A dress for the baby

This is the dress I smocked for the baby which I gave to Chrystal today at the baby shower. It's been at least 20 years since I've done any smocking, but I think it turned out okay. I've already started another one! We joked today that after getting all those sweet little girl outfits, the baby will turn out to be a tomboy and refuse to wear any of them.

Computer Crash redux

When my computer crashed last month, Jerry was able to patch it back together. Well, the patch has failed and it crashed again. A new hard drive is on order, so I hope that will solve the problem.

I was down in Florida when it crashed. My mother recently fell and fractured her pelvis and isn't doing too well. I went down to help for a while and ended up helping her move into a rehab facility until she's feeling better. I'm not good with sick people so was more than happy to have the nurses take over. The facility she's in is nice enough, but the old people are REALLY old and most are infirm. I felt like I was a baby in comparison. I know she's hoping to be out of there soon.

Shower centerpiece

Next Saturday is the baby shower in anticipation of the arrival of our new granddaughter. Craig & Chrystal have decided to name her Hayden Elizabeth.

I saw the directions for a cute centerpiece in a recent magazine and thought I'd give it a try. The "buds" are created out of onesies and baby washcloths wrapped around dowels and secured with floral tape. They were kind of fun to make, although I did end up cutting into my index finger at one point. Had to be careful not to bleed on the flowers!

Craig's birthday

As hard as it is for me to believe, my baby is 34 years old today.

My brother insists that Craig's birthday should really be celebrated on April 10 instead of April 11. He was born at 3:10 a.m. in Dunoon Scotland, where we lived while Jerry was in the Navy. Because of the time difference, it was still April 10th in the US so my brother says if Craig wants to be a US citizen, he should celebrate on US time!

Happy Birthday Craig! We love you.

Beach days

A week or so ago we had lunch at the beach with the kids and Chrystal's folks to celebrate her stepdad's birthday. After lunch Jerry & Noah sure had fun in the water! Noah enjoyed it so much he begged to go back soon, so Jerry took him again 2 days later. Now he wants a boogie board.

Slacker

That's what I am, a slacker. I haven't had anything much to post. I have been working on a few things, and will try to get some photos posted soon. I'm taking a class at quilt university and while they're on the 4th and final week of the class, I'm still cutting out fabric. If all goes as planned, I'm going to use the quilt from this online class as my entry in the final journal quilt project. In that case, I guess I can't really post a photo anyway.

I have lots of things on my to-do list, and need to get busy. I spent this past week doing some spring cleaning. The week started off at 85 degrees, but tonight we're supposed to get an unusual hard freeze with temps in the 20's, so maybe I did the spring cleaning a little too early.

Since I have no quilt photos to post, I'll post this photo of Jerry and me taken recently. The golf club had a photographer come for the benefit of the club and since I really don't like having my photo taken I resisted going for the sitting. Jerry finally convinced me to do it, and while I don't love the photo, it turned out a whole lot better than I ever expected. (clickable for a larger view)

We didn't plan it, but isn't it nice that we coordinated so well?

Computer Crash!

Stop what you're doing right now and back up your computer - you'll thank me for it. I was too careless and hadn't backed up since January and paid for it last week when the hard drive on my laptop died. Jerry has been working for days trying to restore things for me. I've lost a bunch of stuff, but he was able to save some items.

Backup NOW!

Pigeon Forge quilt show

I returned today from the Pigeon Forge quilt show in Tennessee. The actual quilt show was more the size of a large guild show and was very traditional. I originally posted a photo of a quilt I really liked, but since I didn't have the maker's name to give proper credit, it was suggested I remove the photo, so I did.

We had a great time. There were 10 of us in the 3 condos. It was nice to get to know some of my fellow guild members better and I even got some sewing done!

On the road...

