Stuffed Like a Turkey

Here it is two days after Thanksgiving and I still feel like a stuffed turkey! We won't even discuss the physical comparison. Jim, JJ and I enjoyed a wonderful turkey dinner with all the trimmings at Mike and Simone's house. They were kind enough to send home leftovers for yesterday, too. The food is now gone, JJ is back home and I am on chapter 30 of "Breaking Dawn", the fourth book in the Twilight series. It is so difficult to put it down. I keep saying, "I'll just finish this chapter"...

Just before we left for the Retreat, my package arrived from the Polka Dot & Rick Rack Swap. The return address said it was from May Britt. I couldn't tear into it fast enough. I love everything she sent, especially the little bag with stitchery. I promptly packed that for the trip with my Dear Jane mug inside of it. In addition to the beautifully made pink and brown polka dot bag, May sent polka dot napkins, tissues, buttons, and ribbons. She also included two wonderful stitcheries for me to do, floss, rick rack and a lovely card. As I have mentioned before, May was the person who encouraged me to start my own blog so that makes this all extra special for me.

The Dear Jane Retreat in Indiana was just terrific, despite the weather. It was cooooold and windy the first couple of days, so we didn't go out. It helped that there were plenty of buying opportunities in the sewing room from fellow quilters. The entire line of the Dear Jane fabric was there on bolts. I had been waiting for the retreat to get some even though my top has been finished for some time now.


Connie and I worked on Gingerbread potholders and Disappearing Nine Patch quilts. Our tablemates were delightful, funny and productive. There was Sandy G. from Canada, Jane and her sister, Margaret, and Nancee and Ruth, all from Michigan. Edyta Sitar did a trunk show on Friday night that was just spectacular! How she gets so much done with young children and her busy schedule is mind boggling. Each quilt was just as gorgeous as the previous one. We were able to get our picture taken with her and our Broken Star quilts/tops. Left to right (Me), Connie, Jane, Edyta and Sandy. Sandy had finished her quilt and didn't realize that Edyta was going to be there. What luck!





Edyta had her version of the Dear Jane quilt along with her other beauties.

This was the 10th year for holding retreats for the Dear Jane group in Shipshewana, so we celebrated with a delicious cake!

Since this is getting long, I'll save the rest for next time, which I promise won't be as far apart as my previous posts. I hope everyone in the US had a great holiday and is enjoying the last days of November.

Dear Jane Retreat

Well, here I am not caught up with anything, but I'm leaving in the morning for another retreat. This is the tenth year that retreats have been held in Shipshewana, Indiana for the Dear Jane group. We have Edyta Sitar as our speaker on Friday, so I had to get my Broken Star top into one piece. Jasper gave it his approval sitting. There will be many finished ones for show and tell, too.




I finished the last two stitcheries from Bea at Capricorn Quilts. Finally, a BOM where I am keeping pace.

Today the mail brought the most wonderful gift from May Britt. She had my name for the polka dot and rick rack swap. I'll have to take pictures after the retreat. Everything she sent is terrific. More on this later.....

Catching Up

There's catching up to do from the last few weeks. First on my list are the packages that have reached my mailbox. The gorgeous pincushion is from Vickie using fabrics in pinks and browns. Granny Lyn made the cute blue, crocheted bag and added three homespun fabrics. The 20 terrific fat quarters were won from Joyce during the Fall into Fall Giveaway. I prefer this kind of mail to bills any day.






While visiting our family in Wisconsin, we were able to see Ian play football. This is his first year and he's on the 6th grade team. It was a beautiful fall afternoon and Ian's team was the winner.

Yesterday Jim hit the big 60. We celebrated with Mike and Simone at Famous Dave's Barbeque enjoying a platter of ribs. Jim's mom was 42 when she discovered she was pregnant again. She had to see three different doctors because the first two thought he was a tumor. That story has been told and retold more than 60 times. She never regretted having a baby later in life and always said it kept her young.

Connie and I attended a quilting retreat in October about an hour north of here that was put on by our LQS, The Quilted Cottage. There were seventy quilters from Friday until Sunday who kept their sewing machines humming. The facility was wonderful with delicious meals served by a talented kitchen staff. The shop brought along a mini store for us to shop at in case we ran out of something or just needed something new. They had prepared several different kits for small projects and they gave each participant a kit to make a grocery bag. I made a pillowcase from the Breast Cancer Awaremess fabric. We were able to visit two Amish farms in the area, also. One makes beautiful baskets and the other sells baked goods. We filled up at both. I finished the latest top for the Clothesline Club called Best Friends and sewed the DNP blocks into a top for The Underground Railroad. The last project made at retreat was a Snap Happy bag. These are so cute and easy to make using an old metal tape measure for the 'snap' closure.

I think that's more than enough for this post. More soon....