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Saturday, May 31, 2014

My Lovely Finish

It's time to show the project that I signed up to finish for AYOLF.
  I know you have all seen this quilt before but one more time.

January's Quilt for RJR's Color Inspirations Club

Quilted by Kathy of Thread Bear Quilting



She did an amazing job on this quilt!


My favorite block.  I love those bunnies!!


Linking up to the finish party at Fiber of All Sorts for my May finish.

~XOP~


Friday, May 30, 2014

So Much Has Been Happening

I'm not sure where to even begin. 
 I think I will just start where I left off. 
 I went to Raleigh last week to visit my daughter. 
 We had a amazing week together.  
I always miss her so much when I come back. 
 I flew down on Monday and we drove to Atlantic Beach in NC. 
 We stayed for three nights and drove back to her place on Thursday.

This was the view out our balcony door.  
Looking to the left you can see the hot tub and to it's left was the actual swimming pool.


To the right were the cabana beds and a smaller pool, just for looks though I think


This is looking straight out from our room.  
Every morning they set up umbrellas and chairs for everyone.  
This is the Atlantic Ocean.


The area we were in was called the Crystal Coast. 
 I kept wondering if it was from all the amazing quartz I kept finding on the beach.  
And yes, much to my husband's dismay I brought them all home with me!
  Kelsey kept the shells.


We had some great food too.  Best nacho's ever were at the Ruddy Duck. 
 I found this really cool fossil of some coral too.


Nothing beats sunshine and the beach!!


We had a great time just hanging out together.


We stopped in New Bern on the way home from the beach.  
That is where Kelsey works right now, on the Neuse river.  
(I asked how to spell it and she said, "like the noose you put around your neck") and I laughed.  

We stopped in at the Sting Ray Cafe where she goes all the time when she is there.


The owner was fabulous and even brought us out some scallops 
he had just caught that were enormous!  
He grilled them and put crab all around, topped with cheese and drizzled butter.  
YUM!


There were some beautiful homes in that town too.  We drove around oogling all of them.

On Friday I took the car and drove myself to some quilt shops in the morning. 
 I went to Cary Quilting and found this pattern.


I also went to Wish Upon a Quilt and scored a little Bonnie and Cammile love.


I also went to Elegant Stitches and found a few things.


I had to be home after lunch so we could go to the outlet mall and go shopping. 
 I didn't take any photos of the things we got but we got some pretty good stuff there too.  

Unfortunately on Friday I got a call that my dad was acting really crazy and 
I knew that meant he had another infection. 
 I was gone, the owners of the home were gone and hubby was not going to be there until the evening.  So, bless his heart, he got home and took my dad to the ER, and it was my hubby's birthday!  
My dad ended up being admitted and by Sat night was so agitated they had to sedate him. 
 It was pretty nerve wracking to be so far away and not able to help at all. 
 I will go into this more another time though as this is already so long!  

On my way to another adventure I stopped at Thimble Pleasures.  I found some of this!


I put it on IG and ended up selling quite a few yards for them!  LOL 
 I also bought some other fabric for myself.  
I shared the mice and the dragonflies with some friends though.  


My adventure took me to Pitsboro to meet up with a blogging friend that I have not met IRL. 
 I got to see her studio and we went out for lunch and to a neat little shop.  
Many of you probably know her but it was Bea Lee, from Bea Quilter
 I did find out, for anyone interested that you say her name like BEE-A  not just BEE.  
Enquiring minds want to know.  
We had a great time. 
 It felt like we were long lost friends!!  


All in all the trip was great.  
I was anxious to get home to my dad.  
Seems like every time he goes into the hospital he comes out with a little less mental acuity. 
 I had the difficult decision to engage Hospice for him.  
His dementia has worsened and I really want to keep him out of any more hospital visits.  
They can treat his frequent UTI's from home now.  
So far he is holding his own.  

Oh how I miss this girlie!


So that was my last week and this week has been pretty much dad duty 
(he was not discharged from the hosptial until Tuesday night) and trying to catch up at home. 

 How was your week.  I missed you guys!

~XOP~


Thursday, May 15, 2014

Not Off To Market

I am so sad that I am not able to go to market this year!  
It looks like everyone is having so much fun!
Instead I am planning a trip to Raleigh, NC to visit my amazing daughter.  
We have a trip to the beach planned again this year but a different beach.  
We had a lot of fun last time!


