Beautiful Fall Weekend in Paducah

Fall housecleaning...me, well sort of. On Friday we had more new windows installed in our home. That meant moving a lot of furniture so they could work on the windows. And after they were installed, there were curtains and blinds to wash...all done now. And then we washed the new windows. It is so wonderful to have sashes that fold down inside to wash the outside of the windows. We purchased composite windows from THV (True Home Value) and so far they have lived up to their sales pitch. The windows are wood grain on the inside and almond on the outside with aluminum trim so we don't have to paint anything. The mullions are between the panes of glass so you are just washing one pane of glass to clean them. Yeah!

The first group was replaced in the living room and kitchen - the thermostat sits on a wall between these two rooms. Our air conditioner runs half as much as it did. Now we have put new windows in the computer room, the family room and the hall bathroom. Still have two bedrooms to go but we couldn't move everything at once so they are working at our speed.

The hummingbirds are eating like crazy right now. There can be about 20 birds fighting over the 8 spots on our two feeders. And you always have one that guards the feeder. This hummer decided it would sit on the whirligig that my sister Karen gave us - just happens to have a hummingbird in the center of it.

That rascal Tuffy decided to be a night prowler last night...didn't come in until 2:30 a.m. Earlier in the evening I snapped a couple of new photos of him - he hates the camera though and always avoids me if he can. I was faster than he was.

Is he saying: "Okay, so you snapped my photo but I don't have to like it?"

Would you believe that he has already figured out how to open the new screen door on the new sliding glass door to the back porch?




I had some fun on eBay last night. I've been watching some quilts there and the auction closed last night. I was able to be the final bidder on four quilt tops. Two can be used in my next book. And some lucky people may get the other two after they are quilted. Now I have to get my name on my machine quilter's list to get them all quilted. I'll shoot some photos after they arrive so you can see how beautiful they are.

Speaking of quilts, have you made your plans to go to the AQS Quilt Show in Des Moines? It's getting close, October 6 - 9. There will be nearly 1,000 quilts on exhibit. You can click here to register. We're going to have fun with Eleanor Burns on Wednesday, Joe Cunningham on Thursday, and Jim Shore (maker of those Heartwood Creek Collectibles with quilt designs on them) on Friday, and brunch with Flavin Glover on Saturday. Hope we will see you there!

Visiting the Amish in Lancaster, PA

Hi! It's a beautiful Sunday here in Paducah, and I haven't written on my Blog for a while. I thought I would share some of the photos I took while I was in Lancaster a week ago for a quilt show planning meeting. I have reduced the size of the photos to make this message load faster. You can enlarge any of the photos by clicking on them.

We (Terry Guill and I) stayed at the new Cork Factory Hotel. It is a restored cork factory with a lot of charm. My room had a comfortable bed, a huge shower with lots of hot water (not always the case in hotels these days), and very high ceilings.

Like many hotels and convention centers today, the Cork Factory Hotel had a very interesting bar of "green" soap.

The box says "This innovative ergonomically shaped "waste reducing" soap has been designed to eliminate the unused center of traditional soap bars."

When you think about it...what do we usually throw away - that center that they didn't put into the bar in the first place. Great idea! The box is made from natural recycled packaging with soy based inks.


While we were there, Terry and I had a couple of hours to spend seeing the sights, so we took a buggy ride into the Amish countryside. Here are a few photos from our ride....

We knew we were getting close to the farming area when we began passing the buggies on the highway.

Aaron & Jessica's Buggy Rides was the one we chose. There are a number of families along the way that provide these rides.

Our ride began by driving through a covered bridge. Did you know that there are 27 covered bridges in Lancaster County and many of them are near the city of Lancaster. Sometimes you can look over and see one as you are driving along.

It was fun to see all of the flowers blooming at every home along the way
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What a pastoral scene. Our driver told us that 80 families live on the farms you can see in the background.

In addition to horse and buggy travel, this young man was hitching a ride on his wagon as it rolled downhill. Both young and old alike used these scooters - a bicycle with a flat section for your foot...and no seat. They moved along at a pretty good speed on these scooters.

Someone asked what the children did. Then we say this young girl making hay on this hot 90+ degree day. The children help with chores around the farm.

We had a fun afternoon enjoying the peace and quiet of the Amish countryside. We are having fun learning more about Lancaster and the Amish community there.

The dates for the AQS Quilt Show in Lancaster are March 16 - 19, 2011. You can make your hotel reservations now; just click here to book your room online.

Update on the Young Eagles in Decorah

The eagle cam was shut down on July 7, but click here to get the latest on the young eagles and some photos too.

I hope you enjoyed getting a close-up view of the hatching and raising of these young eagles as much as we did.

Is it hot where you are?

