Charity Quilts and.........

At www.maryquilts.com I found the quick strippie quilt that Mary likes to use for charity quilts. I think I've found a new favorite too! This goes together in a hurry, doesn't take a lot of fabric and looks great when done. So, I've gone through my stash, pulled out the fabrics for children and have cut many of these and have all but 2 of them put together. I particularly like the brights - they are so cute IMHO. They will go to Project Linus as soon as I get them quilted and bound.

And...last week I purchased a used Gammill long-arm for doing all my quilting. The machine was located about an hour from the cottage, 4 hours from home so getting it home was a bit dicey between snow storms, but we managed OK. It is now set up in the basement. I could have set it up in Chris's room (he has moved to the city) but my Mother's instinct said 'no'...and when he was home, Anne told me he said "I think I'm losing my room to Mom's sewing". Those home ties are still there so for now, I'm OK in the basement. It is finished and bright with lots of room.

We're going back to the lake for a week while Jim works on inside electrical and plumbing. I'll go to quilt club, Lolly's in Shipshewana, go to a long-arm class offered at a nearby shop and try to get some sewing done as well. And, I will try to curb my enthusiasm for getting home to take a spin on the machine. Excited? Yesssss!!

Another One Bites the Dust!

As with everyone, New Year's seems to evoke plans to be better, eat better and live a more productive life. With quilters, it seems that we all have the pie-in-the-sky belief that we will finish all of our UFOz, have our fabrics organized and all our scraps made into quilts. Well......I'm working on the UFOz. The rest of it won't happen so we'll put them to bed. At one point I had a basket of 3" squares and they eventually got sewn together in the 'leaders and enders' method. I found a pattern by Mimi Dietrich where 4 patches were sewn together on point and then some applique added. I finally got the top done today. The applique is shown in a picture of the pillow turn at the top of the quilt. Each of the bottom corners has the same applique. It finished rather large and going outside to hang it up so I can take a picture isn't on my list of cold day activities!! :>) I think it will look good on some bed at the cottage....maybe mine!

Jim loved his puzzle quilt for Christmas. He got a terrible cold and spent two nights under it in his chair. (then I got the same thing and sat under it as well - cozy!). Drew's Mom came for his T-Shirt quilt and became quite teary. She reported that her husband, who is still dealing with his grief, loved it and wraps up in it each evening. Matt's T-shirt quilt was also loved. His Dad reported that whenever Matt comes home with his new dog, Buddy, he brings his quilt with him! Too funny! Matt came to thank me in person and altho I said I wouldn't take anything for making it, he gave me a Lettuce Entertain You Restaurant gift certificate. Giving these at Christmastime made me feel good!

Now, on to the next UFO on the list. It is the quilt I call Bee Trees. The Baltimore needs to be done but I keep hiding my head in the sand on that one.....but I promised to be done by retreat time in May. Hmmmmmmm guess I should get busy!!

Done done!

My part on the quilt for our quilt group is finished!! Yippee! Now I can go to some of my things that have been calling me! The applique took 3 complete books on tape plus about 1/3 of another for a total of 36 hours. Then there was the time for adding borders which had to be taken off twice and the final connection of the corner applique. I love the pineapple pattern and even bought fabric to make one, but after working with the bias edges, I'll probably put it to the bottom of my list. Once this one is quilted and bound I think it will be very lovely! Maybe I'll win the raffle!!

Pineapple Quilt

There is a small group of quilters that I discovered last summer while we were at the cottage. The small town nearby has a community center where we meet every Monday morning, either for a meeting or for sit-and-sew. One of the group projects is a batik pineapple quilt that must be done for the show in June. Of course, I opened my mouth and said that it would look good with appliqued borders..........you guessed it - I'm appliquing like a mad woman! The picture is the auditioning of fabrics, most of which I'm using and there will be a narrow pink border between the appliqued one and the quilt. It has to be at the quilter by the first of March so push time has arrived. I don't think I'll do quite as much applique as I originally planned, but I think it will still look good.

