Buried treasure!

I was looking around in my sewing room, trying to find something, when I unearthed this beauty:

Log Cabin Quilt Top, made by Frances Heggestad in Cumberland, Wisconsin, circa 1975.  Given to me by my uncle, Orville Heggestad.

Sorry for the bad photo - I will post more as I work on this. My grandma made this, and I must say, her sewing was very accurate - done on a treadle machine.  She used scraps given to her (I recognize many of the fabrics in this from clothes I wore, and some that I also sewed myself), and gave most of her quilts to the poor. This quilt top is HUGE, and unfinished on one corner. I plan to even it out, and finish it for myself.

See that gold/olive/white cotton print? That was my confirmation dress from the 8th grade.  My mom had a lady in town make it for me.  

There are three memories in a row here, all from clothes I made for myself:  the red/white cotton pique was a front zip, short short jumpsuit; the lime floral was culottes (I also made a solid lime vest to go with it - yea, I was stylin'); and the navy/bright colored floral was a peasant dress.

Some fun prints here. Grandma used everything, and wasted nothing.

We found this where I work on Monday morning! My friend's cube got "bombed" - I guess some of the Chicago Bears fans (we are in a Chicago suburb) didn't like the fact that Ginny is a Green Bay Packers fan, aka a "cheese head".  They did a stellar job enclosing her cube - they even put a green light inside. Ginny worked inside there all day.  We all wanted a cube like that!

Cedarburg Visit Part Two - Quilt Museum, and yes I do hand quilting

How fun to see Victoria Findlay Wolfe's ( I knew her from her 15 Minutes Play blog, you can also find her at other blog, bumblebeans inc.) Double Wedding Ring quilt exhibit!  It is a the Wisconsin Quilt Museum in Cedarburg, and it is well worth your time to visit! It is in a restored barn, on the edge of Cedarburg, and seeing quilts displayed in that venue is just perfect.  In the photo above, at the bottom, you see an awesome quilt made by Victoria's grandmother, made free-form from various fabrics, many polyesters - what she had to work with.  At the top is Victoria's modern quilt, of quilting cottons, but inspired by her grandmother's quilt.  

Close-up of the machine quilting (sorry I do not remember the name of the quilter) on one of Victoria's Double Wedding Ring quilts.

Full view of the quilt. 

Close-up view of another of Victoria's quilts - again, sorry I did not note the quilter's name.  Stunning work! Victoria has a book coming out soon, with all of these quilts in it.

Out behind the quilt museum, a blacksmith was demonstrating his craft.  Do you see how red-hot that iron got? His fire gets up to 3000 degrees! His work was fascinating - and a little terrifying! 

Who knew, me, hand quilting?  Yes, I have done it in the past, and I have recently picked it up again. Part of my inspiration is the blog of Tim Latimer (timquilts.com), an excellent and prolific hand quilter from Michigan.  I had this small piece sitting around, and decided to do some "big stitch" hand quilting on it, with #8 perle cotton. 

Close-up of the quilting.  I have gotten better as I go along!

Cedarburg Wine Festival - Giant Pumpkins and more!

Fun day trip to Cedarburg, Wisconsin yesterday for their Wine and Harvest Festival! Cedarburg is a charming town, just north of Milwaukee (and about 2 hours north of here), full of really old, beautiful homes and fun shops and restaurants.  The town grew up on a creek, so a lot of the history of the town centered around that.  As you can see, giant pumpkin growing is a competitive sport there! 

There was no shortage of artists displaying (and selling) their awesome work.  I was drawn to this artist's yard art, made of recycled materials.  I always love birds, and didn't notice right away the subject matter of these two birds (sorry it's not a better picture):  the engagement. It was awesome!

Scott and I stopped for some refreshments at Silver Creek Brewing Company, with the creek running right through their entryway (below).  They had a lovely patio out back where we just sat and enjoyed the beautiful fall day. 

Baby Lena!

What a little miracle! I ADORE this picture...this is my daughter, Emily, and her best friend's little daughter, Lena - one month old.  The look on Emily's face says it all, doesn't it?  Emily instantly fell in love with this sweet baby.  

Emily sharing a laugh with Kristin.  Lena was so good-natured about getting passed around from person to person. 

The lovely Kristin and her sweet daughter.  Emily and Kristin have been best friends since junior high school.  Meeting Lena was one of Emily's reasons for coming home for the weekend. 

One more close-up of Lena.

Such a pretty sleeper!

Happy day!

It's official! Emily and Matt became engaged yesterday, and we all couldn't be happier!  We already love Matt like a son, and are so happy and proud to welcome him into our family.

Scott and I shared a celebration dinner with the happy couple and Matt's dad, Joe. We went to Matt and Emily's "favorite place", Joe's Stone Crab in Chicago.  Very busy, bustling place, great service, and wonderful food.  But of course the best part was sharing in Matt and Emily's special day.  Congratulations!