Sewing and Memorial Day

I recently headed back to Michigan to be with Nick, Julie and Caleb for a few days of Mimi time before his Baptism on June 6th. On Sunday, May 30, my sister Mary Ann wanted a sewing lesson on making a small purse. So, we pick out the material and went for it. Here is her finished project.
My Aunt Nancy and Uncle Mike stopped in for a short visit and to check out the purses. She ended up purchasing the one that was "hot off the sewing machine". Now I just need a picture of her and the apron I made for her.

Carolyn & Frank and Ginny stopped in as well with dinner and we had to help Mary Ann finish the seams on her purse.

A fine day at Moms with my brother and sisters.

Mary Ann took me home with her so I could hitch a ride to Lansing and so that Mary Ann could see Caleb before her surgery. Cooper and Garek came for the evening and posed nicely with their Grammy.

On Memorial Day, Jerome dressed in regalia as a Knight of Columbus to march in the Saline Memorial Day Parade. He looked pretty sharp with the American Flag behind him.

They marched approximately 1 1/2 miles with the sun shining brightly on the parade. Here they rounded the corner to enter into the cemetery.

There was a fly-by with some of the local military jets.

We entered the cemetery where the Knights stood during the hour long ceremony. A local man, who is a surveyor, was the main speaker and told us about their mission to bring home all the KIA service men who are still on Vietnam soil. A great mission for these men. The cemetery was colorful with small American Flags on the tombs of all the soldiers laid to rest. A beautiful sight

Jerome was one of the Knights who laid a wreath at the Memorial for all of the fallen service men. A great day in Saline honoring those who protected and still protect our freedom. Well done, gentlemen.

Check back soon when I post my next blog of my Grandson, Caleb. He is soooo handsome!!

What have I been doing???

It has been a while since I blogged. I have been a little busy with Embroiderer's Guild of America (EGA); Home of the Brave project; Hugs project; $5 Quilt classes; 2010 Sandy Quilt Show; Wooly Wednesday Club; besides family life and watching the Chicago Blackhawks beat the San Jose Sharks. (Note: The Sharks deserved to lose as they beat the Detroit Red Wings in the playoff games. Enough said!). So, I am taking time to let you know a few things that I have been doing.

Embroiderer's Guild of America (EGA)

At the last EGA meeting, we were to have a beginning class on Brazilian Embroidery. I was not going to take the class (notice I said "was not") as I really don't need one more thing to do. However, almost everyone at the meeting was taking it and as my friend Patty said "You can just say you learned it...you don't have to do it ever again". The teacher had an additional kit prepared so I decided to join in.

Everyone began by preparing their fabric in the hoop and looking over their fibers.

We then looked over our instructions to learn the different techniques being taught: satin leaf stitch, stem stitch, bullion, cast-on bullion, couching, colonial knots. Doesn't seem to hard yet.

Patty had to transfer the technique into left handed terms.

Lisa shared her bullion with me. Now just to stitch it the right way so it lays like it is supposed to. We enjoyed the hour long class and left with some techniques mastered and homework to finish before our next lesson on June 14th.

$5 Quilt Class Updates

A few months ago, I told you I would share with you the blocks I am making for this year's $5 Quilt Class. This is Month three, a little tricky but so far my favorite.

Month Four is fairly simple with Half Square Triangles added to the center block.

Month Five is easy - a break before the next months block. I attended class last week and next month I have to do 8 blocks - all the same design. A little tricky in the technique but with chain piecing it should go fairly quickly. Need to do them tomorrow - going to see Caleb soon and want my homework done before I leave.

Wooly Wednesday Class

On May 12th I attended Wooly Wednesday Class with designer/instructor Debbie Busby of Wooden Spools Designs. We always have a great time sharing techniques, laughing and getting to meet new friends. Debbie has triplet granddaughters who are about 6 1/2 months old and we had a fun time sharing our Grandma stories.

This suitcase always has wonderful wools for us to choose from to do our projects. So much fun digging through to find just the right color.

Donna decided to do the blue flower May Basket but changed her flowers to red so they would look like berries.

Dixie chose the blue flower basket, daisy flowers and did them in purples.

I did my May Basket in the traditional pattern.

Donna and I pose with Debbie for our class picture. Thanks, Debbie for another fun Wooly Wednesday Class. See you next month.

The Great Red Truck

After Wooly Wednesday Class, we met at Becky's to do our sewing as she lives close by the Quilt Shop. Gordon had dropped Marilyn off at Becky's and when it was time to pick her up, he arrived in his spiffy Red Chevy truck. He rebuilt it with the help of a few friends a few years back and it is a beauty.

The outside as well as inside were immaculate.

Two "youngsters" going cruising in their '54 Red Chevy. Thanks for sharing it with us, Gordon. Hope to see it again when our husbands can drool over it as well.

So, that is it for now. I have lots to do before I leave for my trip to Michigan for Caleb's Baptism. Am looking forward to my "Mimi time" with him; seeing our sons/wives and my Mom. Going to be a wonderful beginning of summer.

