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This week it struck me that it’s been one year since my dear friend Evelyn passed away. So many memories came flooding back (please click here if you’re new to my blog and would like to read my tribute to her from last year).

Then I thought about her daughter Gwen, and how difficult it all was for her. Evelyn’s passing drew Gwen and I together for a span of weeks, but then we lost touch. I felt compelled to pray for Gwen, as this must be so hard. It occurred to me that I should visit Evelyn’s Facebook page and see if there were any new posts. This is what Gwen wrote:

“This is Evelyn’s daughter, Gwen. Next Tuesday is the one year anniversary of Mom’s passing, and I want to do sometihng special to remember her in joy instead of sadness. Those who knew her, if you could post a special memory on this page over the next week, I would be extremely grateful. I miss her more each day.“

I was happy to add a few photos, and I mentioned to her that my mom is currently on hospice care (Mom is still with us, but I’m quite sure she’ll be with her Savior soon). Gwen sent me a lovely email after that, and told me that she still has some of her mom’s quilts available on Etsy. Evelyn was a very talented quilter, and I enjoyed seeing some of her pieces once again. I thought that some of you might want to visit her Etsy page too. Click here to link to quilts by Evelyn Link 😁. This is just a sampling from that page:

I’m grateful for sweet memories to get us through the times of missing those we love.

And now on to some newly made memories! Last month I had the wonderful opportunity to teach for the Colorado Quilting Council in Denver. It was cold and snowy when I left Wisconsin (-17 with windchills at -40), while the weather in Denver was much milder… 10 degrees above zero! But the quilters there were warm and welcoming, and I had a great time. My class and lecture went very well, and I had a wonderful time getting to know these dear ladies.

On many of my teaching trips I’ve been invited to do something special by program chairs who go above and beyond in their care for me. A few months ago Amy took me to see Lake Tahoe on my non-teaching day with her guild – WOW! (click here to read about that adventure). On this trip Susan took me to the:

Denver has one of the largest Stock Shows in the country and Susan is very involved with it. She was a wonderful guide! I must admit I wasn’t really sure what a Stock Show was, but I’m always up for learning new things – and I enjoyed every moment of it. We began our time there by getting pulled pork on Texas Toast sandwiches at a food truck, and watching the judging of wagons with 8 horse hitches (I hope I’m saying that right). They were beautiful!

Then we watched judgings in other arenas. The show was held in the Denver Stock Yards, and it was huge! They even had a beautiful new building that housed an amazing collection of western art by local artists ~ which was inspiring.

I especially enjoyed watching the long horn steers. The winner had horns that measured 130″ from tip to tip! That’s wider than a king sized quilt!!!

Thanks to Susan and everyone at the Colorado Quilting Council for a memorable time!

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And I’d like to share a recent photo. The very cold morning before I left for Colorado I awoke, pulled up the blinds, and this was on my window. It was about 1 1/2″ across – and beautiful!

I’ve seen a lot of God’s frosty artwork on our windows in the past, but this was by far the prettiest!

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So… I thought that was the end of this week’s post, but yesterday Mike and I decided to go for a ride. We ended up in Cedarburg, WI and were able to see the current exhibit at the Wisconsin Museum of Quilts and Fiber Arts. The Japanese quilts from Quilt Nihon were amazing!

They are only there until March 8th ~ so time is short if you decide you want to go!

In the entryway of the museum they have some of the winning miniature quilts from the exhibit, and they alone were worth the trip. This was my favorite ~ the logs were 1/8″!

There were so many quilts I’d like to share, but I only have room for a few more. This bed sized hand appliquéd, hand quilted piece was incredible:

After seeing the miniature with the tiny logs, I thought the maker of this next bed sized, pieced quilt must be crazy. Upon closer examination I realized she was just clever. The triangles are made of striped fabrics! What a great illusion!

The appliquéd circles in the next bed sized art quilt were made of silk, and stuffed trapunto style. Yet I couldn’t see a single stitch! And the hand quilting was some of the tiniest I’ve seen.

I saved my absolute favorite for last. I’ve always admired Baltimore Album quilts and we know those amazing blocks are typically placed in a horizontal set. This quilter created wonderful hand appliqués and then set them in fan shaped, curved blocks. Her color palette was also atypical ~ and then she bordered them with Hawaiian style appliqué in a gradation of fabric! What a feast for the eyes!

