Well, after two busy weekends of sales at Seams Like Home it's time for Melissa to head to Quilt Market and find new product for the shop. She will meet with fabric representatives, walk endless isles of new product, new patterns, new fabric and new ideas.
I am the lucky one that gets to walk along side of her, offering occasional opinions and oohing and aahing over pretty much everything. Together we will attend "Schoolhouse" demonstrations, we will take classes and we will make an aggressive push through "Sample Spree" along with 300 or so of our closest friends and competitors. It is a whirlwind working vacation and I am looking forward to it. Remember our "open house" on Monday evening the 24th. I have heard rumors of a new logging line of fabric from the designer "Holly Taylor" and quite simply, I want some!
Here at the shop everything 4th of July is front and center. Stop in and see a table runner runner that could grace your picnic table for this holiday and a quick throw for over the Adirondack chair next to the fire pit for cool evenings. We have bunting on a roll for sale by the yard, you can decorate that porch railing in honor of this wonderful country we all live in. Don't forget flag day in June, a day that my Grand-parents always remembered by putting out the flag on the corner of the cabin facing the lake.
The photo of Nolan is his approval of the fabric that Heidi is putting in a new throw for herself. The top is fabric from Amy Butler but it is the backing that Nolan most approves of. It is the extremely soft(Minkee, Cuddle etc.) that everyone likes. Nolan is not put off by the color one bit. All he cares about is how it feels against his skin. So it's a throw for Mom that I think Nolan will steal to cover-up with.
The Christmas fabric is beginning to arrive. Soon the tree will be up and "Christmas in July" will be here. The first shipment of the new "Quilt Minnesota" arrived at the shop last week and as I knew it would be it is so beautiful in the actual fabric. I encourage you to stop in and pre-buy. It is going to go fast and if you wait for the hop to start in August you may run short of some of your favorites.
And then there's this: Two weeks ago Marty and I went to Little Falls for the 2 cylinder show. This event is held at the fair grounds in Little Falls, it's an auction, flea market, outdoor and indoor vendors and all things farm related. The main event is John Deere but International and Case, Ford etc. were all well represented. For years now my youngest brother and his childhood best friend have gone, this year they invited Marty and I and my Dad to go with. The photo of my 81 year old Dad shows him doing what has always been "his" job when the guys get together. He makes breakfast and after 50 years of doing it he has become somewhat of a perfectionist. No yogurt, omelets or sweet rolls here. We ate smoky fired bacon, eggs over easy, pancakes and drank pots of coffee. We stayed at "The Compound", it's a weekend get-away owned by the family of my brothers friend. A man's playground of 4-wheeler trails, deer stands, ponds stocked with fish and a pole barn turned kitchen/hang-out where you can do no harm.
This is what I know: The women in my family gather frequently for "Girls events", we shop, travel, eat fancy and drink wine. The men in the family gather too. They ride 4-wheelers, fish, have campfires and drink beer. Generally the two groups don't intersect. In the past few years I have had the fortune of "hanging with the guys" on several occasions. The rules have been broken because we need each other. I need the time to remain grounded to the maleness of life and my Dad and brothers know of no other way to help me hang on except to just be there, along side of me. They have welcomed me in to their time. The final photo is a shot of my Dad, my brother and his friend. It reminds me of a line from the commencement address "Anna Quindlin" gave when invited to speak at a College. She talks about the humbleness of life. Of what you think you know and what you really know. One of the final lines is when she interviews a homeless man that spends everyday sitting at the end of a pier, staring out at the ocean. When she asks him why he does this day in and day out, he replies, "Look at the view".
Sometimes, it's just that simple.
till next time!
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