Aquarium Quilt

Someone asked for the photos of the quilt and here they are! I took some of the "groups" of the quilt and a few individual squares. I also took a picture of the poster (which I later purchased). It really was a neat quilt to view in person. It's too bad it was not more prominently displayed.

When I got on the airplane in O'Hare in Chicago to go to SF, there was a huge appliqued quilt celebrating the anniversary of American Air. Apparently many ofthe employees made squares. They were asked to donate it to some museum, but declined until every employee that worked on it is retired. Too bad I didn't have my camera with me, it was pretty neat too.

Enjoy the quilt!

San Francisco Part 3

Here are Some more pictures from the trip. I am hoping to get through a few more tonight! I didn't realize how many I took until I want to post some! The first one is a really odd tree that I was fascinated with. The blooms look like a bottle brush! Kind of Dr. Suess esq, laugh. The next few are in the aquarium at Moneray. First is the kelp forest. Quite beautiful, my pictures through the glass don't really do it justice. There were some kind of silver fish just hanging in the kelp and they looked like the leaves, which is probably what they are supposed to look like. Then, of course, the sea otter, sooooo cute!!. The next one is a replica of the whales we actually saw in the bay, the Humpback. They are ginormous!!! You remember the pink flowers in the last post? Well, they line the shore in Moneray bay and this is what it looks like, kind of more purple from a distance.





The last few are from inside the aquarium also. The jellyfish exhibit was amazing! Then these river otters looked like they were kissing, adorable!! I thought these sea pens and I have no idea what the other things are were neat too. Then we drove down to the 17 Mile Drive. A scenic drive around a lot of golf courses. Pebble Beach, of course. My father is a HUGE golfer, so I had to take pictures there too. There was this lone tree with a partial wall around it that was so cool. Probably one of the most beautiful views on the entire trip. The last one is just from one of the beach spots but isn't it beautiful?


I saved this one for last. I had to go to the bathroom and right next to the bathrooms in the aquarium was this huge aquatic sea life quilt! This is a pic of the entire quilt, made by a lot of different people from all over the US. It is all appliqued and embroidered, just fabulous. I have some close ups if anyone wants me to post those I can do it later. (I'm getting the evil eye since I've been on the computer soooo long!!)

San Francisco Part 2

So here are some more pictures. The first is still the beach we were going down to Moneray. Once we got to Moneray, there were a million seals!!! We did go out on Moneray Bay whale watching and these are some of the things we saw. First I will show you 2 humpback whales, a mama and her baby. Then you will see the fins followed by 2 whales and then, my favorite, a whales tail!!! I even bought a necklace with the whales tale as the pendant. The next picture is a starfish we saw while docking. Isn't he enormous!!?? The last pic is of the flowers everyone has planted along the coast of Moneray bay. Aren't they beautiful??

I will have to post more tomorrow as I am very tired tonight. DH and I worked outside all day today in the garden and the back yard. It is looking pretty good so far. Once it is all done I will put up some pictures. I did make him stop at Joannes to buy some interfacing for the DD's tee shirt quilt before we went to my friend's house for dinner. Let me know what you think so far,

San Francisco Part One

I am sooo sorry for the delay on posting. You probably thought I forgot! I didn't, it has just been unbelievably crazy around here since I got back. As I said before DD #1 did get her job. She is supposed to start the job June 4th, YIKES!! We will be going with her next week later in the week to help her look for a place to live. If anyone knows Madison Inidana, please let me know where a good place to stay is.

Now for the beginning of the trip. You already know about the plane ride so I will pick up from there. On Thursday morning Chris and I headed down to Moneray. I really wanted to go whale watching and he really wanted me to see the otters and enjoy all the "stuff" he does when he goes there alone. So we got up fairly early (still on MI time) and drove along the coastline. The pictures I chose to post today are from the drive. We stopped several times along the drive. The tide was low so we were able to view the tidal pools up close. They were full of wonderful things like starfish, sea anemones and snails along with all the usual vegetation. It was kind of overcast and chilly as you can probably tell from the beach pictures! I did take many more pictures but these are fairly representative. There is one we took of ourselves too! We look kind of silly, I don't know how my kids always manage to get nice ones the same way. Are their arms *that* much longer than ours?? As we approached a place called Pigeon Rock there was a light house and these beautiful pink and white flowers all along the fields by the lighthouse.

