Memorial Day Weekend

On Saturday, Cyndee and I hit the garage sales. My find of the day was a complete set of cushions for my old porch furniture for only $5.00!!!!  Red plaid is probably not what I would have chosen, but it IS patchwork and at that price, who could resist? I also found some pottery wine goblets.  Showing my age, I remember using them in the 70's and how cold they kept the wine. Remember, back then you could legally drink at 18... Apparently, they must have had some nostalgic significance for their previous owner too because he was a little wistful about letting them go. I assured him that they were going to a good home.

  

We met Ruth and Deb at Sparty's for brunch.  Deb had brought her latest creation so we had show and tell in the parking lot. Beautiful quilt!  I think it's going to be a graduation present.

Today Cubby and his mom came over for lunch and we spent some time outside. Here he is scooping poop (not really). I had forgotten how cute they look with their chubby little legs sticking out of their playsuits.  It's great to be a grandma. You get to relive all of the things you were too busy, tired, stressed... to notice with your own kids or hadn't thought about in a long, long time. 

 
After Block Exchange tonight, Ruth and I took the three dogs for a long walk through the neighborhood and observed the different methods of container gardening.  Gennie had fun walking with her friends Sadie and Dora and is now 'zonked out' here at my feet. Do we have to go to work tomorrow? 

And the Band Played On...

You missed a toe-tapping good time!  Tonight Cindy and I went to hear the New Horizons Band Spring Concert. The solo oboe for the group is our own Carol Seamon!  Composed mostly of those over 50 (oh my gosh, that's my age group now!), the band consists of those who haven't played an instrument in a long time or have decided that they want to take up a new instrument. Carol decided she wanted to play the oboe because she like the sound of it and it just so happened Irene had one to loan her. Kismet! Carol is one of the members who have been with the group since the beginning in 2003. Way to go Carol!  As they say, the rest is history...

 

I saw the band poster earlier this week at Apple Market (Carol had actually posted it on the board) and we decided to go. We didn't tell Carol ahead of time because we didn't want to make her nervous. She was very surprised and pleased to see us. The music was very good including a clarinet ensemble playing Danny Boy, a flute ensemble playing The Entertainer and also compositions in Jazz and Dixieland. There were even opportunities for the audience to sing along. And what better way to end a concert that a rousing Washington Post March by Sousa?

Quilts turn up all over!  One of the pieces was The Band Played On. This quilt was given to the group by Jane Scandary who used to be in our guild. She is no longer with The New Horizons Band but gave them this gift in memory of her time spent making music.

Busy Weekend

On Friday and Saturday night we danced an Israeli folk dance as part of Sistrum Women's Chorus' Spring Concert. Pictured here are the "Adama" dancers, Irene and Abby, who choreographed the dance and Cynthia and I, willing participants. We learned the dance in less than a week. The greatest compliment we received was that we looked like we were "having fun" dancing.  We were! Sally Potter was the featured guest artist and the energy in the Mollygrove Chapel was amazing. Sistrum performs a holiday concert in conjunction with the Lansing Gay Men's Chorus which is awesome. Don't miss it.

Of course, this was also East Lansing Art Fair weekend. Cubby enjoyed his visit to the MSU Dairy store and especially all of the dog-dogs on 'parade'. I overheard one little boy tell his mom that he had "counted 63 dogs". I bought two pair of earrings. Samples can be seen on lavender-pie.blogspot.com and kuhlquilter.blogspot.com.

Cubby really enjoyed the music. Below he is applauding Jen Sygit and Spare Change. Next year I'm sure we won't be able to keep him in the stroller and he'll be the first one up dancing. As it was, he was tuckered out and came home and took a very long nap at Grandma's.

The weather at the art fair is always a gamble. On Sunday, Cindy, Irene and I tried to help kids create quilt blocks from construction paper at the Capitol City Quilt Guild booth.  It was cold, it was windy (not conducive for working with little pieces of paper) so we switched to crayons, (which melted when the sun sporadically appeared). We were relieved when our shift was over and commend Irene for her dedication as coordinator in sticking it out for the whole day.  I was very thankful to see that Jean and Jan had arrived to help her shortly after our shift was over.

Some Kind of Stimulus

Friday morning, I went to get my jeans out of the dryer. The floor went SQUISH!

My 1960's "commode" had been making strange noises for quite some time and I figured it finally 'went'. It turns out it was the plumbing in the faucet that had almost totally rusted through. A very expensive 4.5 hour morning spent with the plumber and I now have a new toilet, new faucet (guaranteed for life - the last one lasted 40-some years!) and new pipes and hoses on everything from the wall out.

The rest of the day was spent on bad jokes: There goes my stimulus check down the drain...W's check was full of !@#$, economic crap... come up with your own....

I was in Lou and Harry's tonight for the fantastic Wednesday, $3.99 gyro combo deal and waited in line with one of Lansing's very talented folk musicians. She said she wanted to get back to quilting because a quilt was something you could "hold in your hand".  She said music was there but you couldn't hold it.  I've always wished that I could enjoy the spontaneity of musicians getting together, making wonderful music in a "jam" session without anything written down. I guess it all depends on your point of view.

Friday/Saturday is the Spring "Sistrum" concert. Irene convinced a few of us to dance an Israeli folk dance which she and Abby choreographed to one of the songs.  Sally Potter is the featured guest artist. First Presby (Daisy's church), Mollygrove Chapel .

 

Sauder Village

Great Day for a Quilterly Road Trip

The Leaves of Change

This was my entry for the Sauder show and it's actually hanging sideways. I kind of like it this way too. There are buttons and beads and the 3 gold spirals are my first attempt at painting on fabric.

Well here goes......

My first official blog entry. My friend, Ruth taught us how to blog last week. I'm afraid of becoming a blog junkie. Once you start, are you hooked?  Kind of like quilting!

On Sunday, a gaggle of us went to the quilt show at Sauder Village. Perfect day for a road trip.