Gone cruising!

Three things to be happy about:
(1) a jar full of paint brushes
(2) a new wallet
(3) getting to cast your vote early

See you after November 9 - sew forth and sew on!

Hi and bye!

Three things to be happy about:
(1) an old fashioned typewriter
(2) the sound of jingling keys
(3) clocks with funny faces

Hi everybody!  I'm sorry I haven't posted for awhile, it seems I'm popping in just to say hello before I have to say goodbye!

I haven't done any quilty stuff since my last post, but I've been busy doing this and that to get ready for the cruise!

Three kits had to be done, one for Kim Diehl, one for Bonnie Hunter, and one for Pam Holland.  Catherine Redford has prepared kits for her class and will bring them to the ship - one less thing to pack!

I might have mentioned before that Bonnie's class will be the Texas Tumbleweeds quilt; hers needed the most pre-class cutting!

We're sailing on the Royal Caribbean Navigator of the Seas for this cruise, one of their larger ships!

For security purposes they had very specific instructions for packing our scissors, rotary cutters and seam rippers. We had to put them in a zip lock bag and write the coordinator's name and booking number, our name and our cabin number on the outside with a black marker.  Security may (or may not!) collect these when we board the ship, and they'll be given to the group coordinator, who will return them to us at the after-dinner meet and greet.

So much drama!

These are all the pins I'm taking for this cruise.  I discovered that I use very few pins, so why take the whole pack??


Gotta to, sew forth and sew on til later!
Linda

Guild meeting

Three things to be happy about
(1) a guided tour
(2) fast food restaurants
(3) cashew, cranberry & almond trail mix

good stuff, you can get it from Target!

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There was great show n tell at our guild meeting on Saturday, I want to share a few with you:

fancy pants by Azalia!

zentangle by Cynthia!

appliqued elephant by Elsie!

crumb quilt by Jennifer!

lighted Christmas tree by Renea!

hearts by Azalia!

hand pieced sampler by Sheryl!

There was also a very interesting charm square tote workshop led by Dawn.  She made it look super easy, and there were a few "a-hah!" moments.   Sorry I didn't get any pictures though  :*(

That's it for now, sew forth and sew on forth til later!

Bus trip to Lancaster, PA

Three things to be happy about:
(1) the crunch of a gravel path
(2) handicrafts
(3) keeping old traditions

Yesterday was the annual fabric shopping trip to Lancaster, PA given by the Faithful Circle Quilters guild in Columbia, Maryland.

And what a gorgeous day it was for a trip!  The weather couldn't have been better - it was sunny, warm with a slight breeze - no rain in sight anywhere!

As usual our first stop was at Sauder's fabrics in Denver, PA, and inside  - paint chips!


Several ladies who are doing Bonnie Hunter's winter mystery, Grand Illusion were choosing fabrics, comparing them to their paint chip cards.

It was fun to overhear shoppers who didn't know about the mystery ask "what's with all those color cards everybody has??"

what beautiful gourds and zinnias!  

After Sauder's we went to Shady Maple for lunch, what can I say but bring it on!  We always enjoy the smorgasbord at Shady Maple!  After a quick trip "down the hill" to the Shady Maple farm market and Goode's drygoods, we hopped back on the bus for the Kettle area in Intercourse, PA.

an Amish family driving near The Old Country Store

I'm fascinated by these scooters the ladies use; it can't be too good on their shoes though - they propel by pushing with one foot

My interest this trip was in bulking up the neutrals in my stash, especially since I raided them for the upcoming cruise with Bonnie!  Here's my haul:

Great restraint, right?  I bought a total of 12 yards of fabric for less than $75!  We got discounts at Sauder's and Zook's, which helped a lot.

I also bought some black and whites..

that piece on the right was on the last-cut table, just over 1 yard at $3.78 plus a 10% discount wasn't bad!

We had great time, and as usual we shopped til we dropped... I slept most of the way home!

I'm sew looking forward to next October...sew forth and sew on til later!

Quilt lag

Three things to be happy about:
(1) listening to books on your iPod
(2) reading books on your Kindle
(3) textures

You ever get jet lag?  

