Weekend Visitor, Park View Quilters, and Ball Brothers Concert

What a wonderful weekend I had! Louie went away for a pool playing weekend, so I invited my blogger friend Cheryl, from Cheryl’s Teapots2Quilting blog to come spend the weekend with me. We had met briefly last spring while she was on her way through on a trip south, to Oklahoma, and I invited her to come back to see me this weekend. She accepted, and arrived early Friday afternoon!

(Picture from the first time I met her.)

Cheryl brought me a gift! She made a pin cushion for me, and she paper pieced the sewing machine on the front of it. Isn’t it sweet? It measures 6” x 6”.

We did some visiting Friday afternoon, and worked on a couple sewing machines, then went to Flapjack’s for supper. We came back home and watched some of the Olympics, then I helped her cut out a new bag/purse that she was going to be sewing on Saturday. She then helped me set up for a quilting day we would have on Saturday with the Park View ladies!

We got up early on Saturday, and waited for the Park View ladies, then welcomed them when they came to sew at 9 am. Everyone (but me) had a project to work on, and we enjoyed a day of fellowship. I enjoyed the day visiting and helping the girls whenever I could.

Connie sewed Criss Cross pot holders and drink coasters.

Shirley made some Criss Cross pot holders and drink coasters as well.

Helen made a pot holder, which I failed to photograph, then Shirley put her to work sewing a quilt top for the Park View quilting ministry. It turned out cute! I also got the added bonus of getting to visit with Helen a little bit. The few times I have gone to sew with the PVQM ladies, I didn’t get the opportunity to visit with her, so I enjoyed getting to know her better. I found out she used to live in Olin, where my brother lived after he married, so I asked her if she knew my sisterinlove’s family. She told me she was a second cousin once removed from my sisterinlove’s father! SMALL WORLD! We enjoyed comparing notes and talking about people we both knew. What a sweetheart she is. It seems different when the Park View ladies come here. We let our true colors show, and goof off, and hug on each other, and just have a grand time!

Sweet JoLynne, who is always smiling, made a quilted bag for a friend of hers, and she still loves me even after I cut my finger with my sharp scissors helping her install the magnetic snap, and dripped blood on her bag. That was even after she told me ‘Don’t drip blood on my bag!’ I didn’t realize I was bleeding as bad as I was, but I quickly got the bottle of peroxide, a Qtip and a napkin, and when I finished, there was no sign of blood anywhere. WHEW! Sorry JoLynne! Thank you Hydrogen Peroxide!

Cheryl made a new quilted bag for herself. I gave her a quilted bag the first time she came to visit, and she is still using it. She chose a fun floral batik fabric for her bag this time.

Cheryl also worked on another project when she was finished with her bag.

Petra, who was being silly about her picture being taken, made a quilted bag for her daughter, who is a police officer. She made the longer strap, like she made on her own bag (when she was here the first time), and she modified the inside pockets a bit for her daughter’s service revolver. We had to laugh, because when Petra made her first bag, she brought the same fabrics that I used when I made my own quilted bag. When she pulled the fabric out of the bag this time, it was the same fabric I just bought to make another bag with for myself! I guess I don’t have to guess what fabric Petra likes. If I like it, she will like it!

My friend Kay, who is also with the Park View Quilting Ministry, was unable to come join us, because she was recovering from a bad cold and strep throat. We missed you Kay, but here is a picture from when you did join us.

There were a couple of other ladies who had wanted to come, but couldn’t make it this time either. We were kind of wondering about whether we would be able to have our sewing day, because we did not know what the weather was going to be like, but it didn’t start snowing until after 2 pm, and they were getting ready to leave about then anyway.

I hugged them all goodbye, and Cheryl and I got ready to head to DeWitt to meet my brother. We met Jack, and headed to Fulton, Illinois to pick up our friends Dave and Judy (I made Dave drive once we got to his house), then we went to Morrison, Illinois to Emmanuel Reformed Church to see the Ball Brothers put on a concert. It snowed on the drive over, but the snow had pretty much stopped by the time we got to the church. We went early to get good seats, and enjoyed time visiting while we waited. Judy and Cheryl enjoyed visiting and getting acquainted, as Judy is a quilter as well. (There might have been a little goofiness going on as well, but I’m not at liberty to say. )

(Jack, Dave, Judy and Cheryl)

The concert was AWESOME, and everyone laughed, sang, and praised the Lord. God was IN THE HOUSE!

Dave drove us back to their home, then Jack drove us back to DeWitt, where he picked up his car, and we all headed home. Thank you Jack for going to the concert with me! It was bedtime by the time we got home, and we were ready!

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Cheryl was up when I got up this morning, and we visited for awhile, then we went back downstairs, while she worked on squaring up some quilt blocks, and I sewed a quilt top for the Park View Quilting Ministry and we visited some more.

We finished our projects, put everything away and vacuumed. I baked a frozen pizza for lunch, then unfortunately, she needed to leave for home. She had a 3 1/2 hour drive ahead of her, and wanted to get home before dark. Louie was on his way home before Cheryl left, so I wasn’t alone very long, before he was home.  What a wonderful weekend I had. I have already invited Cheryl to come back on the next weekend Louie goes away, and I am hoping she is able to fit it into her schedule.

To read Cheryl’s blog about this weekend, click HERE.

I hope your weekend was wonderful too!