FIBER THOUGHTS

Uncle Bob

2012-01-17T20:39:00.000-05:00

I have a small family. My father was an only child and my mother only had a sister, Rustle. (Rustle's birth name was Mabel, but she hated that name and changed it as an adult to Rustle. Russell is a surname back in the family tree and I wonder if that had any bearing in her picking Rustle as a new name.) Aunt Rustle was married to Uncle Bob. They had two sons, Donovan, and Rob.

Aunt Rustle passed away about 12 years ago. Yesterday we lost Uncle Bob.

Uncle Bob (on right) with his 2 sons Rob (on left) and Donovan (center)

It's funny, but Uncle Bob was just always in the background of my childhood memories. I remember bits and pieces of the summer I was 5 and I lived with them. My single parent mother couldn't leave me home alone all summer with my older brothers (who were 9 & 11) so on Monday morning she'd drop me off at my Aunt & Uncle's and leave me there until Friday evening. They only lived a few miles from us so I never understood why I couldn't go home every night, but there is probably something I don't know about the entire situation. Anyway, I remember the flow of a 'normal' 1950's family with the husband leaving for work in the morning and coming home at dinner time while the wife remained home. It was so different from what was happening in my house! My cousins hadn't arrived yet, so it was just me with my Aunt & Uncle.

I bought my first car from Uncle Bob. A 1961 VW Bug - for which I paid him $200 cash. I didn't even know how to drive a stick shift when I bought it but he kept assuring me it wouldn't be hard to learn. I still drive a stick shift, so I guess he was right.

A story about him that will always remain with me. Bob was a pilot (he was retired from the Air National Guard) and was once in a small plane crash. When the emergency crews arrived they initially thought he had not survived and he heard them say they were not going to worry about him because he was dead. He managed to move enough to alert them that he wasn't dead and they loaded him in the ambulance. On the way to the hospital the ambulance was in an accident!

Jerry & Uncle Bob shared the same birthday. When I first started dating Jerry and he told me his birth date I didn't believe him. After all that my Uncle's day - how could anyone else share it?

It had been several years since I'd seen him but I can still hear his chuckle.

Rest in Peace Uncle Bob. You'll be missed.

A day late and a dollar short

2012-01-09T09:42:00.000-05:00

When we moved into our new (to us) house the lot next door was for sale. Our lots here in this neighborhood are rather small and the houses are fairly close together. We decided that if the price was right we would like to buy that lot which would give us some nice open space to one side of the house. As it was we were already mowing a portion of the lot and the kids could use that area for kicking around the soccer ball, etc. Hayden even wanted us to put a swing set there!

The only thing stopping the purchase of the lot was the necessity of selling our other house. Once we had the proceeds from the sale of that house we could purchase the lot. Alas, one month before closing on the old house the lot sold (after being for sale for at least 2 years!)

Turns out a builder purchased the lot and this past weekend preliminary work began.

The lot is right outside our bedroom. Guess there won't be much sleeping late for a few months as they build the house.

Design issues

2012-01-02T16:50:00.000-05:00

I am trying to finish up a quilt for my art group's Charles Towne Landing challenge. We were tasked to use photos taken at the Landing as inspiration for our work. I was taken by the various pathways I saw and used these photos for inspiration:

Sorry about that last photo, I just can't get it to rotate properly.

My original plan was to depict each photo and then join the 3 pieces together as one quilt. The trees in the middle with the other two in opposite corners. The trees in the middle of this:

(these are not done yet, but are fused enough to be able to put them on the wall)

We are limited to a maximum size of 36" and I obviously didn't give the measurements serious consideration. Each of the 3 individual pieces is too big to use the way I'd original planned.

So, on to plan B - but I don't know what plan B is! This is the only way I can stay within the required 36".

I know at one time we talked about maybe being able to do more than one work - I wonder if they'd let me do 3 small works!?

Any advice on composition would be welcome.

A bit of 2011 review

2011-12-31T12:26:00.000-05:00

2011 was a busy year for us as we moved in the middle of the year. I've used the move as an excuse for not getting much done quilt wise this year - but I suspect I might have been a slacker anyway!

Early in the year I attended the Mid-Atlantic Quilt show in Hampton, Virginia. I really like the shows put on by the Mancuso brothers. Lots of beautiful quilts, wonderful vendors, and classes by national teachers.

I took the class Arc-I-Textures with Carol Taylor whose work I've always admired. The class was fun, but I did not love my piece after it came together. It's still hanging on my "wall of shame" and may remain there to mock me for some time to come. I'd like to try the technique again in a different color palette.

At the end of last year I joined a local art group - Art That Works. The group issues quarterly challenges. One of the challenges was to use a haiku as inspiration for for a work. I must confess that this butterfly was something I'd started in a class with Marilyn Wall a couple of years ago, so I wrote a haiku to go with the butterfly.

Black/white butterfly

flitting around the garden

delicate beauty

Unfortunately, I STILL haven't finished this work - although now all it needs is to be quilted, so I've made progress.

The zentangle challenge was a really tough one for me. I had a horrible time just trying to doodle to create zentangles. Others find very relaxing, but I found my inner critic really speaks up when I try to do it. I finally ended up with this piece, which isn't really a zentangle, but about as close as I was going to get. One good thing about challenges is learning whether a technique speaks to you or not - and this one sure doesn't!

Another challenge was to use a technique out of a book, magazine or published source you've always wanted to try. I was interested in a resist technique I'd read about on the blog Tommy the Material Girl that I follow. She describes the technique using Elmers gel school glue here. I just used the glue as it came out of the bottle and, like Tommy, found that the lines were too gloppy. I used a variety of paints and inks to color the background and the leaves. It was kind of fun to do, but I'd certainly try to fine tune the resist application the next time.

We've also been working for the past year on our Charles Towne Landing challenge. Charles Towne Landing is the site of the first permanent settlement in the Carolinas. After a photo field trip to the park we were challenged to make a work inspired by our photos. I found I was very taken with the various walkways in the park and had many photos of them. Eventually I decided my piece would feature those walkways. My eventual plan is to combine these 3 different small pieces into one piece. My problem right now is that the finished size of our work can't be larger than 36" and my current plan is too big. I'm still working on it and we're due to reveal the quilts in a couple of weeks YIKES!

We are slated to display the quilts at Charles Towne Landing in a special exhibit in April so I better get busy.

My guild is gearing up for its quilt show the first weekend in March. I'm going to enter 3 quilts.

Stars over Monterrey:

Whole Cloth (made in a machine quilting class with Judy Heyward using her pattern)

Wonky Log Cabin

If you're in the area March 2-3 make sure to stop by the show!

this & that

2011-12-05T22:56:00.000-05:00

I haven't been posting much at all since I don't really have anything exciting to post about. I haven't been sewing with any regularity. I have a big project that I need to work on - a challenge that is due soon - but it's nowhere near completion. I need to get back to the sewing machine soon.

I had a couple of things I wanted to embroider, but my embroidery attachment is on the fritz. The best repair person for the Bernina machines is in Myrtle Beach - about 1.5 - 2 hours from here. I finally took it up there a week or two ago and the verdict is that there is something wrong with the touch screen. It's supposed to be about a $200 repair. I had hoped that it would either be super expensive to repair or not repairable at all so I could consider a new machine!

Last weekend we went down to Savannah for the Savannah River Bridge Run. Jerry has been running the 10K portion of this race for the last several years. The race requires the runners to run over the bridge to Hutchinson Island and then back again to downtown Savannah.

We go down with our friends John & June and John runs the race as well. June and I usually stand on the sidelines and cheer them on.

At last year's race June and I decided we'd do the 5K portion of the race this year - I was going to run/walk and June was going to walk. The 5K portion starts on Hutchinson Island so we would only have to get over the bridge once. At 6:30 Saturday morning we both decided we had made a rash decision! June has been dealing with some foot and knee problems and shouldn't have even attempted it, but she was a trooper and made it the entire distance. I had to walk up the bridge span but managed to run most of the remaining distance. My time wasn't very good - 42 minutes but it was a beautiful morning and the view was great from atop the bridge. I think next year I'll be watching from the sidelines again.

I'm taking a class this weekend on making fabric baskets, so maybe I'll have pictures to post!

Scarf girl

2011-11-16T20:48:00.000-05:00

When Hayden saw me making this purple scarf she immediately claimed it as her own. She had great fun posing with it.

I grew up in Michigan and I miss the beautiful fall colors. This is our first fall in our new house and I'm enjoying the view from our living room to the wooded area behind our house. We had a cold snap last week which helped bring out the colors of the trees.

Scarves

2011-11-14T10:02:00.000-05:00

When I was at the Asheville, NC quilt show a while back there were a couple of vendors selling the yarn necessary to make these frilly scarves. (click photos for larger view)

I found these fun to make because they're fast. I can usually do one in the span of a couple of hours. I don't even wear scarves so haven't figured out exactly what to do with these. I'm considering sending them to my mother, who lives in a retirement home, letting her pick whatever she wants out of them and then sharing the excess with her friends there.

I still have several more to make - one is in green and then the others are duplicates of the colors you see here.

The art group I belong to met Saturday and as an activity we made silk scarves dyed with men's silk ties.

You lay a silk scarf blank on top of a piece of muslin and then lay out pieces of silk ties on top of half the scarf. You then fold the half of the scarf without the ties (with its muslin backing) over on top of the part with the ties laid out.

Roll the entire package up like a sausage and tightly tie closed.

Place the sausage package in a pot of boiling water to which a bit of vinegar has been added. Boil for 20 minutes.

Remove from the water, untie, and voila! Iron the scarf to set the dyes.

Apparently the ties can be used 2 or 3 times each.

Government Bureaucracy?

2011-11-07T18:29:00.000-05:00

Jerry and I moved several months ago to a new house - about 10 miles from our old home but in a new county- and we have been negligent in taking care of changing records with the county.

One of the things we needed to do was transfer our Voter's Registration. We had to be in the County Seat for other business so we stopped by the registration office. When they asked Jerry if he'd ever been registered in this county before he initially said no, but I reminded him that we had lived in this county years ago. They found us on the computer and then the woman stepped to a file cabinet and pulled out our original registration forms from 1980! We were amazed that they still had hard copies from over 30 years ago, and that they were able to find them in the matter of seconds. Our new address was noted on the forms and probably refiled in the drawer for another 30 years!

Our trip that day also included a stop at the DMV, the County Assessor and the County Treasurer. Not my favorite way to spend a day!

Asheville quilt show

2011-10-02T22:02:00.001-04:00

I attended the Asheville (North Carolina) Quilt Show on Friday with some members of the art group I belong to. Judy, one of our group members, just moved from Charleston to the Asheville area and invited us to stay with her while in the area. We were thrilled when we arrived at the show to find the Best of Show ribbon on Judy's beautiful quilt. (click photos for larger view-double click for the closest view)

Butteflies in the Garden by Peggy Garwood was awarded Best Hand Workmanship

Lotsa Merry Berries by Niki Vick was awarded Best Machine Workmanship

Heartwood by Marge Edie. The design was taken from a wood box she made for her husband when they were married.

Exotica by Dale Williams

Fractured Peony by Linda Hallatt

Evergreen by Linda Medeiros

Golden Chrysalis by Terry Williams

Detail

Gradation by Sue Weaver

Detail showing the woven corners

Continuous Motion by Diana Ramsey. I took a class with Carol Taylor in February on this technique so this one was of particular interest.

Crazy for Wolf Kahn by Connie Brown

Tiffalippa by Connie Brown

Jocassee Sunrise by Lynne G. Harrill

Sunset Cruise by Kathryn Weston

Everything is Hunke-Dore (Manala XII) by Jane Weaver

Aqua Luna by Brian Fackler

Detail

Jules' Poppy by Julie Simpson

This is Jerry Brummett with his quilt Our House. He was white gloving when we arrived and proudly showed us his very first quilt which he hand quilted. It's obvious that he is really enjoying his new hobby.

