A Great Time with Grand Children

Today is Track and Field Day at the Elementary School. Cameryn (8 years old) is very competitive so he loves anything sports. London (4 years old), Allie (3 years old) and I went to the school for a couple of hours to watch all of the events. And boy, it was really hot. A few members of the Hillman EMS were there passing out lemonade, kool-aid and ice water. They also had an ambulance available so the kids could take a look at it. London and Allie did a little walk through of the rig. Allie is here visiting with Papa and I for a few days. Now I am off to play with Gavin and Grady (2 months old) for the afternoon.

Sewing Deprived

I have experienced sleep deprivation and now I am feeling sewing deprived (is there such a thing)? We had a very wonderful weekend with beautiful weather and lots of family time, but no sewing time. I take that back, I did manage to hand stitch about 20 inches of binding on a UFO Mystery quilt last night before I went to bed. I have another busy week this week so a little hand sewing on the binding may be all I get to this week too. But that is ok - family time and activities are much more important.

A Class at Quilt Guild

Yesterday I attended a class at Quilt Guild. Member Pat taught us to make a really cool bag, similiar to a carry on bag. She designed the pattern and graciously shared it with us. Prior to the class our home work was to cut all of the pieces and get them serged or zig zaged. Since I don't have a serger I did zig zag stitching around all 14 pieces. I got to class, sat my sewing machine up, filled a bobbin and boom - my sewing machine froze up. Boy, was I bummed. Luckily, my great friend JoEllen had a spare machine there. We got it sat up and it worked like a charm. I managed to get the bag almost finished. I just have to do some top stitching. A picture will follow as soon as I can get back to it. It is so great to have friends. Thank you so much JoEllen.

The Alcona County Quilt Trail Project

Last Saturday I had a wonderful opportunity to visit The Alcona County Quilt Trail Project. The tour was organized by our Michigan Quilt Network Region 2 officers. Nine members and guests met at Hollyhock Quilt Shop to hear a brief history of the project. This is the first Quilt Trail Project in Michigan. We were given very detailed maps and sent on our way. Twenty eight quilt blocks are featured on barns and on posts at various locatons throughout the County. We didn't get to all 28 of the blocks as lunch and a sale at a Quilt Shop were calling all of our names. I do hope to go back and finish the trail some day. I am just sharing a few of the pictures with you today. I hope you will take the opportunity to visit this Quilt Trail and any of the others featured in several states.

Sad News From Thunder Bay Resort

It is with great sadness that I must annouce that Thunder Bay Resort will be discontinuing our Quilter's Retreats after this year. Our numbers have been down for a long time and we have had to make the tough decision to cancel some of our retreats. As of right now we plan to continue our schedule as follows: June 3 - 6 with Mark Lipinski, Aug. 26 - 29 with Sherry Jaqua (Murder Mystery Retreat), Oct. 14 - 17 with Ann Zemke and Oct. 21 - 24's UFO Retreat. All details can be found on our website - www.quilterretreat.com and we still have room at all of these retreats. I invite you to check us out. We always have a great time at our retreats. Please feel fre to contact me if you have any questions.

Christmas stockings in May?

For the last couple of years our Quilt Guild has made Christmas stockings, filled them with little gifts and candy and given them to a couple of charities for children in our area. This year it was decided to make stockings throughout the year instead of waiting until November or December. Today we had open sewing at Guild. I joined several other members of the Guild and made some stockings. On my way to the meeting I had set a goal of completing 3 stockings. I ended up completing 7 stockings and am very proud of myself. The stockings are very easy to make and it is fun to think about the fun the children will have when they receive their stockings. Perhaps I should think about a goal to accomplish between now and Christmas. I wonder if I can complete 42 more stockings? That is only 7 per month for the next 6 months. I think I can, I think I can, I think I can!!!!!!

A Very Productive Weekend

Last Saturday morning we woke up to snowfall, a very heavy, wet snow. It was a perfect day to make blueberry pancakes, then head into my sewing room. I finished both of these quilt tops. The orange quilt is a mystery quilt and the multi colored quilt is a block of the month quilt. The BOM quilt instructions called for jelly rolls. I decided to use the 1930 reproduction fabrics I have been collecting for several years. I also wasn't sure about the red block but decided it would give the quilt a little pizzaz. I would like to pick up a couple of fabrics for narrow borders for both quilts. I have ideas on how I want to finish both quilts but that may have to wait for a little while. Along with sewing during the weekend I also attended a Church dinner, attended the worship service at Church, entertained our 2 month old twin grandsons for a couple of hours, made a quick trip into Alpena and also visited my parents on Mother's Day. I won't have a free weekend now for awhile so I had to grab it while I could. Is everyone else having a crazy May so far or is it just me?

My Guild Mystery Quilt

Our Guild started a mystery quilt in January. Yesterday at our meeting we received the final step and the lay out guide. I am very proud to say that I was able to keep up with each step of this quilt, something that doesn't happen very often. As you can see I have been chain stitching the pieces in the final step. In a quest to stash bust I used fabric that I had in my stash. But I was thinking that I may buy fabric for the border. At first I thought about black but now I am thinking about a blue print as the star fabric has blue in it. I guess I will just wait and see what jumps out at me at the Quilt Shop.

A Birthday Quilt For Allie

Our grand daughter, Allie celebrated her third birthday this week. Of course Nana made her a quilt for her birthday. As you can see by the picture she loved it before she even saw what it looked like. I think it will be a great teaching tool and I know her Mom will work with her on learning her alphabet.

I haven't had much time for sewing in the last couple of weeks. My "other hat" is that of Township Clerk here in Hillman. One of my duties is to coordinate elections. We held a school election here in Hillman on Tuesday and I have been very busy with absent voter ballots and all of the details of the election. I am very proud to say that 875 ballots were cast for the election in our very small community. That is a very, very high number for a school election. There has been some controversy in our community and that has generated a lot of interest. I hope now that all of that controversy will be turned into positive actions for our children and our school. And I also hope that I can get back to some sewing again!!