And Then it was Suddenly Friday -

This was my most favorite moment of the day.

A most unexpected “I came to spend some time with you!” with one of my dearest (yet, the nameless one! LOL!) friends who is here on retreat with the Stitch Mob!

My job for the day was just to take enough time to put the borders on the Shoo Fly Shoo, Variation II and get it ready for quilting.

Some of The Mob had made a quick foray to the tiny Food City grocery store in nearby Independence.

Others had called ahead to Batiks Etc. in Wytheville to see if they were open and what their protocols were.

That left the two of us.  In the QPO. And while my borders were going on at the 201 machine, Impromptu string blocks were being made across from me at the 301 out of my overflowing and never ending bin of strings.

We chatted – about many things.  You see, I  get an education every time I am able to meet with this friend, be it during a facebook video call, a phone call, or an actual time in person like this wonderful long stretch of retreat we are experiencing.

My nameless friend (Who needs to remain incognito for at least now while she is here!) also brought her sister who is greatly enjoying the cooler temps up here in the mountains of Southwestern Virginia, while also working thanks to her job also being “Work from home” due to Covid.  Have wifi, have work!

As some of you know, yesterday, the 19th of June – is an important day in American history, yet most of us were never taught about it in our American History classes in school growing up.  It has been many years since I graduated high school in 1980, so I can’t count for what is in our history books currently.

But when I was learning history, let’s just say that many things were white-washed out.

When I finally learned about ‘Juneteenth’ I was an adult with school-aged children.  And I only learned about it because we had moved from Idaho to Texas – the state where Juneteenth, or June 19, 1865 became a very important date for blacks who remained enslaved for NEARLY THREE MORE YEARS after the Emancipation Proclamation of 1862 was issued.

NEARLY THREE YEARS before word of freedom reached folks in Texas.  We think that 3 months of lock down is an extremely long time to ‘suffer.’  Try three years.

Juneteenth celebration in Texas, 1900.

These beautiful people had been freed from slavery in 1863, but didn't learn of it until nearly 3 years later. 

Tell these folks that "It was only three years longer."

Back to my story – Growing up in San Jose, in the San Francisco Bay Area of California, Juneteenth wasn't taught. It wasn't in our history books. It wasn't mentioned in our community.

I moved to Texas in early June 1999.  And I learned.  My son Jason graduated high school in Waxahachie, Texas.  He learned. It was local history. It was taught there.

It’s been 20 years since I learned.  A conversation where I felt free to ask deeper questions of my black friends happened yesterday morning. 

Friend ‘J’ stated that growing up in Kansas, Juneteenth wasn’t a THING for them either.  It wasn’t really taught or emphasized, it wasn’t celebrated – unless you happened to be from Texas (Where they also celebrate things like the Alamo, where the rest of the country doesn’t.  It’s a Republic of Texas thing.) 

But we can do better. We SHOULD DO BETTER.

And there are ways to DO BETTER.  Imagine that you are that person who has been enslaved all of your life. Your children have been sold off to who knows where. You are property. They are property.  And it takes 3 years longer than it should for word to reach you that you are free.  Your children are free. That you should have been set free nearly 3 years before. That you have spent nearly one THOUSAND more days being owned.  You were kept from your life.

It just breaks my heart.

The WRONG thing to do?  Is turn Juneteenth, the 19th of June - a day that is a memorial day to many – into a commercial opportunity for more summer sales, discounts and Deals of the Day. In this country we have ruined MOST of our religious and important commemorative holidays by turning them into commercial gain with Black Friday sales, Memorial Day blow outs, Independence day Discounts, Easter Sales -

Those of my my friends who are Jewish get what I mean.  It would be like offering a huge commercial discount in all departments in celebration of Yom Kippur.  Tacky.

So – if you are wondering “What the fuss is all about?” Visit the Wikipedia about Juneteenth and learn a bit. It may not have been taught to you when you were in school.  It may have been kept out of your history books.  But you can learn now.

Celebrations commemorating Juneteenth started in 1866. Long may they continue, and may we also remember and never forget.

And get some honest non-white-washed history into our school books so we actually educate our children instead of waiting until they are middle-aged adults who were never taught.

I am loving having these ladies here!

In the QPO, string piecing away!

And yes! My borders are on!

You asked where our masks were?

You can’t wear a mask while eating.  I know you will see the logic in that if you just think about it for a minute.  But since you asked – this is the luncheon napkin version of mask wearing while eating!

Tanya’s chili with all the fixin’s!  Delicious!

By happy hour we were ALL feeling foxy!

And so masked up and well behaved at Batiks Etc!

We are quilting.  We are growing.  We are learning.  We are bonding!

We are laughing at the self destructing iron!

This is why they come from Goodwill at $3.99!

And we are creating!

Has anyone seen Judy?

I think she is buried under here somewhere!

Today we do it again.  And we will celebrate our friendships with an evening around the fire pit.  The Hubster has his list to go get the ingredients for s’mores.  And more marshmallow roasting sticks.

And I am loving the new porch chairs!

Even with some assembly required.

I started with 2 sets of 4 – enough for 6 at the table and 2 spares for around the porch, but I am ordering another set of 4 so we can have 6 around the fire pit, and the others can be carried down off the porch.

You can find them in the On the Porch category of the Quiltville Amazon Affiliate Store. (They also come in black or white.)

Did you get your entry in on our June 2020 Quilty Box Gift-Away?  Drawing to happen Monday morning.  Enter to win ON THAT POST.

And you did see that our Unity Quilt Along is now in PDF booklet form and available in the digital patterns section of the Quiltville Store at 25% off?  No coupon required. 

Quiltville Quote of the Day -

You were not born to stay the same as the generation who came before you.

We can do and be so much better!