Special Christmas Memories

In 1988, we decided that the time spent opening Christmas gifts came and went much too quickly on Christmas morning. Try as we might..........the kids waited at the top of the steps, the smell of the Swedish Tea Rings baking in the oven, waiting until Dad got the video camera balanced and ready to go. The presents were passed out and each waited until the other had opened a present and so on. But still it seemed to vanish into thin air and the magic quickly disappeared. That year, a pair of roller blades and some Legos were the hot tickets. We decided that a treasure hunt would slow things down and add to the excitement of those much sought-after gifts. Jim got in touch with his poetic side and wrote a series of clues in a 4 line poem, leaving out the last word which described the spot for the next clue. After finding 3 sets, the final one took them to their prize. We had soooo much fun! We had to read the clues in the early years as they helped each other find their gifts and only one at a time could be hunting. By the time high school rolled around and the college years often busy years, it wasn't too cool to do such silly things, so the tradition was set aside.

Zoom forward to 2007. Those two young ones are now in their mid-twenties and the question "are we having a treasure hunt this year?" was presented to us. Oh dear! Jim had to dig deep to find those rhymes and clues but we had not one, not two, but three! treasure hunts devised and they also included Anne, Chris's girlfriend.

Now to backtrack again....... Each summer at the cottage the two guys would pair up with their cousins and spend many hours playing board games. Their all-time favorite was the game Hotels that Grandma had given to their cousins. Weekend after weekend for many years, the four spent time on the floor gathered around the coffee table playing the game. For years we searched garage sales but could never find the game. Finally, this year when the cousins were all together talking about those fun memories and Anne said "oh I LOVE that game!" we decided to hit E-Bay and see what we could do. We got the game and I'm not sure who was more excited that we had something that none of the three would ever guess. So, on Friday night as we gathered around the table, Jim passed out the first of the clues. Such laughter and giggling! My my my....one would have thought we had struck gold in them thar hills when they finally found the package under the sofa!! They pushed aside all else and began assembling pieces, talking about the way it was played, the fun times they've had and how much they wanted to get right to it. The game started as soon as the rest of the presents had been opened. By 2 a.m. they were nodding off but staunchly hanging in there not wanting the game to end and as the night turned into morning, they gave up and went to bed. It's for sure they will remember this Christmas hunt and it will be right up there with the rollerblades, the Legos, the GI Joes, the Micro Machines and all those other wonderful Christmas memories. We will remember those special peals of laughter as well. Christmas is such a delightful and magical time! I hope yours is special too!

Christmas presents

Retirement means very little time alone - the kind of time one needs to get quilts made for your husband! I've managed to get the quilt to the point of binding, but I think he is suspicious. Oh well.....he'll just have to act surprised instead of being truly surprised.

Jim is a woodworker and loves to putter in his shop. He also likes to make wooden jigsaw puzzles - like the kind you buy at Wal-Mart only better. He takes a photo, has it enlarged, adheres it to a special piece of wood and then works his magic. His puzzles are all interlocking and can usually be picked up by one corner and the whole puzzle stays intact.

Anyway, a couple of years ago on a quilting weekend, my friends suggested I make Jim a puzzle quilt and even went so far as to buy a pattern. The pattern had squared off "bumps" and wasn't interlocking. So I designed my own and came up with a puzzle quilt for him. I don't even want to guess how much I spent searching for all kinds of novelty fabrics depicting the things that he likes.........from french fries to a muscle car to our special pup, Jordan. The bumps were all sewn on by hand and that took some evenings in the upstairs when he wasn't around.

I'm down to binding it now and hope to have it all done by Christmas. It isn't a pretty quilt at all. But it has all the things that mean something to him. I think he'll like it!

Progress

We have walls, a roof and altho the picture doesn't show it, windows, a furnace and some plumbing. The upper left window is in the kitchen area, bottom right is the laundry room with my quilting area behind it. The place isn't real big but it will greatly improve life as we know it when we have kids or company come to visit us at the lake cottage! And...I get to have some space where I can spread out and just close the door when I want to leave it.

