Evening Edition: Free Kindle Book!

OooooOoooooOooooh! This is the kind of book I can’t wait to dig into, so I’ll give you the nitty-gritty and then chat after I get the word out:

Sealed Correspondence is free today in the Amazon Kindle store, and it sounds like a good one! There isn’t a huge description…but hidden items and sealed letters found in furniture in an attic ----yep! It’s got my attention!

Book Description:

For two hundred and twenty four years an eighteenth century desk has remained hidden in an attic southeast of London, England—that is, until now!

Despised shipping tycoon, Enrico Brosconni, is a mogul with an obsession, exceptionally rare antiques.

Christina Sheppard is a world renowned dealer out of Manhattan. Her photographic memory is as legendary as her ability to unlock the cleverly crafted compartments of the world’s greatest works.

And famed historian, Randolph Hancock, is about to make an incredulous claim: there are secret documents hidden inside the centuries old desk.
What all three have in common is a priceless antique, and the fact, that, their lives are about to change—forever!

Sealed Correspondence: a centuries old secret that could plunge an already disgruntled nation into chaos.

Sounds good for an otherwise quiet Friday night, doesn’t it? Be sure to double check the price to be sure it is still free before clicking to purchase. Things can change quickly and what was free earlier may not be later.

I just got back from a yummy Mexican dinner out at a little local place where we enjoyed our chips and guacamole, beverages, yummy entrees and 2+ hours of laughter and conversation eating outside on a covered patio – complete with painted murals and a fountain burbling nearby. The Naples Florida quilt guild has their show coming up next weekend – so those of you who will be in the area, be sure to schedule this into your agenda. You can find out more info HERE!

Of course when I was told to go be sure and check out the Ladies room – I was happy to oblige! And OH MY! Quilt-spiration galore!

This tile on the wall can come home with me and be the tile on my studio floor – okay, maybe not now, but some day – can you see the possibilities?

Look up close at the diagonals! It’s tumbling block stars! OH – wouldn’t this be fun to have in all white—with the ability to color it in with dry erase markers depending on our mood of the day? Why has no one invented that yet ----color your own tile for quilters….LOL

Of course I loved the sun peeking up from the bottom of the sink too --- you can’t help but smile back! And the stars around the outside of the sink? Fun!

I’m back in my room, my belly full, my day complete. Tomorrow we do it all over again with a full day of “Smith Mountain Morning” workshop activity!

Look for pics of today’s Virginia Bound workshop tomorrow morning. I’m going to pull on my jammies, edit some photos, and it will be ready to go around breakfast time if you are an East-Coaster!

Have a great Friday evening, everyone!

Iphone-O-Gram! Stripping & Stringing Along!

We are having a ball making a complete mess with our string pieced Virginia Bound blocks!!

Lunch time soon to commence---and we will sew ourselves silly for the rest of the afternoon!

Bonnie---

Pelicans at Play ---

How is it that I can take 44 pictures of the beach at sunset, and each one --- every consecutive frame --- is that much different than the last?

We drove around and around, Linda and I, trying to find a place to park to even make it to the beach for sunset.

You would have thought there were fireworks that people were rushing to watch, or maybe a concert, but no --- just people ((Lots of people!!)) taking about 10 minutes out of their day to stop, and simply take notice of the days crowning glory.

We came over the rise, and this is what we saw……the pier stretched out in the distance, people milling about ---- shoes off, feet in the sand, walking along the surf, watching HERDS of pelicans floating there in the waves close to shore…

I love silhouettes --- even of random strangers. They could be talking about anything --- just a glimpse into someone else’s life caught at a moment that they don’t even know about.

Who are these people? I have no clue, but the light was just too perfect not to capture them in silhouette. No matter what they are talking about, what their relationship is to each other --- there is no doubt they were making their own memories with this beautiful backdrop of the sun sinking slowly into the Gulf.

Almost a silhouette in the fading light ----I love the view of the pelicans in the water – and the pier behind me.

But the birds, the birds! I spent a lot of time trying to catch these big birds in flight ---not so easy with a cell phone!