Anyway, that's all for now. We have decided to begin a through cleaning of the old homestead beginning in our bedroom! We have a pretty large closet and have not gone through it in a long time. I did my stuff yesterday including my dresser and my "corner" of the bedroom. It is amazing how much stuff you accumulate over 20 years! I think have filled 10 or 12 garbage bags so far and DH is still working on his "stuff"!! I guess I really am a pack rat. I finally threw out all the things I will, most likely, never be able to fit into again with out an act of God himself!! It feels good to have the closet so clean. I want to shampoo the carpet in the closet too. I think we need a few more storage unit type things and it will be all set. I keep walking by my sewing room (aka the living room) longingly but all the bags are in the way!! DH says I can sew, but I can't even get to the machine, lol!!
I did get a UFO back from the quilter this last week, oh, good, another one to add to the needs binding pile! I will take a picture of it as soon as I get more batteries for my camera(which is why I have not been able to download all my pictures from SF yet either). I am going to stop for now and go to Target for the storage unit thingies, as well as Home Depot for hanging planters (only $4.99 each!!)Then I need to go to Joann for some interfacing, as I found the myriad of tee shirts I have been saving for *someday* to make a tee-shirt quilt for DD#2. I *promise* I will be back later and post more pictures.

What have you been up to this weekend??

I'm Back

Well, I am home safe and sound from the SF trip. The trip home was a little harrowing but I FINALLTY made it!! My cameras and clothes are with the DH as he is still on a trip. I think I said before but he is a corporate pilot. He had a trip that flew into Napa Valley so he took all my "stuff" with him so I had no bags with me except my purse. The down side is that all my "stuff" is still with him! I will have everything back tomorrow night so hopefully I will be able to post some pictures and all the stories about the trip.

I arrived in SF on Wed evening. The plane was so hot, and I felt really ill when I got off the plane. The ride was fine, I just felt sick from all the heat. I got to the hotel with no problems and waited for DH to arrive. He showed up a little later and we went with the other pilot to dinner. I was NOT hungry but I watched them eat!!

I won't say a whole lot now as it will be so much more interesting with pictures! I will tell you about the ride home though. My plane ride to Chicago was great!! Much better than the ride out to SF. The size of the plane we were supposed to take from Chicago to Detroit changed (smaller) so they were asking for volunteers to leave 2 hours later. I figured for a $300 voucher, it was fine by me. So I volunteered. Hence began my big adventure in O'Hare airport! I was supposed to arrive at DTW at 6pm. After 7 gate changes we borded the plane and waited an hour for a pilot. I was happy one finally showed up figuring that we could leave, but ohhhh noooo. We had to wait a little longer for a co-pilot!! Silly me. We finally did get to take off but I got home to the DTW airport at 10:30pm not the 6pm we were told!! It certainly was an adventure!! Would I do it again, yep! I got a voucher I can use anywhere they fly and can transfer it to anyone I want, family or friend. I was wide awake anyway what with the time change and all.

I didn't get to go to any quilt shops as our time was spend doing many other things. That's ok though, I had a blast and it was so nice being away from everything. I feel refreshed and ready to start up the hectic time that is summer!! I'll post more once I get the cameras!

Goin on a Trip

How many of you remember playing "I'm goin on a trip"? Well, I leave tomorrow for San Francisco! My DH is a corporate pilot and he had a trip going out to Nappa Valley. I can't ride with him but I booked a flight and I will be meeting him in SF tomorrow! I have not been to SF before so I am very excited! He goes all over the world but I only get to experience his travels vicariously. I'm not complaining mind you, I love being the one home with the fam and I can't leave my job either but sometimes it is nice to be able to travel with him. I am taking the quilter's travel companion so I will try to visit some quilt shops while we are gone. We plan to go to Moneray and to Nappa Valley too. I promise I will take lots of pictures and post some once I return.

Thank you to those of you that take the time to post a comment. It just makes my day when someone leaves a comment! I try to visit your blogs and leave comments too. Well, have a great week and email me if you have any suggestions on places to visit while in SF!