Military Appreciation Day

Saturday, May 8, Phil and I attended the Military Appreciation Day in Milwaukie, OR. Our Home of the Brave and Hugs Projects had a vendor booth to get the word out on what we do. They had food and projects for soldiers and veterans to enjoy. There were also vendor booths of all sorts of services for those enlisted, deployed, returnees, veterans and their families to check out.
This "G.I.Joe" was one of the largest soldiers I have ever seen. It was fun watching him interact with all the kids.

Our Home of the Brave booth was toward the back of the field. We had the "fallen soldier" board and some of our quilts there so people could find out what our service is. Phil was a big help in not only helping us prepare for the day, but talking to soldiers and their families about the programs.

I was telling ladies how to make "hugs and kisses" for our soldiers. Hugs are cooling ties, kisses are helmet cooling rounds. They have special gel inside them that expands when wet and keeps their necks and heads cool in the hot deserts of Afghanistan and Iraq. We also are beginning to knit some of these as it is pretty cold in the mountains of Afghanistan and some of our soldiers there need just the opposite to help with it being too cold.

Here Kaye Hansen, our Home of the Brave and Hugs project coordinator for Oregon, talks to a gal from the VA hospital who is part of the bereavement program at the hospital. We are always looking for outreach programs to help or hopes that they can help us with information and/or people to sew the hugs. We have about 2,000 Guard and soldiers who will be deployed within the next year so more hugs and kisses are needed.

Even GI Joe is interested in our programs. Hope one of the hugs is big enough for his neck. :-)

This gentleman is an Air Force veteran of WWII. I was sharing with him how to make sure his cooling tie was completely dry before being put away. He was leaving for Hawaii with his bride of 64 years the next day so she received one as well. They just might need them in Hawaii.

We had a wonderful day helping those who stopped by. We received inquiries of how people can help us and we passed out patriotic hugs to our veterans and tan hugs to our currently enlisted men. Thank you to all of you who stopped by to share our day with us, especially all the soldiers, both currently enlisted and veterans, who have given part of their lives for our freedom. May God Bless all of you.

Clamming and Quilting

After our trip to MI to see Caleb, the Quilting Retreat and Men's weekend, Phil and I went clamming once again for the last clam of the season...unless they have one more which is possible. Anyway, we made our way to the Long Beach Peninsula at the end of April for low morning tides to clam. On the way, we stopped in Astoria, OR to eat at the Baked Alaska. I had won a $25 gift certificate and we decided that would be a great way to start our weekend.
This is the view from the restaurant doors of the Columbia River and the Pilot boat house next door.

The views were beautiful from our table where we understand the line in America the Beautiful..."purple mountains magesty." They are always wonderful to see and admire as we head to the beach.

Our meals were wonderfully prepared and very tasty indeed. Phil had barbequed salmon and I had sea scallops. We also had a very fresh salad and great bread to start our meal off. A little pricy but a good place to start our weekend away.

This picture is of Phil after our first clam day, Friday morning. We actually got our limit of 15 clams each in about 30 minutes. A beautiful and successful morning.

While the water was boiling and I awaited Phil letting me know that cleaning the clam prep was ready, I put together some "hugs" (cooling ties) for our Military Appreciation Day the following week.

This was the first day's take of clam meat. We had two more pans like this the rest of the weekend as well.

The flowers were blooming beautifully at the Doel house. These rhodies were just stunning to look at with the green background.

I love cala lilies and we had some in the house from the week before that were still beautiful.

While waiting for church to begin on Saturday night, we went out to the beach to watch the ocean and talk about our day. These guys were waiting for us to give them some food. But since they have stolen some of our clams in the past, we didn't treat them to anything.

This was the beach on Sunday morning at approximately 7:15 am. Yep, we had our pickings of the field where we would walk around to dig.

It was a tough clamming session. I had two blisters and three hot spots from our weekend. Was it worth it??? You becha!!!

This was our final dig take...some mighty big clams and one lonely sand dollar. Love it!!!

So, last week Wednesday, Diane invited us over to her home to have lunch and enjoy the afternoon of quilting together. She and her husband, Steve, had just finished remodeling their kitchen and she wanted to share the space with us. Her father-in-law is a cabinet maker and he completely designed the cabinets adding some great hide-aways for her to use.

The hummingbirds kept us occupied as we enjoyed seeing them quite often during the day. They actually perched on this feeder while drinking and keeping still for some pictures.

Becky and Cindy were knitting on their neck warmers.

Marilyn and Donna worked on wool applique projects.

Diane had a charm pack that she opened to work on a small wall hanging.

I worked on my embroidery for a special pieced wall hanging. Sorry, cannot show you more of it.

We also visited the yard to check out Diane's garden, raised beds and flowers. It was a beautiful day with wonderful friends to share our love of quilting. Thank you, Diane, for being a wonderful hostess and sharing your home with us.