Very good, Lotti and Kalynn

kalynn - what a great analogy
as quilters we really understand this don't we
i'll have to keep the puzzle idea in mind for a future event - that's absolutely perfect!!!

Lotti, you are right. I was just joking about the "lowly optician" part. I have actually enjoyed my career and it has been a good fit for me. We had a pastor once who handed out puzzle pieces to each member of the congregation as an object lesson that no matter how pretty a puzzle is, it needs each and every piece, no matter how plain the piece may look standing alone, to be whole. A lot like quilts, huh?

Thank you Lotti. Very well said.

just a note for anyone who doesn't post because they think they have a "boring" life!
there is NO such thing! every life lived has touched someone - has caused a smile somewhere - if you are here on TQS you are a part of our lives - and help make us smile!
please post - we want to know more about you and get to know you a little bit better!
there is no such thing as a "lowly whatever" - every clog (oops, cog of course), in the mechanism is important - if even a tiny one is missing, the rest cannot function properly!

my favourite quote, by John Donne: "No man is an Iland, intire of it selfe; every man is a peece of the Continent, a part of the maine; if a Clod bee washed away by the Sea, Europe is the lesse, as well as if a Promontorie were, as well as if a Mannor of thy friends or of thine owne were; any mans death diminishes me, because I am involved in Mankinde; And therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; It tolls for thee."

my interpretation: you are never alone - we are all part of each other's destiny - meet life (and all people in it) with a smile - pass it on and help spread love and love of life!

Marianne and Norma, sometimes I wish we had a "like" button here like there is on Facebook

It seems like the (half) Danes come jumping out now
I will say like the others, that I enjoy reading this thread. We are all human and we have so much in common. Thank you all for sharing
Hugs from a Dane

MontanaGramma wrote: Sherri; my great-grand parents immigrated from Utah to Denmark when my grandmother was quite young (around 1900) and stayed in Denmark. I don't know if they originally came from Denmark and returned or what. I know they were married in Utah so must have come separately to the US. Funny how things turn out isn't?
Marianne

Kalynn..."lowly optician"?? I don't think so!! How many of us wear glasses? And how many of us can function without 'em?? Silly you!

So enjoying this thread. Keith, hope you have time to tell us the long version (always love Lorchen's sense of humor) Marianne, loved reading that you are Danish (I am half Danish - my grandparents emigrated to the U.S. from there). Terry, I had to look and see where you live in MT - Dillon is a beautiful area - but a little too far for me to say let's meet for lunch Everyone has lead such a different life, yet isn't great how much we have in common because of our passion for quilting

PosyP wrote: Mixed media is great for some but NOT for me - I can't help laughing a bit that I went from embroidery into patchwork/quilting because at the time it was much more purist and look at it now paint, found objects, metal and paper. So far though I haven't seen neither egg shells nor car spray paint on any quilts
Happily it looks like quilters are more relax about it and there's a space for all of us; even the purists.
Marianne

Marianne I know exactly wht you mean about the C&G 'embroidery' courses, I couldn't stand them either! I am much more of a purist with my embroidery too. Never did like doing collages as a child, and don't even want to consider messing about with 'mixed media' now.

How fun to learn a bit about how you have ended up on the TQS forum.
I was born in Denmark and worked on a farm all the way through secondary school and college because I wanted to become a vet but I didn't make the grade so worked full time on a farm milking 70 cows and looking after the calves for 9 months which I enjoyed very much until a fall from the hayloft down onto a concrete floor put a stop to my farming career. Became an accountant, got married and had a baby but had to go back to work when my husband died suddenly 4 months after the birth of our little girl. I re-married 4 years later and became a full-time mum, home maker and trailing spouse travelling around Europe where my husband got sent for work. During one stay in UK I started a City and Guild course in embroidery but never finished before we moved on and because I had started loosing interest in embroidery because it became a bit too outlandish for my taste; I LOVE fabric and threads not old teabags and tomato purée tubes (yes I have stitched through those during the C&G course ) so I started playing on my own about 15 years ago with a combination of embroidery, hand and digitised, and patchwork as well as getting back into dressmaking which I left behind when my girls wanted wear jeans and t-shirts instead of dresses. Laura Nownes class came at a point when we had just moved again but for the last time (I hope) because DH retired so I felt I would try to get my lacking ability in matching points sorted out. So that's how I have ended up here in the forum. Nothing exciting in my past but I'm very blessed with 2 lovely grown up girls long since flown the nest and a diamond of DH to share my life with

Wow, so many interesting stories to make the world go round. It's a great pleasure to read and reread about you all. I have been here in southwest Montana all my life and I LOVE IT. I am a fourth generation rancher. My great grand parents homesteaded here in the 1880's. They came from Switzerland. I attended beauty school, married my HS sweetheart, three kids arrived quickly, lucky to be a stay a home mom. I have worked as a beautician, in retail, cooked at a assisted living home also cooked for a hay crew of twenty five (just in the summer) for 10 years and currently the Co-Clerk at my church. We have two GD'S their mom is our DD. It's so fun being grandparents. Our DS works at John Deere and third DS is deceased in 1999. That's when I started quilting. It's such pieceful therapy. I am often outside helping do chores therefore my sewing time is limited but the lists are long and the stash - well it could always be bigger. It's so interesting so see how the world of Quilting changes and what is trending. Thanks to TQS and the Internet.
Mission: to go to Huston, meet up somewhere with all TQS members from this region. I love all animals except snakes and spiders and still ride a horse, trying to learn Yoga. We have not traveled much but maybe that will come in the next chapter. Sew may you all have successful sewing