Home Again After a Great Trip

Sharon and I had a very fun filled Thursday, Friday, Saturday and a wee bit of Sunday. There wasn't much of Thursday, Sharon experienced some serious airline delays, I'm betting that she'll tell you about that. She got in too late to do Preview Night so we just went and had some dinner, a glass of wine, caught up and laughed a lot. She had a big surprise for me...you may remember the tote bag she said that she made for herself for the show...well that was a little story...she made it for me ...what a surprise...I love it, and lots of people complemented me on my wonderful bag, including Judy Rothermel...she loved the fabrics...Aunt Grace of course... Friday morning we were up and ready to go...we hit the quilt show shortly after the doors opened and headed straight for the vendors...I know you wouldn't expect anything else from us. Our first stop was Lori Smith's booth...From My Heart to Your Hands...her booth is always amazing...what a prolific gal. We flipped over her Fit to Frame patterns
...small quilts...right up my alley...I can say I finished several quilts...don't have to say how big they are...they are really wonderful...

There were lots of vendors there that we loved...good reproduction fabrics...great primitive booths...you could say we were in heaven. We both needed some 30's fabrics...I needed a few more greens, pinks and purples for the baby quilt I'm working on...so Quiltin' Gals from Texas was the answer...
great fabrics and great prices.

Primitive Gatherings had a marvelous booth...oh boy, if I'd driven to Chicago and not flown...had unlimited space and pounds to bring stuff home, I would have been in some real serious trouble in that booth...you gals that live near there are really lucky...what a great shop. I got Lisa's new book with 26 projects in it
and a kit for a Christmas quilt that is just awesome...it looks really old...that's moved to the top of my TO DO list.

Country Threads was another booth that really could have gotten me in big trouble...there were about 4 more kits that I really thought would be great to have, but way to heavy...I'll be punching buttons. I did get several patterns, a really cute Mary E kit for a tumbler quilt
and I got 2 of Mary's handmade pin cushions. Mary has been making pin cushions and selling them at shows...she's tucking away all of her pin cushion money to buy her very own baby grand piano. Along with being a quilt designer, a quilter, a shop owner, Mary is a very accomplished pianist.

I have several more pictures of purchases and need to finish telling you about our evening with Anna and her peeps, but Blogger is starting to act up and I don't think it wants any more pictures in this post, so I'll sign off for now and look for part 2.

Don't Faint

Now don't anyone faint...I'm back...two days in a row. Wow! Wow! Wow!
I've had several questions about the Faux Paper Piecing technique...I couldn't respond to the questions because they came from "no reply" gals so I'm going to answer the question real quick here. The technique is from Judy over at Quilting with Ragdolls (ragdollquilting.blogspot.com)...she posted on Sunday, March 30 the best tutorial with awesome pictures. So click on over there for a lesson. She did a great job.

Off to pack...have a great rest of the week and weekend everyone.

Where do I begin?

Well, once again it's been forever since I posted. I wish I could tell you that I'd been gone on a wonderful vacation somewhere, but that wouldn't be true. Let me see if I can recreate the time since I posted last...maybe you should get a cup of coffee, a diet coke or maybe a glass of wine...this may be long.
Just after I posted last time, my dear Andy decided that we needed to do some serious yard work. The yard guys do the routine work...but we needed to add bedding chips, we use pine bark nuggets here, and you know the job is never as big when you start as it is when you get going. 76 bags of nuggets later we were done. Then we needed to trim back the crepe myrtles...Andy spoke to the yard guy and he said he couldn't do it that day because he didn't have his chain saw...Oh NO! not my crepe myrtles...so we trimmed them all. That part wasn't so bad, but the cleaning up and bundling all the stuff we cut for the yard trash people to pick up took forever...plus at that point we were both pooped. That whole yard work (togetherness) project took a couple of days...so nothing got done in my sewing room. By the time I had time to sew my body hurt so badly from all the yard work that I could barely make it up the stairs. The good news is we're done with the hard work.

The next event was taking Andy to the shoulder specialist. He's been there twice, had an MRI, got a cortisone shot, and and no relief. So he had to go back for the consultation about the MRI results...the good news is that his rotator cuff isn't torn but it's fraying and has lots of bone spurs in there...so he's going to have to have surgery. He'll probably schedule that for May.

