Rain, Sleet, Ice & Snow....

If you've seen the weather channel at all, you'll be familiar with this messy chaos coming across the Southeast, and I happen to be in the midst of it! I was all dressed to go out this morning, but when I attempted, I saw the deck and the driveway just slick with ice and decided against it. So I am HOME for the duration.....that duration ending tomorrow morning because I am headed to Franklin TN!

Yes folks, I'll be driving over the Smoky Mountains in this mess...so please keep your fingers crossed for me. I'm meeting with the Cumberland Valley Quilter's Guild in Franklin TN, and then on to Pelham,AL to meet with the Evening Star Quilt Guild. After tomorrow temps should be warming up and there should be no more problems, but tomorrow makes me nervous!



I had a great time visiting the Hampton show. So many friends from so many places! It was like a very fun homecoming, and I got to introduce friends from MY guild, to friends from other guilds, and just have a great ole time.

My friend Susan had a challenge quilt in her guild's display. Their theme was "name that tune" And everyone had a different song to portray in fabric. Susan is So artful, her Marilyn Monroe "Diamonds are a girl's best friend" nearly came off the surface of the quilt, she looked so great!

As for the show itself...there was NOT a whole lot of "traditional" quilts on display. But there were some, and I saw hand quilting as well as gorgeous machine work....

My favorite booths of course, were the ones with antique quilts! I was told I couldn't take pictures in some booths, but I did snap a couple from the aisles so you can see what drew me in.

Thursday at lunch I got to sit with another group of friends and witness their "show and tell" Exchange blocks that they had swapped for a year, and each set in their own way. Aren't the quilts WONDERFUL?! Most of these ladies met each other while in the military stationed all over the world..and they still keep in contact and do swaps and challenges with each other. Isn't that great? It really IS the thread that binds!

Thursday afternoon was also the best day outside....beautiful. About 2:30 I put my purchases in my car, put the ipod buds in my ears, and went for a 1.5 hour power walk, following wherever the sidewalk lead. The sun felt WONDERFUL and I'm sure glad I enjoyed it then, because it started raining on my way home Friday and hasn't stopped since!

So what did I buy? Really...I was very very very good. I bought a bundle of indigoes with cheddar in them. I've been WANTING these, and I feel justified because I have used up a bunch of my other indigoes I've bought from this same vendor over the years. Now I'm trying to figure out who's TOP LOADER washing machine I can borrow to wash them, because my front loader just is not the thing for shrinking and removing excess dye! It might be the laundromat at this point.

I also found another pair of my favorite thread snips. I keep these by my machine at all times.....just super duper.

And I bought a "satin edge" foot for doing machine applique among other things. I watched the gal demoing it..thinking to myself..."that's cool, but will I use it? Does it really do all that she says it does?" And I decided that if it does HALF of what she demo'd I'd be good with it! So...it came with me too.

Maybe I'll get to pop it on the machine this afternoon and play with it a bit! Heck, the car is still packed from the VA trip, I don't have to repack the trunkshow because it just goes back out with me tomorrow..so...surely....can't I get a COUPLE hours to sew this afternoon?? :cD

In between it all, this is the hand project I'm working on! It's just a little ditty I was making out of leader-ender 4 patches and bonus triangles...it's been pieced since last summer,but never started the quilting on it. Nothing fancy so far, but I think you can see where I am doing crosshatching through the 4patches....