May Trip to Michigan and Illinois

I wanted this at the end but...it takes too long to figure out how to upload on blogspot. Anyway Keith bought an Ultralite plane-something that doesn't make his Mother very happy!!!

Jesse, Leo, Phyllis and Elmer-Jesse's brothers and sister at our favorite Michigan restaurant for breakfast. Every egg has 2 yolks!




Keith and Linda are raising chicks for eggs and the roosters will be supper! Unfortunately the kids are naming them all and said they wouldn't eat them :-D
This should be me on the couch-I was worn out just watching Linda work. She homeschools all 4 children and is cooking continuously a diet that is helpful to Alex's digestion plus does special exercises 2 hours or more a day with Olivia and Alek. Whew!



The 10 big chickens liked it under the motorhome.






We went to the Field Museum in Chicago. Alek loves monkeys and has asked Grandpa to make him a monkey quilt.










This is my name in hieroglyphics-at least that is what the lady told me!

















Heather, Kelly and Grandma Judie.













Heather has been helping out with the cooking.













Kelly and Heather next to the "chicken tractor"
It is to put the little chicks in so the big chickens don't peck them and it will be moved around the yard. I always learn something new when I visit!





Grandpa and Alek.













Grandpa and Olivia













Keith and Olivia













Me and my twin sister, Debra. Our joke is that people have trouble telling us apart! Actually she is 3 years younger but...it could be the other way around!




Me, Jeff, Thelma, Jazmend and Jynnejah

HAHS 2009 Graduation

Jesse and I at the graduation party for our local high school in our new chairs. Last Sat. the chair Jesse was sitting on collapsed and caught his finger. 5 stitches and an tetanus shot and 4 hours in the ER and we were on our way. Eleven graduates from our church-all with high honors and Pastor James' daughter, Hannah was Valedictorian.
We were at Raystown Lake. It was a lovely day and a lovely party.








Antonio and his daughter, Kaleigh.
Antonio is originally from Portugal. His wife, Cindy-not pictured-met him when he was a chef on a cruise ship. We are blessed to have him in our church. Miss Piggy was the star of the graduation party.

Redbud Quilt Show-Jesse and Sandie

Daisies in the Cabin-a Pam Bono design.
Jesse pieced it and I quilted it.



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My Sister's Closet Jesse pieced this quilt out of his stash and quilted it.

Redbud Quilt Show 2

The Legendary Dogwood
Shirley pieced this and I quilted it.






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Shirley and I with 3 ribbons. First in our category, Judge's choice and Ann Overmeyer Award (she was the founder of our guild)

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Why Jesse likes quilt shows!

Jesse and Mary












Jesse and Renae












Jesse's quilt-Rose Log Cabin













Jesse's Quilt-Circle of Stars












Jesse and Cilla












Jesse and Janet-Lee











Jesse and Kimmy













Jesse and Carol

Jesse Cataract Surgery

Jesse right after cataract surgery on his right eye. Doesn't he look cute :-) The eye is now 20/20 for far vision. Getting the left eye done on March 10th.

Windstorm Feb. 2009

This house is 2 houses away from us. Luckily for all involved the tree landed in the street and not on the two houses that were closest to it.

Unfortunately the tree knocked down at least 3 poles and we were without electricity for 2 1/2 days.














We have wood heat so we had heat and were able to heat up leftovers on the wood stove plus we could plug in our refrigerator and freezer into the generator on the motorhome.

Scrapbook Retreat

This is the loft. There were 2 bunk beds and 2 bedrooms and 2 aerobeds up there. We had problems with the steps up and down to the kitchen. Two women fell. I was extremely careful going up and down. The man built them too narrow.
This is Cindy facing and Kelly behind her. There were two people assigned to each meal. We didn't go hungry!

Here is Krista-the one who planned the retreat after her shower. I got specific orders for no pictures of anyone in PJ's. Andrea is in the right background.

Marsha and I picked a room close to the bathroom-big mistake. It was something like -18 that night and no heat in our bedroom. I brought an extra quilt but my nose was frozen all night!

This is Michelle










This is a view from the stairs looking down. Cindy in the front right. Marsha in the middle and Kelly to the left. My little sewing corner is off to the right rear of the picture.





This is Lisa hard at work.











This is heading down the hill on Sunday. The owner with 4 wheel drive is delivering me to my car at his house because Fri. my car got stuck on the first hill when I hit an icy patch. I tried to back down but...the back end slipped into the snowbank. It took me and a couple of men with one driving to bounce my car out of the snowbank. Not a fun start to my weekend.
Only those with 4 wheel drive made it to the top without the owner's transportation.

Jesse's 76th Birthday

Still sweethearts after 30 years!

For years Jesse has eaten prime rib for his birthday. This year we went to Texas Roadhouse because the restaurants close to us don't serve
prime rib. I was at the scrap weekend for Jesse's birthday so we celebrated the Thurs. after his birthday.

Since we were in State College, we invited Rick along.

