Lake House Retreat Feb. 2012 Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Lake House Retreat

Ann...the lady behind these blocks...is an amazing woman and these are some blocks she was making for a friends grandchild.  What are pix without a good story right?

Let me tell you a bit about Ann and how she and I met......I was 40 years old...yes 40 and my husband's employer had gone bankrupt so he and I sold our home and went to PA to stay with his parents for what we thought would be 4-6 weeks. Aaron was 22 months old and Zach was 5 months old. I arrive in PA and the boys got sick....you know how Mom's with babies can be....especially two little ones....no matter what my age, I was still a "new Mom."

I went into the pediatrician's office and we are seen by the Nurse Practitioner. This woman, Ann, explains everything that is going on with the boys....tells me how the medication will or won't work and provides me with enough information to feel confident that I can handle the situation and where to call if something unexpected happens. I wanted to hug her.....in my heart.... Ann is the Guardian Angel of young Mothers....she gave me strength when I needed it and has given me 7 years of wisdom since that first meeting. The world is a much brighter place because Ann is in it!

 This is a much better photo of Ann....she is the first gal in the photo....followed by another angel...Kay...then by two other lovely women Donna and Leona.

 Here are a few more of those blocks....I think they are so cute.  The baby will have all those textures to play with too...the ric-rac and the layered fabrics....that's one lucky baby :)

 Another scrap quilt made by MJ.  She and I played with fabrics for the sashing and borders on Friday night....it took a few different pieces until we came upon one that worked well.  There are very few pieces of anything interesting left in her scrap basket....trust me...I had to search to find a little piece for my Cathedral Windows practice piece.

This is the view from the back of the Lake House....it is absolutely beautiful...I love the mountains of PA......I kept taking photos of where I was so I could take you all along with me...through the pictures.

Panning the camera to the left from the back porch of the Lake House....more beauty.

 Then back to MJ's after the retreat....while driving from the Lake House to MJ's I had this thought....
If I were to ever go to jail ....it needs to be in PA....even a 20 year sentence would end in what feels like a week.....because I was here for 4 days and it went by in 15 minutes....time goes faster in PA than anywhere in the world....honestly!  I blinked and now I'm here in Perrysburg writing a blog post...how did that happen?  (I guess I'm starting to sound like my Grandmother...she always said she didn't know where the time went.)

 A view of the mountain behind MJ's house....even with the dark gray skys...it is a beautiful place.

On my way out of town....I made a quick pit stop.....I just wanted to see Ann one more time and she is not too far from the freeway....so I drove quickly up that moutain that she lives on to give her another hug.  Many of you long-timers will remember the post of me chasing the chickens at Ann's house.  This is her chicken coop.....and I thought I'd brag to all my other friends that I know a woman who owns her own gated community.....folks don't necessarily need to know the "gated community" is a community of chickens....:)

As I was driving off Ann's mountain....I looked down the road and there were several deer crossing the road.....good thing I'm quick with a camera....

Back home to my monkeys....of course I made a hat for each one of them....

 they love their hats and Zach wore his the entire evening....

 where does the time go?

I've had a lot of inquiries as to the pattern for the quilt that these gals made....I called it the PA block...this is what the quilts look like:

The girls did a block swap....and it can be made in any size.  Here is the link to the instructions published by Quilter's Newsletter back in Sept. of 04. 

I think the girls made 10 blocks each month and 10 alternate blocks so each person got one set each month.  I heard it was a challenge keeping track of who had done what and perhaps if each person participating got a set a month or had a large enverlope with their name on it and a set was put in each month...with one person keeping track of the month and the persons name.

I wish I had participated....and I don't have the organizational skills or time to organize a block swap like this one....but if anyone wants to start a group...please let me know because I would love to make a quilt like this one.

Smiles,

Kelly