See more of their portraits HERE.
THRILLER!
On Wednesday, we gathered together as dance lovers, to learn Michael Jackson’s Thriller for the upcoming Stake Harvest Dance.
Meet the Dancers:
Chase & Missy
… Sort of!
Some of you may know Matt & Shari: 
“they created the very first show to air on HGTV, the ever popular room by room. They hold the record for the longest running decorating show of their genre in TV history, 14 years and over 350 episodes. They developed the highest rated prime time decorating special on HGTV called “Christmas – room by room style”. More than a dozen additional specials were developed. Available in over 90 million homes, they have taught literally millions their detailed process of step by step decorating, improving the lives of many.” read more…
My mom ‘n me:
The first thing my mom asked, before she came out:
“Do you guys have a Christmas Tree Shops!?”
“Uh, ya, Don’t you just love a bargain, mom!?” read more…
Arriving the day after we finished our trip with Rick’s family, my mother finally made it just in time for Foliage.
Needless to say, I was excited.
I was happy that a member of my family finally made it out to see us!
Monday in Montreal:
Sites were incredible.
…just because your husband can’t pull this off:
I’ll explain in the next post!
Happy Friday!
1,500 miles
7-9 people
in a 12 passenger van
4 states
in 7 days!
Rick and I drove this passenger van from Burlington VT to Bahston MA.
We picked up his family near the airport and headed downtown to walk the Freedom Trail.
Last week, four Young Women from Church were invited over to my house to learn how to bake an apple pie.
I made one that afternoon, to serve them while the pie they made would be baking in the oven.
We had an hour to put together our pie. They did awesome.
I was so impressed with the way it turned out.
It was delicious! read more…
“Apple on a stick makes me sick, makes my tummy go 246,
not because I’m dirty, not because I’m clean, not because I
kissed a boy behind a magazine….”
Does anyone remember this chant/jump rope rhyme from back in the day?
It was going through my head while I was jabbing these wooden dowels into the apples.
AWESOME.
Vermont is all about seasonal festivals! Any reason to celebrate, we take full advantage of it!
Sam Mazza’s Farm had their 13th Annual harvest Festival on Saturday, October 3rd. 
I know.
I can’t believe it either.
My mother-in-law gifted me a very LOVELY sewing machine for Christmas.
In February, I was visiting my mother, and she gifted me a bunch of fabric pieces.
Thanks to both of you!
As mentioned HERE, I started this project at the beginning of July.
In the Spring, I made a few aprons for my girlfriends, so I could hone my non-existant sewing skills.
Let’s face it, my first apron took me 5 hours.
I was so frustrated. I made Rick turn the straps for the apron inside out.
I really had no clue what I was doing.
Anyway, there are some fun fabrics in this mix that I just love. Some are 20+ years old (right mom?) and a few I picked up at Joanns, as I a few colors shy.
(Example, the tacky yellow fabrics in the first picture. Picked these up before I realized there were specialty quilting stores that had reproduction fabrics. Sigh.)
I am not a big purple fan either, but again, I was just using these wonderful fabrics my mom gave me.
I needed backing for the quilt, so I picked this white, green and pink floral that I found in the basement of Yankee Pride for 50% off.
“I’ll take 7 yards!”
Not my favorite, but you work with what you got, right? Rick thinks it’s gross. He says he needs an allergy pill just looking at it.
I had a local friend quilt the three layers together. It sat in this state for a couple of weeks.
I used some left over pieces of this petite floral pink for my binding.
The green and white floral border was also a Yankee Pride purchase, a 1930’s reproduction that I just loved.
Last friday, Rick went camping with the YM and I had all evening to figure out something to do.
“Vanna” I say to myself, “How’s about you BIND YOUR QUILT ALREADY!!” I told myself, “OK! Yes BOSS!”
“I don’t know how to bind a quilt!” I declare.
I YouTube “How to bind a quilt” and come across this LOVELY tutorial and it made perfect sense. I started cutting my pink fabric for binding around 6:00 p.m.
I finished whip-stitiching the binding around 2:45 a.m.
Easy, but TEDIOUS! All 396 inches.
The thing is HUGE!
It ended up being about 94″ x 104″
I didn’t expect it turning out this large, but when I started, I went crazy and just kept sewing pieces together.
I knew no end!
I wish I knew when I started, that the back of the quilt needed to be larger than the top piece. DUH.
I lost a lot of fabric from the back side, when it was quilted and cut for me.
I also wish I knew how EXPENSIVE quilting could be. What started out as a “use this fabric my mom gave me” project, turned out to be a rather expensive project. Shish!
“Rick, I could have bought a really nice quilt for HALF the price I spent on the border fabric, the binding, the batting and the fee for having it quilted by a machine!”
He says, “Babe, it’s the experience!”
He’s right.
I guess.
So, all these pastels look lovely on this quilt, even though pastels are *not my thing* I still like the way it turned out.
Rick about had a hernia when I told him it wouldn’t be going on our bed, but that it was a family picnic quilt.
Our last day of our trip to Quebec City, we drove over the bridge to scout out the “chocolate factory” which we read about. The Île d’Orléans is just about a 10 minute drive from Old City Quebec. It’s a very rural place, considering it’s neighboring Quebec City across the St. Lawrence river. The island is great for cyclists and day trippers.
Saturday, September 19th. Rick & Vanessa see more of Quebec City, by foot.
And they like what they see.
And although we can’t explain most of these pictures, consider this your personal online tour of Quebec City, just bits and pieces.
