Best Made Plans



Do you ever make plans and then have them fizzle out?  My plan yesterday was to go to Albert Lea to the funeral of a classmate's husband, meet up with a customer from Owatonna and give her the quilts I had quilted for her, stop at the "Quilt Shop", look for some paper, go to the Bible book store and on and on etc.  BUT on the Interstate, my tire blew.  (I know...it doesn't look flat...but believe me it was! Wayne had already started working on it.) I wondered what the noise was and then the van started wobbling, so I pulled over to the side of the road.  Sure enough...flat tire.  Thank goodness for cell phones!  Called Wayne, he called his brother in Albert Lea who came out and got me so I could make it to the funeral and then would call someone about fixing it.  To make a long story short (guess I've already made it long) Wayne ended up driving up and changing the tire and we ran into Bauer Bilt and had it fixed.  (He is not resting in the front seat...this van has a release button in the center of the floor to make the spare tire drop that didn't want to release.) But by this time...forget the rest of the list.  But so many things to be thankful for....could have happened in Branson, the tire affected was on the ditch side of the road (some semi's do not pull over)...I was able to make it to the funeral.



On a good note, I finished my last applique and got the border on.  Now to hand quilt it.  It turned out a little bigger than what I had planned even tho I left off an additional border.  So instead of eventually hanging in my kitchen, it will be hanging in my dining room or bedroom.  But first...get the quilting done!   Best made plans!   My next plan is to blog less...we'll see.  This weekend is our 150th Anniversary at our church...Dell Lutheran.  Wayne and I have been on the committee for over a year and one more meeting tonight and hopefully our plans all come together. Whatever...it's all in the Lord's hands...He's got better plans than we do anyway!
Jolyn

And the Last of Them

We all talked about what we plan to get done in the future...like this winter.   Was kind of a common theme that we all want to finish some of our UFO's.  Tracy has a head start as she finished this UFO (unfinished objects).  Makes a beautiful table quilt or wall hanging.

Another UFO to cross off the list. 

Jude needed a quick baby quilt and whipped this one up.

These were panels she sashed and quilted.

Mike's story of things his Mother had in her house continued.  Instead of his Grandmother making this, his Great-Grandma made this for his father. 

This was hiding in his Mother's basement!

....and this

...and two of this!

He had taken Marilyn Forman's class and if you look close...you can see he added applique to his.  It was a fun night with all the Show and Tell.  We also went over ideas for next year's Expo.  Isn't that the way...you've hardly recovered from one thing and you start planning the next one!  For the first time in our history...we went over our rule for one hour meetings....but with show and tell so great....no one complained. 
Jolyn

The Quilts Go On

Ruth made this one for the Quilts of Valor.  Her grandson liked it so well, so she found an eagle panel and will be making one similar for him.

Wendy brought a friend, Sharon who showed her 5 year quilt.  She hand quilted it in a cross-hatch pattern about every 2"...amazing that she could get it done in 5 years!!!

This gal was a newcomer from Florida...moved to our area so she could enjoy our mild winters...we hope they will be mild! 

Not a real good picture, but you can kind of get the idea...same blocks...different sashing and borders.

Lorraine had picked this fabric up at the Expo from the guest teacher....beautiful!

Felecia also made a place mat of the month...she talked about ripping out something but we all voted her down.

Jackie's quilt for a little boy.

I know--I should have elminated this one...but of the three pictures... this actually was the best.  The first one added an extra chin and we won't talk about the other one.  My latest woolie....Merry Christmas!  And I'm early!!
Jolyn

September BE VAlley Quilters

We had one of our biggest turnouts for our quilter's meeting Monday night.  And lots of show and tell!  Tracy is a fairly new quilter and is not afraid to try things.  This is made of old denim jeans for her son.  She'll be appliqueing the word  REBELS to it too.

Corrine goes to a "place mat of the Month" group and this is the latest project.

Elaine has spent her time off from work making charity quilts.

And she's hiding behind this one.

Wow!  Arlene said the hardest  part of this was the outer pieces that had to be set in.

This is so unlike Dorothy!  She always does precision work and here she's tackling some "wonkies"....blocks that are supposed to look a little wonky.  I have blocks that look that way without trying!

This was still hot off the machine.... Jan had quilted this for one of her customers.

The backside was also a work of art!  More next time!
Jolyn

Harvest

Just a quick peak at the raspberries!  Wayne just had to shake them to get them off the branches.  Course, the black bugs came off that way too.  These are called Kiwigold.  Have had enough for eating, but not for freezing.  We only pick those on the top branches. (We have an untrained dog...)

Strange things happen on our road. 

Ended up in our yard...getting ready for harvest.  Wish they still gave gold stamps!  (Remember those days?)
Jolyn

Quilts...of course!!

I always look forward to the quilt display at the Clay County Fair, but this year the displays seemed a little sparse.  But I can always find some that catch my eye.

Isn't this interesting!!  Love how she didn't just round off the edge,,,gives it much more pizazz!  Wonder how she'll hang it,,,,or maybe she'll use it on a table.  Anyway--it caught my attention.

I couldn't get back far enough to capture the whole quilt.  It was a round robin of sorts.  What fun blocks!



