A Mystery Quilt Project

We just completed another fun quilter's retreat here at Thunder Bay Resort. The retreat was a Murder Mystery Quilter's Retreat with a Mystery Quilt. Thank you to Sherrie Jaqua for a wonderful job in writing the murder mystery, designing the mystery quilt and teaching the mystery quilt. The name of the quilt is Storm Over Thunder Bay. Here are pictures of 2 of the quilts that Sherrie showed. Paulette of Morresville, Indiana is shown here with several of her blocks. Paulette and her friend Susan of Wawa, Ontario Canada had never made a quilt. They heard about our retreats and decided it would be fun to give quilting a try. Both of the girls did a beautiful job with their quilts. They both said that they learned a lot and that there is more to quilting than they had realized. Thank you to all 22 of our quilters, to Sherrie our instructor/vendor and to Darlene her helper for a wonderful weekend.

A Murder at the Thunder Bay Resort's Quilter's Retreat

A murder was committed at Thunder Bay Resort on Thursday evening. Coordinator Pam Achatz was strangled with a tape measure. Throughout the next two days 6 suspects were investigated by Inspector Darlene and interrogated by Inspector Sherrie. Following a thorough investigation Sheriff Steve arrested Anna for the murder. Investigators discovered that Anna had a long time crush on Pam's husband and decided it was time to take action.

Before and After

Picture #1 - all set up and waiting for the party to begin!

Picture #2 - The girls have arrived and the party has begun.

My County 4-H Fair Entries

I entered 8 items in our county fair last week. I won 1 blue ribbon, 1 red ribbon and 2 white ribbons. The competition was pretty tight this year so I am very proud of my winnings. And I also received a check for $12.00. Should I add that to my vacation fund or use it to buy more fabric? Decisions! Decisions!

Another Busy Weekend

I thought that after the kids"left the nest" things would slow down a bit, but boy that sure hasn't happened. Friday evening we went back to the Fair so Steve could check out all of the exhibits. Saturday morning I did several loads of laundry and some general housework. I also put our design wall up and managed to sneak in a little sewing time. I worked on piecing a signature quilt from our Murder Mystery Quilter's Retreat last weekend. We also attended a wedding for our neighbor (congrats Jenny & Mark). Our daughter-in-love Tasha was a bridesmaid and our grandson London was the ring bearer. Sunday morning we went to Church, I went back to the fair grounds to pick up my quilts, then Steve and I went to Alpena to buy some canning tomatoes. We both got busy and ended up canning 32 quarts of tomatoes. It was fun working together on the project but was also glad when the final timer went off at 9:30 p.m.

Yesterday was Guild sewing at our annual County Fair. Several Thunderbay Quilt Guild members enjoyed sewing and visiting during a "Sit and Sew" Day. Most members worked on Christmas stockings but there were also a couple of baby quilts in the works. Members of the Guild brought in quilts to decorate our building for the day. Fair attendees stopped by to visit and to see what we were doing. I took in a presidents quilt from 1995. Members of the Guild each made me a block after a year as President of the guild. I put the blocks together and made a wall hanging. Of the 16 blocks in the quilt only one of the women is still in the Guild and 8 of the women are deceased. It made me stop and think about our Guild and how much I enjoy the friendship of so many people. Do you belong to a guild? If not, I highly recommend you find one to get involved in or start your own.

The Montmorency County 4-H Fair

Our annual county fair is being held this week. Our guild, Thunderbay Quilt Guild has a booth showcasing all of the charity projects that we participate in. Shown in the picture are the two raffle quilts we recently completed, more Christmas stockings, pillow cases, baby bibs, quilts for nursing home patients, helmet liners for the soldiers, and preemie quilts. This afternoon I will be heading to the fair to join fellow guild members to volunteer in the kitchen. Then tomorrow we will hold a charity sew day and fair attendees are invited to stop by and visit us and see what we are working on. There will be several different projects going on and I still haven't decided what I am going to work on yet. There is not a lot of prep time left so it will have to be something simple. It is always fun to hang out and sew with my Guild friends. I entered 8 items in the needlework department at the fair. I don't know if I will have time today or will have to wait until tomorrow to see if I won any ribbons. Stay tuned.