These frilly scarves are becoming all the rage and we all succumbed and bought yarn to make one.

24 Hours of LeMons

2011-09-26T21:24:00.001-04:00

The latest 24 Hours of Lemons http://www.24hoursoflemons.com/ race was this past weekend. Usually the South Carolina editions of the race are held at Carolina Motorsports Park in Kershaw, SC, but as a one time experience, this edition was held at Charlotte Motor Speedway. (click photos for larger view)

The LeMons course was an odd configuration that used only a small part of the Nascar course. It was a challenging course that all of the drivers seemed to really enjoy.

Unfortunately the accommodations at Charlotte were not as good as in Kershaw. Most of the racers camp at the course and at Charlotte the shower facilities were a car ride away from the camping area. Jerry and I stayed at a local Embassy Suites so we only had a few steps to our shower!

The Bee car had a good race. They actually were on the course for the entire race - no major problems and no engine swap in the middle of the race!

We finished in 21st place out of about 60 cars - certainly not a bad showing.

There was some significant rain both Saturday and Sunday - in fact both days the race was ended a bit early because of the rain.

The 2012 schedule isn't out yet, but we expect the next race to be sometime in February.

2011-08-29T19:25:00.000-04:00

It has been quite some time since I posted because I just don't have anything interesting to post about. I haven't been doing any quilting to speak of mainly because I still haven't organized my sewing space in the new house.

I did finish one small piece for my guild's monochromatic challenge. There were no size requirements for the work so I decided to work small.

The paper pieced wedges are 4"

Although it's embarrassing, here are some photos of my sewing space in its current state of disarray.

I have the entire bottom floor of the new house for sewing. My machines are set up in what used to be a family room and I am using the 2 bedrooms on this floor for fabric storage etc.

Here's one view of the fabric storage room. I am going to get some wire drawer units from IKEA to put the actual fabric into, but haven't made the 3 hour trip up to Charlotte, NC yet to get them. I expect the units to go around the room against the walls.

Another view of the room showing some of the boxes of fabric (and you can't see the boxes behind the boxes!)

This is the other bedroom - which Jerry is calling the cutting room. In addition to cutting I am storing books and assorted stuff in this room.

The unit I'm using as a cutting surface is a free-standing kitchen drawer unit from IKEA. I really like this unit and am glad I got it.

Here's one view of the sewing room. I use my Janome 6500 almost exclusively, but didn't want my Bernina to feel left out, so I found a table on Craigslist that I'm using for the Bernina. I initially was going to have Jerry drop the Bernina down into the table, but am reconsidering it. I usually only use the machine with the embroidery attachment and need to have easy access to add and remove the embroidery unit. Who knows, Jerry may still figure something out for me. He's good like that!

The design wall is opposite the sewing machines.

The only natural light in the sewing room comes from this door to the outside. The lighting isn't ideal for sewing, but we have put natural light bulbs in the overhead fixtures which is helping a lot.

I really need to get this area organized so I can actually be productive. Once I get my fabric storage units in place, I'm confident the rest of the room will come together (at least I hope!!)

Visiting Detroit

2011-08-11T20:58:00.000-04:00

Jerry and I just returned from a trip to Detroit to visit family. My nephew, Chris, was having his graduation party so it made a good excuse to make the trip.

It had been about 2 years since we'd traveled up that way. Detroit isn't usually high on any one's list for a vacation!

Here's the graduate, Chris, with his family: my brother Ed, sister-in-law Terry, Chris, and his brother Eddie. (click photos for larger view)

I don't like to have my picture taken, but someone convinced my brothers and me to pose with our mother. The brother seated next to mom is Claude and Ed is standing in the back next to me.

My nephew, Claude, jr, has 3 kids. His twins are Ryan

and Cameron

and the twins' older sister Olivia. (seen here with her father)

The newest member of the family is Riggins, the 4 week old son of my nephew Kevin.

One thing I always try to do when I'm in Detroit is to have a Sanders Hot Fudge Creme Puff. I sure miss Sanders!

It's probably I good thing I don't still live in the area or I'd be eating one of these on a daily basis!

Finally finished!

2011-07-18T16:56:00.001-04:00

Some time ago several of my quilting friends decided to make a quilt called Monterrey Medallion. Each person chose her own colorway for the quilt so it was fun watching them take shape and seeing how each looked so different. I got to thinking that I would like the quilt in a black and bright colorway and finally decided to make it. It took me a while because I don't usually make anything this big. Most of my work is wall sized. This is the first quilt that I can actually put on a bed and have it actually fit. I want to make matching pillow shams for it, but until I do, these Bed Bath &Beyond black shams will have to do. I've named the quilt Stars over Monterey.

(click photos for a larger view) Please excuse the disorder in the bedroom. We STILL are not completely unpacked and haven't put art work on the walls yet or anything.

She knows what she likes

2011-06-27T13:49:00.000-04:00

The other day when the kids were here Hayden decided to pick out some quilts to put on the walls in "her" room. We went through the pile of wall quilts waiting to find a home. It was very interesting to watch her reactions. She never hesitated and gave a yes or a no immediately.

Over her bed is a quilt I made in a class with Miriam Nathan-Roberts at Asilomar. In the class we selected a traditional block and used it in 3 different sizes. It's called Asilomar Pinwheels. (click photos for larger view)

Hayden picked where the quilts were hung and I'm going to have to move this basket quilt. This quilt was made for our guild's 25th anniversary challenge. The symbol of the guild is a basket and we were supposed to make any kind of basket.

This quilt was made from a kit and was supposed to just be a circle. I didn't want to make it exactly like the pattern so I changed it a bit. (yes, that's a Christmas bell pull hanging next to that quilt. She found it in a box and just had to have it to decorate her room. She kept trying to hang it on her bed but it wouldn't stay so it ended up on the wall)

The village quilt was made in a class with Karen Eckmaier. It was fun to do.

We haven't gotten around to putting blinds in the windows yet and the previous owners didn't leave the curtains. I hate the shades, but they keep the sun and heat out until we get what we want.

Wall of Shame

2011-06-25T22:18:00.000-04:00

My friend Dotty has put all of her UFOs on her design wall and dubbed it her Wall of Shame. I liked that title so much that I decided I should use it too.   I'm just getting my design wall (of shame) back up at the new house and put a few of my UFOs on it. (click photos for larger view)   The daffodil quilt is so close to being done that I'm ashamed of myself for letting it go this long. It's even partially quilted. I pieced it a couple of years ago at our guild's annual Beach Retreat.

Under the daffodils is a circle quilt that was featured in a Bernina magazine. It needs a bunch of circle embellishment and then quilting. I used my circle attachment for this and it was fun to use. In the middle is my class project from the Carol Taylor class I took at Mid Atlantic Quilt Fest in February. The big butterfly was started in a class with Marilyn Wall.   The sun face on the bottom right was from a class with Susan Carlson at Asilomar a couple of years ago.

I've been trying to bring some order to my new sewing space but am not having much success.   The space is the lower floor of our house.   There is a rec room where I will set up my machines. One of the 2 bedrooms on that floor will hold my books, notions, and assorted stuff.

The 2nd bedroom has fabric. Right now most of the fabric is in boxes. I want to set up some sort of bin/drawer system but haven't quite figured it out.

My sewing tables are still covered with a bunch of crap. There was some sewing I wanted to do, so I just shoved the stuff out of the way.

There is still a bunch of non-sewing related stuff sitting around on this level. We're still figuring out where some things go.

This is the wet bar area on the lower level which I eventually hope to be able to use for some dyeing projects. For some reason Jerry thinks he should actually be able to put bar related stuff in the area. Wonder where he got that idea!

Long time no post

2011-06-03T18:58:00.000-04:00

Wow, what a busy few weeks we've had. The weekend of May 20th was the latest edition of the 24 Hours of Lemons.

The Bumble Bee car driven by team Terminally Confused had great new wings added for this race. (click photos for larger view)

Here's Charlie - the wing man!

The wings actually fluttered as the car raced around the track. Very cool.

On Friday night all the race cars took part in a special parade in downtown Camden, SC.

The parade leader was Jeff "Speedycop" who usually has a car in the race. Unfortunately a couple of weeks before the race Jeff broke his ankle in a softball game and was on the DL after having surgery to insert some screws. A quick modification to the ever present motorized bar stool allowed Speedycop to not only lead the race, but to get around the paddock areas all weekend in comfort. (that's Craig there in the background making sure his modifications were working okay.)

The beginning of the parade

Here come the judge...

A long line of cars

Assorted themes

"Our Lady of Perpetual Downforce" (I know...some odd team names...)

This team was called Bumble Bee racing. We thought our bee theme was better. These guys only raced a few laps on Saturday and then didn't hit the track again. They must have had a major breakdown.

Because the race was held the same weekend as the predicted Rapture, one team themed their car accordingly

The Cheese car

This was a team of Firefighters from Goose Creek - the city where Craig lives. They had a siren on their car which they used frequently during the parade

The Simpsons car was a popular one. Homer's head made it through the race with no problems

At least one car had problems even before the race. These guys got lots of cheers for pushing their car up the street

The Chuck Norris car was raced by Mike Smith - a neighbor of Craig's. When the guys began working on their car for their first race back in September Mike noticed the activity and stopped to chat about it. Turns out he's a LeMons racer as well, but he wasn't racing in the September or February races. He very generously volunteered some of his tools and a lot of his expertise to the team. They were glad he was racing this time. You can't see it on the car, but they had taken a sharpie and written "Chuck Norrisms" all over the car. I loved the hairy chest!

Our car was near the end of the parade. Craig was driving with Charlie on the hood, Paul in the window and Paul's girlfriend riding on top. Jerry had already hopped off.

The Judges again - notice Speedycop off the bar stool and using his crutches

Unfortunately, the race didn't go so well. On Saturday they only got in 20 laps. Since the track was hot from 10am to 7:30 pm you know they had major problems! They even resorted to an engine change during the day.

When they finally got back on the track on Sunday they had a couple of black flags requiring serving a penalty. The first flag was because the car spun and was hit by the then 2nd place car. Broke our steering arm which we were able to repair but took the 2nd place car out permanently. When we were ready to race again the penalty was to take sparkly stick-on letters and do this:

Remember the Rapture guys? They didn't get off as easily for their penalty. Two of their guys were shrink wrapped to the top of the car and they had to drive around announcing the pending end of the world

We had an additional black flag penalty on Sunday which required the team to get lunch for the LeMons staff.

The next race is in September and will be held at Charlotte Motor Speedway. They're looking forward to it, but will need to do some work on the car so they can actually race!

Right after the race we moved...more about that some later post.

Moving

2011-05-11T20:51:00.000-04:00

Jerry and I have been looking for a new house for about 9 months. Our 'want' list changed a bit over the course of our search but one thing that didn't change was my desire for more space for my sewing.

At the end of last month we closed on this house. The house was a short sale and closing was in doubt up until we actually signed the papers. The former owners were sad to have to leave a home they loved, but circumstances prevented them staying in the property.

I don't have any photos of my own of the house so I snagged this one off of a real estate site.

Between the two garages on the lower level of the house is a rec room which will be where I set up my sewing machine(s). The room is smaller than I remember it being when we first looked at the house. The lighting isn't great either because the room was designed more as a TV room. Jerry will add a bit of lighting for me. As for it being smaller than I pictured - I'm solving that problem by spilling over into the 2 bedrooms on that level! The entire lower level will be mine for creating. There is a wet bar on that level which I envision using for dyeing. Hopefully it will all work into a good working space.

We have had more frustration with service people during this process. Right now we are working with 3 different people for various services we need at either the new house or the house we're leaving. In each case estimates were delivered a day or two after they were initially promised. Guess it's considered a new way of working. I sure hope the painter actually shows up Friday as he promised!

We haven't set our moving date in stone yet. It's time for another 24 hours of lemons race next weekend and Jerry's attention has been focused on that.

Rest in Peace

2011-05-05T19:44:00.004-04:00

Our friend Ned passed away this week.

