A Deer, a Bear, and a Pheasant

Last week a group of friends went to my sister's cabin for a quilting retreat. We try to do this once a year. As always, we had a great time.

On the way there, I saw a deer next to the road. It sort of twitched as if it wanted to dart out into the road. Thankfully it did not.

We had our usual fun chatter, laughs, good food, good weather, and lots of sewing. "M" and I went for a refreshing swim. The first picture below is a quilt my sister made on our retreat last year. It was fun to see it completed this year.

One day three of us were sitting on the deck. My sister had been telling me of bear sightings that had been frequent this year. We have been going to that lake for 53 years, and had never seen a bear at our property, but occasionally would hear of a bear here and there. This year the reports are way up. Well, all of a sudden, on the path that parallels the lake, along trotted a bear! I must admit, I had a sudden panic instinct, and I jumped up and ran into the house. The bear heard my commotion, looked, and was equally startled. It took off at a faster trot along the path, toward my cousin's cabin. That was the last we saw of the bear all weekend, and my first-ever sighting there in 53 years. I wish I had not been a wimp but instead had grabbed my camera. If it occurs once every 53 years, I probably won't get another photo op.

We did our annual ice dyeing. "M" gave us each a pair of bamboo socks. I now have two pairs. I love them; they are so soft. Last year's are green. This year I used a dye called "orchid" for my socks and for two little kid hats.

Weather was gorgeous. One day we went into town for shopping and for lunch. I saw a moose right in the middle of town! (Oh, it's a fake one. Never mind.) We always have to visit the local quilt shop and the bookstore.

The sign was on the door of a pawn shop. It's supposed to be funny, but... is it? The shooting in Orlando had just happened the day before. Sadly, this sign may be serious. We must come to our senses one of these days!

The blocks are for two different Sunshine projects: one for a retreat a whole year from now, and one for a current project. We probably doubled the number of blocks after I took these pictures!

When we packed up to go, it was sad (as always), but decent weather for packing... and then it rained quite hard the whole time I drove home. We were lucky it didn't rain while we were packing up our vehicles. I saw a water-logged, bedraggled-looking pheasant plodding along in a farmer's field. That was it for my wildlife sightings; for auditory pleasure, we heard beautiful loon songs every night.

Road Trip to Nebraska, Missouri - Part 2

Back-tracking in my story a bit, we had dinner at my friend's house in Lincoln, and she showed us these three wonderful quilts she has made recently. She loves little scrappiness. These are gorgeous quilts!

Back on the road from Nebraska to Missouri, the skies looked menacing, but luckily we only encountered a little rain; the changing skies were interesting to watch.

(They even have a man cave.)

Next day we hit Hamilton, Missouri to visit Missouri Star Quilt Company! What fun! First, it was a beautiful day, and second, the stores were so much fun! Each store carries a certain theme. For example, one is florals, one is batiks, one is called Penney's, as Hamilton is the birthplace of J.C. Penney of the department store fame. Almost every store along the main street is a Missouri Star Quilt store. We each dropped off quilts to be machine quilted and mailed back to us. And we indulged in procuring several lovely chunks of fabric. A fun day! I recommend it as a fun road trip for any quilter.

the obligatory selfie, and a sample of some of my purchases - these are for bindings


We ate at the Blue Sage Restaurant which was YUMMY! It's a high-end place with a real chef. The food was fabulous. We each ordered dessert and this was our reaction -- Cousin: "this is the best cheesecake I've had since London." Me: "this is the best chocolate cake I've had since Paris." Truly, it was delicious, and a great way to top off our little road trip... a short six-hour drive would get us back home. Whew! We were tired but happy.

Found a New Shop

Today my cousin, a friend, and I went to a new shop. It's called "digs studio" and is at 3800 Grand Ave So, Minneapolis. It's a cute shop carrying unique gift items as well as some nice yarn and some fabric. There are many consignment gift items made by hand, some re-purposed media and some from new. Very clever, cute, fun things in there... I could have spent hours browsing around.

