Almost Ready

The shopping is done.  The pillowcases are made. All the presents are hidden in Grandma's closet.
I think I know where everyone is sleeping. Hubby is working out the menus. Even the dog goes for a bath tomorrow. I think I am almost ready.

Chestnuts Roasting over an Open Fire

For the last Lions Club meeting of the year, we invite Lion Roger who grows chestnuts in Michigan , to roast chestnuts as a treat for us. Usually chestnut roasting night is the coldest night of the winter as we huddle around the fire and eat chestnuts and drink mulled wine. But this year the weather was quite warm and we all had a good time. 

Spinners

This quilt pattern was in The Quiltmaker magazine, Mar/Apr 2018.  I machine pieced it and with the help of my design wall I could assemble it. Each piece connected with the four corner pieces so the design wall made it a lot easier. I machine quilted it. Unfortunately as a novice machine quilter I should have chosen a print backing that would hide
the quilting. The solid green paisley showed every bobble vividly. So I used invisible thread to solve that problem. It did. After I washed the quilt things looked a lot better.  The quilt is 96 by 96 so it is large and I must admit I prefer the hand quilting, both for the look and the process. I plan to give this quilt to Amy.

A new Blog

At my brother's suggestion I started a new blog which is an archive of the quilts which I have made. I tried to do the most recent showing first and going back to my first.Their are 82 entries which mean at least 82 quilts, some though have more than one on an entry. I guess I have been busy. The blog is called Quilts I have Made.

The Dacshound quilt is Done

My brother, Michael, has a wire
haired dachshund named Buddy.  When I saw the pattern for this quilt, Dogs in Sweaters, done by Hartman, I had to make it.

Progress on the Hawaiian Quilt

I have finished nine of the squares although I could possibly do some of them over. I am getting better at the applique. Today I thought I would mark the quilting pattern on one of the better appliques and try quilting it.  I am going to quilt each square and then put them together. The book I am using gives the desired quilting pattern.  But what a chore to mark it! Perhaps if my applique was exact it could have been easier and this was my best applique. This was the design .

 

It was a challenge to mark because my applique wasn't as even as it should have been

I will quilt the applique in its color and the background in silver.  I have two more squares done, the Iris and Hibiscus.

Penrickton Kick Off Dinner

Friday night was the fundraising Kick Off dinner for the Penrickton Center for the Blind. Penrickton is for blind children with one other disability. It is a residential center during the week and also has day care. It is a fabulous place. Dinner was at the Fairlane Hotel in Dearborn. They raised over $150,000.

The Dakota Inn Rathskeller

Last night eleven of the Lions went to the Dakota Inn.  It is a restaurant in Detroit that has been there for over 80 years. We had a few beers, then sausages, sauerkraut, German potato salad and apple strudel.  Then the piano player came out and we had a sing along or all songs that linked to Sweetest Day. A good time was had by all.

The Plaid Quilt is Finished

I finished quilting the plaid quilt.  It is bound and ready to be mailed to my grandson, Russell. I left the frame up in the living room because I have the dachshund quilt to do when I come back from the Crazy Crafters quilt retreat.  I have far too many quilts in progress, eight more that I have begun.

First Frost

Tonight there are frost warnings for the Detroit area.  Two days ago we sprayed all the plants which need to come indoors for the winter with insecticidal soap. Then we brought them in.  I put seven pots of geraniums in the basement and a fuchsia down there under grow lights. Some of my geraniums are over ten years old. Every year I break off pieces and start some new ones. I have never kept a fuchsia over the winter but I thought I would try. The Ficus tree came from my Mom's 35th wedding anniversary.  It wasn't doing to well lately, although it loves being outside for the summer, si Hubby pruned it.  It looks much better. The jade plant also was Mom's. It got a little too much sun this summer since we have much less shade since the neighbors cut down trees.  My Orchids and African Violets do not go outside.  My Christmas cacti and spider plants were out on the front porch and now they are in the sun garden window.  The Boston Fern is still out on the porch.  It is so huge I hate to bring it in. But it is too beautiful to just let die.

Quilt Show

The Methodist church in Clawson, Michigan had a quilt show fund raiser. My friend, Barb was in charge so I put three quilts in the show. It turned out to be a spectacular event.  The quilts were laid out on the pews.  There were so many they had to use the small chapel as well.  They had a few vendors and a box lunch offering. A delightful event.

   Yesterday we went to the Michigan State University Extension Farm for their Pumpkin Fest. The morning was one continual downpour but the afternoon was fine, a little humid. Not so great for the cars that got stuck in the muddy field used for parking.  Mary and Sofie came up from Ohio and Sofie got a horse ride.

