Thanksgiving

Every year we spend Thanksgiving at my daughter, Mary's home. We had a wonderful time, Gretel, Tom and Molly came form Brooklyn. Martha came from Columbus and Jim came too.The food was out of this world.  The two little girls had a great time playing together.

Latest Projects

I finally finished the rug I was making for my doll house.  My friend Carole had found the pattern in an old magazine but it took me a couple of years to finish it.  It is counted cross stitch done on 16 count Aida cloth. It does look good though.

I also finished a quilt for Molly.  She really likes fish.  Molly introduced me to the word "ombre" which is what I used for this quilt.

Oregon Visitors

My son, Bill and his wife, Rejina, and son, Sammy, came to visit last month.  It was a real treat and we had a great time. We all went to the Halloween Festival at Greenfield Village.

  Hubby got a lot of soil for his proposed butterfly garden and Bill and Sammy helped mix and spread it. It is very hard having children who live so far away.

Autumn Activities

The butterfly season is over. Hubby sent many Monarchs off on there way to Mexico.

The swallowtails are now in chrysalises for the winter.

 Both Molly and Sofie enjoyed them.  We spent a day with Mary and Sofie at the MSU Extension farm, Tollgate, for their Pumpkin Fest. They have so many activities there.  Sofie made S'mores, shot a bow and arrow, went on a hayride, saw an owl and other farm animals and best of all went fishing.

Molly Came to Visit

My grand daughter, Molly, Came to visit last month for a week.  I had the best time ever. She was delightful.  We went to Greenfield Village and rode the Model T and the train. The picture of Molly was taken in the millinery shop.

We also went to the Ann Arbor Hands-On Museum. I think Molly pulled every lever and pushed every button in the place. She especially liked the green screen television set up and the levitation mirrors. We also spent a lot of time in the water area.

She had a trip to Brenda's Butterflies in Westland, Michigan and also the observatory at the Cranbrook Museum.  There we looked through the telescope and saw Jupiter with its 4 moons and Saturn with its rings.  The rest of the time she played with Mindy and played on the hammock.

Maya, my next door neighbor came over a fixed Molly's hair before she went to a birthday party. It was a wonderful busy week.

Blogging

I haven't blogged in a long time. I don't know if it has gone out of fashion or why no one is blogging any more. At least the people I used to keep in touch with.  I miss Pamela J and Kittalog.  I am still busy with quilting and have finished several quilts. I made a Storm at Sea  king sized quilt for Mary.  I hand quilted it and that was a task because batiks are not easy to quilt.

I also made a scrap quilt that I gave to Luella, my knitting and water aerobics friend. It is queen sized and I machine quilted it.

I made a Quilt of Valor quilt as well. I hand quilted it and donated it through the Cameo Quilters guild.

Working in the Garden

In between torrential rains we have been trying to work in the garden. There are plenty of weeds. On sunny days I try and do a basket a day. (Sunny days are rare.)

Hubby has planted some Dahlias. (We are cutting way back on the vegetables.)  He is also planting a new flower called a Crocosmia. My son-in-law, Seth, says they are spectacular.

The Clematis on the front of the house is terrific as usual.

Rhubarb

Hubby found out that rhubarb leaves were poisonous so he pulled out the rhubarb. (Afraid the dog would eat it.) Apparently he missed part of the roots because it came back bigger and better than ever.  He took this picture of two stalks. (obviously referring to the size of my hips, the camera must make things look even larger.)  Even though I seldom cook anything I contacted the girls for a copy of my mom's recipe for pie crust and rhubarb custard pie and made the attempt. The pie was fantastic, flaky crust and just the right amount of sugar.

Last Lions Meeting for the Year

Wednesday was the last Lions Club meeting for the year.  We have an outdoor picnic even though we got a little rain.  The meeting is also the installation of new officers and a new member.  The upcoming year Hubby will again be secretary and I will be Tail Twister. The Tail Twister fines people in the club for silly things, no more than a dollar. We will still have a board meeting where we will allocate the funds we have earned for different charities.  Even though our club only has 27 members we will give away over $20,000 to different charities that serve the blind. Even though we don't have summer meetings we will sponsor a golf outing in August and charity poker in June and August.

Hand Quilting verses Machine Quilting

I know it has been a long time since I have blogged.  Part of the reason is nothing interesting has happened and another thing is too much has happened.  I spent two weeks in Brooklyn because Gretel broke her foot and had to have surgery.  She broke it at a quilt retreat. (Hubby said we should do something less risky, like sky diving.) I had a good time with Molly and even did a little cooking! After a came back I spent a week in Ohio because Mary's school district did not have the same break as Sofie's.  I have a whole new respect for Taekwondo. It really teaches kids to listen.  I came back from these excursions in time for another quilt retreat. This one was very pleasant and uneventful.

      I have been working on several charity quilts.  I don't belong to a guild so I am not under an obligation to make them, but my friend, Linda, is in charge of the Charity committee for a quilt guild so I help her out a little. These quilts are made mostly from my scraps and I machine quilt them.  In my opinion, hand quilting is much easier than machine quilting. It does take LOTS longer.  Hand quilting hurts your fingers, machine quilting hurts your shoulders. Hand quilting is more forgiving of uneven piecing. The first two quilts have machine quilting which is nothing short of embarrassing, probably because my piecing and more likely my backing was not even. The third is going very well. I used a wide backing and a batting that was very flat. I also took my time. The machine can go quite fast and it is easy to get wobbles.

       I am hoping that tonight Hubby will set up my quilt frame and I can begin quilting my storm at sea.

The Doll House Kitchen

For Christmas Santa got me the stove and sink for my kitchen.  I already had the refrigerator.  Now I have to make some curtains.  I was thinking cafe curtains might work.  With all the windows it is hard to find space for the appliances.

 This is the refrigerator that I had.

Hubby is helping me glue the pipes into the ceramic. It was hard to find a spot on the wall big enough for it.  It will have to go on an interior wall because there isn't a space between windows big enough.  I also have to mount it to the wall as it only has two legs.

Here is my stove and it just fits between the windows.

A New Year

Christmas was busy and wonderful. Five of the seven kids were able to come with five of the eight grandchildren. Hubby did a fantastic job with dinner, pork roast. Martha made deviled eggs twice because Mindy ate much of the first batch. Gretel made an appetizer with pork and chicken sausage and phylo dough.  It was incredible. Mary made dessert, both a trifle and a pavlova. We ate quite well.  On the 26th my brother and his wife and daughter came for lunch.  It was just a nice holiday.

Martha made ginger bread cookies with Molly

Molly and Sofie were inseparable