Sunday Summary

I haven't been writing, but I HAVE been quilting!  I hate to shop, but the spring sales have been rampant here and I needed a few things for my prospective travels, so out I went.  Got a new dress (none of the ones I haven't worn in ten years fit, but I need just ONE dress), a few new tops, a pair of shorts, and a new jacket/sweater.  That's a lot for me to get at one time.  If it all works out right, I won't have to shop again for five years - lol !!

I've been toying with the KonMari method for how to organize and streamline your wardrobe, but did not really embrace the concept, and then I found Project 33.  This worked much better for me.  With this method, you look out towards the next three months, so I'll be doing this again in the fall for the winter side of my clothes.

I now have a simplified "pocket wardrobe" in just a few colors.  I have taken three bags of old, tacky, don't fit or just don't like clothes out of my closet.  Some were trashed, some went into the rag bag and some got donated.  The closet looks much better and I found out that I actually had a style that I like!  Who knew I had a style?  I usually purchase in a time crunch to go to something special and buy whatever is there, even if I don't like it that much.  This time I went with a purpose in mind just to fill in a few things and with particular colors selected.  If I didn't find those, I didn't buy it.  My closet looks much better since I was ruthless in removing items!


But back on the quilty-front - just a sneak peek until I get these all finished.  These two are quilted:

I can't remember the second quilting design name, but one is called Mod Hearts:

And this is ironed and ready to go on the frame:

Then I'll have to stop temporarily with the kids' quilts and quilt one for my Quilts of Valor meeting on Friday, but progress is being made.

Back from Vacation

We’re back, but I still have some great photos to share of places we visited in North Carolina.  We stopped one day in the Biltmore Village.  This is a shot of the All Souls Cathedral (Episcopal) – isn’t that architecture gorgeous?!

And this is a shot of some of the shops – each was unique and had interesting things:

I picked up this darling hedgehog just because he begged to come home with me (I’m weak that way …):

He’s actually a Christmas tree ornament with a clip on his underside, but I suspected he would like to be in my sewing room all year, so there he lives!

And this is the best-looking McDonald’s I’ve seen (on the outskirts of the Village) – and no, we didn’t eat there.  We ate in a bakery and café – great choice – I had a tasty quiche and peanut butter pie (well, I was on vacation, after all!).

We also stopped in Chimney Rock:

I found this great rack in an antique store.  It was displayed with small thread spools, but I thought my few thread cones would fit and they do!

And I found this beautifully enameled magnetic butterfly to hold my glasses in my sewing room.  It is now clipped to my quilting frame and my glasses now have a home.

Speaking of my quilt frame, this is what I did with the leftovers from the Mickey Mouse quilt that went to India – this is Mickey Mouse 2 – it still needs to be bound.

Now, on to more quilting …

Road Trip

I didn’t get any quilting done today because I went on a fun road trip to an Outlet Mall south of Tampa.  It was forecast to be a gloomy day, but fortunately for us, the rain and severe thunderstorm held off until we were ready to leave in the early afternoon.  I didn’t get any good pictures of the Sunshine Skyway Bridge due to the cloudy conditions, but this is what our suspension bridge looks like:

Those big concrete “bumpers” are there due to a tragic bridge accident back in 1980 when a tanker hit the old bridge causing portions of the roadway to collapse.  Many of us pause to say a small prayer for those who lost their lives that day when they see a tanker approaching like this one we saw today:

The new bridge is much safer now and we can attest that it is well-traveled!

I didn’t help the economy much today at the outlets … suffice to say that if there had been a fabric store there I would have contributed much more to the Nation’s economic recovery!  This is a photo of one part of the shopping center – the sign cracked me up.  It reads “Do not touch stones or plants”.  I have enough trouble carrying shopping bags.   I really doubt I would carry stones home in my pockets … now little kids might … who knows?!

But I received a great box in the mail this past week from a fellow charity quilter.  Just look at the ideas contained in these piles:

Someone else’s unfinished projects are always way more interesting than our own!  I have lots of creative thoughts flowing right now …

 

I see an I-Spy quilt here, for sure!

I love these crumb blocks for a strippie quilt.

And lots of homespuns - the box in the back is what I have to go with what I rec'd!

But yesterday, I did finish up the quilting on another one of Beth’s quilts (still have to bind it though).  The panto is called "Batik" and has cool lotus blossom buds in it.

And this one is actually off of the frame now – waiting for its binding, too.  This panto is called "Cotton Candy" and looks like puffy clouds.

So tomorrow should be a wonderful quilty day!

Getting Back in Form

When you come back from vacation do you jump back into your regular routine or do you ease back into it gradually?

I am a gradual person myself:

ü        First, I have to get the seven loads of laundry done (we weren’t gone all that long!).

ü        And I have to pet the dog who is ecstatic that her entire dog-pack has returned home (she considers herself a doggie/person). 

ü        While that’s being done,  I have to go through all of the mail and newspapers (yes, I do save the comics pages in order so I don’t lose out on the funny story lines).

ü        And pet the dog a few times and tell her she’s still the best and prettiest dog on the planet.