Quilting has Begun

I started to quilt the plaid quilt. Since it is 84 X 84 I have to have the frame put up in the living room. It does move me to get it finished. I like the pattern I chose. However after quilting one row I spotted an error in the quilt.  Too late. I will never have to worry about making the Gods jealous of my perfection.

Grandmother's Fan

I finished my Grandmother's Fan quilt.  It is pink and feminine and I love it. The quilt was shown in Leisure Arts Big Book of Best Loved Quilts. As soon as I saw it, I wanted it. The fans are made of Floral scraps. I used paper piecing to have all the fans blades the same. I appliqued the fans onto the white squares.  I don't win prizes for curved seams. The plain pink squares have fans and roses quilted in them.  I do my quilting by hand.  I used a hoop rather than my frame because there was a lot of quilting. I even scalloped the edges.

JDRF Walk

Yesterday Hubby and I participated in the walk for Type 1 diabetes research. We walked as part of the Lions Club District 11A2. The walk was along the side of the Detroit River.  It was a beautiful day, a little warm, but we had a great time. We know several people with Type 1 diabetes and it is a nasty disease. Our grand daughter, Kameren, just found out she has the problem.

A Nice Outing

Saturday, Hubby and I decided to do something different. First we went to a Dahlia show. It was in a shopping center and the flowers were beautiful.

 Then we went to Ann Arbor to the Mathaei Botanical Gardens where they had a cactus and succulent sale.  Hubby wanted a "real cactus."

Then we drove to Plymouth to a doll house store that my brother had told me about. I bought a refrigerator for my newest doll house. It is just like the one my Dad had on the porch down in Florida. Hubby wanted me to buy food for it.

 Afterwards we went to the Red Coat Tavern for hamburgers and a beer.  The best hamburgers in the area.

Busy, Busy, Busy

Hubby and I are busy with our hobbies.  He has 17 more chrysalis of the Monarch butterflies waiting to open. He has only one more caterpillar.  I am sure that these guys will all have to fly to Mexico.

I am still busy with my Hawaiian quilt. I finished numbers 5 and 6. They seam to be getting harder.  I might take a break for awhile.

Fervor doesn't make it any easier.

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I also finished the banner for the Lions Club.  They needed extensions on their banner to hold all the patches they have received.

Christmas is Coming

I plan to buy American Girl dolls for the girls for Christmas.  Both Molly and Sofie have Bitty Babies.Molly won't go anywhere without hers. I have started making some clothes for them. Above all it helps me get rid of some of my stash. Kameren had three dolls and was interested in them for years. I cut out more clothes than I will give them this year but I did put together a few.  I will buy some shoes and underwear for the dolls.

My doll is not an American Girl doll but I wanted an 18 inch doll to try on the clothes that I made. I used to have a book with knitting patterns for the doll and it'd owner but I cannot find it now.  Several patterns for little girls have matching 18 inch doll patterns.

Cleaning House and Weeding

Cleaning house and weeding are very similar occupations.  When you do them you always find other areas that need work but not today. In the garden it might mean dead heading the shasta daisies in the house it might mean cleaning the nose prints off the windows.  In the garden there is only so much you can do in one day and as I get older it is harder to do the whole house in one day.  There are some things like pruning that are like cleaning out the junk drawer. Of course, all you need is to have someone come to look at your garden and there is the biggest, ugliest weed standing right in the middle of the garden.  In the house it's the cobweb that hangs right in your family room that you notice as your guests enter the room.

Orchids

Last night we watched a Nova program titled "Plants which behave badly".  It was all about orchids and about how they deceive pollinators to their advantage. They also mentioned that in the last years there has been real success in growing moth orchids. So much so that they have become the most popular house plant around the world. I have had moth orchids for years and I did the ice cube watering method and they never bloomed. After watching my Mom douse them, and hers bloomed continually, I decided to change my ways.  I now water tham about a quarter cup every Friday and here they are. I even have two more stems of buds.

It's War!!

Hubby was stung by a yellow jacket yesterday on the patio. He said he brushed off his shorts and it stung him.  He then did some research on the web and came up with a dish of water with cat food in it, Supposed to be sure fire for catching bees.  It does catch flies.  He then hit the hardware store and got bee traps and fly paper. It is war!!

I finished squares three and four for my Hawaiian quilt.  I have to learn how to keep them flatter.

The yellow is prettier than the picture shows.