Mother's Day Memories....

Hey Y'all!

I survived the Mother's Day reunion! I got back Monday night late..and as usual, so many other plates are spinning, it's hard to keep them all up there.

Would you believe we had 2 parents, 6 siblings and 3 spouses, and 7 kids 9 and under? There were 18 of us all together,and what a zoo it was! But I love zoos....so this was so worth it.

Every minute was spent either eating, cleaning up from eating,or preparing what next meal would be served. Isn't that how it always goes with huge amounts of people?

It was wonderful watching my siblings with their kids. I'd met one niece and one nephew, but the other 5 were new arrivals since the last time I had visited.

I'll give you an idea of this....there were 2 5 year olds and one 3 year old, and all of them (girls) had to be the BOSS all at the same time. Get my drift?




Saturday we found a yard sale and I found a little china tea set...tea pot, creamer, sugar bowl, 4 plates, 4 cups...4 knives and 4 forks, all little girl sized, for $6.00!! Too cute....So from there the idea sprang...give the girls a TEA PARTY! We found some cheap swanky bead necklaces for the girls, and some fun hats, and we were on our way...

And the bossy girls became docile! And polite! And then after a while my nephew, age 9, joined in, and was saying please and thank you. Too cute.

We took long walks up mountain roads....every day. Most days twice. I love it up there. The air is so crystal clear. Lilacs were in bloom and my mom's garden was coming alive with spring.

I took a lot of pics of cabins I liked...I'd love to have a log cabin some day in the mountains...

and I took pics of my mom's place,not log,but still a cabin....love the smell of the pines and the sound of the wind blowing through them.

I wish I had taken more pictures. Some family had left by the time I took these. My brother Michael and his wife Nicole had gone back down to Boise where they live. My sister Mary and her hubby Kelly and two kids had left to go back to Salt Lake because Mary had to work an evening shift on Mother's Day.

But I got these!! Forever Hugs!!


Me and my mom. We are 20 years apart. My sister Mary and I are also 20 years apart.

My handsome brother Rick! Rick was born when I was 15. Since I was married at 19, I was gone most of his growing up. I felt more like his Aunt than his sister..but we reconnected, and he is a wonderful young man.

My gorgeous and talented sister Joy. She is a JOY to my life!

My brother David who entertained us with his tales of farm life and soothed us with beautiful guitar melodies around the camp fire.

There is more to post,but it's getting late....and guess who has to leave for Perry, Georgia in the morning? It's a 7 hour drive...yep. She's on the road again!

Off She Goes..

Thanks to the comments, I did some re-thinking. I'm taking the MACHINE as a carry on, and checking my clothing bag. I'm using my wheelie case for the machine so I CAN wheel it, and just leaving the case with my mom as a bonus, or if I end up buying a bunch of stuff (doubt it but you never know) I can use the machine wheelie case to bring stuff home.

I KNOW I didn't get enough sleep last night, maybe....4 hours? urgh. So I hope to sleep on the plane, but doubt that too! :cD


I'll be back Monday night! Happy Mother's Day, Even if you have no offspring of your own, we as Quilters are always mothering someone in our lives. It's in our nature!

PS....

I just got off the phone with my mom for last minute details. I'm taking her my older Viking 500 machine...SHE'S QUILTING!! And needs a machine, and heaven and all a sundry knows I have machines to spare.

I just plugged it in to clean it up and run it..the only thing missing is a 1/4" foot. I think I used my "little foot" that I also use for my featherweight when sewing on the Viking, and sorry mom....you can't have my own foot!

I'm off to the dealer to buy her a new one and see what else I can put together. This is a combo Mother's Day/Birthday gift for her since her birthday is right around the corner in June.

I'll box it up with styrofoam peanuts (another thing I need to do today) and it will be my "checked" luggage, since I'm going to have to check SOMETHING, it will be the one thing that doesn't have wheels :c)

For Chrisee..

Chrisee asked in her blog comment about what is "allowed" on planes now, and I tried to reply to her privately, but when I clicked reply, I got the dreaded "noreply@blogger.com" address. Urgh.

I still think it's a valid question, some might find interesting! I had more trouble getting back FROM Canada to the USA when I flew last month (was it ONLY last month??)than I have had going anywhere within the US or from the US to Canada.

Before going though Customs in Winnipeg, I was told ALL scissors would be confiscated. So I quickly took my sewing kit out of my carry on and put it in my checked bag, and just read a book on the way back to the states.

