A Finished Project -------Finally!

I was able to get the binding finished on this Honey Bee Quilt last week and I really like the way it turned out.  When we started our remodeling project we moved as many things as possible out of the two rooms involved.  Every room in the house ended up as a storage rooms except the bathroom.  And since my sewing room doesn't get a lot of traffic it seemed to be used the most.  As of right now I couldn't get to my Viking if I wanted too as it is in a cabinet.  But my Janome and Featherweight are accessible and I have used both of them for three retreats in the last few weeks.  I hand quilted this quilt, added the binding by machine during the early stages of the remodeling, so I just had to hand stitch the binding.  I have done both methods of binding, totally by machine and by machine and hand stitching and I still prefer the hand stitching.  I just like the way it looks.  Last night I finished the binding on another quilt and will have to get a picture of that one.  I have not even started settingup my new sewing room yet.  We are going to wait till we can get to town to buy new storage shelves.  I am anxious to get things rolling.

A Big Decision and a Lot of Chaos

We made a decision.  I orderd the long arm quilting machine a few weeks ago.  And I am so excited.  As I posted earlier Steve came up with 4 options for remodeling our house to make room for the long arm.  After a lot of thought and measuring we decided on a 5th plan.  The 5th plan involves a lot more work but we both decided it would be the best plan.  Steve removed a closet, 2 half walls, carpet, a split stone fire place and the chimney that was in the garage.  He replaced dry wall, built a closet where the chimney was and had to do some other repairs.  We picked out new carpet for two rooms and then it was time to choose paint.  I have never been good at picking colors, I have always felt safe with an off white color.  My sister Carol and I spent quite a bit of time with paint chips and decided on a soft green color and I love it.  My sister loves to paint so she did all of the walls.  Steve and I had painted the ceiling in one room and did the primer paint on the new dry wall and the walls where we had removed wall paper.  It has been a lot of work but we are now on the down hill slide.  Actually I am waiting today for the carpet guys but I have a feeling it is not going to happen today.  I am very tired of dealing with the chaos but I am excited about the final outcome.  My sewing room has more than doubled in size.  Oh, I think the carpet guys are here, yea!!  Yes, they are here and figure they can get both floors done today.  Then the fun of putting everything back together will begin.

A Very Fun Day

Last Friday our Guild hosted a 25th Anniversary/Friendship Day.  Two of my sisters, my Mom and I were on the committee.  We had 124 ladies and 1 man (my husband) attend the festivities.  The morning started with a 2 large tables full of muffins, cookies, donuts and other goodies brought in by our Guild members.  Attendees were asked to bring in a fat quarter and we filled two baskets that were given away.  We had three vendors, Backstreet Quilt Shoppe from Elkton, Hollyhock Quilt Shoppe from harrisville and Sandy Dee's Sewing Shop from Hillman.  The vendors each donated a door prize and we also gave away the 18 centerpieces.  Our guest speaker was Tresa Keyes from Petoskey who gave a beautiful trunk show sharing her quilts made with 1930's original and reproduction fabrics.  We served a delicious lunch of sandwiches and salad.  Dessert was this cake made by my sister Carol.  She always does a beautiful job with her cakes and they always taste yummy too.

I Have Missed My Blogging

I have really missed blogging.  I think about adding a post but for some reason it just doesn't happen. I guess I am just like everyone else, sometimes there just aren't enough hours in a day.

My family - It is back to school time and 3 of our grandchildren went back to school on Tuesday.  Cameryn is in 6th grade this year (hard to believe) and he is also playing pee wee football.  His first game is on Saturday and we will be there to cheer him on.  London is now in second grade and this is his first year in public school.  He was so excited to ride the bus and he said it was really fun.  Allie started kindergarten and told me that she cried when the teacher asked each one of the student to tell the class what they did during the summer.  My sister Connie has been doctoring at Mayo Clinic for two benign brain tumors.  She had 3 appointments yesterday and will have surgery in November to remove one of the tumors.  Her oldest grandson Jacob (14 years old) has been diagnosed with Hodgkins Lymphoma and is receiving chemo treatments in Ann Arbor, a 4 hour drive from home.  He is doing very well and the doctors are very optimistic that it was caught in time and that he will do well.

My quilt world - Most of my spare time has been put into making favors for our Guild's 25th Anniversary/Friendship Day to be held next week.  My hand quilting was put aside when the weather was so hot as I quilt on my lap and it was just too darned hot.  The evenings have been cooling down some so I have picked up my hand quilting project again.  My husband Steve and I went to the AQS show in Grand Rapids last month and we had a great time.  We saw some absolutely beautiful quilts and also did a little damage with the vendors.  I bought a couple of patterns and a couple of small kits.  We also spent quite a bit of time with a long arm salesman/manufacturer.  He and his wife make the machines and the frames in their shop in Tennessee.  I really liked the way the machine felt and worked.  It got us thinking about making a purchase again.  We came home and did some measuring as it would take up quite a bit of space.  My husband came up with 4 options.  I nixed two of them right off the bat and told him that one of them really appealed to me.  The problem is that it would require some remodeling and I have been through enough of that with our old house to know that we always have to be prepared to expect the unexpected.  So right now everything is on hold as we "think" about it.  I have no interest in going into business quilting for other people.  I would just want to do my own quilts and perhaps some for my mom and my sisters. 

Our garden - Steve has taken over most of the gardening as I have trouble bending over after my brain surgery.  He has a beautiful garden this year.  We have eaten lots of green beans and I have canned and frozen some although we still have lots left from last year.  The zuchinni, summer squash and tomatoes have been going crazy.  I have made 42 pints and 7 quarts of zalsa and canned some tomatoes.  I also have lots of zuchinni bread and muffins in the freezer.  I found a recipe online to make oven roasted cherry tomatoes.  I tried them and they are ok.  I won't turn the oven on for 3 hours to make them again.

Today is Guild business meeting and we always have a fantastic show and tell.  I finished hand quilting a Guild Block of the Month that we did when Donna was Project Chair.  I am anxious to ask Donna what year that was as I am sure it was at least 5 years ago.

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.