A quilt for the nearly newlyweds

The Civil War reproduction print quilt is finally quilted, bound, and has been gifted to the nearly newlyweds. 

I'm so pleased with how it turned out. 

It's huge, by far the largest quilt I've finished, at about 108 x 120". 

It was so fun to gather the prints from all over the country. I can still pick out the pieces that I purchased from the sweet Amish lady in Pennsylvania. Picking out the fabrics is half (or more!) of the fun of making a quilt. 

The quilter did an awesome job as usual. 

I think the kids like it. It was certainly made with a lot of love. 

Vacation tree

 My favorite Christmas tree to put up every year is the vacation tree. 

It's so fun to reminisce about each trip taken as I hang the ornament on the tree. 

This year's additions include a beautiful folk-art ornament purchased in Warsaw, Poland. 

A crushed amber ornament purchased on "amber alley" in Gdansk, Poland.

And a simple tree-top angel also purchased in Warsaw. 

We also got an ornament from Charlottenburg Palace in Berlin but somehow I missed taking its picture. 

It's a depiction of King Friedrich. 

We also visited parts of the upper midwest during the choir tour in June 2013. 

Indianapolis was such a fun city to visit and we'd like to go back sometime when we have more time to explore.

Ravinia is an outdoor venue that almost defies description. 

It was such a fun place for a concert. 

Roses in December

God gave us memories so that we might have

roses in December. 

James M. Barrie

Roses in December in Northern Utah?  Maybe not totally unheard but still rare.

I smiled when I went outside yesterday morning and found some hearty roses still in bloom.

It made me think of the quote by James Barrie.

Over the last few weeks I've been reminiscing a lot.

Between the holidays, going through old pictures, and preparing for the marriage of my youngest son

it's been a season full of memories. 

I'm grateful for memories; especially for those of loved ones who have gone. 

Summer remembered

The wind is blowing hard tonight with gusts of 80 MPH. 

It's cold and miserable out there so I decided it was time to remember summer.

Moon Lake is my happy place. The place where I can relax, rest and rejuvenate.

The lake was really low this year. This area is often completely submerged. Instead the stream bed where the water flows down from the mountains is reduced to a trickle this year. 

Even though the lake was low, there was still beauty all around.

The kids weren't able to go this year and while we missed them, we enjoyed the time alone.

Until next year!

What a difference a week makes...

Last Saturday

This morning

I prefer last week.

The season's last hurrah

 Even though we've had a freeze and a few mornings of snow on the ground, I still have some hardy flowers that just aren't ready to give up yet. 

I know we need the water. I know it's November. I know I live in Utah but I'm really not ready for winter. 

I hope it takes its sweet time getting here this year. 

Jozefa!

It was a wonderful day to visit the Family History Library in Salt Lake City yesterday.

The weather could not have been more perfect.

I wanted to see if I could confirm some of the information that my newly found cousin Mirka (Miroslawa) had sent me from Poland. 

There aren't many records available from Poland but I was able to find a few things such as the birth record for Josepha (Jozefa) Bugaj in 1870. It is written in Latin which is why the name spelling differs from the the spelling Mirka gave me. 

It's such a joy to me to search through these wonderful old records. I also found the birth record for Marianna Bugaj who was known by Mirka as Maria.  She was born in 1875 in Wilkowyja.

I found and confirmed much more information on this trip.

It's still amazing to me, and a blessing, that I can travel 30 miles and be able to view records from all over the world. 

I saw a sweatshirt on a lady in the library. It read:

"Only God and genealogists can make a tree."  

It made me smile since I'm always quoting the original poem that only God can make a tree.

I'll keep working on my tree!

A perfect autumn day

 

It was the perfect autumn day today.

I had the windows open as I sat here working and while it may have been a bit brisk, I couldn't help myself because I loved listening to the leaves scuttle down the sidewalk.

The day was perfect to take some shots of the next two quilts I've finished up.

This one is a Schnibbles pattern and I love the way it turned out. It's going to a friend who has gone through some rough times lately. I hope it lets her know that she is loved.

Tara did a great job quilting them as usual. She did an overall meander. She also did a custom border but the piano key border is so busy that it's hard to see it. 

This is a snowball and nine-patch block quilt going to a good friend for Christmas. 

I'm obviously quite hooked on 30s reproduction prints lately. 

The prints and colors remind me of a simpler time. 

I told the quilter to have fun and to do something cute in the snowball blocks.