Mom has been here for the past week. As part of her Christmas present, I took her to see the Radio City Rockettes Christmas Show. It was really awesome, especially the live nativity. Mom enjoyed it all and it made me glad I took her. She is 84 and still loves to get out and go. I saw the Rockettes in NY in the late 70's, enjoyed them then and again this past week.

Quilting has taken a back seat for several weeks. Other than making several go-green grocery bags, I haven't done any sewing at all. I'm really ready to get some done! There's been just too much going on and I want to be organized when I go back to my projects. So, patience is being practiced, much against my will!!

We are experiencing a blast of Ol' Man Winter today. Lots of icy stuff all over the ground and the car when we came out of Macy's after doing some Christmas shopping. It is one of those days when a fire, something warm to drink and a bit of quilting feels good. I'll get back to it in a week or two......

Demolition Time

The cottage where we have spent many summer weekends over the past 30 years was built in the late 40's by Jim's Uncle Jay. He raised his family there and we've done the same with our guys. It is a very small place (700 sf) and now that our sons are older, we need extra bedroom space. Rather than tear down the cottage, we decided it to be smarter for now to demolish the garage and build a new one with living quarters above it. My sister in law and I spent countless hours playing around with floor plans this summer and finally landed on one that works. We'll have 3 bedrooms, 2 baths and a living/kitchen combo or about 900 sf upstairs. Below will be a laundry room, workshop, space for one car and possibly a quilt room for me!

Demolition took place a few weeks ago and today we heard that framing has started. Long distance building isn't real easy, but we make the trip there about once a week to see the progress. The builder promises that it will be framed in by Christmas and then Jim will finish the inside work during the winter. Picking out cabinets, lights, appliances and some furniture should keep me busy during the cold winter months. I'm also planning quilts for all the beds and how I will set up my space with all my quilty stuff. Isn't dreaming about quilting time a lot of fun?!

Retreat Challenge

In September I was fortunate enough to go to a retreat at the same place as the one I went to in May. Many of the same gals were there and we had a great time! New friends were also made. The amount of talent in that place was phenomenal! We laughed til we cried and ate enough to make us explode, but we also got a lot of quilting done. One gal, Mary, issues a challenge to us and this time it was the Paint Chip Challenge. She went to the paint store and got one of every color of the paint strips. Then she placed them face down on the floor, mixed them up and chose three at a time. Those three went into an envelope with instructions. We all picked an envelope at random. I think I lucked out! That same weekend when we went to Shipshewana as a group, there was an endcap with fabric that I think looks pretty good with the paint strips! My plan is to make a Vera Bradley kind of tote for quilting stuff. Of course, I have until September to get it done so it may be a while!

Mary also issued a challenge for the May Retreat. It is a bit harder and I haven't come up with a good plan. We are to make a quilt (36" or larger) that shows inspiration, or how our May group made us feel. Lots of hand applique ideas are floating around in my head, but I need to be realistic on time. Not enough days or years left for all of my quilty wishes and dreams!

Happy Halloween

We are long past the days of Trick or Treating at our house. In fact, last year we had no goblins come to our door. How sad - I had to eat all those candy bars! But, as I think about our guys and the past Halloweens, a few fun ones come to mind. The first one I remember so well is one that Chris had strep throat and couldn't go out. They were 4 and 2 at the time. Michael had limited verbal skills but excellent social skills. Every person he met was his friend (and is still that way). Since we couldn't go out, the boys were allowed to hand out the candy, Chris from a distance. Michael, however, was worried that people would go by and not stop, so he stood in the doorway and shouted at all the ghosts and goblins..."hey you guys, come heah, me give you candy!" And then there were the years that the Dads took the kids out. Three Dads, 6 kids. The Dads insisted that they needed a wagon just in case the kids got tired and needed to be pulled home. In reality, they needed the wagon to hold the beer that they bought to help them get thru the miles of walking that the kids put them thru! Those were the days...........such fun memories! Hope all your memories are fun ones and that you have a smile on your face as you greet your goblins tonight!

