Sunday, November 18, 2018

boat

If you have been a squirmy kid it the balcony at St Pauls in the past 30 years you most likely have received a bulletin paper boat. My new best friend Max got three of them this morning, up from two last week.
Davis kids would get enough to reenact the Spanish Armada.

Friday, November 16, 2018

letterbox

I have made a quilt before with a more complicated letter box block. I think it is still a top and somewhere in my boxes.
This is a simpler letterbox.
At my quilt group my friend Erica showed a lovely one she made all in batiks. It made me think it would work well for the solids on prints series.
Maybe I'll make a batik one too.
Isn't this fox fabric great? I should share some with my quilting DeVos cousins. (DeVos means The Fox in Dutch).

Block finishes 6 by 12 inches.
Solid: one rectangle cut 2 1/2 inches by 8 1/2 inches
Print: two rectangles cut 2 1/2 inches by 8 1/2 inches, two rectangles cut 2 1/2 inches by 6 1/2 inches.

Setting
Can do so randomly
or
Sew into blocks of three, with two side by side and add on one on the end. This larger block comes to 12 inches by 18 inches finished.
Sew together into rows.
Flip rows so every other row starts with the added on block.

Sunday, November 11, 2018

WW I remembrance

Andy and  my grandfathers served in the Great War. Here are their photographs and stories.
WW I remembrance My grandfather, Jerry (Jurrien) Dykstra 
Born on a farm near Middleburg, Iowa.
Served in the Army during the Great War. Was put on a troop ship in New York Harbor having never fired a live round in training. They trained with wooden guns as ammunition was scarce. 
The ship never sailed because the armistice was signed.
He told his grandchildren that the Kaiser decided to surrender once he heard Jerry Dykstra was on his way.
Farmed with my grandmother, Cynthia Meerdink north of Hull.
Our son Paul Jurrien is named for my grandfather.

WW I remembrance 
Andy's grandfather, Andrew Cervasio. 
Born in Italy, emigrated to the United States at age seven and settled in New York. 
Served in the Navy during the Great War as a coal tender on troop ships crossing the Atlantic.
Attended the University of Michigan for engineering and became a construction estimator. 
Andy is named for his grandfather.