I bought a bit of fabric, some knitting needles, and two pom-poms. I hate making pom-poms, so I was happy to find pre-made ones that I can just attach to hats. My attempts at pom-poms are pathetically bad. I don't know why I struggle with them so much.

It's supposed to warm all the way up into the 20s F., and around here that will feel like a heat wave!

Kaffe Fassett

Internationally known knitter, quilter, and fabric artist Kaffe Fassett spoke in Minnesota today, and I was there. A group of friends went together, and we had a grand time. Let me tell you, the town of Zumbrota, Minnesota knows how to throw a party!

The quilt shop in town, All in Stitches, was open for the quilters who came to hear Fassett speak. We got a door prize and our names put in several other drawings, too. In addition, several other stores, not normally open on Sundays, opened up for us and also donated some wonderful prizes to be awarded after the lecture. That little town has some beautiful shops! Little artsy shops in which one could browse and shop for long hours.. and more than one of those. You should see the shoe shop in town! I have never seen such unique, attractive shoes in all my life. Prepare for sticker shock, but also prepare for a FUN tour of some very nifty shoes and boots.

We ate lunch at the VFW -- "Tankers." I had a good burger, and we watched part of the Vikings-Rams game on the TVs there. After lunch it was off to the Kaffe lecture. He was very entertaining and interesting. None of the pictures I took there turned out, but I did get one of Kaffe signing books after the lecture:

Back at the quilt shop, there was a small quilt show of quilts made from Kaffe Fassett fabrics. They were beautiful!

I have been stockpiling Kaffe fabrics for a while; I hope to get to them and make a glorious quilt some time in 2016.

Shop Hop Fun

A group of us went on a metro-area shop hop. We stuffed ourselves into one car, and off we went. I had planned to buy very little. Oh, my good intentions... where did they go??

These three quilts are hanging in one of the shops. They were made by someone named Carol (obviously, with a name like that, she is highly talented). She is a member of one of my guilds.

I bought some raffle tickets for this beautiful quilt. I love it! I won't win it until October, just in time for cold weather when a new quilt will be the perfect thing... (crossing my fingers).

I won three door prizes!

We stopped at a coffee shop and showed each other our purchases.

Fun day! Not too hot, not too cold, so schlepping in and out of a car all day long was not a problem. I think most, maybe all, of us completed the whole round of metro shops. Maybe we'll win more prizes!

Day Retreat: Day Four

Fun on Day Four: B. and I sewed all morning. We both worked on blocks for M. of Sunshine. I ended up with a total of 16 blocks. Here they are.

After lunch B. and I went to a shop that was hosting quilters' garage sale tables. We got there near the end of their sale, and some of the vendors were slashing prices! We found fabric for a dollar/yard and FQs for 25 cents!! I got a couple of good pieces for quilt backs, and a large number of FQs. What fun!

We ate lunch in a very nice coffee shop with good, healthy food. The best was my Peach Brain Freeze (slushy). Yum. And it did freeze my brain when I drank it too fast.

After we went back to the retreat, I was still finishing up those 16 blocks, and then I made this little zipper bag.

Three quilters.. why are two of them not wearing hats??

Saturday Note About Books & Other Stuff

I meant to post yesterday in case some of you came to see my Friday Books post. I don't have a book report this week. I'm reading a good book but have not devoted much time to it, so I'm not done. Instead of reading I have been doing a lot of sewing.

I completed this quilt:

I made this quilt top, very similar to others I have made from scraps. I like this process:

I quilted another top late Friday night, but I couldn't find the fabric I want for the binding, so it's not 100% done yet. I'm hoping to get more quilting done as I always have a stack of tops waiting to be finished.

On Friday I had a fun lunch with BL and L who recently moved here from California. I have known them for years via online stuff and a few random in-person meets. Nice to have them in Minnesota now! Can you say "I love lefse??" After lunch we hit a new fabric shop. BL went nuts in the button bin.