In recent months (and some not so recent) there have been numerous fundraising projects to help further the progress of the library building expansion. We are truly thankful to all that have been involved in one way or another with this campaign. And guess what! We are getting this library built – one block at a time – quilt blocks, that is!

If you have not yet had a chance to come in to the library and see the beautiful quilt donated by some of the members of the Panhandle Quilt Guild, you will want to do so soon. Vonda Walter, Marlene Huston, Pat Kembel, Carol Rogers and Patsy Sterkel have painstakingly pieced together a beautiful work of art and donated it to the library to help further our cause. The quilt is done in a pattern called "Wild Goose Chase" which dates back to the mid-1800’s.

Along with the quilt, we also have a fantastic print donated by artist Kevin Burkey. Entitled "Follow the Leader", this painting is a scene lifted right out of our valley’s past. It could easily be set in the same time period that the "Wild Goose Chase" quilt design was developed. Burkey’s painting is of a young girl in a sunbonnet and calico dress, picking wildflowers, amongst the yucca and sage grass with Chimney Rock in the back ground. This signed limited edition is matted in pale green, pulling out the colors of the prairie grasses.

For a donation of $1.00 you have an opportunity to acquire the Burkey print and for a $5.00 donation, perhaps you may take home the quilt as a Mother’s Day gift for yourself or someone you love. The drawing will take place on May 8^th. Your ticket is your receipt.

While you are in the, you might want to check out one of Earlene Fowler’s quilt mystery books. I just finished "Sunshine and Shadow" which is the 10^th book in this series featuring Benni Harper. Fowler’s Benni Harper mysteries all have quilt patterns for their titles and quilts figure prominently in the story line. In "Sunshine and Shadow" Fowler not only manages to use two types of quilts metaphorically (the Sunshine and Shadow Quilt of the title and the Crazy Quilt), but also juggles two different story lines and time periods. She jumps back and forth between Benni Harper’s past and present, weaving a tight and intriguing mystery.

This month Brown Bag Book Club will be discussing "The Diary of Mattie Spenser" by Sandra Dallas. This is a fictional work recorded on the pages of a young newlywed’s diary as she makes her way across the prairie in a covered wagon. She and her husband settle in Colorado Territory. I am certain the scenes encountered as they crossed Nebraska would have been identical to that of our "sunbonnet miss" in Kevin Burkey’s realistic print. Sandra Dallas also paints a realistic description of the trials and joys of Mattie Spenser as she struggles to make a home in the hostile environment of the plains. The reader gets a true sense of what life was like for those who came here before us.

As we take a look into some books that picture the past, help us build a library for the future by donating to the library building fund. You may be fortunate enough to take home the "Wild Goose Chase" quilt or the "Follow the Leader" print. We are getting closer to the goal of building a 21^st Century library–one quilt block or brushstroke at a time!

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Scottsbluff Public Library :: 1809 Third Avenue :: Scottsbluff, NE 69361 :: 308-630-6250