But travel within the US? Small thread snips are allowed, needles are no problem, and no one has even questioned my seam ripper (a tiny brass one) that I use for removing the basting stitches from my small hand quilting project.

My little travel bag consists of thread, a needle book with needles, small thread snips, thimble, and that small seam ripper. If you don't want to take the whole spool of thread due to space shortage, wind thread on a bobbin! That helps save space.

My hoop is 12". It's not huge, but it's not tiny. It's big enough for me to work with the space I'm given on a plane without it going past the arm rests and into someone else's lap, which is always a consideration when flying coach! This little quilt is only 28" square. I don't like to fly with much over 36". It's just too much to deal with.

That said, I do find lots of opportunity to quilt at layovers in between flights, during flights....if we have to be to the airport 1.5 to 2 hours early, bringing a project can really put that time to good use!

I do keep a book with me as well, because sometimes stitching does NOT work out. Right now I'm going retro..I'm reading a novel by Ayn Rand first published in 1957. The title is "Atlas Shrugged". The idea for writing the book came to her in 1943.

It's amazing the fore sight she had, because what I'm reading sounds so much like what society has done in our day! And it's fun to read the nuances and words of that time period. Gay still meant happy then! :cD And references to things like "straigtening the seams at the back of her stocking...." I love that era in movies, so it is fun to read it in this book too. Not for the faint of heart, it's about 1000 pages.....

And with the mention of this book, I must add the following question "Who is John Galt??" (Read the book if you want to know!)

Leaving on a Jet Plane...

Thurs morning I leave for Idaho! I'm getting very excited...I hope the weather holds out well. We have plans to do lots of hiking and BBQing and enjoying each other. I'll be meeting nephews and nieces I've never met before...one brother in law and one sister in law that I haven't met yet either.

I need a hand project to take with me...and I unearthed this top while cleaning out my studio this afternoon! I backed it with a fun gold/yellow print and quickly meander-basted it with huge stitches on the quilting machine. I was able to use up some scraps of hobbs wool batting in the process.

I plan on hand quilting it with black thread. The other hand quilting project has less than 2 sides of border fans to go, and I know I'll finish that on one leg of the trip...so this one is for working on while I am relaxing and visiting with family, and on the way home again on Monday.

It has poured ALL DAY here, which is fine with me....I've used the time to stay home and get things in order around here. It's been a productive day,and I hope tomorow will be too.

No, Jared Takes A Wife didn't make it on the machine, because the little Churn Dash Love did....so maybe tomorrow?

Oh..and this little interesting bit...I just got an email from a gal in Canada, who is distraught because she BOUGHT a mystery at a shop in Canada...10 bucks per clue...($70 for the whole mystery!!) only to find that it is my Double Delight.

Lovely. I have given permission for shops to give it out free....to teach it as a class as long as they don't charge for the class...but not to sell it with a kit,etc. It must remain FREE. But to charge $10 a clue when it is on my website for free? Couldn't they, shouldn't they design their own?

I told her to print out my email with my comments and go to the shop and ask for her money back. I hope they give it to her.

Summer rain taps at my window.....

Remember that song?! Only it wasn't tapping during the night, it was POUNDING! Not sure what time it started,but I woke up about 2am and had to shut some windows because it was splashing in.

No complaints here...really, I love a good rain storm,and summer ones are the best! And yes, for me summer starts the moment temps reach about 80 degrees. So it is summer here in NC :c)

I had a wonderful time in Jacksonville! And I did get to run on the beach one more time...Sunday morning...before heading out of town. I love Jacksonville! What a great place! I was also able to hit a couple quilt shops down there, one Friday night during the art walk when we went out to dinner in St Augustine (Neat old town!)and also wandered art galleries and schmoozed with people. FUN!

The other shop we hit during our lunch break on Saturday....Old Green Cupboard...oh MY! My fave shop by far. I did a little bit of fabric buying there. There was this stripe I wanted on the back sale rack....50% off if I took what was left on the bolt, so I did. I love stripes....they are great for sashings, bindings, borders...love them!



Jacksonville2009
So here's a little slide show of things from my trip....photos from St Augustine (where I wish I had more time to spend) and the Crumbs workshop and Cathedral Stars workshop.....fun all around! There are a few Savannah pics towards the end...but it was hard to take them from the trolley tour :c) (I only had an hour and a half there..)

I've pieced a back for Jared Takes A Wife, and hopefully will get it on the machine today.....*fingers crossed*

Happiness Is...

Running miles on the beach in Jacksonville, FL!!



I tell you, time on the beach this evening was worth the 7+ hours of driving it took to get here!