And her hand quilting was as well done as her appliqué.

I highly recommend a trip to the show if you’re able to go!

I found the traditional dress and wool yarn twisting from last week’s post so interesting, but that was just the beginning. Next Antonia went to her refrigerator and pulled out a folded towel. She unfolded it to show us that attached to the inside were the silkworm eggs she was keeping for the next season. These eggs have a spiky outside that grabs onto the fabric.

The egg packet was kept some place cool (Antonia had them in the frig) until “they became the size of a little mouse ear” and then, to keep them warm so they would hatch, the young girls would tuck the packet inside their blouse!

The packet remained there for 7 to 10 days while the girls went about their life – eating, sleeping, working… continually. Each morning they’d check to see if anything was happening and one morning the eggs would be white, and next to each of them would be a little black caterpillar – about the size of an eyelash. They were then placed on trays with mulberry leaves and from that moment on all they would do is eat ~ for the next month. Until they became very chubby caterpillars (I took this photo from Antonia’s website).

As they grew they were placed on shelves which hung from the ceiling in the girls rooms to keep the ants from eating them.

When the silk worms were ready to make their cocoons, branches were hung all over the shelving structure. The worms would climb to a good spot and the cocoon making began.

The silk threads come out of the caterpillars much like a spider, but unlike spiders, the silkworm uses her saliva to glue the fibers together. The first thread she makes anchors the cocoon to the branches. This makes the outer portion of the cocoon, and it yields a lower quality silk thread. These were used for the tassels instead of the embroidery. Then the silkworm spins one kilometer of inner thread non-stop (yes – one kilometer!) Silk is the only known natural fiber that is made this long. All other threads are made as shorter pieces that need to be twisted together. That is why silk thread is so strong ~ and it doesn’t need to be spun.

Once the caterpillar has transformed into a moth, it breaks free of the cocoon, mates quickly, lays her eggs on the cloth, and dies.

This photo is of cocoons Antonia’s collected but hasn’t made into thread yet.

The saliva that glues the threads together is water soluble. So to extract the thread the cocoons are placed in very hot water. At just the right moment a whisk type instrument is swished through the water to collect a few of the threads that have been released by the hot water. They are then pulled upwards and wound around a rolled piece of fabric. To watch the video this photo was taken from click here (the phone being held in the lower portion of this photo has the flashlight on so we can see the fibers coming out of the pot).

There is still some glue on the threads at this point, so it holds them together as they are wound and they can be used as is in a needle if no color is desired. If the silk thread is to be dyed the threads need to be carefully washed so that they will take the dye.

Antonia then explained about the collars. Light colored embroideries are for girls and young women, bright red is for the first year of marriage, as the woman ages the colors get darker and darker, and dark purple is for grandmothers. When a woman is a widow they dye the collars black.

It is said that “if a woman wore all of her embroideries she had a great life”!

Once Antonia’s demonstration was over we went down to her shop and I couldn’t resist purchasing a silk embroidered Christmas ornament (which I forgot to take a photo of before I packed away the Christmas stuff).

Prior to our trip Will and I talked about which shore excursions we wanted to take. There were two that interested us in Dubrovnik. One was just of the old walled city, and the other included Antonia’s studio. I told him I wanted to hear about silk production and he said he could “skip it”. That’s when I pulled the grandma card and said we were doing it. So imagine my delight when Antonia finished her talk and Will turned to me and said “that was amazing. I’m so glad we did this!” I had to agree.

Here’s one last photo from our trip, with the walled city of Dubrovnik and the beautiful blue Adriatic Sea in the background.

Thanks for joining us on this journey!

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And one more thing! This past week a fellow ThreadBender and I (thanks Sandy!) hung two of our challenges at Sew Much More in Waukesha, WI. They have a lovely exhibit space in their classroom. It’s a great shop – so please stop by and enjoy 😊!

Greetings from Denver! Yes, I’m traveling again, and this time I’m teaching for the Colorado Quilting Council. It was 17 below the morning I left Wisconsin, and I arrived to 16 above ~ quite an improvement! I’ve had a lovely visit so far, and I’ll share some of the fun in a future post. But now, as promised, I’ll continue my series of posts on my recent trip to Italy and Croatia with a port I know you’ll enjoy reading about!

