May 19, 2022: Busy week; quilting ”chores”; and more!

Greetings dear readers! It’s been a bit busier than normal around here this past week! My little band “Tutto Bene” performed a couple of pieces in a concert to benefit Ukraine last Friday evening so a lot of practicing before hand:

The concert raised over $2000.00!!!!

The very next day, the 14th, was Al and my 45th wedding anniversary! We celebrated by going an hour up the coast to Kennebunkport to enjoy a beautiful warm afternoon exploring that coastline.

You may have heard of the town as the location of the Bush family compound, which we drove by. The rocky coast is lovely:

We couldn’t help but compare this ”Atlantic” experience with our honeymoon in San Francisco and our drive down the California coast to Malibu, and the ”Pacific” experience. Lots of gratitude for both! We then went inland a few miles to Kennebunk where we stayed at an Inn overnight and had a special dinner at “50 Local”, a fine restaurant. 45 years!! – a lifetime! We’ve had our careers and retired, our children have grown up, our older grandchildren are almost adults. In hindsight, it’s all gone so fast, but I’m full of gratitude. So glad to have Al beside me all the way and that we’re still fairly healthy.

One of the places we visited in Kennebunkport was St Anne’s Episcopal church – special because if it’s seaside location and rustic stone construction – gorgeous!

I finally got around to some quilting ”chores” this week – you know, those things that must be done, but aren’t as fun as choosing fabrics, sewing, etc. I needed to make a label for Golden Glow – it still needs to be appliqued down, but it’s finally made!

When I sewed the hexagonal blocks all together for ”The Inner Reaches of Outer Space”, I did not press any of the seams, so that task needed to be done before I could proceed. My small 24” X 38” ironing surface works for 95% of my needs:

But it’s only ”open” on 2 sides and not wide enough for large projects so I have to bring out my regular ironing board with the ”big board” top for a task like this. They are stored in the basement so it’s a bit if a hassle to get them 🙁.

For this task I used my mini iron which worked beautifully!

I loved how the light from the window shone through the quilt!

Now I’m ready for the next step of appliqueing the strips of fabric across the top and bottom.

I somehow managed to get 4 more baskets done – now up to 25:

I am making slow, but steady progress appliqueing leaves for the border of Stormy Weather. There are 229 leaves per border. I finished border #2 at the end of March. I’m now about 2/3 finished with border #3:

In my last post I showed you a shagbark hickory tree leaf bud:

On a recent walk I found these in various stages of development and managed to get some photos. One ”bud” opens into a cluster of leaves. Watch the opening:

Of course, the leaves are growing and opening further as I write. ”Awe!”

Be kind, be grateful, and cherish each day, Gladi