Insane times

Good Morning,

It sure has been a long time since I published anything.

Thought with all the craziness going on, maybe I should put pen to paper and put down my thoughts.

2020 started out pretty good.  Lots of anticipation for all the fun things that were going to happen this year.  Several trips, retreats, plans to get together with friends.

In January I hosted a fun quilt retreat up in  Racine at the Siena Center.  This is one of my favorite places to be.  Nothing like being in a place of peace and quiet with lovely surrounds and wonderful friends.  

It did not take long for us to get right to work. Diane dug right in.

Kathy has started a new project using 30's fabric.

Diane was working on a baby quilt.  Sounds like she has a couple of new 

grandbabies coming this year.

I decided to work on this economy block project. "Tell me a story".  You select an image for the center square, then surround it with a fabric that adds to the story.

I had also brought along a bunch of UFO's that I could get ready for handwork in the car when we would be going to Florida in February.  It always feels so good to get things done.

Jan was working on a project using the hexie flowers she has been making for quite a while.

It was fun to see it coming together.

 We had to go to our new favorite restaurant one evening, Hob Knob in Racine for dinner.

We got there right after they opened so we were able to sit by a window and watch the lake.

It did not freeze this year as it has in the past.

The one thing we had noticed is that the lake water was higher then ever.  It is said it has risen to 16 inches above previous years.  That means not a lot of beach.  Are we going to find any beach glass?

There was enough snow and ice that it was prohibitive to walk down to the beach.

I really wanted to try it, but figured I would not be able to get down the hill to the water, let alone back up.  Getting too old!!

The iconic tree is still there. Afraid one day it will be gone. It is always neat to see it through the seasons.  Even though the days were gray, it is still a wonderful sight.

This is as close to the beach as I could get.  It was interesting to see water this year instead of sand built up on the large rocks, like last year.  

 Kathy got her quilt top blocks put together.  What a fun quilt this is going to be.

She is pretty dedicated to getting it done.

Diane chose to work on making project back as raffle items for our upcoming quilt show.

It was a good start to the year.  We bring our own food, go out when we feel like it.  There is always shopping and restaurants to try.  It was a great time.

Good thing we had no idea of what was coming.

Mary