Buffalo area quilt shops.

"Let It H2O - Building Mr. & Mrs. Snowman"
was at Simple Pleasures & Homespun Treasures, in Lancaster, New York.

The Carriage Quilt Shop, in East Aurora has been part of the Row by Row for 3 years.
This years row is the blue one, Under the Sea.
Yes those are bra project cases.

At the East Aurora Sewing Center I picked up "Gone Fishing"

At Zinck's fabrics, they had this row made up.
Unfortunately, this store is going out of business as of the end of August.

Could not resist taking a picture of this sign on their cash register.
Do you know anyone that has this collection?

We had stopped at a small pond and found these lovely waterlilies.

Who knew there were still pollywog's.  This guy has legs already.
For some reason, I thought this only happened in the spring.

We took a drive out to Boston (New York) to the Quilt Farm.
You just never know where you will see a barn quilt sign.

This is their row.  More like the seasons, but still pretty.

Love the rain boots on this one from Sew On - Sew Forth in Depew.

More quilts done!

When we drove to and from Buffalo I was able to get a lot of binding stitched.

I took a total of 7 quilts with me, and was able to get 6 of them done.

This first one is a  jelly roll of Hawaiian fabric that I picked up on our trip to Maui in January.

I had see a quilt made using this pattern.

Even the white that surrounds it is Hawaiian.

Turned out pretty good.

This is another quilt that was bound on this trip.
The top was finished last fall at the retreat in Racine, Wisconsin.
It needed a border, and finally got quilted this summer.
Originally the quilt was started at a workshop with Sharyn Craig, through Prairie Star Quilt Guild. several years ago. 

Here is a close up of the quilting.  It turned out beautiful.

Another one done!  This was two kits of fabric. I really liked it.
I picked the kits up in Atlanta, from Little Quilts, two different times.
I guess you can say I loved it.

I have kept busy this summer.
This butterfly quilt I made this summer, and had it quilted.  One of the fastest I have done.
I like how it turned out as well.

As you can tell I do enjoy my traveling. but do stay home now and then.
While home I do use my time for sewing and cross stitching.
More quilts are being made.
I love sewing, can you tell?

I hope you are have a great summer.  I sure have.
You can feel that fall is on the edge.
Have a great weekend.

Mary

Elma, New York for the Baker Reunion

A view of the Sunken Ponds in East Aurora, New York.
This is a place I love to visit to see if  I can add any new birds to my life list.
It was such a beautiful day.
The time flies by when I come here.  There is usually no one around.
Just me and nature.  It is gorgeous.

There is a field behind the Baker farm that is full of wildflowers.
The old farm was split up some years ago into several single lots.
My husband tells me that the areas that have turned into forest were once all fields.

A couple of rain showers came through during the late afternoon.
Check out this double rainbow, and it was a whole one.   You could see the whole thing if you  were standing in the right place.  On the news later that evening that someone saw 4 rainbows at one time.  We actually could see a hint of the third one,  I just did not get a good picture of it.  It was beautiful.

A different view of the barn and the rainbows.

The highlight of the evening was Ron,  my husband, singing Elvira with his sister Bonnie, and her new grandchild, Tom and David, his brothers.  I can't say their singing gets any better each year, but they do try.
This year it felt a bit different.  Several relatives could not come because of illnesses.
There are new generations coming up through the ranks.  I think the oldest is Ron's mom at 90, and the youngest is Bonnie's granddaughter who is 8 months.
There are all ages that come together.  It is always a great time.

In the town of East Aurora, there is a great farmers market.
I was hoping to get some fresh home-grown tomatoes.
I arrived too late, bummer.

Everything looks so good, I love when the fresh vegetable come into season.
It is so good.

The Sinking Ponds in East Aurora has yield some old treasures.
My husband was not all that aware of them.  I found out about them, and started coming to them several years ago.
It is so peaceful and full of bird activity.
It sure does not take much to please me.
Since I have retired, I realize how beautiful your surroundings are.
Mother nature has created so many beautiful places.