I'm going to Pigeon Forge, TN with a group of quilters from my guild this weekend. There is a show there next week and we've arranged for a couple of condos for the week to attend the show and have some 'girlfriend' time. I'm a last minute replacement. One of the quilters had to cancel and I'm taking her place. I'm really sorry that she can't go, but I am glad I get to go. I'm going to be VIRGINIA for the week and attend the events she signed up for.

I'll try to take lots of photos to share.

UFO cleanout

Several years ago I took a 'snippets' class from Cindy Walter. My class project was a vase of flowers. I put two borders on it, quilted it and then discovered that the portion inside the borders wasn't square.

I set it aside and kept thinking about how to fix it. Since it was already quilted my options seem limited. I eventually decided that I would take an inch off the outside border, slice up the quilt and use the inch of border as inserts in the sliced areas.

Well, that was such a failure that I have now deposited the work in the trash. There won't even be any photos to memorialize the disaster.

It was very freeing to just toss it and no longer worry about how to fix it.

Which sports car are you?

Apparently I drive the right car! This is actually the car I own - it's even the right color! (although I think this photo is of a newer model - mine is 6 years old and just today I hit 60,000 miles.) I really like my little car - especially the hard top convertible. It's really fun to watch as the trunk lid opens and the hard top folds into the trunk!

Which car are you?

I'm a Mercedes SLK!

You appreciate the finer things in life. You have a split personality - wild or conservative, depending on your mood. Wherever you go, you like to travel first class. Luxury, style, and fun - who could ask for more?

Take the http://www.tomorrowland.us/sportscar">Which Sports Car Are You?quiz.

Completed NY Beauty top

(for some reason the photo doesn't show up properly but you can click to see the enlarged photo)

I finally finished piecing the silk NY Beauty. Now that I have it together I see things I would change. I don't know yet if I'll actually take anything apart to change it. I probably won't unless it bugs me big time.

I'm going to have to figure out how to stabilize the parts that stick out at the top & sides so they don't flop around, but that shouldn't be too hard.

I appreciate all the comments about how to quilt this. I'm still uncertain about how to do it. I'm not a very confidant machine quilter & I sure don't want to have to rip out any stitching because it will leave marks in the silk. I'll keep you posted!

Now what?

I've finished piecing the NY beauty blocks and have decided on how I plan to lay them out. I just laid the blocks out randomly for this photo and haven't committed to actual block placement, but I know I want the final shape of the quilt to have the uneven edges. Laying the blocks out on the living room rug probably wasn't the best idea for taking photos but I think you can see what I'm trying to accomplish. (click on photo for a larger view)

So, my dilemma is what kind of batting should I use for a silk quilt and HOW DO I QUILT IT???

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

A visitor to my hometown

I got this one from DebR


Imagine you’ve made a connection with another blogger who lives in a completely different part of the world than you do. This blogger is about to take a trip and the connection you’ve made is so strong that she is going to make your house one stop on her trip. (Yay!) Unfortunately she can only stay at your place for 24 hours (boo!), but she’d like to see some nearby sights while visiting with you.


Keeping in mind that time is quite limited so you have to stick pretty close to home (although not necessarily right IN your town - just anyplace you could go as a day trip), try looking around you with the eyes of someone who has never seen your area and tell us some things you’d share with…



A Visitor to Your Hometown



1. Your visitor wants to see something historical. Where would you take her and why?

It's hard to go anywhere in Charleston, SC without seeing something historic. I suppose one of our first stops should be at Ft. Sumter - where the Civil War started. (or as they say down here "The War of Northern Aggression")

After that we could take a carriage tour and see some of the beautiful old homes that were standing during the war.

We could just take a walk through the streets of downtown Charleston and see something historic with every step.

2. She wants to see something hysterical…well, mildly amusing anyway. She’d even go for cute, quirky, odd, or unique. Where would you take her and why?

Well, in addition to our elegant downtown, we have the less elegant outskirts when the 21st century hasn't caught up yet. I'd probably take her to the flea market where we would see a large number of mullets.

