Busy Weekend Camping

Sorry I haven't blogged all week. It's been really busy around here.

Last weekend DD (and a friend) and I took the camper out for our first campout of the season. We have a pop-up trailer that I pull behind my car. We went to a campground called Duck Creek in Pardeeville, WI. Nice, clean campground. It was too cold to go swimming in their little lake/pond, but we all had a good time. We went with our camping club. I like doing that because it gives me someone to hang out with when the kids are out playing somewhere and enough activities to keep us all busy, but not too busy.

Saturday morning the camping club had crafts for all of the kids and encouraged us parents to leave our kids with the adults in charge of the activity and leave the camp ground to go to the Amish shops in the area. Who I am to look a gift horse in the mouth? So, off I went, map in hand, to see if I could find a fabric shop.

I found the rug maker hard at work making rag rugs (she was weaving them on a loom - which was so cool -- I stood and watched her for a while) and then went back to the front of her store where she had fabric. She had all the Amish solids, in both poly/cotton blend and 100% cotton. I picked out a bunch of each and when I was ready she came and cut it for me. We had a really nice conversation about her business and how concerned the Amish community was about their businesses with the long, hard winter we've all endured plus the current economy situation. They wondered if us "English" would come spend money in the current economy. I think I did my share of stimulation! She had no electricity in her store and added up the bill by hand. Her store was an addition onto the family farm house.

Then I went to a hand-crafted wood furniture store. Wow! They had some really beautiful stuff that I would have loved to have. Unfortunately, my stimulation abilities didn't go quite that far.

Next I went to the General Store - they had lights, but did all their adding of the prices on old manual adding machines (not electric, nor battery charged). I bought some home made jam and some dried cranberries. The store was very busy and I had to wait in line about 10 minutes to get checked out.

After the General Store, I wanted to find the bakery. I had heard really good things about the baked goods from other campers and wanted to check it out myself. I found the location and knew I was in the right place due to all the cars parked out in the road and in the driveway. I was able to park in the driveway, up close to the house. When I walked up to the house I found out that there was a line about 40 people long just to get into the bakery. No wonder there were all those cars! I got in the back of the line and pretty soon there were people behind me and we were all talking about standing in a "bread line". Pretty funny. There was a lady a few people behind me that turned out to be a quilter and we talked back and forth about our quilts and quilting experiences. It took about 30 minutes to make it from the back of the line into the bakery. The bakery was in the basement of the farm house (a walk out) and the "store" section was a tiny space about 10 feet by 15 feet with shelves on 3 sides and a counter to get rung up on the 4th side. Behind the counter there were around 4 - 5 people constantly baking (men and women and older girls). They had about 6 different kinds of bread, cookies, pies, rolls, donuts, tarts, noodles, etc. I bought a loaf of cinnamon raisin bread (when I picked it up, it was still hot), 2 dozen oatmeal raisin cookies, and pan of cinnamon rolls, and a little raspberry turn-over tart. As I stood waiting for the person in line in front of me to get her items rung up, I saw a sign about another fabric store and the directions to that store. So now I had my next destination!

I went to the second fabric store; it had less fabric than the rug maker. But what was really interesting is that it shared space with a harness making/repair shop. The woman who apparently ran the fabric store must have been out because the man from the harness shop came and waited on me. It was obvious that he didn't cut fabric very often, although he did use a rotary cutter. Anyway, I talked to him while he was cutting the fabric and turns out he grew up in Indiana, too, about 50 miles from where I grew up. Small world!

After all this time, it was nearly lunch time and I knew I need to get back to the campground and find the girls and take back over my motherly duties.

The bad news is that even though I had my camera, I didn't take a single picture all weekend. I would not have taken pictures of the Amish out of respect, but I saw some really cool things that I would have loved to taken a picture of (I left the camera in the trailer). So this post is without any pictures.

On the quilting front, I sewed some more on the tote that I've been working on for the past several weeks. I think I'm almost to the assembly stage, so hopefully, I'll get it done on Saturday when I get a chance to work on it. More to come on that.

Spring Time in Wisconsin

I was really looking forward to a great weekend and getting alot of outdoor work done, but after only 30 minutes of raking the front yard, I had to come inside on Saturday and then it started to rain. It felt like the Great Flood -- 40 days and 40 nights right outside my door. It really didn't stop all weekend. My sump pump ran off and on for 2 days straight (I guess that's a good thing, if it didn't run I'd have water all over my basement, right?).








But Monday morning before we left the house for the day, I snapped these two pictures of the flowers struggling in my front flower bed. Spring is trying to get here!

