Some questions answered

Several of you have had some questions about Gwen's retreat/s. She moved them from Beaver Island to White Birch Lodge in Elk Rapids, MI (about 18 miles south of Charlevoix) about 7 years ago. The ferry takes too long, and the flights had gotten too expensive for the participants, so the move was made. It's a wonderful family owned for over 50 years lodge that is so accommodating to our needs!

Gwen does have a new book that will be coming out in the Spring, so watch for it. It is Liberated Quiltmaking II - what a surprise, eh? Next year's workshops will have that theme, too, so it should be exciting to see what she does. You can sign up for the workshops at her website as soon as they are posted. I'm already signed up and paid for next year!

This year's theme was Mixing it Up: Quilts that combine applique and piecing. As usual, she brought a lot of quilts to show us. I get more inspiration and plans for quilts just from seeing what she brings. This year's piece was inspired by what I saw, as well as last year's quilt I made for my son.

So, I think that answers the questions for you. Hope to see YOUR pictures of YOUR retreat with Gwen next year! There's even still room at the last minute for the Oct 7 retreat this year. Maybe THIS YEAR, eh?

Another great retreat!

I got back home from Gwen Marston's "Beaver Island Quilt Retreat" (now held in Elk Rapids, MI) Sunday night. It was, as usual, just fabulous. Let me tell you now, that Gwen has put the R-E-T-R-E-A-T back into quilt retreat. I usually go in a few days early so I can knock around the area, then the retreat starts Tuesday night, and goes until Sunday. During that time, we quilt, we laugh, we shop, we swim, we eat, we talk a lot....any time and as much as we want. Each year there is a theme, and you can do something with that theme...or not. This year's theme was pieced and applique quilts.

On Sunday, I waited for my friend Wendy to arrive from California. Then we went grocery shopping, swimsuit shopping and unpacked. Monday we went to Charlevoix, and Petoskey. Of course, we had to hit the cute little Hearts to Holly quilt shop in Charlevoix. On Tuesday, we went back to Charlevoix, but this time, we followed the coast north and drove through the Tunnel of Trees (after going to the quilt shop again), and then found Kim Claire at her Flower Lady and Woolery farm. She had the most delightful sheep, llamas and angora rabbits. Of course, I had to come home with some of THAT fiber, doncha know?

The lower part of this unit is our "apartment" for the week. The window on the left is my bedroom, the one on the right near the door is the living room/dining area. Behind those two rooms are 2 more bedrooms and a bath and a half. We had most of our lunches and some of our snacks on this picnic table in the sun!

This the view out our window facing Elk Lake.

Elk Lake is spring fed and absolutely crystal clear! Wendy swam most every day, while I dipped my toes in the water or I was a "lifeguard" for when there was a potential for sharks. LOL!

Lifeguard duty was rough!

Here I am on Monday, dipping my toes into Lake Huron. The bridge behind me is to Mackinaw Island.

Here's Wendy at the Cherry Hut in Beulah where we just HAD to go to have the best ever cherry pie. Did you know that this area is the Cherry Capital of the World?

Wendy with her beautiful "new" featherweight from her sister Sue.

Applique and tea on the veranda, anyone?

Wendy with her Mail Order Stars and beginning serpentine vine, Gwen and me with my Oriental Anvils and serpentine vine and bubbles on our last night.

Look at all those bubbles! I had taken the blocks and then I figured out what I wanted to do with them after seeing some of Gwen's settings with pieced blocks and applique borders.

And now, for your viewing pleasure, here are some of the things that were accomplished this past week. There's something for everyone!

Time flies!

Where has the time gone, AGAIN! It seems that I turn around and an entire week or an entire month (as in the case) has gone by! Have I been busy and forgotten about the blog? Yes, and no, not really!

I've cleaned out the green bean bed and finished up all that that entails: another 18 pints canned and stored, and mulched down the bed. Hubby took his annual trip to Colorado in the San Juan mountains, so I had an entire week of "alone" time! I sewed a lot, and played with the puppy a lot. I also did a lot of the yard work that he usually does, but mostly just had some quiet time.

I know I promised pictures from Karen Stone's quilt show at our guild, but I am at another computer entirely, so they aren't available. Instead, I'll share today's pictures of Hubby, Mayo and me in the fall garden. The wildflowers are in the creek bed behind our house, and the sunflowers and zinnias are in our vegetable garden.

Tomorrow, I am leaving for Gwen Marston's annual quilt retreat in Michigan. I'll be meeting my good friend Wendy from California, and I am so looking forward to having some time away from home!

Toodles for now!

Another day....

The French Roses are off the floor residing in my chair. They are waiting for me to get over my anger at inept math calculations to get that last big row of blocks off. Unfortunately, I will NOT be using them for a table runner, nor can I leave the quilt at the size it is at the moment. I think this row will just be inserted in the back and be happy that it's there.

