Thank you Kathy and Barney for the wonderful Thanksgiving feast! We had a great time visiting, seeing you both and Kyle. Noel loved his prizes from the board games.
I spent most of the remainder of my time off either sewing or shopping for fabric. I machine quilted the LAP Mystery Block quilt (above) and one called Twist and Turn (below). The Twist and Turn will be my LAP Ele's Place quilt for this year.
I also machine quilted the hand embroidered "Snowmen through the Year" quilt. I need to add some final touches to the detail but hope to hang this quilt in the LAP quilt show next May.
My other machine quilting "finishing" project was this machine embroidered redwork snowman wall hanging.
On Friday and Saturday, we did our own version of "shop hops." Fridays visits included local quilt shops like Country Stitches and my favorite, Everlasting Stitches in Holt. Pam Henrys owns Everlasting Stitches and makes it a pleasure to go into the shop. Even my six year old grandson loves the shop and the fabric!
The Rose of Sharon "bush" in the back yard is beautiful. Although the picture makes the blooms look pink, they are really quite lavender......and then there are also white blooms on the same bush. They are beautiful and are attracting lots of bees.
We spent last Sunday at Pottawattamie Park in Grand Haven. It was a balmy day, great for a family reunion! Noel climbed up on top of the Tahoe to get a better view of the lake. I finished reading Randy Wayne White's new novel, Dead Silence.
It was slightly overcast all day, but in the late afternoon, just before the parade was to start, the sun came out. These beautiful maple trees provided shade for us as we watched the parade in Mason, Michigan.
The parade in Mason seems like a Norman Rockwell calendar event. Crowds always gather around the Ingham County courthouse. Families of all shapes, sizes and configurations bring their lawn chairs and blankets to watch the parade.
We set up our chairs on the corner of Barnes and Ash Streets. This point was nearer the end point of the parade (and much closer to the parking lot!) We were across the street from the court house. There were tons of people and twice as many mosquitos.
The color guard led the parade. It is, afterall, the reason for the celebration, right? My dad participated as a color guard through the American Legion for many years, both in my hometown of Harbor Beach and then in Fort Myers Beach during retirement. We learned from my parents, flag etiquette. It is really amazing how many people either didn't learn, don't remember or just don't care.
This is the truck that Beth bought three times! Noel loves the truck!
These ladies were having a great time! They were making rounds before the parade when I asked to take their picture. They said they had been complaining that there were no queens in the Mason parade and thought it a tragedy. Someone told them to change that---so they created their own float and became queens for the day. They were having a spendid time and people at the parade enjoyed seeing them have such a good time. In no way, did they take themselves seriously!
Noel was exploring in my jewelry box over the weekend. When he was done, I had a pile of stuff to junk....many of-of-a-kind earrings, the mates long gone; necklaces with broken clasps; old rings that had no meaning. There was a baggy full. M daughter suggested taking it to a jewelry store to see if there was any gold they might buy. OK, so I'm thinking maybe there might be enough to buy us lunch. It was a very interesting experience. The gentleman who waited on us Liberty Coin was very pleasant and taught us how they test items for gold. I left with $1368! I was astounded. I have probably pitched an equal amount in the garbage. Thanks, Noel, for exploring grammy's pretties.
The quilt below is made out of leftovers from the Vanilla Stars quilt I completed earlier this year. It is a series of nine-patches and squares. This will be my 2010 LAP Ele's Place quilt. LAP members donate quilts to Ele's Place so that each grieving child may choose a quilt. The backing will be flannel--all the better for snuggling.
I finished the tablecloth started at the LAP Edyta Sitar workshop. This used a foundation paper-piecing technique. I tried to hand quilt this piece but since it is a tablecloth, I didn't use batting. The lack of batting and the use of batik fabrics for both the top and backing made hand quilting it a bugger.
Two years ago, I saw this quilt (similar, anyway) on display at the Marshall House Quilt Shop in, well, Marshall, MI. I loved the use of batiks and the fact that it was made using raw-edge machine applique. I'm not sure why it took me so long to finish it!
It was a balmy 84 degrees today with unrelenting sunshine. After a full day of chores, we were the guests of Kathy and Barney at Doc Ford's Rum Bar & Grille on Sanibel Island. The entire place was buzzing with people enjoying each other and the wonderful food. In honor of my birthday, I had the dry rubbed rib eye---yummy! It was perfectly grilled medium-well and served with roasted garlic and Parmesan smashed potatoes, carmaelized mushrooms, asparagus and roasted blue cheese tomato, surrounded by a shallot cabernet sauce. Add a couple of cool drinks and a crisp green salad and voila', the perfect meal. We were way too full for dessert, but the key lime pie called to us. It has been reported to be the best in the area. We opted to order the pie and took it home for a bed-night snack.
Dorrie and Rich added an outdoor kitchen to their lanai. Rich is a wonderful chef and will certainly put this to great use. The bulk of the work is done and they are anxious to be able to use it. I can't wait for my next dose of succulent ribs!
Dorrie re-created one of her spare bedrooms to be lovely lavender. This is the quilt I made her for Christmas.
It was 80 degrees and the forsythia were in grand bloom on Friday. I almost felt silly leaving for Florida for some sun. I got of of town just in time!
Now that the snow and ice are gone, drivers of all ages are tuning up their vehicles for those lovely sunny, Sunday drives.
34 degrees, 5" of snow overnight...this is Mother Nature's April Fools surprise!
Note to self: Do not walk across the street, in the dark, in this weather, to get the paper!
This is an interim update on THIS project! I have been working on this quilt since 1995. At that time, I thought I needed to totally piece a quilt by hand to appreciate the work and skill women used to create quilts before fancy sewing machines and templates. I cut the fan pieces individually by hand using scrap paper for piecing. (I actually used those pesky advertising inserts found in magazines - they were a little heavier weight and very easy to come by!) I then joined the fans together by hand and appliqued them to the yellow blocks by hand. For the sake of sturdy construction, I did put the blocks together by machine. I am now in the process of hand quilting the project. This quilt easily covers a king size bed! I have a lot of hand stitching to finish.
Once again, Sparrow Scrappers invaded the Holiday Inn Express in Okemos for a weekend of scrapbooking, cardmaking, laughing, talking and tequila. The amount of stuff hauled into the hotel to support these habits is incredible! The atmosphere was one of creativity, comraderie and excellent food. Rather than "buying out," and taking time away from the fun, everyone brings something. Wendy brought the best potato salad I've every had; Joan brought Irish potato -cabbage soup---including the option to add corn beef; Lisa brought cornbeef sandwich fixings. There was also chili, cornbread, and gads of wonderful salads. I can't forget the homemade sugar cookies, brownies, lemon bars and rice crispy treat! I didn't stay at the hotel like most people did-it's too close to home. It's a lot of fun - there are sister, mothers-daughters, cousins and friends getting together to do what they enjoy most.
It reached 60+ degrees today. Daylight savings time springs forward this weekend. The snow and ice are gone. The crocuses have sprouted. It sure looks like spring!
The 2009 Lap Challenge has the following rules:
A couple of months ago, I attended a class at Country Stitches taught by Kathy Richardson. She taught techniques in creating designs for embroidery sewing machines. Using some basic pieces, I created this design and stitched it out. This is a trial, but I will use it as dust cover for my machine. If I were going to create table napkins or use this design again, there are some alterations to the pattern I would make: 1) re-space the four fans making the inner circle - thee is a slight gap in the left horizontal line; 2) use two tones for the flowers to show some variance between the buds and flowers. In this piece, some of the flowers were stitched out in green.
Noel Ward says:
