The Thanksgiving Day Feast of 2010

Our day started out with a brunch at my brother Mike's house (pictured here with his wife Anita).  We feasted on
egg bake, spiral ham, blueberry muffins, chocolate chip pumpkin bread sent to us by Ashley all the way from California, waffles, and the list goes on.....













This is my mom and my daughter Christie. Mike and Anita painted their kitchen purple. Isn't it great!

"Turkey Cupcakes"

After brunch, we headed over to Beth (David's sister) and Tom's house for the traditional turkey dinner with all the trimmings (and I do mean ALL the trimmings) 

Annual Lakelawn Quilt Retreat

 We got a bit of a warm spell over the weekend and it created the perfect mood for this photo.

 This annual retreat has been going on for 27+ years of which I have participated in 24 of them.  There are usually one or two options of quilts to make or you can do "Independent Study".  I am trying to finish a Trips X2 quilt for my king size bed so that is what I worked on.  The picture above shows part of the sewing area.

                                   This is the quilt that was taught.  It is a variation of Log Cabin.

 Sue (in the orange T-shirt) and I met at this retreat many years ago and have become close friends.  She is quite the wine expert and often treats me to some very tasty wines.

 Robin is also a close friend of Sues and is a ton of fun to be around.  Last year she spent the entire 4 days putting together a tote.  She's come a long way since then and accomplished a lot more this time around.

This is my 4th retreat spent with my dear friend Karen, two through WQI and two spent at Lakelawn.  We also went to Paducah last year and had a blast.  It's nice finding someone you travel well with.  She tends to like the more traditional quilts and I lean towards the art quilts and yet we are very compatible.

Fall Hike with Peg

Peggy and I both long to be fantastic photographers.  We spent a day in the woods looking for photo opportunities and enjoying each others company.    

The light in here is fantastic.

This is a retreat center where Peggy holds her Non Violent Communication classes along with providing other classes, workshops, overnight/weekend retreats.  It is a peaceful place with lots of outdoor spaces and paths that take you all over the property.  I could see myself living there!

It is a Frank Lloyd Wright design that blends in with the land.

Did you notice the carvings in the columns? Gorgeous!!

One Door Closes and Another One Opens

 

For the last 4 years, I have belonged to a wonderful group called Wisconsin Quilters Inc. (WQI). It used to be one of the only organizations that brought in big time quilters from all around the nation.  Now we have quilt shops, guilds and Quilt Shows filling that need as well and the market has been a bit saturated.  The economy taking a nose-dive hasn't helped either.  Last weekend, Oct 2 & 3, we had our very last :-(  WQI meeting and it featured two wonderful teachers, Maxine Rosenthal(above) and Nancy Prince (below). They both spoke on Saturday and then each of them taught a class on Sunday.

 I took Nancy's class on thread painting and absolutely loved it! I like the flexibility I have when doing my own
embroidery rather then just using the embroidery unit on my sewing machine.

    This is one of the reasons WQI disbanded.  We only had three people in our thread painting class.
It was very nice for me, as one of the students, but not very good for WQI's budget.

           We had a wonderful banquet Saturday evening where we had the pleasure of Diane Gaudinski
being a speaker.  Not only is she an AMAZING quilter, but she is witty and outgoing as well.  We are very lucky to have such talented quilters/teachers from right here in Wisconsin.

  This was taken Monday at my Antique Ladies birthday luncheon for Laura. There are 16 women in this group and we having both an antique outing each month and a birthday celebration for the women having a birthday during that month.                                                  

Hiking with Hubby

David and I spent Saturday hiking at Kohler-Andrae Park in Sheboygan, Wisconsin.  If you've never been there, you're missing out on a really fabulous place.

We came across some really cool sand sculptures and David felt the need to spruce up the car a bit.   The winds had damaged parts of it and it just needed a little loving care.

We hiked the entire length of the lake shore and then headed inward to take the wood plank trail back to the car.  All in all, we hiked about 4 1/2 miles.  We have friends, Rob & Patty Hagen, that purchased a "cottage" on Lake Michigan only 10 minutes away from the park so we spent some time with them at their place and then the four of us went out to dinner at a quaint restaurant in Belgium, WI.  We really had a lovely day!!!

