LOST A GREAT PAL

On Sunday we lost a great pal to my daughter's family.  His name was Bauer and he was part of their family for about 6 years.  He was only 8 years old and died Sunday when he suffered a stroke and seizures.

My daughter and family were invited up to a friends cottage in Wisconsin and they left Sat. afternoon and Bauer went to Doggie Day Care where he had been before and where they take very good care of the pets.
Well on Sunday morning the owner and trainer thought he didn't look right and his gums were very pale. He started having seizures.  He was getting the car around to run him to the local emergency vet and when he went inside to get him Bauer was gone.  He tried calling Sue when he first discovered he wasn't well but her phone was in her purse because they were all tubing and water skiing.  It wasn't until they were in the car getting ready to drive home that she checked her phone and saw his messages.  They went directly there and Sue, Jon and their oldest Kyle went in to see him and the owner was very kind to say he would handle getting him to the vets Monday morning as he knew they were in shock over the news.

Their first dog was Teddy who was a golden retriever.  Teddy was theirs before the boys were born so all 3 boys grew up with Teddy.  When Teddy died at age 12 they had to go through all the agony of .vet visits and when they learned she had cancer it was how far to carry treatments and in the end when to let go.

Bauer was the dog who they adopted from a rescue for labs and he was great with the kids and the house right from the start.and the only problem was you had to watch your food if you set something down it was gone in a flash.  I laugh when I think of him doing this.  He would look at you as he slunk away with that sly look.

It was a blessing that this happened when the boys were not home alone with him.  It would have been very traumatic for them so that is one blessing.

I think of the wonderful home he had with acres to run in and 3 boys to play with.  He ended his last years in a very nice life.  Good Bye Bauer.  You will be missed.

BABY TIME

I should be ashamed to tell you all that I have been cleaning out cupboards, drawers, under the bed chests, etc.and am continually surprised by what I have found that I haven't thought about in years.  I have way too much stuff and am trying to sort out and get rid of a lot of it this summer.  Some I have found homes for and lots of stuff will go to the Salvation Army.  I just redecorated my family room and my sofa and love seat went to the SA.  It was still in good condition but I was tired of it after all these years but someone will be happy to have it.

The title Baby Time is a drawer and box where I found a bunch of baby sweater sets that I had started years ago when my son and daughter were having their families.  I made items for my son's son and daughter then there was a lull and my daughter started.  I started knitting again and especially for a little girl.  Well along came boy #1, boy#2 and finally - yes - boy #3.  All the girl's sets were just put away some not finished and I was knitting mainly for little guys.
My son had another boy a few years later and that was it for them.  Still not another girl- 5 boys and 1 girl we had.

I have been working on finishing the sets, adding ribbon to the bonnets, etc.  I have taken pics of 2 I made.  The pink set and the peach set were made by me.  The little turquoise sweater was made by either my Mom or my MIL - I cannot remember who gave it to me. I have another set or two that need buttons and then I will be finished.  I am giving them to my daughter as custodian for the next generation.  Hopefully some little girls will come along.

The Special Olympics scarf program that I have knitted for the last few years had such an excess last year that they are suspending it for 2012 and using the scarfs they now have.  I am going to buy some blue yarn and start a few baby sets for boys.  They have some darling patterns out now for children so will add blue to the mix.  Who knows if I will be around or still able to knit when the next group arrive.  Our oldest is just 18 and in college and the youngest 2 are 9.

Hope you all had a great 4th. of July. We went as usual to our SIL's parents for their 16th. year of having a huge party.  Fun was had by all.

CRAZY QUILT RETREAT 3

We are suffering through another week of high 90 temps.  One day last week it was 103 at Midway airport.
Needless to say we are just staying in and staying cool.  I had been asking my gardener guys to come and dig out one flower bed where we removed a large tree a couple of years ago.  Now it gets sun most of the day and it was filled mainly with hostas of various color and size. They were huge from all the sun.  One called Big Blue was about 4 feet across.  Well after about 6 weeks they came last week and moved them all to other areas of the yard that are in shade.  I want to replant the empty space but with this heat I am afraid anything I replanted would not take.  I want to put a couple of small roses in there, some Hollyhocks along the fence and some pretty flowers to brighten up the spot.  I went to the nursery and looked at the Hollyhocks they had and they were about 6' tall and all twisty.  At $8.00 a pot I would have needed about 6 or 50.00 worth and so decided to wait and just put in seeds next spring when we return.  I have heard they grow well from seed so will see.  If anyone knows anything about growing them I would appreciate the info.

This beautiful picture was done by another of the Kansas group.  No name again.  It was actually one of Di Van Niekirk's  embroidery panels and then she crazy quilted all around with colors pulled from the pic.  It was very nicely done.

I have 3 of Di' panels that I have started working on but haven't got very far.  They are the ones from her books and are made up of various birds, flowers, etc.  After seeing this I think I should get going and try and work on them.  I left them in Florida so next winter will be good to do that.

