American Narratives

American Narratives Sharing the stories of ordinary Americans doing extraordinary things

Journal Quilt Update: BINDING!!!! This afternoon the exciting addition of binding around the trimmed/squared edge m...
03/14/2026

Journal Quilt Update: BINDING!!!!
This afternoon the exciting addition of binding around the trimmed/squared edge means that the final stage of quiltmaking is underway…. Turning and hand-stitching the binding…I’m looking forward to taking detailed pictures to post for all of you that want to see the finished project.

The Journal Quilt has finally gotten to the last big segment….quilting. These are 2 of my custom designs highlighting t...
03/02/2026

The Journal Quilt has finally gotten to the last big segment….quilting. These are 2 of my custom designs highlighting the vast miles of corn, wheat, sunflowers and other grains that we drove through. I am using “stationary free-motion” quilting technique. This means my longarm machine remains stationary-it is set into a tabletop- and I move the quilt ‘sandwich’ to create the designs. Free-motion is fun, but challenging, especially when the sandwich (layered backing, batting and the pieced top) is this size (long king-size top 86 x 98) weighing 7+ lbs. I’m very pleased with the playfulness of the colorful thread and “imperfection”of the stitching. This is the largest quilt I’ve undertaken with this technique…too bulky to use tools to create perfect shapes as both hands are needed to hold the stitching area taught. Anyone who really knows me, will see that this totally matches my creative vibe!!

American Narratives Quilt Update:Heading into the backstretch !! Today the Journey Quilt legend was printed and sewn o...
02/20/2026

American Narratives Quilt Update:
Heading into the backstretch !! Today the Journey Quilt legend was printed and sewn on. Also had my first practice session in the sunflower field. I hope to have this baby sandwiched and start quilting in just a few more days♥️

Journal Quilt Progress:The quilt-top has been finished and now the quilting process is nearly begun!! Months of piecing,...
02/12/2026

Journal Quilt Progress:

The quilt-top has been finished and now the quilting process is nearly begun!! Months of piecing, planning, doodling & practicing. Today I made the first quilting design stencil that will be used on the Journal Quilt. This design I’m calling “Hopi Friendship Greeting”.
While admiring the many turquoise pieces at an Arizona Trading Post, the Hopi Nation man showed me this design, then explained how the greeting is done. I knew I had to include this experience in the Journal quilt.

Christmas afternoon at WCAX - Better than napping and snacking
12/25/2025

Christmas afternoon at WCAX - Better than napping and snacking

A very grey chilly day. Poor quality photos, but they are still part of the memories for this short visit to Conawingo ...
11/21/2025

A very grey chilly day. Poor quality photos, but they are still part of the memories for this short visit to Conawingo power dam on the Susquehanna River in Maryland

🎵…O’er the ramparts we watched, were so gallantly streaming.🎵Once again, history came alive for me by seeing Fort McHenr...
11/21/2025

🎵…O’er the ramparts we watched, were so gallantly streaming.🎵
Once again, history came alive for me by seeing Fort McHenry in person and actually walking along the ramparts. Steffen and our friend David were part of the team of visitors that assisted in raising the garrison flag during our visit. The very knowledgeable rangers shared many interesting snippets, including that the bottom white stripe of the flag is the Vermont stripe♥️ Another interesting snippet is that in the 25 hours of British attack, there were only 2 American fatalities. Now, of course, the only resident soldiers are the large flock of Canada Geese-I counted over 100

Even though our American Narratives trips are over doesn't mean we stopped going places to explore and learn. We took a...
11/20/2025

Even though our American Narratives trips are over doesn't mean we stopped going places to explore and learn. We took a trip to visit our friends the Hochs in Maryland and joined David at the auction on the way to their home. Nothing of interest for me, but David had already purchased three totes full of stuff. We stayed long enough for Kathryn to purchase a small fake Christmas tree for her mom and lose out on bidding for two shoe-shaped pin cushions.

After an overnight with David & Diane, we visited Fort McHenry in Baltimore on a cool and dreary day. We were there for the flag change ceremony where we assisted in raising the garrison flag at 10 AM. That is a replica of the one that flew there on the morning after the battle in 1814, the one that Francis Scott Key saw and wrote about, and thus it has 15 stars and 15 stripes. Initially the US changed its flag with the addition of each new state by adding a stripe and a star. Thus the 14th stripe (a white one) and 14th star on this flag are for Vermont (Kentucky was 15th). They stopped that practice in 1818 when they realized that either the stripes would get smaller and smaller or the flag get bigger and bigger as the nation grew. And I used my Scout skills to fold the storm flag, the one that flies (and flew) overnight there.

