Brunch for Frienzies

Today was the big reveal! Finally! My dear, dear friend Sharon retired at the end of February, but our celebration of the occasion was this morning at brunch here at my house.

Here is Sharon, wearing a tiara, for retiring is cause for royal treatment, as she opens her quilt.

Notice that Sharon is wearing red and white, and that she matches her quilt??? Uncanny. When a retirement is approaching, the group decides on the color scheme for the retiree based on colors that are "her." Everyone knows that Sharon loves red -- she has red walls in her bedroom, a red sofa and chair in her living room, and has made at least one red and white quilt. So we dug out our red scraps to make the stars, found some fabulous red/white and white/red fabric on the sale table at Ben Franklin, and constructed this over the past year or so. (Sharon considered retiring at the end of last school year, so we began this quilt last Feb!)  Anyway, back to what Sharon is wearing. She told us she actually had a purple top on this moring, but changed into red and white, because "I'm red!"

Do we know each other, or what??

Well, she loves her retirement quilt, and now we have 6 retirees in our little group of 8 - all using the same  pattern. You may see that quilt folded up on the floor in that last pic . . .

We had a retirement quilt reunion! Everyone who has a retirement quilt brought theirs today.

In the foreground is Lyn's, whose colors are earth tones - browns, greens, blues and tan. It has a very calm look to it.

Next is Pam's Ohio State quilt - it's Scarlet and Gray.

Next is Kay's blue and white quilt. Her quilt is our first, as Kay was the first of the Frienzies to retire.

Last is Sherrie's burgundy and beige quilt.

Where is mine?? I don't know! It's lost!! I could do a whole post on my missing retirement quilt, and I suppose I will when I find it. Can you believe that I have lost a quilt?!?!? Good grief. My first thought is to interrogate my three kids... I suspect someone has committed quiltnapping!

So, the idea to have a retirement quilt reunion was a good one, until the hostess of the reunion couldn't find her own. *grumble, grumble*

Okay, for the brunch portion of our morning, here are some shots of the table and food.

I found the table linens at Kohl's. They look very much like the French General lines of fabric. So I bought them. Of course.

The spinach and egg strata. I took a risk with this, as I'd never made it before. It turned out great. Very cheesy - gruyere and parmesan. It made the house smell yummy.

Cheesy potato casserole is a huge favorite with my family; I made a huge pan so there'd be plenty of leftovers.

Scones. I have had scones before that were moist and smooth. These tasted dry, so maybe a bit long in the oven.

Kay brought a fruit bowl - this is what is left of the chocolate covered strawberries. There was also pineapple, but I didn't get a pic of that.

I also did not get a pic of the pound cake and topping, but suffice it to say it was both pretty and delicious. We were scheduled to have bellinis, but a couple of the girls had to rush, so we didn't get to linger over pretty drinks. Darn. Just iced tea this time.

It was a fun morning.