Author Archives: Norma Hanson

Quilt Guild Show and Tell

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Last Wednesday night was the first meeting of our Quilt Guild for the 2009-2010 year. We were treated to two small quilt shows that night. The first, presentation was “A” is for Applique by Judith. Judith has been nominated for CQA (Canadian Quilters’ Association) Teacher of the Year. Judith’s presentation was part slide show and part trunk show with the actual quilts.
The second treat for the evening was a show and tell of projects made by some of the members through the summer. Someone commented that we had enough quilts in our show and tell portion of the evening to hold a quilt show. I was sitting in the second row of the audience so some of my pictures are partially obstructed. Sit back and enjoy the show, just as I did on Wednesday night.

And of course, the best part of show and tell is the “train” of donaiton We Care quilts that forms around the room at the end of the presentation.

Post Card from England

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A couple of weeks ago, back in August, I received this fabric post card in the mail on the day we were getting ready to leave for our cruise to Alaska. This is the first fabric post card I have ever received!

By the picture on the front of the card, I had assumed that the card had travelled to me from England. I flipped over the card to find out that my suspicions were correct. I had received this wonderful little gift from Chris in England. She told me in her message that the name of her quilt group was on the front of the card, the Sew and Sews. I immediately wanted to write back to Chris but there was no last name or address provided. Who was this mysterious quilter named, Chris?


We had received the mail that day literally minutes before we were ready to head out the door on our holiday so I didn’t have any time to investigate the source of the post card any further. I had suspicions that the post card was either connected to Leslie or Patricia (both members of my Tuesday quilt group) since they are both from England and still have family and friends there.
Last night I received a phone call from Edna (also a member of my Tuesday quilt group) filling me in on all the details. Edna had just received her post card from England yesterday and told me that she had been “responsible” for starting something with a group of quilters from England. This group was connected to Leslie through Leslie’s sister. There are 10 quilters in the England group–the same number as in our Tuesday group here in Canada. Edna has all sorts of plans for us to do some exchanging with the English quilters. Leslie’s sister is due to visit Canada later this month and we are scheduled to get together with her and work out the details of the exchange. How exciting!

Brief Visit From my Brother

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This is a picture of my brother taken at my parents’ house. This was one of my brother’s brief visits where if you miss dropping by my parents’ house during the two or three hours he stops by, you will miss him. We see far too little of him. And yes, he usually is as happy as he looks in this picture! “Mr. Easy Going”!

Langdon Family Reunion – Sweet Home, Oregon

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On Friday, August 21, my parents and I headed to Oregon. This was the second trip to Oregon for my Mom and I in the month of August. Our destination was a family reunion in Sweet Home, Oregon.

Of course no road trip would be complete without a shopping stop. We stopped to stretch our legs and do a little looking at the Outlet Mall in Woodburn, Oregon. Lucky for us this mall is visible from I-5 and so handy to get to. http://www.woodburncompanystores.com/index.html

The flowers at this mall were gorgeous. This pink “tree” was actually cleverly arranged petunias.
Although Sweet Home is not that large – population 8,016, we found very clean and comfortable accommodations in the Sweet Home Inn. http://www.ci.sweet-home.or.us/

This was a nearby barber / hairdresser shop. Someone has done a great job at trimming the bush out front in an appropriate shape for this business.

We found several murals decorating the sides of the buildings as we headed through the main street.


And of course no trip would be complete without a visit to the local quilt shop. We spied a sign that said “fabric” on the way to the reunion on Saturday morning. Since we had some time, we made a stop. This is a picture of Seamingly Creative, 1245 Main St., Sweet Home, Oregon 97386. If you are in the neighbourhood, I would encourage you to stop by.

I found the cutest little pair of embroidery scissors and a wonderful fat quarter collection. The fabric was very reasonably priced at this shop–my 10 fall coloured fat quarters only cost me $12. (The thimble says, “Portland” on it and was a purchase I made on my previous trip to Oregon.)

We had a great time at the reunion. This was my first time meeting my Langdon relatives. I hope this will be only the first of many more opportunities to get together with this branch of the family tree.

RCMP Musical Ride

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On the evening of August 20, my parents, my husband, and I headed to see the RCMP Musical Ride. I have seen the Ride before, but it was when I was very young. Since the Ride doesn’t tour Canada every year, when they do tour near your community, you really need to make an effort to go out and see them. The opening act for the evening was Elvis impersonator, Jeff Bodner. It is fitting that Jeff opens the show as he is an RCMP officer in his “day” job.

The evening temperatures were very warm! However, once those magnificent horses and riders enter the arena and perform in perfect step to the music, you soon forget all about the heat.

Riders in this year’s Ride represent every province in Canada.

Charge!!!

A definite highlight of the evening is when the Ride is over and the audience members are allowed to approach the riders and horses on the arena floor. Riders are eager to answer questions and the horses tolerate all the children and adults who reach out to touch and pet them.

The RCMP Musical Ride is definitely one of Canada’s treasures. Watching the performance of the Ride can not help but instill Canadian pride in each and every audience member.