Drew's Quilt

Let me tell you a little about Drew.....well-liked, kind, brother, son, college student, teacher of indigent children in Turkey, teacher and worker in a small mission in Mexico, environmentalist, full of life and energy. He died at age 21, and over 1000 neighbors and friends came to the celebration of his life. Drew was the son of a gal who became a good friend when our son needed a career counselor. Drew was a college student and gave up his summers to work with children in poor areas and then, gave up his car for a bike because he felt his car wasn't environmentally sound. Unfortunately, he was killed while riding his bike.

After Drew's death, I told Amy I'd like to make her a quilt from Drew's shirts that she and her husband could use as a hug when they needed it. It took her nearly two years to be able to get the shirts together for the quilt - it has been a very rough time for them - and once I got them, I knew I had to do it right away. It was an emotionally hard one to make and truly a labor of love for a friend. It will be a Christmas gift for her husband.

I put the top together during my recent retreat and it didn't go quite as my graphed design indicated, but it is done and will be sent to the quilter this week. I hope it will provide a tiny bit of comfort to them.

It has been a busy few weeks and I keep thinking that I need to post........ Going between the cottage and home has it's pluses and minuses. The minus part is getting to fight Chicago traffic and then trying to get everything caught up at home before returning. I'm happy to do it, though, because I realize that life is good whenever I return to either place! Today the lake is a mirror that followed an early morning of steam rising from a warm lake into cooler air. The ducks and swans don't seem to mind the cool air, but my toes and nose do!

It's almost time for our church's annual garage sale and I am in charge of it. That takes a lot of time and while we were home last time, I called a meeting of the helpers. While chatting with one of my cohorts, she asked me if I had a room dedicated to sewing. Well, sort of.......I share it with a twin bed in case we need it, but mostly it is mine. She then asked if I would like to have her thimble collection that was displayed in a printer's drawer. Of course! She has traveled all over the world and has collected everything from Waterford to Mickey Mouse. She had a few little things in it that aren't thimbles but will they fill the holes until I get around to putting mine in with hers. Mine are mostly antique ones but these are fun and fancy, not utilitarian. The second picture shows a few of the ones I found interesting.

Tonight is the start of a 5 day retreat that I am attending near the cottage. I've had my project list made for weeks and am excited to go and laugh and sew! Hopefully, I will finish the applique on the quilt I call Bee Quilt #1 and will get the blocks done on the Bee Trees quilt. Then, if I can find sashing fabric for a T-shirt quilt, I'll try to get that one sewn as well. The T's are all fused to the non-woven backing and are trimmed to the right sizes. The group will go to Shipshewana for breakfast at the Blue Gate on Saturday, then we will shop at Lolly's and Yoder's, both wonderful quilt shops. Hopefully, I'll find just the right fabric for the T-shirt quilt. I've made my Pretzel Kisses, have my share of tonight's dinner ready to go (potatoes and Tornado Cake will be my part) and by mid afternoon will be headed to the lakeside lodge and a few days of fun! Wish you were here to join in the fun!

Pillowcases

It has been one of those weeks where doing anything that requires a lot of attention or a lot of time just isn't in the works for me. It has been a hard week to focus on anything. We returned home from the cottage on Tuesday thinking that we would return on Thursday. No need to bring my sewing machine and projects with me.......or so I thought. Once home, we've found that we needed to be here for longer than planned, so my projects are 150 miles down the road and I am here! I tried using another sewing machine to work on my Bee Trees blocks but it just doesn't measure that 1/4" the same. However, I needed to get some sewing in each day just so I could have my fabric fix. While reading one of the Stashbusters digests, I saw that a gal is collecting pillow cases for children with cancer. I figured that it didn't matter which machine I used for that so I pulled some fabrics and came up with a few to send to her. These fabrics called my name many months ago at Hobby Lobby. Now I know why!

