Bears and bunnies

Just a bit more catch-up, sitting up very tall in my desk chair to spare my back and neck.  So far so good.  :-)

A few weeks ago my bee went on a five day retreat up in the North Carolina mountains.  The house is in Blowing Rock, not far from the Blue Ridge Parkway.  (For those familiar with Jan Karon's Mitford books, this is the place.)  The weather was quite nice and as you can see, we had lovely mountain views from the rear of the house.

One of the best things about this house is the huge dining table.  Plenty of room for six sewing machines.

And it also helps to travel with folks who love to cook.

We eat well!!

There were some quilt finishes.  This one was from a Victoria Findlay Wolfe workshop.  It's quite complicated and I'm glad it wasn't me trying to keep the blocks sorted out.  :-)

We kept watch for wildlife and were rewarded with the sighting of a bear strolling through the yard.  I didn't capture a good photo, but it really is there.

Another quilt finish.  Actually it was two quilts.  This is the one made from leftover blocks, believe it or not!

This flimsy was so pretty.  I'm sorry my photo doesn't do it justice.

And a baby quilt.  These ladies are prolific!

I worked on my little house blocks.  I started the project in 2011.  Really??  Good grief!  I had 119 already made, finished 25 at the retreat and now I have "only" 220 more to go.  Yikes.

We also watched groups of wild turkeys wander through the property.  Not something I'd seen before.  One of our group has a house in Florida and sees turkeys all the time.  She showed us some amusing videos of them frolicking in her backyard.  Deer showed up each day as well, but I wasn't quick enough to get a photo.  The irons were set up in front of windows overlooking the yard and it was pretty amusing each time someone yelled, "Wildlife!" and we all charged to the windows.  Don't ask how many times we went back to our sewing machines and sewed the next piece on the wrong way because we had dropped everything to run to the window.  Too funny.

Before the retreat I spent several hours printing small family photos on fabric to insert into the windows and doors of the houses.  This is Dad.

And Mom.

The Viking in his Minion costume.

The Tramp.

And many others.  Here are the 25 I finished.  Sooooo many more to go.  No family member will be left out.

On our last evening the sunset was spectacular.  Both before and after the clouds moved in.

Also before the trip I made a Gadget Guard for my new iPad.  Fabulous pattern.

And I made another one to protect my birthday present to myself.  It's a Daylight Wafer Lightbox and the cutting mat to go with it.  :-D  I just had to have one after I saw a video on how it can be used to assist foundation piecing.  Very cool.

 The Sailor Son has been out to sea for a short underway and Sweet DIL and Precious came to visit for a few days.  The weather was HOT so we spent part of Sunday at the lake.

After a session of jumping in the water, someone was tired out.

Too cute!

Not so cute, but at least I can prove I was there.  lol

I have two Indygo Junction Kitchen Charm aprons in process.  The one on the right will be mine and it's made from a feedsack charm pack.  The one on the left is for my apron swap partner in the colors she requested.  I was a bit short of fabric so it's waiting for more squares.  The Viking spotted them on the design wall.

Viking: "Nini, what are those things?"

Me:  "They're aprons."

Viking:  "Well they don't look much like aprons.  They have ears!"

Oh how I laughed.

I've been car-less this week while the mechanics struggle to figure out what is wrong with it.  So since we were stuck at home, he played with Lego on a corner of the cutting table while I sewed.  I gave him the leftover strips of star fabric I was cutting for a baby quilt.  He was thrilled with his "desert at night."  :-)

He decided his glass of water was actually vampire squid juice.  No so far-fetched when you know Octonauts is one of his current favorite shows.  Not my favorite to listen to, but he loves it and learns quite a bit about ocean creatures.

Never leave a cute pattern around where a kid can see it unless you really want to make it.  He's been asking and asking and asking for me to make him a Bunny Peep (pattern carelessly left on a sewing machine table) so I broke down on Tuesday and whipped one up. He insisted on a pink one so good thing my fleece bin had a scrap of pink!

In the meantime I'm working on a quilt for Precious.  It needs the outer border of the white print, then I can get on with the quilting.

So now I'd better get to bed.  Another day tomorrow of no car and a boy to keep amused.  I'm sure we'll have fun....despite the lousy weather forecast.  :-)

Briefly.....

Just a brief look at the past couple of months....

We threw out the old pantry cabinet in the garage and The Tramp bought new shelving and some can storage racks.  It was a full weekend job!  Geez.

We survived the pollen season.

The Viking got his first hair cut.

Stardust turned three!!

The grands in New Zealand just get even cuter...

...and more handsome.

Dad turned ninety-two!!! 

Five and Batman came for a visit.  Don't you love their fedoras!  (Or as Five says, "fenoras.")  :-)

A trip to the Marbles Kids Museum was great fun.

Another sewing machine snuck into the house.  :-D

I made nine of these cute "mug buckets" as gifties for friends.

I went on retreat to the mountains.

We stayed in a fabulous house.

And I finished twelve Dear Jane blocks.  Only a huge number left to go....

We built a retaining wall in the front yard.

ED and I took The Viking strawberry picking.

The Sailor Son got a new motorcycle to replace the one that was run over parked in front of his apartment.

And on the way home from graduating from the Navy's advanced motorcycle safety course someone ran him off the road.  Not the phone call I wanted to receive.  He will heal.  Slowly.  So for three weeks this was a daycare and convalescent home.  Mom and Dad made everyone more comfortable by loaning us their electric recliner.

I might have been a bit tired.

We tried to keep him from getting too bored.  :-)

ED has a part time job now so The Viking is spending several days a week with me, and he got to spend lots of quality time with his Uncle Sailor Son too.

There isn't anything that can't be used as a toy.

He helps me sew too.  Yes, t-shirt quilts are still moving through here, though not at the rate they were.

Everything is a hat.

 All furniture has multiple uses.

The Garbage Pail Kid.

There are parking garages everywhere.

Parks to go to and turtles to see in the pond.

What was that about garbage pails?

The Sailor Son was recovering well and ED made sure to arrange her schedule to give me some time off.  Four of us enjoyed the weekend together in Wilmington at the North Carolina Quilt Symposium.  I love having these gals as "sisters."  :-)  It was great to spend a few minutes on the beach after class.

Fun and fabulous gifts were shared all around.  My contribution was a set of quilty temporary tattoos for each of us.  A few glasses of wine and we giggled through applications of tattoos on necks, arms and ankles.

We managed to smash luggage, sewing machines and project bins for three into my car....as well as three people!

I'm still wondering how!

Yesterday we drove The Sailor Son back home to Norfolk.  He still has physical therapy and possible shoulder surgery to go through but it's great to see him moving around more easily.  :-)

And today we dealt with fleas.  Ugh!  Apparently our local fleas have become immune to Frontline.  Time to try something new.  In the meantime it's flea baths times three.  Sigh. 

Poor Ivy, beseeching me to rescue her.  :-)

And Maisy looking reproachful, as only Maisy can.

I want to sew!!!