Last weekend the Michigan Quilt Network held its annual Showcase in Lansing, MI. The Showcase started on Thursday and featured a quilt show, classes, lectures, and vendors. Steve and I managed to get there and enjoyed about 2 hours of the show on Saturday before it was shut down. We were also able to attend "Two Men and a Trunk Show" by Dan Burke and John Putnam. Both men are quilters and both have totally opposite quilting styles. Dan is very much into paper piecing and designing. John is much more traditional and enjoys using other peoples patterns (that is my style too). All of the quilts were beautiful. Sunday morning was the annual business meeting. During the meeting I received the Volunteer of the Year Award from president Sherrie Jaqua. I thank all involved and truly appreciate the honor.

A Trip To The Apple Farm

Last Friday our daughter Heather, grandchildren Allie and London and I made a trip to Knaebe's Apple Farm in Rogers City, about a 30 mile trip from home. The weather was great and the kids enjoyed the petting zoo and the playground. We wandered through the gift shop, bought some apples and discovered some delicious apple cider donuts in their kitchen

Fall Has Arrived

Fall has definitely arrived here in Hillman, Michigan. The temperatures have cooled down and the colors on the trees are turning very fast. Our downtown went through a total face lift, including a new bridge, new streetscape and 3 of these beautiful pocket parks. Doesn't this look inviting? I would love to sit in one of these parks and soak up some sun and do some people watching. I wonder what would happen if I took along some hand sewing. Do you think anyone would notice? No time for sitting and soaking up sun right now. I have been busy enjoying time with our daughter Heather and our 3 year old grand daughter Allie. Allie is going to be a big sister most any day now. We do not know yet if it will be a brother or sister and I like it that way. We are anxiously awaiting the big day. I have also been busy doing some more canning and spending time at both offices. Last night Steve and I presented our Trunk Show to a group of about 25 ladies at a local church. There were just a couple quilters in the bunch and everyone was very complimentary of our quilts. Maybe this evening I can sneak in a little time for some hand applique.

Ann Zemke of Crocus Lane Quilts will be our guest instructor at our next Quilter's Retreat. The date is October 14 - 17 and the place is Thunder Bay Resort in Hillman, Michigan. Ann will present her lecture/trunk show, Orphan Train Quilts and then teach a big bag class. Additional details can be found on our website, Thunder Bay Quilter's Retreats. I would just like to remind

you that the retreats at Thunder Bay Resort will come to an end this year. We will hold the Oct 14 - 17 retreat and the final retreat on October 21 - 24. That retreat will be a UFO retreat where retreaters are invited to bring along UFO's (unfinished objects) to work on or a quilt that you have been anxious to start. This is a perfect time and place to work on both UFO's and new projects as there won't be any interuptions by husbands, kids, pets. Let us prepare your meals and even make your beds and you can just spend 4 glorious days sewing and creating. We have room at both of these retreats and we would love to have you come and join us.

Mission Accomplished

I acomplished my mission this afternoon. I sandwiched 4 Thunder Bay Resort Quilter's Retreat signature quilts (nopw just 2 quilts behind) and 3 Tiny Miracle quilts. I have a Guild camp coming up in a few weeks and I think I will take these to quilt at the camp. Now after dinner off to my sewing room to pack a sewing bag for Scrappy Sewing Day at Guild tomorrow.

Sandwiching Small Quilts

Here is how I do it: I use my table from JoAnn Fabric that has a smooth finish. I use brown tape to tape the quilt backing to the table, stretching the fabric as much as I can. Then I lay the batting on top of the backing. Then I tape the quilt top to the batting and backing, again stretching the top as much as I can. I use little brass safety pins and pin the three layers together. I probably use more pins than I need but I want to make sure nothing moves. Once all of the pins are in place I am ready to hand or machine quilt the small pieces. I have used this method for a long time and it works for me. For large quilts I use my frame to sandwich and then pin the three layers together. Last night after dinner I pinned three Tiny Miracle (preemie) quilts. My plan is to sandwich 4 retreat signature quilts and a few more Tiny Miracle quilts this afternoon and evening. As of right now I plan to machine quilt all of these quilts when I have time.

We had a very busy weekend so there wasn't much sewing time but that is ok with me. We enjoyed visiting with out of town relatives, attended our twin grandsons baby dedication at their church, did a little shopping, canned salsa and beets and even squeezed in a little time for relaxation.