Another Whirlwind Trip to MI

So, I just came back from another whirlwind trip of two weeks to Michigan. While there I.......
.......went to a polish dinner at the National Polish Church in Temperance with my mom.....

..... made pigs in the blanket with my mom for my sister's retirement party.....;

.....went to a memorial service for a third cousin and saw many cousins.....;

.....went to a graduation party at the Grawburg Farm - see other blog entry for those pictures and story.....;

.....stop by Andrew and Becky's new home - this is Cooper and Garek helping put in the front flower bed.

.....We had a wonderful bridal shower for Julie - see other blog entry for those pics and story.....

.....My mom has some wonderful cacti in her yard and here they are blooming. Of course she had a friendly garden snake that visited while I was taking pictures - just moseyed on through.

.....I helped my mom with some cleaning; planted flowers, did word searches together and had supper with Tom and Ginny a couple of times.

While there, Phil's Aunt Loretta on his Dad's side passed away. So at the funeral home I was able to see David and Marie, (Phil's sister and her husband) and his brother Leo from Wisconsin. Aren't they a good looking bunch!!!

Unfortunately the weather was humidly hot; I didn't get to see my friends JR and Elaine and stitch; I had to pass on the quilt guild in Grand Blanc; shop hopping was out and I missed my teddy bear in Oregon. But it was great to be with my mom, visit with our sons, see family and have a wonderful time again in beautiful Michigan.

Party at the Grawburg Farm

While in MI, Greg and I went to Lyndsay's (our niece) graduation party and a mini LaVoy reunion up at the Grawburg Farm in Lakeview. Here are a few pics.:
Lyndsay happily smiled for her Aunt Teri.

Ruth, Nancy and Deb were having a great time.

Annie didn't want her picture taken, but I took it anyway. Told her you all would want to see her smiling face. Oh well, it's her face anyway. :-)

Luc, Kadren and the girls, Cora, Suzanne and Amelia - we were very happy to see them again and meet Suzanne for the first time.

Kathleen is a friend of John's. She was happily doing some face painting for those who wanted it done. Amelia and Cora felt that Kathleen needed her face painted too so here she is in her favorite color - purple.

Amelia and Katie decided that Uncle Gil needed to have some work done as well. Him is big chief of ??????

Nancy/Gil; Ruth/Chuck and Greg and I stayed at a bed and breakfast called the Outback about 20 miles from Lakeview. Turned out to be a nice place to stay, a wonderful breakfast served the next morning and friendly horses posing for us when we took our morning walk.

We went back to the Grawburg farm where we were treated by John to a wonderful breakfast. He flips a mean pancake as you can tell. A great weekend at the farm.

Julie & Nick's Shower

Last week when I was in Michigan, our side of the family had a bridal shower for Julie and Nick. My mom graciously opened her home and we held it in the warmth (literally) of the farm. Here are a few pictures from it.
The Bride Cometh: Julie, her bridesmaid, Audra, and little friend, Auria arriving at the shower.

Nick came later and we had to have a new picture of them.

Audra was happily making up a bouquet for the wedding rehearsal from all the bows that were on the gifts.

Me, Julie and Gram pose for a wonderful picture of three generations.

Julie and Audra posing with some wonderful little guests, Macy, Brooke, Julianne and Audra's little one.

We had a great time opening gifts. Thanks to all who attended. We enjoyed your company and are looking forward to seeing you at the Wedding.

Isaac Outing

Two weeks ago, Isaac and Phil went to the Young American Day at the National Guard by the Portland Airport. Isaac was intregued by everything. He was able to sit in this rescue helicopter.
A neat plane.

He loved the police car - went back to see it many times.

Told him he doesn't want to be in the back except on a day like today.

Lots of cool planes.

Organize and Mini Quilts

Sunday was overcast and Phil thought a good time to put more shelves in my sewing closet. Although I was in the middle of doing my miniature quilts for the next raffle quilt, he still decided it would be good. So, I took all the stuff that needed to be moved out of the right side of the closet. Then he measured and decided where the hangers would go.

He is excited to have the shelves put in - even if they are not quite where I need them.

Ah, I have to admit, I am glad that they are in and that he did a wonderful job for me. Now I am even more organized.

This is the other side with all my stash.

So, while he was working on that I was trying to do my mini quilt. I had decided that flying geese would be wonderful and so made them the Eleanor Burns way. Of course I forgot that when you put those two squares together - you end up with 4 flying geese each - times four different fabrics of eight different colors. So - I had geese flying all over the place.

This is just part of them all lined up so I knew what I had.

As you can see, they are minis. Each flying goose was 1" high by 2" wide. So, I gathered one from each and put it in a square like this. Ta Da!!!!! The finished product. As you can see by Phil's hand, it isn't a very big square - will be cut down to 9 1/2 inch square to be placed around the middle medallion.

I had said that I would do two 9 1/2" square mini quilts, so here is the other one. Yes, the border is too big but I want them to have enough to cut when they are ready.

So, that is it for now. I am leaving for MI tomorrow (YEAH!!!) So, Phil has to hold down the fort - we will see what kind of project surprises he does while I am gone.

Quilt Show Update

I don't know if I mentioned it or not, but I am the Registrar for our quilt show - meaning I receive the entries for ladies/men who want to put quilts in our show. While I was gone in May, LaDonna, my co-chair, took over and when I came back, we had about 60 entries. Well, with a little more emailing and asking we have 144 quilts entered in our show. YEAH!!! Here are a few entries.
This is my friend, Cindy and her Patchwork Heart table topper from the Thimbleberries book, Calendar Table Toppers. This will be another project on my list of to do some day.

My friend, Marilyn is entering an antique from her late mother-in-law's collection. It is done wonderfully. Another addition to my list of to dos.

My friend, Shirley, made this quilt for her "nail lady's mom". The mom doesn't know it is hers and she will be surprised when she sees she entered it in the show when she knows nothing about it. I hope I am there when she realizes it.

And, this is my "Everlasting" hand appliqued wall hanging that I am still working on. The top is done, I will be quilting it and doing the binding this weekend, then sewing the binding down when I get back, or maybe before I go, if there is a "M.A.S.H" marathon on. I am looking forward to seeing how this entry does in the show. Those checked egg shaped flowers are 1" squares of red and yellow and were quite the challenge to do. But I love the look and can't wait to hang it.

So, I am leaving again soon for MI - Phil will be holding down the homefront here in OR. I have three applique pieces and some small soldier kissing pillow tops to work on on the plane. Of course I will need to get to a quilt shop to get my "fix" with either another project to do while there or on the way home, or even just more fabric or fibers to add to my stash. Will see my friends, JR and Elaine, and am planning to see the quilters in Davison to share the Home of the Brave quilts with them. Ok, I will busier than I thought. YEAH!!

The Stanley Cup

So, Phil is a Detroit Red Wing Hockey Fan. Once he figured out he could get hockey on Monday and Tuesday evenings, that has been is relaxation (if you call watching intense hockey relaxation!) after work on those two nights. So, for all you non-hockey fans, the season is almost done and the Stanley Cup finals are on. The Red Wings are playing the best of seven games against the Pittsburgh Penguins. Detroit won the first two games and then lost the third. This is Phil on Tuesday watching the Wings play in game three. They play again tonight so I will be able to get some of my sewing done while the game is on. Go Wings!!!