Family get togethers

I worked the week of Christmas, so we spent a quiet Christmas day here in Memphis, then went up to St. Louis to celebrate the holiday with my family on December 28.  Had a lovely post Christmas dinner at my sister's house with my other sibs (except for Sister #2 - we missed you Ruth and Carl!) and their kids and grandkids - what a houseful.  Here are a few pictures from the dinner and gift opening.

Gary checking out the food

My sister Alice (hostess for the shindig) adding more food to the counter.

Aunt Rosalie waiting to open presents

My Niece Aubrey and her husband Brian

Dawn, Rachel, Nathan, Bethany, Kendal and Jessica

Alice and Kellan

Alice's husband Dale (yes, I know he looks like he belongs on Duck Dynasty!)

My older brother Gil, his son Daniel and Daniel's son Max

My younger brother Ray and his wife Marsha

 

Lovely Kellan - what a sweet face!

 

brother Rocco, another sweet boy

Gil's wife Kathy and grandson Max

 

New Year's Day we got together with my best frined from High School and her husband to visit and exchange gifts.  Each year she and her grandson make a gingerbread house - here are a couple of photo's.

 

I don't know if you can tell from this photo, but Santa is pulling the sleigh with Rudolph driving! :-)

 

She also has the most lovely nativity set, so I had to take a picture. 

 

This sign cracked me up!  Are they thankful they're closed??

 

More family get togethers with my next post!

 

Happy Quilting!

 

 

 

 

What I've been up to since July 2013

A week after my return from Albuquerque we left for vacation in Washington state.  The trip was originally intended for a visit with Gary's older sister and her family, but we took a couple of days to visit some old friends who recently relocated to Port Townsend. 

Thanks for a wonderful time Mike and Sandy!

 

We had  an amazing two day visit with them before heading out to drive to Walla Walla (via Mt. Rainier National Park).   Did I mention the fact that we're trying to visit all the National Parks before we're too old to enjoy them??  While on the Olympic Peninsula we visited Olympic National Park.  Here are a couple of pictures from that drive.

Fort Worden Lighthouse

Wind surfer at North Beach, Port Townsend

Olympic National Park vista

Wildlife

Waterfall we hiked to.

Downtown Port Townsend

 

 

Our trip to Mt. Rainier was the third for us and we were sad to see a lot of damage from old forest fires, not to mention that the lodge at Paradise is no longer there.  Here are just a couple of pictures from Mt. Rainier.

Our drive to Walla Walla to visit Gary's sister took longer than anticipated due to lots of construction along the way.  We had a great time visiting the relatives here's a picture of the gang.

Gary and I are in the back row on the right and his sister is directly in front of us.  She has two daughters and they have 3 kids between them.

 

Here's a picture of Bonnie and Gary in front of her residence.

 

We took a drive to Palouse Falls while we were there and these are a couple of photos from the park.

 

We arrived home the end of July and Gary's older brother Joe arrived a week later.   Meanwhile I've been quilting a lot of charity quilts (will post pictures of them later). 

 

In August my Aunt Rosalie came down from St. Louis to go with me to the Rice Festival in Weiner, Arkansas.   Uncle Robert was to accept a plaque for Uncle Sonny's service over the years. 

Uncle Robert (my last surviving uncle)

Aunt Vera, Uncle Robert, Aunt Rosalie (two of my four remaining aunts)

 

You might notice that Aunt Rosalie is wearing St. Louis Cardinals gear.  By this time we were in the midst of the end of the baseball season and being the Cardinal fans we are, we were following the games to see if we made it into the playoffs, then to see if we would win the Pennant, then on to the World Series!  Go Cards!  Unfortunately we did not win the series, but there's always next year.   Keep your fingers crossed for us. 

 

 

I'll post more quilt related topics with my next post, hopefully before the end of the year.  

 

 

Happy Quilting!

 

Ruby's quilt

I have a LOT of nieces and nephews and even more great nieces and nephews, but my newest great niece Satya Ruby needed a baby quilt, since the quilt has been delivered I can now post pictures without spoiling the surprise.  My nephew and his wife attended the Olympics in London via a side trip to Paris, so I included a fabric with the Eiffel Tower as part of the quilt.

Overall view of the quilt, the colors are much brighter than pictured, the alternate bulls eye blocks are pieced there are two star blocks that feature the Eiffel Tower in the center of the quilt

Close up of the faux piped binding as featured in a recent American Quilter

Close up of the heart quilting in the setting triangles

Close up of the Eiffel Tower Block

And last but certainly not least is Miss Ruby sitting on her new quilt, isn't she adorable?

Thanks to Kasey and Aaron for sending me the photos.

Need to get back to quilting (6 more charity quilts to quilt and batting to piece from leftovers).

Happy Quilting.

Charity Quilts and My new Machine

So between getting the machine (HQ Avante with Pro Stitch) set up and our trip to Seattle (a 3 day window).  I was able to get 5 quilts quilted for a charity our guild sponsors.

 

Happy Quilting -

 

Santa Fe Quilt Show

I promised back in May that I would post  pictures from the Santa Fe Quilt Show that Linda and I attended.  Since then life has interfered.  I returned home May 21 to find the dryer had broken, my tomato plants had not been planted and the new HQ machine I ordered was due to be delivered any day (all 8 boxes!).   The entire month of June we had overnight company of one sort or another, so I wasn't able to have the new machine set up until the end of June - I worked the 3rd weekend in June and the first week of July at the hospital.  I was able to get 5 charity quilts quilted the weekend before we left for Seattle to visit friends and Gary's sister.   OK, enough of the explanations - here are some photo's of the quilt show we attended in Santa Fe.  the first  few are from the Folk Art Museum showing of Antique Amish Quilts.   I hope you enjoy them.

 

These last are from the quilt show at the State Capitol Rotunda. 

 

Architectural Impressions by Cheryl Fitzgerald

Ancient Flight by Coleen Konetzni

Spirit Markings by Susan Szajer

Vista Tranquilo by Vel Saddington

 

 

 

The project Linda and I worked on during my trip to Albuquerque was scrappy Snail's Trail and here are the pictures from that. 

 

 

This is Linda's colorway, turquoise, teals and peach.

 

 

Here's Linda's finished quilt top with a great border designed in EQ 7

My colorway - yellows and pinks for the lights with blues and purples for the darks.

 

Here's my finished quilt top I opted to finish the snails trails and have a more neutral border.

 

Happy quilting.