3. She wants to take some beautiful and/or interesting photos to fill her albums when she gets home. Where would you take her?

Again, it's hard to turn around without seeing something worthy of photographing, but I might take her to Middleton Gardens where the flowers are breathtaking in the spring.






Or maybe we'd go to see Angel Oak - a tree reported to be hundreds of years old.

Or we could go down East Bay Street and see Rainbow Row - a row of homes painted...you guessed it...rainbow colors.

4. She’d like to buy a souvenir that will remind her of your area every time she sees it. What would you suggest and where would you go to get it?



I'd have to take her to get a handmade sweetgrass basket. These baskets are hand woven in many different designs. They are not cheap, but are very much a Charleston tradition.







I hope she would enjoy her visit to my hometown. I know I would enjoy showing it to her.

My two brothers

I was feeling a little guilty about cropping my brothers out of the photo I posted yesterday, so here they are. Ed is on the left and Claude is in the middle.

It's funny how Claude ended up with blond hair and blue eyes (like our dad) while Ed & I ended up with dark hair and eyes (like our mother). When I was a teen I was jealous of Claude's blond hair because the surfer girl look was in at the time. It probably would be easier to cover the gray as a blond than as a brunette, so maybe I should covet his hair color again!

Happy Birthday to Me!

I'm not sure how this sweet little girl turned into the 55 year old overweight woman with a bad knee and sciatica that looks back at me in the mirror each day, but she did.

I'm guessing that I was somewhere between one and two in this photo. I'm wondering where the curls went. My hair is pretty straight now and it went straight fairly young otherwise my mother wouldn't have given me those bad perms when I was a kid!

It's a Girl!

Chrystal had the "big" ultrasound yesterday. She, Craig, Noah, her Mom & I all crowded into the room and watched as the tech checked everything out. The baby is doing well and is most decidedly a girl.

Noah was hoping for a brother, but I'm sure he'll do fine with a little sister. I would have been happy with a boy or a girl, but I'll admit I'm excited that I'll be able to buy pink outfits! Yesterday afternoon I 'happened' to walk through the infant department at the store and came home with a little onesie that has "I'm the little sister" embroidered on it. Too cute!

Work in Progress Wednesday

(clickable for a larger view)


I've been collecting silk dupioni and asian brocades for a while to make a quilt I saw on the cover of a New Zealand quilt magazine. I even marked and cut out a good deal of the quilt and pieced the first block. At that point I decided it wasn't going to work out the way I wanted so I put it all aside.

Recently I came across the foundations to make a NY Beauty that I'd ordered some time ago from equilter.com and decided that I might like to use my silk fabrics for that. (the foundations are muslin not paper)

The block size is 8" and I decided to also add some 4" blocks that I drafted on muslin from a pattern I got in Valori Wells' book "Radiant New York Beauties."

While I had already backed the silk fabrics with a soft fusible interfacing type fabric (to lessen the fraying) working on the muslin foundations gives it added stability. I quite like how it's turning out and am having fun putting the blocks together. Right now the blocks aren't arranged in any kind of order - just pinned on the wall as I complete them (well, that 4" block in the middle isn't quite complete - it still needs to be sewn together). I'm looking forward to finishing all the blocks and then playing with the layout.

Things we didn't know last year...

The BBC has published a list of 100 things we didn't know last year. I thought #2 was interesting. "There are 200 million blogs which are no longer being updated, say technology analysts."

I'll try not to be number 200,000,001.

The Old Alma Mater

I learned today that Redford High School, from which I graduated way back in 1969, is on a list of schools to be closed by the Detroit Department of Education. The school is old. It was originally built back in the '20's with the first addition constructed in the '30's. The joke when I was there was that the "new section" was already 30 years old. There have been several additions/remodels since I graduated. Enrollment has now declined to just over 1,000 students (it was probably closer to 3,500 when I was a student) and now the school is far too large for the current enrollment.

I feel like a piece of my childhood is being taken away!