Back again...

They did it again - changed up Blogger since I was last here to post.  Serves me right for being away so long!

So...what have I been up to? 

There was a quilt at our show in March from a pattern called "Ohmigosh" that I really liked.  It was pieced and quilted by Vicky McCormiack.  She did it scrappy similar to this one pictured. 

Well I decided that I'd like to try it but in a different color palette and this is what I came up with.  My intent is to do a gradation of the blues from light to dark and back to light.   This is not a hard quilt to piece but it's tedious.  Each block finishes 4.5"  Those little nine patches finish up 1/2".  It's mostly done with strip piecing.  I don't usually do this type of piecing so it has been an interesting experience.

In addition to the Ohmigosh quilt a few of us have been working on this Tucson pattern from a past Fons and Porter magazine.   This finishes up as a big quilt as these star blocks are 15".  A big change from my tiny blocks, but I'm actually having more piecing problems with the stars because I keep messing up the points.    These blocks are actually mine and Janice's combined.  We each have a lot more to make.





Last month Jerry and I took a quick trip up to Detroit to visit family.   Our trip started off with a bang when we pulled into the long-term parking lot.  Jerry opened the window to grab the ticket and the window wouldn't go back up.  The power window motor had died!   There were no tools in the car so he couldn't get the door panel off to manually raise the window.  We ended up covering the window with a Mylar heat blanket that luckily was in the car.  We caught our flight and then watched the weather closely hoping that Charleston didn't get rain while we were gone.  It was raining the day we got back, but we were pleasantly surprised to find a dry car. 



We went up mainly to see how my mother is doing as her health has been declining.  She lives in a large independent living retirement complex.  She goes down to the dining room for dinner every night and the distance has become too much for her to manage.  She's on oxygen 24/7 and now has a power chair that she uses when she has to go any distance.  She's kind of dangerous in her chair but she was always a bad driver so it's not a surprise!



My brother Ed takes a lot of the responsibility for checking up on mom

And my other brother Claude also pitches in

We had a family get together at Claude's while there.  He lives on a large lake.  They live on a secluded finger of the lake so they don't have to deal with the loud boat and jet skis (or snowmobiles in the winter) as much as those on the main part of the lake.  It's very pleasant and peaceful.   This is one of Claude's grandsons waiting for the s'mores!

I feel badly about neglecting my blog so much and will try to do better.  I wonder if there is anyone still out there!

I've been away a long time

I've been away so long that they went and changed Blogger on me.  Hope I can figure it all out!

Here's what's been going on in my absence.  The kids came over for Easter.  They hadn't colored eggs so that was the project before dinner.   Luckily Hayden didn't get dye on her darling dress.

Noah got a Lego project in his Easter Basket.  It was a replica of the White House.  He and Craig worked together to assemble it.   I noticed that it required beer to complete!

I got up Easter morning with the intention of baking a Rhubarb-Strawberry pie.  I started preheating the oven while I prepared the pie and noticed a very very bright light on the heating element.  We initially thought it was the burning off of something that had spilled on the element, but it just got brighter.   We discovered that the element was burned completely through. 

A close up of the burned element

I ended up baking the pie in the toaster oven.  We discovered that our microwave is also a convection oven and cooked the ham in that.  It all worked out in the end.

Jerry went on-line and ordered a new element which arrived a couple of days later while the kids were here.  It apparently takes 3 people to reinstall an element!

More on the quilt show

This was one of my other quilts in the show.  The pattern is called Monterrey Medallions.  There were several quilts in the show made from the same pattern and it was fun to see how the different color choices changed the look of the quilt. (click photos for larger view)

I also entered this Wonky Log Cabin quilt from a pattern in the book Blendable Curves by Peggy Barkle.

Lynn Gettelfinger made this cool version of the map of the Charleston area.  She said that she used an actual sized map for her pattern and everyone was amazed at how accurate she was with all the creeks, etc.

This quilt by Rosalind Hunt and quilted by Linda Barrett won Viewer's Choice.

A small little piece by Jennifer Ley.  This one has cool beading, but the photo doesn't show it very well.

Charles Towne Landing Fence is by Tommie Burwell. 

Jeanne Pedersen did a great job replicating her photo

Another quilt by Jennifer Ley

Quilt show

Today was opening day for the Cobblestone Quilters Guild show.  It's been 2 years in the making and I believe it is a beautiful show. 

The Best of Show - Bed sized quilt was Southern Comforts by June Bohac and quilted by Karen Kendo.  This quilt just happens to be our raffle quilt and some lucky person will be able to take it home tomorrow evening.

