Recap of the Past Week

It’s been a busy week – I had to take my dog to an eye specialist for her semi-annual checkup (she’s fine) and then take my mother to an eye specialist (she’ll be fine – one more visit in store for her).

Then I had my monthly meeting for Quilts of Valor.  Those meeting are always great fun and we get so much done.  I was able to take my finished top to show:

Modified from a Fons & Porter magazine design

Everybody liked how I used those leftover triangles from their snowball blocks, so I was relieved.  Several others showed finished tops or quilts:

Debbie's Finished Quilt



Pat's Persimmon Quilts Mystery #20

 

Pat's Persimmon Quilts Mystery #24

And then we had a Binding Blitz:

All wound up - multiple layers in this box!

We have several scrappy quilts waiting for their bindings, so we used 2.5 inch scraps and made miles and miles of bindings – enough for the next 25 or so quilts!  I tell you, these ladies are the best!

And as a coincidence, I have a small patriotic quilt being assembled in my sewing room.  These were fabrics passed down to me from a lady that passed away that was a great supporter of Wrap-Them-in-Love, so this quilt will go to that organization.  It is a child-sized lap quilt.

 I’ll be adding borders and getting this one quilted soon.

Columbus or Leif Erikson Day?

People in the US have celebrated Columbus’ 1492 voyage since colonial days, but the first official Columbus Day holiday was proclaimed by Colorado governor McDonald in 1905, following lobbying by Angelo Noce, a first generation Italian in Denver.  Then in April 1934, President FD Roosevelt made October 12^th a Federal Holiday named Columbus Day (after lobbying by the Knights of Columbus) – later the holiday was changed to the second Monday in October.

But now Americans are familiar with the idea that Vikings were the first discoverers of the New World.  It was back in 1874 that Rasmus B. Anderson published his book titled “America Not Discovered by Columbus” that gave credence to the idea of Vikings as the first European discoverers in the New World.  Wisconsin was the first state to officially adopt Leif Erikson Day as a state holiday and a year later Minnesota followed suit.  Seven states (Wisconsin, Minnesota, South Dakota, Illinois, Colorado, Washington, and California) and one Canadian province (Saskatchewan) now have October 9^th as an official observance date of Leif Erikson Day.

Did you know that Hawaii and South Dakota are the two states that do not recognize Columbus Day at all?  Instead, Hawaii celebrates a Discoverer’s Day that commemorates the contributions of Polynesian voyagers.

And South Dakota celebrates Native American Day.

Nevada does not recognize Columbus Day as an official holiday, but its Governor is “authorized and requested” by statute to proclaim the day each year – what’s up with that, Nevada?!!

Here’s a free patriotic tablerunner from How Stuff Works.com to celebrate the occasion, whatever holiday you choose to celebrate today!

The Week’s Progress

It’s time for a little update from this week’s sewing:

"    I finished quilting and binding the easy quilt with the last of the little happy froggy fabric that I loved.  This one will go to Wrap-Them-in-Love.

            PS  Do you see snakes or Loch Ness Monsters on the backing fabric?

I prefer thinking about Nessie – LOL

"    I finished up the little Rogue’s Gallery top that in no way turned out the way I had envisioned it!  Sometimes I wish I had an EQ program or used Paint to design my improvised quilts, but I know that those would just cut into my actual SEWING of quilts, so I get off of the computer…

"    And, I machine appliquéd a few sailboats for my rows of a Round Robin from the Sunshine Quilt Guild.  The center with the little twisters reminded me of winds and sea colors and the next row looked like night stars, so I thought the top needed a few sailboats.  Do you agree?

 Later this week I’ll be attending my local Quilts of Valor meeting, so I’ll have to finish up the top I’ve been working on.  I’m sure I'll get done in plenty of time to take it to the meeting:

 What’s on your sewing tables and design walls?!



After the Vacation Sewing

You can get a lot done while you have a load of wash in the washing machine!  And I must admit that we had a lot of laundry after our vacation (sigh...).

I have been able to finish the red stars for the Quilt of Valor in process:

I was able to sew together the middle of the Rogue’s Gallery child’s quilt (still have to get to the store to get the orange polka dot fabric for the border):

And I was happy to finish quilting the borders and sew the binding on this quilt – the fabric is called Boy’s Toys.  It will go in the box to Wrap-Them-in-Love.

Detail of vehicles

 Only one more to go from that stack of 8!

And this is the Turtle of the Day in the Yard.  This is one of the biggest Box Turtles that I’ve seen around here.  Its shell was about 11 inches long.  I have no idea why we’re seeing these turtles in our back yard, but they’re fun …

Wonderful Vacation

Vacations are wonderful things … especially when the weather is fantastic, the food is great and the company is good.  We played golf in the western mountains of North Carolina and wore ourselves out.  This is one of my Smokey Mountain pictures from this year:

 And this is a little gazebo that the cart path goes past on one of the golf holes:

 And this is the bridge that was featured in the movie “Dirty Dancing”:

 (My golf ball is in that pond on the left before the little waterfall …)

 And I made my friends stop at every barn quilt that we passed!  Here are a few:

On a Welcome Center

On a Shed

At MeMaw's Produce Stand

More tomorrow!

What’s in the Works?

