Another quilt addition

My pal Nancy stopped by a bit ago with some of the quilts that she volunteered to bind. This is one that I know you have not seen. Grandma's Scrap Bag --a pattern from Miss Rosie's Quilt Company. Pieced by my mom and quilted by me. I don't know that you can see the wavy line that I quilted across the pieced bands leading away from the little square in a square blocks or not but trust me, it is there, LOL.

The quilt will be going to Pam's M2M project along with 10 others that she pieced and I quilted. (One has already been mailed) Mom also has two completed quilts that she will be sending back with me to mail out with the rest. I was asked in chat last night how many were going. I know that I have two of my own making out for binding that will be added to the 3 or 4 that Pat has offered to quilt. A few that the Belles have made may be going too.

There are a couple of "hafta" projects (round robins) on the horizon when I get back from my trip and also a stack of 5 pinned and waiting for me. Mom and I have a bunch of her tops to pin but I suspect I'll help cut some scraps and maybe piece some string blocks. I am taking my bluework Santa blocks and some binding so I'll keep busy with something sewing related I'm sure.

See when I get back------

401st post

I didn't notice that my last post was my 400th until I went to post this one. That is a lot of gabbing, LOL. When you consider that I "lost" my first 6 weeks of blog notes, there would be even more out there.

I just finished up my super secret FAB challenge yesterday afternoon and will mail the output of that on to the name that was pulled for me tomorrow. As soon as all 5 of the FABS have received their packages, we will assemble in chat and open them all at the same time--just like Christmas! Chances are, pictures will be posted on our blogs shortly after that, LOL.

No pics of that but I was invited to ride along with my friend Jane and her husband Hugh and our mutual friend Aline to the Alabama Quilt Symposium on Friday. The event started on Thursday and ran through Saturday in Cullman which is about a hour and half drive away from here. They have had this for several years but this was my first opportunity to go. I am sometimes on vacation when the show is on and would have been this year had we not pushed our trip back. We had lunch when we first got to town at a Sweet Peppers Deli and the show was held at Saint Bernard Retreat and Conference Center, Cullman, AL near the Ava Marie Grotto. They used the gymnasium area for the quilt display and vendors.

I got a few pics before my batteries went dead on me---turned out I accidentally was taking a movie and that sucks up the power in a big hurry. I had scaled back on the usual purse and didn't have room for the backup batteries I should have brought with me. Since I didn't keep a program, I have no idea of who to credit for piecing, quilting or designs but I do have the list of show winners that may give some information if they have a ribbon. These were some that attracted my attention.

Fall themed quilt

Small quilt with mixed technique--small cathedral window, green work, hexagons etc

In the art quilt category-- "Fancy Interpretation of Euclid's Isoceles" by Virginia Bonham

One for Norma to admire since she decorates and collects chicken things, LOL.

This one was awarded the Best of Show Ribbon--"Purple Mountain Majesty" by Mary Grace Brown and a first place ribbon for Hand Quilted, Appliqued Quilts. I wish I had gotten a picture of one in the large duet quilt category called "Vintage Moments" that had won a 1st place ribbon its category as well as the Judge's Choice ribbon for its maker Joy Flynn. Quilted by Anita Shackleford, no less. It was a toss up between those two quilts for my viewers choice.


I think that this one was called "Guaranteed to Bloom" by JoAnn Copeland designed by Judy Niemeyer had had taught at a previous symposium and was on this years' faculty. On the website it looks as though the quilter used Niemeyer's Pepperdish Basic pattern to create her version of the quilt. There was also a smaller one with a white background that was also attributed to Judy Niemeyer--"Thistle Creek Crossing" that was very well done. Cher recently took a class from this same designer and is making the lovely Indian Summer design--can't wait to see how it turns out.
Our friends Betsy and Gary had quilts entered in the show and Betsy's round robin "Esmeralda, the Little Red Hen" received an honorable mention. I showed a picture of it way back when and the unquilted top can be seen HERE, 5th one down with Betsy coincidentally standing next to it. Gary received a 2nd place ribbon in the large quilt group though had also entered his round robin quilt. Now that one I had something to do with since I was in his RR group--I did the last round of applique. It can be seen HERE.