If things go right, I might be able to hit the sand again Sunday morning before returning back up to Columbia to spend the night with Jason and Kim.

Now for a good night's sleep before a workshop in the morning....

It's a Top!

Look what I did today?! And that's about ALL I did today....believe me! It wasn't for lack of wanting to do more, it was just all I was able to do.

I have a confession to make. I started sewing the rows together on the Janome, and just was not liking how things were NOT lining up. I got back out my Bernina 1080 and things went FINE. There *IS* a difference in machines, and for me, that Bernina just can't be beat when it comes to joining blocks with thick intersections, matching seams without having to pin every 2" etc. I'm a Bernina girl through and through.


So what about the Janome? Well..it will have to be a backup machine. I've got it set into it's own table..if someone wants to come sew with me, I'm set up with two machines ready to go. I'll still use it for various things that the Bernina can't do. I'm not writing it off. The Janome can't be beat for that thread cutter when paper piecing...and I have it facing the TV so I can see myself mindlessly piecing pineapple blocks and getting my money's worth right there. I guess for me not one machine can do everything the way I want it...I don't feel like it was a waste of money, it just wasn't the end all beat all that I thought it would be.

Speaking of pineapple blocks....I've had so many people email me already saying they couldn't find the pineapple block pattern on my website after seeing my post with pics of them here on my blog. Well duh! *LOL* The quilt isn't done yet! I've barely done a pile of blocks. It's a work in progress.

There are lots of paper pieced patterns for pineapples out there. You just need to find one. Here is one in a 6" size. Go bigger if you want....you can get 7.5" on a single sheet of printer paper without having to tape anything (and that is where I draw the line..I'm not taping anything!)

I just want to keep this one thing to myself for a while :c) The ones I am doing are 5" finished. When the quilt is done (and it may be a LONG time from now)I may post it as a printable pattern on my website, but not until then, okay?

Burgers are on the grill....and I'm off to Jacksonville FL in the morning! Cathedral Stars workshop and Crumbs workshop coming up!

Too Funny.....

After reading my statue of liberty post, Debbie sent me a link where I can put my face into the statue of liberty. How funny!!!

I really did enjoy wandering around NYC by myself. If I had had more than just a few hours, I would have contacted some of you to meet me for lunch, but it was such a spur of the moment impromptu day, that I just didn't think of doing it.

Walking up Broadway gave me all sorts of opportunities to watch people and admire the flowers everywhere..just look at these!

I had to take a pic through the iron fence at the church yard of Trinity Church near Ground Zero. Look at that color!

These trees were blooming on Liberty Island. it was such a beautiful day to take a ferry ride. I'm glad I chose to do this instead of stay inside in a museum all day. If the weather had been bad, or hot and muggy, I may have chosen the museum route! But after this long winter, I've really been longing to just BE OUTSIDE.

These tulips around this fountain were even more orange and vibrant than you see in the photo. SO happy to the eyes. Yes. I am drawn to orange, even in my quilts. I know a little goes a long way, and I sometimes think I add too much, but I just love orange!!

This floor is INSIDE the building at Ellis Island. Wouldn't it make a great border? It's amazing to me that even though the place was dilapidated and fell into disrepair for many years before it was restored, that they were able to keep details like this in tact for us to see. I wonder how many children who stood in line traced these designs with feet or fingers while they tried to occupy themselves.

This is the ceiling in the "great hall" where immigrants had to wait for hours to present themselves for entry in to the USA. I love the herringbone pattern of it. A lot of beautiful workmanship went into this building, and I'm sure it made a statement to those who waited so long to enter.

This is the front of the building at Ellis Island...quite a foreboding structure isn't it? And yet full of so much hope for so many at the same time.


I've spent 2 days now trying to get my ducks in a row. I had a killer workout with my trainer this morning. Mostly arms and legs...arms are my weak spot...I never really cared about having buff arms! *LOL* By the time we were done I felt so wobbly, it was like they had surgically removed all my bones. Needless to say that today's activities (after bank and post office duties)involved a long NAP! I need it!

I keep beating myself up for time I'm NOT spending at the machine. I want to be in the mood to piece..I really do...I've got the rows all ready to join together into a center..maybe tonight? If I don't fall asleep first...

Where To Start?!

Well, today almost got by me! By the time I got done with the gym, the bank, running errands, lunch, book orders......and a bee meeting I forgot I had tonight, my time was almost out! But I wanted to post SOMETHING about my trip.

