All about Alcoves

Gary and I now live in Virginia Mennonite Retirement Community (VMRC) in Harrisonburg, VA.  Our five-story building is called Park Gables and we have 88 apartments.  I took a photo of most of the alcoves.

(Click on each row for enlargements.)

I invite you to take a little break and click on 

some of the  photos so you can take a closer look.

Residents "decorate" the alcove to their apartment.  Some

 people keep their decor the same all the time. 

Many folks change the decorations for each season.

People often leave notes and various items for each other or we can have meals delivered from the dining room.  So, it's handy to have a little table for these deliveries.

 I'm fascinated by the little tables and stands that people come up with.

One of the best deliveries is the loaf of homemade bread, still warm from the oven, on the day you move in.  Charlotte Burkholder does a beautiful job of keeping up with this kind and welcoming act.

 Our alcove will appear on another post. 

Knotting Bee August 2024

What's a knotting bee?  It's like a quilting bee so, since I don't know the name of the gathering, I'm calling it a Knotting Bee.

For 2 days ladies from various churches and organizations met at the Village Hall, which is part of *VMRC.  There were lots of comforters ready for us and boy did we ever knot!

(Click on any pic for an enlargement) 

 This was a 2 day event so there were more ladies who came besides this good group.

 

Rita, Betty, Arlene, and MaryMay

Deb, Mary, and Arlene.  We are used to working on a stretched comforter so working on tables was a challenge.  We almost had to lie down for some of them!

The variety of designs and glorious colors never cease to amaze me!

We also learned a new approach - instead of knotting on the corners, we knotted in the middle, which made it easier.  No need to fight through those seams at the corners.

 Mary Smith and Eleanor Heishma

Deb Layman, one of our leaders.

This one is very unusual.

More designs

Another pretty design.

Tom Matheny sets up our comforters on a stretcher where we work in our VMRC craft room weekly.   Tom also sews, fixes machines and accomplishes many other projects.  If he doesn't know how to do something, he invents a way that works.

 

Yes, men do this too! 

 

32 comforters completed in two days is an accomplishment! 

They will be sent to relief agencies, especially Mennonite centers, to be distributed.  Some of these will be sent to Ukraine.  

 

*VMRC = Virginia Mennonite Retirement Community
where Gary and I live in Harrisonburg, VA. 

 

You couldn't be in a place like this and not want to knot!