He was on vacation in Mexico with his beautiful wife Linda and some other friends when he suffered a fatal heart attack.

Ned was a gentle soul who never failed to make me laugh. He will be deeply missed.

More North Carolina

2011-04-28T20:10:00.004-04:00

The North Carolina Arboretum had a special exhibit of paper art by Carol Funke. We really enjoyed seeing her work.

This is Motion in Color III. I like how one sees a different image depending on what direction one views it from - straight on: (click photos for larger view)

From the Left

From the right

This is Motion in Color I.

And another dimensional piece called Rhythm in Color

Kaleidoscope of Log Cabin was framed and matted in an interesting fashion.

There was also an exhibit of art dolls photos of which I'll post later.

Abbey Road

2011-04-25T10:43:00.003-04:00

I've been oddly fascinated by a live webcam focused on the 'zebra crossing' in front of the Abbey Road recording studios. (click on the blue link to go to the site) The crossing is the one used to shoot the famous cover for the Abbey Road album.

It seems like whenever I click on the link there is someone using the crosswalk. Some people just walk across it but others try to imitate the Beatles or stop in the middle to have someone snap a photo. There is a great deal of traffic coming through the area so I'm guessing the locals are none too happy with the tourists!

North Carolina

2011-04-19T21:31:00.004-04:00

I just returned from a long weekend in North Carolina with 3 other friends. We stayed at Judy's home in Hendersonville, NC. The house is for sale as Judy & her husband have moved back to Charleston, but it makes a good base of operations until it sells.

Spring is just getting to that area and the dogwoods were beautiful. This pretty pink dogwood is in Judy's front yard. (click photos for larger view)

And a look down her street. Interestingly when we arrived on Friday afternoon there were beekeepers working in the front yard of this neighbor's home.

We did some quilt shop hopping but also visited the North Carolina Arboretum and the Folk Art Center in Asheville.

The folk art center didn't permit photos. It was filled with wonderful crafts ranging from tiny hand made baskets to beautifully crafted large pieces of furniture. I fell in love with a couple of stained glass pieces and it took a lot to resist bringing them home with me.

The Arboretum had lots of stuff in bloom, but I expect it will be even better in a few weeks. The butterflies enjoyed the blooms as much as we did.

I enjoyed the ironwork around the grounds.

One of the buildings had an exhibit of paper art and a bunch of art dolls in the style of elinor peace bailey. I'll have photos from those exhibits in my next post.

It's a wonder

2011-04-04T18:49:00.004-04:00

Last fall at our state guild's annual retreat I purchased the fabric to make a One Block Wonder quilt. Turns out my friends Dotty and Judy also had fabric to make the quilt so we decided to get together to make them.

We all had our fabrics cut before getting together last week and we spent the day sewing blocks. We decided to meet again today to progress further on the project. When we arrived at Judy's this was what we saw on her design wall. She was busy this week! Isn't it cool? (click photos for larger view)

While we had our print blocks completed, Dotty and I hadn't yet made any of the cube blocks. We spent most of today selecting fabric and then stitching up a few of the cubes. Here are Dotty's. I love the vibrant blue she used.

These are mine. I have a lot more cubes to make!

Judy has a studio to die for.

She has 4 machines set up in cabinets ready for sewing (2 Berninas, a Viking, and a Janome)

Her large cutting table was created by putting a counter on top of kitchen cabinets.

She made sure to get cabinets with pull-outs. Some are wood and others are wire.

Jerry and I have just entered into a contract for a new home which will have a larger sewing space for me. Maybe I'll be able to set something up like Judy's. Sure hope so!

Classes and challenges

2011-03-22T20:54:00.002-04:00

One of the classes I took at Mid-Atlantic Quilt Fest last month was with Carol Taylor called Arc-i-Texture. Carol's technique involves fusing squares of fabric to a base fabric. Once all the pieces are fused down yarn is couched over all the "seams." Then more yard is used to couch the decorative circles over the top of it all.

As the class unfolded I was unhappy with my fabric color selections. I was going to just pitch the class project and start over with something different, but decided to go ahead and finish it in order to try out the techniques. Once I got the various yarns stitched down I didn't hate it as much. (click photos for larger view)

I'll use the techniques again, but this time I'll have my entire stash available to me so I can (hopefully) make better choices.

At last Saturday's meeting my art group revealed its latest challenge: Zentangles. I had a real problem with this challenge. I just couldn't seem to wrap my brain around doing them. Lately Zentangles are all over and I'm awed by the people who have no problem sitting down and 'doodling' really cool designs. My inner critic seems to be so strong that it stifles me when I try to draw. I didn't want to show up at the meeting without something to share so I ended up doing this small piece.

I don't think of it as a zentangle because it doesn't have the variety that most zentangles do.

There were a number of really unique designs created for this one. Judy did a cool cat on a vinyl fabric that she turned into a doorstop. Doreen made a lamp (!), Linda did a shirt, Pat a pillow.

Our next challenge subject is Haiku. I think this one might be easier for me.

quilting class

2011-03-15T16:44:00.003-04:00

Several weeks ago my art group-ATW-acted as test subjects for Judy Heyward's machine quilting class.

Judy is not only a great designer, but an outstanding quilter, which explains why she wins so many awards. She does all of her quilting on her domestic sewing machine and has been asked numerous times to teach free motion quilting. The ATW group was thrilled to be her test subjects to work out any kinks in the class.

It's hard to photograph a whole-cloth quilt so these photos aren't great.

I enjoyed working on this and hope to use the skills I learned on future projects.

(click photos for larger view)

Yet even more from MAQF

2011-03-09T21:10:00.004-05:00

Here are even more photos taken at Mid-Atlantic Quilt Festival. (click photos for larger view)

This is Affairs of the Heart by Sue Zoeffel

Chromatic Transitions by Rachel Wetzler

Rose Mandala I by Anne Lullie

Madelaine - A Step Beyond Paper by Penelope Mace/Cutting Edge Quilt Guild

The paper doll elements of this quilt were removable and could be velcroed onto the doll. The makers even included different jewelry for the various costumes.

Imagining India by Pat Holly

and a closer look

Going Green or Not by Lois Griffith

This two sided quilt was hung so that viewers could get a clear view of both sides. This didn't photograph well. There is a lot of detail the photo didn't pick up.

Streamlines by Beth Gilbert

Obviously I enjoyed the show - I hope you enjoyed my photos.

More MAQF

2011-03-04T19:57:00.007-05:00

Here are some more quilts I liked at Mid-Atlantic Quilt Festival held in Hampton, VA last week (click photos for larger view)

This is Calamari Time by Karlyn Bue Lohrenz

Autumn Road by Susan Brittingham

Aspen Wonderland by Judy Madigan

Another Susan Brittingham called Laurel Creek

Memory Loss by Judy Loope

Detail shot - trying to show the dimension on this quilt

A couple of Gloria Loughlin's quilts

The Solace of Persephone by Annette Hendricks. The roses on this are velvet and very cool

Closer shot of one of the velvet roses

More photos to follow

MAQF

2011-03-01T19:23:00.007-05:00

I've just returned from Mid-Atlantic Quilt Fest in Hampton, VA. I've always liked the Mancuso shows both for the quality of the quilts and the numerous vendors. I went up with 4 other friends and we stayed in Williamsburg - about 25 minutes away from the show site.

We were thrilled that one of our group was a big winner in the show. Judy's Arabian Mystery took first place - traditional. Here's Judy with her ribbon (click photos for larger view)

And the beautiful quilt. Judy's quilting is fantastic and she does it all on her domestic machine.

This is Rhapsody in Rose by Barbara Clem. It won Best of Show

There were several guild challenges on display. One guild's subject was "Quilted Landmarks" and I was very taken by this Niagara Falls quilt by Margorie Marovelli.

I enjoyed "A Day in the Life of a Diner Booth" by Linda Cantrell. (this was hard to photograph)

This is "Little Peace in 2 4 U" by Martha C Hall. I like the movement in this work.

There was a special exhibit about homelessness and this quilt "One Paycheck" by Kathy Nida caused quite a stir.

The gulf oil spill was the inspiration for Sandy Curran's "Paradise Lost"

This was probably my favorite quilt in the show (well, besides Judy's!) It's "Port of Cassis" by Lenore Crawford

3 of us took a class with Gloria Loughman and we worked on making a 'mosaic' background like Gloria's

This is the start of Dotty's beautiful blue sky

I didn't get a photo of Judy's background, but did get her trying to cut some the mosaic pieces on the floor! She moved to a table pretty quickly. It's not easy to cut on the floor

I'm trying to depict a sunset in my background

I'll share more photos in my next post.

LeMons race

2011-02-22T21:59:00.008-05:00

This past weekend was the spring edition of the 24 Hours of LeMons , an endurance race for cars costing $500 or less.

The team changed up the theme this time and transformed the car to look like a bumble bee. This theme seemed to be popular and lots of people stopped to take photos. (click for larger view)

During the technical inspection and the B/S session (where the team proves to the judges that the car really cost less than $500) the team decked themselves out with bee wings and head bobbers.

Here is Curt:

Here's Jerry:

And Craig:

Team with their supporters

The race was eventful. At about 4pm on Saturday the engine blew. But every good LeMons team comes prepared with an extra engine so they immediately started pulling the blown engine and replacing it with the extra.

At 10:17 pm the new engine cranked up. Unfortunately the replacement had issues of its own and there were numerous new problems.

Sunday's laps were few and far between but they kept at it and the car was actually on the track when the checkered flag dropped.

For their effort the team was awarded the "Most Heroic Fix" award.

Term Terminally Confused wasn't the only team that had issues. The guys in the paddock across the way (who were driving an old Plymouth Fury) altered their team hoodies to reflect how they felt about their situation.

We're on the lookout for a couple of new engines for the May race.

It's LeMons time again

2011-02-10T23:57:00.003-05:00

It's only a week until Jerry and Craig run their 2nd 24 hours of LeMons race - the endurance race for cars valued at $500 or less.

Here's what the car looked like at the race in September.

A big part of the race is choosing a theme for the car. In September they were inspired by the scene in Dirty Harry where a school bus full of kids was high-jacked. The bright yellow paint worked out great because it made the car easier to follow on the race course.

They decided to change up the theme a bit but wanted to keep the car yellow - so this time they're trying to make the car look like a bumble bee. Can you see the back end of the bee taking shape?

All those rings are being welded to the car and I understand there may be some wings added.

Craig asked me to help him out with some costuming to go with the theme. I found some bumblebee wings with antenna head boppers that are made for kid's dress up. The glitter on the wings is an added bonus. Hopefully I'll get some good photos of the guys wearing their wings.

Valentine embroidery

2011-01-31T16:20:00.003-05:00

I pulled out the embroidery machine over the weekend and did a shirt for Hayden for Valentine's day. (click photos for larger view)

This was a fun design to stitch out but I somehow got mixed up on the thread color changes and didn't do the hearts quite as I'd planned.

I thought that the shirt with the tights would make a perfect Valentine's outfit. Sure is a lot of pink!

It's exhausting having your photo taken all the time!

Birthdays

2011-01-24T12:25:00.003-05:00

Yesterday was my 59th birthday. Thus far in my life I haven't had issues with turning a year older but perhaps next year I might have a hard time with the age. We'll see.

I bought myself a gift last week - a so fugly they're cute pair of Danskos.

I suppose the socks in the photo just add to the fugliness.

I also got a surprise gift - a new laptop because my old laptop died, It wasn't even close to 60.

Check back with me in a year to see how I feel about turning 60!

It's sewn!

2011-01-20T11:37:00.002-05:00

I finished stitching the blocks together for my Monterrey medallion quilt. Hayden has decided that she really loves this quilt and wanted me to lay it out on the floor so she could sit on it. (I don't know why blogger flipped these first 2 photos because they were not flipped when I took them. click for larger view)

She also wanted to count the stars.

She thought it would be fun to make "quilt angels" and was a bit disappointed when she stood up and didn't see evidence of an angel in the quilt!

