Christmas Quilt - Old and New Sisters

The first picture is a quilt that was made back in the 1980's. I belonged to the now defunct Embroiderers' Guild and also to a little sub-group of quilters. This group shared some deep red and green fabrics and made star blocks for each other. I put 9 blocks together on point and hand quilted an elaborate fan pattern in the plain blocks. The stitches are unbelievably small and delicate - something I could not replicate. This quilt has hung in the family room at Christmas time for many years. I hang my Christmas quilts shortly after Thanksgiving so we have time to enjoy them.

The second quilt has a story. Almost 2 years ago at National Quilting Day there was an auction of UFO projects. I spotted a bag with "sister" blocks and fabric from that little quilt group. After buttering up the auctioneer, I got the bag I wanted. It has sat in my closet for awhile. Last week I got it out, looked at the blocks, and put them together. I made the 4 Ohio Star blocks for the outside corners and the backing is almost all of the fabric that was in the bag. There is a little bit left that will be returned to the original owner with a little house wall hanging using our special fabrics. Merry Christmas Jean.......and thank you!!!

Thanksgiving Weekend

For Thanksgiving we had 13 people at dinner. In addition to Ashley and family and my parents, I have 2 brothers who were here - one from Wyoming and one from Indiana who had his two daughters with him. A nephew who is attending Kalamazoo College joined us too.
I bought a "roasting oven" to cook the turkey in and give oven space for corn casserole, squash, green bean casserole, etc. It cooked a moist turkey and it was nicely browned, too.
Alexander made pumpkin pies in the morning and Allison helped with the corn casserole. They both like working in the kitchen - breaking eggs are a speciality!!!! And yes....we have had a few on the floor - not today, though.


On Friday we went to Munn Ice Arena at Michigan State and enjoyed ice skating together. Alexander was going pretty good on hockey skates and only bounced his head on the ice once. Allison needed more help, but was finally "walking" on the skates and propelling herself a little. She enjoyed skating while holding hands with cousins, Erin and Sarah or me. Andrew slept on the floor under the seating --for a short nap so adults could enjoy skating. Alexander was the last one off the ice and watched the zamboni refinish the skating surface for the next group.

After skating, we returned to the "Greats" house and decorated gingerbread houses. This has been a tradition for many years and everyone enjoys being creative. The houses are always a work of art!!!!!

Saturday Alexander and Grandpa John went to the MSU Basketball game - got to ride the bus from the parking ramp. The "girls" - and Andrew - went to Horrocks and a walk in the neighborhood since the weather was so nice. Andrew took a good nap in the backpack and was a very happy baby for the evening.

Sunday morning Alexander and Allison helped Grandpa John hang the Christmas lights and wreaths outside. They also dumped the pumpkins down by the creek for the deer and other critters to enjoy.

After lunch I drove the kids to meet Alex in Bowling Green Ohio - about half way for each of us drivers. The highways were crowded, but the drive was just fine.

Today I'm cleaning up after the long weekend.......then a regular work week starts........

Fall Wallhanging

I have been working on this for the last couple weeks.
I started it when leaves were looking very pretty and had lots of color.

The printed leaf patterns on squares of fabric were purchased at a quilt show in Marshall. I knew that I had to do something with them. I cannot tell you where the design came from - I just started laying things on my design wall and let it flow...........

The machine quilting across the quilt is supposed to be the wind blowing the leaves. The extra leaves are machine appliqued with a free motion method.

I don't have a name for it yet......I need something better than Fall Wallhanging. Blowin' in the Wind? Anyone have another idea? I'm open to suggestions.........thanks

Japanese House Block #6

I now have six house blocks from the Japanese Block Exchange.

This latest is top row, center.
It was made by Liz Borajkiewicz - the friend who is living in Japan and started this exchange. She let the fabric "do the work" for parts of the house. The front door has fantastic handles - beads that look like large porcelain door handles. The patterns in the weave made for great detail in my house blocks.