It's a gloomy, rainy day and almost a bit chilly at times. We had huge thunderboomers last night with lots of unneeded rain. If this keeps up, the mosquitoes will be of a size to BBQ! Tonight I'm going to sew the bindings on two queen size flannel quilts that I made last winter. It has been too hot for handling flannel and tonight is a good night to do them. Hope you all are staying high and dry!

Charms and Construction

They jumped out at me and I had to take them home with me! These are the Moda charms from the Roman Holiday collection that I purchased at the Chicago show in April. I bought them at The Creative Stitch from North Manchester IN, a small town near the cottage. I frequent it fairly often. One of these days, they promise to have a website. We are getting ready to build a garage here at the lake with living area above it and I'm thinking I might like this in one of the bedrooms. The sashing is Moda's Crackle in a light gold and that would be kind of pretty on the walls.

Currently, we are moving a couple of walls in our teeny-tiny cottage kitchen and putting our fridge where there was a closet. Now that most of it is put back together, I know it looks like we've done nothing. My grandmother always called it a "one-butt kitchen" ..........now we'll have room for two butts! :>) It's amazing how big the footprint of a fridge is! As Jim works on the electrical or the plumbing, I sneak in a few seams on the Roman Holiday squares. The rest of the time I've been the cleaner-upper or the gopher. He does a great job on these projects but we're always happy when they're done. The next phase calls for cabinets that he will build, new counter tops and some new flooring. We're trying to make the proverbial silk purse out of a sow's ear but it's cheaper than starting from scratch. You'll be hearing a lot about the old garage demolition and the new construction. I'm excited about some extra space for company.

Tonight is a night alone - just me and my gal, Leah. Jim is at his class reunion.........a good time for some extra stitching, don't you think?

The Dog Days of Summer

The dog days of summer are here. I wonder why they are called "dog days"? In the small town where I grew up, there were Dog Day Sales with the local merchants. Maybe hot, summer days are slow, lazy days - just like some dogs? Our love, Leah, doesn't seem to mind the heat as long as there is a rabbit to chase or a ball to retrieve, but she definitely hits the floor in a big FLOP when she comes in and recharges her batteries. Here she has parked herself in the car wearing her "you're not leaving without me!" look. My days have been slow and lazy lately as well. The snuggly feeling of fabric just isn't high on my list and those long days of doing nothing but quilting are but a vague memory right now. Yesterday a few blocks got sewn together as I sat in front of a breeze off the lake, but even that breeze wasn't enough to entice me to stay at my sewing machine. The swing and a good book called and off I went. How are you spending your dog days?

Sew-In Fun

This morning was a great, but cool, morning for outdoor church. The local Methodist church sponsors a lakeside/boat-in service for anyne who wants to attend the 7:37 a.m. gathering. The unusual time was set so that no one would forget what time church starts! We all take our coffee, lawn chairs and jackets to a large grassy knoll that looks out over the lake, listen to some great music, have a homemade snack, visit with those we know and don't know and generally have a delightful, peaceful start to our Sunday morning. Things like this make life pretty good.

Yesterday some gals from the May Retreat met in a small town not far from here for an all -day sew-in. We got a little bit of sewing done............but more laughing than anything! Why is it that when quilters get together there is more hooting and hollering than working? Show and tell, advice asked and given on current projects and lunch at the local diner took us thru nearly 2 o'clock! I think we all always enjoy a good time, good friends and of course, chocolate! :>) I got the pieces cut for the pinwheel blocks yesterday and sewed them this morning. The top will end up being about 50 x 60 and a donation to charity at the September retreat.

The top shown here is the one purchased last week at the Topeka Quilt Show. Each border was a different fabric which was OK but didn't suit my taste. I found some coordinating fabrics while at home last week and put it on the quilt. News that our local quilt shop is going out of business was in the mail, much to my dismay, although we've known it was coming for some time. The fabrics still found at the shop are a little outdated and that worked to my advantage. She still had some of the Holly Taylor fabrics that were in the top so now the borders are on and it can be sent to the quilter.

