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Friday, October 31, 2014

Just a Bit More Mineola Show & Share!

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And they ARE viewing worthy so I hope you enjoy them!

I am tickled to see Texas Tumbleweeds from MORE Adventures with Leaders & Enders make an appearance.  This is the class quilt for the cruise next week!  I love the green she added, just the change of a couple of fabric choices can make the quilt look so different!

Thursday, October 30, 2014

** Cruise Alert!! **

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I am sending this out last minute hoping that everyone attending  the cruise has already taken care of everything they need to to be ready for Sunday ---

We have only a few days until we sail from Galveston and I am really looking forward to this cruise with you!

Tickling the Ivories in Corsicana!

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This is probably the most distinctive building in downtown Corsicana, TX!

For residents in Texas, or those who have traveled through Corsicana, they will recognize this as the State National Bank building, built in 1926.

Although it is only 8 stories tall, its imposing elegance and dominance of the Corsicana skyline make it worthy of the name skyscaper. Viewed in the glow of the setting sun, the building sometimes looks like a wedding cake with a buttery icing.

Wedding cake is exactly what came to mind as Irene and I rounded the corner and the building came into view.

As we walked the downtown area in search of antique shops to explore,  we came across something really fun!

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Pianos!  At least one on every block!

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Marilyn Monroe on this one!

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Just up from the cupcake store!  Mmmm!

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A cactus themed piano in front of the Fiesta Grill!

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Tickling the ivories with some chopstix!

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The old city jail, 1908!

((This is where they put people who play really bad street piano music!))

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We saw some of this!

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Peerless!

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So fun to wander!

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Looks like they knew I was coming! Ha!

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This one is for Willy Wonky --

It’s all double knits!  Stretchy, and heavy!

And someone put a lot of work into it.

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Loved this one!

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Close up!

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It’s Texas!  There are boots, y’all!

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Not a quilt, but I can’t imagine how many hours went into this lovely crocheted spread!

It was perfect in every way!  I just have nowhere to put it.

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And sometimes there are just things that make me giggle and nod!

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Sweet!!  I love quilts that are make-do and come from a limited scrap bag.

Do what you can with what you have!

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Robbing Peter to Pay Paul!

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Thanks for the visit, Corsicana

You were a sweet spot on our way to San Antonio!

I’ve had a busy computer day.  Not the kind of day I like to spend, but sometimes it is necessary!

All of the posts sharing the quilting studios of those who have sent in pictures have been written and set ahead to post while I’m at sea.  I have some fun stuff planned so be sure to keep coming back, you won’t want to miss it.

Chinese delivery is planned for dinner and we will spend the rest of the night sewing up a storm!

Tomorrow we sight see!

Have a great evening, everyone!


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More Mineola Show & Share!

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I was in Mineola, TX for 3 days of classes at Stitchin’ Heaven which means LOADS of lunch time show & share!

More than you can fit in one blog post.  More than you can fit in 2 ---and I’m here to show you some more!

what is not to love about a classic Grandmother’s flower garden? 

Sandra brought in this one, with its double paths of muslin around each pink rimmed flower.  Gotta love those yellow centers!

What a cheery quilt!

I don’t quite remember where she said she found this one, but it was so very nicely done.

Wednesday, October 29, 2014

From Mineola to Athens, TX!

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Athens, TX was the antique shop hop that WASN’T!

But as my fortune cookie says ---It is a happy talent to know how to play ((In Quilting is always added on my fortune cookies, how about yours?!)) and we were playing our way to San Antonio.

All of the shops we wanted to hit were closed on Mondays – but it couldn’t be helped.  We couldn’t hang around until Tuesday to see them!

However, Texas is known for its stately courthouse squares with beautiful courthouses and Athens did not disappoint!

The Athens residents also get to enjoy the hard work of someone who went all out to decorate the court house square for the season!

To Hand Quilt…or Not?!

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On one of our show & Share days, a whole bin of  inherited antique tops was brought in for everyone’s viewing pleasure and opinions on what should be done with them.

