Work, work, work.  Four of us "had" to go to Branson in order to get some sewing done. That's our excuse and we are sticking to it.   Then a friend from Springfield joined us to sew.   Norma worked on a quilt she had on a closet shelf for a FEW years.



 Roxane finished her purse and started a wallet. 





Joan finished several hot pads for friends and Shirley did some hand work and then worked on paper piecing blocks. 

Lots of fun, laughs and eating way too much!  

An image from our town in Osage County, Kansas.  Don't Overlook Overbrook.

A town of just near 1000 people.   A nice place to live.  But we don't live in town.  We have a farm south of town.  Big news in the community is that we now have a new Dollar General.  Saves a trip to Topeka or Lawrence (each about 35 miles away) for things like shoe laces, shower gifts, etc.  We have a great quilt shop... Overbrook Quilt Connection , a nice grocery store, a farmer co-op and lots of other businesses.

The Santa Fe Trail traveled on what is now 4th Street.    

Holiday weekend
It has been a nice holiday weekend. Pretty great weather for early September in Kansas.  

Yesterday we had dinner at a friend's house and grilled and ate well.  These people have been friends since school.  Of the six, five were schoolmates and of those three of us rode the same bus.  Now as we age, three of us have become quilting friends as well.  Unfortunately we were missing another couple who rode my bus and my husband's and also a quilting friend.  The Ozarks were calling to them.

It's great to have such long time friends as these.

The shop hop is over.  This was a slower year than in the past.  I had time to quilt on my machine off and on during the day and that has never happened before. 

For me it was good.  I'm way behind on my quilting in my quilting as my machine was down for over 5 weeks in January and February. 

Now the bus tour is over.  It was two days of bus tours.  We fed breakfast on Friday to our bus before they left.  Then lunch to a bus on Friday.  Saturday we fed lunch and supper to two more buses.  Everyone on our bus was very complimentary except one woman who had trouble at most places.  The other said the food got better and better at each stop.  The Hampton Inn was newly remodeled and was a good choice.  Maybe some day, I'll go on one of these tours instead of staying home and working.  haha  As if I needed more fabric.

Hint of the week:  If you are having trouble threading your hand sewing needle, do two different things.  Cut your thread on a slant rather than blunt.  If it still doesn't want to go through turn your needle a half turn and try again.  Needles are manufactured by pushing the hole in the needle.  The top side is smoother than the bottom and so it will go through the top side easier. 

long gone

It's been a very long time since I posted on this spot.  But hopefully, I'm turning over a new leaf and will try to post more often.

Helpful hint for the week:  Instead of using fabric softeners in your drier, take some aluminum foil and wade it up loosely.  Toss it in with your clothes.  Take out the static!  When it gets waded too tight from bouncing in the drier, put it in your aluminum recycle and start with a new ball.

Home again

Hi, I went to a quilt retreat for 3 days at a friend's house. Had a great time even though I didn't get as much done as I wanted. I always take too much to get finished with it all. We had a weiner roast in the creek bed (in spite of the mid January weather). And did some fossil hunting in the gravel bars on the creek. I thought I found a petrified fang or claw, but my husband tells me it's a beaver tooth. I like my identification better.

I'm thinking that I will start a free pattern periodically. These can be put into a quilt or to make smaller projects like table runners or such. These will either be 6" or 8". I'm open to suggestions for the size. I'm hoping it will look like an old scrap quilt. And hopefully, you can use up your scraps in the process too.

Fabric Road trip Woohoo!!!!

Four friends went to Minneapolis to go to the huge fabric warehouse of S. R. Harris. A fabriholics dream trip. We shopped in the morning, checked and and went to lunch. Then after lunch we went back and shopped until almost closing time. Great trip!!!!!