Quiet House

Abby and Ian are back in Wisconsin. The house is quiet again. We really enjoyed having them visit us and did so many things that even they were tired when they got home. It should just go without saying that both Jim and I were ready for naps. Here is our good-bye picture along with the family reunited for the trip back home. We are squinting some as it was a very sunny day.

I was pretty much a slug today except for a little machine sewing this afternoon. My friend, Val, is putting on a quilt show in Canada the last week-end in September to raise money for the rec center which was burned down. There will be a 4 Sale Table so I made a few zippered screen bags to send to her. These make up really quickly once you remember how they go together. That part took me longer than the actual sewing.

The Grandchildren are here!

Yesterday Jim and I spent most of the day in our car on the road because we were meeting Kari, Abigail and Ian in New Buffalo. It was one of the hottest and muggiest days of the summer so far, so being in an air conditioned car was a good thing. After meeting at the Michigan Welcome Center, we went to Redamak's to eat before each car headed back home. After driving a couple of hours, we decided to stop in Greenville where Uncle JJ is working at Camp T, a camp for blind and visually impaired children and young adults. The campers and counselors were lined up for an outdoor dinner. We found JJ in the pavilion working on the music program for the week-end. He was definitely surprised that we were there and even more so, that we had Abby and Ian with us.



One more stop at The Farmer in the Dell for an ice cream treat before we reached our house. Is Grandpa trying to eat from Abby's ice cream, too?

My prize package from Finn arrived, too. It contained some beautiful red work blocks along with some feed sack fabric, a couple of vintage hearts, a beautifully written card and a CAT! A Cat! How did Jasper get into that picture again? I just laid the items together and went to retrieve my camera. He is so fast. I do think he approves of the choices Finn made. Thanks again for drawing my name!

My Birthday

Today's my birthday! Ta da da da dum! I can hear the music in my head. Hope you can, too. My kitchen table contains a pile of birthday cards from my family and friends and I've also received many online wishes and phone calls. Thank you everyone. Calico Cat asked for the recipe of the banana cake that Simone made for Mike and me. The recipe is one from my Great Aunt Emma who was a sister to my paternal grandmother. Aunt Emma lived with my grandparents for most of her life. My grandma loved to work outside on the farm and Aunt Emma took care of most of the household things including the cooking and baking. She had most of her recipes memorized, but in her later years, she did write down some of her favorites in a medium sized Collegiate notebook. Usually only the ingredients were listed so the oven temps and baking times were discovered by trial and error. Here is her banana cake:

Aunt Emma's Banana Cake

2 1/2 cups sifted flour
1 2/3 cups granulated sugar
1 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
2/3 cup soft shortening*
3/4 cup sour milk
1 1/4 cups mashed bananas
2 large eggs

Cream the shortening with the sugar and then add the eggs. Mix well. Combine the flour, baking powder and baking soda and add to the first mixture alternating with the milk. Add the mashed bananas and pour into a greased and floured 9 x 13" cake pan. Bake at 350 for about 40-45 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Let cool and frost with a cream cheese frosting.
If you like nuts, add about a 1/2 cup chopped walnuts to the batter.
*I usually use Crisco.

Birthday Cake!

Today is Mike's 37th birthday! We celebrated with them (Mike and Simone) yesterday and today with lots of good food, including a delicious banana cake with cream cheese frosting and Hershey's ice cream. Jim grilled NY strips for dinner tonight. Simone made a wonderful potato salad as well as the cake. And we also had sweet corn from the farmer down the road. No get-together is ever complete without several games of Euchre. We keep a running total on the refrigerator at Mike and Simone's house of who wins how many games. We're not competitive at all. Jim has the badminton net set up for when the grandkids come later this week. After Mike and I were beaten silly in cards, we did manage to win the badminton game. I probably won't be able to walk tomorrow. Which reminds me, you may notice the writing on the cake says Mom & Mike. That's because tomorrow is my 57th birthday. We've been able to celebrate our birthday together the last few years since they moved back to the states. It makes getting older a bit easier when you can share it with someone you love. Happy Birthday, Mike! Hope you had a great day.

Pincushion arrives

Beep! Beep! The mail carrier usually pulls into our driveway and beeps her horn when she has a package or box for us. Today's surprise was the beautiful pincushion that I won over at Darlene's blog. She used the prettiest fabrics to make this and I just love it. Thanks, so much for offering these gifts and for drawing my name.


Jim has been up and down the stairs all day moving some of his unused "treasures" to his van. Tomorrow he will set up tables at Immanual Lutheran for an outdoor garage sale/flea market event. I hope he comes home with an empty van and a full wallet.

