Back from Mediterranean

Here are a few highlights from our trip.

The front of the Duomo [cathedral] in Florence, decorated with many shades of marble.

The Bridge of Angels, statues by Bernini across the Tiber River in Rome.

View of Greek theater from the Acropolis in Athens.

Lion Gate to the ancient city of Mycenae [lions are carved in the triangle over the opening].

Wine tasting on the edge of the volcanic caldera of the Island of Santorini.


I came down with throat crud on the third day, sore throat and coughing, and still have it.  Slowed me down some on the excursions.  But what a lot of fabulous sites we saw!

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Now I am catching up on the mail, etc.

Today I finished two Scrap Bee blocks for Melinda.  She asked for any style of STAR made of scraps in a particular color. So here's a wonky 8 pointed yellow star and an orange wonky Friendship Star.







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Taking my sore throat to Women's Chorus rehearsal tonight to LISTEN, not sing or breathe on anyone.


Sara

Gratitudes:

All the travel connections went smoothly
Lost a half a pound!!!
Wonderful memories

Mediterranean Trip

We are throwing the last things into our suitcases so we can start our trip to Italy and the Mediterranean.  We'll have three days in Florence, three days in Rome and then off to the Greek islands for a week.

So I did finish a red polar fleece backing for the Lego quilt, and both will be deliver to my long-arm quilter tonight by a friend.  So that quilt is out of the sewing room.
I'm taking some socks to finish knitting as we drive to and from Chicago's O'Hare Airport, and then I'm leaving that stuff in the car.  No handwork for two weeks, just looking and looking at the scenery and antiquities.

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For those who wondered: SaraRachel, DGD aged 13, developed an abysmally low platelet count, no blood clotting whatsoever.  She is in St. Louis Children's Hospital for two days at least for improvement.  She is not in pain and is enjoying their fulsome attention.  Mom is frazzled.

Sara

Gratitudes:

Have good enough health for this trip
Have enough wealth for this trip
Have Road Scholar [Elderhostel] to do all the arrangements and teaching

Quick trip to St. Louis

Vicky and Patrick wanted to see the St. Louis Cardinals play the Chicago Cubs in baseball, AND Patrick has a four passenger Cessna.  So he flew us down to St. Louis on Friday.

We had good seats at the game.

On Saturday we were able to visit our daughter's family.  We saw an 8th grade football game and observed two teenagers sleeping on the family room sofa for much of the afternoon.

Sunday we went to church at the cathedral and then went out to Grant's Farm to see some of the Clydesdale horses owned by Budweiser.

Then we had a great view of downtown and the arch as we flew away to Michigan!

Sara

Gratitudes:

Fun to fly in a small plane
Saw grandson John catch a pass and score a touchdown!
Back home safely

Liberated Round Robin, Step 3

I've been making squares for the next step of the Liberated Round Robin on the internet.  And I decided that the paisley print on the bottom was making my next decisions difficult.  Took it off and replaced with polka dots.

Then I added some plain red small borders to rest the eye between triangles and square-to-com.

Then I read Melody's posts about Quilt-As-You-Go borders.  Why, I could do that with this whole quilt.  Round Robins are just adding one border after another!

So I was distracted by the need to quilt what I had for the middle already before moving on.

Here's where I am on that right now.











But I just couldn't wait to add a border in the quilt as you go method.
This is how you do it:

Top border fabric [black and white check] face-to-face with the top; backing border fabric [green] face-to-face with the back.  Pin all three edges together.  No batting at this point!

Sew these three layers together.  I'm using a quarter-inch seam.

Now take your strip of batting and BUTT it against the edge of the three fabrics you just sewed together.  Using a zig-zag stitch sew together, just catching each side without overlaping them.

Here's what it looks like when you are done.

Then you flip the two border fabrics over that seam and press.

Now you quilt this border.

Trim off the excess batting and fabric.

Front has grown by one border side [black and white check].

And the back has grown by one border side [darker green].









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Today we are leaving for a week of vacation at a cottage near South Haven, Michigan. We will be nine family members together. I'm on duty with the oldest grandchild to make dinner tonight.  After that I'm going to enjoy the dinners cooked by other teams of two.