(just a short note for those of you who are new to my blog this week, my grandson and I recently returned from a cruise. This is my third post about the sites, art and fiber we’ve seen. To read the previous posts please click here and then here!)

Prior to this trip I didn’t even know where to find Croatia on the map. After visiting two cities there I’ve added it to my list of favorite destinations. The Sea Organ in Zadar is one reason, but the traditional fiber art of Dubrovnik is at the top of the list. We began our day there with a fascinating tour of the old walled city of Dubrovnik. Our guide Lydia actually lives in an apartment that is on the second, third and fourth floor of a building there that’s been in her family for generations. She led our tour with the passion only a native can have.

Next we headed outside the city walls to Konavle and an atelier owned by Antonia Ruskovic. Atelier is a French word for the private workshop or studio of a professional artist in the fine or decorative arts.

Antonia is not only an artist in her own right, but she is preserving and sharing the traditional folk arts of her area, and the visit to her home and studio is a memory I will long cherish. Upon our arrival we passed through the shop on the ground level and climbed the stairs to find a warm and friendly room where Antonia served us muffins and tea.

Then she began to explain the traditions of the women in her town. Traditionally they began to sew the items they would wear for the rest of their life when they were in their early teens. They began by making a “shirt” (we’d call it a dress), and it was made large enough to wear while pregnant, and accomodate any size they might become as they matured. This dress was then cinched with a wide and then a narrow belt that were both tied tightly.

Next came the apron, and when the corners were tucked into the tightly secured belt, they had a “bag” for anything they needed to carry.

She then explained the “staff”. These were made by the young men of the town in order to attract a girl. When she chose a boy as a suiter he gave her his staff. And why was that such a big deal? You’re going to love this! The staff was tucked into the belt at the girl’s side. She could then take a clump of wool roving in her left hand and hold it against the back of the staff. With her right hand she would pull a bit of wool out through one of the decorative holes and twist it into a yarn as she walked around town. This is something the women would do throughout their lives. Nothing was wasted – not even time.

And here are some more of the staffs and a sample of the wool roving:

The wool would be knit or woven into clothes for the cold winter months (which we were experiencing that day in Croatia).

At this point you may have noticed the collar with tassels Antonia is wearing, as well as the framed collars hanging throughout the room. She told us that the women wore these embroideries all the time, and the girls would make them for every season of their lives. The colors and patterns are very specific and they depicted many things: their marital status, stages of motherhood, celebrations, times of illness and even mourning. They were all hand embroidered with silk threads ~ and that brings me to the art of silk production in Dubrovnik. But I’m afraid this post is getting a bit long, so I’m going to leave you wanting more 😊.

Join me next week for “silk production in Dubrovnik!

Oh, one more thing. I hope you’ll find this little extra story interesting. Atonia said that these women were very superstitious and that many things needed to be done with odd numbers ~ like the number of stitches in the collars. Then she told us the women would make great big pots of stew from grains for gatherings, and it was important that there was an odd number of grains in the pot. A pot of stew could hold hundreds of grains and most of these women were uneducated and unable to count very high. So how did they do it??? They put all the grains in a pile and whisked them into the pot two at a time with their fingers. When they got to the end of the pile they could add just one more to make the number odd. Brilliant!

Last week’s post included a number of different ports we visited at the beginning of our trip to Italy. This week is about just one. The last port of call we toured was Venice. We knew we’d have two days there, so Will and I decided to take a boat tour to the nearby islands of Murano and Burano the first day. Francesco was a wonderful guide who spoke English well and had a great sense of humor.

Murano was our first stop. It’s famous for colorful glass and became known for this centuries ago when the glass blowers on Venice were made to move because their ovens were a fire danger to the city. The variety of glassware we saw was extensive and every piece was beautiful!

We watched an amazing demonstration by a master glass blower.

He created this horse right before our eyes!

They didn’t allow photos in the store attached to the studio, but trust me – it was beautiful! From there we got back on the boat and headed to Burano, an island known for it’s colorful houses. The story is that this is due to the fishermen years ago painting their homes in bright colors so they could spot them in the thick lagoon fog. The government later required this to “maintain distinctiveness and family identification – creating a unique, vibrant, and picturesque island”. I think it’s really because the tourists like it 😊.

