Big 60

So a couple of weekends ago I threw myself a 60th birthday party.  I figured surviving to this age rated a party as there were times in my life I didn't think I would see 35 let alone 60.  But as life has gone on and I have come to accept my singlehood instead of pining for the relationships/marriages that my friends have, I've grown comfortable.  Now I fully expect to see 85 at a minimum.

I had the party at SmittenDust which is a friends business in an old brick building in Dimondale.

I had fun making table runners, whose fabric will be used to make quilts for children in local hospitals through our guild's heart warmer's program.  The vases on the tables will get reused for my niece's bridal shower in June.  I had family, quilting friends and highschool friends.  And I think everyone had a pretty good time.

Quilting friends

 

 

Family



High school friends

 

New artwork and ready for planting

I like to plant a few vegetables, specifically tomatoes and basil every year.  But over the last 25 years the volunteer trees in my neighbor's yard at the back of my lot have shaded out my garden spot.  A few years ago at the Home and Garden show I attended a lecture on container gardening.  This has proven to be very successful for me.  The tomatoes go beside the driveway near the white garage door facing south, so they get all the sun and heat that they want.  Then nearby I have a planter with basil and rosemary, and another 2 with different varieties of cherry tomatoes.  This is the time of year to get things started.

I put a tarp down on the drive, dump the planters and start to break everything up.  I add about half again fresh compost and some time release fertilizer.  Then  it all goes back into the containers.  So last Sunday ( 2 weeks ago now) I spent the day getting everything ready.  Screened more compost, worked everything up and got it ready.  Here is Michigan it's a little early to plant out.  Probably will wait until around Memorial Day. (Couldn't wait, May 10 planted 11 tomato plants). But seeds are started  and trips planned to Van Atta's.

The blue planter usually has my full size tomatoes in it.  But this winter really wreck havoc on it. So I had to buy a new container this spring.

I also got around to hanging some artwork that I have been buying.  I hung these in my stairway going to the basement.  This is the door I come and go by most often so I get to enjoy them on a regular basis.

And I also had a new driveway put in the first of May.  Of course once the old driveway was lifted it had to rain and make a terrible mess.

I should be able to park on the new drive on Wednesday.  Will be so glad to get my truck off the street.

One additional little picture.  On the way to Eaton Rapids there is a barn with a quilt design.  I finally stopped this weekend and got a picture of it.

Gearing up for a busy may.

Signature Quilt

I thought I had written a post about this quilt but find not.  My sister-in-law, Carole, went this fall to an auction that was held after her father's close companion passed away.  The lady's mother had been an artist so there was a lot of artwork and more especially quilts in the sale.  I believe the family had decided to keep a few of the quilts.

This quilt was dated 1950 and was embroidered with signatures of many people that Carole had known over the years from their farming community.  Included on the top were the signature of her mother and both paternal and maternal grandmothers.

The family decided to give the quilt to Carole.  It is a great example of signature quilts, 50's quilts which are rare and a great scrapbook containing many memories.

Trying to put this day off due to terrible snow and cold to good use by doing some sewing. 

I dug out Saturday and that has all blown in again.  And they are warning against going out today to shovel.  So I guess I will see what tomorrow brings.  Keep warm everyone. 

Catching up

Busy times at work with exams starting.  We have pressure put on to get the exams ready at least 5 days ahead while convincing the profs to help us along sometimes is a loosing battle.  What's a girl to do?  I guess just sit back and hope the copy machines are actually working and you don't get sick in the mean time.  Because we don't have a single bit of control. Ugh!

First a couple of pictures from the last Turk Lake Retreat with the Variable Stars this fall.



A beautiful quilt Carol Schon has been working on.  Love the colors.



I think this one was Carols as well. Recycles shirts at their best.



This is a t-shirt quilt I'm putting together for my trainer out of her college and softball t-shirts.