ü        Then I have to make a grocery list so I can buy healthy foods and repent of my wicked ways when we were on vacation (well, the food was great!).

ü        And, of course, I have to pet the dog some more who is hovering to make sure we don’t sneak out the back door of the bathroom (our bathroom doesn’t have a back door).

And finally, I have to get back up into my sewing room.  I have a few deadlines, so I made this sample block for a block swap at Mailblocks that is due in mid-May – hope to whip those out this week – they’re going to Canada and I like to allow extra time.  This pattern is from the Quilter’s Cache.

If you go to this site often, I would encourage you to support Marcia Hohn with a small donation as I consider this an invaluable source for block designs.  I usually make 12 ½ inch blocks and I almost passed out when I went to square-up this sample block.  It was so small!

Then I remembered that it is designed to be a 10 ½ inch block and it’s just perfect.  Sometimes we just have to be re-trained when we come back from vacation – LOL.  This is one finished layout idea:

And I have this month’s Quilts of Valor group meeting this Friday, so I’m finishing up some more triangles for the pinwheel blocks.

And I checked out this month’s BOM at the Craftsy site.  The featured technique is English paper-piecing hexagons.  Yikes!  Gonna put that on hold until this weekend, but then I’m going to make some cardstock templates and tackle it.  I’m starting with cardstock and not investing in templates ‘cause I don’t know if I’ll keep up with the handwork – not my strong suit.  We’ll see what develops.  Maybe I'll invest in the AccuQuilt Hexagon Template if I like them:

http://www.accuquilt.com/go-hexagon-2-3-5.html

We did have a fantastic time on vacation.  I haven’t been north in the Spring in years and was delighted to see the dogwoods peeking out everywhere and the many flowering fruit trees.  The weather was wonderful – pleasant during the day when we played golf and cool and crisp in the mornings and evenings when we sat on the balconies.  Can’t complain about the weather here at home though – it’s still nice and not overly hot, so there’s no excuse to not start back on that walking plan!  Maybe tomorrow – like I said, I’m a gradual person …

Here’s some vacation shots:

Dogwoods at a Welcome Center

Pink and White Dogwoods

Dogwood Closeup

Beautiful Purple/Blue Blooms - Chaste Tree Maybe?

Don't know what this was!

Fog on the Mountain our last day

Azaleas

Cherry Blossoms

Altogether, I could say a good time was had by all (and I include the dog in that – she does love her dog-sitter).  And as an aside, my husband wants you all to know that he had at least one birdie on all three golf courses … and that’s special!

Hummingbirds and Quilts

I’m always amazed that people can get great photos of hummingbirds.

Up in Virginia, they had at least seven or eight hummingbirds that came to a feeder at the front porch at the same time.  Of course, I never remembered to have the camera at the ready when they came!  And this was a great front porch – big shade trees, light breeze, rocking chairs – how wonderful …

One did land briefly on a bush right in front of me and I was able to identify it as a female Ruby-Throated Hummingbird.  She was a feisty little thing!  She chased all the other birds away from the feeder then stayed nearby to continue to defend her perceived territory from each and every intrusion.  If you look closely, you can see her at the bottom right with her needle nose in the feeder.  I could’ve watched these interesting birds for hours (and did!).

They also like the Rose of Sharon bushes and perched on the electric lines in between sips at the flowers (see closer to the left of the photo on the line).

So that’s the last of the nature reports from Virginia – it was a great visit.  Meanwhile, back at the sewing ranch, I was able to put together a quick top from novelty blocks that I won.  Each had delightful crayon colors and a touch of black, so I just sashed it in black and voila! - a finished top.  I also finished quilting my colorful flowers quilt, but still need to put the binding on.

I have more plans for today … here’s a sneak preview of the book it’s from – I think I like everything in this book!

Road Trip - Part 2

OK – I’ll admit that I’m a wanna-be country girl, but I’ve always lived in the city.  On my way home from my road trip, I stopped at two produce stands – one in Georgia that had peaches and peach jam and one in north Florida that had Vidalia onions, green peppers and beans.  I chopped and sliced and packaged up most of the above to go into the freezer so I’d have lots of fresh-frozen veggies for this coming winter.  So, what’s the problem?  I don’t know what kind of beans I have!

I was going to ask, but another customer was distracting the produce stand owner, so I never got around to it.  Are these the snap beans that my grandmother used to open along the “seam” with a colander in her lap to get the beans out?  Or are these pole beans that you just cook up whole?  Or something else?  I think I’ll just be blanching them and then cut them into small pieces to have cold on my salad.  Just might work!

And now, here are some more quilts from the Abingdon, VA quilt show:

Embroidered States, Birds and Flowers - Amazing!

Detail of one State

I loved the colors of this one - would be a nice Sunshine Quilt

I really liked "controlled" scrappy

Another with beautiful embroidery

I want to make this with my scraps - it's right up my alley

This lady won their Guild's lottery blocks and made this great quilt - reminded me of Sunnies

This was displayed outside so the colors aren't quite true in the photo, but it was wonderful

 Another friend here in FL wants to go up to VA with me next year – oh, boy! – another road trip … now we just have to find a sneaky way to tell the hostess to expect more guests … LOL!