More finishes for month

Earlier this year there was another signature block swap for the Dear Jane group and I decided I would put the two years together that I had participated in.  All done! More on it later. 

I really like making those zipper pouches.  Here are 5 more.  Great way for me to use up some of the thousands of buttons I have.  The buttons are a lot of fun to pair up on the pouches.

Done! My Patches and Pinwheels quilt from the Bonnie Hunter workshop I took in May.  I have washed it and now it is residing on our bed.  I made it a bit longer to make sure we had enough to fit our queen bed.  I love it.  There is nothing like a new quilt to sleep under.

At Thursday sewing I got 4 pillowcases made.  We needed a present for a wedding we were not able to attend, so thought I would make the pillowcases and then add a check.  This fabric is perfect. All about wedding, love, romance, by Michael Miller.  How perfect.

Off to do more sewing.  I am going on another retreat next week. I need to get my things together to work on.  What UFO should I finish this time!!

Have a great weekend. Sew on!

Mary

American Jane

American Jane, Sandy Kolp, made a visit at our guild, Pride of the Prairie, on Thursday evening.  What a delightful speaker. She told us about wanted to design fabric and the inspiration she uses to produce the colors and designs.

A lot of her quilts are traditional patterns. Here is "Folk Art Fancy."

The ever popular "Dresden Plate."
Pattern name is, "Miss Muffits Tuffets."

"Oh My Stars"

"French Country"

She said this had been a block of the month pattern. "Alphabet Quilt"

Sandy is originally from Holland, Michigan. She did spend 4 years teaching art in the Middle East.  Sandy was intrigued with the rich colors and patterns in tiles of the Middle East.  A lot of her ideas come from children's books.  She did have an interesting and colorful lecture.

Have a great week.

Mary

Gorgeous Sunday

Look what else I got done this past weekend.  I had this little zigzag quilt that needed finishing.   It feels so good to have completed so many small things.  Now to get all the bindings done that I need to finish.

After I got home Sunday, my husband and I decided to take advantage of the beautiful day, and take a drive in the country.Here is a view of the Fox River.

Got this picture of a butterfly. He was kind enough to sit long enough so I could take it.

Found this wildflower by the river. The starting of the colors of Fall.

Another view of the Fox River

Chrysanthemums

Fields of pumpkins. We checked for apple cider. Because of the strange weather we had this Spring and Summer, the apple crop is not very good, but the pumpkins thrived.  They liked the hot dry summer. 

Hope you are having a great week. Sew on.

Mary

Retreat Time

Last Thursday was the beginning of Prairie Stitches Fall Retreat.  We got to sew starting Thursday morning until noon on Sunday.  Oh, it was so good to be back sewing again.

Dickson Valley Camp and Retreat Center is south of Sandwich, Il.  It is not far from where I live.  The weather this weekend was absolutely gorgeous.  We did get a little rain on Thursday night, but it did not interfere with anything.   We have our meals provided, and we bring the good stuff. There is always plenty of chocolate! You just never know when you are going to need it.

Oh, by the way the top picture is of the t-shirt I received for attending the retreat.

I finally got the borders on this quilt!  I had pretty much gotten it together before Dad passed away, and finally got the borders on.  I am so pleased with how this turned out.  (It was triangles already cut that I have had in my stash forever.)  Even got the back pieced.  Now to send it out for quilting.  Another UFO is done!

Lisa, was working on putting borders on one of her quilts.  It is so nice that we have such a great area to work on our quilts and other projects.

Debbie, made this cute paper pieced turkey. Debbie got so many project done. She was a sewing machine!!

Jan got this adorable snowman done. She said it will become a pillow.  Now she is thinking she better make two more for her daughters and their families for Christmas.

Here is what else I managed to get done.  I had this piece of pre-quilted fabric that I made into a tote bag and 2 zippered pouches.  It is all gone!!  Then I made 3 more zippered pouches out of other fabric I had set aside.

My secret pal from the Dear Jane group I belong to, had sent me this kit to make a pillowcase.  It is so cute, and just my colors. (Think flamingo)

The Oregon or Bust quilt blocks, I am making with Isabelle in France, are caught up.  We are having such a good time making these blocks.  It is going to be a wonderful quilt.  (I was kind of behind on getting my blocks done.)

Got 3 notebook covers done.  They had been cut out for several months.

This wonderful little quilt was a prize I had won on a blog hop last year. It is by Jennifer Ofenstein of sewhooked.com At the time I won it, she had included the fabric as well.  It is a paper pieced pattern and all I had to add was the background fabric.  I was able to make this from start to finish. I even had buttons I could add for accents.

I had a great weekend with friends and quilting. I hope everyone has a great week.
Happy Quilting

Mary

Fun purchases

I hand pieced 40 of this little guys while we were on the road. I really need to get this quilt done.  Time to move on it!!

Here is what I bought at the Aurora Sewing Center in East Aurora, New York.