December 2008

Our sanctuary was transformed for our young people to present the musical "The Christmas Shoes" I went to see it both nights-Excellent!


We sold our first quilt. I fell in love with this quilt and asked Jesse to piece it for me so I could quilt it. Cathy fell in love with it when she saw it at the county fair and was willing to pay the price we put on it.

Christmas 2008

This is a before picture. We just put up a small tree because living room is so small. It is decorated with quilted ornaments.

We haven't made a quilt for Rick for a long time. He mentioned he liked this one when he saw it in a quilt book. I picked out the fabric, Jesse pieced it and I quilted it.

I made Keith and Rick blankies years ago out of twin sheets. Linda found a twin sheet the same as Rick's old blankie. I tried to make it exactly the same but they don't make batting the same as they used to. It disintegrated when I washed it so I had to make it a little differently.

The TV that Jesse watches when he quilts lost it's remote ability so we splurged on a new TV for him so the poor baby didn't have to get up and turn the channel.

This is how I sit in my favorite chair. I didn't even think how sexy it would look when I had Jesse take my picture :-) I'm just thankful my body still bends in that position!

Thanksgiving 2008

Rick went to IL for Thanksgiving so our friends Jim and Shelly Brown invited us for dinner. I took a picture of the table with all the food but...so busy eating Shelly's yummy turkey that didn't take any pictures of people. I took this picture of Jim and Shelly at our Christmas program but don't have a picture of their four

children-Ben, Byron, Jacob and Jeffrey.

Rick's Birthday 2008

We got Rick two pairs of jeans. He likes Levi's Silver Tab Baggy but they are getting hard to find.

Rick sent his Bible to be rebound and then was laid off and couldn't afford to get it so it was fun to surprise him with his "new" Bible.

Tumbling

All four kids are taking tumbling classes. This huge area is in a small town called Pecatonica. They also had rooms for different kinds of dance lessons.


Here they are after tumbling. Heather (who is now taller than her Grandma-isn't that awful?), Kelly, Alek and Olivia

Oriental Museum

Linda took Rick, me and the kids to this museum on the University of Illinois's campus. They are currently studying ancient civilizations. We took about 2 hours looking at everything but it is a place that you could spend a lot more time.



Note the size of the man on the left.











They had some huge pieces but I didn't write down what everything was.














We also visited a large cathedral that was close. Olivia was wondering if they served snacks (her church serves snacks between Sunday School and church)

Visit with Jeff and Thelma, Debra

Jeff, Marcuise, and Rick











From the left Jaydis (youngest) Jynnejah (oldest) and Jazmend (2nd oldest) Jeff called them "the wrecking crew". They were well behaved when we were visiting!


Thelma, chef extraordinaire. We visited and Thelma cooked. She did a wonderful job. Yum! Already looking forward to the next visit!











Deb couldn't come to Jeff's house so we went to visit her the night before we left. Another yummy meal! I can't believe I only gained 2# on this visit.

September in Illinois

Heather made me a crown.









Alek likes to dress up. Here he is using his Davey Crockett hat and a track as a cane to dress up as an old man. Below he is a cowboy.




















Grandpa with Olivia and Alek.











This is not a picture that makes Grandma happy :-( Too many people and no helmets!


Togetherness!

Digger O'Dell

This is our front yard when we returned from IL. Bob couldn't find the leak but the crawl space is now dry.

This is the view from our bedroom as Bob begins to dig a ditch from our crawl space to Muddy Run, a small creek behind our house. He is trying to get the water out of our crawl space which has come up through the shale.





He is really concentrating!

What now?

Rest period.

The water is starting to flow out of the crawlspace.

Water is flowing out!

Looking at the back of the house after it is filled. Need to start getting more wood. It was 40 degrees this a.m. and it is only August!

Looking towards the creek and Bob's (Digger O'Dell) house.

NEPALA

NEPALA stands for Northeast PA Longarm. We meet four times a year in Wilkes-Barre. This is our show and tell. This pattern is Yellow Brick Road which I pieced and quilted and it is a Christmas present.
Barb T on the left is our hostess for the day.


This pattern is Delectable Mountains. I pieced it and Jesse quilted it. It will be my Christmas quilt because my antique Christmas quilt has begun to disintegrate.
Ruth Y is on the left.


This pattern is called Paint Chips. Jesse made it with fabrics he had collected. He pieced and quilted it. For the quilting pattern he took pictures of paint brushes and rollers and made line drawings-a pantograph and quilted it following the drawings with a laser light.


This is the back of Paint Chips. Jesse pieced together the back with leftover fabric.


This pattern is called Secret Garden. Jesse pieced and quilted this quilt.




This pattern is called Easy Elegant Lonestar. I pieced and quilted it. It will be donated to our local Soroptomist Club and they will chance it off for Huntingdon County Pride (former Easter Seals), Huntingdon House (abused women's shelter) and our local Food Bank.

Judge's Choice

I asked Jesse to buy this kit because I fell in love with the colors. He pieced it and I quilted it. Harvest Spice won Judge's Choice at our local Huntingdon County Fair.