I often think how fortunate I am to have so many members from the guilds I visit who are willing not only to give their time to prepare for me to come to the guild, but also to give of their time after classes. This guild really went above and beyond when it came to sharing outside of the classroom. To find out more about the Gone to Pieces Quilt Guild in Alpena, Michigan go to http://www.quiltguilds.com/michigan.htm
When I arrived on Thursday, Kay, who is the guild president, took me to meet two of her friends and we had a nice wine tasting and dinner. Kay drove me along a section of town that borders Lake Heron. A lot of the boats are already dry-docked for winter.
On Friday evening after the workshop I was lucky enough to spend time with Monica, the treasurer of the guild. She took me to her ranch and we went horse back riding! I had not ridden a horse since I was in high school. Hello….that was a very, very long time ago. I got to ride Eve. We had such a great ride on Monica’s property. Yes, here I am on Eve. It was lots of fun and the fall foliage was amazing. I did not take my hands off the reigns to take any photos for fear I would fall off of my horse. Eve is a beautiful Tennessee Walking Horse. And I did not fall off! I did however get wacked by some branches. Do you think Eve did that on purpose? I think she knew I was a very inexperienced rider. But, I still had fun.
Monica had lots of fun critters including Odie, the peacock.
Here are some of the ladies working hard in the Saturday workshop.
Saturday evening Kathy took me to the Alpena Civic Theatre. We saw “Church Basement Ladies”. If you ever get a chance to see this play you must go. It is a musical comedy. It was a very cute play and had lots of good laughs. Thanks Kathy for allowing me to spend an very enjoyable evening dining with you and then the play.
Since Alpena has a rather small airport (smallest I have ever been to and that is saying something) there was one, yes, just one, flight out on Sunday at 1:45pm. So, Kay was willing to come pick me up and take me to see some of the lighthouses in the area the morning before I departed. We could not have picked a more beautiful day.
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On some of our recent long car rides we listened to the new Nicholas Sparks’ book “The Longest Ride”. Yes, every once in a while I like a nice romantic story. I have to admit that I thought some parts of the book were a little slow going but I still enjoyed the book. There are two story lines in this book. Ira Levinson is inside his car which has crashed down a ravine and there is a very slim chance anyone will ever find him. Ira is remembering times with his now deceased wife, Ruth. The other story line involves Sophia and Luke. Sophia is a college student and Luke works on his mother’s farm and is a professional bull rider. The lives of all of the main characters are interesting and the book takes come good turns.
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I got an email from Sherry Thompson from the guild in Spokane where I taught recently. She has her Oriental Flower project totally finished…quilted and bound! Great job Sherry!! Love the quilting around the circle and on the corners. Great compliment to the design.
When I was in Alpena one of my students in the Saturday workshop, Lenore, brought her finished “Heard It Through The Grapevine” project. Lenore had taken the workshop from me a while ago when I taught in Chicago. I know it does not always show well in the photo but the workmanship on the block is excellent.
This week I am off to Clarence, New York.