Old Ornaments

This is an old ornament that hung on our tree when I was a child. Bringing back many memories.

Smoky Mountain Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving in the Smoky Mountains with my 2 daughters and their families. We stayed in this lovely cabin. The weather was great. Warm days and cool nights. Campfires and smores, a little hiking and some shopping. Of course we had a great turkey dinner on Thursday, my son in law made the turkey and the rest of us pitched in for the rest of the dinner and clean up. Then on Friday we visited Paula Deen's Kitchen in Cherokee. Two big dinners in a row, I'm afraid to even step on the scale!Gatlinburg was all decked out for Christmas.The kids got in some fishing.The Polar Express to the North Pole was a hit.
Very nice get-away. Missed Neal and his family. Hoping they can join us next year.

Frustrated

I did manage to get Grady and Kendall's costumes done for Halloween. Here are Woody and Jessie. They were so cute!!

I'm on a cleaning out the closets jag. Such a frustrating job. When you live in a small house all you do is move stuff from one room to another. My guest room closet is stashed to the brim with scrap booking supplies, Christmas decorations and lots and lots of photos. It is looking better, I am throwing away a lot of junk that I have been holding onto for one reason or another but it is a time consuming proces

It Has Been Awhile

Wow, how time flies. Just finished the costumes for two of the grand kids. They will be Jessie and Woodie from Toy Story this year. Cute, cute. Trying to finish up Happy hauntings quilt before I start anything else and then onto finishing a couple of Christmas quilts.

A Finish and More to Quilt

Eventide is finished. Did a little continuous curve and some feathers. I am happy with the results and very happy that it is finished!

Red Velvet made with Bliss. Another top added to the needs to be quilted pile.

And Goosetracks in the Pumpkins. I started this one at retreat last fall and just finished it up this month. Also going into the to be quilted pile. I need to order a roll of batting and get busy!

Arlena - Dancer

Arlena is my grand daughter that lives in Indiana. Arlena and Kendall are 2 months apart, I posted Kendall's dance picture earlier. Kendall loved the recital -

from what I understand Arlena would rather be doing this.Such a cutie!

Beautiful Grayson

June 2000-July 2011 Rest in peace my frined. I will miss you always.

Homecoming

The grand kids were glad to see their Daddy again, even if they don't look all that happy in the picture. He was just gone for a month this time but I am sure it felt like forever to them. Grady is a real Daddy's boy so he was quite unhappy the first week or so without his Daddy around.

Change of plans for today. The smoke from a couple wild fires several miles away is very heavy this morning. This past week the winds have carried the smoke in this direction, today it looks like a slight fog outside. Not going to work outside in that.

Maybe I will load a quilt.

Where Does the Time Go

Looking at my list of finished quilts for 2011 I am realizing that I haven't done very much! I was moving right along getting ufo's put together but it seems the quilting process has stopped the progress. The machine is free for the moment. I have 3 small customer quilts to do but my customer doesn't want them until Nov so I could be doing something of my own, but no, it is just sitting there idle. I must do something about that but I have a full day of yard work ahead of me tomorrow. I received a couple of plants as gifts so that has put in motion a whole little landscaping adventure. I need to put down some landscaping web, get some dirt, buy a couple of shepherds hooks and some mulch as well as some bricks. I have a couple of outdoor flame less candle lanterns to put on the shepherds hooks among the plants, place the bricks in the ground and put the swing on them. Should be pretty and doable in one day. We shall see. I guess it kind of depends on how hot and humid it is tomorrow.

I did have a wonderful week with my brother and his family. Mike and I got a lot of bike riding in. We did a little over 60 miles for the week. I will add a picture of the point on Emerald Isle. One of the spots we rode to, one of my favorite places to be. It is where the ocean meets the sound, a beautiful beach. It's usually not very crowded on this part of the beach, I guess because the parking is very limited. There were a handful of people on the beach but as you can see, plenty of space to relax and reflect.

Off to do some sewing, have to add to the pile of unquilted tops!!

Finally Here

They are here!! This is an especially happy reunion this year. Wendy spent the bulk of this past year fighting breast cancer. She went through surgery, chemo and radiation and has another surgery ahead of her in a couple weeks, not cancer related but still another surgery. She is feeling and looking great! It is so good to be together again!! My southern pork bbq was a hit, we all ate too much. Some serious bike riding and beach walking are going to have to take place this week!

Almost Here

My brother and his family will be here late this afternoon. Can't wait!! They are looking forward to this hot weather we are having, they say it has been cold in Indiana this Spring. It is going to be a great week!!

Dancer

K had her first dance recital today.