This was the first time I have driven so far north, and worked my way back down. I started out on Thursday and drove to Paramus,NJ. It was really exciting for me!! But I have to tell you what...if you live anywhere near there, you have no idea how amazed I was at ALL the toll booths everywhere. And me without an EZ pass. It's a good thing I had cash on me, because I would have gotten stuck somewhere! Now I know why people generally stay in their own area..it can cost you $30 in tolls easily to get from one place to another.

On Friday I had 2 lectures and trunkshows, one to the morning group, and one to the evening group...and I was amazed how far people drove to get there. We filled up every minute with fun and laughter and pedal to the metal sewing. I now know why NJ is "the garden state" because it was JUST BEAUTIFUL...all the trees there were blooming, where down here in NC....they had finished. So I guess there is about a 3 week time delay with spring spreading more slowly up the eastern sea board.

I really enjoyed driving from place to place...it's nice to have my own car and be able to go where I want to go.

4 of us enjoyed dinner at a Thai place in Hackensack! Hackensack is just one of those words you have to love to say :c) There is a song that kept playing through my head by Fountains of Wayne.. "And I will wait for you, as long as I need to, and if you ever get back to Hackensack, I'll be here for you..." It's just a cute little ditty and I kept humming it because it stuck in my head the whole time.

Sunday was my one day free that week...I left Paramus on Sunday morning, and didn't have to be in Newtown PA until dinner time that evening...a trip of only 90 miles or so, so I toodled myself right into Manhattan! It wasn't as bad as I thought....it was a beautiful sunday morning. Tomtom did a good job of taking me where I needed to go.

Originally I had thought I'd spend the day visiting museums, but with a day this beautiful, WHO wants to spend it INSIDE!? Not this chickie. I found a garage....it needed to be secure because the car was full of quilts and cases of books and my luggage and laptop, etc...(This gave me fits of giggles because it was like walking into the garage scene from Ferris Beuhler's Day Off) but it was worth it to pay for safe secure parking for me.

The MS walk was on, and there were throngs of people happy to be out walking for a good cause on a beautiful spring morning. I walked along with them a bit, until I got to the Battery area. I saw signs for Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island tours and decided that would be a great way to spend the day, so I did.

The last time I had visited the Statue of Liberty, I think it was about 1988. Of course the Twin Towers were still there then too..and I was with a huge group of college kids. We had travelled out from Idaho/Oregon to join some other college choirs from around the states, all joining together to perform Brahm's Requiem in Carnegie Hall. We sang it in German and were accompanied by the Manhattan Philharmonic. That was a huge memory in my life, and it was fun to remember that trip as I re walked the streets.

I had never been to Ellis Island before, so that was really interesting too. I know it is something my family wouldn't enjoy....they don't DO museums or tours, so I was happy to do it by myself and take the time I wanted to do it right :c)

Back at the docks...I found where Broadway begins and I walked up Broadway, past Wall street. Found a great deli to have lunch...a RUEBEN of course! and then I walked over to Ground Zero. It was a beautiful day for walking and window shopping. I made my way back to the parking garage by 4pm and was out of the city with no traffic problems at all, and on my way to Newtown PA...

And that's all I have time for tonight! It's almost 11pm and I've got an early morning date with my physical trainer for more personal torture. Gotta love her!!

And she's home again!

Would you believe it if I told you that everything was STILL in the car, and it can dang well wait there until tomorrow because I am too pooped to unload it right now?

I had the most wonderful time on this trip..hard to believe it was 11 days, but it was!

I met so many wonderful people and made some new friends that I know will stay in my life for years to come!

I also came home to emails asking if I was okay, and where are you???? So here I am with just a quicky.

First off...I'll get the camera out of the car tomorrow and do an update with pics. I had a wonderful time working on the "Jared Takes ANOTHER wife" (or the hussy quilt as the case may be! *LOL*) and it is now in rows ready to be sewn together to complete the top and add borders. I hope to do that this week before leaving for Florida on Thursday. I have pics of it in progress, so that will intrigue you to come back!

I also was shown an issue of Quilter's World, and found out that we are an Editor's Pick! Wahhooooo! Here is a scan of the page and a copy of the issue. I don't have a pattern or article in this issue, it's just a blurb, but hey, we'll take what we can get, right?

I hope you are all well and enjoying beautiful spring weather. I also took pics today of some look outs and valleys on my way through West Virginia...what a beautiful place. I think I could live there and just stare out at the mountains all day. It really IS Almost Heaven!

I'm off to soak my weary body in the hottub and off to bed early tonight (My own bed! YES!) And tomorrow....I'll type up more about my journey....