Now I need to make a couple of pillow shams to match.

Monterrey Medallions & Baking

2011-01-14T16:14:00.005-05:00

Last year some of my quilting friends decided to make a quilt called Monterrey Medallions. After seeing their quilts start to take shape I got to thinking that I might like to make it in a black and bright color combination. I finally finished all the blocks and laid them out to see what everything looked like.

This is a bigger quilt than I usually make (it's supposed to finish 90 x 90) and I don't have design wall big enough for it so had to lay it down on the floor. (click on photos for larger view)

I just laid it down on the floor without trying to arrange things. Obviously I'll need to move some things around so that the colors are more balanced. It's funny how some of the colors stand out more in the photo than they do in real life.

Wonder how long it will take me to sew the blocks all together....

Every once in a while when the grandkids are here we bake what we call a colorful cake. We use a regular yellow cake mix and put the batter in numerous bowls. Then we use food color to tint each bowl of batter a different color. The batter is then spooned into the cake pans and it makes a really cool looking cake when it's done.

Of course the highlight of the baking venture is licking the bowl and there were 8 bowls to lick!

We didn't have any canned frosting in the house so I made a traditional butter cream frosting from the recipe on the powdered sugar box. Noah asked me if I could make sure to get 'real' frosting next time I was at the store because he didn't care for the frosting we made. Times sure have changed haven't they??

Happy New Year!

2011-01-03T22:32:00.008-05:00

It seems like it has been forever since I paid any attention to my blog. Maybe one of my New Year's Resolutions should be more frequent postings.

We had a lovely holiday season. Our Christmas tree was a bit bottom heavy after Noah and Hayden helped put on some ornaments. (click photos for larger view)

The kids were so excited about opening gifts that they were even happy about receiving clothing!

There's always such a mess of paper and ribbon.

True to form sometimes the boxes are more fun than the gifts they contained. Noah had fun decorating this box.

We had our holiday dinner on Christmas Eve and several good friends were able to join us. Everyone (almost) always tolerates the Christmas crackers and the silly hat each contains.

When Craig was a teen he used to make a time-intensive Black Forest Cake for some of our holiday dinners. He recently mentioned that it had been a long time since he'd made one so I decided to make it in his honor this year. It takes a couple of days and I'm no so sure it's worth all the trouble. The most time consuming portion is making the chocolate curls. This photo has turned itself on its side for some reason, so you'll have to use your imagination (or tilt your head) to get the full effect.

Now that the holidays are over, it's time to get back into my sewing room. It will feel good to get back to some projects.

Christmas Program

2010-12-18T21:32:00.003-05:00

There is nothing as cute as a pre-school Christmas program. Hayden's was Friday and was darling.

When the doors opened to the chapel Miss H was the first in line to file in. She wasn't shy about it at all and marched down the aisle with confidence.

I love her in this photo.

The Santa hats disappeared after their portion of the program and we were glad to see that Hayden had not removed her bow. She just doesn't like wearing anything in her hair and would rather have worn the bow around her neck like a tie than on her head.

Embroidery

2010-12-15T21:45:00.003-05:00

Since taking the machine embroidered/applique Santa class I've been inspired to do some more embroidery. I've had my Bernina 170 with an embroidery attachment about 10 years but never really did much embroidery. The machine requires the designs be on a Bernina card that is inserted into the unit. Over the years that technology has become outdated and most systems now use multi-format cd's and embroidery software.

A couple of years ago I investigated purchasing software that would allow me to join the rest of the embroidery world. The Bernina brand software is incredibly expensive and I didn't feel the expense was worth it for the amount of embroidery I expected to do. I did discover something called Explorations which is geared to the Bernina owner and was able to purchase it at a reasonable price.

I've been playing around with the software and was able to create this holiday themed monogram for Hayden. (click photo for larger view)

Just before I created this Chrystal and I were flipping though a magazine that featured mother-daughter aprons. Chrystal said she and Hayden didn't have any mother/daughter items and a light bulb went off. I used the same design to make Chrystal a sweatshirt too. (can't get this photo to flip properly so you'll have to tilt your head!)

It was fun to do these and I'm hoping that Chrystal doesn't think the one for her is too hokey.

Next up = some handtowels.

Graduation

2010-12-12T17:36:00.004-05:00

Our daughter-in-law, Chrystal, has been working toward her bachelor's degree in Medical Technology from Armstrong Atlantic State University in Savannah, GA. The interesting thing about this program is that she was able to do most of her classes via distance learning. Yesterday was graduation on the campus and we were thrilled to be there to cheer her on.

Do you think she was happy to graduate??

Noah and Hayden were proud of their mother!

As were Craig ...

... her sister Heather ...

...and her mom Pam

After graduation we went to Paula Deen's restaurant, Lady & Sons. The food was wonderful - very filling but wonderful. Here are Hayden and Chrys at the restaurant.

The photo of Chrys and Noah at dinner didn't turn out so here's Noah after the graduation.

It was a wonderful day and we are so proud of her accomplishments.

Here comes Santa Claus

2010-12-03T13:18:00.004-05:00

Several months ago my friend Janice & I were in a quilt shop and admired an embroidered quilt that was there to be quilted. It was a Jenny Haskins design. We were told that in order to embroider a quilt like that we would need to know how to do multi-hoop designs. Neither of us had ever done that so we signed up for one of their classes that teach how to multi-hoop. Cindy & Judy also expressed an interest in learning the technique so we all attended the class last Monday. Our project was a cute Santa. He required 9 separate hoopings.

Janice and I were able to finish our projects.

It wasn't a smooth project for any of us. Poor Judy had machine problems early on and ended up having to leave her machine with the shop for repair. The rest of us went astray at about the 4th or 5th hooping. After MUCH angst and some brainstorming (plus a good bit of unsewing) we were able to figure out how to get all the parts lined up. Cindy still has some stitching to go and Judy may have to start over now that she has her machine back.

I like Janice's darker background better than mine. You can't see the gold design on my fabric - it just looks kind of yellow in this photo. For some reason the photo makes Janice's Santa look bigger than mine, but they're the same size.

It was fun to do but I think I'll take a bit of an embroidery break before trying a Jenny Haskins design!

Catching up

2010-11-27T18:45:00.003-05:00

I haven't had any good (or bad) photos to post lately so I've been neglecting my blog.

We spent Thanksgiving week with Jerry's sister, Annette, and family. They used to live in the SF Bay area but a year or so ago moved to the Ohio/West Virginia border. They have a beautiful home on wonderful grounds. They live in a really small town but do have access to a Big K-mart and a Wal-mart. I couldn't find any fabric stores near them so that area gets crossed off my list of potential home locations.

Annette & Allen have 2 daughters and also joining us was our other Ledbetter niece Niki (Jerry's brother's daughter) visiting from Southern California. Annette & Niki planned out a wonderful menu for Thanksgiving (I was the designated sous chef/dish washer!) They decided we'd graze the entire day. We started with appetizers before noon. An hour or so later was our soup & salad course.

Niki made a delicious butternut squash/roasted red pepper soup that she carefully plated for maximum impact.

We followed up with the traditional turkey a bit later and concluded the day with a late evening dessert session. All in all a wonderful day and pleasant week.

Monochromatic challenge

2010-11-14T18:23:00.003-05:00

The art group I recently joined just had a monochromatic challenge. I came late to the group and didn't have much time to complete my piece. I had an idea but it didn't quite come out like I'd envisioned.

I used a quilt fuse type product to sew the 2" squares together as I couldn't see myself sewing all those squares in the traditional manner. I stitched the tree with a gray variegated thread and then used paint and inks to do the leaves etc.

All of the quilts were really cool. I neglected to ask permission to post photos of everyone else's quilts and deleted my earlier post that included those photos.

Art that Works

2010-11-04T11:37:00.005-04:00

I recently joined a small art group called Art that Works (ATW) This group has been working together for several years and has had a number of really interesting challenges. They're at the tail end of a monochromatic challenge and I am working on a really small piece so I have something to reveal at the next meeting.

A year-long challenge has just started. We will make one or more pieces based on photos taken at the local historic site Charles Towne Landing; the original settlement location of Charleston, SC. As I understand it, the resulting quilts will be exhibited at Founder's Hall on the grounds.

A couple of weeks ago we all met up at the Landing to take photos. It was a beautiful day and we all enjoyed our walk though the park. It had been over 20 years since I was last at the park and I was amazed at how different it looked.

There is a new (to me) modern visitor's center (click photos for larger view)

One of the things I love about the south is the oak trees - especially the ones that grow in interesting configurations.

We all thought this view of the stream looked like a marbling project.

I found some of the fencing very interesting.

There are a few replica buildings on the grounds

There is even a small zoo/animal preserve.

I have a couple of ideas for the quilt I'll be making. Hopefully I'll be able to translate my idea in fabric.

Field Trip

2010-10-21T19:46:00.005-04:00

Hayden's pre-school class made a trip to West Farm yesterday. They had a busy morning of activities. (click photos for larger view)

She got to pick out her own pumpkin...

...which she and mommy decorated with paint and stickers

She got to feed the cow and the sheep

We went on a hayride

and she ran through the haybale maze

It's hard to get all the kids to pose for a photo

But more fun saying "CHEESE" when mommy is there.

At dinner we always ask the kids what the best part of their day was. When we asked Hayden what the best was for her she said it was the bouncy ball at the farm.

It was a fun day.

Georgia Quilt Show

2010-10-18T19:48:00.004-04:00

I attended the Georgia Quilt Show in the Atlanta area over the weekend. The quilts on display were lovely. The registration materials said that photos would not be allowed at the show so I did not take my camera. Turns out the limit on photos was only for a couple of special exhibitions, including the Hoffman Challenge.

I snagged these photos from the show website.

This was the Best of Show quilt. Lots of heavy quilting on this.

Serengeti at Twilight by Leona Harden

I liked this quilt of the young girl on the beach.

Beach Baby by Molly Samuels

This was the first quilt one saw upon entering the show. It was really cool and caused a bit of a traffic jam at the entrance.

The Moment of Inspiration by Sandy Curran

I didn't take any classes but did attend a lecture on dyeing fabric in the microwave. It was interesting and I'm going to give it a try.

In the past they did the Georgia Quilt Show every other year but they announced they'll be doing the show again next year October 20-22.

Random thoughts on a fall day

2010-10-04T18:24:00.006-04:00

I spent the weekend at the state quilters guild annual retreat. Participants can either take a class from one of our state's talented teachers or set up in a bring your own project room. I went the BYOP route but didn't really get much accomplished. I took my camera and it never left my suitcase. I promise you that a lot of great work was done over the weekend (by others!)I just won't be able to prove it! The weather was great and I think everyone had a wonderful time.

I've been in a creative funk lately. Hopefully I'll get past that soon.

Also this past weekend was my 41st high school reunion which I was not able to attend.

I've seen photos from the reunion on several Facebook pages and it was fun to pick out old friends in the photos.

Redford High School in Detroit was a good place to go to school back in the '60's but the entire Detroit school system has been plagued by problems over the years. Redford was closed a couple of years ago and the last I heard there is a plan to develop the property into a shopping area. Redford's brush with greatness includes graduating George C. Scott and the actor Michael Dunn - google him for a photo - bet you recognize him (oh, and me too!)

It looks like summer has finally left South Carolina. We had such a hot humid summer and I think many of us had given up hope on cooler weather arriving.

LeMons report

2010-09-27T21:35:00.006-04:00

It was quite a weekend at Carolina Motorsports Park in Kershaw, SC. The 24 Hours of LeMons organizers have a slick operation going. They put on these races all over the country and give adult men (and women) an opportunity to fulfil a childhood fantasy of driving a race car.