I've been busy working on a client quilt - another cross stitch embroidery quilt top. It's will be nice for the lady to have it, and I will be happy to have it off my design wall:)

I also went to guild today and had the most marvelous time with friends and Karen Stone. Her quilts are just fabulous and she is so much fun! I will get the pictures of that off the camera tomorrow and share some of the fun with you then. In the meantime, I'd like to share about another one of my friends. Her name is Jane Kennedy and she makes wonderful quilts, too. Her book was just published, so check it out, as well as her quilt gallery. Her instructions are great, and if you've ever wanted to do something like this, her book would be a great guide for you!

And of course, you need to see the latest pictures of Mayo, our baby girl. She loves to help in the garden, and this picture is of her in my green bean bed. She loves to leap into the raised bed and scurry around under the plants. Besides all the black dirt embedded in her fur are the furry green beans stuck and woven into it as well!

We bought a small doggy pool for her to "swim" in after garden time, and it's been so darned hot here, she is loving her playtime in the late afternoon. After that, she gets dried and brushed, and then she is so tired! This is her favorite resting position. If she gets much longer, I'll have to grow taller!

Did I pass math?

Well, it's been a few years since I graduated high school AND college. It's also hard to believe I used to teach statistics!

This is a picture of my French Roses quilt on the floor where I threw it after several painful days of math!
So why is it on the floor, you ask? Well, let me start at the beginning, so you'll understand.

In March, I figured out the size I wanted for this quilt, cut and kitted up all the blocks I would need to make a king size quilt. My king size quilts go on the bed sideways, so should always be in the 86" X 102" range. I worked on the blocks and had most of them completed upon my return from the retreat. THEN, I took them all with me to Rochester, MN and sewed them together. When I laid it out on the floor to show Hubby, it was SQUARE! How did that happen? I never make square quilts for the bed! So I automatically assumed I was short a row. Instead of it being 9 X 9 blocks, it needed to be 9 X 10 blocks, so I brought it home and made more blocks. Isn't that what YOU would do?

So now, I get my borders together out of the kits which I had already pre-cut as well, and they just wouldn't fit. What's wrong here? I did the math again, and low and behold the darned quilt was already 81" X 90" BEFORE borders. How could that be? So, I sat and did the math again. Turns out I didn't need the extra row after all. I had simply added the last row on the wrong side, and the blocks should have been set 8 X 10. Silly me.

So this is where it is at the moment, waiting to be unsewn, and started again with the borders. I know, I know, I know. Not so bad, but still! (She says stomping her foot!)

And Clyde is complaining that I must not have done the math correctly for the big board, either. He simply cannot stay on it, and sometimes rolls off in his sleep. Maybe I need to get some baby bumpers? LOL!

Surfacing Again!

We're home from the Mayo Clinic and as Hubby says, he's got an extended warranty now on his transplants. It's such a long drive there, but the city is so welcoming and easy to get around in, and of course, the Mayo Clinic staff are just wonderful - ALL OF THEM! It doesn't hurt that there is fabulous fabric shopping to be had in the surrounds, either, is it?

We've been busy since we've returned, training Mayo, the puppy. She is a pretty smart little dog - or at least smarter than any other puppy I've ever had. She now know her name, can sit , come, potty and "watch me" on command. We're working on leash walking now, and sitting before going out or entering the door. She is such a little love bomb pup, too, and she just melts our hearts!

Here she is sleeping on the console of the car on the trip home with her lambchop toy:

I would say she has settled in quite nicely at her new home, wouldn't you?


If you remember, I attended a meeting of the Minnesota Quilt Guild when I was in the city, and here are a few of the vintage quilts that were shown.

I thought this border for a Dresden Plate was different, and I like it!

This Butterfly quilt has a nice border that I like, too!
This one is called Baby Bunting, but they don't know why. It's difficult to understand why, with all the points, isn't it?
Many Trips around the World reminds me of Bonnie Hunter.
I can't remember what the name of this pattern is, but isn't it just spectacular?


So today, I am working on the French Roses again. Since I didn't have all the blocks completed, I am making nine more blocks, then the borders and the backing. Hopefully, it will be able to go to the quilter tomorrow!

On the road

Well, here we are at Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN for hubby's annual checkup. He sees the doctors, gets poked for blood and such and I sew! Such a deal! Actually, when we come north the car is packed mostly with my sewing machine and projects/ Some people are having stay-cations, while we are having a Mayo-cation!

The weather has been fabulous here, and we've been able to have the windows open. The other day while he went to the annual Transplant Picnic they sponsor, I took a little trip into Minneapolis/St. Paul. I visited the Textile Center first. It was well worth the trip. It just happened that while I was there, the Minnesota State Guild was having their meeting. I was privileged to get to see about 50 vintage quilts. Their speaker was from the Minnesota Quilt Project, and had SO much to share! Then I saw the Ikea exhibit, the Nothing New Exhibit, and a small exhibit about quilts with humor. They have a small shop there too, and of course, I helped out with taking a pair of hand knit socks home!

Next stop was The Fiber Studio. This shop is about 15 minutes away from The Textile Center, and is just so darned filled with fiber, I about had a fit! The owner was so nice, and since there wasn't anyone there for a while, we got to visit a bit. She showed me a technique I'd wanted to know about with silk roving and spray starch. Of course, when I left, I had a nice sack full of fun to take home with me and play with. If you are ever in the area, be sure to check this shop out!