And one more picture to share....................an evening before some much needed rain came through........ life is good.

Topeka Rose

The Topeka Rose is a very simple, but pretty, applique pattern. The signs around the small country town advertising the Topeka Quilt Show were a soft pink and carried a dainty air about them. They were placed so visitors could find their way to the tidy, little red brick church on the corner of Pine and Babcock. Cars were parked along the tree-lined streets and a few held gentlemen patiently waiting for their wives who had come to satisfy their quilting urges.

As I entered the church, almost with a feeling of reverence for where I was, there was a bit of excitement in the air. Old friends greeting one another. The white haired lady taking money was a former grade school teacher and the slightly graying lady in front of me was one of her former students. They greeted each other with hugs, smiles and laughter, catching up on each others' lives. I wish I could know more of my former students! As I joined the crowd, others could be heard renewing their annual hellos and catching up briefly on what was going on while those like me, quietly looked and touched with glove-covered hands.

In what we have always called the "vestibule" and others call the "narthex", there were piles of quilts that had already been spoken for, off to the side. Beautiful hand appliqued bed size quilts hung from the dividers and had price tags on them. I wondered how anyone could let go of such beauties. My experience has always been that an appliqued quilt becomes too much a part of my life simply because of the hours, life events that get stitched into the quilt and the thoughts or memories that go with those bits of fabric. I would never be able to come up with a price fair to either me or the purchaser. The sanctuary was full full full. Racks held completed quilts, Christmas tree skirts, lap quilts and wallhangings. Quilt tops, donated and not yet quilted, draped over the backs of the worn oak pews that have held hundreds of worshipers over the years. I wonder how many of those who have sat or now sit in those pews are quiltmakers. I love old church pews.........there is something about smooth, old, wood that is well worn by the touch of hands, that tugs at my heartstrings.

I found a top that will get new borders before I send it to the quilter. This top will go to a young man who just moved into his first apartment. The price was such that I couldn't buy fabric for the price they were asking and different borders will give it a new, more masculine look.

As I made my way through the maze of friendly quilters and quilts, I saw several of the gals from the quilt group near the cottage and after a few words, an invitation to Tiffany's for lunch was given. Of course I'd go - I never turn down an invitation to lunch!! :>) Tiffany's is a small, white building with a large parking lot lined for cars and a hitching post for horses. The food there is really good, down-home cooking! Homemade chicken and noodles, served over real mashed potatoes (I think it is a midwestern thing), pork manhattans and homemade pies. Yum Yummmmm. Almost sinful! The German Chocolate Pie was sinfully good as well - and I ate the whole piece! Lunch time brings in the locals as well as the area visitors. The Amish lady across the aisle, reminded me of my grandmother who was born in 1883 and was raised with religion reflected in her clothing. Men with farmers' tans, young Amish girls working as waitresses and lots of quilters filled the large room with noise.


Following the much-too-much for lunch, we headed to Shipshewana and some shopping. Shipshe is becoming very commercial, but there are two very good quilt shops there that always get my attention several times during the summer. I found sashing for a T-shirt quilt that I'm helping a friend do at Yoder's, some 25% off fabrics at Lolly's and a few birthday gifts for quilty friends before I headed home. It was a truly delightful day - just the kind a quilter loves to have.......quilt ideas, friends, chocolate and fabric purchases on a sunny summer afternoon!

This year was the last year that the show would be held in Topeka at the church. 33 years is a long time reported the gray haired lady at the checkout. It will be moved down the road a ways to Honeyville where there is more space. On the way home, the urge to drive thru Honeyville hit me. There is a very large quilt sale held there every year and my curiosity got the best of me. Honeyville is small - so small that there are no stoplights and only one stop sign, a few homes and an old school where the show will be held. A former general store sits empty and another antiques shop is at the edge of town, but the local color of buggies and bonnets is missing.