They were so amazing to watch……they would gather, just floating there on the water, riding the surf until the surf brought them too close to shore, and then they would spread their wings, lift up…fly a ways back out beyond the waves, dive head first into the water for some morsel of food, and then ride the surf back in ---- repeat, repeat, repeat. It was so fun to watch!

This one turned out to be a fun pic --- I tried to get him right in front of the sun, but that’s hard to do in motion with a cell phone cam ----but I got him!

And the sun was just about gone here, while the pelicans continued their dance. How many colors do you see in that sky? In those clouds?

Someone had done some sand writing --- I love messages like this! I’m sure that one lone pelican would agree with this bold sandy statement – this is, indeed paradise.

Someone needs to win the lottery so we can buy this house and hold our quilt retreats HERE! Don’t you think that would be a great idea?

Today we are doing Virginia Bound with the guild here in Naples! I’m excited ---it’s a whole new group of ladies for me today, and I know we are going to have a great time.

How can it be Friday already? This week in Florida is just sailing on by ----

iPhone-o-gram! Sunset on the beach edition!

Sunset on the beach happening now! Can you see the pelicans on the water? Awesome!

iPhone-O-Gram! The necessities!

The transition from Fort Myers to Naples is complete!

The bags are settled in my new room, the machine set up and ready to roar this evening!

Plenty of time for some solo explorations of my new surroundings which yielded a new pair of running shoes to replace my old worn out ones, and a bonus!! Carvel ice cream!

Rum raisin! Double yummy!

Life is good in the neighborhood----

I'm meeting up with guild contacts for dinner----would love a photo op of sunset on the water, that would make this day more than perfect.

Bonnie

Pineapple Blossom Day in Fort Myers!

One of the reasons I don’t want to teach from kits is because I LOVE seeing what other people choose for their colors and fabrics.

Yesterday was no exception. We had everything from soft pastels to wild African fabrics, lots of batiks, some Orientals, some civil war scrappies, and everything in between.

I loved everyone’s responses to other people’s fabric choices ---- “Oh I love that with this ----“ “I never would have THOUGHT to put that with that..” And it was all good! ((Though living in the South, where “bless her heart” isn’t always a compliment --- I guess these statements could cover a multitude of fabric combos, good, bad and ugly! LOL!! But these were ALL grand.

Speaking of African fabrics --- thoughts and prayers please for our Kenyan friend Michael ((Harriet's DH and Michelle's daddy!)) who's mom passed away suddenly -- he is home in Kenya this week for her funeral and memorial service, all so very sudden. Safe travels to him and his brother who have flown home from the sates, and for Harriet and baby Michelle who are on their own for a couple weeks until he can return back here to them.

And THANK YOU to the anonymous person who told me to double click the circle button on my phone and see what all was running in the background. I hadn’t thought to check that, though I do reboot my phone every couple of days. It also reminded me to turn off the blue tooth and the wifi and the push notifications for my email --- I really didn’t need those on, and they can suck power too. I think the phone will survive a little longer. This phone I’ve had a bit over a year I think --- but I recently upgraded operating sytems, and the old OS didn’t have that hidden task bar ----and you know, any time they upgrade ANYTHING it gets to be more complicated.

Do I have to remind you of my reluctance with the new photoshop I’ve had to install at home!?? I just like my old old old one --- which luckily is still running on thiis laptop just fine!

So without further ado --- here are the pics from yesterday’s workshop:

		Pineapple Blossom, Fort Meyers FL 2012 VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

Our fearless coordinator, Linda, watched over us while finishing a quilt binding for a Quilt of Valor, and putting some stitches into her gorgeous applique…look at her block:

This is for one of those lovely Australian quilts --- and her work is just beautiful! And of course, I loved her array of threads:

Oooh, I’m artfully blurry! LOL! But I get as excited about the beautiful colors of thread as much as I do fabric. And she had it ALL in here, believe me!

I think I got he best sleep last night since I’ve been here. I stitched on my Florabunda blocks until about 11:30 and crashed…I slept all the way til 7:30am, which is GOOD for me ----

This morning I’m treating myself to a leisurely breakfast at ihop across the parking lot, maybe do some more stitching, packing it all up and heading out to my next stop ---Naples!

What a great day everyone! Thanks so much for inviting me to come!