Lititz, Pa.

Oh my gosh, a couple of weeks and it
will be Christmas already! Lots of
shopping to be done yet. So last week
I went to Lititz and did some shopping.
I love coming here. See the traffic and
the houses are close together. It reminds
me of Queens, N.Y. (where I was born)
I feel right at home here.

Wilbur Chocolate Factory is one of the most
popular tourists places (and for locals too!) I love to
buy the chocolate wafers and make my own concoctions.
I'll try to do a blog about making some easy noshes for
Christmas. Chocolate dipped marshmallows and pretzels.
No wonder I can't lose weight!

Here's a shop up the street from Wilbur's; it's called
The Savory Gourmet.
Read the sign -

Look at what one of the owners did to the statue of David(?)
I thought that was so cute! The bow is in an appropriate spot!
(I met the owner in one of the shops and asked
permission to use the photos for my blog and she said "sure".)

Here's The The Broad Street Bazaar The owner is
Shelley and I asked her if I may take some photos for
my blog. (permission granted) This is where I sell my stuff.
Wait until you see the fun stuff in here! Everything
in this shop is handmade from local artisans.


Where to begin? Let's start with the photos. See the
photos on the red chair? I love this photographer's
idea - each photo looks like a letter of the alphabet
and spells a word. See the word FAITH? Love it!
(on top) Under it is the word LOVE.

Up on the wall is a woman who does hand crochet.
See that brown vest in the middle - I have my eye
on that - it's just my style!

On the opposite side of the photo on the blue chair;
is my friend Kathi's baby quilt. She has a couple of
these little beauties around the shop.



I'll tell ya - this shop is packed with goodies. I did
some of my Christmas shopping here but can't show
you what I bought... my daughter reads my blog. (-:

Lots of beautiful jewelry, handbags, purses and hand
made cards, etc.




Look at all these adorable dresses! Oh, there's one
of my hand dyed handbags hanging on the wall.
And to the left side is my friend Kathi's grocery
bag. (orange one)


This is the Children corner - Up on the top shelf is
my stuffed rocking horse sitting on one of Kathi's
baby quilts.

To the left is Yummy Pancake featuring Mr. Toastee - how cute is that!

If you're in the Lancaster area;
Lititz should be on your list of places to visit.

More Friendship Stars + Art quilt

This is my second Fabric Paper art piece. The fabric
paper is the tree trunk and leaves. The blue
background fabric is my hand dyed using Dylon
Dyes and the one under that is my shibori piece
using set-a-color paints. It still has to be worked
on with free motion and decorative stitches.




Here are two more of the Friendship Stars
that I did (see side bar for Block Party)

This is is more traditional with the four patch in each
corner. I'm not happy with the way it turned out;
mainly because the blue is too dark - to me anyway.


I chose red, white and blue for this block to honor
our Soldiers. The corners are intuitively pieced.
I like how this one turned out it looks happy.

I can't wait to try the next one that Block Party has up
- it's a variation of the Friendship Star and a little wonky.

Friendship Star Block 1

I joined the group over at Block Party
See my side bar for the page.

Here's my first Block:

I also finished my Fabric Paper Art Quilt
This was from Linda Matthews "Free Lunch"
See my side bar.

I really had fun doing this project! The flower is a
photo that I took of a nasturtium in my garden.
I then printed it on tissue paper - another one
of Linda's lessons.

The background is paper fabric and also the leaves.
I used free motion, decorative and hand embroidery
stitches. I added my hand dyed cheesecloth and lots
of beads. The orange fabric (border) is my hand dyed
fabric where I use Dylon Dyes.

This is my first attempt at an art quilt! I also
have two other paper fabric pieces to play with now.

I would like to encourage you to join Linda's "Free
Lunches"

Vicksburg block 3

I did remember to do my BOM for Vicksburg Dawn!

Dawn is doing a free BOM called Vicksburg.
If you would like to join in Click Here
Use fabrics from your stash.

Baltimore Beauties

At our last Guild meeting - our guest
speaker was Marylou McDonald
The Baltimore Quilt Lady herself!

Just look at those glorious quilts - what beauties.
Mary Simon quilt on the left
Lovely Lane quilt on the right

I had first met Marylou at the 2007 Quilt Odyssey show in
Hershey, Pa. I was at the table of the American Quilt Study Group gathering brochures to
read about the group. I looked at the next table and saw
all of these patterns for Baltimore Album quilts and so
I walked over to look. I believe at that time Marylou was
the President of
The Baltimore Applique Society I was so excited that I
bought the Elizabeth MacCullough Hervey Quilt Patterns.
When I got home and looked at them; I realized how large
each pattern is and thought "This should take me about 5
years to complete"!

I took Marylou's business card and practically nagged
our V.P. of Programs for 2008-2009 Vicki to please,
please get Marylou McDonald for a lecture and workshop.

What a fabulous night!

A miniature Baltimore

There's me standing next to the Mary Simon Quilt

You can purchase the Quilt pattern for the Mary
Simon Quilt at The DAR web site
The Lovely Lane Pattern can be purchased at the

Lovely Lane's Museum On-line Gift shop

Captain Russell Eagle

The workshop was great; we learned so many new

techniques!

Block Party - Quilt Along

(update note: Links are now corrected
and working - 11/7/09)

"Block Party" Two choices to participate. You
can join a virtual Quilting Bee or use your own
stash and sew along. There will be a tutorial
for a specific block; it's quarterly so you will
have plenty of time to do your blocks. And then
upload photos of your completed blocks
to the Block Party Quilt Along on Flickr.

(I'm choosing this batch)

Now here's the exciting part! Photos of your blocks
and quilts that you make with them might well be
chosen to be published in a book!
There is also a giveaway of 8 fat quarters of gorgeous
fabric! If this sounds like fun to you and would
like to join in Click here For the details.
This is also a great way to reduce your stash.

I'm in - hope to see you there too!

Guess what I saw?

Alzheimer's: Forgetting Piece by Piece
traveling exhibit. Only three more stops to go. If you
have an opportunity to see it; please do!

Friday afternoon I had a lot of errands to do
in Lititz. I remembered that the Alzheimer's
exhibit was at the Moravian Manor and so
I grabbed my camera and that was a no-no.
No photographs are allowed to be taken of
the quilts but you can buy the CD or the
book with all of the quilts and their stories
in them. The monies collected goes to the
fund for Alzheimer's research.

If the exhibit is not traveling to your area
you may purchase the book and CD
Here

When you go in you receive a tag (like the
one above) and when you leave - they ask
you to write something about your experience.

I don't know anyone personally who has
Alzheimer's. Although I do know a friend and a
former neighbor who has had a relative effected
by this terrible disease. When the neighbor used
to go and see her mother she said "My mom
keeps asking me who I am." Sad

This exhibit was very enlightening and educational
for me. Each Artist has a statement next to their
quilt and tells the story of their loved one who
had/has Alzheimer's. To read the stories of these
women and how Alzheimer's had/has affected their lives
is truly heart breaking. Their quilt expresses their
story. Heartbreaking stories but
the construction of the quilts are fabulous as each quilt
tells a story visually, each one has their own way
of interpreting their feelings of this disease .
The visual impact is very emotional!

The one that really "did it"
for me was the one that said (paraphrasing)
"What if I forget that I loved you" well, I just
broke down and cried when I read that and
couldn't stop until I left. When my husband
saw my face when I came out he said "Well,
I guess you saw the quilts."

Thank you Ami Simms for all of the work
you are doing and educating the public
(me too) about Alzheimer's and the affect
that it has on people's lives. I now have a
better understanding of this disease.