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.