or finish if you're one those organized and on the ball types) the holiday crafting. For the past two years I've had all the fabric I need to make each of my kids a Christmas quilt but it looks like that may have to wait - AGAIN. But, I did manage to finish at least one of my holiday projects this year. And guess what! It's in the latest issue of Fat Quarterly!

I made this wall/door hanging with two generous pockets for holding holiday cards (of course you could put other little goodies in the pockets if you like). The best part of the whole thing was getting the chance to work with some of Monica's cuter-than-cute Winterkist fabric! I mean the gnomes - seriously! And they come in orange so you KNOW Miss B is going to end up with some in her room for the holidays.

There are loads of other great patterns and projects in the holiday issue of Fat Quarterly so hop on over there and grab yourself a copy.

Who knew?

Anybody still here? Who knew that getting sidelined by a cold over a month ago would turn into complete blog abandonment?

Well, I'm back! Before I get into the sewing and crafting I've been up to, I thought I'd share this year's Halloween costumes.

Miss B decided she wanted to be Snow White - again. Owen kept trying to tell her, "Mommy will make a NEW costume. You can be something else." But no go. She is a girl who knows what she wants and can be stubbornly persistent.

This year we added a white ruffled petticoat to her ensemble. It added a little bit to the length of the dress, which we needed since she last wore this when she was three (and yes, it was HUGE on her then). I should add that I did not make the dress, though it is handmade. Somehow we got super lucky and found it at a thrift store for a whopping seven bucks. Can you believe it? It's so beautifully crafted I'm guessing it was made for a children's theater production.

Next up - storm trooper! Owen is heavily invested in all things Star Wars. We found this great tutorial for how to make your own storm trooper helmet, which we didn't follow exactly but it helped us to figure out some basic helmet construction.

The rest of his costume was just black sweatpants and a white sweatshirt with the armor drawn on with sharpie. Simple and it kept him warm while trick-or-treating.

Looking forward to spending some more time here. Thanks for stopping by!

Under the weather

If one must stay home with an icky stomach bug, one should at least have a cute pair of slippers.

Made from Ayumi's pattern in Stitch magazine.

At least my feet are happy.