Willie

Let's go jump in a lake!

my new favorite

I have to plant more of these lilies that stay open for days.

The Big Fish

Fishing trip to Lake Michigan

Lot's of fish and this one will be hanging on our wall.

Double Cute

Baby quilts for Twins!!

The quilts are really cute but the twins are adorable.

my fair winning lily

Guess this is the season to post favorite day lilies. Some of my lilies have so many blossoms on them that the stem cant hold it up, and no one is there to pick the old ones off. Maybe we could teach the mice to do that job, but Ron has trapped 190 on the island this summer, there arent even 3 blind ones left.

July

Happy Birthday Kelly

Happy Birthday, Kelly. You were just 6 days old in this picture!

Thanks for bringing so much joy to our lives, miss you on your Birthday.

Gaea returns home

This statue is one of 12 beavers that were painted by local artists and displayed downtown. It has made front page news for a week, as the city council removed it after a complaint that it was "not appropriate". A huge protest was held at last night's meeting and the statue was then put back in place.
So today, I biked through town just to get an upclose look at all of the artwork. There are some very impressive and fun pieces! (Bemidji is not such a "hick" town)

Happy 4th of July

Hope you had a great 4th of July

Ours was a day to relax

Celebrate Kelly's birthday early

and fireworks

The cool-aide pitcher and laundry basket from days gone by are my favorites for flowers.

Easter Table Runner

This project was made for my quilt groups "challenge" for this year. Each year a different theme is chosen - this years was "seasons". It's a secret what each member has made until the "unveiling" and then we test our guessing skills as to who made each lovely quilted item. I got 5 of 16 correct - it's a difficult test.

The center flowers are hand quilted. After I started that part of finishing I was quite sure that it might get finished while sitting in the driveway of the home we had our potluck. Flashbacks of 4-H days when most years my clothing project was finished in the car at the fair grounds. We had to get there on entry day before they started charging admission.

I'm ready for the runway

I made a skirt!

Inspiration

Ever wonder why you saved those seashells, and keep moving them around from drawer to drawer? This is my creation that reminds me of walking the beach in Sebastian. Now I can go to that place everytime I walk into my bathroom.

Memorial Weekend

What a wonderful weekend, a great time with Kelly, Marie & Brandon!

The weather mostly cooperated -

A fun packed weekend with golf, food, beverage, flowers, biking, lawn

darts,smore's at the bon-fire, in house product consultant for kitchen

and just a little rain - these golfers are socking wet

Such Fun!

Book Review

Even though I grew up in the 60's when the novel that I just read takes place, I can't quite relate to the characters. Perhaps because they are black maids and genteel southern women. The book is called, "The Help" by Kathryn Stockett. It is the stories of domestic help and the families that they worked for in a time when blacks had their own grocery stores, their own schools, beauty shops, black public restrooms, so white people would not catch their germs.
Where was I? I can't even imagine what the south was like. Laws have changed this racial imbalance, but have attitudes changed with the times? Easy to sit back and say that was a southern problem, but, I know people in Bemidji that feel the same way about our American Indians.
Read the book!

Measue Twice, Cut Once

Another lesson learned - 8 1/2 by 9 1/2 is not square. I haven't quilted for awhile so getting back to a project and made a mistake cutting two pieces. Generally you can sew pieces upside down, inside out, miss matched or what have you and with a good ripping scissor can fix most anything. Mistakes in cutting are not so easy to fix - too little fabric left so need to buy more to cut again.

JP

lesson learned

I made this bee-themed runner a little while back, with the hopes to sell it in my shop. It was cute, but probably not the best-made item I was putting out there. Then, I got this crazy idea to wash it, just to make sure that I could say "machine washable" and not lie.

I would have been lying. The brown ran through from the back into all the stitching and bled over most of the white fabric. Sad.

I then hastily washed all my unwashed fabric (to ward off this mess again), and made a brand new bee-themed runner.

This one is better.

Two lessons learned - wash my fabric and if you aren't happy with the first, make another one - it WILL be better.

"trip to the fair" Baby Qilt

Kelly's Sunrise View

What a great view for morning coffee

A really cute little cabin on the lake

Men notice this one!

Such a lovely April that I just played outside. Yesterday, I opened up my sewing shop , turned up the heat and created this little table runner. When I was in GM, I bought this animal panel thinking it would make quick pot holders. I cut it apart, and added a few quilting touches and it turned out cool. Kind of fallish, so it may go in the drawer for now.

Happy May Day

Happy May Day!

Rain has finally come so things should really green up now.