Happy Sunday...it is another hot day here in Paducah, where the temps have been in the high 90's for the last several days. Rain, rain, come again some day to wash this heat away. The grass is dry and crinkles when you walk across it.

It's been a busy few weeks since I last wrote a note here. The AQS Quilt Show in Knoxville was July 14 - 17 and I'm finally catching up with laundry, work, and my e-mails.

We don't have a garden this year but sure are enjoying the fresh veggies and fruits from the Farmer's Market. We can get fresh-picked peacher from a Southern Illinois orchard that has a stand here in town...look at these beauties. Peach cobbler, here we come!

Since it is so hot outside, I decided this was indeed a good weekend to do some sewing. Starting to sew on a new Xquisite scrap quilt in a whole different color scheme for me - browns, creams, teals, and some greens. Well, the teal is one of the colors I use a lot, but not the others. It will definitely have a modern look to it.

Hope you are staying cool, whereever you are....

Happy 4th of July - Patriotic Quilts

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Happy Birthday America!

In Memory of Deanna

On Thursday, my longest friend, Deanna Tumey, passed away after her battle with pancreatic cancer. This is my tribute to my dear friend. Our sincere sympathy goes out to her partner, Karen. We will all miss Dee.

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Celebrating This Week

Wayne and I celebrated our anniversary and my birthday this week. We went to Patti's Restaurant in Grand Rivers, Kentucky, for dinner on Wednesday evening. This is the first time we have eaten in the Crown Room -- look at the beautiful stained glass window with the crown in it. And there were beautiful dolls hanging on swings from the ceiling, in cabinets in the corners, and displayed with quilts throughout the room. It is a fun room to dine in. We had our usual 2-inch thick pork chop (and brought half of it home) and a piece of their mile-high lemon meringue pie. YUM.

 

Most of the dolls were at least 12 inches tall and many of them were at least 36 inches tall. Look at the beautiful dresses and hats. The flowers and the white twinkle lights add to the charm of the Crown Room.

 Quilts with pink in them were draped along the walls, and there is even one on the ceiling.

Can you believe that we have been married 47 years? And I'm only 49 again, and again...... grin. Our waiter was kind enough to snap this photo of us... after they sang "Let Me Call You Sweetheart."

And now some news from the home front:

This is one of the baby wrens - I snapped this photo the evening before they left the nest this week. They were sure noisy. Now we have some more wrens that have built a nest in the other wren house. See how they fill in the gaps of the bird house with sticks. It always amazes me how they get those long pieces in there and get them maneuvered into place.

Have you been watching the eagles in Decorah? Just click here and it will take you to the eagle site; you'll be able to see right into their nest. The first of the eaglets was born April 3 and the other two were born during the following week. The eagles usually stay in the nest 10 - 12 weeks, so they will be flying away soon and then they will be shutting down the live streaming video of the nest. Here you can see the oldest eagle trying out its wings. They will take about three hops across the nest flapping their wings. Guess this is how they practice getting the air under their winds in preparation for flying away.

I took this photo this morning. You can see how they have changed from my earlier posts. Their beaks are changing to a gold color instead of black. They can now use their feet to hold the fish that the parents bring them and tear off the flesh themselves. Look at how long the talons on their feet are already.

It has been amazing to watch the adult eagles build, and continue to add onto the nest to accommodate all three of these young ones. Usually the eagles will have two eggs, so this was extra special to see how they raise three eaglets.

It has been fun to watch this nest of eagles -- from the parents sitting on the eggs, to the hatching, and watching them grow. It will take until they are about five years old for their heads to turn white to look like the American Bald Eagle that we all know. Thank you to Luther College for providing this bird's eye view so we can watch these majestic birds in their natural habitat.

Hope you are staying cool... it is hot here in Kentucky. Enjoy the rest of the weekend!

Happy Memorial Day from Kentucky

Wayne and I are spending the weekend here at home...and it's a much needed weekend without any travel plans. We are roasting a turkey on the grill, potato salad is made, and Andi and Dennis are coming over for dinner later.

Wayne has been busy this week mowing the yard. With rains in between mowing spells, it's been hard to keep up with it.

Tuffy thinks it's a good day for a nap....

.........And he settled in to take one on the back porch.

Today I took my camera out to shoot some photos of our hydrangea bushes - they are in full bloom now.

Love those bright blue flowering heads on them.

And the lilies we bought for Socks are all in full bloom. Don't they look like someone painted them? They are exactly that rosy color with the dark red splotches. There are about ten stalks on each plant this year.

Wishing you all a safe holiday weekend.

And Happy Birthday to my sister Marcia!