I have been busily making stars out of pinwheels for one of the larger Quilts of Valor again.  My QOV group uses a snowball block and I ask them to save the leftover triangles from the corners of those blocks for me to use to make pinwheels.  This is the start of how I am using the pinwheels:

 Every other star will have a red frame and star points.  Fortunately, I was able to get some nice red fabric at an excellent price recently due to a friend that told me of a good sale!  More photos to come as the top progresses.

And of course, I always have to have more than one project in the works.  This top uses fabrics that were sent to me to make a quilt for Wrap-Them-in-Love, an organization that sends quilts to children around the world.  I’m going to call it “Rogue’s Gallery”:

 It’s also coming along nicely, but I need some more orange fabric for the borders – oh well, another fabric shopping trip – too bad – LOL!

Grandparent’s Day

Last Sunday was Grandparent’s Day – one of those Hallmark holidays.  So my brother and SIL and their family came down to visit my mother, 86, who is in poor health.  My brother has three boys and two have wives and one has a 2-yr old baby girl (my mother’s first great-grandchild).  There was a real crowd and it made my mother very happy to see everyone.  They came to FL from Colorado, Illinois and Indiana.

 We ate at John’s Pass Village, close to where they were all staying near my mother at the beach.  They all got to see the dolphins swimming in the intercoastal waterway.

View from their condo

They have a boardwalk of shops there right on the water and the baby discovered the stuffed dog in front of the pet store – it’s hard to capture a picture of her since she’s a little perpetual motion machine!

Now You See Her

Now You Don't !!

 Of course, I couldn’t forget about quilting and when I saw the tile in the bath at their condo, I had to take a photo – LOL!

 But I did finish up a top this weekend from a great book called “Take 5” by Kathy Brown – I got this book for my birthday and will be making more from it soon, since it’s so good:

 You use just 5 different fabrics and can work up some great looking tops really fast with her excellent directions.  The stripes in this one don’t photograph well, but the colors are bright and vibrant and the print has little raccoons and mushrooms - perfect for a child's quilt:

And lastly, I noticed this little beastie sticking his head up from the grass in our yard:

He’s a snapping turtle that I guess wanted a little relief from all of the standing water back in our conservation area.  Even when they’re small like this guy, they can bite your fingers off, so I gave him a wide berth!

We Will Always Remember

All we have of freedom, all we use or know -

This our fathers bought for us long and long ago.

~Rudyard Kipling, The Old Issue, 1899

Happy Labor Day!

Labor Day is a traditional day of rest and relaxation...

That’s just what I intend to do!

I hope you and your family have a wonderful day, too.

I’ve Been Busy

Even though I’ve been busy, I only have bits and pieces to show for it.  I made a quick appliqué block to send to a swap group member that had a crisis in her family.  The blocks were to be any blue heart design on a yellow background and another member has volunteered to put it together into a quilt.  I hope it will be a comfort.

I had it in the envelope then remembered I wanted to take a picture

Then I finished up my round of our Round Robins that are circulating from another group.  The person who sent this center also included a piece of the focus fabric that could be used or not – the recipient’s choice.  When I received it, another person had already done the cute triangles with yellow for her Round 1 addition, so I went subtle and used the focus fabric a lot in my Round 2.  I wish I had had some yellow so the 4-patches would have popped out more, but red is what I had on hand.

 I have been trying to keep up my walking in between the rain storms.  I took these pictures of a Gardenia that has been shaped into tree form last week and when I walked by today (without my camera, of course), the tree is full of blooms and you can smell the lovely gardenia fragrance before you even get to that house.

gardenia flower

gardenia tree

 And the rains have made this beautiful Bleeding Hearts bush burst into flower also.  Guess the plants around here were thirsty and are now grateful for the quenching!

I just like this giant elephant ear plant.  I don’t recall seeing any at the stores or plant nurseries, but I think they’re cool.

 And last, but not least, I sent off a box to Wrap-a-Smile with 6 quilts in it.  I still have 2 of the 8 yet to quilt, but thought I was taking too long and just wanted to get these out the door.  One more is on the frame – so maybe tomorrow (I say that a lot…).

So maybe I do have a little something to show for where my time went!

Today is National Dog Day

A great day to celebrate the dog and to promote dog rescue!

I RESCUED A HUMAN TODAY

Her eyes met mine as she walked down the corridor peering apprehensively into the kennels. I felt her need instantly and knew I had to help her. I wagged my tail, not too exuberantly, so she wouldn't be afraid.

As she stopped at my kennel I blocked her view from a little accident I had in the back of my cage. I didn't want her to know that I hadn't been walked today. Sometimes the shelter keepers get too busy and I didn't want her to think poorly of them.

As she read my kennel card I hoped that she wouldn't feel sad about my past. I only have the future to look forward to and want to make a difference in someone's life.

She got down on her knees and made little kissy sounds at me. I shoved my shoulder and side of my head up against the bars to comfort her. Gentle fingertips caressed my neck; she was desperate for companionship.

A tear fell down her cheek and I raised my paw to assure her that all would be well. Soon my kennel door opened and her smile was so bright that I instantly jumped into her arms. I would promise to keep her safe. I would promise to always be by her side. I would promise to do everything I could to see that radiant smile and sparkle in her eyes. I was so fortunate that she came down my corridor. So many more are out there who haven't walked the corridors. So many more to be saved. At least I could save one.

I RESCUED A HUMAN TODAY​

And this is my rescued Australian Shepherd Mix:

What a sweetheart!