Replies

1. 
   Becky-book | Sep 20, 2007 08:05pm | #1

   Wow!

2. 
   fabricholic | Sep 20, 2007 08:35pm | #2

   Very artistic, aren't you. I can't pick my favorite. I love the hearts and the one on the bed for it's simple elegance and the picture of the house with the birds is awesome. The one with the pinwheel look, is very detailed. Beautiful.

1. 
   rodezzy | Sep 20, 2007 08:44pm | #3

   Thanks, the taupe tone on tone I made for my son.  The chicken quilt is for my 9 year old grand.  I sent the blue teddy bear squares to a friend in MI.  The one on the wall with me in it is flowers that are paper pieced.

1. 
   Josefly | Sep 22, 2007 03:43am | #9

   Beautiful quilts! I didn't see one you identify as "the chicken quilt", though. Am I not looking closely enough?Would you tell us a little more about paper-piecing?Edited to add: Now I see the chicken quilt, in another thread under "Photos". Thanks for all the pix. - Joan

   Edited 9/21/2007 8:53 pm ET by Josefly

3. 
   solosmocker | Sep 21, 2007 01:08am | #4

   Rodezzy, you are so talented, artistic, and creative. I am so glad you shared these quilts and I was able to see them. Thanks ever so,,,solo

4. 
   Tatsy | Sep 21, 2007 04:07am | #5

   Gosh, those are beautiful!  They remind me of an article from an old anthology that I used to teach.  The title of the excerpt was "In Search of Our Mother's Gardens" and the author's point was that until the last century women could only express themselves in some aspect of homemaking.  What a fine job you've done!

1. 
   GailAnn | Sep 21, 2007 06:24pm | #7

   I've mentioned before that I teach an Adult Woman's Sunday School Class........I don't usually mention I have a keen interest in "Women's Studies".  I seldom talk or write about that, because it makes me sound like a raging feminist.  I am so far away, I'm nearly at the polar opposite!

   Women spend thier whole life dealing with REAL things;  First and foremost other people, but also, birth, life, love, childrearing, homes, families, friendships, loss, sickness, death.  Women are at the very beginnings of life, and we are usually the only ones strong enough to stick it out to the very end.  Martha and Mary the sisters of Lazarus of Bethany, brought the burial cloths, and spices to prepare the body of Our Lord.

   It's not so much that women can't express themselves in other ways, as it is why would they want to?  Women are strong and powerful in matters that truly matter.  We deal with the present, the urgent, the immediate.  We preserve the oral histories of our families and communities, we forge the attitudes of every person God places in our path each and every day.  We send new life into the future.

   Our needlework is fundamental to the task.

   Just today I was reading that in life there are ONLY five things important to consider when choosing a career.  Does it allow you to obtain water, air, food, shelter, and shoes?  We don't really NEED anything else.  So consider carefully what you must sacrifice (in terms of time and freedom) as you pursue other things.  Women instinctively know this!

   I love my husband.  I am thankful to God, the He never expected me to raise sons.  I don't know what I'd do with them.  Men's lives seem nothing but artificial to me.

   The 16th president of the United States, Mr. Abraham Lincoln, famously said,  "All I am or ever hope to be, I owe to my sainted mother."  Don't we, then, owe the very unity of our nation to Nancy L.?

   Gail   

1. 
   Tatsy | Sep 22, 2007 02:51am | #8

   GailAnn,

   I wish I had a copy of that article.  It was one of the most inspiring things I ever read.  I wish I could remember who wrote it.  I want to say Tony Cade Bambara or Anne Petry, but it was some really famous Black woman author and her point was both about how we enrich our lives and the lives of others, and how in previous generations most women had no access to formal artistic expression.

   I agree with most of what you've said; however, I had the dubious honor and great privilege of giving birth to four sons.  Before that I lived in a predominantly female household.  I found living with men to be trying, taxing, and so eminently enriching an experience that I would not trade it for anything.  

   Tatsy 

1. 
   GailAnn | Sep 22, 2007 05:51pm | #10

   Raising four sons would be an honour, privilege, and oh, such a challenge.  I have 2 nephews.  Their mothers did fine jobs!  They have turned out to be accomplished young men.    I don't think I would have been up to the task.  Gail

2. 
   fabricholic | Sep 23, 2007 03:56am | #11

   We just studied the book, Being Mary in a Martha World. The difference between the two women was very interesting. On a lighter side, Did you see the movie Steel Magnolia's? The man that wrote the story had noticed that it was the women that stayed strong i crisis and took care of the details.Marcy

1. 
   GailAnn | Sep 25, 2007 09:28am | #12

   Yes, I have read Having a Mary Heart in a Martha World and I find I need to re=read it every now and again.  I believe there is a more recent book out by the same author, Joanna Weaver (?). but I haven't read that yet.

   Steel Magnolias is one of my favorite movies!  Gail

1. 
   fabricholic | Sep 25, 2007 04:10pm | #13

   Oh, I will have to tell the class about the new book. Steel Magnolia's is one of my favorites, mainly because I like to see Weezer and how they pick on her, but they love her also.

5. 
   Cherrypops | Sep 21, 2007 04:26am | #6

   Well Done!

   Thanks so much for sharing.

   Cp