Dad

In 2010, Dad was interviewed by a volunteer from the National Museum of the Pacific War. 

I'm purging my office today and ran across the hard copy,  then took a minute to check to see if there might be a website. 

By luck, I found Dad's interview,  both written and the actual recording. 

I'm listening to Dad tell his story today, 4/27, it would have been his 97th birthday today. 

Gosh,  what a treasure.

http://digitalarchive.pacificwarmuseum.org/cdm/compoundobject/collection/p16769coll1/id/5489/rec/1

Port Wing Part II

A few weeks ago, I drove up to Port Wing to drop off 5 quilt tops at Fisher Under Cover to have them machine quilted.  On Saturday, I drove up to pick up the finished projects.

It was a sunny day, started out brisk, but turned into a warm day with a little breeze, perfect for a long drive.

I met friend Mary in Port Wing and we shopped a little fabric after gathering up my quilts.

Quilt #1

Strips & Squares

I sewed this quilt at Cornucopia in a class that was designed to use up scraps, but since I don't have a scrap heap, I used fabric and made this little lap quilt.

Quilt 2

 The Wizard

I bought this kit at quilt camp one year at Oak Forest.  A quilt shop from New Richmond brought some kits & fabrics to sell.  It is panels and sashing.

The machine stitching looks like twisters.

Quilt 3

Sunflowers

 I sewed this quilt at Cornucopia in a class with our friend Myrna.

It was a mystery quilt.  We brought the fabric to class with a few instructions, large print, blending fabric, etc.

I was not pleased with how this quilt looked after I sewed it.  I felt like the sunflower (large print) fabric was all wrong for this pattern.

But now that it has been machine stitched, I just love it.

Tammy at Fisher Under Cover picked out the stitch pattern and thread.  It can't be seen in this photo, but the thread has a sheen/shimmer to it.

Quilt 4

I had purchased this fabric on clearance, layer cakes and jelly roll.

This quilt reminded me of coffee & lattes.

Friends Mary & Sharon ran across the perfect backing for it.

Quilt 5

Brick by Brick

I bought this kit at Pins and Needles in St. Croix Falls, WI.

The fabrics look like old woolen shirts that my grandfather used to wear.

This is headed to my great nephew in Alma.  He's a hunter & fisher and outdoors kid.

 Do you see maple leaves in the stitching?

I'm very pleased with these quilts, now they just need bindings to be completely finished.

***

After lunch with Mary at the Bear Paw Cafe, I headed towards home, making a slight detour.

I continued my drive out to Wisconsin Point in Superior.

Always impressive to see the big lake and it was a perfect day.

Near Port Wing the lake is very brown due to the Iron River that enters near by.

It was a perfect day along the lake.

I watched these 2 geese taking a break on a big rock about 20 feet from shore.

 Eventually they swam off to take care of their business. 

The Wisconsin Point light house is picturesque.

I had to turn most of the photo black and white as some evil doers have done some tagging of the base in bright blue spray paint.

The clouds were soft across the sky.

I caught motion out of the corner of my eye and just barely caught a Cormorant in take off.

They push off the water a number of times before catching flight.

I was impressed to see 4 or 5 brand spanking new boardwalks from Wisconsin Point Road over the dune to the beach.  Handicap accessible and really nice for those of us who don't want a shoe full of sand.

The sand has formed dunes along the beach from the effect of ice and winter.

Duluth in the background.

It was a pleasant day.

Round trip was about 280 miles, enough for one day for me, but very enjoyable.

Now I have 5 quilts to finish, but first a major purge and reorg of the sewing room is happening.

 Step 1

L shaped formica table top out.

 Step 2

No longer used dining room table, in.

There is much more to do, so I better get to it.

A trip to Luck for a funeral

Dianna and I went to school together at Luck, we went to Sunday School and Confirmation together too.  Her Dad and my Dad were members of a hunting group at Highland View back in the '60s.  Her folks were West Denmark people and today was the funeral for her Mom.  I was glad I could go.  It was a very nice service and I was glad to see Dianna.  She was so appreciative that I would come.

