Two of my many blessings...

Last night I officially joined a quilt guild. Never thought I would, but after Deb invited Celia and I to try it out for the July and August meetings, which were free, we were so excited about what they have to offer, so last night we joined. For only 40.00/year we get incredible educational offerings and get to network with some pretty amazing artists. Last night, Anne Lullie spoke, who is an art quilter living in our area. She is a member of the "Chicago School of Fusing", which if any of you watch the many quilt shows on PBS, have been featured on a few shows that I have seen. Although art quilting doesn't quiver my liver as it does Celia, last night I started to feel a bit of excitement as Anne displayed her art and showed us many quilts from her friends and acquaintances. Next to me sat the grand champion from last years guild show, who is a traditional quilter and she just laughed as she said she is taking the workshop from Anne on Saturday. I tried to encourage her, but I think she is skeptical. Go to Anne's website to see her fabulous art. I bought the beautiful hand dyed fabric from the booth that she was working on Saturday. Her friend Frieda Anderson dyed that bunch and Frieda is a published artist. Celia checked out her book from the guild library last night.

On another note, wanted to share with you my two girls, who are the light of my life. They are so beautiful, and I don't mean just external beauty as they are such a delight on the inside as well. But, I think Chuck and I got the recipe right when we cooked them up. God did the inside work.

Catie is on the left, who is a recent graduate from Wheaton College with a degree in Biology. She is living outside of Charleston, S. Carolina and works at St. Christopher camp as a barrier Island naturalist. She just started this job and absolutely loves it and her co-workers. She invited me for the ride down and we had a couple of days together in the low country. It is an incredible place to live, right on the beach with dolphins, sharks, pelicans, turtles, crabs and numerous other things to see and do. Recently, they had a little hurricane scare, but it missed them by 100 miles or so and they got a good dousing of rain, but little other damage. Catie is a very talented gal with a lovely singing voice (at one time was a vocal performance major), and is a scrapbooker extraordinaire!!! She is never without her trusty camera and records the events of her life, including food. Her friends are annoyed by it at first, but soon come to realize that a camera in Catie's hand is a natural extension of herself.
Candice is on the right and is a junior at Hope College in Holland, Michigan. She is a social work major with an emphasis in women's studies. She went to Hope on a Theater scholarship, but soon changed her mind and has gone another direction. However, God has given her a unique talent for the stage and she has been a part of a production every year at Hope and she also works on campus for the publicity department. This fall, she is one of the leads in Hope's fall musical (they only do a musical every other year and she was also cast Freshman year), which is 1940's Radio Hour. Our high school did this Candice's Freshman year and she fell soundly in love with the show and the one female character, Ginger. When she tried out for the show this fall, she wasn't prepared to make it as there are only 4 female roles and one of them is black, which cut her chances down considerably. She was up against 60 other girls and not only was she cast, but she got that coveted role of Ginger. Also, her roommate Brittany is another lead. We are very excited about seeing it in November. Candice is also an extremely talented vocalist, and she lights up the room with her sparkling personality. She has the greatest sense of humor and keeps us in stitches. She is our resident fashionista and can be counted on for advice.
Both girls love our Lord and we are so proud that they make good choices, and have never given us a moment of grief.....except for normal teenage angst, we have had smooth sailing with them.
See, I can brag on these gifts....I am a mom, it is my right.....
On to the sewing maching, grocery store and nap before work tomorrow.