These Christmas fabrics and a couple of fat quarters came from The Carriage Quilt Shoppe.  It too is in East Aurora, New York.  It is a small shop, but packed with a lot of fun things.

Here is my Vidler's haul.  I said it was a 5 and 10.  There is fabric, rubberbands, M & M's, airmail envelopes, bandaids, buttons, magnets, a package for Dummies, Beef on Weck, and measuring spoons for a pinch, dash, and smidge. They have everything under the sun.  I absolutely love to go there.  You never know what kind of good things you will find.

Heartworks Quilts and Fabrics in Fly Creek, New York.  The tied up Christmas fabric is for a cute set of placemats, that are quilt as you go. They showed they for every holiday. Simple and cute.

Last but not least, Pennington Quilt Works, in Pennington, New Jersey.  Ron picked out the two blue fabrics. I picked out the flamingos and pink to make another zipper pouch.  The Little Red Riding Hood, is actually a notebook with plain pages and graph paper.  Then a couple fat quarters, just because.

That is it.  I could have put a lot more pictures but that could get way too long.  I love to take pictures and am always trying for that one great shot!

Have a great day. More later

Mary

Part 3 of on the road, New Jersey

Papa's Tomato Pies.  Ron has never had a tomato pie, so this was our first stop.  We voted it the best.  It is like a pizza, only the crust is way thinner and crispier. Cheese goes on first then the sauce.  It is sooooo good.



Ron enjoying a piece of tomato pie.

Our next night we tried DeLorenzo's.  Now back in the old days this was one of the best places to go. The orginal restaurant is now closed, and they got modern. Tomato Pies and specialty salads are the only thing on the menu. No refills on soda, and you can bring your own wine or beer to drink.  Could not get over that one.  Not as great as I remember it.

The dome of the capital building in Trenton, New Jersey.  Boy have things changed there.  Unfortunately, not for the better. Still, it was good to be able to show Ron where we used to live and for him to meet a couple of my relatives.  My Aunt Nancy and Uncle Steve are still there.  We got to have lunch together, and work on our family tree.  Aunt Nancy had a lot of  information that I can add to our tree.  We also got to visit with my Aunt Mary Agnes, who is my Dad's sister.  It was good to see her, too.  She is in a nursing home and has Parkinsons disease.

On Wednesday as we were leaving Treton I got to stop in Pennington at the "Pennington Quilt Works".  What a fun store.  They have been around for 15 years.
After a couple of other stops, we did finally start for home.  We got through most of Pennsylvania before we stopped for the night.

On Thursday morning we were up bright and early on the road.  It actually was a beautiful sunny morning.  As we drove along the I-80 we would run to areas of fog.  There were pockets of it now and then.  Sometimes it was only on one side of the road, other times right in front of us. It was a great ride home.

I had to share this picture of you.  Here we are just before the wedding on Sunday.  Ron and Andy think this should be our Christmas card this year!

Ok, one more posting of our trip.  The next one is the wonderful things I found on our trip.
Have another wonderful day.

Mary

On the road, part 2

On the way to visit cousins in Alden, we had gone by this cute post office in the town of Marilla, New York.  This is actually part of the General Store. (The only shopping in Marilla.)

Here are Andy, Tom, and Ron.  Tom is Ron's brother from Atlanta, GA.  We were all enjoying a beer while taking a ride on the Glimmerglass Queen.  It was a beautiful ride on the lake.

This is the Kingfisher Tower on Otsego Lake, at Cooperstown, New York.

Our view from the motel we stayed at for the wedding.  Some of the cabins were suites, Some were just rooms.  The view was beautiful.  They even had a small dock and swimming area across the road.  We had the reunion party here on Saturday night. I can say a fun time was had by all.

In Cooperstown on Saturday was a Farmers Market.  I was so sorry i could not buy any produce.  It all looked so good and inviting.  There was even a 4 piece band playing. Fun, Fun, Fun!

Saturday morning we ate at this quaint diner.  Originally built in 1912.  The food was great and plentiful.

The Baseball Hall of Fame.  The induction of the latest players was done at the Otesega Hotel in August.  The setting was neat.

Ron and I did take a bit of a drive on Sunday morning.  The wedding was not until 4:00 p.m. so the morning and early afternoon was ours. Here is one of the barns we saw along the way.

And of course I had to check out one of the local microbreweries.  The area has a brewery tasting trail  around the countryside. This town sure knows how to produce some great brews.

Here is the happy couple. Shelly and A J Cavanaugh.  The wedding was spectacular.  It was outdoors on the lawn overlooking the lake.  Appetizers were served on the porch, dinner in a beautiful banquet room. After the dinner and dancing, and of course wedding cake, they had arranged for fireworks to be shot off.  The whole theme of the wedding was baseball. The bride and groom are serious baseball fans. We all had a wonderful time.  It was great to catchup on news from family and friends.

More on another day, I had to show you what handwork I did get done while I was away. Plus, what I did pick up in a couple of quilt shops.

Have a great day.

Mary