I hope everyone is enjoying their day.
Mary

A couple of Michigan Row by Row's

I did get to stop at two stores in Michigan to see if I could pick up rows.
Fields Fabrics in Grand Rapids has several stores in the area.
Each store has their own row.
This store had a winner already.

Their row is called "Rain".
The store is actually in Walker, Michigan, a suburb of Grand Rapids.

Here is a picture of all rows their stores have.

The other one I got is "Windy Day" and is from their Plainfield Twp. store.

They had a winner too!

I like that there is a theme for each year.
Last year's was seasons.  You can make a quilt using all the seasons together, or split them up.
Some can turn out to be wall hangings for a particular season, or holiday.
I have heard through the grapevine, that the theme for next year has been decided, and the fabric designed.  I think the fabrics for this year are wonderful.  The blues go so well for water, and there are so many great other themed fabrics to go with them.  What fun.

Have a spectacular day.
Mary

Road Trip!! Heading to Buffalo

We started our annual road trip to Buffalo, New York for the Baker and Winegar family reunions.
Andy had decided to drive along with us.  It was fun, just like the old days when he was little.
At least he did not keep asking if we were there yet!
First stop was to visit with our friends Jane and Hiliary in Lansing, Michigan.
Since we had seen them last, they had bought a new home, not far from their old one.
It was so good to see them and catch up.
It was Jane's birthday that day, so we celebrated and had a great time.

Andy is a dyed in the wool Michigan University fan.
He wanted to take a ride around the campus and get in the grove for football season.
This is Bo Schembechler.  Andy was in his glory.

The maze and blue
Have to say we had a great time in the "M Den" store, picking up a few Christmas presents.

Our goal for that days travel was to Cleveland to spend the night.

Only got one row from Ohio.  Stopped in Mentor, Ohio and picked up this cute fish row.
It is called "Fishy" and was at Quilts & Sew Forth.

You never know what you will see in quilt shop bathrooms.
I love this version of a crazy quilt.
Controlled and the stitching is beautiful.

Love this mini quilt too.  

We did "have" to stop at a brewery to taste the local brews.
Some of these are so good.
You just get a small sampling.
Some are pretty good, some, not so much.

Tried the brews at a second brewery.
This place was interesting as it really had been a train station at one time.
Some are small factories, some take over  great old buildings and rehabilitate them.
You just never know where you may find on.

Have a wonderful day.
Mary

A couple more Illinois rows

Friends are the flowers in the garden of life
is the phrase embroidered along the top of this pieced and appliqued row by A Touch of Amish,
in Barrington, Illinois.
 

Twisted Stitch in South Elgin, IL. did not put a name on this cute block.
My kind of project, Easy.

Rub-a-Dub Dub came from Prairie Shop Quilts in Batavia, Illinois.

The Quilt Merchant in Winfield did not put a name to their row either.

I did take these pictures from the Illinois Row by Row, as I had gotten so excited at each of these stores, that I forgot to take pictures.

I really do like to see the creativity all these shop have done to get their rows ready.
A lot of the shops even offered a finishing kit to make them into table runners and not even put them as part of a quilt.

As I have said before, I just like making the rows.
I will probably end up with a couple of quilts.
They can always end up as back art on some quilts.

Have another wonderful day.
Mary

A few more Illinois Rows

On another day, I decided to hit a few more shops in our area.
This is "Foot Prints in the Sand" from Sewing Concepts in Carpentersville,

Here is the row from "Material Girl" in Crystal Lake.

"Sailing Row" is from the sister store to Sewing Concepts, but this one is in Woodstock.

The watering cans is from a small shop in Woodstock, called Woodstock Quilts.
The tulips just below it is her row from last year.
I have that one done!

Here we have, "Ready for Rain"  by Royal Patchwork in Huntley.
She used a lot of neat batiks to make up this row.
It looks like a lot of fun.

Royal Patchwork had a winner.  Didn't this one turn out great??

Last stop today was at Stitching on State in Hampshire.
What a great winner this one is.

Here is their row "Boat Race.
I think this looks easy and great to do.

I like a lot of the rows that are pieced blocks.
Looks like a lot more fun coming up.

Have another great day.
Mary