For Faye

Here ya go. Flurry panto. This would have been good for custom but I'm pretty much a panto girl! Yes, it is mine. Another one that has been done for a long time, just waiting to get on the machine.

Last quilt for 2012

My goal for this holiday weekend is to finish quilting and bind this quilt! It's a big one-(:

Finally Finished!

The 2008 designer mystery is finished. Put the final stitches in on Christmas Day.
I failed to purchase the finishing kit so I had to wing it. I have one more Christmas quilt on the machine. I will either be working on that today or Bonnie's mystery, maybe a little of both.

Show and Tell AAQ 2012

A few of the quilts from retreat.  They were all awesome!

 Patti is traveling all over the country and abroad teaching her technique.

This one has over 10,000 pieces.

One More

Not sure how I got here but this is the picture of the whole block.

Nearly Insane

My first Nearly Insane block.  I had a picture of the whole block as well but for some reason it won't

 load.  I seem to be having a lot of trouble with this new format.  I bought the Nearly Insane book quite a few years ago and started collecting civil war fabrics to make it.  Every time I pulled it out I guess it was just too intimidating and I shoved it back in the closet.  I saw a picture of Bonnie Hunter working on hers and that made me think about making one again.  So I went completely left with the fabric choices.  I am using Marmalade, Bliss and Ruby and will mix in some batiks as well.  So I have one block finished and 94 to go! I will try again tomorrow to get the picture of the whole block to load as well as the quilts from retreat.

Yesterday was my birthday.  I decided to go on a little adventure.  I have been wanting to get out and see some of the attractions in the area and thought yesterday was a good day to start.  I had heard about a little town called Oriental.  It was a favorite hang out for pirates in the early days.  Since the 1960's it has become the sailing capital of  NC.  Lots of summer and weekend homes for folks in the nearby cities.  I called Sherry and invited her to come along with the kids, to my surprise she was willing to take the little road trip.  I had researched the trip route and noted that one route included a ferry ride.  I made a mental note to avoid that route - not knowing the cost or time involved.  Well that was the day before out little trip so I had forgotten all about the ferry when I put the destination into the GPS and mindlessly followed those driving directions.  So we ended up on the ferry, which turned out to be free - imagine that! Not a long wait or a long ride and the kids were thrilled.  Not much happening in Oriental, just beautiful sailboats and scenery!  Oriental is located on the Neuse River, the widest river in the US - according to the facts I read on the internet :}

It was a fun day followed with a relaxed evening with a little Prosecco and sewing.

Better Luck Today

I'll start with a picture of the lovely Natalie.

 

 These three quilts were made by Sally Collins.  Her work is just amazing.  Although I will never be making anything using such small pieces I feel that I learned a lot from her lecture that I can incorporate into my quilting, that is if I ever get back into it again.  Seems like a long dry spell.

 Then there is the handsome little Dylan.  I attended his soccer practice with his Dad, it was great to be able to spend some time with the kids.

I will be back with some pictures of the quilts the ladies were working on at retreat.

SF Bay Area Trip 2012

I had a wonderful time on my recent trip to SF!  Visited with my son and his family.  It was great to spend some time with them!  The grand kids are growing like weeds.  I also attended the Ales Anderson retreat in Livermore.  Great retreat - Sally Collins was the guest speaker, wow what an awesome program.  This retreat was bittersweet without my dear friend Sylvia but it was nice to be with other people who knew and loved her too. 

I wanted to post some pictures, took tons of them.  I have some amazing quilt pictures.  Can't seem to get them to upload.  I will keep trying to figure out why the pictures won't post - if I do I will be back.

I don't remember the name of this one exactly.  Goose in the Pond maybe.  Anyway it is finished, binding and all.  I practiced quilting fill stitches on this one.  It's okay, probably should have used a panto on it.

Still working on Swoon.  There has been a pretty big lull in sewing around here.  Too much rain, seems all I do is mow the yard.  I have been prepping Friends for Christmas to take to retreat with me, hopefully to stitch on the plane.  Also prepping a paper piecing project to work on. 

Elizabeth and Swoon

 Elizabeth, a Miss Rosie's Quilt Co design, is finished!  Finally.  My friend and I both bought fabric to make this quilt together a few years ago when we were vending at a quilt show in New Hampshire.  We started the quilt and managed to get together several times to sew but then both got busy and it went by the wayside.  So I decided it was time to get it done.  I love it.  I forget the name of the fabric line - I know it is by Moda.  I think it is such a pretty color combo.  My friend Jane saw a picture of my finished quilt and is now anxious to get hers done.

Then onto the Swoon blocks.  I have been working on these since the end of March I think.  I don't know why it is taking me so long to get them finished.  I hope to work on them this afternoon.

I accomplished a little house cleaning this morning as well as running errands.  Then it was home to wait for the Direct TV guys to come and switch me over from cable.  I had been wondering about the underground lines but just figured they would have a way to mark them since nothing was said about any preliminary arrangements I had to make.  Well guess what, they do not have any way to mark underground lines so had to reschedule.  Since digging in involved in installing a  line I think that issue should have been addressed.  Go figure.  Also they cannot share a wall with the cable company for my Internet so suggested laying an external line across my carpet to the present location of my TV. Really?  Not sure how they are going to hook up the TV in the living room, guess I should ask before I have wires strung the length of the house.  I'm going to make that phone call and then have a glass of wine and sew, sew, sew.

Indiana, June 2012

Huber Winery

Arlena and Kendall

A little of this for Grady

Tink

A lot of this

Mason

Arlena

Just got home from a trip to IN to visit with my daughter Noelle and her family. I went with Sherry, Kendall and Grady.  Sherry's husband Brandon is deployed right now so it was good for Sherry and the kids to get a little break.  We all had a great time playing in the pool.  It was a nice break but now it's time to catch up on the yard work!

Sylvia

This is a picture of my friend Sylvia from the 2010 Alex Anderson Retreat. It was the last time we had together, I wasn't able to go last year. We were however making great plans for the coming retreat in Sept. Sylvia passed away last Wednesday. I can't even express how much I miss her.

We met at retreat about 10 years ago. I am terrible at dates. After the first year we became room mates and great friends. We shared our lives with each other through email and phone calls through out the year and always looked forward to our once a year reunion.

My Dad told me that you were lucky if you had one or two true friends in your life and of course he was right, seems he always was. I consider myself very lucky to have had Sylvia as my friend. I am glad that she is at peace but I will miss her always!

Another Top Quilted

Tennessee Waltz is finished. This one was started a long time ago, I'm glad it is finished. Seems like that is the way of most of my quilt tops. Just waiting to be quilted. Don't know what is up with the text color and the underline but at least I can enter some text. Having a bit of a problem with that this evening.


This little guy kept me company while I stitched down the binding. They usually don't hang around too long but he watched until I went in the house and then disappeared.

Of course Lucky gave the quilt his comfort test and seemed to approve.