***

After the service, I did a few errands in Luck and then took a look around for anything to take a photo of.  I did okay, finding a Sand Hill Crane, American Eagle, a pair of ducks that I am working on the identification and several Muskrats that were sitting on the edge of the ice of Rice Lake eating weeds.

This guy was letting me creep up real close in the car, 

but then some road equipment drove my and off he went.

 Mother Nature sure is good at camouflage.

There were 3 pairs of Muskrats along the edge of the ice on Rice Lake.

It was curious to watch them go into the water and come up in a hole in the ice with their snack.

 While I was distracted by the Muskrats, these two landed right in front of me.

I was a snap or two too late for a great landing photo.
After a consult with nephew Kris, Wildlife Biologist, these are Common Mergansers.

I love Sandhill Cranes.

This guy was across the road from the Canada Goose, so I almost missed him.

He wasn't very big, but too early for this year's hatch, so must just be a small one from last year.

I was glad I went to Dorothy's service and I was also glad to have some encounters with Nature.

Life is Good.

Spring quilt camp

It was a great weekend to sew, rain & snow and mud were constants in Solon Springs, but we were comfy inside with our sewing pals.

I went with a list of 15 projects.  I didn't get anywhere near all of those done, but a couple of big ones are now off the list.

First was to bind a quilt that I started about 5 years ago with the intent to give it to Laila.  I have not idea if she has given up hope of ever getting the quilt, but later today, 

it will arrive at her house in Colorado.

I can't believe how I missed the corner on this stitching and then have to post it.
Ugh.

 Ha' det godt means Have It Good in Danish and is the way my Aunt Johanne signs off her emails to me.  I like it and have started using it myself.

Fun machine quilting.

A quilt made of batik fabrics using a pattern called Yellow Brick Road.

This project took most of the day on Thursday, I did do some other cutting but not much sewing before heading home to sleep.

Thursday was a rainy day.

Next on my list,was to make some microwave bowl potholders out of some fabric that came from my friend Janice's stash.  These were fun to make and went quick once I had the steps in my head.

I think I made 14 in all, I'll make some more as they are a nice little hostess gift, and I've made some adjustments to the pattern.

While I was inbetween projects, friend Mary suggested I whip up a little pin cushion,

meet Henrietta.

This was a quick and fun project to do.

Isn't she so sweet?

Instruction for Henrietta

Normally, we have a lovely view of Lake St. Croix, but because of a major construction project at the motel, instead we only saw mud, big equipment and construction workers.

It caused some extra effort to haul all the quilting supplies up and down the flights of steps, but by next camp, that will be a distant memory.  And the motel staff was great about helping schlep machines & supplies up the steps.

Sandy is the 4th in our sewing group, she lives near Superior.

She spent most of her weekend working on a fun quilt.

I thought it looked like molecular diagrams, or honey combs.

Either way, it was a lovely quilt top.

Quilt top by Sandy W.

Sharon & Mary and I all made a matching credit card case

 to go with the wallets me made at last camp.

 Somehow my cork and fabric came up a little small.

I'm pretty sure I'll remake this at some point, but it is very functional as is.

These wallets and credit card cases are fun to make. I'm hoping to knock out a few more.

I've been going easy on the alcohol since my rapid heart beat deal,

but a Coors Light after a long day of sewing sure did taste great.

I was happy to confirm that I still love beer.

Kristi, who runs quilt camp, brought in some lovely tulips and pussy willows.

Such a nice spring bouquet.

It reminded me that I had recently seen this little story on Facebook.

The rest of the weekend was spent working on squares for a Block of the Month project Mary & Sharon and I are doing with our friends in Cornucopia.  Each month Myrna sends us a pattern.

I've decided to do all of mine in red and white fabrics, with little regard to pattern.

So far I have January, February, March and April completed.

I also had a wise idea to make 2 of each block, seemed so smart at the time, but now I'm not sure what I'll do with those, I guess I can always make runners out of the spares.

January

February

March

April

Some of these blocks are not much to look at, I'll have to use some black sashing & cornerstones to tie them all together.  It will be fun to see the 12 blocks next year.

Like I said, not as many completed projects as last year, but my sewing machine got serviced and I had a nice time with my sewing pals and the rest of the campers.

Already planning for the next one in the fall.

Happy sewing.