Quilter's Retreat

A VIP BREAKFAST

2009-12-29T12:46:00.003-05:00

I was treated to a very special breakfast this morning. Our 8 year old grandson Cameryn had a sleepover at our 4 year old grandson London's house last night. London's Mom Tasha invited me over to have breakfast with them this morning. I loved it. Tasha cooked sausage, potatoes, scrambled eggs and toast. It was delicious and so much fun to have some time with some special people in my life. Special thanks to Tasha, Cameryn and London for a perfect morning. I hope that all of you get to have some time during the upcoming holiday weekend to spend time with the special people in your lives. Happy New Year.

One more Christmas picture

2009-12-29T12:36:00.003-05:00

I would like to share one more Christmas picture with you. I love all of our Christmas decorations. We are very traditional and use the same decorations over and over and love them. My favorite though is our nativity set. I bought our set many, many years ago from Home Interior. At the time it was quite expensive and we didn't really have the money but once I saw it I fell in love with it. As I remember it I had to work at the Credit Union on the Friday after Thanksgiving so decided I would treat myself to the Home Interior purchase. I have never been sorry. My sister-in-law Kathleen built the stable from barn board from Steve parents barn and gave it to us for our 25th wedding anniversary. The stable is perfect for our figurines. Usually every year about this time I think that perhaps we could leave the nativity set up all year. Since we don't it make it even more special each time we bring it out of storage. Do you have a favorite Christmas decoration? I would love to hear about it. I hope everyone had a very enjoyable and a very safe Christmas.

Merry Christmas

2009-12-23T11:05:00.004-05:00

I pray that everyone has a wonderful Christmas celebration with family and friends. I absolutely love Christmas. I am the oldest of 5 kids in our family and we were raised on a small dairy farm. My parents didn't have a lot of money but they always made sure our Christmases were very special. One year we received a pony for Christmas and my Dad actually led her into the living room. You can imagine the squeals and giggles as we opened our eyes to see a pony standing near our Christmas tree. And I still have the Barbie clothes that my Mom made me many, many years ago. I have tried to create the same magic for our 3 children and now for our grandchildren. I have talked with 3 real close friends lately who said they were not looking forward to Christmas this year because of various situations. We have a couple of family situations this year and I could easily fall into that trap. It would be easy to pull the covers up over my head and stay in bed all day but I refuse to do that. I am so looking forward to enjoying Christmas morning with our children, daughters-in-love and grandchildren. We will have fun opening gifts (I love watching the little ones excitement as they open their gifts) and then enjoy a big Christmas breakfast. Then the rest of the day will be spent relaxing and enjoying each others company. Saturday we will head to my parents for a holiday celebration with my family. Over the years I have heard people talk about life changing experiences but I never really bought into that theory. But after I went through my surgery and recovery I feel I have made some major life changes. Life is way too short to waste it worrying and fretting over piddly little things. I wish all of my friends a very Merry Christmas. And don't forget to do a little sewing and relax, relax, relax!!

Are you ready for Christmas?

2009-12-22T10:28:00.006-05:00

I am so ready for Christmas. The tree is up, the house is decorated and all of the gifts are wrapped and ready. I have never been this organized in my life! I think I like it. I don't usually do any holiday baking as we don't need the temptations at home. And usually there are enough temptations at all of the parties and events. One of my sisters (I have 3) owns and operates a bakery here in town. She closes it during the winter and has decided that she will not re-open the bakery in the spring. This afternoon we are going to have a family baking get together at the bakery. We will be using her equipment and helping to use up her left over supplies. It sounds like some of the kids in the family will be there too so it should be a very fun afternoon. We were all asked to bring along favorite recipes and when we are done we will all be able to take home a little bit of everything. I plan to make up a plate of goodies to take to my 92 year old grandmother. Unfortunately we are not real close and I haven't seen her in awhile. She still lives in her home but isn't real interested in attending family functions any more. Since Christmas is all about family this will be a perfect afternoon. Thanks Amy! PS - The bottom picture is from my BQ (before quilting) days. The blocks are counted cross stitched.