Best of Show - Wall quilt was Red Hot Baltimore by Beverly Cone.  Shortly after Beverly submitted the paperwork for the entry she passed away suddenly.  We were so pleased that her family agreed to submit the quilt and were elated when it won. 

Best track (long-arm) machine quilting and best applique was Red and Green Revisited by Darlene Donohue and quilted by Debbie Yezbak.

Best machine quilting - stationary machine was Grandmother's Legacy of Flowers by Paige Alexander

Best Hand Quilting and Best Theme was My Southern Heritage by Margaret Jones

Sunlight on the Reef by Lynne Gettelfinger won Best Use of Color

l'edredon de Bess (Bess's Quilt) by Evelyn Richards won Best First Entry in any Quilt Show

There were 2 Judge's Choice quilts.  Yellow-Bellied Slider by Lucretia Pope

and Buzz...Buzz...Buzz by Nancy Barnette and quilted by Kathy Kean

Here's my little whole cloth quilt with its blue ribbon

I'm exhausted and my feet hurt.  Putting on a quilt show is not for the faint of heart!



Floors done!

It took longer than I expected, (10 days!) but our floor refinishing project has been completed!  Jerry wasn't too enthused about us doing the project - he said he would have been happy leaving the floors as they were, but after they were completed he admitted he really prefers the new color and finish. 

We have to wait for another 24 hours before any furniture can be returned to the room and we've been told we can't put rugs down for a week.  Apparently the texture of the rug can be imprinted in the finish. 

The timing for this work wasn't the greatest as I have been tied up working on our quilt show and Jerry has been working to get ready for the LeMons race - both events are being held this weekend.

I'm pleased to be able to share that my little whole cloth quilt was awarded a first place blue ribbon for its category.  Of course there were only 2 quilts IN the category so I had a 50/50 chance!

I'll try to post a photo of it with the ribbon soon.

Floors

We are in the midst of having our floors refinished.  It sure makes a mess!  The sanding has taken 3 days.  I think they will have another partial day of sanding before the stain can be applied.  This is what the floors looked like tonight.  Just bare wood.  The wood is yellow pine with big old knot holes.  I really don't like the knot holes.  It reminds me too much of 1950's basement paneling.  Especially when the poly on it had yellowed somewhat.

Besides, every once in a while I'd catch one of the knot holes out of the corner of my eye and would think it was a roach - one of those big 'ole palmetto bugs that are so disgusting here in the south.

This photo of the entry (which I snagged from the Real Estate listing back when we first bought the house) shows what the floors looked like before they were sanded.

The new stain will be a darker color - more of a cherry but of course putting it down on the pine floor means it won't look quite like real cherry floors.  Sure hope it won't be too dark!

So, while they've been working on the floors I've been hiding out in my studio.  Since I have to stay home I decided to make use of my time.  Yesterday I cut out a one-block wonder quilt.  I sewed up a number of the blocks and threw them up on the design wall.

It's always fun to play with one block wonder blocks.  I have quite a few left to sew, but since I'll be tied to the house for the rest of the week, maybe I'll get them all sewn.  Then I'll have to play around with layout.

Sixty??

As hard is as it for me to believe I turned 60 recently!  How in the world did that happen?

I was the youngest of 3 - the only girl.  I was always jealous of my brother Claude because he inherited our dad's blond hair and blue eyes.  Ed and I took after our mother.  I had those cute curls for a while but later my hair went pretty straight.

My closest friends were the other girls living within a few houses of mine.  Liz was born only a month after me and we seemed to do everything together.  This is me (on the left) and Liz (on the right) 

There's Liz again on the left (with the hat) watching me blow out the candles.  Aren't those drapes just the best?  I remember they had some vivid colors!

My mother used to give me those horrible home perms - which I suspect is the culprit here

Here we are on the 1st day of school.  I'm the 2nd from the left and there is Liz next to me in the middle. 

I was an awkward kid.  I first got glasses when I was in 5th grade.  They were not the best look for me.   That's Liz again with me in the photo. 

This was my first communion dress (for the Episcopal church - I suspect the blue jacket and sash would not have been allowed in the catholic church) 

My mother had a big thing about not wearing glasses in photos so she had me take mine off for this photo.  It was about a year later that I got my first pair of contact lenses.  I haven't worn glasses since.   

And of course we had to have a photo with Liz in it!  Guess my mother let me keep my glasses on in this one. 

I hear many people about my age talk about how they feel like 60 is much younger today than it was when we were kids.  I wonder if our parents said the same.  I don't feel like I think 60 should feel, except for my knees - they act like they're 160!

To my dear friend Liz, Happy 60!

Uncle Bob

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

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.