My next stop was a quilt shop I will not name. When I was in the Textile Center if there was some other place/shop I should NOT miss while in the area. Well, this shop wasn't exactly in the area (actually 40 minutes further away from even driving back home) but they both extolled it's virtues so much, that I felt I shouldn't miss it. While it was in a cute setting (a refurbished railroad station), and the drive was nice, I was sorely disappointed. During the entire time I was there, there were only 2 other customers, and I was never greeted or spoken to at all. The fabrics were lovely, and some of the quilts on display were quite nice, but there was no "personality" to the shop. Do you know what I mean? I bought ONLY a spool of hot pink thread to work on a project I brought with me, so that gives you an idea of how uninspired I was in the shop. Oh well, maybe I hit it on the wrong day?

So today, I am going to finish up French Roses. THEN I am going to go to the Mill End with a 60% (!!!!!) off coupon and look for a border fabric. The most expensive fabric there is only $4.99 per yard to start with, and they have every maker except Moda. I usually stock up on a lot of fabric when I come here, but this year, I am only going to buy what I need.

And last, we went out to lunch Sunday and it was Puppy Daze. Can you guess what we did? We made the huge mistake of looking! When we leave here and start the drive south, we will stop and pick up our new baby, Mayo. She is a Cavachon, which is a mixed breed of a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel and a Bichon Frise.



I guess Bonnie and Clyde will learn to live with her, but it will take some work to get her introduced to the family, I'm sure! She is four months old, and is almost house trained. I can hardly wait to take her home!

I'll have more pictures in the next post. I have a laptop with us,and I don't quite know how to get the pictures from the camera to the blog on this PC. I am so spoiled with my MAC at home, I forget the basics! I hope to post again tomorrow, so come back then!

A little bit of Everything!

It's been another busy week here at Quiltgranny's Shoe. I am still working on client quilts and trying to keep up with the garden as well as the routine house stuff and normal things of running a house.

SewCalGirl asked for pictures of my cats on my quilts. Well, I'm not sure if this one is what you want to see or not (grin), but here is Bonnie and Clyde (and me) asleep on the wedding ring quilt that is on my bed right now. Between the cats and the quilt, I certainly need a fan blowing on me at night!

Some of you might remember this quilt from a previous Amazing Babes birthday quilt last year. Ibby made all the blades, and the Babes sewed them together. She cut so many of them, we all ended up with enough to do our OWN quilts! LOL! I don't think Ibby's quilt is completed yet, but mine is, and so is Shirlee's. Here is Shirlee with her version.

Yesterday I made some wonderful zucchini bread from Quiltville Bonnie's recipe she shared with me several years ago (follows this post). I also made Rachael Ray's Spring Pie for dinner, and I felt like Julia Child with the wine. Some for the pie and some for me to drink while I was cooking! The pie is scrumptious, made with chicken with the potatoes on top with boursin cheese smashed into them! There are two pans of everything I made, since I sent some home to my son's house, too. Notice that I am wearing my apron from Cambria, too!

Recipes

Bonnie’s Zucchini Bread

Ingredients:

• 4 eggs

• 1 1/2 cups white sugar

• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract

• 1 cup vegetable oil

• 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

• 3/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

• 1 (8 oz) can crushed pineapple, drained

• 2 cups grated zucchini

• 3 cups all-purpose flour

• 1 teaspoon salt

• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda

• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

DIRECTIONS

1. Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.

2. In a large bowl, mix oil, eggs, vanilla, sugar, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Blend in pineapple and zucchini. Stir flour mixture into zucchini mixture. Pour batter into two greased and floured 9 x 5 inch loaf pans.

3. Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 1 hour. Cool on wire racks.

Birthday Quilts Are BACK!

Birthday quilts are back on the calendar! And aren't we happy? You betcha! This is our group, the Amazing Quilt Babes (less one). Each year we have chosen a day for our own very stitch day, and the others give their time instead of presents. Even though that day isn't our official birthday, it becomes an Amazing birthday because our friends are helping us make a special quilt. The "birthday" girl this time, is Carol, on the right of the picture. She has fallen in love with Kaffe Fassett fabrics, and this is the result of our morning sewing!

Last year, Carol had us help her with a French Roses quilt for a friend who had liver cancer. We all fell in love with the fabrics she used, so she "kitted" up enough for us all to make one, too. This is Shirlee's (left) quilt with Carol (right). When I have my French Roses completed, you'll see some of the same fabrics, but mine will be king size for my bed! Shirlee chose to back hers with flannel, and it will be a yummy reminder of the happy summer come this winter as she curls up to sew!

At the end of the day, stormy weather has us outside taking pictures instead of inside taking cover!

This is what is known as the leading edge of the storm. See the anvil shaped cloud?
And it is sure a good thing that I've finally gotten my big board set up (on a sofa table rather than an ironing board). Clyde has declared this his favorite spot to sleep while I sew! Isn't his smile sweet?
If he grows any longer, I'll have to order a wider board for sure!