On Friday each car had to go through a technical inspection to make sure the car met specs. Even though our car was purchased from a previous LeMons team and had raced before, it failed its first inspection. The team was directed to correct some welding on the roll bar. Luckily the guys in the campsite next door had both the necessary welding equipment and a guy willing to do the welding in exchange for a case of beer. There was a party atmosphere throughout the weekend and teams helped each other out any way they could. (click photos for a larger view)

Part of the fun of the race is picking a theme for the car and decorating it. Some themes were funny.

A couple made a political statement.

Our guys paid homage to a scene in the old 70's movie, Dirty Harry, where a school bus was hijacked. They painted the car school bus yellow and striped and lettered it like the one in the movie. The car number was the same as that on the bus. It turns out that having a bright yellow car was an advantage to the spectators. It made it much easier to watch the car on the track.

103 teams registered for this weekend's race. A couple of the teams didn't make it to the start line, but I'm guessing there were 100 cars that started the race.
The assembly of team Terminally Confused was Craig's idea and he served as captain so he had the honor of beginning the race. They decided that each of the 5 drivers would put in 45 minutes behind the wheel and then they'd change out. They later extended the drive time because each driver thought 45 minutes was too short.

Each guy was exhilarated after his turn behind the wheel and Jerry was no exception.

I love this photo of the team watching while Jerry was driving.

During Craig's 2nd time behind the wheel the brakes decided to quit working. He spun out at about 70mph which apparently rattled him. (it didn't do much for his mom either!) The car was pushed off the track and they fixed the issue in about 20 minutes.

Later the inside mirror came loose and was beating the driver, Taan, in the head so they had to pull off the track to fix that.

By the end of day 1 the tires were well worn.

They'd brought a 2nd set of new tires and put them on the car Saturday night. Turned out it was the perfect thing to do as it rained on Sunday and the new tires were great in the rain. We'd ended day 1 in 41st place and by noon on Sunday had moved up to 35th. Not bad for first time racers.

Unfortunately things kind of went downhill after noon on Sunday. There was an oil issue, a minor collision (no injuries thank goodness) and the last nail in the coffin- a problem with the lug nuts on one of the wheels. The last problem was not fixable as the lugs were stripped. Sadly they ended up pulling out of the race about 90 minutes before the end. Even so, they ended up in 51st place. I left the course at noon on Sunday to come home. I told Craig that the reason things fell apart Sunday afternoon was because I wasn't there to cheer them on! Next time I'll have to stay through the entire race.

All in all it was a great showing for a rookie team. They are already planning the next race (in February) and are using this race as a learning experience.

24 Hours of LeMons

2010-09-24T22:24:00.003-04:00

After a couple of months of preparation Jerry, Craig and several co-workers have finally reached the weekend of the 24 Hours of LeMons race. This is a race for cars with a value of $500 or less. (the $500 limit does not include the required safety equipment) Today was spent getting the necessary safety inspections, etc and tomorrow is the first day of actual racing.

Beach vacation

2010-09-18T18:49:00.004-04:00

We have just returned from a glorious week in Myrtle Beach. We stayed at Ocean Lakes which is a family oriented resort that has accommodations varying from traditional campsites to elevated beach homes. Since I don't do camping we rented a beach house. Our friends, John & June, Jim & Susie, and Ned and Linda rented homes nearby.

We have all vacationed together in the past and somehow our times together evolved into Pirate events. In honor of that I made each couple a pirate quilt.

Here are the guys with their quilts: L-R: John, Jerry, Jim & Ned (click photos for larger view)

Then the girls: June, Susie, Me & Linda

I haven't quite figured out what prompted this photo:

Craig, Chrystal & the kids were able to come up last Saturday & Sunday and then again yesterday. The kids loved the beach. Noah enjoyed the water while Hayden just wanted to dig in the sand. At one point she even flopped down to make sand angels on the beach and had such a grin on her face while doing it.

The week was wonderful and the weather could not have been more perfect. Days spent on the beach and evenings spent driving around Ocean Lakes in a golf cart are my idea of paradise. We're already planning next year's trip.

38 years

2010-09-09T09:19:00.003-04:00

Today we celebrate 38 years of marriage. We were married in the garden of the Botsford Inn, a historic hotel in the Detroit suburbs. (which is no longer an Inn but part of the adjacent Botsford Hospital.) It was a beautiful late summer afternoon with vivid blue skies and puffy white clouds. A neighbor of ours, who served as minister of his church in addition to being a Detroit City Cop (interesting combination of jobs!) performed the ceremony. I don't remember a lot about the ceremony but do recall my mother complaining that Jerry's shoes needed polishing.

Four days after the wedding Jerry left for a tour of duty in Scotland with the US Navy. I joined him in Scotland 2 months later. We've been moving around every few years since!

Lemons car

2010-09-05T22:49:00.003-04:00

The 24 Hours of LeMons race is quickly approaching.

Jerry, Craig and the rest of team Terminally Confused have been working diligently getting the car ready for the race. Today was painting day. They have an obscure theme for the car having to do with the highjacking of a school bus in the movie Dirty Harry; thus they painted the car to resemble a school bus.

Apparently the painting project created a bit of interest in Craig's neighborhood and prompted a couple of his neighbors to come investigate. Glad that old clunker is in his yard and not mine!

Challenge quilt

2010-09-03T20:07:00.003-04:00

Our guild always has a community service project. This year our project is Camp Happy Days, a camp for kids 'living with cancer.' In addition to the quilts we've made throughout the year, the community service coordinator issued a crayon challenge. We pulled a crayon from a paper bag and had to make a quilt using that color.

My crayon was black and this is the quilt I made. (click photo for larger view)

I know, the quilt isn't really black is it? This was a 4 patch swirl that I started some time ago and I decided it was close enough for the challenge - since the quilt is going to charity, they won't mind that it's not really black.

We turn in the challenge quilts next week and I'm looking forward to seeing what everyone made.

Getting off the couch

2010-08-28T21:37:00.002-04:00

Years ago (about 20) I used to run. I never actually ran, it was more like a slow jog, but I entered numerous races. Most races saw me finish way in the back sometimes just in front of the police cruiser with its flashing lights indicating the end of the race. I even received a special Turtle Award trophy for being the last finisher in one race. The longest race I ever ran was a half marathon and I was the last uninjured finisher - but heck I finished!

I did win the women's category in a one mile race once but the weather was so bad that only 3 women entered the race and the other 2 dropped out before finishing the mile.

After we moved from Charleston to Columbia SC I tweaked my knee - probably because Columbia wasn't flat like Charleston and the hills were not kind to the joints-and I gradually stopped running.

Here we are 20 years later (and back in flat Charleston) and I got a bug that I wanted to try to run again. I know that just walking is better on the joints but I never could get enthused about just taking a walk around the neighborhood.

I came across a program called Couch to 5K on the Cool Running.com site and decided to give it a go. It's a 9 week program that starts with more walking than running. Week one had intervals of 90 seconds of running followed by 60 seconds of walking. Each successive week has more running and less walking until one builds up to 35 minutes of straight running - presumably enough to complete a 5K in a timely manner.

When I first started the program I got to week 2 and my knee started bothering me. I immediately went to the doctor who prescribed physical therapy. I learned lots of great stretches and strengthening techniques and the knee feels pretty good now. I restarted the program at week one and am now 6 weeks in.

I don't have a race goal in mind to test my new found 5K abilities, but need to schedule something just to keep me motivated.

See you on the roads!

9 years ago

2010-08-22T18:41:00.003-04:00

Noah was born 9 years ago today.

I remember that day so well. We were living in California and waiting anxiously to hear that he had arrived safely. We didn't get to Charleston to see him for a week and it was so hard to miss so much of his infancy.

He decided on a slip & slide party so we set that up, filled up a bunch of water balloons and got out the water guns. It has been so hot and humid that when I brought the camera out for photos the lens fogged up. I didn't realize it as I was taking the photos so that's why some of these photos look blurry.

He shares his birthday with his Aunt Heather who turned 21 today. Her party may involve some slipping and sliding, but not the same kind as Noah's!

Happy Birthday Noah (and Heather)!

Beach Retreat 2010

2010-08-16T21:29:00.007-04:00

Every year my guild, Cobblestone Quilters Guild, holds its annual beach retreat on Seabrook Island. This year's retreat started this past Friday and ran until today. We had rain on and off all weekend so we couldn't spend the time on the deck overlooking the ocean like usual, but it was still a great time. (click photos for larger view)

We always have a snack table which is loaded down with a variety of tempting goodies.

Lots of beautiful projects were worked on. My table mate, Frances, did this detailed paper pieced Dogwood.

She nearly ran out of the blue fabric for the sky. This is what was left when she finished the piecing.

There were so many beautiful quilts in progress through the weekend and I'm sorry I didn't get photos of most of them. Here are a few I was able to photograph.

Here is Karen's Monterrey Medallion. There were 3 others finished at retreat but I didn't get photos. Each looked so different because of the different color palette.

Janice's wall hanging

Betsy's Ohio Square Dance

Betsy's snowman

Sheila's

Marva's. For some reason I can't get this photo to orient the right way but I wanted to share this cool quilt. I loved the fabric gradation.

I also worked on a Monterrey Medallion. I started later than the others so am nowhere near done with mine. The red in the quilt doesn't seem so strong in person. Wish I'd seen how it reacts in the photo before I sewed all those blocks! I would have changed it.

Roller Derby

2010-08-02T21:29:00.005-04:00

Did you know that Charleston has a Roller Derby league? We attended one of the matches last Saturday night. Jerry got us VIP tickets (there are VIPs that go to Roller Derby??) so we were in the special seats and our meal and drinks were included. There were more people in the stands than I expected and it was an interesting group of people.

Craig & Chrystal came with us.

It was an interesting experience but I'm not sure I'm in a hurry to return. Maybe we'll go back when Hayden joins the team.

Bras

2010-07-27T22:55:00.002-04:00

We had a lively discussion today about putting on bras. According to the "experts" this is the proper way:

1. Adjust the straps to the maximum length.

2. Lean forward into the cups and rest your breasts into the supports.

3. Reach behind to hook the bra on the middle hooks of the closure.

4. Put the straps on your shoulders.

5. Position your breast in the cup by slipping a hand into the cup and lifting the breast while aligning the underwire on your ribcage along the natural crease of your breast to prevent pinching of the breast tissue.

6. Tighten the straps so that they support the breasts lightly without cutting into the skin or putting too much strain on the shoulders.

7. Adjust the straps every time you put on a bra

We polled 13 women (including the waitress at lunch!) and discovered that it's a fairly even split between those that put on their bras the "proper" way and those that fasten the hooks from the front and then spin it around - although there were slightly more spinners.

How do you put on yours? (I'm a spinner)

ongoing projects

2010-07-23T23:03:00.006-04:00

Back at the beginning of the year a few of the TTT group decided they'd make a quilt called Vintage Christmas. They asked me if I wanted to join in and I decided I liked the pattern so I'd make one too. The pattern is very traditional; not my usual style. I've been joking that my friends are putting me inside the box when I work on a traditional pattern

We've been meeting once a month and working steadily. At our last meeting 2 of us had the blocks sewn together. I didn't get a photo of mine, but here is Joanne's. (click photos for larger view)

Another project that a lot of the TTT gang is working on is called Monterrey Medallion.

Again, Joanne is the first to get hers pieced.

She liked working on this so much that she's making another one for her daughter.
This is the center for the 2nd one.

I decided to work on this one as well but wanted to have a brighter color palette. This is my center.

My quilting buddies have been working on a few other items. Virginia, who is our resident applique expert, is working on a quilt in conjunction with Karen. Virginia will do all the hand work and Karen will quilt it. I know that having both of them collaborate on a project will result in a spectacular quilt so I'm anxious to see the final product.

Ginny made this attic window quilt for her daughter. She was working on adding some subtle beading to the quilt.

Baby face

2010-07-18T18:07:00.003-04:00

Look what we found on-line today. A high school photo of Jerry. Wasn't he cute? And look at that curly hair!

Someone from his high school class has posted photos of all the graduates on a website. He didn't have a graduation photo taken so we're guessing they took this from his 11th grade yearbook. Since we don't have this photo, it was especially fun to see it. Wish I could get a good quality copy.

