Another Fun Getaway

You might think all I've done lately is gad about, and possibly that could have a shred of truth to it. After a two-day trip last week with DH to Lake Erie, this week I took a two-day trip to Wooster with Sharon P. to visit our dear friend and former co-worker Dee. We three spent the earliest years of our English teaching careers together, and became quite close. While we haven't spent a lot of time with each other in the intervening years, we did remain in contact, and try to have some form of a visit every year or so.

Wooster, OH, is a really cool town! It is close to Amish Country, and we spent Tuesday afternoon there, where I made some awesome purchases. Then on Wednesday morning we toured downtown Wooster, and then had lunch at a beautiful hillside establishment that was quite a pleasant experience.

Our visit inconvenienced a couple of members of our hostess' household, namely DD Ellen and family pup, Wayne. They don't look too put out, though, resting with this flannel quilt. Sharon and I made the quilt for Ellen several years ago as she was undergoing cancer treatments. She is now cancer-free! And she loves her quilt, by the way. *wink*

 Dee was an English teacher when she worked with Sharon and me; she later returned to school to become certified as a librarian, and worked in public school libraries until her retirement. Now she works at the Wayne County Public Library; she took us on a tour of her workplace, and it is an impressive library.

 This is the spacious central lobby and checkout area.

 And just off that area are these stately curved stairs.  I said it before, but it bears repeating - this library is exceedingly impressive.

 Dee works here in the children's area. She does lots of story times and prepping and planning. They have so much to offer their patrons; I can't imagine that anyone could come away from this library disappointed.

 After touring the library, we walked around downtown Wooster and stopped in at a lot of shops. This one, Local Roots, was particularly intriguing. 

 Another cool shop was this Hungarian pastry shop; we each had a cup of coffee here. The selection of pastries was immense. I didn't want anything, but if I had, I would have had a hard time deciding.

And here are we three - friends since 1979-80. We had a delightful lunch at Pine Tree Barn on the outskirts of Wooster. And we had a delightful visit catching up with our dear friend. I think we will make the effort to do it more frequently.

Now, I mentioned above that we went to Amish Country on Tuesday; I will show you what I purchased in tomorrow's post, so come on back, y'all!

Happy Quilting, Friends!

Sewing With Friends

It was my turn last Friday morning to host the Frankfort Girls for sewing. I made an awesome (if I do say so myself) cherry coffee cake with crumb topping. Was mighty tasty with a cup of coffee, let me tell you.

I don't have much to share in the way of pictures, as nearly everyone is continuing work already shown here from previous weeks.  I finished off those hexies that I'd prepped for the Lake Erie excursion. I'm to the point that I need to be deciding on a hexie project rather than just continue to make random hexies. I sorta' have the cart before the horse.

Jan had recently taken a class at Mary's Barn in Grove City to learn how to make an Orange Peel block. In true Jan fashion, she has her quilt top finished and is in the binding phase. She never lets any moss grow in her path!

Jo Ann is nearing a finish, as well. She has been hand-quilting this scrap quilt. Do you call this a Churn Dash? Or Monkey Wrench? Or Hole in the Barn Door? I think those three blocks are so similar, and I frequently use those names interchangeably. Probably shoudn't. Oh well, Jo Ann's quilt is looking good.

Nothing else to show you. I will report, though, that this month's UFO project is #3 on our lists. This is good news for me, because I am already done with it! My #3 is to finish the Long Road Home quilt, and I did that back in the spring. Yay! So now I have the month of August to finish all those other UFOs that I'm behind on. The list is long of the months I've left unfinished. Shame on me!

Happy Quilting, Friends!

Class Is Held

Only two of the three scheduled for class yesterday showed up, but we still had a great time, and the beginners really made quick work of their pillows. What good students!!

Dorothy and Mindy worked hard and fast. They both had picked such gorgeous fabrics.

Dorothy's pillow will go on her family room sofa. That neutral is the exact color of her walls, and this will fit perfectly with her decor.

Mindy  plans to use her pillow on her bed; she was recently gifted a quilt, and chose fabrics that would match. I think she did a pretty darn good job!

 Here's a peek at the quilt, and you can see how good a job she did at selecting fabrics to complement it.

**An aside concerning the quilt: About a year ago, my quilting friend Terry was making this quilt; Mindy's husband Mike had commissioned her to make one as a surprise for Mindy. It was to celebrate something or other -- a milestone anniversary or birthday, possibly. I even took a picture of it, but I couldn't use it for keeping the quilt secret. Anyway, Mindy has had her quilt for a good while now, so no ruined surprises here. Mindy did call Terry to see if she had any of the scraps left from the quilt; that query was unsuccessful, but it was definitely worth the effort. Mindy's eventual choices work beautifully.