Here's a picture of the sixty-eight log cabin blocks that make up the outer border for the wedding quilt in my last post. Today I am trimming and tying off threads on the back of the top. Thank you to everyone for the lovely comments you left. I really appreciate the encouragement.

Abby and Ian will be visiting us next week! We are really looking forward to their stay here.

August challenge

Tilde is a wonderful quilter from Denmark who issues challenges on the WIProducers list at Yahoo. For August, we were told to find our ogre, a quilt that's been hanging around unfinished for some time (UFO in other words) and needs to move forward. Although I dislike associating the word ogre with this quilt, I had to choose the wedding quilt for Kari and Craig. They are celebrating their 14th wedding anniversary today. It's had several setbacks and I could list a ton of excuses. Today I removed the rows from the drawer that housed them and created a top. It next needs an inner border of off white fabric (which I ran out of) and then a final border consisting of 68 log cabin blocks (which I had begun sewing, but later discovered I had used white instead of off white background pieces). I bought the floral material as my focus fabric fifteen years ago at a quilt show in Marshall. It is still one of my favorites. That's a plus because often the fabrics we were once so thrilled with become not so great when we finally get around to using them.

Happy Anniversary, Kari and Craig.

Book Recommendation

This one had me laughing out loud. It's a great read!

July 30th - You can read the first two chapters of this book online at her website.

Jasper and Annie

Thank goodness for kitty pictures when I don't have any pictural progress of my quilting projects. Never a day passes that opportunities don't present themselves for the cutest photos of Jasper and Annie. Now remember Jasper is still pouting since he is grounded for life. You can often find him staring mindlessly out of the kitchen window. Jim found a tunnel at a garage sale yesterday that has temporarily taken both of their minds off of the outside. Annie sleeps right inside the middle of it, while Jasper is a bit leery and stays on the edges. They both chase each other through it and that is hilarious to watch. Pretty soon there will be more cat furniture in the living room than people stuff.

Happy Dozen

A dozen! Yes, my darling granddaughter, Abigail, is now a dozen! Today is Abby's 12th birthday. It seems like just yesterday she was a little baby with lots of dark curls on her head. Today she is a beautiful preteen with blonde hair. Happy birthday, Abby.


















We had a CAT-astrophe here last week. Our tiger cat, Jasper, took off for the corn fields after lunch and was lost until the wee hours of the morning. I had to go to bed without him snuggled up to my ankle, although I couldn't sleep. Jim and I took turns checking the kitchen window for signs that he was back. Finally, Jim saw him under the cherry tree in the back yard. I ran out to get him and told him he was grounded for life. He ran right to the food dish. Jasper and Annie only go out when we are outside to watch them, and they both come when called. Not this time. So now we are listening to the whining again since they are indoor cats again. Don't they look sweet and innocent sleeping here on their cat condo?


I'm still working on the string blocks, applique kit, DJ borders and some nine patches. My string block count for the challenge is up to 20 now. This little quilt top was made from half-square triangle units left from the siggie swap on Jo Morton's yahoo list. I haven't done anything with the siggie blocks yet, but I felt the urge to sew up these pieces.

Sleepy Sunday

My Tigers have been playing out in Seattle, WA the last three nights which means the ballgames don't begin here until a little after ten. I can't sleep knowing they are playing, so I stay up to watch. Win or lose, I'm too wound up to go right to sleep afterwards, so by this morning, I'm really dragging. Church at nine with an outdoor service in the pavillion and all that fresh air had me begging for a nap early today.

If you've been wondering about the surprise mentioned on Nadine's blog for the last few weeks, the secret has been revealed. Click on over to Finn's blog to see what it was all about. I'm sure Nadine is anxious to read how her idea played out, but poor gal, is still vacationing in Italy.


I succumbed to a fabric and book buy from Four Seasons Quilt Shop in Plymouth, MN. As a member of the JoMorton Stitchers list on Yahoo, I had been following the discussion of Jo's new book, Remembrances and her Coventry fabric line. My order arrived yesterday. The book and fabrics are wonderful!

On Heartstrings, a challenge was issued by Mary to make 365 Heartstrings string blocks in the next year inspired by new member Tresica Watts, who sent in the most remarkable photo. It's really difficult for me to resist such a challenge, expecially when I have so many strips already cut and way too much in my fabric stash. Yesterday I had planned on sewing a block, but ended up with seven. Perhaps I should sew a week's worth at each sitting. That may be a better plan for me as it's tough to sew just one string block at a time. I have lots of two inch purple strips for my middles. Wonder how many I'll get from that chunk of fabric.

