Saturday in NYC

On Saturday the wedding wasn't until 5:30 and only 3 doors from our hotel, so we had a lot of time to do whatever we wanted.  Mom wanted to see the view from the empire state building.  So Mike, Carole, Mom and I did that.  It was only a two block walk from our hotel.  This was the view the first night from our hotel window.

 

Another bucket list tic for Grandma

 

 

After we left the Empire State Building we did a little walking and headed in the direction of the restaurant where Jennifer and Leif wanted to have lunch.  So the 8 of us caught up for lunch.  Then after lunch we split up.  Mike went with Jennifer and Leif and mom, Carole and I headed to Mood fabric.

 





 

After looking around here a bit and trying to wheedle our way into seeing where Denise's office is, since it's in the same building, but Tony the elevator guy stood firm.  no go.  At some point previous in the weekend I had heard Mike talking about getting shirts for Ken, Pamela, Jack and Molly from a fire station.  End up he wanted them from the #10 station, but we didn't know that.  When we came out of Mood, I noticed a station right across the street.

 

So we got shirts for Ken and Pamela who stayed home to look after Grandpa Brown.  This stations id was "the Bat Cave".  They loved the shirts.

 

 

Then it was time to go back to the hotel, which was only about a 6 block walk and rest up for the big event.

 

Busy Summer

Wow!  Where did the summer go?  When I used to hear my grand mother or mother say that I couldn't fathom what they meant.  Now I understand all too well.

The big event in August was my niece's wedding in New York City.  It was a good time in the big Apple, but wish we could have spent a little more time with the bride and groom.  But they had more pressing matters on their mind.  Darryl, Anna, Mom and I went to the Statue of Liberty on Friday. One of mom's bucket list items.  Weather was great, clear and hot.

 

Next stop after the Statue of Liberty was Ellis Island.

Next post will be family pics.

 

 

 

Shipshewana quilt show 2014

The Shipshewana quilt show was this past week.  Because of work mom and I went down on Saturday.  We always go M66 which is the slower day, but it give mom time to reminisce about all the time we have gone down here over the last 45 years.

It's fun as you get into Amish country.  We say a man mowing his lawn with a single horse hitched to a mower that has probably six reel mowers on it.  Mowing and fertilizing at the same time.  Then a little further down the road we saw Some Amish farmers baling hay with a horse drawn, 3 or 4 horse hitch, bailer that was producing the large round bales instead of the rectangular ones.  Then we came to this farm with tons of purple martin houses.  Had to take a picture as I remember the time my dad made a purple martin house for our place.

The Shipshiwana quilt show is in the same building as the Hudson car museum.  So it's a double win, quilts and wonderful antique cars.  Here were a few of our favorite quilts.

There was a challenge hanging that was 6 small wall-hangings that came out of a challenge by Bonnie Rhoby to her friends to try something they hadn't done before.  I believe they were all machine quilted by Bonnie. 

I have a friend who has helped make a lot of quilts for her sister's cottage.  They often use a panel in the center for the twin bed quilts.  Thought this quilt was a great use of a wildlife panel.

 

 

 

More photos to come.

Summer Star Retreat

This past weekend we had a retreat with our variable star group at Turk Lake.  We have found a very nice cottage there, right on the lake.  For once I have no deadline project to work on.  There were 7 of us who were able to attend.  Although we all worked quite steadily, there weren't a lot of "TA-DA's".

Barb worked on finish a bag she has started.  Roxie worked on a gingham quilt for her new guest room. Becky worked on a piecing job.  Carol worked on more borders for her hand dyed challenge.
Melanie was quilting on her double wedding ring quilt for Jim, her husband.  And Gerry was quilting on a wedding quilt.  I worked on a recycled shirt project and got all but 2 corner's done.  Then worked on a 60 degree table runner project.

Wedding shower

The weekend of June 14 my niece Jennifer, my mom, Phyllis and I put on a wedding shower for my youngest niece who is getting married in August in NYC.  We worried about how to have a shower where she wouldn't have to figure out how to get everything back to NYC.  Shipping to her residence isn't possible as items can't be left as they would sit on the stoop.  And sending it to her work address would mean having to schlep the items home on the train.  So we decided to have a gift card shower for her and Jason.  That way they can get exactly what they need/want.

We had the perfect day.  The Friday before it was only about 54 degrees and very cloudy all day. Saturday found us with clear sunny sky, and temperatures in the 70's.  So we were able to have the shower out in my mother's backyard.  It turned out very nice and I think everyone enjoyed themselves.

 

Gift table

 

Refreshments were set up on the porch.

 

 

A few of the guests.  These were former co-workers of my sister-in-law.

 

 



 

Bride to be Denise

 



 

Denise with Grandma Beard

 



Chloe Centino, Jason's mom, Denise, and Rebecca Beard, Denise's mom

 

Grandma Beard with the grand and great grand daughters.

 

Pamela with daughter Molly, Denise and Jennifer

 

Hand dyed fabric challenge

Our challenge in our variable star group this year was to do something with our hand dyed fabrics.  We shared our results at our June 10 meeting.  The challenge was to use the hand dyed fabrics we have made over the last, oh, 20 years?  We could add one other fabric if we wanted.

 

I think this was Jo Langes.

 

This was Carol Schon's.  Sorry for the blurry picture.

 

One of 3 that our overachiever, Pam Marcis did.

 

 

 

#2 of Pam's

 

 



#3 of Pam's

 

 

My challenge

 

 

 

Barb Kantner's quilt

 

 

 

Rosanne Brower's

 

 

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