I FINISHED A QUILT LAST WEEK!!

2009-12-20T16:51:00.004-05:00

I finished this quilt last week. The name of the quilt is Bunting and the blocks were recreated from a 1935 Baby Bunting Fan Quilt. I found the pattern in a Better Homes and Gardens book given to me by a very good friend for Christmas a few years ago. I hand pieced and hand quilted the quilt. I honestly do not remember piecing the quilt, although I do remember buying the green fabric in each fan. (How is that for a UFO project?) I started hand quilting this quilt last January but after my surgery in April I had to put it away for awhile. During the fall, as the weather started to get cooler, I pulled it out and finished hand quilting it. I am very proud of this quilt and am happy to have it completed.

I may be in trouble!!

2009-12-16T10:04:00.008-05:00

I guess my husband does read my blog entries!! I had mentioned in my last post that I was hoping we would get our outdoor Christmas decorations out this year. After
Church on Sunday while London (our 4 year old grandson) and I were inside decorating our Christmas tree and the house Steve was outside putting up our outdoor decorations. The cows and horses were all hand painted by Steve, Heather and myself many years ago. I always enjoy seeing them in our yard. I was raised on a dairy farm and have always loved cows. Someday I will have to show you pictures of my kitchen and my Merry Moo's collection. Steve was raised with horses although he hasn't riden one in over 35 years. We feel our yard decorations combine both of our interests and loves. Thanks hon for all your efforts. I truly appreciate them.

A White Christmas in Hillman

2009-12-12T11:05:00.002-05:00

Well, after the big storm this week it certainly looks like we will have a white Christmas here in Hillman, yea!!!! We had a major storm come through and dropped about 10 inches of snow here. I had hoped we would get more outdoor Christmas decorations out but that didn't happen. That is ok. We don't have our tree up yet or our inside decorations up yet either but hopefully today and tomorrow we will get that done.

Our Quilt Guild Christmas Party

2009-12-11T19:48:00.003-05:00

We had our annual Thunderbay Quilt Guild Christmas party today. It was so nice to spend time with my "quilty" friends. I had to miss our business meeting last week so it was nice to see everyone and catch up on their news. We enjoyed lunch of soup and salad or sandwich and dessert. The dessert was either cheese cake or a warm apple strudel with ice cream, yum, yum!! During the month of November most of our Guild members made Christmas stockings and today we donated items and filled the stockings for local children. We ended up filling over 100 stockings. It is always so rewarding to do charity work and especially when you can combine it with quilting!!!

Hulbert Quilt Camp #3

2009-12-10T13:17:00.008-05:00

I recently had a chance to enjoy a six day Quilt Camp with family and friends. Thanks Dave, Jane, Chris and Donna for sharing your beautiful cabin with us. We all managed to work on lots of projects, did lots of visiting, laughing and enjoyed lots of good food. We had some snow, those big flakes that are so pretty. I got the machine button hole stitching finished on 9 of my Guild's Blocks of the Month, put together a Tiny Miracle quilt and pieced the Stacked Four Patch Posey blocks that have been sitting in my sewing room for over a year and a half. Tasha was into making tote bags, then learned to make the knitted hats with the loom. Lana had her flip flop blocks all machine appliqued and learned how to make the log cabin blocks for the borders. Mom worked on re-doing her heart quilt and also did some hand stitching. Carol learned how to do some machine quilting (stippling) and was very excited about that. Karen learned how to machine applique and machine quilt on her cupcake wall hanging. She also worked on a table runner and hand quilting on a baby quilt. Again I had camera problems so I am not able to share all of the pictures with you. Maybe I should just stick with my sewing machine and forget about all of the other electronics. We all had a great time and are already looking forward to next years camp!

