Happy Friday

I really enjoy the view from my computer desk. :-) It's been pretty cold for the past two days but the flowers seem to have survived ok.

I've also been feeding the flocks of birds. The Tramp commented on how colorful the birds are here. I hadn't thought about it but he's right. We had the same birds in New Jersey, just not so many and they were dirty city birds and these are bright, clean country birds! The more colorful are Cardinal, House Finch, Robin, Red-bellied Woodpecker, Downy Woodpecker, Bluebird, Blue Jay, Goldfinch and Yellow-throated Sparrow. There are also Juncos, Carolina Chickadees, "regular" Sparrows and some fleeting glimpses of birds I haven't identified yet. Then up high in the sky are the hawks and turkey vultures. They can stay way up there as far as I'm concerned. Belle would just be a small snack for them!

This Cardinal seemed to be pretty content sunning on his rock.

This one was probably eyeing the thistle feeder stuck on the window though after a while I got the feeling he was watching me!

This week I finished a charity quilt. Just a simple disappearing nine patch with a flannel back.


I really wanted a Raggedy Old Annie of my own so I ordered a pattern from Nicole. Mine is named Rosie. I finished the sewing tonight and she just had her coffee bath. I had to find a safe place do it and we ended up in the tub!


I had bought one of those retractable clotheslines a while ago and we never put it up. The Tramp put it up for me this evening so Rosie could drip coffee into the tub. It was easy enough to hang up her clothes but I had to think about how to hang Rosie from the line. Then it dawned on me. She has her own built in hangers! LOL She certainly looks happy enough!


So between the coffee and our dirty footprints the tub is going to need a really good scrubbing in the morning! Yikes.

Ironing board challenge

Libby has tossed out a challenge for us to show our ironing boards. Here's mine! It's a sideboard from Ikea. The idea comes from this book.

I recently got silly and painted it purple! :-D

Virginia

Sorry to be so quiet. Last week was a frantic rush to get some things finished before the trip to the Mid-Atlantic Quilt Festival this weekend. The main push was to finish The Sailor Son's birthday present so we could take it with us. It was another stressful learning experience in machine quilting but the end result was worth it! He seemed pleased which was the main point!

Thursday I finished the Gift. Thursday evening was Guild meeting and I took it for show and tell. Friday was an all-day Guild workshop. Then I took the dog to be boarded, then packed for the weekend. Friday evening we went to the Neil Sedaka concert in Raleigh and then at 11 pm we finally left for Virginia! We arrived at 2 am. So needless to say, I was still exhausted on Saturday morning! But I spent all day....9:30 am to 6 pm at the quilt show. By about 5 pm I was ready to drop. But it was great. :-) I took a photo of my wrist band to prove I was there! LOL


We stayed at the Hilton Garden Inn in Newport News. I got a kick out of the decor. The chair and even the bathroom wallpaper looked like someone had quilting in mind. It was accidental I'm sure.

So here is my loot. It doesn't look like so much spread out on the bed but boy was it heavy to carry!

Let me see....there is a jacket pattern and 8 half-yards to go with it, a Christmas quilt kit, a set of Peanuts fat quarters, some bits for my Featherweight, Salt Water Taffy table runner kit, the Wave Edge ruler, machine quilting gloves, a book, a cute wall hanging kit, 2 watercolor kits, a couple of panels, pins and other bits and pieces.

I couldn't resist Rosie the Quilter.

Or this panel of phrases to put on pillowcases for The Tramp!
I also wanted The Quilter's Catalog, by Meg Cox. Meg was the speaker at our guild meeting on Thursday but I wasn't quick enough to get one of her books. So I ordered it from one of the book vendors and she will have it signed at the quilt show next week in New Jersey and send it too me. How nice! I can't wait for it to come.

Today we spent the day with The Sailor Son and his family. Primo grandmother time! We had a leisurely lunch at the Fridays in Virginia Beach then strolled through the mall across the street. Silly as it sounds I got a real kick out of pushing the stroller around the mall. I haven't done that for so many years!

I presented the birthday gift to Sailor Son. It seemed to be well received. Nice of them to have just bought a set of red couches that will match it perfectly. *hee hee*
I was proud of myself for using mostly stash. I only had to buy the background fabric and the red for the star. I even had the Navy fabric that I used for backing.
Mom had the variegated thread and I went to town with it. Most of the quilting is ok but a close look would show how wonky it is! :-) The pattern is called "Homeport", by Marcie Patch of Patchalot Patterns. Thank you Marcie! (check out her report of the quilt show)

Then when we arrived home there was a gift waiting for us from Eldest Daughter. Yes she did! She mailed us real bagels from New Jersey. Woooohoooo!

And last but not least are the obligatory dog photos (since I don't have a cat to sit on my quilts :-) ). I was madly sewing away one evening last week and suddenly thunk! She stretched out with her head on the presser foot. Thank goodness she didn't start the machine! She'd moved her head to rest on my foot by the time I got up to take photos.

The trials and tribulations of having a long dog!
She always watches us pretty closely but this is a bit much! LOL
The funny thing is I managed to get up and down several times to trim and press didn't once step on her nose.

I've been tagged....