So since it rained all weekend, what did I get done? I finally got my cutting table all set up. I got rid of the piano a month ago and then last week I bought a long (72") folding table from WalMart. I set it up Saturday morning when the rain started and decided how much more height I needed.

Then one of my many errands later on Saturday was to the local hardware store. I love that place. They are so friendly and eager to help. When I walked in and (on purpose) looked lost like I didn't know what to do, I was approached by the owner who asked how he could help. I told him I needed some PVC pipe. He asked if I needed just pipe or fitting, too. I told him just pipe. He walked me down the aisle to the PVC pipe and showed me the various sizes he had. I quickly picked out which one was the right size diameter and told him I needed 4 twelve inch pieces. He cut it for me (for free) and then only charged me for the 48 inches, not the entire 10 feet of pipe we started with. I expected to pay for the entire 10 feet (which would have been a whopping $3.48).

So here's a picture of my cutting table, raised to counter top height. I've got storage underneath (okay, so they're empty so far) and lots of room for cutting and for laying out. I love it so far (except that my sewing machine is in the other room, 40 feet away).

Side Tracked Again....

Last weekend while I was at my dad's house (he watched DD while I went to the quilt show), he mentioned to my DD that he needed a couple of kitchen dish cloths. His mom (my grandmother) used to make them and I've made him a few from time to time over the years. Now DD does know how to crochet, but I thought he'd want them this year (vbg) so I spent two evenings this week and whipped out two for him. They'll go out in the mail on Saturday when I can get to the post office.

Now back to the tote!

Quilted Tote

I've mentioned that I've been working on a quilted tote. Well, today I thought I'd show you what I'm doing. Here's the pattern:




The last time I made a bag was about 20 years ago. I still use it, but I wanted a bigger one. This one is huge. Here's the pieced front. I have to quilt it next then start the assembly process. It is taking me a long time because I just don't work on it every night (and I've been gone the last two weekends).

I love the colors. It's my colors (pink and purple) plus some orange/sherbet colors. I can't wait until I get it all together. I am worried about finding the dowels for the handles. The LQS where I bought my pattern said I could find them/make them, but I was hoping for handles that had some finish to them (not raw wood). Well, when I get that far, I guess I'll worry about that then.

Chicago Quilt Show

Okay, its been about 17 years since I last went to a BIG quilt show. And the Chicago show really delivered. I was wow'ed by the quilts. I saw. Here's some of my favorites.

I didn't take any classes. I just went and viewed the show and then, of course, shopped 'til I dropped! I didn't really spend that much, just the fact of being on my feet for about 4 hours straight and the intense amount of eye candy. I bought some FQ, a Jim Shorer figurine, a HQT cutting template, and a book. I was really surprised about the amount of booths and fabric that seemed to specialize in the reproduction fabrics. There were a lot of Civil War reproductions. So that meant a lot of dark creams and darker colors. I know I've seen them in the LQSs but I didn't realize it was that popular. Not exactly my cup of tea (no pun intended).

I really was dragging butt by the time I got back to my car and drove back home. And even today, 2 days later, my legs and feet still hurt. I guess I'm not used to walking around on all the concrete.

Easter Morning

Here's DD on Easter morning after she has scoped out all the stuff that the Easter bunny brought. The biggest present was a pair of walkie-talkies that she can use with her friends. We don't do much candy. In fact, it's probably about time to throw out the Halloween candy that she hasn't gotten around to eating. The sugar just makes her too hyper (and she won't sleep for a week!).

Foster Park in Ft Wayne

Now I know that some of you are running around in shorts and t-shirts, but those of us up north are wondering if it's finally time to put away the parka. Last weekend we were in Ft Wayne, Indiana visiting my best friend for Easter. On Sunday, it was so clear and beautiful outside I suggested that we go find some green and maybe some early flowers. We went to Foster Park and strolled around (the adults still had on their parkas) and did exactly that. DD slipped her coat off a few times so that we could take some pictures.

So okay, in Ft Wayne the daffodils were in bloom. No tulips yet. Here in Wisconsin, the daffodils are about 4 inches high. But the crocus are pretty. I have purple and yellow ones in my garden. Only the purple ones are blooming right now.

I can't wait for summer! Okay, I'll settle for spring, 'cause right now it feels like winter will never go away. I know this is typical Wisconsin spring (ie not much to show until May), but I'd like a little green, if you please. The lawn still looks brown/grey and the trees are still bare. Uhhhgggg! Come on Spring!