Sara

Gratitudes:
Family able to be together this year
Finished my reports for our Board meeting
Garden flowers in bloom

Orchid still in bloom

First bloom on January 8.  Only one has dropped so far, just as the last bud opened the day after we returned from Florida.  Wow!  I had no idea that orchids bloomed for such a long period of time.

Sara

Gratitudes:

Such a nice vacation
Safe travel
House survived our absence

Fort Meyers

At the La Quinta motel for seven nights, so I set up my sewing area and had quickly made enough HSTs that I needed to sit in the doorway and cut off the extra corners, holding the waste basket between my legs to catch them.

We have been to two difference beaches in the mornings.  This beach goes along the road to the Sanibel Island causeway.  We find a place to settle in the shade, if possible, after a walk along the beach and we do some reading and gazing at the water and human activity.



Every other day there is a baseball game for at least one of us.

Here's Charlie outside the Twins' stadium.  There were lots of Minnesotans there and a few Mets fans as well. The "stars" played through the 6th inning and after the rookies were rotated onto the field a lot of the fans began to leave.

C is off to a Red Sox game on his own this afternoon and I have a new idea for using up scraps of pastel fabrics.

Sara

Gratitudes:
We are both happy with our chosen activities
Lovely salad and fish for lunch
warm air and light breezes!

Beaver Island Tales

I did manage to get my machine and its table into the car along with all our other gear. Some time was spent every day on piecing. Two tops were put together. My third project was not started.

The path down to Lake Michigan from our cottage, and Squaw Island on the horizon. Sometimes we could also see the U.P. [Upper Peninsula].

And we got the same view from our dining/reading/card-playing table.

Access to Beaver Island is by boat or airplane; ferry in the background with large opening in the back for car entry. Large fence due to Homeland Security!

Man "playing" with dog while enjoying view of lake and glass of wine.

St. James Episcopal Chapel on Beaver Island. Charlie taking the service there earns us the use of the cottage.

We had a good time, and even got two extra days because of gale force winds which cancelled all the ferry crossings. No problem for us retired folks.

Sara

Gratitudes:

Enjoyable vacation in a familiar place

Pleasant guests for part of the time

And yet, glad to be home again, where we still have our new porch!

Images from Cornwall trip

The MAIN activity was having a luscious "cream" tea every afternoon, if possible. Stop whatever you are doing at 3:30 or 4:00 and find a tea shop, or a cafe or a pub and order tea and crumpets with clotted cream. You spread strawberry jam on each half of the biscuit, add a dollop of cream, and eat it with your milked and sugared tea. Great way to rejuvenate tired legs while sitting down for a half and hour.
Then there's the theatre. This is the Minack, hanging on a cliff over the English Channel. Here we saw "Jesus Christ Superstar" with the ocean for a backdrop. [Judas hung himself from that tree branch by falling backward over the cliff.]

We also saw "The Pirates of Penzance" [GHilbert & Sullivan] and "Billy Elliot, the Musical" in two other theatres.

We walked on The Coastal Path four times. Here was the most difficult time, a rocky patch from Lamorna Cove to Kemyel Point. It was very rocky and the edge of the cliff was very near.

Most of our time was spent in small towns and villages. We stayed in quiet places and explored the local scene-- gardens, museums, pubs, beaches.

In our short time in London, we made it to the Victoria and Albert Museum (England's Smithsonian] for the Quilt Show. Lots of medallion quilts in dull colors which made this Bars quilt really stand out for me with its bright colors and Pop design.

Now I have restocked the refrigerator at home and washed clothes in our new main floor laundry [don't have to go up and down the stairs to the basement]. But the sewing room, whose former closet is the new laundry, is still all piled on one side of the room with all my clothes that were once in the closet This week's major task is putting everything back in a new order. Today a picked up my sewing machine which was being "maintained" while I was away.

So no news about MY quilting until that is all accomplished.

Sara

Gratitudes:

All went well on the trip-- travel, weather, beds, food, health.

Everything fine at home

My gardeners came today and removed all the weeds in the garden!