With each block, the maker also sends a piece of Japanese fabric. I will use these in putting the blocks together. I have cut a small "vitamin" size piece to applique for my journal quilt - yes, that is still going and there are only 47 more days in the year to document!!!! That quilt will remind me of many memories of the year 2006.

Many thanks to the makers of these blocks..........they are treasures.

African Quilt Workshop

Today I took a workshop from Theadra Fleming - a quilt artist from Ypsilanti.

She spoke at the Lansing Area Patchers meeting on Thursday evening. She had examples of African fabrics that were outstanding - including mud cloth pictures on the intricately woven fabric.

In the workshop today, we cut strips from 10 fat quarters of African fabrics and then cut them into pieces. We shuffled the pieces and sewed them into one really long strip - it went all across the room!!!!! That strip was cut into equal pieces, sewn together and then cut into strips again - and then sew THOSE strips together........LOTS OF SEAMS!!!!
Theadra calls this the Keep It Simple technique. It is inspired by the weaving traditions of the makers of Kente Cloth.
We may have had similiar african fabrics, but all the quilts from this class will look different. Hope some are finished for the LAP 2008 show!!!!!

I came home and ironed it good. The borders are from fabric that I purchased from Theadra today. I will have to get some cheap african style fabric to use as backing- don't want to use the neat stuff I purchased from Theadra!!!

When I machine quilted the quilt, the borders were cut down from this picture.

Japanese House number 5

I have another house - and WHAT a house!!

It was made by Naomi, who designed it herself. It is the house in the upper right hand corner of the picture. Thank you Naomi!!!!

It is a unique Japanese thatched farmhouse from a historical area called Shirakawago. There are approzimately 180 thatched farmhouses, sheds and barns, most built about 200 or more years ago. The architectural style known as Gasso-zurkuri is characterized by its large steeply pitched thatched gable roof. This unique steeply sloped roof structure provides work space the the house and prevents excessive mass of snow in this heavy snowfall region of Japan.

Naomi designed this block from pictures obtained on the web......technology and creativity --she is really using her talents!!!!

I have a wonderful assortment of houses - and 3 more to come!!!!! I hope to use the pieces of fabric that accompany each house to make another house - 9 blocks make a better wall hanging than 8.

Our Special Day DInner and Halloween Costumes

Thirty years ago, we were fortunate to receive a beautiful baby girl from Korea. We have celebrated Our Special Day ever since - the day we "got her." This year she drove from her home in Ohio with her three beautiful children to be with us for a special dinner. The "Greats" were here too.
Those lucky children have four great-grandparents!!!!!

While here, it was Halloween costume time.
It is my pleasure to make Halloween costumes - tell me what you want to be and I'll make it.
This year it was Princess Ariel ("She's my favorite princess") and a Knight - a very classy Knight!!! Baby Andrew had a pumpkin outfit. Sewing on satin and organza for Ariel was no fun, and adding all the trim to the knight tunic was easy. The sword and scabard were the BIGGEST hit. Alexander and Allison love to play with dress ups here.

Baby Andrew is starting to coo and vocalize when you hold him. He has a cute little smile and he watched the MSU football comeback with his grandfather - he needs some Spartan duds!!

It was nice to have the quick visit with them. We want to be a part of the grandchildrens' lives - and do things with them that will be special memories forever.

My Garden and then SNOW!!!!!!

I pulled everything out in my garden. It was really doing well on the second growth ( after the deer devoured the first growth!) but we were not getting enough sunshine for the tomatoes to ripen.
I picked the green/red peppers, the almost ripe tomatoes and dug up the carrots. We enjoyed stuffed peppers for dinner one night. I will cook the carrots when the kids come soon - they really like them.

Then this morning we awoke to a covering of snow. There have been periods of bright sunshine and periods of blinding snow throughout the day - crazy Michigan weather!!!!!!

Another Japanese House Block

Last evening I got a house block from Narugue-san. Hers is the house with the striped roof - ((bottom left) very cool!! I now have four houses.

This is going to make a very special wall hanging. There will be eight houses.......and my challenge will be to put them together in a nice neighborhood!!!