This was my favorite shop:

Burano is also known for lace making and this is the shop where we learned all about it.

It is another art that young people are not willing to put the time into learning because it is so labor intensive.

And after watching the demonstration I can understand. This dear lady expertly placed each tiny stitch. The rhythm of her hands knotting the very thin thread was hypnotic. What a talented lady!

I was able to photograph this sample. As I understand it the bottom gold striped fabric layer gives the piece stability while being stitched. The thin waxy paper has the pattern printed on it and the green paper prevents the stitches from going through to the fabric layer. Everything is peeled off when the work is completed. To read an interesting article about Burano lace click here.

After wandering through the lace shop we went looking for pizza – and it was delicious. Then we returned for our final night on the ship. The next morning we moved to a hotel on the mainland near Venice, took the train back into the city, and began to walk. There is NO motorized traffic allowed on the island of Venice, and the story of how it was completely man made in the lagoon is fascinating. Click here for a good explanation. As we followed the walking path on Google Maps we found ourselves facing the grand canal with no bridge, but there was a gondola ferry. For 2 Euro each we got a gondola ride!

And a short walk later we were in Piazza San Marco (St. Mark’s Square) looking at the Basilica, the bell tower and off to the right of the tower – the Doge’s Palace.

The tours of St. Mark’s were sold out, but we were able to go to the top of the bell tower. It was windy and cold up there – but the view was amazing!

Next we did a self guided tour of the Doge’s Palace. Again – the history is so interesting, but this isn’t the place for that. What I do want to share was some quilt design inspiration 😊. The floors!

And even the staircase. Will took this photo of me

taking a photo of the fronts of the steps.

As we neared the end of our walk around the island of Venice I actually found a fabric store! It was filled with lots of men’s suit fabrics and, as is common in stores like this in Europe, it was staffed by two men who stared at me as I looked at the fabrics. There was an area of colorful cottons and silks. I didn’t feel comfortable taking a photo inside, nor did I see anything I needed to add to my stash, but I enjoyed touching and feeling some of the beautiful bolts on the shelves – and I snapped a quick photo from the outside (please pardon the reflection on the glass).

The following morning we flew home. It may have been the end of our journey, but it’s not the end of my posts about our adventure. I think you’ll really enjoy my next two posts as they are about the part of our trip that excited me most as a quilter and fiber artist. Stay tuned for wool, silk, and stitching in Dubrovnik, Croatia.

PS At the beginning of this post is a photo of another view of Venice from the Bell Tower. You may have noticed a red arrow in the top of the photo. It’s pointing at our ship! What fun it was to realize we could see it from up there.

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And one more thing…

Mr friend Lisa emailed me in hopes of finding out some information about a mystery quilt she participated in in Madison years ago. Here’s what she wrote:

“I’m hoping you might be able to help me with an odd request. I know that your blog goes to a lot of Wisconsin quilters, especially those in the Madison area. I’m trying to locate the directions for a mystery monthly quilt along that Mill House Quilts did in the early 2000’s.
I have quite a few of them from back in the day, but cannot locate the one that belongs with a fabric pull I have set aside since 2005/2006. The monthly clues got lost. I don’t even remember the name of the mystery QAL, but know it was either by Debbie Caffrey or a Thornberry Mystery as those were the two designers they used back then.”

If you have any helpful information for Lisa, please email her directly at:

Welcome to my first post after my recent trip to Italy. What a fantastic adventure it was! As I mentioned a few posts back, My husband traveled for his career and really isn’t interested in doing so in retirement. I however have loved to take groups of quilters on tours and, even though I’ve reached the point where I’d rather not have the responsibility for leading the tours any longer, I still love to travel. Mike and I agreed a nice compromise would be that I’d take a grandchild on an adventure their senior year and he’d stay home with the dog 😊. This year was Will’s turn and it couldn’t have been more wonderful. We flew into Rome the day after Christmas, checked into our hotel, and walked over 38,000 steps in 1 1/2 days!