Buddies

Grand son Grady and Grand dog Mickey.

A Picture

Finally, a picture of my lovely prize from Carrie. Such beautiful fabric and such a generous gift!! I love the schnibbles patterns, hope to get them all made! There are six schnibbles patterns (the new ones), 2 charm packs of Maison de Garance, a project bag, a fat eighth bundle of Pom Pom de Paris and a fat quarter bundle of Charlevox!!! I haven't opened any of the fabric packages yet. I had hoped to make the April Le Petite project but I just didn't get it done. I have been very busy with customer quilting and lots of yard work, with lots more yard work still to do. I cheated a little this year. I bought the planter refills instead of individual plants, that was a time saver. So the planters are filled, flower boxes on the porch rail are filled and I added 3 new rose bushes, some ornamental grass, hung a fern at the side of the walk and added some ornamental grass, hosta and a few more iris. I think I am done, just have to do a little weeding and trimming. The yard is fertilized, now for some rain!

I took a break from everything today and went out to Emerald Isle and did a little shopping for beach wear. My brother and his family will be at the beach for the first week of June. I am really looking forward to their visit. We just hang out at the beach for the entire week so I had to have some appropriate beach wear!! My brother and I will be doing some major bike riding too - he is the only person I know that likes to ride as much as I do. I usually ride alone, not nearly as much fun!

I am off to load a quilt of my own now. It is one that I finished last summer, about time to get it quilted!

Carol

Promises, Promises

I haven't lost my enthusiasm for my wonderful gift, promise to share pictures soon. I need to get a new SD card for my camera. I have so many pictures on the current one, computer is full, so it takes forever and a day to get to the new pictures. I keep forgetting to buy a new card when I am in town but have it on the list now.

Lots of customer quilting going on here plus it is time to really get serious about the yard work. Have to get my flowers to plant today and also remember to get batteries for the underground fence so the dogs don't tramp all over the flowers. I don't know why they like to do that so much.

Dodged storms here this week. My heart goes out to all those in the tornado's path! I think our next chance for rain is Tuesday so I have to remember to get the yard fertilized Mon evening. I always forget until it is raining.

Off to Lowes for flowers, I bet there will be lots of shoppers today, such a beautiful day we are having!

Carol

OH MY GOSH

I am the extremely lucky winner of a gift box from Carrie Nelson, Miss Rosie's Quilt Co, as part of the recent Eventide sew along. I can't tell you how excited I was to find this huge box of goodies on my front porch this evening. I will post pictures of all the goodness I found inside this weekend. Carrie was much more than generous, I just kept repeating oh my gosh, oh my gosh as I looked at all the wonderful gifts inside!! Carrie, if you are reading - Thank You So Much!!! I love everything in the box and I am just awed by your generosity! Eventide is a great quilt and the sew along made it even more fun to put together. Carol

A Better Picture?

Okay, don't know if this one is any better but another picture of Eventide. I decided to hang around the house and wait for the downpour to let up before heading out today. Lots of rain, we needed it!

Eventide

One last post on Eventide, at least until it is quilted. I love it. It was fun to work on, those little Ohio Star blocks were so much fun to make. Couldn't wait to move on to the next one to see what it would look like! Thank you Thelma for hosting the sew along. I enjoyed it so much. I am going to the parade now, can't wait to see them all together. Just checked out Thelma's blog. Great quilts everyone. They are beautiful!!! Sorry for the cell phone picture. When I get home tonight I will post a picture from my "real" camera. We are just beginning to get that storm that went through Tn and Georgia yesterday, it could be a nasty one!

Eventide done!

Getting There

It's too big for my design wall! The body is together, on to the borders! Carol

Not Much to Busy, Busy

Seems like it is feast or famine around here. Received 2 customer quilts that needed to be done right away, no problem - until I saw all the pictures. Needless to say I have been working very hard to get this one out on time. Custom work is not my thing so this was a struggle for me. I am happy with the results. I mixed some loops with cross hatching and outline quilting around the pictures with the popcorn panto for the siggie blocks. I hope my customer likes it as much as I do. Really, I need to stop being so lazy and use the real camera to take some better pictures instead of the cell phone.

The other one that needed to be done right away was a t-shirt quilt. I usually do a meander on t-shirt quilts to avoid the problems caused by the heavy rubber on some of the shirts. This customer wanted a panto. I ended up basting down the shirts with the rubber on them and it helped a lot with shifting.