I didn't come home with any fabric other than a gift square from buying a few chances on the Birmingham Quilt Guild's opportunity quilt. No one called yesterday so no doubt someone else was the lucky winner--darn it! We got home about 5 for a fun day away.
Today I have taking care of a few odds and ends since I leave on Tuesday bright and early. Laundry is done, groceries gotten and I am mostly packed. Check list made out and all that. Jut need to resist the impulse to pack half the house to drag along with me. Won't be long now!
Happy Father's Day-------

different sort of day

My quilt group met yesterday and it proved to be a different sort of day. It turned out fine but plans were changed from what I originally thought it might be. Roll with the punches.

I have the key to the Fellowship Hall and am the group leader so I always get there ahead of anyone else. First thing that I saw when I arrived was a "NO PARKING" sign? HMMM, that was a little odd, I thought, are they repaving the lot or something? I unloaded my stuff from the car, hauled in my cart but the lights were on and the door, unlocked. OH, OH. The lady in charge must have seen the perplexed look on my face---they were all set up for the ARC summer camp and what's more they will be there all through the rest of June and most of July. Obviously I did not "get the memo."

We expect that we will get bumped if the church has a function going on . No one from the church called and when the secretary saw me, she knew what I was thinking. I would have made other arrangements and called the girls ahead of time had I been given the "head's up". I didn't have that opportunity though. I didn't get mad and kept my cool, though it was a bit upsetting. The pastor apologized to me 4 or 5 times for just plain "forgetting" about us. What to do, what to do? There was a conference room and adult classroom available so we could just meet in either of those, though in a limited manner. I could get the strip plugs and table protectors if someone wanted to sew but pinning would be "out" for the day. Chris made me a sign to put on the door to let any of the arrivals know the change of location.

By that time all the school buses were coming in dropping the campers off. Two of the group members arrived looking just as perplexed as me. I got on my cell phone and started calling everyone else to give them a heads up about the parking situation and the meeting room location. There were 4 of us there by then and two more on the way in. A/C was not working. Do we stay or go? Linda C lives about 8 miles away and she promised to crank the a/c down and the fans on. I called the other two that I knew were heading in to tell them the 2nd change of plans.

So off we went. Nancy had a stop to make first so she drove on by herself but Lois and I just left our vehicles in the lot and rode with Linda as she or Nancy could bring us back in to town. Nancy had fabric and patterns to look at and ask for opinions. Most notably, an aqua hankie collection that goes perfectly with the Quest for Cure fabric for ovarian cancer. She also had her Quilt Pink quilt to show though I didn't get a picture of it---maybe the binding needed to be done first??

Linda needed some help in laying out a top that had been designed by the staff at Sew What quilt shop here in Oxford (AL)---one of those where the design is on point but it could just as easily have been a straight set. Lois had that figured out before I did---it is definitely a "fool the eye" sort of layout and no wonder Linda was having problems. By that time Aline had arrived and was helping with the block layout. We suggested at first just leaving it on a spare bed but that meant a trip up and down the stairs for us and eventually, Linda. Instead we got an old sheet and pinned the sections to it and folded it all up so she is ready to roll.

We yakked about plans for our challenge quilts, the new quilt shop and other quilty/non-quilty stuff enjoying each others company. I got the pictures of the finished donation quilts with Linda and Lois holding them off the staircase. Isn't Lois' version of "Red Velvet Cake" beautiful? Janet Worley pattern from a book but which one I don't know and I probably messed up her name--sorry about that. The other is a quilt that Aline made for a Black and White, Plus One challenge but she did not submit it for inclusion in the voting, donating it to the kids instead. It has the coolest fabric in jungle animals in black and white on the back! The other quilts can be seen HERE in the shop's gallery pages.

When it came time for lunch we rode back into the Oxford Exchange and ate at the Golden Rule (BBQ) place and capped off the day by a trip into Hobby Lobby since we had a couple of 40% off coupons that could be used. I just window shopped. On home after that a little after 2.


I did have binding to work on for my Pippi Memorial quilt along with me but didn't do one single stitch at the "meeting". Nancy took one of the others and Jane volunteered to take the others and will run by my house to pick it up. I was feeling more like hand work than stitching last night though and look who came along to "bless" it. (No, Pat--not wet on it! LOL) Way to go, Skyler--Pippi who was the world's best quilt tester would be proud of you. He was right under the desk lamp and I couldn't get the exposure right but I kind of like this sepia type tone.

And that is how the day went--next time out we are going to meet our friend Judy's house and do a potluck lunch. July? Open for discussion.

Today I plan to work on my super secret WFC (wacky fabs challenge) from purple running 8ths that Norma and Pam found on their recent rendevous visit and Joann's stop. Get that moved on a little further before my trip to IL. Sounds like a plan to me!

