Remembering...

It was the last day of school before Fall break.  A Tuesday,  we were year round at Konnoak.  I was in my second grade classroom on the new hall.  Someone quietly knocked on my door and when I went to it they whispered in my ear.  A plane has hit the World Trade Center.  I felt a little shock and sorrow.  What a horrible accident.  Later another knock, another whisper, another plane has hit the other tower they think we are under attack.  We went on lock down.  When the students finished testing I went to the library.  A group of parent volunteers and staff stood around a TV.  They were supposed to be packing up books so the carpet could be changed during intersession.  Instead they told me a plane hit the Pentagon and one crashed in PA.  I think I was numb.  I don't remember finishing the school day.  I remember students being picked up early.  I remember unnaturally quiet halls and all the staff gathering in the lobby after putting students on buses.  I think we all left quickly.  I remember calling my mom and dad sometime.  My sister was in Greensboro.  The first thing I did when I went home that day was turn on my computer.  I had been to the towers a decade before, to the very top observation platform.

Remember.

Pray.

Where were you when the world stopped turning?

Have you forgotten?

God Bless the USA!

Keep dreaming...Colleen

All American Dad

Have I told you that I have an All American Dad?  He is the best Dab in the world!  I know I put a 'b' in Dad.  Its an old endearment going back to an error in a 4th grade art project.  So why is Dad an All American Dad?  Partly because he was born on the 5th of July, partly because he throws a huge picnic on the 4th each year, and partly because he loves flags especiall large ones.  He has a great collection that we have to display on the 4th.  Oh yeah he owns a firetruck too.  Wierd huh?


So way back when I was an active quilter in the 90's I spent three years creating a series of quilts for my Dad's almost patriotic birthday.  I called it the All American Dad series of course.

First was a pieced and appliqued wall quilt (have I told you I hate applique?)  I even did decorative stiching around the pieces.  It is supposed to represent my Dad's love of fireworks and his love of creating things for his family.  I embroidered the words "To the Best Dab, his hands create wonders for those he loves."  Of course the appliqued figure was to represent my Dad, salt and pepper hair and all.

I even did fancy handmade labels back then.  As you can see it was 1993 and dad was turning 50!  Love those Pigma pens.








The next year I was thinking about family and the Westinghouse legacy.  My Dad was a third generation Westinghouse employee.  So I made a quilt that reflected that as well as family.  Did I mention the 4th picnic started out as mostly Westinghouse families?

I used some wonderful reproduction fabrics in this from the Smithsonian line.  I also made my first stars which I fell in love with.  I appliques the circle W for Westinghouse. 

Then I quilted my Dad's, Grandfather's and Great Grandfather's names on the border.

A tag of course.

The third in the series is in the previous post.

:o) keep dreaming...Colleen

Remembering 9-11

As a preview for the post I'm working on and as a tribute to the victims of 9-11 and their families, I'd like to share quilt #3 in the All American Dad series.  Quilted are the words :

" Freedom to be free, Life Liberty and the pursuit of happiness, all people are created equal, the great melting pot, we hold these truths to be self evident, and the greatest of these is love."

Keep dreaming...:o)Colleen