Scrappy Thursdays

2009-11-27T09:29:00.004-05:00

Our Guild started a new fun get-together. We are now holding Scrappy Thursdays. We had our first get-together last Thursday. I probably shouldn't have started another project but I did. I started a quilt named Trail Mix. It consists of lots and lots of scrappy squares of various sizes and rectangles. I pulled a bunch of my fabrics and started cutting. The pattern is layed out in steps so it will be perfect for our Scrappy Thursdays. The first steps calls for 32 4 patches so I got those done. But the most exciting news of the first Scrappy Thursday was that I used our Featherweight Sewing Machine. We bought it a little over a year ago on E-Bay and I just never took time to play with it. Steve used it in a Featherweight Care and Maintenance class so she is all tuned up and ready to go. She is so beautiful and just purrs like a kitten (or as a farm girl, she purrs like an old John Deere). I am really excited about using the Featherweight and our Scrappy Thurdays. Several women worked on scrappy quilts and some worked on finishing up some Christmas stockings for area children. We will fill them with small gifts at our Christmas party in a couple of weeks. Thanks Sandi for the idea of Scrappy Thursday. I already have ideas for several scrappy quilts. But first ...... I need to get another quilt or two finished.

A Quilter's Retreat for the Retreat Coordinator

2009-11-17T11:27:00.002-05:00

I had so much fun. I was able to attend a 3 day Quilter's Retreat last weekend. Daughter Heather and I enjoyed sewing and visiting with friends. This is the 4th year I have attended this retreat and Heather's 2nd year. Heather made a beautiful purple tote bag during the retreat. I did some machine button hole stitching on some flower blocks from a Guild Block of the Month from 4 or 5 years ago. My sewing machine didn't want to cooperate real well so I then moved on to some piecing. I worked on the Bouquet for Karen blocks from our Murder Mystery Quilter's Retreat. I was able to get 50 or 51 blocks done at the retreat. I think I just need to make about 10 more blocks, then I can start putting the quilt together. I think I will put up my design wall and lay the blocks out that way instead of on the living room floor. There were so many different projects going on during the retreat including sweatshirt jackets, full size quilts, a T-shirt quilt, wall hangings, wallets, bags and table runners. It is so much fun to see all of the different projects and fabrics. I am looking forward to this retreat next November. I am also looking forward to a small quilt camp with family members and friends in 10 days. Oh my, I didn't realize it was coming up that fast. I will have to get busy soon and get packing.

Our Beautiful Little Trick Or Treaters

2009-11-10T11:26:00.004-05:00

I have always loved Halloween and seeing all of the little trick or treaters in their costumes. We live on a dead end street so usually we only have family members come to our house. This year we had 30 trick or treaters and it was so much fun. Grand daughter Allie and her Mom live on Mackinac Island and are here visiting for a couple of weeks before they head to Florida for the winter. When Allie arrived here in Hillman she was scared of everything Halloween including pumpkins. I think we are past most of that now. She dressed as a Dora Princess and looked so beautiful. She loves to dress up in princess dresses and even in her little tu-tu. London invited Papa and I to attend his party at pre-school. He decided to be a dinosaur and looked so cute in his costume. When it was time to go trick or treating he decided to wear his Thomas the Train costume. He looked so cute and I loved his hat. Cameryn chose a Star Wars costume. He was sick with the flu for several days before halloween so wasn't really into all of the trick or treating but he did manage to make it to a few houses. We loved seeing him and his half-sisters.

First Annual Murder Mystery Quilter's Retreat

2009-11-06T13:37:00.004-05:00

A couple of weeks ago Thunder Bay Resort hosted our first Annual Quilter's Murder Mystery Weekend. Sherrie Jaqua a.k.a. Inspector Quiltsew discovered Retreat Assistant Karen murdered in The Quilt Barn. Cause of death was strangulation by a tape measure. Throughout the retreat Inspector Quiltsew interrogated 7 suspects. Detective Steve assisted by arresting the murderer following dinner on Saturday evening. During the retreat we worked on a mystery quilt, Bouquet for Karen. I managed to get 4 of the 64 blocks completed. I am attending a retreat next weekend and hope to get the remaining 60 blocks completed there. My camera was mis-behaving so I wasn't able to take many pictures. Sherrie or should I say Inspector Quiltsew will be back at Thunder Bay Resort on Aug. 26 - 29, 2010 for the Second Annual Quilter's Murder Mystery Retreat. Please watch our website for additional information.

