Today-ish

Today was a gorgeous day.  Chilly though!  Very chilly....but gorgeous.  Nothing of note went on in the Sandbox besides work on another t-shirt quilt so I'll share a few other recent sewing related photos.

The Vintage View Quilt Show, was put on by the Capital Quilters Guild and the Carolina Longarm Association two weeks ago at the NC State Fairgrounds.  What a fabulous venue!  We had almost 500 quilts and a great collection of vendors.

Between us, Mom and I entered 14 quilts.  Mom won Honorable Mentions for her Fox Chase (Maggie Walker) and the Martha's Vineyard quilt she gifted to The Tramp and I when we got married.  Lucky us.  :-)

My Lilly Pilly (Don't Look Now) won another Second Place ribbon.  Thrilling in itself, but....I was absolutely speechless to discover I had won Best Machine Quilting.  How about that?  I spent quite a bit of time walking through the show shaking my head and muttering, "That can't be right, that can't be right!"  LOL  It really is amazing though, considering the amount of talent in our guild.  Wow.

ED and I wondered how The Viking would enjoy being dragged around a quilt show.  He quickly demonstrated his interest by lounging back in his stroller and falling asleep.  We certainly didn't complain!

Quite a while ago I had promised ED I'd make her a new purse.  So I finally got to it last week.   It's the Dog Under My Desk Zip and Go pattern.

A little fun with yellow for the lining.

I was also itching for a new purse for myself.  I dragged out a whole pile of florals from my stash and had the best time coming up with something "pretty".  I'm also pretty sure the light colors are going to get dirty way too quickly, but I'm going to enjoy it in the meantime!  :-)

I've been doing the applique on two of the borders of our 2014 Heritage Day Auction raffle quilt.  I'm too lazy to go take a photo of the part I've finished but you can see the squirrel and parts of acorns on the table.

Dear Jane is coming along very slowly.  I have a feeling I will be trying to catch up with the rest of the club by taking a few months worth of blocks with me on retreat in May!

Back to today.   The sun came out!  And the blossoms are surviving the unusually cold nights.  Yay!

After I posted the photos of the concrete wall blocks the other day, The Tramp and I looked more closely and suddenly realized that the Sailor Son had managed to purchase and sneak a few more blocks on the pile when we weren't looking!  :-)  I'm sure he was wondering how long it would take us to notice.

The view of the pond is a bit different this year.  There are four trees less.  One bradford pear, two plums, and the willow bit the dust.  I'm guessing the rest of the bradford pears are reaching the end of their lives as well.  At about 20 years old they abruptly start falling apart.  Not such an issue here as it is up north, no ice and snow to hasten the process, but the day still comes.  Sigh.

The bluebirds have built their nest!

The dogs are loving the sun too.  Of course that doesn't stop them from slobbering all over the glass doors when they want to come in.  Ewwww.  I just cleaned those!  :-)

ED regularly texts photos of Viking mischief.  He has twice wedged himself in Bella's crate and been removed with some difficulty.  I'm not sure if the lesson has been learned yet.

She sent this picture today.  Fat and split lip, bloody nose, bump on his forehead and scratches under the eye.  Apparently it was quite a morning.  She assures me despite it all he's his usual cheerful and active self.  I don't doubt it.  The Energizer Bunny in the flesh.  I'll get to see for myself tomorrow.  I suspect they both need some time out of the house.  We'll see what kind of entertainment we can find.  :-)