Well I have quilt lag!

If you've been visiting me the last few weeks you've seen the progress I'm making on this sawtooth star...

While you weren't looking I pieced a whole passel of light blocks to use as an inner border, but just on the top and bottom...

then I realized it'll look funny, so I stopped those and started piecing the rows together.

Now I have just one more star to piece so I can finish that last row ...  somehow I went into quilt lag and haven't done it!

I've been doing this and doing that ....

Meanwhile in the back of my head is knowing I have to finish quilting one for my sister's granddaughter, and put the binding on two more...

Time to get hopping!  Whatever you do, enjoy your day its beautiful out there!

Sew forth and sew on til later

More from the Expo

Three things to be happy about:
(1) the face of a clock
(2) silhouettes
(3) a stamp collection

On Friday, after stopping at iHop for a leisurely (and hearty!) breakfast of eggs, toast, grits, waffles, ham, bacon, pancakes, hot chocolate, milk, hash browns and coffee, we rolled on over to the Sewing & Quilt expo in Fredricksburg, VA.

Never mind...

One vendor I liked had a pretty good selection of threads and pre-wound bobbins, some very pretty colors and shades.

Pat got of couple containers of the bobbins, but my Singer Touch n Sew can't use any of the sizes/models that were available.  I didn't really need em anyway...


More quilts from the SAQA associates... Aging affects everyone in many different ways.  Through the use of a wide variety of visual metaphors, these works show the impact of aging on our lives.

The label on this one by Susan Lenz says:

Whether ... viewed as a distant memory, an ageless quest for youthful shape, or as an attempt to ward off signs of advancing years, this intimate work strikes a chord in the melody of feminine life.






The face and figure of a very young child full of wonder, playing with balloons in the sunshine can say as much about aging  ...

as an empty chair whose occupant may have passed on ... or forgotten her own identity.

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More stash busters!

From the Downton Abbey mystery quilt along!

double wedding ring challenge!

Pat and I were intrigued by the one immediately above; it looked as if the maker said "oops, I need to erase this part and do it over!"  Clever use of fabrics!

Since Hobby Lobby was so close, we popped in there after the show.

I'm glad to report I only bought 1-1/2 yards of black and white fabric which I didn't have, and two books that were marked way down!!

I got In Love with Squares and Rectangles by Amy Walsh and Janine Burke ($7.90, from $21.95) and Crazy for Scraps by Sally Schneider ($9.72, from $26.99).  I liked them, so why not.

My only other purchases?  From the expo, a lapel button ("and SEW on!") and two Frixion pens that I had been looking for.

So that's the end of our adventures on Friday... from Hobby Lobby we went to Artistic Artifacts in Alexandria, then to dinner at Red Lobster.  You gotta love those cheese biscuits!

I loved three of em, plus a sack-ful!

Sew forth and sew on til later...

Sewing & Quilt Expo

Three things to be happy about:
(1) unsalted mixed nuts in a jar
(2) true blue spa body cream
(3) shopping malls

Yesterday I went to the Original Sewing & Quilt Expo in Fredericksburg, VA, with Felicia, Pat and Gwen.

It was a good day for a show, but first we had to synchonize our cell phones: one super-duper latest edition of something-or-other that sends texts and makes coffee; one smart phone that sends emails and takes photos; and one not-so-smart phone that flips open, makes the call, and closes.  Eh, that's all I need it for!

I'll start off with some quilts done by Studio Art Quilt Associates, Inc. (SAQA) whose theme was Metaphors on Aging.  There were some very well done quilts in the collection, I'll share two now:

I don't know who the artist was on the first one (I'm bad at collecting names with the pics, gotta correct that!), but the second one is a raw edged quilt by SAQA member Lorie McCown.  It wasn't on the display floor, but she let me take a picture at the SAQA booth.

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appliqued fire truck by Nadine Mills (above); pieced quilt by Rosa Walls (Uhuru members)

The black-and-white looks good in these two:

small quilts collection!

two great stash busters!

That's a lot of pictures - more tomorrow!  Sew forth and sew on til then!