Back from Arizona

Charlie chose Arizona for the baseball spring training games we could see there. Above is the ONLY photo I took of a game in action. The point of interest is the large number of players in the infield. The bases were loaded for the A's with only one out, so the Padres brought in the center fielder to help cover the infield, FIVE infielders, plus the three base runners and two umpires. There really wasn't any room to get a ground hit. So the batter struck out, and the center fielder went back to his usual position.

Our first day we went to the Botanical Garden in Phoenix. We learned a lot about desert plants, saw the desert wildflowers in bloom, and had a good lunch on a shady patio. Later we noticed that many of these same cactuses and plants were growing on the medians and verges of the highways as well as in people's "lawns".

Happily for me, the Arizona Quilters Guild was having their Show in Mesa and I was able to spend almost two hours there on Friday. Here is one quilt with a Southwestern feel that I enjoyed. Since we are having our Guild bi-annual show this October, it was also interesting to note how their show was set up and what the categories were. I took lots of photos!

We came home to MICHIGAN to find all the snow was gone, and the crocuses were blooming. Overnight it started snowing again, and has lightly continued all day.

Sara

Gratitudes:

Safe travel with no real hang-ups

Good times with Charlie Ramsden

Kept up our daily exercise program while away from home

No Photos today

Something is wrong with my connection to Blogger. I have several quilting photos on my iMac, but Blogger doesn't think I do. All it can find are earlier photos.

My good LA quilter returned two quilts to me on Tuesday, and now they are bound and labelled and washed. And photographed. But you wouldn't know that.

Charlie and I are going to Phoenix for eight days tomorrow. He is going to see LOTS of baseball spring training games , and I am going to see SOME. I just read that there is a quilt show in Mesa this coming weekend, so I expect I'll get over to that at some time.]

I'll see if I can post something from his laptop computer.

Sara

Gratitudes:

Dianne is going to take care of my Secret Sister bag

my new suitcase can be expanded!

Ray, the airport chauffeur

Enjoying Christmas Gifts

Three grands learning how to play RockBand! [We hope to never again listen to "Eye of the Tiger".]
Coolest Grandpa enjoying toy from his Christmas stocking.

Our daughter Martha enjoying the "TV watching" quilt, which the family received.

Samantha wearing her "New Moon" fingerless mittens, which I made in St. Louis. Then I made a pair for Aunt Bebe, who "always" has cold hands. [Thanks to Melody Johnson for pointing out the pattern!]

Lots of other presents were exchanged and exclaimed over.

We ate lots of delicious food.

We celebrated John Sr.'s birthday.

We introduced Granny and Aunt Bebe to playing our game "Follow the Star".

And this is how much of a sock I was able to knit during the drive to and from St. Louis. I had to take my turns driving, and then darkness fell, both cutting down on the available time!

Sara

Gratitudes:

Lots of laughter and some quiet conversations

Gifts for people in Haiti:

----a house from Charlie,

----a water pump from Marti & John

Safe trip driving home in unsavory weather

Lake Michigan beach

For those of you who do not know what it is like to "go to Lake Michigan", here are some pictures of where we settled by the lake and then our walk along the beach yesterday.

We enjoy the places where there are not very many people.

So you see,we have an extensive sand beach, in fact it extends for almost the whole length of the east side of Lake Michigan. If you can get to the waterline, then you have a puyblic right to walk within six feet of the water.

When you are tired of walking, you can play in the water, or simply sit and enjoy looking at and hearing the waves. [And there is no salt in the water!]

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Sara

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Gratitudes:

The wonder of this Great Lake

FRESH corn on the cob again for dinner!

Car muffler fix only took 45 minutes of my tiime and $60

VACATION was great!

We had seven nights at a cottage near South Haven, Michigan. We started with eleven family members, and after three had to leave on Monday, we were eight: our two children, their spouses, and two grandchildren.

We went to "the big lake" for sunsets. and the beach!

We picked blueberries, and then ate them.

We used the pool.

We crowded the kitchen with LOTS of cooks.

And ate marshmallows and jaw breakers.

We celebrated a birthday.

We played lots of games, outdoors and indoors.

We enjoyed extended family!

Sara

Gratitudes:

The Beach

Grandkids

Other cooks