Last weekend was my mom's side of the family's Christmas party.  A coworker is also a cousin and her grandmothers home was right across the street from my grandmothers home.  My grandmothers home, owned by the bank, was torn down as soon as she passed away.  Sarah's grandmother's home, owned by her uncle, is slated to be demolished.  I suggested to her it was forth getting pictures  to preserve those memories.  So since I wasn't sure she would be able to get over and get pictures I stopped by on Sunday and took some.  Love the stone work and gingerbread trim.

Loved the round topped windows upstairs.

I have several retreats coming up, 1 in January, 2 in February and maybe a show in Indiana in March.

Guess that is enough for now.  Take care, enjoy your families!

New Venture

A friend and I have been talking lately.  She inherited a lot of collectibles from her mother.  And like I have so often seen and heard, it's just not possible to hang onto everything that you inherit.  Some people say you should just be happy with the memories that you have.  Anne inherited a lot of Lladro figurines.  Although nice, they are not something she wants to store. 

I got pulled into collecting by working my brother's estate sales and buying items that were left after the sale.  Those that were too pretty to let go, so I would buy them and then started selling at a flea market.  But this was a poor summer for doing fleas for me.  In June alone I had my trip to Ireland, the next weekend taking a bus load of women to Chicago for the international quilt show and then the next week my niece's wedding.  But that hasn't stopped me from buying at area estate sales.

So push has come to shove for both of us.  So this weekend we went to the Mega Mall and rented a show case.  We are hoping for a pretty reasonable monthly rent and secure space, maybe we can start getting rid of things.

 

 

Ann loaded in some items on Sunday.  I went and took measurements for the spaces to make a couple of display boards for smalls that might be in bags.  I hope this weekend to take a few things in as well.  We will see how this goes.  We have a 3 month contract and after that it is month by month.

AQS quit show in Grand Rapids

Well, it has only been about a month since the American Quilters Society show in Grand Rapids.  It is one of the large national shows held here and it's great that it's so close.  When the Grand Rapids guild visited one of the Capitol City Guild meetings asking for volunteers, I thought why now.  I volunteer for 2 1/2 hours and get free admission ($14) so why not? 

I met Friday night with my roommate from my June trip to Ireland.  Mickey and her friend decided that Grand Rapids was closer than Des Moines so they came to the GR show.  After work Friday I hot footed it to GR to meet them for supper.  I got to meet her friend and here about her extra week in Northern Ireland after the rest of us headed home.  It was good to see her again.

 

 

Following are a few of the quilts I enjoyed see.

 

This quilt was in the area where I "white gloved" AQS author's quilts area.  Bought the pattern.

 



Where has the time gone...

Can't believe September is already here.

The first part of August I and my mother went down to Bourbonnais Illinois to see my nephew and his wife, Darryl and Anna.  We got there about 6 pm on Friday. Saturday we had lunch with Anna's grandmother and parents.  The grandmas hit it off at the wedding 2 years ago.

After lunch we went to see Jennifer and Leif in their new apartment in Chicago.  Nice newly refurbished space.

When we headed down to Navy Pier because the tall ships were in town.  We walked the pier and found some of the ships out sailing.  We had supper outside and I was completely entranced by looking at the skyscrapers and all their lights.  It was just very magical.  I think we left at 10 am that morning and didn't get back to Darryl & Anna's until 10 pm.  Long day, but we really enjoyed it.

When the next weekend I volunteered to white glove at a national quilt show in Grand Rapids.  As it happened my roommate from Ireland, Mickey Donahue and a friend, Karen, were in GR for the show.  So I went up Friday right after work and we were able to go out to dinner and have a good visit.  Got to hear all about Mickey's extra week in Ireland.

 Following are a few photos from the show.  Dennis came down and took me out to lunch after my white glove shift was over.  On the way back to the convention center we stumbled across a small antique show where I found a few treasures,  then we went back to the show and had a look at the show and vendors.