And I'm away!

Tomorrow is the big day! I'm off to Elk Rapids, MI to spend a glorious week at the White Birch Lodge with Gwen Marston and the other BIQR (Beaver Island Quilt Retreat)second week campers! This is the 25th year for her retreats, and I've had the pleasure of sharing the last two of them, plus this year. This year's theme is working with solids. Since I am sort of a wild child and I love texture and bright colors, this is going to be a brain challenge for me. I'm not sure what I will come home with, but I will share whatever it is next week.

In the meantime, I DID finish the Fall Crawl sampler quilt. Here's a picture of it on my bed, and you can also see the triple border I used for it. The fabric line is 12 Days of Christmas by Nancy Halvorsen/Benartex. I really am happy to have a seasonal quilt for this time of the year! I hope it makes an exciting sale for the shop(s) while I am gone.


I've been very busy (in addition to moving) getting the last of the garden produce processed for the pantry. Here's just half of the green beans - the jars are three rows deep. Also on the shelf is canned chicken - our local grocery store was having a grand opening, and the skinless/boneless chicken breasts were only $1.87 per lb. How could I not can some of that while the canner was out? Low fat, low salt, and quite yummy, too.

There's a few jars of salsa on the shelf, too, but more has been made. Hubby is in charge of that, though. Here he is with the latest garden bounty after we stopped at all the neighbors and shared with them first. I think he has at least a couple more weeks of picking to do there...unless of course the house sells first.

We met one of our neighbors who walk by our house every morning. In passing, she offered some apples from her tree, and since then, I've canned 8 quarts of pie filling, 10 pints of applesauce and 9 pints of just plain apples. I told her NO MORE! I think we are ready for winter, said the ant to the grasshopper!

And last but not least, we had another birthday quilt day with the Amazing Quilt Babes. We all did paper piecing (the birthday girl's choice) which I am not fond of. But I AM fond of Ibby, our birthday girl, so I pieced along with the rest of them. Aren't the blocks beautiful?

Another Day in the Midwest

Today's activities included but were not limited to:

Green beans from the garden, finally picked, cleaned, and prepped for canning. Said canning was completed by 10:30 PM. All I did was one canner load, which means only 9 pints. But I did have enough left to make another big pot to eat, and to share with our neighbors next door.


Because my morning was interrupted with three grandchildren (and one of their friends), other plans were put aside in lieu of playing. I had to send a note to our dear Bonnie of Quiltville to get her (famous in Kansas) zucchini bread recipe anyway. I only wish the kitchen fairy would come and make this zucchini bread. I don't think it will bake very well in this condition, do you? I'll post Bonnie's recipe tomorrow if the bread gets baked.


And a day would'nt be complete without a tad bit of sewing, would it? I've got the binding sewn on the basket quilt that will be donated to our local Cancer Action auction. This will allow me to sit with hubby and sew it down - which will take no time at all.

The braids for the "not-to-be" border have been packaged up with leftover fabrics, and I've been thinking I shall make a strippy lap quilt with them when I finish other projects. This might be a nice "masculine" quilt to have on hand, so I will pursue that thought later.

The flip-circles (crop circles) will be taken off the wall tomorrow. I'll post the explanation why at the time, along with some statistics. My brain hurts today.



Bonnie and Clyde always huddle together when the kids are around. With a 2.5 year old little boy who thinks they can't hear him unless he shouts in their faces, who can blame them? They seem to think this chair is their safe haven. If you click on the picture, you'll see "their" cat quilt on the back, because they love to sprawl on the back of the chair. Without the quilt, the top looks like it has a black edge!