No More Stalling

Yvonne asked me today if I was still stalled with my triangle borders. I was happy to reply to her that the first one was ready to stitch tonight. I can now report one down, and three to go. It wasn't nearly as bad as I had anticipated. It seldom is. I make such mountains out of every little mole hole. It's that ole perfection thing. As long as the next step is only in my mind, it is still perfect. In reality, it will never be perfect, but I keep repeating this behavior.

Our garden is full of sunflower volunteers. They are beginning to bloom in bunches. I don't like to pull them out even though some are invading the tomato plants. There's alwys too many tomatoes anyway.

InkLingo

Today I tried out my InkLingo Shape Collection 2 and printed out teeny little quarter square triangles. Linda Franz, author of Quilted Diamonds and Quilted Diamonds 2, is the creative genius behind this innovative idea of printing your stitching lines directly onto your fabric using your computer printer. The shapes are then ready to sew either by hand or machine. I wanted to use my sewing machine today and the results were pretty good for my first try.

Saturday, Jim and I went to Oakville, Ontario. He spent Saturday chasing down bargains at area garage sales while I visited with quilters from around Canada and two from Maryland at Ginny's Quilt Shop (formerly Jillybeans). The date was 7/7/07 and this was the seventh reunion at that location of quilters who were making baby Jane quilts from the book Dear Jane by Brenda Papadakis. The reunion included some InkLingo veterans who had wonderful quilts to share with everyone. Linda brought so many gorgeous samples from her next book and cd that it made my head spin. The possibilities are endless. It is fast and precise and fun. Has anyone else tried it?

Stalling

While I'm stalling on attaching my Dear Jane borders, I have been quilting a kit that has been on my UFO list for ages. (Aren't they all) This is a kit I bought from Judie Rothermel back when she was a vendor at the Rotary in Paducah, KY. The kit suggests quilting the background before appliqueing the leaves and yo-yo flowers. At first I wasn't going to do that, so I stitched the vase. Then I changed my mind and quilted the background. I have the yo-yos made and the leaves are ready for applique.


The neighbors are beginning their holiday fireworks as darkness nears. They've been practicing for the last three nights. Bay City has their big display tonight and it is always a terrific show. We didn't go this year as the Tigers are playing. The skies will be lit up again tomorrow as Saginaw does their annual show. So far the weather is cooperating, too.
I hope everyone has a wonderful 4th of July whatever you chose to do.

Yellow Mystery House & Brandi

For those of you who ventured a guess as to what the yellow house was that we saw on our Garden Walk, I think butterfly house is the correct answer. Jim thought it was a bat house, but so many people guessed otherwise. I finally did a Google Images search and this shows houses similar to what we saw.

The second picture shows Brandi with the Kittens for Brandi quilt that I finished just in time for her graduation party. It was started when she was about five years old.

Making progress

Progress has been made on the border for my Dear Jane quilt. All of the pieced, appliqued and plain triangles, plus the four corner blocks are now sewn together into four long strips. The triangles and corners were all hand pieced or appliqued except for one. I made freezer paper templates and used YLI Heirloom cotton thread. The stitching went very quickly and was much easier to keep the seams and points accurate. It's a bit daunting as I realize the next step will have me attaching these borders to my center squares section. I hope they will line up properly.

Garden Walk

Today was a gorgeous weather day! It also happened to be the date chosen for the Bay City Garden Walk. This year four of the six featured homes were near our house, so Jim bought tickets for us. It's like going to a quilt show and getting inspired to make more quilts. Seeing the beautiful gardens of plants and flowers made me want to do better in my yard. We were allowed to take pictures, so I'm sharing a few of my favorites from today. I took many. The last photo which shows a little yellow house was a mystery for me, but Jim knew what it was. Do you?

Father's Day

We celebrated Father's Day twice today. My sister, Judy, invited everyone over to watch the Detroit Tigers. We had a very nice lunch, after which my dad opened his gifts. We settled in to watch the ballgame. A bit earlier, Jim received a call on his cell that his sister was being released from the hospital She had been in for a few days and was in need of a ride home. About halfway through the game, I left for our house with Mike and Simone to celebrate Jim's special day. We enjoyed BBQ chicken, baked potatoes, salad and watermelon for an early evening meal. Lots of good food today.

I was doing some blog reading tonight and came across Gail's post where she talks about taking her nine year granddaughter to her first quilt shop. It reminded me of when I took my granddaughter, Abigail, to a quilt shop in her hometown a few years ago. I told her to look at all of the fabrics very carefully, and some of them would speak to her. After being inside the shop for just a few minutes, I heard, "Grandma, this one is speaking to me" and "so is this one." It was so cute.

Here is Abby with the fabrics she chose for the first quilt she made. The second photo is Abby with the quilt that I made her for Christmas in 2002. The quilt looks blue, but is really purple.

Finished! Done! Next!