He was fascinated by the architecture and the food – and this was true for the entire trip. The afternoon of the second day we boarded a cruise ship and set sail for Naples. We only had a day there and decided that our choice of shore excursions would be the ruins of Pompeii. It was amazing. To think that these walls and roads were completely covered with 23 feet of ash, debris and earth that needed to be painstakingly removed.

One of the things I found most interesting was the condition of the frescos in some of the buildings. Fresco is a type of mural painting done on wet plaster, and our guide said that the term comes from a combination of the words “fresh” and “stucco”. I’m not sure how true that is, but it sounded good. Just look at the examples that survived, after being buried for centuries.

The fresco that really grabbed my attention was this one depicting cherubs working with fabric… yes… fabric! And isn’t the intensity of the colors mind blowing?

That night we set sail again. This time for Messina, Sicily. It was difficult to choose what to do with our limited time in each port, but this time we both agreed on a bus tour that took us to the village of Taormina located on the top of a mountain. The landscapes were spectacular as we traveled up and up, and the village was even more fascinating. At the top of the main street (another goodly walk) we came to a theater that was centuries old and had been built and occupied at different times by both the Greeks and the Romans. What a view!!! And please don’t miss Mt. Etna in the background. It began to “let off steam” just a few days before we arrived there.

We had free time after seeing the theater and decided to try some local pasta on our walk back to the bus. It was delicious! And almost pretty enough to be the inspiration for an art quilt 😋.

We definitely didn’t have enough time there. Our next day was at sea as we made our way around the boot of Italy, through the Ionian Sea, and up the Adriatic to the port of Dubrovnik (this map is not of our exact cruise, but it gives perspective).

Our time in Dubrovnik proved to be the most interesting for me as a quilter, as I learned about local fibers and small scale silk production (it deserves a post of it’s own and will get one next week). So I’ll conclude this week’s post with our next port of call: Zadar, Croatia. Because our ship was smaller than many cruise ships, we were able to dock close to the best points of interest, and this was especially true in Zadar. The old walled city sits on a small peninsula protected by islands along the Adriatic. We docked along the end of the peninsula next to the Sea Organ (our ship was where I’ve drawn the thick red line in the lower left and the Sea Organ is just to the right by the musical notes).

What, you may ask, is a Sea Organ? Well, it’s a natural musical instrument, seventy meters long with thirty-five organ pipes built under concrete. It was created by a Croatian architect in 2005 as part of a reconstruction of the Zadar shoreline. The waves flow into the organ pipes and create a haunting melody that increases and decreases with the intensity of the weather. Click here for a video that captures the sound and feel (please watch to at least the 11 second mark so you can see/hear the “music” and the waves). I thoroughly enjoyed listening to it, and wandered off the ship a number of times to sit on the curved benches along the organ that look like a piano keyboard, and just listen.

As the sun was beginning to set I made my way back to the ship, only to find a small group of young people swimming off the stone steps! This was all the more surprising because the temperature of the air was about 42 degrees! When I got back to our cabin I found Will on the phone with his girlfriend. When I told him about the crazy swimmers he responded (you’ve probably already guessed this) – “can I?” I held his towel and took the photos. Crazy kid! I did join him in the hot tub afterwards 😊.

As the sun was setting the other part of this lovely shoreline became the star attraction. The same architect who designed the Sea Organ also came up with the “Greeting to the Sun”, a solar installation that collects the sun’s energy during the day and than creates a light show at night that dances with the sound of the organ. It was truly amazing – and the best place to view it was from the top deck of our ship. What a blessing! Please click here to watch the video I took (it was quite windy, so you won’t hear the sea organ, but the light show is pretty nontheless).

This brings my first trip post to an end. I can’t wait to share more with you next week. but I do want to share one more thing…

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I was invited to teach a class at the AQS show in Paducah this year and registration for members has opened. Registration for non-members begins January 20th. The class is entitled “Quilt, Slash, Create” and you can read about it in a post from November by clicking here!

Click here to register for my class – or to see what other instructors are offering. Don’t miss my friend Lori Dickman’s classes too!

It’s been an unusual and eventful year. As may be evidenced by the fact that I’m in Italy at the time of this posting and I scheduled it’s arrival back in mid-December! Technology is amazing (she said as she was hoping this all actually did happen in an orderly way 🤣).

