San Antonio, Book Reviews and Students Works

My trip this past week took me to San Antonio.  I had been in that area a while ago and was happy to be back.  The guild there is wonderful.  One of the things I loved at their meeting……. they recognized the people from their guild who have been doing volunteer work related to promoting quilting.  Some members go to a local nursing home and sit and sew with residents and some were making story book quilts.  If I got this correct….they are making a quilt to go along with a book.  So the quilt relates to the story in the book.  They then loan the quilt to school teachers to use in their classrooms.  Very nice idea.  Below are some photos from the meeting on Saturday morning.  Great attendance.

 

Some of the ladies who took the workshop on Friday went home and finished their projects and brought them for show-and-tell.  Awesome.

My guild contacts, Karen and Mary, took very good care of me while I was visiting their area.  They took me out for some great Mexican food, something I don’t get much of in Pennsylvania.   Karen was also kind enough to take us to the River Walk area on Saturday evening.  I really like this area, even if it was 95 degrees and humid!  There is a walkway on each side of the river and it has some tributaries off on the sides.  The area is filled with shops, restaurants and hotels. Great place for a stroll and some Mexican food.

 

 

 

They offer tours of the area via river boat.  If you are in this area for the first time I highly recommend the tour.  I took the tour on my previous visit and it was well worth it.  Not very expensive and lots of good information.

 

Mary was making fun of me for photographing the ducks.  She asked if I did not have ducks at home.  And I said we did but I love the ducks. They are so cute.

Look how beautiful this guy is.  You wait Mary….I’m going to make a duck quilt some day!

Then we walked over to the Alamo.  You cannot go to San Antonio and not go see the Alamo.  We arrived to late to take a tour but we did walk around the outside for a while.

There was some great landscaping around the Alamo.  I especially liked this old oak tree.

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Mary Ellen took my class in Asilomar, California at the Empty Spools Seminar.  She sent me this photo of her finished block.  It is from my pattern “Around the Garden”.  This block has tons of little pieces and is rather time consuming.  I think Mary Ellen did a great job.


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BOOK REVIEW  This is without a doubt the best book I have read in many years.  I cannot tell you the last time I have read a book that I just could not put down.  Well, “Unbroken” fits that bill.  It is so well written.  (When I travel I normally hate long layovers at the airport.  But, not this time.  I had 3 hours in the Charlotte airport and it gave me just enough time to finish the book).  Even if you know the ending you still want to read more to find out all of the details about Louis Zamperini.  Louie’s plane was shot down during WWII while fighting the Japanese.  He and two other survivors were stranded on a life raft for over 40 days.  When they finally drifted ashore they were in enemy territory.  His weight had gone down to about 65 pounds.  He and his pilot, Phil, were placed in POW camps and the stories about the camps and how the prisoners were treated will leave you in tears.  After I read the book I saw a taped interview of Louie with Jay Leno.  This man is a true survivor.  If you have not already read this book you need to rush right out and get a copy or download it to your reader.  There were numerous people this year who recommended this book to me and I would like to send each and everyone of you a big THANK YOU.

Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience and Redemption

 

I listened to another great book, “Lone Wolf” by Jodi Picoult. Luke Warren has spent his life researching wolves.  He lived with them for two years and has written about them.  He understands them better than his own family dynamics.  Luke and his daughter, Cara, are in a  serious car accident and everything changes for the family.  Cara and her brother, Edward, are put in an unimaginable situation of deciding to leave their father on life support or not.  The books goes back and forth between the characters and how their family relates to the wolf pack.  I am a big Jodi Picoult fan and this book did not disappoint.

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On Tuesday evening I did a lecture for the Four County Quilters Guild in Mt. Airy, MD.  A lovely group of ladies.  If you live around this area you will want to check out this guild http://www.fourcountyquilters.com  Based on their show-and-tell and business meeting there is lots going on in this guild.  They were planning their quilt show, retreats and more.

 

This coming week I am off to Ohio and then New Mexico.  Talk to you later.

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