It seems like a couple months of Tuesdays since I've been able to use those words relating to any of my projects. I've been steadily working on the kitty quilt for my niece, Brandi, whose graduation party is next week-end. This top was made way back in the early 90s and then set aside to await just the right time for it to be quilted. Cotton fabrics were not as plentiful then as they are now and the mauve/blue color combination was very popular. I machine quilted oval eyes and whiskers, then in the ditch forthe rest of it. The mice around the kitties have embroidered tails and french knot eyes. I doubt she will remember the quilt, but I hope she is happy with it. I'm elated to have it crossed off of my UFO list.

I'm still sewing Dear Jane triangles into rows, too. It's good to have projects for both hand stitching and machine work. You never know what you'll feel like doing on any given day. With my list of UFO's, I believe I have every possible mood covered.

Win a JoAnn's Gift Card

Have you been over to The Wooden Porch lately? Every now and then a blogger will have a drawing and send a prize, like for their 100th post. Well, this time you have a chance to win a $25.00 Gift Card just for leaving a comment on her blog. How neat is that! Last time I looked, there were ONLY 229 other hopefuls, so the odds keep diminishing. But, someone will win and it could be you (or me).

NO HITTER IN MOTOWN

YES, I'M SHOUTING! Justin Verlander, is only 24 years old, but he threw a masterpiece last night against the Milwaukee Brewers at Comerica Park that inked his name into the record books. He was aided by some spectacular defense, most notably, the sliding catch by Ordonez in right field and the double play by Perez, Polanco and Casey. What a night for Justin, his fans and the Detroit Tigers!

Friday

Not much new here since my last post. I have been machine quilting the kitty quilt for my niece, Brandi and am making decent progress. One more good session at my Bernina should have it ready for the binding.

In the meantime, my friend, Judy, sent me this link today. I got a kick out of it and am sharing it with you tonight.

And since I don't like to post without a picture, here is one of my buttercups and another of the cute power line pole around Orlando.

Chilly Tuesday

Temps are only in the sixties today, but will return to the eighties by Thursday. It's a good day to catch up on things inside the house.

I took the finished triangles for my Dear Jane quilt along to Florida hoping to get them stitched into rows. There was some time for sewing on the plane, in the airport, in the hotel room and in the gyms. The triangles are all hand stitched and I'm joining them by hand, also. My third row of triangles is almost together now. The photo shows it on the back of the couch by the tiger that DS, Mike bought for me. I have one final row to assemble and then the four border rows are ready to be sewn to the center squares. I've been working on this quilt on and off (a lot off) since 1998. It may be that the time is right for me to finish it.

We arrived in Orlando, FL last Wednesday and stopped in Lakeland to see Joker Marchant Stadium and the Patchwork Pig on our way to St. Petersburg. My purchases were two new books at the quilt shop, Quilts of Virginia and Unraveling the History of Quilts & Slavery by BarbarA Brackman. This shop had loads of Jo Morton fabrics, which I love, but I didn't get any.













Our next stop was St. Petersburg where we proudly wore our orange, Detroit Tigers t-shirts to the Tampa Bay/Detroit ballgame at Tropicana Field that evening. Sadly, we didn't win, but we were seated with so many other Tiger fans that we really had a fun evening.

Thursday morning we drove to Clearwater and Dunedin to visit Country Quilts 'n Bears and Rainbows End. The latter is the largest quilt shop in Florida. My time was limited there, but it was an amazing shop. In Clearwater, I bought a few Japanese fabrics, a Jo Morton red, and a spool of King Tut quilting thread. All three shops were full of tempting bolts and patterns, etc. I had to remember that we were flying home and space was limited in the suitcase. And besides, I'm supposed to be using up my fabrics! Jim is always very patient while I check out the shops. He comes prepared with his laptop and often finds a coffee shop to sit down and wait.






Sunday's alarm clock rudely rang at 5:00a.m. after which our day was spent in Orlando International, Dulles, and finally O'Hare airports before arriving at MBS and thankfully home around 8:00p.m. This was only the second time I have been to Florida, but I hope to go back. There was so much history in St. Augustine. I did visit the Fountain of Youth and am still waiting...

Home Again

We returned home last night after spending four days in Florida and one in various airports. It was wonderful to see new places, including three quilt shops and to reunite with familiar faces. The weather was hot, but not so humid that it was uncomfortable. The goalball tournament went smoothly, in spite of tornado warnings on Saturday. However, when we were leaving very early Sunday morning, Jim learned that one of the Pennsylvania athletes had been killed during the night by a hit and run driver. That tragedy has put a huge cloud over anything I wanted to say about our trip. If you pray, please include the family and friends of Darryl Green. He was only 24 years old.