Journal Quilt Update

I have been keeping up with the Journal Quilt!!!

Only 109 days left in the year!!!

My quilt is called "One A Day" - just like the vitamins - one little block a day.
Many of the blocks have special fabric representational of something done that day. Other vitamins are fabric purchased by or given to me recently. I write a little about what happened on that particular day.

When my grandchildren are here, they always ask about what is the vitamin for the day. They have helped pick out some, too.

The top picture is the whole quilt top, so far; and the second picture is a close up. Note the wedding cake - our anniversary!!

This won't be too big - ending up 60" by 90-something.
Hopefully these journal quilts will be on display at the Okemos Library next August.

THe Last Block Exchange

I finally buckled down and finished my last dreaded block for this exchange.

Georgia wanted us to do ourselves and our handprints. She had a plan to have self portraits surrounded by handprints. I did my handprints - that was easy.
I could not do a representational self portrait. I threatened to do an"op-art" style and Georgia said to do whatever we wanted.

I hope mine doesn't ruin her quilt...............it is kinda scary.............
maybe that's what I am!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Labor Day weekend = Family

Labor Day Weekend means Kuhlman Family gathering at the Zweering cottage on Eight Point Lake, east of Clare.

Sunday was the Kuhlman picnic. Allison went tubing by herself and so did Alexander. I will not tell how fast - or slow - the speedboat was going........ The weather was not real warm, but they had fun in the little bit of sand there on the water.
Lots of family - the Kuhlman Greats, of course; Marcia and Dick from West Virginia, Tim and Tina from PA, and all the Zweering family - Chris and Larry, Katie and Ed, Matt and Jesse and Xavier, Hugh and Zandy; Tom, Elaine, Paul and Brett, and us...don't know the total count - just that is nice to see all the family in one place. Most all the family - there are college students now that are too far away to attend --and they are missed.
Ed impressed us with his fishing - he caught a large dogfish----ugly but impressive!!!! So ugly that the picture won't print!!!!!!
The day ends with a campfire - and so'mores - YUMMY!!!!!!

Our kids came on Saturday afternoon and we had the Thomas Greats over for dinner that evening. I made a key lime pie that was enjoyed by all - even John!! Andrew is beginning to smile to whoever is entertaining him - real cutie!!!!! We all got to eat some tomatoes from my garden - the little ones are coming in again..... and we will be eating beans this week (second crop).

Monday the kids left, we had "Couples Golf" with a potluck afterwards and then CRASHED!!!!!!!
I think that is the sign of a good weekend.......good memories and pictures, too.

House Block from Japan

The block in the center is the most recent house block from Japan.

It was made by Tomizawa Kyoko.

I will have 8 house blocks when this exchange is done. They will make a beautiful and special wall hanging. The challenge will be to put them together - and I love a good challenge.

Special Baby Quilt for Andrew

Alexander and Allison helped make this quilt for their new baby brother, Andrew.

They used fabric markers to make pictures and set them with squares of interesting kid prints. They picked out the emergency vehicles for the border and construction equipment for the backing. Alexander made sure I put a special label on the back with the names of the makers and the date and who the quilt was made for.......I've taught him well!!!!!

Great times with the Grands

Our perfect grandchildren (aren't they all?!) have been visiting us for almost two weeks.
We had time for special activities - like Lake Michigan, Folk Festival, Baby shower for Claire, Aquatic Center, Delta Mills Park, family dinners - and for normal things around the house - like cleaning bathrooms, taking out the trash and school shopping for a back pack for starting kindergarten!!!!!!!!!

We went to the East Lansing Aquatic Center with Aunt Barb and her big boys, Tom and JR. Alexander was finally tall enough to be able to go down the two water slides - with intertube or body - and he LOVED this!!!!! Allison enjoyed the kiddie frog slide and being able to bounce around the large shallow area. Both - or should I say ALL - kids enjoyed the sand area and made neat drip castles in the sand and water.

We spent a couple afternoons at the Grand Ledge Country Club pool. Alexander did cannonballs jumps off the diving board!!! He was very proud of himself.