Hiking with Hubby

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Threadpainting with Terry White & San Antonio, TX

                                                            Tricia, Marla & Norma
Last Wednesday and Thursday I attended workshops put on by Terry White.  As you can see above,
we not only learned a lot but had fun the process!  I found the threadpainting very relaxing once I got
the rhythm going.

I spent the last 4 days in San Antonio, Tx. with my college bud Lisa.  We stayed on the Riverwalk at the Hotel Contessa.

Here is Lisa sneaking a sip of her "hidden" margarita. (It's a long story).

We went to the IMAX and saw a movie on the Alamo (to refresh our memories on the historical details) and then when to the actual site which is totally surrounded by the city.  It was one of the highlights of our trip! We also enjoyed Jazz in the Park which reminded us a lot of Milwaukee.

Our last stop, before grabbing a cab to the airport, was to this fabulous blown glass shop.  This is a small
section of a rather large piece hanging in the window.  Christie would of loved this place! (There was a time when she wanted to be a glass blower when she grew up!!!)

Fall is in the air and I'm loving it!

 
We went up to Door County for Labor Day weekend and had a wonderful time.  We had hoped to get out on the lake but it was a bit brisk so we ended up shopping, eating, watching movies and making s'mores. (I know, rough job but someone has to do it!)  The flower beds needed weeding and firewood needed splitting so that kept David and I busy on Saturday.

We decided to see the Peninsula Players Saturday night and had a wonderful evening.

We walked down to the lake before the play and this was the view.  During intermission they have a roaring bonfire outside.  The warmth of the fire was greatly appreciated!

Christie (on right) has about 80% of her smile back since her surgery.  She still has to be very careful so nothing gets caught and causes an infection.  Rachel spent the weekend with us.  She is a real sweetheart
and we enjoy having her.  She will be joining us on a family cruise in March.

One of my favorite places to buy preserves, apples etc...in Hi-Line Orchard in Egg Harbor.  Their things are yummy and reasonably priced.  Can you tell I'm looking forward to fall?  Pumpkin carving anyone?

25th Wedding Anniversarys

My brother, Mike, and his wife, Anita,  got married in 1985 five months after David and I got married.  My parents took us all out to dinner to celebrate at the Harbor House.  This restaurant is located on the lake front in downtown Milwaukee and offers spectacular views of the city.

This is our view of the Milwaukee Art Museum from the patio of the restaurant.  The museum is comprised of three buildings. 1) The War memorial designed by Finnish-American architect Eero Saarinen  2) The Quadracci Pavilion designed by the world-renowned Spanish architect, Santiago Calatrava.  This is what you are seeing in the picture above.  The highlights of this building are Windhover Hall which has a vaulted 90ft high glass ceiling and the Burke Brise Soleil which is a movable sunscreen with a wingspan of a Boeing 747 which opens twice daily.  The Reiman Bridge, which is a foot bridge that connects the museum to the city, is also part of this building  3) The Cudahy Gardens which featured gardens, plazas & fountains created by landscape architect Dan Kiley.

Thanks Mom & Dad for a really GREAT day!!! (They, by the way, have been married 51 years!)

Working away!

Poor Christie!  (She'd be very unhappy with me if she knew I posted this picture of her)  She still has a lot of pain and does best when she's sleeping.  Needless to say, I have been homebound because of all my nursing duties and have gotten quite a bit done around here.  Laundry, weeding.....but more importantly I finished another baby afghan and started a wall hanging for Ashley.  I hope to have the wall hanging finished by the time she moves into her apartment (Nov/Dec).

                                                                   Baby Afghan

Future Wall Hanging for Ashley (turn your head sideways!)

Ashley spent a semester abroad in Rome so I plan on using her photos from the many different countries she's visited, along with pictures from her internship in New York and other travels.  Ahhhhh... the life!  I've often said that I want to come back as one of my children or dogs in a future life :-)