Wayne and Bonnie

Bonnie Browning Appearing Now on www.TheQuiltShow.com

Hello:
My program #609 is now appearing on http://www.thequiltshow/ with Alex Anderson & Ricky Tims. They asked me to put together a group of photos of some of my quilts and other projects. Hope you enjoy seeing what keeps me busy when I'm not working on AQS Quilt Shows. Many of the quilts and projects have patterns in my books; other are just fun projects that I've made. If you want to order my latest book, Borders & Finishing Touches 2, which was featured on the show, you can order it from the shop at TheQuiltShow.com or from the American Quilter's Society.

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Update on the Eagles

Wow, you won't believe how fast eagles grow. Here are some photos that show you their size when they were first born...and where they are today. These images are from the Decorah Eagle Cam near the Fish Hatchery in Decorah, Iowa.

April 7, two eaglets had hatched.

April 10, all three eaglets have now hatched

May 1, feeding time by both female and male eagles

May 4, taking a nap - every day the adult eagles redo the nest,

shredding cornstalks for bedding

May 4, some family time - check out those feathers on the oldest eaglet, changing from down to feathers; boy they eat a lot of fish

May 4, they tend to lay in a pile - one adult is always nearby

May 6, what are these big feet for...they are very wobbly when they try to walk

May 6, wings work...now if I only knew what to do with them

In less than one month, they have grown from just being hatched to this size. Amazing, and what fun to watch via the Decorah Eagle Cam. You can watch too, here is the link: http://www.luther.edu/eaglecam/stream/

Beautiful Irises...and More

The house next door has been sold and the new owners are a couple that just loves flowers. We are so glad because for years we enjoyed all of the beautiful flowers that Lorraine Ingram cared for in her yard.

After I broke a belt on the lawn mower...so I couldn't mow like I had planned, I did a little weed-whacking with the trimmer. When I was thoroughly covered in dirt and whatever else I kicked up with the trimmer, Wayne suggested that we go over so I could meet the new neighbors. I washed my face and arms, and grabbed my camera because the irises are blooming and I wouldn't miss this opportunity to take a few photos.

I thought you all would enjoy seeing these beauties too.

Hope you enjoyed this bouquet of flowers. Remember your Mother on Mother's Day. We hope our Mothers enjoy the real flowers that are on their way.

Bonnie's New Sewing Machine...well, Old Sewing Machine

I have a new sewing machine. Well, it is new to me. When I was a little girl, one year for Christmas I received a hand crank sewing machine...and I still have that machine. Here it is:

And it is a little bit rusty...but then, so am I.

Recently someone on Facebook was talking about the "big" hand crank old sewing machines. I joined the discussion and said I was looking for one of those machines because I wanted to make a lamp out of it...and that I didn't care whether it worked or nor. Diann Becker from PA saw my comment and told me she had one and that she would bring it on the bus to Lancaster if I wanted it. Of course, I said, "Yes, please bring it with you." And she did. Thanks, Diann. And here it is:

It is a Frister & Rossmann hand crank machine, made in Germany. From the serial number, it looks to date between 1896 and 1914. So now that I owned this machine, I needed to find out more. We know that in  
1846 Elias Howe invented and patented the first automatic sewing machine for practical operation.

Frister & Rossmann started life near Berlin, Germany, in 1864. The two business partners, Gustav Rossmann and Robert Frister had started their sewing machine business by copying existing machines such as the American Wheeler & Wilson and Willcox & Gibbs under licence from the original manufacturers. Their first sewing machine, the A1 was simply a Wheeler & Wilson clone machine. However its success was unsurpassed, hardly changing for around 50 years. For decades Frister & Rossmann were the largest producers of sewing machines in Germany. By the early 1880s they had made a staggering quarter of a million machines, and by 1903 the great company had produced over one million machines.
 
Frister & Rossmann machines are known world wide, and similar models are better known in Australia and New Zealand as The Globe, and in America as Jaguar and Kenmore machines. Frister & Rossmann continues to hold it place amongst the premier sewing machine names in Great Britain.
(Frister & Rossman Info Source: http://www.sewalot.com/frister_rossmann.htm)

You can see from the photo I shot of the machine, it also has a box of attachments, some bobbins (good thing because they are very strange looking), several feet, and the instruction manual.
 
Now curious as to what kind of working it order it might be in, I took the machine on Saturday to Keith English of English's Sew & Vac here in Paducah. His motto on TV is that they "sell the best and service the rest." So we'll see if it works when I get it back. Keith said his granddaughter says he can fix anything. Now that is putting the pressure on. : )
 
Think I still will make into a lamp, but will put a wooden base under it to run the fixings for the lamp so the machine can be removed if I should want to take it to a demonstration some time. Let's keep our fingers crossed that it is good running order. What a fun new machine I have - and it remains to be seen if it will actually sew or live out its life as a lamp!