Friday was Mom's 86th birthday...shame on me...I forgot the camera...Andy and I took her to lunch at the Ritz-Carlton and it was wonderful. They treated her like a queen. It couldn't have been a better day.
The kids found a house that absolutely loved...to quote Katie...it's the perfect family house. After offers, counter offers back and forth the owners accepted their offer on Sunday evening and they couldn't be more excited. They'll probably close the end of May, so I'll be driving up to help with the move...you know what that means, I'll be playing with my little man.

OK, I think I've got you caught up on life. Here's a little quilty stuff. I'm nuts about the Prairie Paisley fabric by Minnick & Simpson for MODA...so I did some button pushing and look what showed up on my porch.


Now you know how I love mail...look at these goodies that came from Sharon... Look at that cutie little yellow bunny holding a tiny flower...and I love the egg and I really hope that you can see the wonderful scrabble tile charm with the C on it...oh I love it all. There's also a mix there for a raspberry cheesecake...oh my...I'll have to get back to the gym.
Oh exciting news for Sharon and I...we're meeting in Chicago on Thursday for the big quilt show...we are so excited...we've heard that this show is great, so we'll let you know when we get home. We'll be coming home on Sunday.

I have gotten some sewing done...I'm working on a baby quilt and I'm having so much fun doing it...here's a bit of it on my "design floor" in my sewing room storage area
...I need to get this done, the baby's due the end of June.

I've gotten a couple of Civil War Diary blocks done
The top one is Yankee Papers and the bottom one is Special Blessings.

Karen helped me on Saturday with Judy's Faux Paper Piceing technique...I did much better doing paper piecing this way than I ever did with regular paper piecing...so today I attempted on my own and did just fine...here are 2 parts of another Diary block... Hopefully I can get it done before I leave.

Thank you so much for stopping and sticking it out here with me til the end. Have a wonderful evening.

All Points Bulletin!

This is an all points bulletin...I'm looking for the month of March...where in the heck did it go? How can it possibly be approaching the time when we flip the calendar page? If anyone finds the month of March, please let me know...I could really use a few more days...LOL!
I've been really bad about posting...Andy was gone all last week...silly boy went to Pennsylvania to see his two brothers and to see some friends. Yes, Florida boy went to Pennsylvania and froze his little fanny off. There was snow, there was ice...he was happy his rental car had heated seats...he was very, very happy to be home...he had a wonderful time seeing everyone but I don't think he'll be making that trip again in March.
I really took advantage of his time away and got lots done...I sewed from morning until late into the night...only stopped to walk the boys, give them their meals and feed myself. I only left the house one time to get my hair cut...you know you can move mountains if you don't have to leave the house. My neighbors all think I'm a hermit, but you know what...I'm OK with that...I'm thrilled with what I got done.
I got two more Web Sampler blocks done and I got my finishing kit all cut out and ready...I think I'll be doing some of the filler blocks and maybe starting to put together the center section...I'm very happy that we've moved the finishing date until July 1st though

...these blocks are very intense...lots of pieces...challenging but fun.

I got some Civil War Diary and Love Letters blocks done...I am way, way behind but I'm having lots of fun doing these blocks. I don't know how many blocks I'm going to do...I don't know what I'm going to do with them when I decide I'm done...but I'm sure enjoying the process and I guess that's all that matters.
These blocks are top left: Lonesome Place (p.221 CWLL) top right: Games, Music and Knitting (p.117 CWD) bottom left: John Morgan (p.145 CWD) bottom middle: Mail Delivery (p. 85 CWD) bottom right: Soldier's Box (p. 199 CWD)

I did some other blocks for swaps and I got the binding on a quilt that I did last year and just didn't get around to getting the binding done. I want to put this quilt on the guest room bed since spring is here, so it needed to be finished. Well as you can see, I had some help. Zack was watching me the whole time I was stitching this on, as soon as I finished and it fell to the floor, he saw his opportunity and went for it. Zack's seal of approval!

I also finished the first section of the Four Seasons Block of the Month from Country Loft...it sure was fun to get this section together...I'm ready for the next section, it should be arriving soon and I'm caught up...YIPPEE!

We had a quiet Easter...went to Mom's for brunch...and came home and watched NCAA basketball...we love March Madness. Took mom a plate of cookies for Easter
...and were they yummy. They were from a recipe that Nicole over at Raggedy Old Annies posted back in December. If you love M&M's you'll love these cookies.