Thanks for stopping by and I hope you have a wonderful day-----

another week has flown by

Where is time going? Another week has just zipped by while I wasn't looking. All too soon it will be the first official day of summer and 2008, half over. Here in Alabama it is hot, hot, hot even if the calendar says it is spring yet. We hit the mid 90's with heat indexes of low 100's and who knows just what the humidity/dew points are. I have been getting up at 5 in the morning to try to get my walking in between 6-7 but my resolve to do so is getting weaker when I am sweating like a pig and have a harder time breathing in the oppressive air. Oh well--we are all in this together.

So what have I been doing? Quilting, in a word. My Pippi Memorial quilt shown HERE, my mom's Grandma's Scrap Bag and my version of a "Mary Quick Strippie" shown HERE. Picture of the Grandma's Scrap bag when it is finished though I probably won't show the other two since they didn't change a whole lot after quiltinf them. I sucked it up and did some free motion on the cat fabric on the Pippi quilt--yeah, me! But I refused to do the same thing on all those bands on the strippie. A couple of vertical lines were marked and zoomed instead. Binding is applied and I'll take all but the Pippi quilt to our quilt meeting tomorrow if someone is looking for some handwork. All three will be going to M2M. That leaves 5 pinned in my stack. Now I am debating--quilt some more today or start working on the FABS challenge. HMMMMM.

Our oven had been taking forever and day to heat up recently and it was obvious it was going to need a service call. For what we thought was a reliable name this was about the 4th time we had to call them to come out. Tuesday night DJ looked around the bottom of the gas stove to see if perhaps he could replace a part. 45 minutes later he decided it would light so it couldn't be the ignitor. Do we sink any more money in an 11 yr. old stove?? Weds morning, he stopped at the repair shop to talk to them re: parts/service call. On the way home he ran by an appliance store to price a new one and then by the a place that refurbishes appliances. Then he came home to get me since I am the one who uses it. Refurbished one it is since it would cost only slightly higher than the service call and parts. This one was delivered Weds afternoon while I went on my field trip with some of the quilt group.
The cute towel you see hanging from the handle was made by my friend Marilyn who also makes doll clothes to sell--an original design by Marilyn actually. (It will click bigger so you can take a better look) Our little town had their annual craft and tractor show on Saturday and she was vending. My old stove had a molded solid handle and I couldn't hang one. I had walked really early on Saturday while some of the folks were setting up but went back into town with DJ later. Since I didn't bring any money in with me, I asked her to set this one back for me but she handed to to me as an early birthday present. Thanks, Marilyn! And she is the one who was the birthday girl--not me. Skyler is quite attracted to the ties on the side but then he loves the ones on the chair cushions too.
We did make the run to Boaz on Wednesday afternoon as planned. Nancy drove since she had a vehicle that would seat 6. Beverly picked up her quilt in time for her DD/DSIL 25th anniversary and I dropped off the t-shirt quilt. The shop has some fabric so the girls shopped a bit while we took care of business. I got a couple of half yards of red and green for the Christmas row I will need to have completed by early August.
Then off we went through the Alabama countryside to find the quilt shop out in the country. We had only vague directions and we went by our turn off. It was pretty hilly and wooded so we lost cell phone connection for a short time but a stop at service station got us on the right track. The shop is called Mothers and Daughters and fairly new. They had mostly Moda fabrics in stock and not a lot of it yet--that takes time to build up. They have a long arm machine and table space set up for classes in a large open room building. I found a piece that will go with my Bama Belles challenge fabric but will raid my mom's stash for a green before I purchase anything else. We were home about 5 with all of us wondering about what to fix for supper/pickup something or go out.
Aline had finished quilting a neat little cable in the outside borders and the sashing of Sarah's heart memorial quilt so we gave it to Jane. The top is pictured HERE. This is what we intended for this quilt all along--it would go to her daughter in remembrance of her mom and what she meant to our group. We have another top in the closet that can be pinned and donated in her name. I asked Jane to bring it to the meeting on Tuesday so I can get a picture of it completed and the others that did not go on the shopping trip can see how it turned out. I had forgotten to tell her that it needs to be washed to remove the pencil markings at some point.
Not a lot going on really. Just the three of us rattling around the house. DJ keeps busy with yard work, reading and such. Skyler keeps busy playing and is back to normal activity wise after his front declawing procedure. They both nap at the same time, LOL. I go on mouse patrol and he promptly loses them somewhere else--the game we play.
I need to write up a handout for he next step of our "non-mystery" mystery quilt for tomorrow and do a post office/Dollar General run. That is the problem with going into town so early to walk--nothing is open till 8:30 or 9 other than the gas stations and the little grocery store and then I have to go back in again later. As I was writing this and thinking about the deadline projects I have to do, I think the quilting can wait a bit though I am tired of looking at the stack. Piecing, it is!
Hope that you have a good day in whatever you chose to do and thanks for stopping by.

