Castle Rock Quilt Club

May 2009

In the Merry Month of May…..

May is without a doubt a wonderful month!  The weather isn’t too cold and not to hot…usually just perfect and we have the pleasure of all the beautiful flowers that will be popping up all over.

                  I thought I’d share with you (as usual!) a story about my mom.  She was born in 1909 and that was certainly a different time and era.  There were many sweet and romantic things that people use to do that we no longer take part in.  One of those things was my mother always talked about the May Pole dance.  They REALLY did dance around a May Pole, decorated with ribbons and flowers when she was a little girl.  She also told me how that was the day you were suppose to take flowers to your mother and place them at the front door, ring the bell and then runaway…the idea being that your mother didn’t guess it was you!!!  I always thought that was so sweet so one year I made a pretty little arrangement of flowers and drove to her house and rang the bell and ran like heck.  I LOVED seeing the surprise and happiness on her face…which brings me to another subject, Mother’s Day.  I lovingly and gently want to remind all of you who still have the joy of having their Mom’s with them to appreciate and  spend that little bit of extra time letting them know what they mean to you.  I sadly lost my sweet Mama at 27 and my Dad at 11 and we don’t know what we have until it’s gone…ahhh I’m prattling on…sorry!  And for those of us who are mother’s I hope we all have a wonderful Mother’s Day filled with love.    Personally, I ADORE being a grandma!!!     Those kids really come through for us huh?! LOL

Well, the newsletter is a tad late because 1) my computer has been “acting” up and 2) I had the joy of going to California and seeing my best friend (it’d been 2yrs!)for 10 days.  And, guess what we did?  The Sacramento area was having their annual Quilt Shop Hop…what fun we had and of course, I came back with some new fabric and a great new thimble too!  I am so excited to get to my projects.  This is a great time to start some Christmas projects or a wonderful floral spring quilt!

I don’t know about you but I thoroughly enjoyed the Rocky Mountain Quilt Museum trunk show last night…more inspiration for our projects!  

I know that I probably shouldn’t endorse a certain product but since I’m not certain about that…I will… I recently picked up a quilt magazine at Target and it is Better Homes and Gardens “Quilts and More.”  Anddddd…they have a special going on for $24 + $5.96 for shipping and handling you get 24 issues for 2yrs!!!  That’s only a dollar an issue!  I couldn’t resist and I haven’t subscribed to a magazine in years so I’m like a little girl I’m so excited about it.  Plus, if you’ve never read Better Homes and Gardens quilt and sewing materials well…I’m here to tell you that their directions are SO easy to follow and they have some great projects and ideas.

I have another good web site for you to visit and I found it in the above quilt magazine.  It’s:  www.allpeoplequilt.com.  This is the Better Homes and Garden quilt site and it’s terrific!  They have their magazine offer on this site.

One more thing that I wanted to share with you and it doesn’t have anything to do with quilting but it’s such a great bargain that I just had to share it with you.  My husband and I went and saw “The Soloist” at the Castle Rock movie theaters and when we were there a lady told me about a card you can get that will let you get in for only $5.00.  Every Thursday they will email you (or you can call them at a toll free number) and they will tell you what movies you can see for $5.  Here is their website and all you have to do is sign-up and they will send you a card to carry and show when you go to the movies: www.fivebuckclub.net I received my card within a week.  We can always use a break when it comes to spending money…oh, and on Tues. it’s “senior day” and they give you free popcorn!!!  Can’t beat that!!!

Meriellen wanted me to be sure and share with you this email:

Hey there,

Last meeting (or was it the one before???), my hint of the month was for Quilter’s magic numbers.  Someone asked me to have you put them in the newsletter, so here they are…

The Magic Numbers for getting the correct seam allowances:

Squares & Rectangles: The Magic Number is ½". Add 1/2" to the finished size of the rectangle to find the unfinished size.

Right angle triangles: These are the triangles that are 1/2 of a square. The Magic Number is 7/8"   Add 7/8 inch to the FINISHED SIZE of the final square

The "magic number" for quarter-square triangles is 1¼".  You simply add 1¼" to the required FINISHED SIZE of your quarter-square triangle unit.

I also found one more magic number that is used for calculating the size of setting triangles.  This magic number is 1.414 and you’ll find detailed instructions for using it at http://wwwthequiltercommunity.com/Wcef248d3a75a0.htm .  Unfortunately, the results come out as a decimal and you have to translate it back to a fraction.  So I’m not sure it’s quite ‘magic’.

Meriellen

Mother's Day Funny Stories

Three old ladies were sitting around a table. The first says, "I'm getting so forgetful­ I was standing at the top of the stairs and I couldn't remember whether I was going down or had just come up."

The second lady says, "You think that's bad? The other day I was sitting on my bed and I couldn't remember whether I was going to sleep or getting up."

The third lady smiles smugly. "Well, I have no memory problems at all, knock wood."

She raps the table. "Who's there?"

“God could not be everywhere and therefore he made mothers." -- Jewish proverb

"Of all the rights of women, the greatest is to be a mother." -- Lin Yutang

"The heart of a mother is a deep abyss at the bottom of which you will always find forgiveness." -- Honore' de Balzac (1799-1850)                                             

"'Tis like the birthday of the world,
When earth was born in bloom;
The light is made of many dyes,
The air is all perfume:
There's crimson buds, and white and blue,
The very rainbow showers
Have turned to blossoms where they fell,
And sown the earth with flowers."
-   Thomas Hood    

Don’t forget that if you’d like to sign-up for one of  David Taylor’s classes you can contact Lynette to sign up for them.   

Well dear fellow quilters…this is all for this time.  I hope you have a wonderful month of May!!!

One more reminder…Please be sure to email me your birthday month and day. I think it would be nice to share in wishing each other a happy birthday and a happy year ahead.        

Until next month…remember, (sometimes I feel like this when my quilting challenges me): Courage doesn't always roar. Sometimes courage is the little voice at the end of the day that says, “I'll try again tomorrow."

—Mary Anne Radmacher-Hershey

I’m so glad to belong to such a wonderful group of friends!