During December of 2007 I attended two funnerals. At one there were alot of flowers and I as I was thinking about when I died I would rather have people donate to a worthy cause instead of buying flowers that will just die and have to be thrown away. But, then a few days later I went to a funneral and there were NO flowers. Changed my mind – I thought I wanted a few flowers, but then still have money donated to a worthy cause. But, with all those stands that they have to put the flowers on – that would be a great place to drape my quilts on. Having the quilts displayed would really add to the celebration of life atmosphere that I want to have. It would really be like a party and people would enjoy coming to see me dead. Later that month my kids were visiting to participate with me in the Emerald Nut’s Midnight Fun Run at Central Park on New Year’s Eve. I was telling my girls about the additional plans that I want when I die. (I have already told them I want upbeat music playing at the viewing – I really do want it to be a celebration of my life.)
A few days later my daughter came to me and said that we don’t have to wait until I die to do a party like this – I was turning 50 in 2008 – why not celebrate my 50th Birthday by hanging all my quilts and inviting family and friends to enjoy an afternoon together and see my quilts.
My birthday is in December and this really is a very hard time of the year to do something like this. As we started to look at the calendar we realized that my exact 50 1/2 birthday was on a Saturday in June – thus the idea for my 50 1/2 Birthday celebration was born. But, I needed a more catchy name. I asked Janaradan (one of my son-in-law’s) to come up it a catchy name. He went to his computer and started doing some searching. He found the word – Quinquagenarian (which means 50 years old). I decided this was perfect. Put it together with Quilt (since that was going to be the focus of the party) Quest (journey). As I was making plans for the party and lisiting the quilts that I had (or had made) I realized that I had at least one quilt from each of the decades of my life.
A couple of months ago I saw a postcard that Jane Davilla had designed for Fiber + Thread = Art exhibit. She had taken slivers of five different quilts and merged them together to make one photo for the front of the postcard. I thought this would wonderful for my postcard invitations. I included a sliver of quilt from a quilt made in each of the decades of my life. The party is a month away.
Date: June 13, 2009
time: 1:00-5:00 pm
(Program at 3:30 pm)
Location: 111 North Ave.
New Rochelle, NY 10801
It is going to be like a quilt show with the exception of a few quilty party games (requested by my sewing students). You can come and look around (there will be over 70 quilts), play some games (if you want), participate in the Viewer’s Choice vote, have some refreshments, stay for the program (my daughters are in charge of this) and leave whenever you want. I think it should be alot of fun.
Also, my four cute grandchildren will be there! What more could a quilting Grandma want – oh yah, one more thing. Since family is so important to me and I have made it part of my quilting life and career (
The Legacy Lives On – Six Generations of Quilters), we will also be displaying Six Generations of Quilts. Which will include quilts from:
1. My great Grandmother
2. My grandmother
3. My mother
4. me
5. My two daughters
6. My five-year-old granddaughter
There will be a Family History specialists demonstrating what resources are available to help learn how you can do your genelogy.
For those of you who know how I love the kitchen (NOT REALLY) – not to worry, a dear friend who is very gifted with the whole kitchen thing will be in charge of the refreshments.
During the past 1 1/2 years I have been working on some of UFOs (UnFinished Objects). Planning for my 50 1/2 Birthday Celebration has been a great motivator. I still have alot of UFOs though, maybe we will include a display of some of these projects also. I also had a
QQQ quilt planned and pieces cut out. But that is as far as it is going to get.
If you would like a postcard – please send me an email with your address and I will be glad to send you one. (
info@sewingandbeyond.com )
Looking forward to seeing many family members, friends and quilt lovers on June 13.
(Thank you to Susan my sister for these pictures.)
This quilt was designed by my daughter – Emily
This quilt was designed by my daughter – Jennie.
All the blocks pictures above were given to me on June 9 from the wonderful members of the Village Squares Quilters. Thanks for letting me be your president for the past two years.
My First Quilt: With the help of my mother, I embroidered the bear blocks and completed this quilt to display at a church young girls’ activity. 
Cow Quilt: Emily loved cows and wanted a “Cow” quilt. Only fabric in the sewing room was used. This was the beginning of “FUN BACKS”. 
(Back of the cow quilt)
Here is the same part of the quilt, but after I did my repair job.