Guess I would call this Dancing chickens.  Not that I've ever seen any dancing chickens...maybe just in dreams. Have spent the week just catching up on things.  Finished my last row of the rows for Block Swappers...which I can't show you.  Also finished the applique for a wallhanging...that isn't ready to show yet.  And just about have a woolie done...but want to wait to show you that.  Isn't this maddening....kind of like a continued story.  Keep watching...they will eventually show up!! 
Jolyn



The Road Home

Seems like each show in Branson has some comedians..all great and all clean fun.    These were the two from the Presley's.  They were so quick-witted...course you have to be to interact with the audience. At one show every outfit the guy wore was bright orange...one was a orange and white checked suit!

We meandered up the west side of Iowa on the way home.  Starting near Maryville, Mo up to Clarinda, IA was devastating hail and wind damage.  Some of the corn fields...like this one...look like they've been picked.   Even the tree leaves were thinned out.  So sad to see.  There were a number of combines out trying to harvest what they could of the corn, but Wayne wondered if it would be moldy.  

Our Sunday destination was the Clay County Fair at Spencer, IA.  Always a fun event!  Now here is a tractor!   You want more women out in those fields??....start painting those tractors pink!!!  Course we will call them "cute"!!

Here's one thing on a stick that I ate!  Yes--it's an egg!  And I wasn't the only one...people were consuming them as fast as they could hand them out.

In the afternoon we enjoyed the chuck wagon races.  Those horses fly!  So did wheels and riders!  Spencer has a great grandstand with individual seats with backs on them! 

I'm hoping if you click on this picture, you can get it to enlarge so you can read this.  I found it in...where else???...a ladies bathroom.  Oh the things you find!
Jolyn

Branson

This looks good and tasted even better!  That meat was so tender it just fell apart and the gravy was none of that canned stuff!  Makes me want to jump in the van and head down there right now!  And yes...I ate the whole thing!!  I had to refrain from licking the plate.

Saw these cars in front of the theater where Six played.  During the show noticed that each guy wore a shirt the same color as his car!  And some people think women plan their wardrobes!!

During the backstage tour, Wayne was the model for the guide to demo a "quick-change".  I think Wayne could have played a part in the production!!  Maybe lose that collared shirt.

These were our tour guides.  They also played parts in the production, moved scenery around, helped with the animals (oh yes...live animals...this was "Noah".) So glad we went to this show and if you're heading down Branson way before Oct 15th...be sure to see it!  it's worth the trip!
Jolyn

Vacation

So now you know...we were in Branson.  It is such a fun place to visit and no matter how many times we've been there, there are always more new shows in town!  Someone told us there are over 100 shows plus 400 places to eat.  We didn't quite make it to all of them.  This is Dixie Stampede.  It featured a dinner that was delicious!  Right down to the finger licking dessert.  All of it was finger licking good!  The pre-show and show were excellant. 

This is what you saw when you drove up to the Stampede.  It was so pretty, but no smell...yah...fake.  Fooled me!!

And this is for all of you who have gone to Branson and fought the traffic or who have heard of the horrendous traffic down there...a little secret...when you get there the day after labor day until Friday...no people!!!  As we got closer to the weekend...the traffic increased.  Not even many buses.  But by Friday...they were coming in!!  Didn't take a lot of pictures, just too busy doing the tourist thing..shows and eating.  Think we went to 8 shows in all.  I don't know if there are any bad shows in Branson...may not always be our brand of music, but still some really good ones. One of our favorite eating places is Mcfarlain's.  Good home cooking.  Shows that we went to were Presley's, The Dutton Family, New South, Six, Noah, Smoke on the Mountain,  and the Stampede.  We didn't do a lot of shopping...one quilt shop and one kitchen store.  But I did find a couple of things in the kitchen store that I've been looking for for a long time.  More next time....    Jolyn

Catch Up Time

I won't be in blogland for about a week...so if you look at just one of these pictures each day...you won't miss me.  I am so amazed at how many green beans I find and I'm just picking about 8'.  Also...one thing I like about this variety is that the flower falls off so that I'm not having to clean it off each bean. 

The beginning of the tomato harvest.  Just enough each day for Wayne to have one for each meal.

Besides canning 5 lugs, we ate most of another and I also froze some.  I use my vacum pac and that really seals them nice.  If we find we like them this way...I'll do more next year.

Can't forget the Spam...this is Minnesota...and we do raise hogs...and they do end up in Hormel.  Now if Spam doesn't gross you out....I LOVE it...I was cutting it into cubes to add to creamed fresh garden potatoes and carrots.  Not only do I like Spam creamed and fried...I like it fresh out of the can...especially around the edges where it's a little saltier.  I make it a practice to not serve it to our guests...I do know some of you are a little squeamish about such things.  ...I wonder if I could carve a pig out of it....wouldn't that be cute baked and served with pineapple???  Do remember that Hawaii is one of the largest consumers of Spam!

On the farm front...look at these beans..aren't they beautiful!!



On the quilting front this last picture shows some of the pieces I got cut out for the Blockswapper's exchange.  I'm all done with that project!  yeah!!!!  Well, until we exchange and have to make a quilt out of all the blocks!  See you in a week!  Jolyn