I have some great new art!

I found this quilt block in my uncles barn this summer. It was fun rummaging, I could have been out there for a year, but it was so DIRTY! My great-aunt Leonora made it in 1911, she would have been about 18. It is 24"square & I then rummaged his house for a picture of her to frame with it. I remember walking to her house from my grandparents, to visit "The Girls" (Leonora & her two sisters, Alice &Lizzy.) I was young, and didn't know them well. I love that I can imagine she & I working together on a sewing project; it makes me feel like I know her a little better.

This is me on a break from my rummaging. You can not fully appreciate how dirty I was from this picture, so I will help. I found a cool old bottle that I took with me. It was filthy so that night I attempted to soak it in hot, soapy water when I went to rinse it out it had the skeletal remains of a rodent in it. No one saw that coming! Over 100 years of dirt will hide a lot! The bottle ended up in the trash & out came the bleach! I also found many other treasures; I just wish my uncle & I treasured the same things. He had boxes of books from early 1900's (some older) beautiful copies of things like: Dickens Christmas Carol and the entire Little Women series all exposed to owl poop & roof leaks. But he had a pile covered up by a tarp, excited, I peeked to see what was important enough to protect if journals, hand made quilt blocks, photos and amazing books were not. I pulled back the tarp & dug into the boxes; no lie, there were boxes full of 100 year old bars of soap & shower caps, plastic containers, just JUNK! What a bummer!

This is another new painting from my mom. Christmas Kaleidoscope. It is hard to fully appreciate how amazing it is unless you see it in person. She has embellished it with tiny Swarovski crystals & whit glitter in the snow flakes. It is so pretty, thanks Mom.