Can you still see that baby-faced guy in this next photo? I can.

They never grow up!

2010-07-10T21:26:00.003-04:00

Jerry, Craig and several of the guys they work with have decided to enter a race known as the 24 Hours of LeMons. Not Le Mans, but Lemons. The race is for cars that cost $500 or less and they hold Lemons races around the country. The guys are shooting for the race scheduled in September here in South Carolina.

There are always more applicants than openings so they first need to be accepted. While waiting to hear if they're officially in they've purchased a car - and they found one here locally that was actually used in a previous race. Today they picked it up and luckily for me (and our neighbors) they've parked the car in Craig's back yard.

They haven't decided yet on a team name and how they'll personalize the car but I'm thinking that there really is no way they'll be able to make this car look good. What you can't see in these photos is that there is an additional engine in the back seat - they got this beautiful car with not 1 but 2 engines all for $500. What a bargain! (and they NEED that 2nd engine because the one under the hood has a blown head gasket.)

It's going to be an interesting couple of months.

Village By The Sea

2010-07-09T15:09:00.004-04:00

A month ago several of us attended North Carolina Quilt Symposium. One of my classes was called Happy Villages with Karen Eckmeier and I finished my class project the other day. It was really fun making our villages.

This is about 16 x 16.

Stripes

2010-07-03T13:09:00.003-04:00

I finally decided on borders for my orange striped quilt. I like how it turned out.

I've had such fun making these mitered stripe blocks that I keep buying more striped fabrics. Last week I ended up with 3 new fabrics to try out. I'm guessing it's kind of like when the stack & whack quilts first came out. For a while I looked at every fabric with an eye to make a S&W. Did the same thing with the 4 patch swirl and will probably do it with these stripes for a while.

Noah's first quilt

2010-06-26T23:16:00.003-04:00

Noah and Hayden hung out with us today and Noah decided he wanted to take a stab at making a quilt. We pulled out a box of fabric and he selected several pieces that he liked. I cut the fabric into 6.5" squares. I was going to have him cut the squares with scissors but in the interest of time I rotary cut the squares for him.

He arranged the blocks on my design wall and once he was happy with the layout he stitched them together.

My sewing machine has a speed control that we set at about half speed which turned out to be a good speed for him. It also has a 1/4" piecing foot with a flange. The fabric edge is butted up against the flange which helps keep a consistent seam allowance. I don't like using that foot but it worked out well for Noah. Once he got the top sewn together he thought he was done but I explained to him that he still needed to do the actual quilting. That's a project we're going to save for another day. We discussed whether he wanted to add a border but he has elected not to do so.

When we came downstairs from the studio to show Grandpa and Hayden the quilt top Hayden looked at it, ran to Noah and gave him a big hug and said thank-you. She thinks it's for her!

It has been so hot here that inside activities like quilting are preferable to being outdoors. With only a couple of exceptions we've been in the 90's with high humidity every day this month. I think it's going to be a long summer.

Yikes Stripes!

2010-06-14T15:17:00.006-04:00

When I was a kid I used to like Fruit Stripe Gum and enjoyed their "Yikes Stripes" commercials. I thought of the commercials when I was taking photos of some projects with striped fabrics.

The latest AQS magazine had an article by Eileen Sullivan on an easy method of making mitered blocks with striped fabrics. I got the magazine in the mail a day before a trip to Mary Jo's the perfect place to find a great selection of striped fabrics. I purchased two identically striped fabrics in different colorways.

Here's the first fabric stitched up and set a couple of different ways. I haven't cut into the 2nd fabric yet - but it's a more pastel palette. (click photos for larger view)

I put these blocks on the wall without any prior planning and upon looking at the photo it's interesting to see how the blocks with the teal really standing out are concentrated in one area.

I like the last setting a lot but I used it already. Before cutting into my new fabrics I remembered that I had an orange striped fabric sitting here which had originally come from Karen's stash. She decided she probably wouldn't make anything from it and gave it to me to maybe figure out a use for it with the intent of donating the resulting quilt to our guild charity.

I really like this orange one and may have to keep this and make a replacement donation quilt. I still have to figure out borders for it.

It has been fun working in stripes.

North Carolina Quilt Symposium

2010-06-07T09:27:00.006-04:00

Got back yesterday after spending a great weekend in Charlotte at the North Carolina Quilt Symposium. This was a first time event for me although the symposium has been going on for a number of years. It's an interesting concept in that the event moves round the state of North Carolina yearly with a different guild hosting each year. I understand that usually the venue is a college campus. This year we were on the campus of Johnson & Wales university which is a culinary college.

The class offerings from a variety of nationally known teachers were excellent. The enrollment fee included 2 days of classes and a lecture (as well as food and lodging) It was difficult to decide which classes to take! On Friday Janice, Cindy and I took Happy Villages with Karen Eckmeimer. It was lots of fun constructing our villages.

Here's Janice's village. She plans to add more doors and windows. I like her larger buildings. (click photos for larger view)

Cindy wasn't enjoying her work in the morning but after lunch when her piece started looking like a real village she started to like it. I love her trees.

I don't think my water/sky fabric works in my piece. It's just too dark for my bright buildings although I do like the illusion of a beach at the bottom.

Once the villages are complete we are supposed to top the work with a layer of tulle and perhaps I can use the tulle to tone down the brightness of the buildings.

On Saturday morning all 4 of us (Joanne was with us too) attended a lecture with Carol Taylor whose work has always impressed me.

On Saturday afternoon & Sunday morning I took a class with Robbi Joy Eklow, whom I've "known" online for years. Robbi is part of the Chicago School of Fusing. She shared her technique of fusing (yes there can be more than one way to fuse a quilt top.) I only made a small element in class as I didn't have the right fabrics with me at symposium.

There were a number of vendors at the show and I picked up a cool new (to me)set of rulers. They're called Double Diamond rulers and come in 3.5" and 1.5" widths. Here's their website. Last night I made a sample with each size of ruler. I like the smaller version best but both are kind of neat.

The ribbons at the show were very interesting. Each ribbon had an extra small yo-yo flower mounted to a hair clip. These were meant to be removed by the winner and worn on her name tag so everyone would know she won a ribbon and what color it was. The information cards were clipped onto each quilt with clothespins. Attached to each clothespin was a tiny yo-yo topped with a button. As I walked around the show I noticed that the clothespin yo-yo coordinated with the quilt. Turns out the woman who made them just had a big box of them and once the show was hung she walked around and tried to match the yo-yo to the quilt. She did a great job. Some of them looked like they were made specifically for the quilt.

It was a great weekend and I'm already planning to attend next year - especially since I WON A SCHOLARSHIP for next year's symposium. How cool was that??

Memorial Day

2010-05-31T19:40:00.007-04:00

We've just returned from a week at Myrtle Beach - the ultimate tourist trap. It was a fun trip and of course we encountered "interesting" people during the week - including the woman on the beach who had a monitoring ankle bracelet because she had just been released from County (her words). She was visiting the beach with her pet parrot.

We missed seeing the kids while we were away but got some kid time today. They brought our new granddog Nicholas with them and he sure is cute. (click photos for larger view)

He's a lab/corgi mix and looks like a lab but has the short corgi legs. It's a really funny combination.

He's very calm and allows the kids to love on him without complaint.

The kids were being silly. Don't you just love Noah's freckles?

Noah kept trying to stick his face in the way of the camera so I fixed him and took an extreme closeup. You can really see the freckles here!

Hayden got upset that she wasn't getting some extreme closeups.

She got her smile back when I stuck the camera in her face.

They liked just hanging out on the back porch.

Settings revisited

2010-05-20T17:49:00.002-04:00

Since my design boards are not big enough for this log cabin quilt I put two of them together to give me enough room to try a couple of layouts. My design walls are actually sheets of insulation and you can see a blue strip of one of the boards peeking out between the blocks.

I think I like the first 2 settings best, but will have to decide between the two. All comments welcomed. (click photos for larger view)

Curved Log Cabin settings?

2010-05-18T19:38:00.004-04:00

I finally finished piecing all the blocks for my curved log cabin quilt. Now I have to decide how to set the blocks. This will be a bigger quilt than I usually make and turns out I don't have a design wall big enough to try layout possibilities. I tried 2 different layouts on my living room floor but really need to try a couple more before making a decision.

Which layout do you like better? I think I like the 2nd one. (click photos for larger view)

Camp Happy Days

2010-05-05T11:37:00.005-04:00

My guild, Cobblestone Quilters, has adopted Camp Happy Days as its community project this year. The camp is for "kids kickin' cancer." Our goal is to make 92 quilts by September when they hold family camp so that each person in attendance will have a quilt on his/her bed when they arrive.

My splinter group, the Duck Ditch Quilters, has been busy making quilts for this good cause. We've already turned in about 20 quilts and are working hard on more. Yesterday we had a sew-in and worked on several tops.

(click photos for larger view)

Sheila assembled this top which started with the preprinted panel. There was a lot of discussion about this one. It took a while before the group could agree on exactly which yellow fabric should be used as the inner border. In the end, even those that didn't think this particular fabric was the best choice agreed that it worked.

These green blocks started out as block of the month at guild a year or so ago. Betsy won them and decided to donate the blocks for charity quilts. There are still a lot of kits left to make more blocks so I expect we'll see more quilts like this before we're done. Pat and Melissa worked on this one.

Cindy and Janice cut big blocks out of these fun bright fabrics. This is going to be a really happy quilt when it's done. (I suspect that I especially like this one because all of the fabrics came out of my stash!)

Betsy made this pretty purple top which looks more complicated than it is.

Janice and Crystal worked on this one - assembling it from bits and pieces left over from previous quilts. They added a couple more rows after I took this photo.

Frances and Joanne worked on this one.

Somehow I missed getting photos of one or 2 more that were worked on.

Next month we're going to try to quilt some of these!

Curved log cabin

2010-04-16T22:38:00.004-04:00

I have finally progressed far enough on my retreat project, a curved log cabin, to post photos. I got this pattern from the book Blendable Curves by Peggy Barkle.

I first had to construct 21 red log cabin blocks and 21 white log cabin blocks. After each complete round the blocks were squared, but only on one side so there were skinny logs and wide logs. (click photos for larger view)

One red and one white block were stacked aligning the wide logs on the red block with the wide logs on the white block. The two blocks were cut through both layers at once with a random curve. Here the 2 blocks have been separated but you can see they were cut together.

Then one side of the red block was sewn to the opposite side of the white block and visa versa resulting in 2 new blocks.

Here are 4 blocks showing one potential setting.

It has been a fun project but sewing all those log cabin blocks got a little tedious. I'm glad I'm getting to the fun part now.

Is it today or tomorrow?

2010-04-10T21:55:00.002-04:00

Craig is turning 37 either today or tomorrow depending on how you look at it.

He was born in Scotland on April 11th at 3:10 a.m. Because of the time difference between the UK and the US, when Jerry called family here in the states to let them know Craig had arrived safely it was still April 10th. To this day my brother jokes that since Craig is an American citizen he should celebrate his birthday on American time.

Here he is on his first birthday. He's still as cute as he was way back then.

Back from retreat

2010-04-09T15:18:00.007-04:00

I just spent 4 great days at the beach with my quilting friends. The weather was fantastic and the walks on the beach were a joy. This is the best time of year here in Charleston.

Our sewing room was an explosion of fabric (and snacks!). These photos show the view from my corner of the room. Those black strap things you see several of the women wearing are designed to ease back pain. You can learn about them by clicking here.

(click photos for larger view)

There were six people working on the same pattern - a Monterrey Medallion. Each picked out her own color combination so the quilts all have a different feel. There is a lot of piecing involved in the pattern so each quilt is still in process.

Here's Sheila's on the design wall.

Virginia used brighter colors for hers.

Karen used the same white fabric as the entire background in hers.

Frances loves blue and it's obvious in her quilt.

Betsy used a soft color palette like Sheila did.

