Ryan and Tanya carved two giant pumpkins! Enjoy! (click on the blue button)

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Don and I went to see the Lion King on tour here in San Diego! WOW – it is an AMAZING SHOW! The costuming, the set design and the puppetry is so cool! If you have not seen it, DO go, and try to sit on the lower level where the performers will enter down the aisles.

 

My work has been on exhibit at the Rocky Mountain Quilt Museum in Golden, Colorado this autumn. On October 11, visitors gathered for an afternoon with me, talking about quilts and getting reacquainted with friends! See the highlights, below:

Make a Smilebox slideshow

From Ellen Nadeau in Maine:  

“Friends and Needles Quilters Guild from Houlton, Maine, is holding its 25th annual quilt show this weekend (Aug. 21-23). As part of the special anniversary events, The Fabric Garden from Madison, Maine, donated 25 fabric kits containing 1/2 yd of a focus fabric and 1/4 yd each of 4 coordinating fabrics.

Participants could eliminate one fabric and/or add up to 3 of their own fabrics (I added the pale teal/white background for the rocket blocks and the pale lilac background for the compass corners and lone star diamonds). I worked on this 31-1/2 inch square wallhanging from July 2-August 19 every minute I could find outside of my paying job, even taking my sewing machine on vacation with me so I could finish on time!

The quilt show is called “Stitching Through Time: 25 Years of Quilting in ‘The County'” so I named my wallhanging “Stitching Through Time & Beyond”.
 
I’m sure there will be photos of the show very soon if you would like to check out all of the “challenge” quilts or this special silver anniversary show. The website is www.friendsandneedles.org. Also, the website for The Fabric Garden is www.fabricgarden.com.
 
Again, thanks so much for coming to Maine. You have inspired me twice so far! And I still want to make a spiral lone star…”    Ellen Nadeau

Today was really interesting! Don and I went to Balboa Park’s  Natural History Museum to see the exhibit “Body Works“. If you have not seen it in person, you will marvel at the inner workings of the human body – the muscles, organs, tendons, nerves and blood vessels are all real. Humans have donated their bodies upon death to the scientific plastification process so the rest of us may benefit from seeing the human body in a unique way.

In addition to the “Body Works” exhibition, we enjoyed viewing the water-wise exhibit educating Southern Calfornians about our water source (90% imported) and extreme water conditions (drought) ever seen on record. The Museum of Natural History has a wonderful prehistoric exhibit with dinosaurs, skeletal remains from archaelogical excavations and much more!

Find this museum at Balboa Park right near the big fountain. Weekends are a popular time for families and tourists alike to enjoy the many museums, gardens and sidewalk musicians at Balboa Park.

Date: Sunday, September 13, 2009, 7:19 PM

Subject: Kathy Sandbach’s Quilts
Date: Mon, 17 Aug 2009 08:00:56 -0700

Hello ladies, this is Ken Sandbach, Kathy’s son typing.  As most of you know by now my mom has been diagnosed with a nasty type of dementia, called Frontal Temporal Dementia.  If you were around her the last few years at all, you may have noticed some behavior changes–slight at first, and then progressing to downright bizarre.  It took the kids some time (unfortunately), but this last December we finally got the diagnosis, and began putting all the pieces together.  Her symptoms these days are too numerous for this email, but if you’re curious Google Frontal Temporal Dementia or go to www.mayoclinic.com and search there.

The reason for writing this morning is to let you know after a long conversation with my sister we have decided to begin selling my mom’s quilting legacy.  We are down to about 6 month’s money left for Kathy’s care, and have found that Social Security and Medicare just don’t cut it.  Assisted living care is running 7k/month, not including her insurance and mortgage payments (her Oregon house in on the market, but no one is buying these days).

As a test experiment we have put 3 of her quilts on eBay to test reception.  Their names and descriptions have come from her books, because we’re just not that smart!  If this eBay auction proves to be worthwhile, there are another such 100 quilts that will make their way to you her fans. 

While this is a tough time, and even tougher decision to make, neither Kristine or I have the room or energy to store these quilts in the way they deserve, so we’re hoping/praying that the people who love them most will be willing to adopt them.

Lastly, it has been at least 18 months since Kathy spent any regular time on her email, so many of these addresses are likely to be bad.  Please, PLEASE forward this letter to your address books/quilt lovers, and ask they do the same.  Kathy has traveled all over the United States and UK teaching, so I am hoping this letter will make its way around the entire quilting universe!

If you have any questions feel free to email me at ken.sandbach@beamglobal.com or my sister at kristine.sandbach@wachovia.com.  Also there is a guestbook at mom’s old website www.machinequiltlady.com.  Please go there and sign the guestbook.  It would mean a lot to grasp just how many people Kathy has touched through quilting.

Thank you for letting my invade you inbox this morning!

Sincerely, Ken Sandbach

In recognition of Paula Nadelstern’s fabulous solo exhibit at the American Folk Art Museum in New York City, CBS interviewed Paula and aired a lovely piece Sunday morning, Aug. 16,2009.

Our son Ryan and his new bride, Tanya were married August 13 at Tom Ham’s Lighthouse in San Diego. It was a lovely ceremony, and terrific to see them so happy together. The small personal gathering of family and friends was fun for all.

Ryan & Tanya

wedding cake with shells

Jan, Tanya, Ryan & Don

Tanya & Eva

I was amazed when flying through Washington Dulles airport recently and spied a kiosk – look at a few of the President Obama memorabilia items for sale! Imagine the historians in 100 years studying many of these items. Will they last for a century?