Hiatus is Over

I guess it's time to start blogging again after a short hiatus. It's been bugging me that I haven't posted in a couple of weeks, but obviously not enough for me to do anything about it. :-)

So, what have I been doing you ask? Well, I've been travelling a bit and busy playing hostess to some relatively new quilters. and loving it.  First off, Jerry and his friend (and now my friend too!) Connie blessed us with their company at the end of June. That was followed up by a visit from Ann and Claire, and then just Ann, and then Ann and Jerry, and then just Jerry. I had a blast, and boy did some sewing and quilting get done - mine included! Oh, and Nikki and family were here for a long weekend.  :-)

Sadie likes to help Quinn brush her hair and I love these two pictures. Quinn is a really good big sister and lets Sadie brush her hair. I guess Sadie kind of struggles with the height difference though.

Let's back up here a bit. Remember when I was in Burr Oak for the Sisters' Weekend? I talked a little bit about it here, here, and here. The Sisters' Weekend extended to family time that was discussed here and we had a blast! Within a couple of days of our return from Burr Oak, Jack and I travelled to Washington Island, Wisconsin for a week.

I'll break the sharing from our travels and "goings on" into a couple of different post. If I don't do this, this post would be pretty picture-heavy and you'd probably get tired of reading.  :-)

Way back in January, Jack read about an amateur radio operator in Wisconsin who has a wonderful ham shack filled with LOTS of old radios and he wanted to see the place. After a bit of searching around online, Jack found George's (W9EVT) website and the rest is history! We arrived on the island Sunday morning and stayed in the apartment of Greengate Farms, the  rental property that George's wife Susan runs. The apartment was over a garage and even though it was small, it was perfect for the two of us. It didn't take long for both Jack and I to realize that we could live in a small space. We really don't need a four-bedroom house.

That dormer is for the bedroom window.

Here's the stairs we used to get to the apartment.

The Greengate website has some great pictures of the inside of the apartment (as well as the other rental possibilities) and I think you should check them out. I know you'll just drool over the last picture, which is the view of the lake from the apartment. Even when it rained, it was a wonderful sight.

Of course while Jack was playing radio,

I sewed. Being spoiled and having lots of room here at home made my temporary sewing digs a bit challenging at first, but it all worked well. I had my machine set up in living room. 

While the cutting and pressing was done in the bedroom.

We didn't spend all of our time playing radio and sewing. We spent a lot of time on the beach, climbing the lookout tower

and checking out the local points of interest, including Sievers School of Fine Arts. Oh my....... I would love to return to the island and take a few classes!

Sadly, we left the island Thursday late morning for our trip home. But Jack and I often talk about our time there and feel certain we'll return - maybe to take a class at Sievers!  :-)

Our return trip was pleasant and rather uneventful until we were about an hour from home when we drove right into a major storm. Wow, was there a lot of rain! On a positive note, I saw a complete double rainbow. I've seen complete rainbows (you know, when the rainbow stretches clear across the sky in one long band), and I've seen double rainbows, but I've never seen both rainbows complete. It was absolutely beautiful, and of course the camera was in the back so I didn't get a picture.  :-(

Even though we were sad to leave the island, Jack and I were anxious to return home. Friday night Jack and his friend Dave were going to make some final decisions about Field Day, and Jerry and Connie were coming up for the weekend. I'll share more about that in a future post. Soon, I promise.

I may even get around to showing some of the projects on which I've been working.  :-)