I like what she did!

the sun room called my name

I was bustling around this afternoon, not accomplishing much, but bustling nonetheless when I heard the sun room call my name.  I looked into it and the sun was shining brightly through the sparkling clean windows (thanks honey!) and it was definitely a sign to stop "bustling" and to sit down and stitch.

I love stitching in my sun room. I'm surrounded by windows on three sides and feel as if I'm outside.  I loved looking at the trees changing colors and watching the leaves fall as I stitched. All the fancy lighting in the world can't compare to natural sunlight to stitch by.

I tuned into a Pandora station of instrumental praise music and thoroughly enjoyed an hour of stitching and relaxing. 

Binding

Binding quilts is a slow process for me. I have several waiting to be bound before Christmas.

I hope I get them done.

I remember having a Parent Trap marathon and watching two or three versions of the movie while binding the quilt I made for my oldest son and his wife when they got married.

Now I tend to sit and enjoy the silence while binding. It's a good time to sort thoughts. 

Where did the summer go?

Somehow I blinked and now it's fall. It was an incredibly busy summer but now that's over and fall is upon us.  There are so many things to write about and to catch up on including our trip to Poland, the choir tour, a short trip to Moon Lake and an engagement!

There's a wedding planned for December 27th and so much to be done before then but first, it's time to stop and smell (and take pictures of) the flowers. 

I was so intent on catching the bee on the mum that I didn't notice the daddy long leg spider until I had the picture on the big screen.  I think there must be a message in there somewhere about not getting so caught up in one thing that I forget to notice everything around me.  Either that, or the spider just wanted to be in the picture!

Comfort amid trials

 and constancy amid change. 

I snapped this picture with my cell phone the other day when I was in SLC doing research at the genealogy library. I had taken a break for lunch (awesome turkey sandwich at the Nauvoo Cafe) and was on my way back to the library when I glanced up and saw this.

I was immediately struck by the image of the more than century old Assembly Hall reflected in the windows of the new office building at City Creek.  There is change all around us but some things remain constant.

Monday morning, April 15th, we had some surprise snow but still there was beauty. 

On the other side of the country there was an awful scene of carnage and destruction at the Boston Marathon where bombs exploded.  From joy and excitement to chaos and carnage in a matter of seconds.

I've been so upset about many events lately and I wonder how much longer the world will continue in wickedness. As I read the Book of Mormon yesterday morning I came to a passage that gave me some peace and comfort.  It helps to know that the Lord knows of our trials and burdens and He is there to help lift us up during the hard times. 

"And I will ease the burdens which are put upon your shoulders. that even you cannot feel them upon your backs...and this will I do that ye may stand as witnesses for me hereafter, and that ye may know of a surety, that I, the Lord God, do visit my people in their afflictions."  Mosiah 24:14

Who am I?

Who am I?

Definitely not Jean Valjean.

Those who know the musical "Les Miserables" will understand that statement.

My friend posed a question to me the other day. It was a topic discussed during a family history conference she attended. The question was, "what will your great-grandchildren know about you?"

I hope that they know I was more than a faded photograph or a line in a record book. 

I've spent a lot of time doing genealogical research over the past 35 years and unfortunately I don't know much more about my great-grandparents than the basics; i.e., names, dates, places. 

I wish there were histories to read and this spurs me to want to leave something of myself behind. 

Through this blog my children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren will hopefully get to know me a little better. My brief musings may give them an idea of what was important to me. I hope to be better about telling stories and reminiscing a little more.  I've never been a journal keeper but even short musings can tell a story. The plan is to print this periodically so that the information doesn't get lost. Technology changes so quickly that items saved 15 years ago can no longer be retrieved today because of the changes in disks, etc. 

Note: The above photograph is of my great-grandmother, Christine Wilhelmine Redeker Bugaj, born in Tonnenheide, Germany in 1860. After her first husband and two small children passed away, she married Bartholomeus Bugaj in 1895.  The couple immigrated to American on the KronPrinz Wilhelm in 1905 along with their four young children. My grandmother, Martha Dorothy Bugay, (pictured below) was the only child born in America. She was born in Butlerville, Salt Lake, Utah in 1907.

A tale of two quilts

 I'm only three months late posting these pictures. 

In my defense though, they were Christmas gifts so I couldn't post them when I finished them. 

These were fun to make up for two of my good friends. The pattern is called Great-Granny Square and I used 30s reproduction prints throughout. 

They are similar to each other, but each is unique as well. While the pattern remains the same throughout, no two blocks are the same on either quilt. 

The only identical thing is the 2.5" ladybug square in the center of one block on each quilt.

Ladybugs play an important part in this friendship!