I somehow missed getting a photo of Joanne's. She used a soft pink and brown color palette. You might be able to see some of the fabric she used as she is ironing it.

It's a group project getting each quilt up on the design wall!

Not everyone was working on the Monterrey Medallions.

Janice and Cindy were each working on a red and white quilt. This is Janice's.

Cindy's never made it to the design wall. Perhaps this is why?

Evelyn was working on hand quilting her horse quilt. It has been a long lasting project for her but she refuses to start anything new until she finishes this.

Maureen worked on this cute Scotty Dog quilt.

The other Janice did this great paper pieced project.

I didn't get photos of Marcie's work but she was doing some blocks of the month from way back in 2005.

I also didn't get photos of my projects. One didn't get far enough for photos and the other main project I worked on is TOP SECRET so photos can't be posted.

As always we had a great time and are already planning our next retreat!

Retreating

2010-04-01T15:32:00.003-04:00

The TTT gang is going on retreat starting Monday. We go to Camp St. Christopher located on Seabrook Island - one of Charleston's barrier islands.

Everyone brings her own projects to work on and we spend the days sewing and laughing. Several members(but not me) plan to work on a pattern called Monterey Medallion.

I've packed up 4 different projects to take with me although I know I won't get to all of them. Have to have a variety just in case I get bored with what I'm doing.

We leave Monday morning and it looks like the weather will be beautiful so I anticipate a lot of beach walks.

Enjoying the outdoors

2010-03-26T19:47:00.002-04:00

We're finally getting some of the wonderful spring weather that makes Charleston such a great place to live. The flowers are beginning to bloom and it's wonderful to spend time outdoors.

Noah wasn't interested in playing outside today but Hayden was enjoying the fresh air. She loves having her picture taken and then running to the camera to see the image. She'd have had a tough time back in the olden days when you had to wait to week to see your photos. This isn't the greatest photo of Jerry but it's cute of Hayden.

She had been sitting primly on the white bench until I pulled out the camera. Then she had to try out a variety of poses.

She's getting so big and it's hard to believe she'll be 3 years old soon.

Judging a quilt show

2010-03-21T18:22:00.005-04:00

I haven't really blogged since our guild's quilt show. It was a very successful show and we had so many beautiful quilts.

The judge for our show was Scott Murkin from North Carolina. In addition to being a quilter Scott is an MD. I wonder what it looks like when he has to stitch up a wound. Judging took place over 2 days. It's an interesting process. All of the quilts in a category were stacked on a table and Scott would examine each one and give comments. Generally he would give 2 positive comments and point out 1 area of improvement. He would then pick the best quilts in each category for ribbons.

Here's Scott in judging mode. (click photos for larger view)

Here's a category waiting for the judge.

After judging the quilts were stacked by category in anticipation of hanging the show.

Each aspect of a quilt show requires a lot of volunteers and judging is no exception.

And volunteers need to eat!

I was excited to receive a 2nd place in the Art/Innovative category for my quilt Orange Fizz. The quilt isn't hanging straight here in the photo because it was pinned to the drape. We need to work on a different way to display the smaller quilts because it's hard to pin them to a fluid drape.

Click on the photo to see the ribbon better. Our guild prides itself on unique homemade ribbons and I think that Joanne and Maureen outdid themselves with this year's ribbons. It's really nice isn't it?

Winter fun

2010-03-06T21:29:00.002-05:00

Craig and Noah took a trip this weekend to snowboard. This is a first time event for Noah and we were not sure if he'd enjoy it. Turns out he's having a great time.

Snow is a new experience for a boy from South Carolina.

It's show time!

2010-03-01T11:12:00.003-05:00

My guild's show is this weekend and we've been working hard to put on a fantastic show.

The quilts were all turned in yesterday and tomorrow morning we begin 2 days of judging. The show will be hung on Thursday and we have a premiere party Thursday night. The quilts will be on display Friday, Saturday and Sunday. It will be an exhausting week, but I'm sure we'll have a great time.

If you're in the area, stop by:

Gaillard Auditorium
77 Calhoun Street
Charleston, SC

Friday/Saturday 10-5
Sunday 10-4

LET THE FUN BEGIN!

Snow in Charleston?

2010-02-13T17:13:00.005-05:00

Measurable snow is a rarity here in Charleston, SC. The last time was about 10 years ago when we had an inch or so. Back in 1989 we had about 6 inches.

So, when the snow started late yesterday it caused some excitement. By about 9pm we actually had some accumulation. (click photos for larger view)

This morning we enjoyed waking to a winter wonderland. I think I have next year's Christmas card!

By mid day it was melting which is a good thing because it was a heavy wet snow and we didn't want damage to any of our trees and plants.

We live in South Carolina so we don't have to deal with snow so it's a good thing that it's a rare event.

What I've been working on

2010-01-31T17:05:00.002-05:00

I have 5 quilts entered in our guild's show and none of them have been finished yet! I have until February 28th to finish up, so hopefully I have enough time. Several of them just need sleeves and labels but my seahorse quilt "George & Gracie" had not even been quilted when I submitted the registration form.

I started the quilt in a class with Susan Carlson last year at Asilomar. I've decided I don't particularly like the construction technique and will not use it again. We cut the fabric shapes we wanted and lightly glued them to a muslin base. Once the image was completed a layer of tulle was stitched over it and then it was sewn onto the background. There are way too many raw edges that are fraying along the edges of the seahorses and I'm thinking I'm going to have to use fray check or something to seal them off. I hate to go that route, but I have to do something.

I started quilting this and it wasn't working. I'd used a really bad batt - which I thought when I purchased was Warm and Natural but it wasn't - and the design wasn't great. I decided to rip the entire thing out and start over with a new batt.

I flipped through several books and came across an interesting idea in the book "Quilting Makes the Quilt." It's supposed to look like seaweed and air bubbles under water. Not sure I succeeded.

I thought I had a brilliant idea of first drawing out the quilting outline design on tracing paper and then actually stitching through the paper onto the quilt. So I wouldn't be picking little bits of paper out of the stitching I used a large basting stitch - which was probably a mistake. I think it would have all come together better if the outline stitching had been tighter. Oh well, another lesson learned. (click photos for large view)

I need to figure out how to bind this. The background fabric was a one yard piece I had in my stash so I don't have any more for a binding. I'll probably end up just facing it.

Quilt show

2010-01-28T23:05:00.003-05:00

My guild's quilt show is the first weekend in March. I took care of registrations for the show and spent most of a recent weekend working on the paperwork. We have about 235 beautiful quilts for the show and I know it's going to be a great exhibit.

Here are the entry forms stacked up on my dining room table.

Karen and I sorted them all by category and made sure that each quilt was entered in the appropriate category. I then had to copy all the forms, complete entry number cards, and stuff all the envelopes to send confirmations to each entrant. It's a lot of work, but I'd much rather do this job than some of the others that are necessary to assure a good show. Luckily there are other people that like those other jobs!

Family

2010-01-11T15:43:00.004-05:00

Sometimes Noah gets aggravated with Hayden but generally he loves his little sister. (click photos for larger view)

Craig and the kids were just laying around the house recently.

Rockettes

2010-01-03T21:19:00.002-05:00

The road company of The Radio City Christmas Spectacular made a stop in Charleston this weekend. They say we were the last city on their 31 city tour. The performers must have been exhausted but it didn't show. The stage was smaller than at Radio City and there were fewer Rockettes, but it was a good show. The only thing I missed was the live animals they use at Radio City.

I hope if we are included in future tours that they come before Christmas. It's kind of strange to have Santa talking about the anticipation of the holiday when the holiday has already passed.

Scenes from Christmas

2009-12-26T21:59:00.005-05:00

On Christmas Eve afternoon the kids opened their gifts from us.
(click photos for larger view)

After playing with the new toys for a while Jerry put a movie in the DVD player and pretty soon everyone was dozing (except for Noah and me!)

Our dear old friends, John & June and Jim & Carole arrived to share Christmas Eve dinner with us. Before we could eat everyone had to open their Christmas Crackers and put on their crowns.

For those that don't know what a Christmas Cracker is here's a photo

Each cracker contained a paper crown, a small toy and some riddles. Noah had a good time reading the riddles and ALL the boys seemed to enjoy the toys.

It was great spending the day with good friends and family.

Christmas

2009-12-24T11:57:00.003-05:00

Our first married Christmas was spent in Scotland as Jerry was stationed there with the US Navy. We'd only been there for a month when Christmas arrived. We didn't have 2 pennies to rub together and I think our elaborate Christmas tree reflects that! It was an odd holiday. Jerry had duty Christmas Eve -he went into the ship on Christmas Eve morning and worked until about 10am Christmas morning then was able to come home. My big present that year was a 'stereo' It was actually a transistor radio, but was exactly what I wanted.

The next Christmas was Craig's first. It was the same little tree but I think we took a little more care decorating. Some time during that year we got an actual stereo so I didn't need my transistor any more! The house we rented was fully furnished and I often wonder if that heavy leather furniture is still around. Check out Jerry's very plaid pants in the 2nd photo! Very 1970's! I remember staying up until the wee hours on Christmas Eve because my mother was going to have the family call me during their big Christmas Eve dinner. What with the 5 hour time difference it was going to be 2 or 3 in the morning when they called. That was back when overseas calls were a big deal and had to go through a special operator. Only problem is they forgot to call! I don't remember now if they called the next day or not.

Now, 37 Christmases later our tree is a bit bigger and there are definitely more gifts. Our house here doesn't lend itself to a tree location as well as some places we've lived. The first year here we had to go get a new slimmer tree. (wish I could get a new slimmer self that easily!)

I hope you have pleasant memories of Christmases past too. Merry Christmas!

Weeding out stuff

2009-12-16T09:30:00.005-05:00

I was sick most of last week. Nothing too serious but enough to lay me low for several days. When I was feeling better I spent several days weeding through my fabric stash. I just had TOO much stuff and needed to get rid of some of it. I ended up with 12 bankers boxes of fabric that needed a good home.

I then invited the TTT gang to come to my house so they could go through the fabric to see if there was anything there they might be able to use.

Here are Betsy, Cindy, Janice & Sheila. Not sure what has captured their attention.

There were boxes all over the living room as everyone sorted through the stuff

Besides what people took for their own stashes we filled one box and a garbage bag with fabric that will make kids quilts -which we'll do throughout the next year for our guild's charity projects.

At the end of the day I was still left with 6 boxes of fabric which I'll donate to a local facility.

It was a fun morning of going through fabric and then we all went to the local Applebee's for lunch followed up with some shopping (but not for fabric!)

Disclaimers

2009-12-04T12:37:00.003-05:00

I ordered a gift from Brookstone the other day. Today I received an email notifying me that the item has shipped. This is the way the email started:

PLEASE NOTE: The following email may contain information about gifts ordered from Brookstone. If this is a shared email account, and you have not recently placed an order at Brookstone -- please do not read further. It would be a shame to spoil a surprise!

Now, I don't know about you but I would not be able to stop reading and would HAVE to find out what it was!

Good Friends

2009-11-28T22:15:00.002-05:00

Our friends Jim & Susie came to Charleston for Thanksgiving this year. We all gathered at John & June's house (they've known Jim & Susie even longer than we have) for a delightful dinner. As Jim pointed out at dinner the first time the 6 of us were all gathered was 35 years ago this week at Jim & Susie's wedding. Of course at that event we didn't have all the assorted kids and grandkids. In fact, our son Craig was the only kid who was even around 35 years ago.

Here are the 6 of us this weekend. June in front with me and Susie standing behind her. Then in the back are John, Jerry (peeking over our heads) and Jim.

I'm not sure what June, Susie and I are laughing about in this photo, but this is a common occurrence when we're all together.

We're lucky to have such good friends.

