Hettie Retires and Goodbye, June!

The time between my monthly collages seems to get shorter and shorter. I cannot explain this phenomenon!

Before I get to the June highlights collage, I want to share with you our Frienzie Hettie, who as the 'baby' of our group, has at last retired. Congratulations, Hettie! We made Hettie's retirement quilt ages and ages ago, but since Hettie kept teaching well past 30 years, we were never quite sure when it would be needed! Finally, this spring, Hettie made her decision to retire, so we put the finishing touches on her quilt.

Way back in early April, I had the quilt to applique the label to the back. This one has Hettie's name above the year of retirement. When I shared it earlier, I was in stealth mode, thus the reason for the crossing out.  On the other bottom corner of the back are three additional stars to signify the extra years that Hettie taught. She almost made it to 35 years! Here are pictures of the Frienzie party celebrating Hettie.

Hettie looks happy, doesn't she? This pillow was made from extra quilt fabric; Sherrie was practicing something and this resulted. I am short on specifics because I missed attending the party! We were vacationing when the gang celebrated. (Thanks, Pam, for the pics!)

The June collage has three main themes - long-time friends, quilting, and vacations. TOP ROW: A few friends from HHS class of 1975 gathered for pizza and beer and, most importantly, fellowship. What a fun evening. The pumpkin quilt top and the Pioneer Dreams quilt top were both completed early in June. MIDDLE ROW: The vacation this month included a picturesque trip on the Skyline Drive in Virginia, a sobering visit to Gettysburg battlefield, and a stop at the historic home where Lincoln stayed to perfect his Gettysburg Address. BOTTOM ROW: My work on Lake Effect found me completing the vines on the appliqued borders; I finished off a set of 4 pillows for the family room sofa, and last but by no means least, I enjoyed hosting both Sharon and Dee for a day of sewing yesterday!! What a lovely day! I will share more about it in the next couple of days.

I'm making plans for July! So much I want to make and I'm chomping at the bit.

Happy Quilting, Friends!

An Early Retirement . . .

. . . Quilt, that is.

You no doubt recall the circle of close friends and former co-workers I frequently reference here on the blog lovingly as the Frienzies. Well, as each of us has retired, we've surprised that Frienzie with a retirement quilt. So far, six of the eight of us are retired, and those two who remain full-time in the classroom have several more years before they reach that magic retirement date.

We who are retired got to thinking, though. What would it hurt to go ahead and get a jump start on those last two quilts? At least the one for Susan, who is up next in the retirement queue. We already had the fabric and since we use the same pattern for all these quilts, we decided to go for it.

And with that bit of background, let me introduce you to Frienzie Susan's retirement quilt, which we presented to her in late September.

The fabric is an older line by Joel Dewberry. We had a road trip maybe 4-5 years ago that included a trip to a fabric store where Susan selected these fabrics. I admit to having some misgivings as to the way this would come together, but by gosh, it looks awesome!

The back looks awesome, too. We didn't want to have leftover focus fabric, and we always put a signed block on the back, so we came up with this. That extra block has significance, too. The front of the quilt has 30 stars, and most of us retired at the 30-year mark. Susan will retire with 32 years of service, so the two extra stars on the back will represent all 32 years of service.

And here's our signature block. Susan's projected retirement is June 2017, if all goes as planned.

Now I will link to a previous post about retirement quilts, just because I think you might be interested. There will be some "throwback" pictures, as well. *wink*

Happy Quilting, Friends!

Isn't This Cool?

A couple of days ago, I showed you all the purple and gold Bento Box quilt I made for my DD Emma. She is a recent high school graduate, and these are her school colors.

Quite by coincidence, a fellow blogger, Wanda at Exuberant Color, was doing her own Bento Box quilt. Wanda loves Kaffe Fassett fabrics (Westminster Fibers) possibly more than I do, and while I used batiks in mine and stayed with 2 colors, she went for all the vibrancy that comes naturally when using Kaffe's fabrics. Take a look:

I think it is so cool to see the vastly different look of these 2 quilts using the same pattern. Whoa!

One aspect of quilting that never ceases to impress me is the way fabric choice and color placement can change a pattern. If 10 quilters took the same pattern, made their own decisions about fabrics and colors, and then brought their finished quilts together, why the differences would be significant. I love that about quilting!

In a way, I illustrated this notion back in March when I showed everyone the retirement quilts that my group of former co-workers have made. We always use the same pattern when one of us retires, but the resulting quilt is remarkably different! Click here and here to see our retirement quilts. Coincidentally, mine is in Kaffe fabrics!

Thanks, Wanda, for sharing your Bento Box!

Found Quilt

Whew!

It was with a huge sigh of relief that I finally found my missing retirement quilt! I looked upstairs, downstairs, in the basement, every room of the house and was frantic. I called DD Erin, to see if she had taken it for some reason. My great fear was that she had taken it, and it was in the car that was stolen about 3 weeks ago! Alas, she knew nothing. I texted DS Adam to see if he'd taken it to his girlfriend's. Nope. Nothing. I questioned DD Emma, who still lives at home. She'd not seen it, either.

I repeated my all-out search a number of times, before finally locating the quilt hanging from a clothes rack in the laundry area of the basement. The reason I didn't see it any of the gazillion times I searched the laundry area is because the back was facing out, and it was just too easy to look right past it!

See what I mean? Rather ordinary-looking, right?