A busy retreat with Sue Nickels

2009-10-27T14:02:00.003-04:00

We just completed a busy weekend retreat with Sue Nickels. Sue is an excellent instructor. She taught machine applique and the students were allowed to choose either her Ashley's Flower Basket Pattern or her Jessica's Flower Basket Pattern. As you can see in the picture the students made great progress. They also reported learning some new tricks. I did not take the class but hope to put the new skills to use some day soon. I am also looking forward to making the flower basket blocks in the near future.

Karen's Thunder Bay Curves and Ribbons Quilt

2009-10-20T13:46:00.004-04:00

Karen from Delaware, Ontario was here at Thunder Bay Resort to participate in our Quilter's Murder Mystery Retreat. She brought along her Thunder Bay Curves and Ribbons Mystery Quilt that she made during Mark Lipinski's retreat in August. The quilt turned out just beautiful. The colors were great and so was the machine quilting. I am anxious to see more of the quilts. Our Murder Mystery Retreat was lots of fun. Karen, one of our staff members was murdered by a jealous former friend of Karen's husband Fred. The mystery quilts were also very beautiful. I will post pictures of Sherrie's quilts in a future post. Right now I am busy getting ready for this weekends retreat with Sue Nickels.

Snow Pellets

2009-10-13T14:06:00.002-04:00

Yes, we had snow pellets here in Hillman on Sunday morning, October 11, 2009. As we got out of our car at Church we saw the little pellets land on the hood of my red car. They didn't look like flakes, they looked more like pellets. They didn't last very long. After Church, Steve and I went leaf peeping. We went for a fun and beautiful ride and actually ended up on the other side of the state. We dove down some beautiful roads with lots of pretty colors. We drove along Lake Michigan and saw some absolutely beautiful homes. Quite a few of them had "for sale" signs so we had fun dreaming. Although it was a cloudy day and the colors aren't at their peak yet we still had a good time.

Fall has arrived at Thunder Bay Resort

2009-10-08T15:38:00.004-04:00

Fall has certainly arrived here at Thunder Bay Resort. I took this picture this afternoon on the Elk Ranch. The leaves are turning all kinds of beautiful colors right now. I hope that we can go for a ride this weekend to see some more of God's handiwork. With the temperatures down in the 50's it sure does make me think about quilting (who am I kidding, I think about it all of the time). Yesterday after work I started making one of the Grommet bags. I hear they, along with so many other bags, are all the rage right now. I didn't quite get mine finished but I will get back to it soon. I have been busy getting things ready for our Quilter's Murder Mystery Retreat next weekend. We still have a couple of openings if you are interested. We also have some openings for our Sue Nickels retreat on Oct. 22 - 25. We also have some openings for day trippers if you live close and would like to take a two day class with Sue. Just call the resort at 1-800-729-9375 for additional information.

A New Found Love

2009-10-06T14:49:00.006-04:00

Like most quilters I had a lot of craft projects going BQ (before quilting). I enjoyed crocheting, plastic canvas needlepoint and macrame. I never did get the hang of knitting. Once I fell off the deep end for quilting I quit all of the other projects, except for a plastic canvas Christmas ornament that my family loves. As I posted earlier I started doing a little crocheting after my surgery until my eye sight was healed. I crocheted a baby afghan. My Mom brought over a bag of odds and ends of yarn that she had been given. I made two doll afghans with those and then decided to make a full size afghan using the left overs. I have the bag almost emptied so my Mom brought over a box full of yarn. This picture shows the afghan I have been working on. I am not sure about the dark stripe but I am not going to tear it out either. I may get another in there real soon to perhaps balance the afghan out. It looks like I may have enough yarn to make a second one. My husband asked the other day if he has lost his quilter. I wonder if he was thinking about all of the totes of fabric, patterns, tools and gadgets in my room. I had started the large afghan because I was enjoying the process and all it took was the yarn and a crochet hook. I enjoy having a travel project and this way I didn't have to worry about fabric, thread, needles, pins, scissors, etc. Well, I finished hand piecing a quilt last week. During the weekend the weather turned cold and damp so I pulled out a quilt that I started hand quilting in January. I haven't worked on it since then. Hand quilting is truly my real "love" in my quilting world. I totally enjoy it. My husband has not lost his quilter, I just am shall we say branching out a little bit.