Happy Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day to all of you that have children (even if they are the furry kind). My day started off slow with none of my human children home, but Jack was sleeping with us. He came up and head butted me and rubbed his nose across my face purring all the while. My DH made me breakfast and then I got to go and sew! Idecided that I needed to finish Thadd's quilt top today so I started about 10am and finished about 2pm. It's DONE!! Now I have to make the back, YUCK! Which will involve piecing. I will use only the scraps and fabrics from the stash. I have a few blocks left over so I will piece these into the back, but not today! I would like to make the binding tonight too. I made the binding (from the excess backing) for the turning twenty last night and will probably sew it on, then I will have two that need binding turned.

Thadd came home from his friend's house and so did Kelsey. Kelsey bought me a gift card to her favorite store(Victoria's Secret.) She and I will go out today and get some flowers for her garden and maybe mine too. We spent a lot of time cleaning out flower beds yesterday after the lax game. I still have part of the back and all of the front beds to do, ugh. It is hard work and I got quilt sunburned at the game yesterday. (my face and arms)

I have to go for now. How did you spend your day today??

Current works in Progress

You asked for it and now here are 2 of my current works in progress. I am in charge of a group of women quilters at my church. Our group is called Poke-N-STAB quilters. (STAB is for St. Thomas A' Beckett church). I try to keep a hand work project going most of the time so we have at least one continuous project. I find that pieced blocks seldom come back at a uniform size and many of the ladies don't like to use their sewimg machines so I usually choose an applique, something simple. Simple because I usually end up with all the prep work and all the putting the quilt together! The first one we did was the butterfly one I posted about awhile ago. The latest one is these scotty dogs. I think we will have enough to do 4 X 6 -12inch blocks with 2 on the back. We tried the Quiltsmart method for these. I let the ladies choose their own fabric and we got quite an assortment! I am thinking of sashing them with assorted plaids in varying lengths but I have not really decided. I asked the ladies to bring in their plaids so we can see what we have to work with (also uses up some of the stash...BONUS!!)I actually did some of them and you can see one of my Halloween scotties in the picture.

The other one I did was just some fall colours and a turning twenty. I think it came out rather nice for such a simple pattern. I loved many of the fabrics (all from the stash)like the funky roosters and the acorns. I adored the backing fabric which was also from my stash. I got it a little while ago with the intent of using it for a back. It was clearanced for $2.00 per yard and I got it half off that, great deal. Now I have to do the binding. If you are counting, that means 2 to put binding on. This one will be a gift so I can't say much more as the person it is intended for may read this blog from time to time.

I finished the blocks for the Texas quilt and since the lacrosse game was cancelled for today, I figure it is a good time to put the last two rows together and add them to the quilt. Then all I will have to do is cut and sew the borders, yeah!!

Oh yeah, for any of you that have been wondering...DD#1 just heard and SHE GOT THE JOB!!! I guess that means she will be moving to Indiana. I am so thrilled for her!!! This job and the community suits her so well. I know God made this place and this job for her. A long time ago when she was little someone told me that my DD would be a teacher, not just of children but me as well. I have to say they are correct. She is a wonderful young woman and I am very proud of her.

What are you working on??

This and That

I wanted to post but I only have a few minutes and I hate to post without photos! So here are 2 of my cats. Hallie was all stretched out on the piano in front of my sewing machine and Jack (formerly a stray, currently enjoying the life of Jack!) was all stretched out on my bed. He was laying on a quilt I made for my middle DD. She loves flamingos so I made her a YBR using flamingo fabric. A lot of the fabric was from the clearance section, but I think it turned out really well. I *want* to post some of the things I am working on but two of them are just sewing on binding and both are for gifts, so I will post pictures once the binding is on but you won't know who they are for until I give them and one is for Christmas! I want to show you the Texas quilt but I need to add two more rows before I put up a photo. (Wow, I guess I am a little vain! Note to self, WORK ON THAT!!) I have to go and make dinner for the kids and then off to quilting with the ladies at the church. I hope to collect up the Scottie dogs. Hey, I'll bring the camera and photograph them! Then YOU guys can suggest some ways I can set them together!!

TTFN!!