Wanna' know what we had for lunch? I served basically the same menu as the first class.

Chicken salad with grapes and pecans on a bed of lettuce; blueberry muffin, and slices of watermelon and pineapple. Do you think I had a craving for fruit? Served on our screened porch with fountains and birds to serenade us. Very pleasant.

So class #2 is in the books, and I still have a list of folks who want to make this project. It may happen; it may not. I do enjoy it.

Happy Quilting, Friends!

Finishing Some Handwork

Before leaving for Lake Erie, I prepped some hexies for stitching. I didn't do anything with them while we were away. But, I was prepared!

Since being home, I have finished off all that I'd prepped. Here are some of them.

 

 

The finished POTC block looks like I've put different colors on the outermost corners, but that's just a trick of shadows or camera operator. They are all the same, trust me.

Those two centers above, are mostly my experiments at getting accurate with fussy cutting. I think this is something that will require a good amount of practice. I think I will enjoy that process. 

I did finish the remainder of what I'd prepped, but I failed to take pictures; I will make sure I do that and show you soon.

Today, I have 3 beginning seamstresses coming for that 16-inch pillow class. Same class as the last one, but different students - mostly those who said they wanted to do it, but were unable to make the first go-around. I promise to get pictures of all the creations.

Happy Quilting, Friends!

 

Ohio's North Shore

We are back from our quick 2-day trip to Lake Erie, where we saw the sights of Port Clinton, Catawba, Marblehead, Put-In-Bay Island, and Kelley's Island. What a beautiful area of the great state of Ohio - one that I was not familiar with at all being a southern Ohio girl; I have had little opportunity to visit or sight-see in that area.

From the ferry taking us across Lake Erie to Put-In-Bay.

Put-In-Bay's downtown park with Lake Erie in the distance.

Monument honoring Cmdr. Perry on PIB Island.

View from Marblehead of Lake Erie.

Marblehead Lighthouse, world's oldest in continuous use.

Marblehead Lighthouse Museum; closed at the time; but I'd like to visit again.

The main attraction on Kelley's Island is this impressive limestone formation.

Glacial Grooves are formed in the limestone; the area is cared for by ODNR.

We had a leisurely, relaxing couple of days away. Much needed after preparing for the Fraternity Bash. We are glad to have had the chance for a little getaway, and also very glad to be back home.

More on my stitching tomorrow!
Happy Quilting, Friends!

Round Up of Recent Activities

While DH and I are on our little getaway, I thought I would just do a quick pictorial of some of our recent activities around the homestead. Nothing much quilting related, at all, in other words.

We hit up the local garden center for some color to add to our yard. Most of this is perennial, so we are filling in for gaps when things aren't in bloom. We got it all planted in a day, and the gardens looked great for the fraternity reunion.

We "cat-sat" for our DD and her hubby. They were going out of town for a long weekend, so we had Rocky. He just loves being at our house because there is so much more room to roam than what they have in their one-bedroom apartment. He likes to sit on this spot because it affords him views of several areas. Isn't he a pretty guy?

Several of the fraternity guys camped in our woods. We served a hearty breakfast the next morning; sent them off with scrambled eggs and bacon in their tummies.

Here are the guys - both alumni and active members. All totaled up, we had about 50 here on Saturday. Several guys brought their wives/girlfriends. We had perfect weather, too.

Happy Quilting, Friends!

Hexie Prep Work

We had our big fraternity bash over the weekend and have been recovering ever since. Thus the absence from posting here. Besides the fact that we have been extremely busy with  reunion festivities, I haven't had any time for significant sewing, let alone time to blog. But things look to settle down here in the coming week, so maybe I can get my quilty creativity going again.

To fully wind down after the big reunion, DH and I are leaving for a short drive to northern Ohio where we hope to take in sights and attractions at Lake Erie, Put-In-Bay, and Kelly's Island. To keep my hands occupied, I prepped these sweet little hexies yesterday.

I took a page right out of my friend Jan's playbook - run copies of paper with the outline of the hexie drawn on, then put down double-sided tape and attach the parts in the desired design. Now they are portable and accessible.

That POTC block I did a week or so ago still needed to have an outer row, so I made 8 light neutral hexies to attach to it. I am going to try to get those done, too.

I must be off! Still a bit to do here before we hit the road!

Happy Quilting, Friends!