Something to think about

Last week at our Guild meeting a Friendship Quilt was shown.  The quilt top consisted of blocks made by several members of our Quilt Guild.  Nancy, the owner of the quilt passed on before she finished the quilt.  Her family passed it on to our Guild and a couple of the members finished hand quilting and binding it.  Discussion was held on what to do with the quilt.  I suggested that we raffle it on our Guilds 25th Anniversary Friendship Day in September and that was the general concensus of the group.  I brought the quilt home, opened it up to check it out and to show my husband.  There are 20 blocks in the quilt, each made by a member of the Guild.  Well, as I was reading each name I discovered that I am the only one of the 20 that is still a member of the Guild.  About half of the quilt makers are no longer living, 2 of the quilters have moved and are still quilting and I don't know about the remaining ladies.  I didn't find a date on the quilt but I do know that it was made quite a few years ago.  Of course, I decided that I must have been really young (maybe even in high school!!) when those blocks were made.  It did give me an chance to reflect on each one of the former members and it also made me decide that I need to kick it in gear and get some more of my UFO's finished.

AWOL For Too Long

I have been AWOL from my blog for too long.  Like everyone else I have been very busy with lots of things.  Two of our sons coached their sons Little League teams so Papa and I went to every game that we could.  And now our son, my brother and our nephew play on an adult slow pitch soft ball team and we are going to as many games as possible.  I guess it doesn't matter how old our kids are we still enjoy getting involved and encouraging them.  I have been very busy with work as it is election season here in Michigan with the primary on August 7.  I have been mailing out absent voter ballots and trying to keep up on all of the paper work involved.  Like so many others we have been hit with the heat wave and it just seems to drain so much of my energy.  We don't have a/c in our house but luckily it stays fairly cool.  I have been trying to sit in front of a fan in the evenings and work on my hand quilting.  I have also been able to do a little sewing during the last few days and am working on some small tote bags for gifts.  I finished a block of the month quilt, had it machine quilted and got the binding on it.  I will have to get my camera out a take a picture of it.  I have been doing as much as I can to help with our 7 grandchildren and totally love that.  We celebrated my Dad's 80th birthday a couple of weeks ago and I told him he is a very young 80.  He is still driving school bus 5 days a week during the school year and loving every minute of it.  On Saturday I helped my sisters cater a wewdding reception for 450 people and am still trying to recuperate from that.  It was a lot of fun but also a lot of work.  My sister Carol and her family are doing well.  Now another sister is facing some medical issues and will see a specialist on Monday.  Take care of yourselves and the ones you love.

Life Is Too Short!

Last week we lost my brother-in-law Perrin after his 12 1/2 month battle with mesotheleoma.  He was married to my youngest sister Carol and the father of three children, Ryan, Lana and Cody.  He was only 52 years old and it just seems so unfair.  Cancer is just such a miserable disease and is affecting way too many people.  Perrin was not in physical pain, thankfully.  I made this small wall hanging and presented it to my sister at the visitation.  I prefer something like this instead of putting money into flowers.  My sister is doing well.  We spent several hours together sewing yesterday and she was able to share some of the things of the last years jouorney, including several trips to a meso specialist in Boston. 
Remember that life is short, be sure to express your love to those who are close to you.

 Here is a picture of my Bow Tucks bag.  I love it.  This is the larger size and it works well for all of the necesseties.  I would like to make the smaller one too some day.

This is a project that I finished during the winter but I don't think I shared a picture of it.  At Guild we had a 2 inch fabric exchange, then one of the members taught this table topper pattern.  A lot of the information was basic information but always good as a refresher.  I have it on my coffee table and enjoy looking at it.  Quilt Camp was wonderful.  I spent lots of time finishing up some machine button hole applique on some very small pieces so it doesn't look like I accomplished very much.  Today we have a mystery quilt class at Guild.

A Visual !?!

This may not be for the faint at heart.  This morning out oldest nephew was confirmed at Church.  Following the worship service we enjoyed family time and a delicious dinner.  When we left there we went to the other side of town where a benefit dinner was being held for a local man who is seriously ill with pancreatic cancer.  We didn't go for dinner, just wanted to make a donation, then ended up visiting with a very good friend for awhile.  We got home around 5 o'clock.  As I have stated before hand quilting is my favorite part of quilting but I haven't had anything sandwiched and ready to quilt for quite some time.  I decided this afternoon would be a great time to put my quilt frame up, especially since it was 90 degrees outside.  Since it was already early evening I decided there was no sense in changing out of my church dress.  I did take my jacket off, leaving a sleeveless dress and not a pretty sight.  And since I needed some pockets for the clips for the quilt frame the only thing I could find was a Christmas apron.  The pockets worked great for the clips and for my I-Pod.  But wait, it gets even better - I also put my crocs on as they are so comfortable, especially on the cement garage floor.  I am so glad my husband didn't think about getting the camera out.  Oh, and to top it off, one of the songs that played on my I-Pod was Gretchen Wilson's Redneck Woman.  When I told my husband about the song he just looked at me and gave a very faint smile and nod.   So now I have a quilt that is ready to be hand quilted.  I left the frame up in the garage and am thinking that if I have enough energy left after Church I would like to get another quilt sandwiched.  I haven't decided yet but I may have quilt that one.

Right now in my sewing room I have a dress that I started for our grand daughter.  It is the first garment sewing I have done in a very long time.  I would like to get it done before she comes to visit next weekend.  I also have parts and pieces of a quilt that I have been working on.  The blocks are sewn into rows.  Now I need to sewing the sashings and corner stones together and get the top finished.  I have a sewing station set up here in our family room where I have been working on the mystery quilt I started at Guild last Thursday.  I have 12 blocks done, I think the pattern calls for 20 blocks but I may make the quilt bigger, not sure on that yet.  This week is going to be busy with work and helping with grandchildren but hopefully I can get Allie's dress done and maybe even work on a few more blocks for the mystery quilt.

How many projects do you have "in the works"?

A Very Good Week

This has been a very good week in my sewing world.  On Monday I took a class at Sandy Dee's Quilt Shop.  She is hosting a bag of the month and the first project was a Bow Tuck Bag.  I have been wanting to make one for awhile now and so this was the perfect opportunity.  It was fun, although I didn't follow the directions, but I still have a beautiful purse.  Yesterday several of us met at Sandy Dee's to work on our Block of the Month project.  Today I am going to my Guild's monthly business meeting.  Have I told you about all of the talent in our group and the beautiful show and tells?  Sunday afternoon I am going to my Guilds camp for four days and am really looking forward to some serious sewing.  I have a couple of UFO projects in mind and have to see what else is in my sewing room waiting for me.

A Very Proud Wife

Last weekend Steve and I traveled to Indiannapolis to attend the Fire Department Instructors Convention.  This beautiful truck was one of the many thousands of trucks we saw.  The stadium (the same one that hosted the Super Bowl this year) was jammed packed with all kinds of fire fighting equipment as was the huge conference center attached to the stadium.

 During the conference a Memory Stair Climb was held in memory of the fire fighters who lost their lives their lives in New York City on 9/11.  The climb consisted of 110 flights of stairs (3 trips through the stadium).  Almost 200 people participated in the climb including my husband.  The climb started with a beautiful opening ceremony, prayer and a bag pipe band playing Amazing Grace.