The year began in a warm and wonderful way because I was invited (for the second year in a row) to teach for a quilt guild in Ft. Myers, Florida in January. And the best part was staying with my friend Linda who made it all possible (click here to read that post)!

When I returned home we began the remodel of our kitchen and refinishing of almost all the floors on the main level of our home – yes in winter!

After 4 months it was done. It is beautiful ~ but what a mess it was! And very little quilting took place during that time 😞.

In April I made my 34th pilgrimage to the AQS quilt show in Paducah, and was blessed to teach along with my friend Lori. What a wonderful time we had!

Shortly after we returned home my life changed quite a bit because of my Mom’s deteriorating health. She and Dad moved into a Senior Living Facility and 2 days later Mom went on hospice. As many of you know she’s been put on “end of life care” three times, and she’s rallied each time. No one would have believed she’d still be with us at Christmas, but praise the Lord ~ she was! During this time I didn’t get much time to sew, but I did manage to make a quilt about the cookbook Mom gifted me. Click here to read that story (in case you don’t remember it 😊).

When Mom first went on hospice they said she had “hours to days” to live. Since then she has seen her 91st birthday, Dad’s 94th birthday (he’s doing quite well), and their 71st anniversary. What a gift God has given us to spend this extra sweet time with her.

I’ve posted about our Thanksgiving and Christmas celebrations over the past few months. My big Christmas sewing project this year was a jacket for Hanna. I started working on it in November and if you don’t remember the details, you can read about the beginnings of that sewing adventure by clicking here!

After quilting all the fabric and cutting out the pattern pieces at our retreat, I realized I needed to do something about the poofy edges of each piece.

My friend Susan invited me to serge them at her house. It worked great! In no time at all I had all the edges finished, and I think I need a serger (but that’s for a future post). Thanks Susan!

Piecing a garment with pre-quilted fabric was a new adventure for me, and I enjoyed it.

Once all the seems were stitched all the outer edges needed to be bound. I used the outer jacket fabric and made a lot of binding. I sewed it to the inside, turned it to the outside, and top-stitched it in place with a serpentine stitch.

Next it needed buttons and loops. I went through my button collection and found some vintage ones (probably from a grandmother). I sent Hanna a photo for approval, and she loved them. They are made of fabric covered with metal. Once the fabric loops and buttons were in place all that was left was to add a “label”.

The good news is I did get it finished in time to ship it to her in Washington ~ and she loves it! I’ll send a photo of her in it when I return from my trip.

There have been many retreats, travels, teaching adventures and quilt projects stitched on throughout the year. Thanks for traveling along with me through 2025. I’m looking forward to more sewing adventures in 2026! Who knows ~ next week’s blog may contain some fiber fun from Europe! I don’t know what lies ahead for William and me in Italy, but I sure hope I find something of interest for quilters while I’m there.

In January of 2020 (can it really be six years ago already?) I was blessed to be able to lead a group of quilters on a tour of Japan. The highlight was spending three days at the Great International Quilt Show in Tokyo. We also toured amazing sites and took classes with Japanese teachers. I now know it was a once in a lifetime trip for me, as it was the last Great International Quilt Show ever held there. The show was permanently cancelled the following year because of the pandemic. I’m so grateful for all of it and the wonderful memories we have. If you’d like to read my first post about the show click here. I did a number of posts about the fiber art we saw and classes we took. To read them please click here, and here, and here , and one more here.

So why am I telling you all this in 2026? Well, in the end of November I received an email from Sharon. She’d come across my Japan post from 2020 and liked one of the quilts in that post (I don’t blame her – it is amazing!)

She contacted me to ask if I’d taken a photo of the label because she reads Japanese! Sadly, I hadn’t. She then wrote to say that she was making her own version from the photo and wanted to give credit to the maker. And… she sent me this photograph!

Wow!!! I wrote her back and asked if I could share her quilt in progress. I was hoping someone might have information on this quilt to share with Sharon. If you know anything about it please comment below.

When I wrote her I also asked if she’d share a bit of her story. Sharon did not disappoint, and in December she sent photos of her finished quilt along with this information:

“I came from a family that sewed, canned, and farmed so making things has always been part of my life. 