Monday, Monday

So far this has been a fairly uneventful day that followed a basically lazy Sunday. No sewing or hand work but I did consider it however briefly. Pam and Norma are issuing a challenge to we 5 FAB members and the result is a pass along gift to a fellow FAB. After a run through my pattern files yesterday, I totally know what I am doing on this super secret project. SSSSSSSH

I took the picture of the tshirt quilt before I had added the top and bottom borders. I sewed the side ones on as part of the row itself which made that far easier but needed the master bedroom floor to deal with the rest. I was done with the top by Wednesday afternoon. The backing fabric arrived on Friday so a quick pre-wash, ironing and piecing job happened. Now to deliver it to the long arm quilter.

There is a new quilt shop that opened near the longarmer's place in Boaz (AL). We met them at the Geraldine Quilt show in late March but one of the partners was the guest speaker at the quilt guild in Jacksonville recently. Some of the girls in my group were talking about going up there. I said I would be headed that way soon and they could ride along with me if they wanted but the date was undetermined til I got that top done. Saturday morning the phone wires were burning up between our homes so it looks like we take our little field trip on Weds. afternoon. It works out well as Beverly has one to pick up from the same longarm gal. Woo hoo--always a fun time with friends.

So what have I been doing between Wednesday and that lazy Sunday? I spent a good chunk of three days quilting Sarah's heart memorial quilt
shown HERE. Fairly wide crosshatching around the center medallion and stitch in the ditch around all the heart block components--a little time consuming but it looks good on front and back. I knew that the side borders and the sashing bit needed some fill work done there. I stink at free motion and asked Aline if she would do the honors there--she had done such a lovely job on her Red Velvet Cake quilt. Then I found out that she had HAND done that but she was still going to take care of it. What a pal! I didn't get a picture of it before I passed it off yesterday afternoon other than the one of Skyler giving it the kitty stamp of approval. You probably won't believe this but that was the first time he seemed even remotely interested in sitting on one.

The heart quilt was the first one I had quilted in months in some time. I know I had not tried to do any since my machine had gotten back from the shop or Skyler had come to live with us in early April. No quilting in almost two months? That has got to be a record for me. Pat has a long arm and offered to quilt a few of the tops that will be going to Pam's M2M project so that lessened the stack a bit though I needed to un-pin them before I packed them up. (Thanks again, Pat!!) I still have a couple here that I will tend to and will start that after lunch today--Pippi's Memorial quilt and a Grandma's Scrap bag that my mom sent most notably. The rest stay here for WTIL donation.

So how is Skyler doing after the declawing procedure? The front paws look pretty good--no bandages with the laser procedure. No bleeding, swelling, drainage but the whole thing took the wind out of his sails. They shaved his pretty white fur on the front paws and a patch off one of the hind legs too. I suppose that was for the IV meds he received. Much less active since he came home on Friday though he shows signs of wanting to play today. Naturally his gait is affected a bit and he is apt to lift one paw off the floor when he is sitting. All in all, recovering nicely, I would say. The little booger hates the antibiotic though. I'm a nurse so I can get it in his mouth but this morning I found out that I can't necessarily make him swallow it, LOL. Still being a mean kitty mama.

Other than that, DJ's and my trip back to IL has been changed around a bit. Saturday he mentioned an idea he had---how about I fly back to IL a few days ahead of him? He would leave in the time frame we usually would, taking Skyler to be boarded for a few days on the way out of town. He suggested that I check into the airfare online. If it was reasonable and our families were amenable to pushing it back a week, then we would book it. So I'm flying up to Bloomington one way and then riding/sharing driving chores on the way home. We usually stop overnight on the way up so even though the first day is long, he feels he can handle it. I won't feel like he just drug me in and out in three days and barely got to see anyone. Maybe we can get a few more of those quilts pinned, Mom. Woo hoo and thanks, DJ!!

That's it for me---time to make some sandwiches for our lunch----till next time and thanks for stopping by.