After lunch, we ventured to Conowingo Power Dam on the Susquehanna River, a location known for its bald eagles. There were dozens there, all hanging out in the trees and power poles on the other side of the river. Only one was seen flying over the river looking for lunch. There were six other photographers on the shore with us (and a fisherman) who were disappointed that the dam had not opened its turbines that day (as scheduled). Work on the dam had delayed that till the 25th. When the turbines are opened, the water rises about 3 feet and the area just beyond the dam (where the eagles and photographers were hanging out) fills with stunned fish, knocked silly by coming through the powerplant. There is an annual contest for the best photo of an eagle catching a fish and the ones on the posters advertising this year's event were magnificent.

And of course, we stopped at a quilt store on the way down ( #67) and the one in the Hoch's hometown ( #68). Kathryn made purchases at both, but the second one included a Wonky Log Cabin Ruler, a device specifically used to cut out-of-kilter squares for a special quilt design. Just when I think I understand, I find I have no clue.

Photos: The quilt shop in Burlington, NJ (there is a whole other story on the detour to get there); A selfie with David at the auction; Kathryn and her purchase; The garrison flag flying at Fort McHenry; Kathryn viewing those famous ramparts; Waiting for the eagles to fly at Conowingo; The quilt shop in Fallston, MD

Another follow-up American Narratives project completed. I wanted to have some of the photos from our trips printed, fr...
10/19/2025

Another follow-up American Narratives project completed. I wanted to have some of the photos from our trips printed, framed and displayed in our home as a physical keepsake. Kathryn & I discussed a wide variety of options and settled on this setup, now on the wall in our living room. It's two multi-image photo frames (12 images each) that line up nicely forming one large one. In it there is one selfie from each trip (11), one landscape from each trip (another 11) along with an emulsion of our logo and a legend listing the location of each photo (done by our friend Dennis Bruso). The locations included are Niagara Falls, NY; Indiana Dunes NP, IN; Lillington, NC; Kenly, NC; Teddy Roosevelt NP, ND; With Dignity of Earth & Sky, Chamberlain, SD; Merritt Island Wildlife Refuge, FL; Trenton, ME; Lewisburg, WV; Blue Ridge Parkway, VA; Columbia, SC; Huntsville, AL; Gulf Shores, AL; New Bern, NC; Congaree NP, SC; Acadia NP, ME; Yellowstone NP, WY; Devils Tower, WY; Loveland, CO; Madisonville, LA; Capitol Reef NP, UT; Red Canyon, UT. The photo does not do it justice as Kathryn did a marvelous job assembling it.

10/16/2025

Who starts a bottling company during the Prohibition era? In Catawissa, PA, that would be Bruce & Susanne Gregorowicz. In 1926, they bought the creamery there believing they could be successful as a soda bottler and wait out the Volstead Act (the act that reversed Prohibition). Almost a hundred years later, and now with the third and fourth generation of the family operating the machinery, Catawissa Bottling Company brings their own Big Ben soda to stores around Pennsylvania’s Columbia County and beyond. And what better place to do that than in Catawissa, the Shawanese and Delaware word for ‘pure water’.

Read about the Catawissa Bottling Company and the Clark family that runs it in the last narrative on AmericanNarratives.org

Narratives Quilt Update: Piecing is complete!!! This is a visual journal of our 11 trips out of Vermont & across the ...
10/07/2025

Narratives Quilt Update:
Piecing is complete!!! This is a visual journal of our 11 trips out of Vermont & across the entire continental USA. Each design element indicates specific information. There will be a legend that also explains these elements on the back of the quilt and I will post a full description in a future post.

I’m fully aware that this is VERY colorful, perhaps too much for some, but I really love scrappy quilts and wanted to have lots of color. Had planned to have blue as the outside edges, but this dark eggplant really made those bright colors ‘POP”. Unfortunately, the lighting in these photos is very yellow and not very complimentary.

After many conversations and much thinking, I’ve decided that the only way to quilt this monster is free-motion on my stationary longarm. Knowing that managing the weight of this large project will be a challenge, I will be holding off on beginning the quilting process for a bit as I transition a recently vacated bedroom into a longarm space with room for extra tables to help with controlling the weight and movement of the kingsized quilt sandwich.
I’ve been working on some custom designs for the quilting process that tell even more of the story about our amazing adventure. Stay tuned !!!!

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