....by Nancy. It's been fun reading random facts about everyone else!

So here are the rules:

THE RULES:
1. Once you are tagged, link back to the person who tagged you.
2. Post THE RULES on your blog.
3. Post 7 weird or random facts about yourself on your blog.
4. Tag 7 people and link to them.
5. Comment on their blog to let them know they have been tagged.

*******************************************************************************

Seven Random Facts About Me

1. I was married for 29 years the first time. This time I'm planning on 50 years!

2. I'm an ISTJ. (Myers-Briggs Personality Indicator)

3. I used to be a church secretary.

4. I love all things to do with Peanuts, especially Lucy.

5. There are days when I'm horribly ADD and find it impossible to complete even the simplest thing without getting distracted. A day of house cleaning can become a comedy of half-done tasks.

6. I love to gaze at the moon.

7. For 50 years I lived 12 miles from Manhattan. 9/11 is not something I'll ever forget.

Gosh...now I have to tag people. I'm so behind on my weblog reading. Ummmmm.....I think I'll close my eyes and pick. Excuse me if you've don this before! But I'll be there's lots more interesting things about you! Meggie, Jane, Anina, Tami, Anna, Tonya, and Everyone Else! LOL

A chuckle a day must keep something away!

Directly quoted from the HGTV website...

"When ironing shirts, start with the cuffs and collars inside out. Move on to the yolk or shoulder area of the shirt, then down toward the sleeves. Next do the body and the front panel last. Wrinkling usually is avoided if you iron in this order."

I've ironed hundreds of men's shirts in my lifetime. To my knowledge, not one of them had a yolk!

RFLMAO

North Carolina in bloom

We are still getting used to a very early spring in NC. Things are blooming everywhere, inside and out. Delightful! I took a walk around the house and yard snapping pictures of the beauty.

Rosemary

Even the poinsettias from Christmas are blooming...and apparently setting seed.

Just in time for Valentine's Day we have amaryllis.

With three more sets of blooms still to come!

The (ugh) china berry trees are in full berry.

The Tramp has been cleaning up and cutting stuff up for the woodpile.

Our fire pit. It's piling up since open burning is banned at the moment.

The bird feeders are very busy most days.

The camellia bush next door is in bloom.

And my neighbor cut some blossoms for my window sill. :-)

Daffodils are everywhere!

All sorts of other bulby things are coming up too.

And I discovered we have a camellia too! Just two flowers at the moment though.

I don't know what this is but it's right outside my window. Very pretty.

I think we have irises coming up everywhere too.

Nice.

Happy Day After

This is Fiona, Eldest Daughter's dog. What a great photo!

Finally....

I got around to making a banner. It's not wonderful, but it's there! I need a better background photo. And....I need to learn to use Photoshop Elements properly. :-P

Anyway....this is the finished flimsy of the Bargello Bowl top. It's now on the shelf with the pile of stuff waiting to be quilted.

Take the Quiz here!

It's a purple day

I am here to say....unequivocally....wash your fabrics before you use them. Ask me how I know....sigh. Somewhere in the process of the current project (wall hanging) I missed washing the purple for the borders. OMG!

Finally, this evening, the binding was on (this is a WISP...since November anyway). I was rinsing out the water soluble markings in the powder room sink and the water was turning purple. Oh, oh! I kept on rinsing and ended up with a side of the item hanging over the edge of the counter. This powder room was a dressing room for the photo studio previously here, so it has light beige carpet on the floor. Yep. You guessed it! When I looked down to see if I had stained my clothes, it looked like someone (me) had poured blueberry juice on the carpet. Sigh.

So the wall hanging is in the washing machine with several color catchers and we'll see if we can salvage it. If so, I may post a photo. Right now it isn't one of my favorite items. Grrrrr.....

Oh! It's been a week!

I've been kind of staying away from my computer as I've been having so much neck/shoulder pain. Sitting here seems to make it worse. But since yesterday it's been better, so I'm going to hopefully catch up with blog reading and posting today. I've also been fighting (read: bad language and tears) with my Janome on the quilting frame for several weeks. After taking the machine to be serviced (expensive and useless) I found and joined two Yahoo groups, Gracemachineframe and PfaffHobbyGrandQuilter for consolation and advice. WONDERFUL! Today is a better day!

So let me see.... First I made two yoga mat bags from Amy Butler's Nigella Yoga Bag pattern. They went together easily. Very good for my bruised sewing psyche. I'm sending one off to Eldest Daughter (surprise honey!...yes that's why I asked the color of your yoga mat).

Then my package came from Keepsake Quilting. That always brightens up a day! Quilt shops always seem to know that taking a little bit of trouble with their packaging gives their customers a real boost. :-)

Woooohoooo! 50 fat quarters of 1930s repro fabrics. *rubbing hands together with glee*

Then....as if I had nothing else going on, I also participated in the Bargello Bowl. I finished it last night...well, no borders yet, but I'm loving the colors. It's the first time I've relaxed and used (reasonably) random scraps and it was fun!

Today I'm going back to the quilt frame to see what I can accomplish with it. I've go so much lined up waiting to go on the frame it's scary! Wish me luck.