Helping out with dinner

2009-11-24T18:57:00.002-05:00

As I was out and about today I realized I should stop for milk. I pulled into a grocery store where I seldom go and ran in. There was a bit of a holdup at the register and as people started leaving the line to find a faster one I found myself close enough to see that the person checking out was having an issue with paying for her groceries. The cashier closed out the transaction and was ready to move on. Impulsively I told the cashier I'd pay for the groceries. Since it was a store I don't usually frequent I don't have one of their club cards so the cashier made sure to scan one to take advantage of a great turkey sale - The $18 turkey came to only $5.50. My milk and the woman's groceries totaled only $20 so it was an inexpensive feel good moment.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

Thanksgiving is coming

2009-11-10T12:50:00.005-05:00

This year we'll be spending Thanksgiving with a large group of long time friends. Jim and Susie and their kids & grandkids will be coming from out of town. We're going to all gather at John & June's.

June and I have been breaking down all the tasks so that no one has to bear the full load of the dinner. One of the things we talked about was table linens. June said she had tablecloths but wasn't sure if she had enough napkins. I told her I'd see what I could come up with and decided I'd embroider some Thanksgiving napkins. I found a package of 12 assorted color napkins at Bed Bath & Beyond fairly cheap and picked up 2 packages. (we will be more than 12 and hopefully less than 24)

I found the turkey design in my library of embroidery designs. The variegated threads I used were fun to watch develop and I used a different thread for each of the napkin colors.

Just before I was finished with all 24 napkins I got an email from June telling me that she had enough napkins. I guess we'll have LOTS of napkins now!

(click photo for larger view)

Halloween

2009-10-30T22:41:00.004-04:00

Hayden's preschool Halloween party was this morning. She was dressed as Dora the Explorer.

For those without young children in their lives, Dora is geared toward preschool kids. She is a cute little girl with a bit of a chubby tummy. This is what she looks like on the program.

The powers that be seemed to think that Dora's image needs updating. They have introduced a 'tween' Dora that looks like this:

I think the revamp is terrible and the message they are sending to young girls is not a good one.

What I've been working on

2009-10-26T12:54:00.003-04:00

(click for larger view)
It's really hard to see what is going on with this piece. I started with a Jinny Beyer border print which was cut and pieced back together. It originally was supposed to be a square but I could not get the design to match up in the middle. I eventually ended up tweaking the center and it turned into a rectangle. I still had some match-up issues but not as bad as it originally was.

What this photo doesn't show very well is the embellishment. I first used some of my machine's decorative stitches and followed along some of the stripes in the fabric with a scallop (using a variegated thread) and two different width fill designs using metallic threads. I then heavily beaded the entire piece following along with both the fabric design and the scallop stitch.

Once I sandwich the piece I may follow the suggestion of my friend Virginia and do a simple serpentine stitch along a few of the very narrow stripes as the final quilting stitch. I also need to decide if I want to add any additional beading.

While working on this I tentatively named it "To bead or not to bead..." What do you think about that name?

Birthday Boy

2009-10-21T17:07:00.003-04:00

Today is Jerry's birthday. It just so happens that some old friends are in town this week and so we're meeting them for dinner tonight.

Happy Birthday!!

Grandkids

2009-10-16T21:34:00.002-04:00

I think it has been a while since I posted any photos of the kids.

Noah was pretending not to pay attention as I was taking photos.

I found this cute Halloween dress for Hayden yesterday and when she tried it on today she wouldn't take it off. This is certainly something I could have made myself, but would I ever get around to it?? I doubt it.

I'm actually amazed she was smiling so big for the camera. She was overtired today and spend a lot of time whining.

State guild retreat

2009-10-13T11:48:00.005-04:00

The Quilters of South Carolina held its annual retreat this past weekend. About 280 quilters from across the state gather for a weekend of classes and fellowship. The teachers are picked from the guild and we are blessed to have many talented teachers in our midst.

In the past I've just signed up for Bring Your Own Project, but this year elected to take a class called Fabricating from Nature with Marilyn Wall. Lots of great work was started in the class.

This butterfly was my project. I pinned it to this pink background temporarily for show & tell on Saturday night and think I like it. So, the background may stay. My original photo had the butterfly resting on a flower but I may decide to leave the flower out. The poor thing still needs a body. (click photos for larger view)

Karen was in the same class and she used a photo of flowers from her garden to create this. You can see the photo she worked from at the bottom right. I love the colors she used.

I think my two favorite works were these 2. Veronica's boats (I think I got her name right!) are beautifully done. She will add some buildings/homes at the edge of the water in the background.

Joyce's bridge scene was created from a photo she took in China. It was fun watching the composition coming together. That's Madonna's dog on the wall next to Joyce.

We were all inspired when Sandy visited our class with the quilt she made in last year's class. We saw how adding paint, etc. can really enhance the work. Sandy has a painting background and it's very apparent in this piece. Isn't it beautiful?

I highly recommend a class with Marilyn.

Home again

2009-10-06T20:56:00.003-04:00

I'm back from my most recent trip to Detroit. My mother had a surgical procedure on the fracture on her back a week ago. While she still has some pain it's obvious by her reactions that the pain is better. However, now her oxygen levels keep dropping and they have to increase the amount of oxygen she has been receiving. Yesterday they drained off about 30 ccs of fluid from her chest and lungs. Hopefully she'll turn the corner soon.

While I was gone the TTT group delivered 3 quilts to a family that recently moved into a Habitat home. The home was a Women Built home and all the labor was by women. Sheila, one of the TTT gang, suggested that we make quilts for the mother and her 2 daughters. She contacted Denise, the new owner of the home, and found out what color schemes we should use. We raided our stashes and pieced the quilts as a group project. Karen donated her quilting talents.

The quilt in this photo is for Denise the mom. She asked for earth tones.

Left to right in this photo: Karen, Sheila, Betsy, Frances, Janice, Denise, Virginia, and one of Denise's daughters.

This pink and black quilt was for the youngest daughter.

The older daughter asked for a yellow and blue quilt.

I'm sorry I wasn't able to be there for the presentation and I hope that Denise and her daughters enjoy their quilts.

Slacker

2009-09-26T19:45:00.002-04:00

That's me, a blogging slacker. I haven't gotten much sewing accomplished in the past few months. We're still dealing with my mother's issues. The fall that broke her arm was back on July 24 and she has had 3 surgeries since. There was a surgery to insert pins in the broken arm/shoulder but that surgery was unsuccessful so they did another surgery to remove the pins.

After being in a rehab facility for a while she had to return to the hospital for a 3rd surgery to insert 13 screws in her arm. A few days before that 3rd surgery she started having troubles with her back and has been diagnosed with a fracture at the L2. Tuesday they'll be doing a surgical procedure to stabilize that fracture. That's 4 surgeries in the space of 8 weeks. For a frail 85 year old it is becoming a bit much.

I leave in the morning to drive back to Detroit for this latest surgery. Jerry can't join me as he is now a gainfully employed individual and the company kind of expects employees to actually attend work in order to get a paycheck!

20 years ago...

2009-09-21T16:59:00.004-04:00

The big news in Charleston, SC today is the 20 year anniversary of Hurricane Hugo. At the time Hugo was the most destructive storm in history. It has, of course, since been surpassed by Hurricanes Andrew and Katrina.

What an experience that long night was. We (Jerry, Craig & I) hunkered down in our family room to ride out the storm. We lived in the Charleston suburb of Goose Creek at the time and we saw no need to evacuate since we were not close to the ocean. We lost electricity at about 8pm and turned to our portable radios. Once the local radio stations were knocked off the air we tuned into a strong signal station in Jacksonville, FL. Many other Charlestonians also found that station and soon the DJ was fielding calls from Charleston and we followed the progress of the storm from those calls. Amazingly we never lost telephone service.

When the eye of the storm passed over everything became eerily silent. Everyone in the neighborhood ventured out during the eye to see what had happened. Jerry actually climbed up on our roof to try to fix one of our roof turbines. Then the 2nd wave came and it was even more intense than the first.

We were incredibly lucky and had minor damage to our house. A few holes in the roof and trees down on our fence were about the extent of it. In fact, our insurance company settled our claim over the phone and sent us a check without question.

We also were lucky that our water and electricity were restored earlier than most although I will admit that about 2 days after the storm Jerry and I did resort to stripping down and showering in a downpour on our back patio. We grabbed a bar of soap and a sheet to protect from the neighbors' prying eyes and took turns washing the grime and tree sap off. It still ranks as the best shower I've ever had!

Needless to saw we take Hurricane season seriously around here!

Ch..ch..ch..changes

2009-09-15T18:41:00.002-04:00

After spending 4 years in retirement, Jerry decided he'd be happier if he went back to work. (How is that even possible?? I'm LOVING being retired!)

Anyway, yesterday he started a new job at the same company as our son Craig. We had to dig out business clothes for him and he had to buy some new stuff. It has been kind of getting ready for the first day of school!

The deal we made when we retired was that Jerry would cook dinner every night. Now that he's back to work I guess I am too...back to the stove every night. I was so enjoying just waiting to be called to dinner and will miss that!

Back home

2009-09-12T16:10:00.003-04:00

My mother's surgery finally took place late on Wednesday. They ended up inserting a plate and 13 screws. The doctor shared an x-ray. (click for larger view)

Jerry and I left Detroit Friday morning and arrived home this afternoon. My mother was moved out of the hospital today and is now in a rehab facility. Unfortunately, she has another issue that was just diagnosed - a fracture to the L2 vertebrae. The back is actually more painful for her than that arm. We're not sure yet what the course of treatment on the back will be.

A reminder to everyone out there - make sure you're taking your calcium and getting those bone density tests.

Things don't always go as planned

2009-09-06T21:20:00.002-04:00

I'm currently in Detroit because my mother has surgery scheduled. Back in late July she fell and broke her humerus bone high up in her left arm - almost to the shoulder(she's left handed.) Surgery was performed to insert 4 pins. Unfortunately the surgery was not successful and they are going to go back in and try to insert screws and a plate. They will know during that surgery whether the screws are successful. If they are not, they will go ahead and do a partial shoulder replacement.

Surgery was originally scheduled for Friday morning. During the preop tests they discovered her blood sodium levels were too low and her potassium levels too high. Both can cause heart arrhythmia issues which is not something you want during surgery. She was admitted to a ward on Friday in order to stabilize her levels which takes a couple of days. It now looks like surgery will take place on Tuesday.

It has been a long haul for an 85 year old woman and there is still a great deal ahead of her. She is getting frustrated so we're hoping that everything goes off without a hitch on Tuesday and she can start on the road to recovery.

Mr. Moose

2009-08-31T19:03:00.003-04:00

When I was recently in Detroit my brother and sister-in-law let us stay with them. As a thank you, I've made this moose wallhanging for their vacation home in northern Michigan which has a moose theme. The binding has to be stitched down so it looks kind of odd in this photo.

Hopefully they'll like this!

Charity quilts and leaving town

2009-08-29T13:42:00.004-04:00

Here are two quilt tops made by my splinter group for donation to charity.

We pooled fabric and made simple patterns. We ended up with 3 nearly identical quilts out of the fabric in this first quilt.

We used the pattern for this green quilt several times in different colorways. I only have the photo of this green one.

Several members of our group have longarms (quilting machines not physical deformities) and they will quilt these.

After 5 years of not visiting Detroit, I'm returning next week for the 2nd time in a month. My mother recently fell and broke her arm. The break is way up high on the arm - almost to the shoulder. She had surgery to insert pins but the surgery ended up not being successful. In fact, one of the pins fell out and my brother found it on the floor of the hospital room! They were designed to be removed after a month or so, but it's hard to imagine how one worked its way out early.

She is scheduled for additional surgery next Friday to try screws and a plate. If, when the Dr. gets in, they determine that the screws and plate won't work they're going to do a partial shoulder replacement. (this is a new Dr. and a new hospital. Mom didn't like the first hospital very much and we lost confidence in the Dr. after finding pins on the floor!)

So, I'm back up to Detroit to be there for this new surgery. This has been quite an ordeal for my 85 year old mother and she just wants to get it all behind her. Any good thoughts sent her way would be appreciated.