I have been so busy quilting, babysitting the grand kids and working that I have only passed through the living room on the way out the door. I hadn't noticed until today that my plant was blooming. This is really a miracle! This plant belonged to my Grandmother, I remember her caring for it when I was a kid. It passed down to my Mom and then to me. I was so happy that it is still alive, I am not the best plant custodian, but a little dismayed that it never bloomed. This is the first year since my Mom passed away that this plant has bloomed. I was so amazed and thrilled to see these blooms! It is just beautiful and brings back so many memories.

I can get back to Eventide now, I have a few more customer quilts to do but I am taking a day and evening off!

Carol

Not Much

Just not much going on here. I have been working on Eventide Ohio stars, eight more to go and then on to the border!

This is a beautiful time of year in NC. The trees are in bloom, spring flowers are blooming, just lovely. We still are having some chilly nights but the day temps are just about perfect! Time to get out there and get some yard work done!

Carol

Stuck on Red, White and Blue

This quilt has been pieced and hanging in the closet with its backing waiting to be quilted for quite some time. It is finally done! I started the year with one red, white and blue quilt, added the Pd quilt to the collection and hopefully by the end of March Eventide will be finished also. I think that will complete the collection.

Eventide Progress

I have been having fun making the little Ohio Star blocks for Eventide. Most of them have blue points but I have tossed in a few gold and red. My version is not that beautiful flowing of colors but more bold and red! I knew that by using the left over fabric from the PD quilt I would have more of a bold red, white and blue look. I have so few quilts in this colorway so this is a welcome addition. I would still like to make this quilt in some soft florals.

My pictures are from my cell phone again so not the best but faster!

Carol

Pennsylvania Dutch and Eventide

Pennsylvania Dutch was my Feb goal. I am pleased to say that it is finished. I did change it a little. I left off the pieced border that was to go between the two borders and pieced a scrappy binding instead. I did notice a mistake after it was all finished and I had hung it on the wall. Too late now! This quilt was a BOM from the FQS. The fabric is Wiscasset by Minick and Simpson. It is quilted with a very simple panto, Ebb and Flow. The thread I used is red, white and blue from YLI. I am very thrilled to have it finished.These are the left over fabrics from PD. Lots of them! I decided to use them on another project I started this month. I have joined Thelma of Cupcakes N Daisies blog for the Eventide sew in. This is my first block. I am not thrilled with my colors but I think once it gets in the mix it will be okay. I usually cut everything before I start a quilt but even though I have the majority cut out I will be cutting as I go for the star centers and the "something else" pieces in this block. Most of the background is from stash and I can see that I will have to add a few other pieces but it will still be mostly Wiscasset. I am excited to get more blocks done, hopefully tonight!Poor Lucky. He has his ball and is ready to go. This picture was taken on Sunday when our temps were in the 70's. I think he is wondering how I could stay inside and sew on such a beautiful day! I did give in to that sad face and together with Grayson enjoyed some beautiful sunshine!

Carol

Roll, roll cotton boll

It's done!! Seems like it took forever but only since November. It did turn out much nicer than I imagined. I didn't get a picture of the border but that is what pulls it altogether. The great thing about this quilt is that it is all scraps and stash! You would think that it would have put a dent in all those neutral scraps but really, not so much. It was a wonderful 70 degrees here today. Of course that is not lasting long, back down in the 50's tomorrow but oh so much better than a lot of other places. This is more like NC kind of winter weather.

Next project is Pennsylvania Dutch BOM from the fqs. Starting tomorrow evening!

Carol

And Again

It is snowing AGAIN this weekend. I am beginning to think I am in a bad dream. Not only is it snowing this weekend but the rumor is that next weekend we will get major snow. Unbelievable!!!

I'm still working on the RRCB mystery. Down to the last borders. I hope to get this finished today. It is very unlikely that I will venture into town to get any batting, it's crazy down here when it snows.

A friend recommended I watch The Expendables this weekend. I did, last night, against my better judgement. What a bloody movie. I should have known better!!

I have a pork roast in the crock pot and I am about to make some of Judy L's donut muffins. Then I will settle down at the machine and hopefully get my borders on while watching it snow.

Carol

It's Snowing AGAIN!!!

I think this is the third snowfall this year. I have to admit it is very pretty but that is as far as it goes. It can stop any time!!

Kendall was at my house for the weekend. We watched movies, read books, played games and she played with the dogs. I did get a little sewing in while she watched one of her movies for the third or fourth time. Roll, Roll Cotton Boll is coming along - Bonnie Hunter's mystery.

Kendall gave each of the dogs bows around their necks. Lucky even got one on his leg.

We had fun putting together her princess puzzle. With the snow comes a day at home. I usually go to K's house to babysit on Monday but when it snows in the South we pretty much close up shop and stay home. So - off to the sewing machine!