Weekend Progress

WoW! This was a busy weekend. the DH and I had to split up as our oldest dd hada job intervies in Lexington Indiana and our middle DD had to be moved home from college. I got the middle one and Chris and Shelby headed for Indiana. They ended up staying in Madison, which, apparently, was fabulous. It is in Jefferson county and both of them thought the town was wonderful. It is on the Ohio river and there is a watefall in the town. They arrived on Thursday and drove around and walked around the town. Chris dropped Shelby off at the school where she had her interview. It is a school for troubled kids, middle school to high school aged, boys. She had to spend the night at the school as that is what she would be doing in her job there. She would be a small group counselor. Chris picked her up on Sat about 4pm and they headed home. The interview went really well and they will let her know about the job on Tues. Keep your fingers crossed!! Housing is cheap there too so she might even be able to get into a house there eventually.

I moved Kelsey home, not quite as much fun as the rest of the fam had, but it had to be done. It looked like a "stuff" bomb exploded in my living room!! It is no small feat combining 2 households!! I missed her but not all her "stuff!"

I did manage to finish an old baby quilt I had begun quite awhile ago. I had all the 9 patch units done and a friend's mother took all my setting triangles and set them on point in strips. I had to cut the sashing and sew it on as well as the borders. I got that all done and also sewed the back so it is ready to go to the quilter!! Another UFO finished and fabric from the stash used!!!

I also worked on the UT quilt. I got the blocks all sewn together and my son informed me that he didn't want it square, so I have to make 2 more rows, arrrrgh!!! I got the blocks all cut out but it will take me a little more time to sew the blocks. I also worked on the U of M quilt a little. It is all cut out, but last week I traced all the l "M"s and cut them out. This weekend I fused them all to the backgrounds, (there are 2 for each background, one on top of the other to make them stand out a lot!)

My good friend across the street, Marcia lost her mother on Friday. I made soup for her and her family as I remember how much I appreciated not haveing to cook when I lost my mom. It has been a difficult time for her and her family as her husband lost his mother about a month earlier. I knew Marcia's mom quite well and she will really be missed by her friends and family. Please keep my friend Marcia and her family in your prayers.

My Own Backyard

I just wanted to take a minute to share with you some of the things in my backyard. I told you I would *try* to remember to take a picture of the new baby birds in my ivy and I was able to do it today. Isn't he cute? I don't think the mama was too happy that I was that close to her babies!

The other pics are from my garden and our woods. The bleeding hearts are in my garden and so is the Trillium. The Jack-In-the -Pulpit grows in the woods. We have a LOT of trillium in the woods too. There is a dark red one and I think some cross pollination has been happening because we have some pink ones as well!! I hope you enjoy the pictures.

I went on Cynthia's blog today and learned about the 365 quilts. I think I would like to do this too. I will try to use as much of my stash fabric as I can, but I think I will use the 365 in a different way. Last Christmas I cut out a Christmas quilt for myself (and *no* it is not done yet!). At the same time I cut one for my friend, Ellen. I put it in a project bag with the pattern and gave it to her for Christmas. She loved it so much she told me we should do it each year. I said, "yeah, right, like I have time for that!" I think I will make the 365 quilt rows and give them to her for Christmas with the challenge that we both have to do it for the 2008 year. I have also been thinking about what to give my sister-in-law and brother-in-law for a baby gift when my friend, Holly suggested a 365 quilt for Sarah to keep track of baby's first year I think this is a great idea and will make the "rows" for her too. Once she is done I will make it into a quilt for her. Isn't that a great idea?? Then, I thought about my own chickie that will soon be flying the coop (DD, Shelby). I told her I wanted to make her a quilt for her new place but now I think this might be just the quilt for her. She is very artsy and loves to draw, so along with recording her first year on her own she can draw the dragons all over it that she sketches all the time! I know it is a little ambitious, but I think I will be able to do it and I have some time so I will keep you posted. I am also not supposed to be buying this month (but I am going to go to CA with DH so maybe vacation fabric purchases don't count. I really don't have a lot of light fabrics to use for the 365 quilts but I will certainly pull what I have. I think mine will be multi-coloured as I am certain I don't have enough of just creams or whites to make it for 4 of these quilts, lol.