CRAZY QUILT RETREAT 2

I have a few more pictures from the retreat to share with you.  Next time I do this I will try and get the person's name along with the pic.  I should also explain what kind of retreat this is.  There are no classes and teachers - now saying that with the quality of the gals that are attending there should not be anything you would like to learn that someone cannot help you with.  Mary Anne arranged for us to rent this very large meeting room and we all shared the cost of it.  the retreat ran from Tues. until sun. am and some were there all the time and others arrived and left when they had to.  We split the cost of the room and it was only $30.00 each for the full five days.  They were very helpful bringing in extra chairs, tables, etc. whatever was needed. The only other cost was your transportation and your room in which case most gals shared with another so that kept the cost down.  Some bought machines to stitch and others hand sewing.  There is a tremendous amount of shopping for CQers in that area and the girls made good use of the stores.  If you flew in there was always someone with a car who would take you along.

The above pictures show 2 new quilts that Martha Green (shown in the pic on the right) has made.  They were both typical Martha and were to die for.  The one in the second picture is Martha's CQJP project for this year.  In Martha's words "it makes me too nervous to have something unfinished so I just had to do the whole year") and if you are counting I believe there are 16 blocks in total.  She made extra to get the size she 

wanted.

The third picture is of a Boho Bag made by one of the gals from the Kansas group.  No name again but for you readers that get Pat Winter's CQ magazine I was told that this was in the Spring issue.  It was beautiful and I am sure the magazine pictures did it farmore justice then mine above.

CRAZY QUILT RETREAT

I spent June 20 to the 23rd. at the Crazy Quilt Retreat in O'Fallon, IL which is about 300 miles south of Chicago right across from St. Louis. It is all due to the work of Mary Anne Griffin that we have continued on after the Omaha retreat fell apart. This is the third year for it and it gets better with time. I went in 2010 and then could not attend last year but was back again this year. There was a large contingent from Kansas City plus a lot of our old regulars like Mona from MN with 2 of her MN group, our dear Kate from Il.,Lydia Talbot from Cedar Rapids, Iowa and her SIS from CA. Karen South came with a friend from Louisville, Martha Green and Donna Johnson drove together from OK. Yvvone Streeter from Dallas and Lisa Caryl from Iowa were there. Also quite a few others whose names I cannot remember. Mary Anne had arranged for a large meeting room and there was plenty of room for those who bought their machines to sew and lots of tables for those who wanted to sell stuff. I had done a partial clean out before I came so bought a lot of stuff down and sold a lot. I  could have a retreat and sell every week and not get through all I have collected over the years. A lot is going to Goodwill once I have been through everything.

I did not get the names of the two ladies in the above picture but they both were doing some beautiful work.

The lady on the right was making a wall hanging with the basket being made in the log cabin style.  The flowers were all made with the Kumihoma flower makers.  I was very impressed with them and I must buy myself one or two to try them.

Mona was taking a picture of me as I was taking one of her. Next is MaryAnne who  made all this possible.

Here is a pic of Lydia Talbot and Martha Green.

Lydia had brought her wonderful CQ king sized bedspread for the girls to see that Martha Green made for her and gave it to her in Omaha a few years back.  I had seen it then but it was just as wonderful looking at it for the second time.  I don't know how Martha handled all that fabric.

Lydia's birthday happened to fall on the Friday and her husband and SIL arranged for a wonderful cake that we all shared..

Will be back tomorrow with more pics.  I have to give thanks to Bonnie Dudley from Iowa who took the time to show me how to post pictures on the new blogger.  Thank you so much Bonnie.  Now I can actually put text under the pictures.

MEMORIAL DAY

Today always brings a bit of sadness to me as I think of my Father and the two wars he fought in.  He was in WW1 as a young man in Ireland and in WW11 by which time he was married and living in Canada.  He was a true patriot of England and joined as soon as England declared war in 1939.  He was in until 1945 when the war ended.

I can vaguely remember him coming home on leave in his uniform and sometimes wonder if I am just remembering pictures of that time.  He passed away many years ago but on days like this and St. Patrick's Day I hear the song Danny Boy and it always brings a few tears.

I have been so busy after returning from Florida.  No stitching done around here. I have been deep cleaning all the house with help from my cleaning couple and last Thurs. they came and cleaned every window in the entire house.  Keeping 2 houses going is a lot of work but I cannot see giving up either one at this point in our lives.  I would miss Florida in the winter and Chicago and the kids in the summer.  We were at my sons Sat.for lunch  and to see the kids.  Nick was home from his first year of college and surprise he had a gal at the house with him he met at Bradley.  First girl I can remember ever seeing him with.  Jenny is going to be a senior next year and she is thinking Bradley also.  She would like to be a pediatrician but we will see.  Young Tommy is only just turned 9 so he has a ways to go.

I hope you all have had a nice long weekend and hopefully been able to spend some time with friends and/or family.

I AM BACK - HOPEFULLY

At last I am back able to blog.  Had a problem that would not let me in which turned out to be not mine but Harvs.  He does a retiree newsletter that he does every month and has been doing for many years.  He did not consider it a blog but it was and that is what had to be fixed because it was set up before 2007.  My blog was not.  Also added Google Chrome so this is just a test to see if I am actually back in.  If it works will post again later with some pics.  We are back in Chicago from Florida and everything is so green and all the trees are out and it looks so green and beautiful.  Glad to be back.  It was getting very hot when we left.