Well, if you stuck with me through this whole, long post thank you...I promise I'll try to post more regularlly, not leave 2 weeks between posts and then they won't have to be so darn long...have a great evening everyone.

What a Surprise!

What a surprise I found in the mail...Andy came in the house with the mail and said..."Here's a big brown box for you"...well, I really didn't have a clue...a friend said she was sending a box, but I was expecting a little box so I was jumping up and down until he gave it to me. Well, it was from Darlene
...and look what was inside

WOW! WOW! WOW! You know, I read Darlene's posts regularly and back in February she was talking about her blue and brown quilts that she was working on. She said that one was for her and one was for a friend. I remember thinking, "What a lucky friend to get a wonderful quilt from Darlene." Well, that's the very quilt that came in the mail to ME! I am the lucky friend. I love, love, love my new quilt...it's blue and BROWN! Could I be happier? Thank you Darlene! You are VERY special.
Blogland friends are truly wonderful!
Have a wonderful evening everyone!

Hampton Was In the House

Oh my goodness, I'm not sure I can even tell you what a wonderful week we had...Josh, Katie and Hampton arrived on Sunday evening and spent the week with us...they left this morning around 8:30...What a fun week...Andy and I had him every morning to ourselves...as soon as I would hear him I'd head right up the stairs and get him. The first morning Josh and Katie said "Are you sure you don't need us?" "Please go back to bed...get some rest" I said...now what I really wanted to say was "Are you nuts...no we don't need you. This is our time." I was good...don't anyone panic...LOL! We'd play for a while and then I'd go fix his breakfast...here's what all the boys would do.

Hampton loved Howie and Zack...Zack stayed clear...he just wasn't at all sure about this little person, but Howie thought he was wonderful. He knew that wherever Hampton was, there was usually food around. Howie ate a zillion Cheerios...and he loved every one of them.

This isn't a quilty posting today since I haven't gotten any sewing done this week...well I did get some swap blocks done this afternoon after we changed the sheets, did laundry and cleaned house...found lots of Cheerios that Howie missed.

Perry tagged me the beginning of the week to tell about my iron. I have had a many, many irons...expensive irons and cheap irons, auto shut off irons and old fashioned never shut off irons...I really like this iron and it was very inexpensive...$29 and 20% off with my Linens & Things coupon. Judy told me about this iron a while ago and I needed a new one so I thought I'd try it. I'm not usually a big fan of auto shut off, but this one isn't bad...it reheats almost instantly so I'm fine with it. It gets VERY hot and has wonderful steam.

I'll leave you with one picture of my little man...this was just minutes before they left this morning...

I have a couple more pictures to share with you but I'll save them for my next post...have a wonderful evening.

I Know I'm Slow Getting Back to the Routine

Whew, I am slow getting back to real life...I got back on Wednesday late afternoon from our retreat and a stop at a quilt shop. What a wonderful time we had...I don't think I've ever had the opportunity to spend that much time sewing, uninterrupted in my life.
We sewed, ate, laughed, and did it over and over again. We're trying to figure out how we can do this all again really soon. Everyone got lots done...some got whole projects done
and some got parts done

and moved to the next step. I did a little of each. I started and finished this table topper from the book Bits and Pieces.
I got the border fabric when I was in California, they had the sample done and hanging in the shop and Sharon and I just loved it. Now I just have to get it quilted and it will be ready for the patriotic season. It was lots of fun to do...good directions and went together well.
I was also thrilled to get 4 Web Sampler Blocks done
...now I have 6 blocks done and the other 6 have lots of pieces so I need to really concentrate. I got my finishing kit today so all I have to do is get to stitchin LOL!

The sewing group was here today and we had a great time and oh my goodness we had wonderful treats...I made brownies and added the yummy frosting that Karen had posted this week. Oh my, it is out of this world. Then I also made Karen's Oatmeal Cranberry White Chocolate Chip cookies that she posted a week or so ago. Andy loves those...he's not a real big chocolate fan so these cookies are right up his alley...I think he'd eat his weight in these cookies if I let him. Thanks Karen for your delicious treat recipes...I may not be able to zip my pants but it's OK!

The Happy, Happy news from here is that Hampton and his parents are all well again and they will be here tomorrow. I'm not going to get so excited this time, but I'll be doing the dance when the car pulls into the driveway.

Have a great Sunday all!