A Productive Weekend

2009-09-29T13:58:00.005-04:00

The weather here turned dark, cloudy and dreary over the weekend - perfect weather for quilting and sleeping and I did a little of both. I managed to finish piecing, machine quilting and binding the 2 signature quilts from our August retreats. One theme was polka dot fabrics and one was red prints. I also finished hand piecing the center of my Tilt A Whirl quilt. I have the piano key border hand pieced and I think I will add that border and the small border by machine. I will post a picture of the quilt when it is finished. For some reason I felt like I needed a nap on both Saturday and Sunday and did just that. And since my recovery from surgery I have rediscovered my love for crocheting. I posted a picture of a pink baby afghan that I crocheted. My Mom brought me over a bag of odds and ends of skeins of variegated yarn that someone had given to her. I crocheted two little doll afghans. Then I decided to use up the rest of the yarn in making a scrappy full size afghan. I have really been enjoying working on that. I did take time on Sunday afternoon to go for a golf cart ride and probably rode about 10 miles. It was very enjoyable, chilly, but enjoyable.

Fun things happening at Thunder Bay Resort

2009-09-25T10:22:00.003-04:00

Fun things are happening here at Thunder Bay Resort this fall. The bull elk have their antlers fully grown right now and are quite a sight to see. Dinner rides are available for those who would love a horse drawn carriage ride through the woods to see the big guys and their gals, then on to the Elk Antler Cabin for a 5 course gourmet dinner with wine tasting. The colors are starting to change now and are just beautiful. We are also on You Tube too. I have not see the videos yet but I hear Mark Lipinski is hillarious. Check out our website to see the videos and see what else is happening here at Thunder Bay Resort. We also have two more retreats scheduled for Oct. Sherrie Jaqua will be here on Oct. 15 for a Quilter's Murder Mystery Retreat, complete with a murder and a mystery quilt. Sue Nickels will be here on Oct. 22 and will teach her award winning machine applique. Full details can be found on our website.

A New Bridge in Hillman

2009-09-24T15:48:00.006-04:00

Who says nothing exciting ever happens in Hillman? The bridge in town, over the Thunder Bay Rover is very old and is now being replaced. There are lots of mixed emotions among the community and I have to agree with both sides. The bridge is historical so it is sad to see it go but there are also safety factors that need to be considered. Our bridge is a double camel bridge constructed of concrete. Those who have been under the bridge say that there is a lot of decay in the cement. A temproary bridge is being built right now that we will be using while the permanent bridge is being built. From the pictures that I have seen the new bridge will look similiar to the old bridge. Plans are also underway to bury the utility lines along Main street. All of this is to be completed by next August. I was in Okemos (near Lansing) last weekend and they have a single camel back bridge there. It is now just a one way street with a second bridge built next to it for the other lane of traffic. It doesn't look as though any attempt was made to keep the look of the original bridge there.

Firemen's Memorial

2009-09-18T12:30:00.005-04:00

My husband, Steve has been a volunteer fire fighter here in Hillman for over 30 years. I am very proud of him and his service to our community. He has also created a Fire Ministry for the Hillman Fire Department, offering financial help to those who lose their homes to fire. This weekend is the 30th Annual Firemen's Memorial Festival in Roscommon. We are planning to go to the festival tomorrow. A highlight of the festival for me is the parade. It consists mainly of fire trucks and rescue vehicles all running their flashing lights and sirens. They also hold a very emotional memorial service at the monument for fire fighters who have lost their lives in the line of duty. Some of the other activities include water ball contests, demonstrations, a flea market, craft show, a chicken barbeque, music, vendor booths, fire trucks galore and carnival rides. We are planning to take our 4 year old grandson, London with us tomorrow. It will be his first Firemen's Memorial. Speaking of London, he started pre-school this week. He and his Mom invited me to go woth them on the first day of school. I felt so honored to be invited. Today was his "official" first day of school. He and his Mom both told me that he was very excited and had no tears. He met a new friend and he told us his name is Rocco. He and Rocco had fun playing with Thomas the Train and the dirt bikes. Mom (Tasha) shared with me that this has been a tough week for her. Her "little man" grew up really fast this week. I told her I remember those days. Any stories to share?