One weekend was spent at the Folk Festival - both days!!! Saturday they enjoyed the Childrens' crafts and games and lots of music. I volunteered at the quilt exhibit - where the children got to actually stitch on a quilt!!!! Thank you Jan. The kids got t-shirts as you can see in the picture - they are COOL!!! Sunday we met friends from the library - John, Mary Ellen and Maggie - shared snack and Allison and Maggie danced to the music. We also saw Aunt Barb, Great Grandpa Thomas, Lisa, Claire, Ruth, Cindy, Phyllis and other quilt friends while listening to great music.

Saturday Ashley and Alex came with baby Andrew and I got to actually see and touch and hold him!!!!!! He is a big baby - over 10 pounds at 3 weeks old. He stayed with us on Saturday while his parents went to a meeting. Ashley left bottles of pumped milk and we did just fine. We had family drop by to see him - Aunt Chris, Uncle Larry and Xavier and Great Grandma Kuhlman all got to hold Andrew. We were able to give him the special quilt that Alexander, Allison and I had made him - they drew pictures on fabric and helped pick the borders and backing. They also picked the flannels for a double flannel blanket. In the picture, Andrew is sitting in a doll stroller - both Allison and Alexander pushed him around the house in it!!!


Alexander and Allison are really wonderful children. I can't believe the time went by so quickly as we were very busy. It's good to have special memories with them that will last for a long time. I got lots of pictures to look at to help remind us of our times together. It was good to meet Andrew and he will grow in our hearts with love from his grandparents.

HOT HOT HOT

The heat wave has made it too hot to go outside.

My High Scope home visit was cancelled on Tuesday, so I started sewing.

This is a baby quilt for a friend. She is expecting a little girl in September. I also made a dolly version of this for her 4 year old daughter. The remaining pieces went into a doll quilt for the baby - for when she is old enough to play with dollies. I made them all on Tuesday - when you're hot..........you're hot!!!

I prefer to made baby quilts that are easy - easy to make, easy to care for and one that can withstand the love I hope it gets and gives.

Welcome to Baby Andrew

Our latest grandson, Andrew, was born on Friday, July 21 weighing in at a whopping nine and a half pounds!!!!!!!

All are doing well - big brother and big sister and mom and dad. Big Brother, Alexander looks like he will take care of that little one. Doesn't big sisiter, Allison, look happy!!!!!

We haven't seen him in person yet.
In the latest email from Ashley she referred to him as "Mr Fat 'n Happy"

Second Japanese House block

I got my second house from the Japanese Block Exchange. This one was made by Narita Keiko. It goes well with house number 1...........

It is hard to wait each month for the next block......I am excited to see each one. And the blocks for my friends too.

This is a very special exchange.

My Poor Garden

The deer have really done a job on my poor garden. Despite all the sprays guaranteed to keep the animals away, the fencing, flags, wind chimes, etc---- my green beans were topped, ALL the tomatoes were topped - even into the center of the garden, and even carrot tops were eaten. The piles of deer poop around the area have been quite a job to shovel away!!!!!!

It is very defeating - I look out my kitchen window and don't even want to go out to see the latest damage.

We did, however, each get 8 spoonfulls of melt in your mouth peas last Sunday - and then I pulled the vines out. Last evening we had 12 beans each for dinner. I have picked 9 little cherry tomatoes to have with lunch next week - and there will be a few more. The yellow pear tomato plants that I was so delighted to find after many years may give us a few little ones!!!!!

I have put some fencing over the area - making picking a real challenge to me!!!! I am looking into 6 foot fencing for next year - but realize that I have to be able to get into the area, too.....so that poses a problem......

I am soooooo discouraged..........

Fun in June

We just enjoyed a visit from the grands for just over a week. Alexander is 8 and was a great help to his grandpa trimming shrubs around the house. Allison is 5 and had trouble falling asleep because she needed to know how many days until she starts kindergarten!!!!!!


Fathers' Day was a nice dinner with TWO sets of Great Grandparents - these kids are lucky!!!!!! The pictures I took are a real treasure.