I suppose after 33 years it is time to move on, but the setting and the comraderie felt in that little brick church was something special. I wonder what they will do with those pretty pink signs.

Oh, I Wish I Had Taken My Camera!

Here in northern IN, the corn is passing the knee high before the 4th of July test and fields of grain are turning golden - summer is here. Quilting often takes a back seat to outside activities and adventures and it is a time to explore one's world. Small town IN is one of those places where one can enjoy a double dip ice cream cone at an old-fashioned soda fountain or hear an old wooden floor creak as one enters the local hardware store. Wooden screen doors slamming shut are often heard as one enters the world of those who are not on the fast-paced time of those around them. On a sleepy Wednesday afternoon in June, an unknown quilt shop beckoned and nagged at the thoughts in my head. I and a neighbor got in my car and headed to a little town about 30 miles north. I had heard that there was a quilt shop in Wakarusa but didn’t know much about it. We chatted as we traveled and soon found it. Sidewalk Days, a summer ritual in most small towns, were coming up and bins were filled with sale fabrics. Following some shopping, we inquired about other quilting places in the area.. "Go down highway 19 to County Road 46. Go east a few miles and you will find one, Martin’s Quilt Shop". We nearly missed the small sign by the mailbox. It was tucked at the end of a lane amid the cornfields. The drive circled under a giant oak shading the small gray outbuilding that looked like someone’s workshop off to the side of the house. As we pulled in, a white haired Mennonite lady came from the house to open the shop and turn on the lights. It was filled with probably 200 hand-made quilts of all sizes. We were looking for fabrics, but we didn’t let that stop us from admiring her handiwork and chatting about our common interest. As we started to leave, I noticed several cookbooks on her desk near the door. Being a collector of cookbooks, I looked through a couple before I came upon the Martin Family Cookbook. The shop owner, Mary Alice, explained that it was a compilation of her family’s favorites and showed us one of her father’s favorites - Homemade Apple Butter. It makes enough for a small army, but he had 17 children so that much was probably needed during the year. Under the recipe was a story about Mary Alice falling into the well on Apple Butter Making Day and how Grandpa Martin pulled her to safety. Interesting stories appeared at the end of many of these recipes. At that point I knew I wanted to buy the book and she asked if I’d like to have her autograph the Apple Butter recipe. An autograph won’t make this book more valuable, but from the proud look on her face, I could tell it meant a lot to her. She then asked if we’d like to go in the house and have Edna and Miriam sign the book as well. I was hooked and although I had no idea who Edna or Miriam were, I replied that I’d love that!
We walked the few steps to the house and down three steps into what would be the family room in most homes. To my complete and utter surprise, there were three Mennonite ladies sitting at an old quilting frame working on another quilt for the shop! I was hit with a feeling of returning to my Grandmother’s era. White starched net hats covered their snowy colored hair that had gentle waves reaching back to the buns on the back of their heads. Summer weight dresses in pastels helped with keeping cool on a hot day. My delight with this discovery was evident and the fact that I had come to get recipes autographed was no longer as important as what they were doing. I was more intrigued by their quilting skills and immediately went to each one’s section to admire tiny, tiny stitches loaded on their needles. Mary Alice explained to them that she had offered autographs and the ladies were happy to share the recipes that they had submitted. When asked why they turned in certain recipes, the stories began about "Grossmommy" and chocolate gravy and so on. Two of the ladies happily chatted and signed various recipes. The third, Elizabeth remained a bit quiet and kept working so I went to her and asked about her tiny stitches and other quilt related things. After a bit, I asked her to sign the book as well, but she said that although her name was Martin, she wasn’t in the same family and didn’t have any recipes in it. I asked her to sign it any way as a memory for our afternoon adventure and Miriam encouraged her to put her Strawberry Pie recipe in. Elizabeth neatly wrote the recipe from memory and signed the her name below it. She proudly told me about her recipe and some tricks to making it better. They all invited us to sit and stay awhile and even place a few stitches. We declined - but in hindsight, I might have learned to some ways to improve my quilting if we had done so. The offer was also made to open the quilt for us to see, but with respect for their work and time, we said we wouldn’t ask that of them. The quilt was nearly finished and the four women had been at the frame for almost five days, sitting and chatting with each other about the things that make up their lives.
If I had had my camera with me, I’m not sure I would have asked for a picture. Most Amish do not want their faces photographed, but the Mennonite may be different in that way. I’m not sure. It would have been a wonderful printed memory. However, there is a wonderful picture stored in my mind that I’d love to see framed - that of four white haired women sitting at a homemade quilt frame, laughing and enjoying a sleepy summer afternoon, doing what they love to do.

