The Long Way to Maple Grove -

The mighty Mississippi full to overflowing!

Yesterday was a longer travel day than I expected – but it was just a day to GET THERE.  This first part of this trip is not a teaching part – the only thing on my agenda was getting my arms around my mom for her 78th birthday.

We pulled back from the gate in Greensboro, NC – and I settled deeply back into my first class upgrade seat (Always nice when that happens!)  and then we sat.  And sat.  And sat.

And then the announcement came – “Ladies and Gentlemen, we are on a full ground stop due to storms over Detroit.  When the ground stop is lifted, they will let the international flights in first as they have been in the air for more than 9 hours, and then we will be cleared to go.”  And we sat, and we sat…

And by the time we were wheels up my connecting flight was already boarding for Minneapolis in Detroit with no way for me to make that connection.

SO much water!

I think that is St Paul in the background …not sure….but oh my!  I’ve never seen it like this.

It all worked out in the end.  I spent 4 extra hours in Detroit, but it had me landing in Minneapolis about the same time as my aunt Gail’s arrival from Florida – and it gave me time to do THIS:

So many years since I have embroidered!

This little cutie is being worked up as our Africa trip project - October is already looming close and I can't wait to travel to Kenya with Craftours  and my group of nearly 40!

When done, there will be pieced borders hopefully out of African batiks and places to embellish with the handmade beads and trinkets we are sure to pick up along the way.

Essex linen. Wonderfil 12 wt thread. Sulky Stick n Stitch wash-out overlay. I am using a combination of back stitch, stem stitch and satin stitch.

No pattern available – this is my first sample for my group, and then I will see what I do with it from there.  But this is going to be the perfect project for our Kenya group!

When the girls have waiting time -

The girls go to IKEA!!

We had about 3 hours before my mom’s flight got in from Boise – so we decided to wander over to IKEA, get a snack in the cafeteria, wander around and look at things and just catch up.  It was GREAT!  And I saw some other things that are now on my “I think I need this” list.  IKEA is my trouble zone, I should never be let in there unsupervised.

The birthday girl has landed!

I met her at the baggage claim, and off we went.

By this time my phone was about ZERO BATTERY.  And we were hungry for dinner after all of that IKEA wandering.  We went over to the Look Out in Maple Grove and enjoyed dinner on the patio surrounded by the attempts of Wednesday Night Karaoke Night and watched folks much younger than ourselves enjoy games of sand volley ball.

Summer is finally in full swing here in the land of 10,000 lakes!

THIS fun awaits for today!

We’ve never had a Mach Girls retreat before!  My mom has been quilting quite a few years now, her sister my Aunt Joy just really getting into it over the past year.  Aunt Gail has no idea what she is in for, but we are ready to baptize her by full immersion.  LOL!

My thanks to our friend Cherie for taking Joy by the hand and leading her in!  She came by to set up the sewing stations and has brought several quilts made from my designs for our beds, and hanging over the railing….it was such a great welcome.  (I’ll share those later, they deserve their own post!)

Good Morning, Waffles!

My cousin Bethany just dropped her sweet Frenchie Waffles off for Doggie Day Care at Grandma Joy’s on her way to work.  Oh, I love this little fire plug!

So glad that she is still around and doing well.  Sadly, Joy’s beagle Lucy, crossed the rainbow bridge at nearly 16 years old since the last time I was here.  Her presence is missed.

Folks around me are still slumbering – but I think I’ll wander down, get my project out of my suitcase and fire up one of those machines.

Or….perhaps I’ll just sit here and look out the window at the beautiful day ahead and just enjoy my time here with these women who mean so much to me.

Quiltville Quote of the Day

Vintage quilt found in Kentucky.

The distance between dreams and reality is called action!

What will you do to bring you one more step closer to that reality today?

Have a wonderful Thursday, everyone!