Oh, we ALL have opinions!

And we also had a great time looking at them and studying the fabrics and wondering about the maker, and KNOWING the hours and hours and hours what went into the making of these humble tops that never became quilts.

I fell in love with this hexgon top…it looks like she started out with a plan for blues and reds in the center and then perhaps fabric ran out because the design just kind of disappears into scrappy everything.

Tuesday, October 28, 2014

A Day to Sew in San Antonio!

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This is how I spent my day today ---

Trying to choose between sewing some seams --

Or petting Hunter, my friend Irene’s 8 month old tuxedo kitty.

When Irene warned me that he was the sweetest most affectionate cat she had ever come across, I nodded my head while thinking to myself “All cat lovers think the same thing about their cats…” but wondering if he would be afraid of me and run and hide as soon as I walked in.

Nope.

He was up on my lap in 3 minutes flat and purring away.  And then he climbed up on my shoulders and wrapped his whole body around my neck.

I fell in love!

A bit of Mineola Show & Share!

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Can anyone guess what is going on in this photo??  HA!

Fabrics are being gathered for this year’s Grand Illusion Mystery,  with the first clue being released exactly ONE MONTH from TODAY!

If you are just new and joining us, click the Grand Illusion Mystery tab at the top of the blog for background info and the link to the first post that includes colors and yardage requirements.

Everyone seems to be a-buzz about our upcoming fun and I hope you’ll join us!

Folks came from far and wide with great quilts to share and I took photo after photo after photo and instead of cramming them into one long slide show, I think each deserves it’s own place in a still photo so you can really see the beauty, so I’m going to break this into  parts.  Sometimes less is more and we are not in a hurry to get through these, so let’s enjoy them all!

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Every Where I go, Celtic Solstice has been a favorite!

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And another!

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And how about one more!

Quilter are rushing to get their top done at least before we start Grand Illusion!  I met several quilters who didn’t know about the mysteries here and I think we’ve hooked them in to playing along with us this year!

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Sister’s Nine Patch from Adventures with Leaders & Enders!

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Dancing 15 Patch!

Ana made rectangular 15 patch blocks with 2.5” squares and used the Dancing 9 Patch pattern from the free patterns tab as her inspiration for setting them!  Not all blocks have to be SQUARE, right?  I love this!

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Strip Quilt from Pat Sloan’s Camp Sloanie!

Love how the greens go in diagonals across the quilt!

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Scrappy Nine Patch!

Isn’t this great for sewing up the scraps?  Love the black!

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Sandra’s Alternate version of Blue Ridge Beauty from Adventures with Leaders & Enders!

It’s a Red Ridge Beauty!

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Vintage Tulip Quilt

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An $18.00 flea market find!

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Hand pieces postage stamp…WOW!!!!

Doesn’t this sparkle just like confetti? She is in the process of hand quilting with fans.

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Log Cabin quilt by Judy Martin.

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And there will be more Show & Share to follow!  Thanks for bringing these beauties to class, ladies!

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So awesome!

We got a bit of a late start heading out of Mineola yesterday morning.  I had some last minute loose ends to tie up at Stitchin’ Heaven, and we wanted to sleep in a bit before hitting the road.  Our plan was to hit what antique shops we could find along our route from Mineola to San Antonio.  We had some good luck, some bad luck – a lot of places are still closed on Mondays in small towns…but we had a great time!

I made Irene pull over at this grain storage found along the train tracks as we were making our way toward Athens.  Isn’t this cool?

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Covered wagon in the “garage?!”

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Carved Longhorn on the ground!

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Carved bear!  Or is it a pig? LOL

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From the side!  I just love this old stuff.

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There was no one around…we just jumped out and started taking photos.

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It’s Texas, y’all!

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And we are road trippin!

We finally got into San Antonio about 7pm and set up to sew a bit last night.  We’ve got several days to play before we head on out to Houston on Saturday for the cruise ---

I’ve got more road trip photos to share coming up, so stay tuned and come back!

Love from TX ---


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