Our Lagniappe Dulcimer Fete is just around the corner in a couple of weeks, March 12-14, 2015, at the Port Allen, LA, Community Center. Come enjoy the workshops, concerts, vendors and bid on this beautiful handicraft made by club members.
Our Irish Lover’s Basket is a raffle item to be raffled at Saturday night’s concert. Other items to include:
- original framed art prints from Joyce Bedell,
- a themed gourd birdfeeder by Carol Harmon – Marie Varne’s sister,
- a fish pendulum clock by Claude Houchin and
- of course a 6-string teardrop McSpadden dulcimer,
- There’s a quilt made by Marie Gutuerrez,
- a psaltry by AB White,
- a pickin’ strick donated by Debbie Hawley.
Perhaps there will be a few other raffle items, too. We have so many talented dulcimer club members, and I’d like to provide more detail about the items that other members have made in later posts. But for now, here’s a little information about our Irish basket.
Irish Lover’s Basket for the Dulcimer Player
Our Irish Lover’s Basket for the Dulcimer Player started out with fabric quilted articles made by Jan Delgehausen and myself. We recruited several other members to donate their artwork, too, and added a few other Irish-related laginappe items. It’s turned out to be a fun activity and our basket now contains some very nice artwork. I hope you will bid on the basket and win it, too. Here’s the breakdown:
Stained glass Irish cross – made by Mary Malone. Mary hails from the town of Ballinrobe in County Mayo, Ireland, and moved to the U.S. when she was 17-years-old. She’s the real deal and can answer all your Irish-related questions. She enjoys making stained glass art and has donated a very special piece.
Irish fabric basket – made by Jan Delgehausen. Jan’s great-grandparents are from Claremorris in County Mayo, Ireland, just a bicycle ride down the road from Mary’s town. Jan has visited Ireland many times and has a deep love for anything Irish. She quilts and sews and made this neat little fabric basket for our raffle.
Irish cotton towel – woven by Bonnie Guelfo. Besides playing dulcimer, one of Bonnie’s hobbies is weaving. She donated this beautiful towel to our raffle basket.
Irish fabric pick-holder – one of a kind quilted pick-holder; handmade by Maylee Samuels for the Irish lover who likes to strum the dulcimer but can’t keep up with the picks. It can also serve as a small purse. Maylee quilts and sews in her spare time and likes projects that she can finish in one night.
“Nashville Irish” C. D. – by Mitch Reilly, Jan Delgehausen’s son-in-law. Mitch is a multi-talented musician living in Nashville. He travels throughout the world and has played with many famous musicians including a recent performance at Carnegie Hall with Phil Coulter and The Andy Cooney Band. Mitch’s specialty is Irish music and this C.D. includes Irish tunes played on a variety of instruments; recorded by Mitch and his friends.
“The Irish Dulcimer” by Lois Hornsbostel – a rare, out-of-print dulcimer tablature book of Irish melodies. The songs are still very playable today. This slightly used book comes with hand-written notation for a beginning fiddle player, too.
“Classic Irish Recipes” Cookbook – donated by Jan Delaghausen. It is a must have recipe book for preparing Irish meals in your home. Jan says the cookbook includes several authentic Boxty recipes for potatoes cooked in the northwestern part of Ireland that are a part of most meals. I saw a recipe for homemade orange marmalade with Irish Whiskey that I can’t wait to try.
Well, I hope to see you at the fete–at a jam session or workshop. Stop and say hello! It’s always fun to meet new folks from around the state and country as well as to learn a few new tunes. And support our raffle, too, by purchasing tickets for this basket and the beautiful dulcimer built by luthier, by Jim Woods of McSpadden Dulcimers, and the artwork donated by all the other folks, too.
Dulcimer Jambalaya 