Quilt Club Trip

This past Tuesday and Wednesday 27 members of my quilt club went on a fabric shopping trip by bus throughout northern Michigan. We visited 10 shops. We spent the night at the Little River Casino in Manistee. Jan who arranged the trip got us rooms for $75, which included $18 per person in the evening and another $18 in the morning to be used in the casino. I was able to win about $38 on the penny machine, so my half of the room was really free. I roomed with Linda, she won closer to $50. The sad part is neither of us really knew what we were doing on the slot machines.

Jan had made arrangements with all the quilt shops, so they were expecting us. Most of the shops had special discounts, tutorials, goodie bags and munchies. Jan did a great job in planning the trip. It was a quilter's dream trip.

I purchased some quilting tools, fabric and quite a few patterns. I bought the following pattern in Traverse City. It isn't based on a sweatshirt, instead it has a muslin lining which is made first to test the size. The shop had a sample on display and it looked sharp. Hopefully someday I will complete one.



I found this pattern in either Charlevoix or Petoskey. I think the fabric I found in Williamsburg might look good in the wall hanging.


I bought this pattern and fabric for the border in Williamsburg. I think this shop had the biggest selection of quilting fabric I've ever seen.


I've finally finished a project using the jewelry tools I got from Ang last fall. I'm working on another project but it's more complicated. I found the big beads on Etsy. I think the earrings will look good with the jacket I posted on April 21.

Computer Problems Again

We spent much of the week without a working Internet server. What a bummer :(

On a happier note, we really enjoyed having Jenny home for a few days. On Mother's Day, we went down to Brighton to visit Jeff. We went to Buddy's for pizza. Buddy's has the best deep dish pizza in Detroit and according to their menu, their pizza is in the top 5 in the nation. Our family loves pizza and Jenny is pizza deprived in Colorado, so she especially enjoyed the meal. I received some very nice Mother's Day presents. Here are a couple.



Jenny found this pin for me on Etsy. I have already received a lot of compliments on it from my sewing friends. In the below picture you can see how small the detail is.




Ang sent me the cute serving plate below.


Ang told me the reason she purchased the plate was it looked like SNOG (from a previous post). I thinks she is right, it looks like a snake but is really a dog.



Just a few more photos of the flowers popping up. Below is a flowering strawberry plant, it blooms most of the summer and doesn't produce eatable berries.



The tree by the driveway is in full bloom.


It is also full of buzzing bees. As long as I leave them alone, they seem to ignore me, thank goodness.

Happy Mother's Day

This is part of the view from my kitchen window. I love being able to look out and enjoy my flowers.

This is a better view of the flowers taken from the side of the bed.

I have been busy working in the yard so no sewing in this post only flowers. These are some more of the Grape Hyacinths my neighbor, Janet, gave me.

Some happy Paper Whites on the side of the house.

A few years ago my sister-in-law, Kathryn, gave me some Flirty Marys. I planted them in a few different spots but they never bloomed. Surprise after 3 years, they're blooming!

This is a closeup of the gorgeous flower.

I'm not sure what this plant is but it seems to like the shade behind the house and is spreading and multiplying.

Hope everyone has a wonderful Mother's Day. I know I will, we are picking Jenny up at the airport in a few hours :) What a nice present!