Humming along........

and feeling fine just like the little humming bird in the this photo! Yep, doing well! I took this photo last Tuesday at my friend, Arlene's place. It was Bible Study and as we waited for everyone to arrive, I couldn't quit watching the hummingbird's at Arlene's flower basket. So, I took my camera and went outside to capture a picture. There were as many as four hummingbirds at a time but as soon as I went out to take a picture.........they disappeared! I wasn't sure the photos would come out but this one taken through the window is not too bad. See that little hummingbird in mid-air? It wasn't long before he landed for a little snack at the feeder. I am hoping we will have hummingbird's at our window next summer when we finally put a deck on the house. You can tell by the sky that it was a lovely day. :-)

And again this Tuesday, it was a sunny, lovely day. It was the first Tuesday of the month so that means it was "Tuesday Crazies" day. We all met at Kate's house and here are the smiling faces of my "Tuesday Crazy" friends.

Sue is in the center and then it's ......Pandora, Arlis, Laurie, Adella, Carol and Kate. We always

enjoy lunch first and then get out our stitching. Today Kate ordered up pizza for our lunch from The Pizza Man and it was really, really good! I mean really good!

We always do a bit of "Show 'n Tell" too. Here's Kate with one of her Scott County Fair entries that took a Red Ribbon. It's done in cowboy fabrics (it was a kit that Kate received from her friend Suzie) which are a favorite of Kate's.

Laurie is the most recent convert to quilting in our group. She began quilting just about four years ago and she took to it very well. Here she's sharing a quilt that she made from Valentine fabrics that I gave everyone a couple of years ago. I found these little gold make-up bags that I filled with several fat quarters of Valentine fabrics that were on clearance at Wal-Mart for 25 and 50-cents a yard. Of course, I bought lots of it and it cost almost nothing so I spread my "good buy" around. :-) Laurie's quilt turned out so cute that I'm thinking I should do something similar with my stash of Valentine fabrics!

Arlis shared this gorgeous quilt that she pieced and then had quilted by Anne Tuma. The pattern is called "Road Trip" and is by Minnesota designer Genii Lehman. My apologies for the poor focus on this photo.

And here's Pandora with a quilt she finished and will display at "Quilts in Bloom" next June. And that reminded me that I haven't yet posted the photos of "Quilts in Bloom" from this June so I will get to that in the next week.

In June, Kate was visiting her daughter in Nevada so wasn't here for my birthday bash. She had a gift for me today and I just loved it. :-) Have you ever received a gift that just "caught your eye"? Well, this one did and it brought back a long ago memory. I remember I was about 12 or 13 and we were shopping in Webster City (Iowa) at the Spurgeon's (Department) Store. I saw this purse.......a clutch bag soft magenta/burgundy leather and I wanted it so badly. It was rather expensive (at least back then) so my mother said "Save your money and the next time we come to town, you can buy it." Well, I did a lot of babysitting so when I had saved up the money......and for some reason, I remember it was $8.00 which seems like a lot of money for then.........and we went to town again, I was ready to buy that purse. And it was gone!! Someone else had bought my dream purse! I am sure that experience is the reason why I cannot pass up a cute purse now. LOL! This little one is too sweet! Now you might be wondering why there is a gummy spider along with it but that's sort of a "running joke" now because of the gummy bedbugs that appeared at my retreat last fall. The spider was in the bottom of the box and really gave me a good laugh. And then inside the purse was a paperweight with a message that is sooooooooo true............

"Friendship Doubles Our Joy and Divides Our Grief"

a Swedish Proverb

Our group name is "Tuesday Crazies" because when we first began we gathered to crazy quilt. Now we just gather to sew whatever we feel like and just because we enjoy our friendship. Each of us is very aware of the special blessing that we are to each other and how fortunate we are to be able to meet and enjoy time together.

My project that I worked on today was one I started in May. It was just rectangles that friend, Pam, from the Prior Lake Quilters passed on to me. I wanted a tabletopper for a lovely old table from my Mother-in-law and I could see it in those rectangles. I handsewed them into rows and then backed the piece with Osnaburg fabric and added a really nice fringe. All I had left to do was tack down the ends of the fringe on each end and I got it done!

Here is the "before" picture of my table..............the doily and all my "pretties" just weren't looking right. The tabletop is worn from years of use but I didn't want to refinish the piece.

And here is the "after" picture..................

All the things I like to have sitting on the table look so much better. The patchwork tabletopper covers it perfectly.

Makes me smile, just to look at it. :-) Just in case you are wondering, that lamp was once a working phone. I bought that piece at a garage sale in Dumont, New Jersey in 1973 from Mrs. Elizabeth Gales. I was a young mother (just 23) with a 3-year old and oh, so many miles from home and family. Elizabeth befriended me and would invite Collette and me to go along when she took her girls (about age 9 or 10) swimming. I still recall her kindness to this day!!

Another favorite piece on the table is the book "The Romance of the Patchwork Quilt" published in 1935. It was a gift from friend's Judith and Megan for my volunteer time with the Scott County Crazy Quilters and our Women's History exhibits. They went on-line to search for the book because they knew I checked out the copy from the library on a regular basis! Ah, isn't it great when friends know you so well!

Well, that's it for one busy day!

Sandi