A Wonderful Quilter's Friendship Day

2009-09-16T13:09:00.004-04:00

Friday my Mom and I took a road trip to AuGres, MI for a Friendship Day hosted by the Wednesday Night Strippers. AuGres is about 100 miles from Hillman and we drove through very dense fog all the way there. The trip was very worth while as we had a great time. The "Strippers" know how to host a party. There were approximatley 100 ladies in attendance. The Guild members had several quilts and quilted jackets hung around the room. We were all asked to vote for our favorite quilt. The quilt I voted for (a stained glass block of the month quilt) won second place. In fact the first place quilt (a hand appliqued, hand quilted quilt) was made by the same lady who made the stained glass quilt. The members also participated in a challenge using a specific fabric and the theme sunrise. We also voted on our favorite challenge quilt. The pictures here are of two of those challenge quilts. We enjoyed participating in a chinese auction with lots of "quilty" items to bid on. We enjoyed visiting with two vendors, Bayview Calicos of Au Gres and Hollyhock Quilt Shop of Harrisville. Not only can the "Strippers" quilt but they can also cook as we were treated to a delicious salad luncheon which also included delicious desserts. It was a great day hanging out with quilters, visiting friends whom I hadn't seen in a long time and spending the day with my Mom.

Another Completed UFO

2009-09-09T13:17:00.003-04:00

I finished another quilt a week or so ago. This quilt is Hip To Bee Square made in a class with Amy Davidson during a Thuner Bay Resort Quilter's Retreat last June. Amy is an excellent teacher and a wonderful designer. She will be back at Thunder Bay Resort next April. Those of you who know me know that I prefer hand quilting. I usually say that I am cheap and long arm quilting is not. Well, sometimes I feel that long arm quilting makes a quilt and that is how I felt about this quilt. Terry's Quilting from Gaylord, Michigan did the quilting on this quilt. I got the quilt back from Terry just a couple of days before I went into the hospital so it sat at my house for almost 4 months before I was able to get the binding sewn on. I am sorry that the picture is a bit dark. I was going to take the quilt outside this morning and hang it on the clothesline for a picture but I didn't want to risk wet feet and a wet quilt from the dew on the ground.

A Beautiful Labor Day Weekend

2009-09-08T10:16:00.002-04:00

How was your Labor Day Weekend. Our weather was perfect ... and even better than that we spent the entire weekend with our family. Thursday afternoon after my Guild meeting Tasha, London and I drove to Mackinac City. We met up with Heather and Allie and then spent some time on the shore of Lake Huron under the Mackinac Bridge. The kids played with the stones, sand and water and us girls visited. Then we went to Burger King for dinner. Heather went back home to Mackinac Island and Allie came home with us. She was two in May is just absolutley beautiful and so much fun. She spent 5 days with us. Friday Tasha, London, Allie, our great nephew Gabe and I went to some garage sales. Then we decided to have an impromptu picnic/pool party at my parents house. We called my sister Connie and she went out there with 2 of her grand kids and my niece Courtney was there. We had a great time swimming and visiting. Allie is like a fish and loves the water and so do I. I don't do much swimming but it is so relaxing just to float in the pool. Saturday we went for golf cart rides and the kids rode their bikes. We went to Steve's brothers house to see the cows. Sunday after Church we had a carnival/pool party/pot-luck at my parents house. I am from a large family and we all enjoy getting together and hanging out. The kids played so hard and had a great time. Yesterday Heather came to pick Allie up and we went back out to the pool. It was hard to send Allie back home again - we had so much fun with her. But this Nana was tired too. In fact I was in bed by 9:30 last night. I got absolutely no sewing done during the weekend but that was perfectly fine with me. How did you spend your holiday weekend?