quiltersmuse.com Blog

Not everyone can write humor well. Rebecca Rule is one person who can. She has made a career of collecting Yankee stories and recording them for all to enjoy through her personal appearances, and books. Her latest title is Live Free and Eat Pie: A Storytellers Guide to New Hampshire, published by Islandport Press. Previous book titles include: Could Have Been Worse (that I reviewed on this blog in 2006); The Best Revenge; Perley Plus Other Classics; and “Better than a Poke in the Eye.

In addition to her humorous offerings, she wrote Creating the Story: Guide for Writers; and True Stories: Guides for Writing from Your Life.

Rebecca or “Becky” Rule maintains at least three websites: www.mooseofhumor.com and www.rebeccarule.com and www.livefreeandeatpie.com/
She has written 600 columns for local New Hampshire newspapers, and she maintains a blog. All in all, her stories are a hoot and truly reflect the Yankee mind. One brief example gleaned from her Book Swap Café appearance on Ch. 22, today, is this, although I am sure she could tell it better:

A man had a sign on his lawn: “Picnic Tables for Sale.” A potential buyer came by and said, “How long does it take to make one of those tables?” The man said, “Well, about four hours.” Hearing that, the recent UNH graduate determined that if the table cost $16.00 and took only 4 hours to make, the cost paid for making it would be $4.00 per hour. He asked the table maker, “Could you make one for me, for $3.00 an hour? The man said, “Sure I could, but it would take a lot longer.”

Please visit Rebecca online. Here is one link, to her latest book on amazon:

Here is another link to one of her “serious” books about writing:

I hope to be able to hear Rebecca speak, in person, some time.

Patricia Cummings
Quilter’s Muse Publications

I have always associated the color “Green” with Ireland, land of my forebears. Here is an old photo of me, wearing a green outfit, during my high school years (1960s).

I love the idea of Irish themed quilts and so, I decided that you might like to know about a new magazine on the subject!

I am posting the following letter I received, after I inquired as to how to purchase the new Irish Quilting magazine. Here is a link to one of their sites:

http://www.irishquilting.ie/

~~~

Slainte Patricia!

Thank you for your interest.

In US or Canada, please contact our distributor below for our magazine. You can buy or subscribe to Irish Quilting by contacting:

Stonehouse Publications
Toll Free 1 800 461 1640 ext.224
Fax 1 905 428 7554
Email info@stonehouse-publications.com
www. Stonehouse-publications.com

Alternatively, you can contact Stonehouse Publications for a list of retailers near you.

Thanks very much for your interest. Be sure to write us what you think when you get your first copy!

Slainte!

Thank you for your interest.

If you are in Ireland, you may purchase a magazine or subscribe by contacting us at Irish Quilting, 01 201 9938.

If you are in UK, please find the list of retailers attached.

If you are in Australia or New Zealand, please contact our distributor at www.honeysucklecottage.au.com. (Pat’s note: This link does not appear to be working!)

If you are in US or Canada, please contact our distributor for our magazine. You can buy or subscribe to Irish Quilting by contacting

Stonehouse Publications
Toll Free 1 800 461 1640 ext. 224

Fax 1 905 428 7554

Email info@stonehouse-publications.com

www.Stonehouse-publications.com

Alternatively, you can contact Stonehouse Publications for a list of retailers near you.

Thanks very much for your interest. Be sure to write us what you think when you get your first copy!

Sincerely,

Sherry Nugent

Editor

+353 1 201 9938

Irish Quilting
Knockraheen
Roundwood
Ireland

~~~

The subscription I ordered cost $47. + change for six issues and will begin with issue #2. Being of Irish descent, how could I resist a magazine with a title like that? Our own Mark Lipinski of Quilter’s Home magazine is featured in issue #2. I can’t wait to see this new magazine!

For the meaning of “Slainte,” please see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sl%C3%A0inte

Here is a link to an article I wrote about Irish Quilts.

Patricia Cummings
Quilter’s Muse Publications

A Vermont (Quilt) Shop Hop will be conducted from March 13-22, 2009. Fourteen shops are participating, and the “hop” will last for 10 Full Days! The shops are:

A Quilter’s Garden
Country Quilter’s Emporium
Country Treasures
Garden of Stitches
Knits and Bolts
Maplewood Quilts
Norton House
Quilt A-Way
Sew Many Treasures
Sewin’ Love Fabric Shoppe
Stowe Fabric and Yarn
The Quilted Lily
Yankee Pride

For more information, visit: http://www.vermontshophop.com

Your daily smile: A sign in front of a Wilmington, Vermont laundromat says this: “Bucket o’ Suds, Clean Clothes, 24 hrs., Good Gossip.”

The Manchester Union Leader reports in March 1936 deemed the flood there as the worst since 1896. This essay features photos taken by my father, (the late) John E. Grace (1911-1974) who was out and about in the aftermath of the storm, probably because he was an Auxiliary Policeman. Residents were urged to stay home. One good reason for that was the escape of Manchester’s zoo animals. After the rains stopped, only two of the city’s bridges remained standing. My dad took 13 photos. Here, I am sharing some of them.

If you “Google” “Flood of 1936 Manchester NH,” you will see various links to other sites with photos and newspaper accounts, one of which is the following:

http://www.gendisasters.com/data1/nh/floods/manchester-flood-mar1936.htm

The flood must have been a very memorable event because I remember my parents discussing it, years later. Funny, they did not mention the famous “Hurricane of 1938,” about which, books have been written. Manchester was very much affected by that storm, as well.

This is a photo of John Edward Grace, looking relaxed in a hotel room near La Guardia Airport, from which I departed for Spain in 1972.

I hope you have been enjoying the old photos that I have been scanning from many “pieces of the past” in the family album. I especially like the ones with historic ties.

Best wishes,

Patricia Cummings
Quilter’s Muse Publications

This is a photo essay about some of the dogs I have loved. First, I’d like to share with you a photo that I took from a car window, while a passenger, going to Calahorra, Spain from Pamplona. We spotted this unbelievable sight:

These two dogs had bike riding down to a science!

When I lived in California, we had a little dog named “Gemini.” He was the sweetest little thing! Being a miniature poodle, he went to the groomer every six weeks, and he hated the bow they always put on his head, and he despised the red nail polish, and the powder. He was all “male.”

Well, we had a sudden snowstorm in the high desert on January 2, 1974, with six inches of snow. No one knew how to drive in it, no one had a snow shovel, and everyone walked around scratching their heads, wondering what to do besides drive really slow, and wait for the snow to melt! Gemini didn’t know what to make of it either.

Gemini with a snout full of snow

When Gemini reached his teen years, he wanted to take the car, but we wouldn’t give him the keys.

My next dog was “Muffin,” a Sheltie/Shepherd cross. She always reminded me of a fox and I just loved the color of her coat.

The last dog I had was Taffy. Here she is at rest on one of the first, bed size, (Irish Chain), tied quilts I ever made, in the 1980s.

That just about sums up my dog experiences, except for being “Grandmother” to Emma, a White German Shepherd. If you check out the Goddard Park file on our website, you will see her there.

Patricia Cummings
Quilter’s Muse Publications