What is it?

What is it?

I have a passion for all things that are textiles, sewing and quitling related.  So, at times I find things that seem to fit into my collections of articles related to these things.  And I don't ALWAYS know what they are.

Sometimes I am able to find out later, but sometimes I never really know.  Today I present to you one such object.

This is a hand made, three dimensional object.  It is about 7 inches high/wide. 
Each side is made of diamond shapes stitched together. 
It is solid, so not a pin cushion.
It is the same on all sides. There is no top or bottom side, no flat side.
All the sides are held together with the little white knobs.  Im not sure if they are buttons, I cannot see any button holes.

Can you see why I was attracted to this object?

I cannot, however, find a use for it.  I can't fathom what it was made for.

So, come now, and post in the comment section what your thoughts are on this thing. 

A few noteworthy things to share:

In honor of International Quilt Day (March 17, 2012), The Quilt Show (http://www.thequiltshow.com/) will "open" all of its shows from the first nine series, the weekend of March 16 –18th for FREE. For three special days everyone will have the chance to view these 117 shows, at no charge.”

March 17 and 18 is the unique Great Lakes Seaway Trail National Scenic Byway War of 1812 Bicentennial Quilt Show event

And here is my finished quilt, sent, arrived and hopefully hanging along with the other 199 quilts made for this special 200th Anniversary event.

What's better than quilting, lunch, and meeting new friends?

Recently in the chat room of http://www.quiltinghaven.com/ , a quilting forum that I belong to, an efriend and I began chatting about how it would be fun to meet in person.  The conversation continued until we had a date, a place, and a plan.

Four of us made Wonky Star blocks to swap, then met at the Cafe on the Route, in Baxter Springs, Kansas. http://www.kansastravel.org/cafeontheroute.htm for lunch, conversation and swapping.

What a great day it was..

First, let me say that it is a 2 1/2 hour drive for me to get there, but this little restaurant is well worth the drive. I had been there before, so I was sure we would all love it.  My friend Jane and I came in from the north and Judie and Susie, sisters, came in from Joplin.  Jane and I left nice and early, around 9 am. so that we would get there in plenty of time.  And, sure enough, we had no trouble,,well, except for almost running out of gas in our anticipation to arrive.

As we drove into town, I was looking for the old corner bank building that I remember housed the restaurant.  We drove right up to it!!!.. Parked and got out,,OH NO, the inside had been completely gutted. How can it be, I just checked the web page a week ago..nothing was posted that they were leaving...

I was so disappointed, but got back in the car and called Susie and Judie, not wanting them to make the trip over, just to go back.  Also, I thought we might find a different place to meet.  As I was on the phone, and Jane turned the car around, heading back the way  we had come..OMG,,, there it was. On the OPPOSITE corner.  Was my face red...as they saying goes. 

Whew,  that was a close one. Jane and I went on in, we were the first customers of the day.  We got a nice round table off to the side, so we would have plenty of room and not be disruptive to the other patrons, when they arrived.  Our nice waitress, Gabby, started us right off with our drinks and prepared the table for the four  of us..here is Gabby--

When Judie and Susie arrived, it was easy to identify them, they were carrying their star blocks, and Jane and I already had ours laid on the table. 

So, here is what we did:  We put all of the blocks in a big pile in the middle of the table. Based on age..we won't tell if it was oldest or youngest, Judie went first. 

We took turns picking a block from the stack until they were all gone and we each had 12 NEW blocks to take home, all made by our new friends. 

We each signed one of the blocks we made that was going to a new home.

We were having a great time, laughing and swapping.  By this time the restaurant had filled up..and I noticed everyone else watching us with smiles on.

Then came lunch, Oh my, and desert, OH MY, and then it was time to go...We had just spent four hours turning efriends into real friends. 

Jane and I talked all the way home about our new real friends.  We are thinking it would be good to do this again!

Sue Noll 3/25/55-3/1/12

I am so deeply saddened today by the passing of our friend and fellow blogger Hosta.

What a lovely person.  I am happy that she left us peacefully in her sleep, that is the most each of us can hope for. But she is gone from us all too soon.  In spite of her physical difficulties, she was a trouper and kept right on trying to make every day the best day possible.  She was full of ideas and posted thought provoking topics often on our forum.

I enjoyed her in chat and was so happy that I was there to comfort her when she wanted so badly to be there for the birth of her grand child.  We waited on pins and needles with her in chat for the baby to come.  I am greatful for her and her family that she was able to make the trip to see the baby in person before this happened.

I know that she passed her caring and compationate ways on to her son, as she talked about him setting up a video cam on the baby so she could watch while it was sleeping.  That is above and beyond and he must be much like her to think of it.

This is a sad day ...

Sue Noll 3/25/55-3/1/12

Her blog:    http://www.duckynestdesigns.com/