I first went to Japan as a young teenager to study the Japanese language.   That first trip strongly influenced my sense of color, shape, and asymmetry. I had a long career in natural resource management and regulation.  While I did small sewing projects and needlepoint during those years, quilts just seemed too demanding. But when I retired quilts became the dominant art form for me.  I prefer to design my own quilts and typically use Japanese fabrics, often old hand dyed pieces.

When I saw your photos of the 2020 Japanese quilt show, the moon quilt called my name.  It took me a few months but here it is!”

Isn’t it exquisite? Sharon, you did a beautiful job. Congratulations and thanks for sharing it with us!

And one last link. I did an additional post about the food in Japan and thought some of you might find it interesting too. Click here to read it!

Wishing you all a very Happy New Year!

This year our family will have a very different sort of Christmas celebration. We usually spend Christmas Eve with my Dad’s side of the family, but that tradition is changing. Recently my brother had to be moved into a memory care home. He’s had early onset alzheimer’s for almost 8 years, and my sister-in-law has taken wonderful care of him. But the time came when he needed more than she was able to provide. He’s in a very nice home in Madison. Plus, as I’ve mentioned before, my parents have been living at Shorehaven for 6 months. Dad is still doing well in assisted living. Mom is in hospice there. Currently she sleeps a lot, is often confused, and the hardest part is she’s become very hard of hearing. But she’s still with us and we are grateful. So Saturday we had a small family Christmas gathering with snacks and cookies at “Dad and Mom’s place”. Mike read the Christmas story and we all praised our Lord for His goodness to us.

The other reason this Christmas will be different is because our grandson Will is a senior and I’m blessed to be able to take him on a trip and enjoy spending time (and some of his inheritance) with him. We leave this week for Italy! Seeing all the beauty of this season in Italy will be wonderful ~ especially with my sweet grandson (Mike decided not to go. After 34 years of flying all over the world ~ he just prefers to stay home 😊).

We’ll begin with a day in Rome,

and then board a cruise ship to travel around Italy, ending our adventure in Venice. We are beyond blessed! And I’m so very grateful that Will is doing well in school ~ and wants to travel with his grandma 😊. I’ve attempted to schedule blog posts for the weeks when I’m gone. If you don’t get an email from me the next 2 Sundays, please feel free to visit my blog at any time: https://www.chrisquilts.net/blog/, and hopefully the scheduled posts will be there.

And, since I like to include something of interest to quilter’s in every post, I want to share a rather odd Christmas project. I made a quilt for our son Brad when he was 9 years old using a Mary Ellen Hopkin’s pattern named Bricks and Mortar. I wrote a post about that quilt and a subsequent one back in 2019 (click here to read that post).

It was tied with wool yarn and stayed on his bed for many years. It left with him when he and Betsy married. Two years ago Betsy told me that they all loved that quilt (really!?!), but it was getting quite worn and they’d love it if I made a new version for Christmas. I was happy to oblige and had Betsy choose the fabrics. Both quilts were flannel backed.

Imagine my surprise when Trey recently told me his favorite quilt had a tear and he asked me to fix it. I had to wonder which quilt was his favorite? This is what I got:

When I picked it up I could see why he loved it. It’s been washed so many times that it’s soft, drapey and snuggly. It still looks pretty good. Some of the black blocks are faded, and the wool ties are all felted into knots. But what needed fixing? Then I turned it over:

The flannel on the back was thin and shredded. So I found some nice thick plaid flannel online to simply add a new back. Then it sat. Our family Christmas Saturday ended around noon. Dad and Mom were ready for naps and after Mike and I got home there was a lull. Hmm. Maybe I could get that quilt repaired for Christmas Eve.

The wool yarn knots had held up so well that I chose to retie it in the untied areas. This required putting it in my basting frame. I was stunned to discover that I still had some of that same yarn left from when I first tied the quilt. I stitched, cut, and knotted every dark brick.

Then I trimmed the flannel, turned under a hem, and appliquéd it all around. I’ll take a photo of Trey with his repaired favorite quilt on Christmas Eve, but I won’t be able to share it with you until Will and I return from our trip.

May your Christmas be wonderful! What joy to know that we can celebrate the birth of our Savior no matter what is going on around us ~ and He can be with us through the good and difficult times! “God bless us every one” ☺️.