A beautiful day in the neighborhood.....

and that it was!!! We had perfect weather here today, beautiful clouds, no humidity - a great start to the month of June. Well, except for the mosquitos. For some reason, there is a bumper crop of mosquitos this spring. It is difficult to remain outside for even short amounts of time as they swarm and bite before you can bat them away. I tried to sit on the front porch and enjoy the nice afternoon but had to give up. The mosquitos were successful in biting me but I was not successful in enjoying time on the front porch. Oh, well, the rest of the weekend was really enjoyable as we had a very nice time with our friends Thomas and Ilse and their grandson, Mikkel. On Friday, my Steve took Thomas and Mikkel to the Minnesota Zoo while I took Ilse to quilt shops. When Ilse was here last spring we visited Quilter's Mercantile in Mankato. This year I took her to Eagle Creek Quilt Shop in Shakopee and on to The Sampler in Chanhassen. At each shop we found a couple of small items of interest but we both remarked that at neither shop did we see a "must-have" fabric. Now this is not the fault of either shop as both had loads of bolts of fabric and both shops carry very different fabrics. Instead, it's more of a fabric design issue. And perhaps, the fact that we both have a ton of fabric has made us realize we just don't need anymore. Not likely. Something will come along and we'll find it's the perfect fabric for that certain quilt. Ilse also has more available to her as she once owned Marienhoff Gaarden, a quilt shop/business in Denmark that is now owned and operated by her son. Check it out at www.marienhoff.dk
For dinner Friday evening, I made the suggestion that we go to Pizza Ranch because there would be a variety of fun American semi-fast pizza and chicken, etc. We arrived to find the place packed. We finally got a table and had a great evening recalling trips and adventures we went on over the past 15 or so years. I'll share more on that at a time when I can upload some photos, plus more "quilt talk" that Ilse and I shared. South Dakota is the next stop on their "see the USA trip". Having never been to South Dakota, I am thinking I would like to add it to my "someday want to do this" list. I've been lots of other places - 35 states and 15 countries. I figured it up this past winter. Our travels figure heavily into the story of my quilts. Typing this blog is helping me to organize those thoughts and I will get to that story yet. Time now, though, to close and say...........Sweet dreams on this lovely summer night!