REVELATIONS AT JOANN'S!

We had high winds last night and rain this afternoon. The birds are flocking to my feeder sock, eating their fill. A big red tinted finch showed up yesterday, dominating my little yellow babies.



I spent a few hours today on a trip to JoAnn's to get my Insul-Brite and Warm and Natural. While browsing in the Green hued section, I struck up a conversation with an older east Indian woman. We both agreed that finding greens that blended well was a difficult project. We continued to talk and browse, discovering that we are both quilters, love to sew and do hand work. Her daughter arrived, we wished each other luck in the hunt and parted ways. When they were several feet away, I heard the daughter ask her mom if she knew me. "No" was her answer, "but through the heart we are friends. We both know quilting." I smiled and thought, she's so right. We do know parts of each other's hearts, we love quilting! The daughter was then telling her mother that she had to teach her grand daughter to sew and quilt before she went home (to India).

Moving to the pink/red section, I found a Hispanic mother and daughter shopping team, speaking in Spanish, so I couldn't catch but a few words. But like the Indian mom and daughter (who also lapsed into Indian at times) they were comparing fabrics and patterns. More projects.

In the batting area, I found a Chinese mom and daughter handling the decorator fabrics and just chirping away in Mandarin. So happy to be together. Mom was dressed in the traditional Chinese silk "pajama" look, beautiful and elegant. The daughter, also beautiful was wearing American garb. I wish I knew what kind of project they were discussing. It appeared to be intricate as they had many rolls of fabric out on the table, pantomiming cutting smaller pieces.

What a wonderful experience! I so enjoyed seeing the connection between women and their crafts, the work of their hands and how generations and even cultures can be brought together, minds and hearts, through the common love of fabric, quilting, sewing and just sharing ideas.

Thank you for being part of my world of handwork, fabric and handcrafting!!

My Russian Friend Has Arrived!

This is my sweet friend Liz. She and her husband (who will be delivering my new grandson in May) are staying with us here in Tucson for a week. The guys golf and hike and sit in the hot tub. Liz loves to sit in the sun, so I set up my sewing machine outside and work in the shade close by.


Liz says that I have the heart of a Russian so I can understand what she tells me. She is learning English, but it is a difficult project. Imagine learning a new language, new alphabet, new world while going through menopause. I have enough trouble remembering my own language!! Her son is the same age as my youngest.

We were able to go to the used book store a few miles away and found this Russian novel, written in Russian. Liz spends a lot of time on the Russian Internet, talking to people in Russia who write poetry and share their writings online. Liz is a prolific writer and shares much of what she creates. Poetry seems to be a great part of Russian life.

Liz is beautiful inside and out! I have enjoyed learning about her life growing up in Russia, and her dreams of someday coming to America. She often tells me that she has to "peench" herself to make sure that she isn't sleeping in a dream. "America is like a dream. You will never understand the freedom that you have, the things that are available to you, the opportunities that you can give your children." Her stories remind me over and over how much I take for granted, how blessed I am to be born here in America and how we all must fight to keep our freedoms. Tomorrow we will wrap in blankets and sit in the sun together, sew a bit and maybe go to a sale or 2 together. Two women from completely different cultures, speaking broken English, just having a good time together.