We started the week with a Mystery Trip - to Binder Park Zoo and a 5 minute tram ride to Africa to see the wild animals. You can feed biscuits to the giraffe - they have really long tongues that wrap around the food and pull it in. Alexander wasn't feeling well, so we came home after our picnic lunch. He had a fever of 103!!! He wasn't himself for a couple days - taking naps and getting better.

Wednesday I worked at the library and they spent time with Great Grandma and Great Grandpa Thomas and then dinner with Grandpa John.

Thursday they came to the library with me for Baby Story time and Science Alive - got to hold a large yellow python; pet a chinchilla, alligator and armadillo; and watch a porcupine move around. This program is always a hit.

Friday was shopping and getting ready for a weekend trip to PA for a family graduation party. However, Allison got sick. Saturday morning she was in no condition to travel, so we did not make the party (which we heard was great). We got our little pool out and the kids enjoyed that and chalk in the driveway. The Thomas greats came for dinner on Sunday.

Monday we went to the big pool at Grand Ledge Country Club - and Alexander went off the diving board - such confidence!!!!! Allison just kicks around in the water and loved to be pulled on the noodle.

Tuesday they went home - with a stop at Cabalas in Dundee - what a field trip for us!!!!!!! There is so much to see.

We all enjoyed the visit and left with big hugs and a promise to see each other in August after the new baby is born.

Japanese Block Exchange

I am very pleased to be part of a Japanese Block Exchange.

There are 8 ladies from the US and 8 from Japan. The ladies in Japan are in a small group with my friend Liz and she is the one who helped get this started.

Each person has selected a theme or certain block for the exchange. I like houses - and married a home builder - so requested houses - japanese style and japanese fabrics. This first house is silk - and some antique kimono fabric. It is WONDERFUL!!!!!! Behind the house is a piece of fabric from Konishi-san, the maker of the house block.



I will keep you posted when I get more houses - another month!!!!!

National Quilt Association

My friend, Cindy, and I have just returned from National Quilt Assoication Quilt Show in Columbus, Ohio.

We left Lansing Tuesday morning and stopped at Quilt Trends - a nice quilt shop in Columbus - lots of bright fabrics - and we each left with a large shopping bag. We stayed at the Hyatt downtown. We had dinner at a bar in the Arena District - great hamburger and fish sandwiches.

Wednesday morning we went to the Nationwide Insurance Company Headquarters - just across the street - to investigate what looked like an atrium. What an atrium!!!! Palm trees and bird of paradise plants, many other types of palms, stream, and ground covers..........it was beautiful!!!!

Wednesday afternoon our class started - with Phil Beaver. We painted our fabric. People had the choice to made sunflowers or poinsettias. I choose the pinky-purple and Cindy did the yellow-green. That evening we went to the preview dinner and party - got to see the show and vendors - mostly vendors!!!!!

Thursday and Friday we were in class most of the day. We cut flower petal templates and then cut into our beautiful hand painted fabrics to make our flowers. It took a long time to cut and design and then place them on our background fabric. We went to view the show after class each day. We now have another unfinished project to finish!!!!!!!!!!!

I am very happy with my pointsettias - will add a pieced border when I get yardage of the fabric you see on the edge - had to order it from vendor - who lives in Colorado!! It may be a little while before I get that.....luckily I have other projects to work on!!!

Lunch was a daily treat. North Market is fantastic!!!!! Food from all corners of the world, fresh flowers and fruits and vegetables........anything you would want to eat - it's there!!!! The best treat is Jeni's Ice Cream - flavors like Blueberry Lavender, Passionfruit Sherbet, Coffee with Cream and Sugar, Bourbon Butter Pecan, Dark Chocolate Gelato, Buttermint, and many more. We had ice cream dessert after every lunch!!!!!!!

We left Friday late afternoon - stopped at another quilt shop - I had to get a new free motion foot for my sewing machine. I got Cindy home about 11 pm and I arrived home in time to tuck John in as he had to play golf early the next morning.

We plan to attend this show next June - it's a great get-away.