When I was searching high and low for my quilt, I was NOT looking for ordinary, believe me!! I have the wildest retirement quilt of all!

My retirement quilt is made 100% of Kaffe Fassett fabrics! So, when I tell you that I didn't see the quilt, believe me, it would be hard to miss if it were turned to this side!

Isn't it scrumptious? Wouldn't it have been a shame if it had truly been lost?? Perish the thought!

A couple of questions beg to be answered, I'm sure:

1. Why was it hanging over a clothes rack? To keep it from becoming soiled against all the other 'uck' that one finds in dirty laundry.
2. Why was it in the laundry? I don't know for sure on this one, but I'm guessing that either the cat or the dog had slept on it and gotten it really hairy (and if it was the dog, then smelly, too!)
3. Did I put it there and forget about it? Or did one of the kids? Don't know. I probably did; the kids wouldn't know to put it up out of the way. They treat all laundry equally. Nothing gets special care when they are doing laundry! (Are all kids this way?)

So, my mystery is solved, and I am relieved.

I still don't have a picture of all the retirement quilts together in one place, however. We might have to have another reunion.

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.

It Won't Be a Secret Much Longer

This beauty, that is. Remember, a few weeks ago, I shared the binding with you. . .

So, during the Big 10 Tournament basketball games that we've watched these past couple of days, I finished stitching the binding. We will be gifting the surprise to our newest retiree on Saturday here at my house where we will gather for brunch.

I promise it will be worth the wait.

I've got a busy week with things other-than-quilting. Program material for Emma's upcoming h.s. musical production, make a couple of costumes for said musical, a writing project that our town's historical society is beginning, cleaning and cooking for Saturday's brunch. That's the big stuff. You know the small stuff that has to happen on a daily basis. Because of the deadline-nature of some of these projects, my blogging frequency might take a hit, unfortunately. I've made a concerted effort since starting back up the first of the year to keep my posting regular and frequent.

We shall see what we shall see. . .

Happy Quilting, Friends.

Another Retirement Quilt

In keeping with the tradition of retirees in our group of close friends, tonight we presented Pam with her Ohio State Buckeye quilt. Notice her scarlet and grey lei? We all had one!

Here are a couple of better shots of the quilt.

For this Buckeye quilt, I took on the responsibility of binding it. All free time this week was spent applying a very pretty red bias plaid. I love plaids on the bias for bindings.

Our history for retirement quilts began in 2001. The first quilt was for Kay who loves blue and white quilts - we made blue and off-white, and she was thrilled. We always make the same pattern. So far, I believe we have done 6 retirement quilts.

Last year, Lyn got her green and brown quilt in March, and I got my Kaffe quilt in May.

We use the same star pattern, but each one always looks so uniquely different - quilters know that the choice and placement of fabrics makes huge differences in a pattern, but it still amazes me.

Even more amazing is the friendship we all have. We all taught/teach at the same high school and bonded over our love of quilting. Three of the group still teaches, but they know when they reach retirement, they, too, will be getting a star quilt...just what fabrics will we use? That will be the surprise.

Another Retirement Quilt

In an earlier post, I talked about the retirement quilts that we make for each newly retired member of our little group of friends. This link will show you two of the four.

Here is the only pic I have of Lyn's quilt. She retired last March from teaching math, and now she's a full-time gramma/babysitter! I think this new hat is one that she enjoys wearing.

So, I've put the back together for Erin's Urban Chic quilt, and I delivered it to the long-arm quilter yesterday. That's like a year-and-a-half UFO that I've finally wrapped up. I'm glad. Erin will be glad, too, to get it.

Gettin' Stuff Done, But Not Fast Enough!

The list for this day is quite long, and I'm afraid sewing on my Snowflake blocks takes its spot way down on that list. Topping the list is getting my car in for some brake work, finalizing committee work for a group I belong to, and tidying this house for the quilt group who will be here Friday morning.

I did take a little walk out back just a bit ago, however, because I could see one tiny splash of color in the back of the flower bed.

A stubborn coneflower determinedly shows off the last of its colors here in the middle of Ohio.

The flower bed borders the front of a wooded area behind our house. DH has painstakingly groomed the backyard and has begun clearing some of the underbrush in those woods, so it is quite a lovely setting. I hope he continues to go further back into the woods, as it is such an inviting, picturesque part of the yard.

Standing tall against the November leaf cover.

I have begun to gather pictures of the 4 retirement quilts that my GFs have made since 2001. I've already shared a picture of mine, which they presented me at the end of May '09. Here it is again:

My retirement quilt made of Kaffe Fasset fabrics.

Here is Sherrie's quilt.

We always use the same pattern - a star quilt by Thimbleberries. It was featured on the cover of one of her books (North Bay Quilts. The pattern is Christmas Confetti.) 

Someone usually takes the lead in organizing the fabric selection and cutting. The necessary pieces for 2 blocks is then distributed to the rest of the group, and a deadline is established for returning the finished blocks. Usually we get a snow day sometime in January or February for stitching together the top, and then someone sets up the date with the longarm quilter. The retiree is roasted at a luncheon or after-school event (we are all teachers and retired teachers, in case I hadn't mentioned it.) This is all done in secret - secret from the soon-to-be retiree. Of course, we've done it enough times now that we know it's happening, but believe me, the finished quilt is truly a surprise!

I need to take pictures of 2 more - Kay's and Lyn's. I won't forget!