Quilts and Cicadas

Wow, it has been a while since I posted, but details of life often get in the way. We returned from the cottage for a few days only to be bombarded by Cicadas. Their mating call, which they emerge from the ground every 17 years to do, is quite loud and incessant for weeks at a time. We can hear them in our basement with the house windows closed. Noisy little buggers!! Fortunately, they become quiet at night. Since we border virgin forests, we are blessed with many of these large bugs in the trees, on the screens, scrunched up on the driveway and flying thru the air. Some areas of ground that has not been disturbed since 17 years ago, looks like a machine gunner ran his gun over the ground - many, many holes where they have emerged. Where the ground has been disturbed in the past 17 years, there are very few bugs. Our friends live in a newer subdivision and have none at all. Interesting. I took a picture of one.

The bright yellow star quilt is done and on it's way to the quilter along with three others. It was a fun one to do and I'll probably donate it to charity. This week I'm going to try to finish the Bee Trees and work on the center of my Baltimore some more.....

The cottage.......it is small. Our sons want to bring friends and enjoy the place with us and we encourage them to come. However, beds are an issue and bathrooms a bigger one. So, if given permission by the county board, we've decided to tear down our very inadequate garage and replace it with a larger one with a small apartment upstairs. I spent several days last week drawing plans, jotting down ideas and dreaming about the quilts I can make to use in it! If all goes well - it depends on the permit process - we should be able to start in August and hopefully have a basic box done by Labor Day. That in itself will be great for the holiday as the younger crowd only wants a place to crash, shower and hang out. There will be an outdoor camp-style shower attached as well. (also a great place to shower the dog!) Jim will complete the inside work so that may take several more months. It should be useable next summer if things go as planned. Then it will be time to address the house which also needs to be bulldozed. It was built in the 40's as a weekend fishing cottage and the moisture has slowly taken it's toll. We love the knotty pine cabin interior, the view of the lake and the quaintness of the place so it will be hard to replace it.

We're off again for a week or two. My quilting is packed in my bag and the swing on the patio awaits some evening reflections. Enjoy this summer sunshine!!

Summer in Full Swing

It has been way too long since I posted, but things have been busy. It is difficult to do a lot of computer work at the cottage where we've been for the past many days and with the holiday, things got hectic. Some sewing was accomplished - I got all the blocks done for another charity quilt, this one for a boy, wherever he may be. The sashings have been started and it will go much faster now.


The holiday was a lot of fun! We had 7 guests between the ages of 23 and 26, one, a friend of Anne's, was from Australia (far right) and the rest were friends of our guys. It was a time of lots of laughing and way too many big bodies in a too-small cottage, but we all scrunched and enjoyed the time even tho it wasn't such a great weekend weatherwise. The front yard was full of good natured ribbing and games. One, the lake version of golf, went on until the darkness came and when the lights came on, the bugs drove everyone inside.

We're home again for a few days so that such things as lawn cutting and general chores can be done. Then we're off again to the cottage where we will start plans for building a new garage. Everything there is from the 40's and is beginning to fall apart. We need more space and will make an apartment above the garage. Then, someday, we might tear the cottage down and build a year-round home. That is still on the back burner.

While home, I'm putting together some projects to take back with me and hope that I can get a few of them done. No promises! :>) But I do promise to get in as much quilting as I can!