I was talking to a very good friend this week about 
what would happen if there were an EMP (electro magnetic pulse) in the US. 
 (I saw something about it on FB).
Info here and here and here.
I'm sure there are more too.
All things that need electricity would stop functioning. 
 We had quite a discussion and which things we had prepared and which things we needed to work on.  It just popped into my head and I said to her, 
"I need to buy a treadle sewing machine so I can still sew!" 
 LOL she proceeded to tell me that I was the only person on the planet that would worry about THAT!  haha.  
She is so wrong, but I love her anyway.

Seriously though it got me to thinking and I decided to start looking for a treadle machine.  
Interestingly enough another good friend was trying to get rid of hers!  
Coincidence?  
I think NOT!

So look at what is going to be coming to my house when I get back!  
A Singer Red Eye!!!!


She even has it all cleaned up, repaired and running like a champ!!


The cabinet is just beautiful too.



She even has attachments and the original owners manual.  It is a Singer 66 Model.


I haven't actually broken this to my husband yet.  
This will make my 7th sewing machine!!!   
YIKES!  
Maybe it is time to find homes for two of the cabinet machines.  
Anyone out there interested in vintage machines? 
 I can take some photos if so.

I hope you are having a good week so far too!!!

~XOP~


Tuesday, May 13, 2014

Mother's Day Weekend

I hope everyone that celebrates Mother's Day had a wonderful day! 
 I had a fantastic weekend with my family.  
They only one missing was my daughter in NC.  
On Saturday morning I went with my daughter and her boyfriend to a local nursery 
to pick up the plants for "our" garden.



I spent all afternoon weeding this stretch of the garden. 
 See my "helper" Gzimo, at the other end?
Doesn't everyone need a "helper" peacock?


He would get up on my seat when I got up to go get something to drink or stretch my back.


I also had a helper turkey, Jocelyn.
She was hatched from an egg when DD still lived at my house!
She kept begging for dandelion heads, silly turkey!!!



Hubby was working on the peacock pen


After many hours working in the hot sun, we stopped and went home to shower.  
On the way back we picked up my dad and brought him back to my daughter's house for a bonfire.


We roasted hot dogs for dinner and he just hung out by the fire with us.  
He got a little chilly so I found this quilt for him.  It's one I made a LONG time ago. 
 I still really like it though.


 Gizmo even had his own chair by the fire.


On Sunday the weeding continued.  
DD found this amazingly huge beetle!


I had to wear this hat so I wouldn't end up sunburned!  


I was the designated planter.  
I planted so many tomato and pepper plants. 
 Also lots of lettuce.  
Gizmo thought I had planted all these things for him!


Helping is thirsty work. 
 The water by the rubarb plant looked good to him!


 Hubby was roofing the pen on Sunday 


Then he took a break with Abbey and Gizmo


I finally got all the plants in for the day.


We ordered pizza and my son came over to join us for dinner.  It was a great way to spend the weekend!  I didn't do any sewing but I am looking forward to the fruits of my labor come later this summer!!

~XOP~


Thursday, May 08, 2014

RJR Color Inspirations Club Quilt-January

I showed you the quilt I designed for the January Color Inspirations Club the other day.  
I picked it up from the quilter this week and 
wanted to show you the fantastic job Kathy did on the quilting.  
RJR wanted all of the quilts custom quilted and boy did Kathy step it up on this one!  
The January color palette is called Forest Floor and 
I wasn't sure about the colors until the fabric arrived and I saw them together, live and in person!  

BEAUTIFUL!! 

You can purchase this group of fabrics right here, at Pink Castle Fabrics.
 The RJR solids were fantastic to work with too.


The next step was to design a quilt to showcase those beautiful colors. 
 I made a few suggestions for a design that I was happy with and Kathy made it shine!

The company is calling the quilt Snow Globes but it didn't seem very wintery to me.
I felt like the design really was like the forest floor the color group was called.
I asked Kathy to quilt it like you were walking in the forest floor.
Stepping stones in the squares but not sure about the snowball blocks.
Kathy filled those in with plants from the forest!

Although it is really difficult to show you in a photo, 
each block has multiple straight lines around it.  
You know how some people use wood to outline a garden pathway?  
That's what this is supposed to simulate!
Amazingly executed.


 Just look at those square stepping stones!  
Brilliant!


Every plant and flower block is different!


My favorite block in the whole quilt?
See the dark purple one in the center of this photo?  
There are bunnies in it, because of course, there are bunnies in my forest!


I could not be happier with how this turned out. 
I put the binding on last night.  
I will be delivering it to Brenda at Pink Castle today for quilt market.  
If you want to purchase any month in the club just head over to Pink Castle and read all about it.

I really appreciate being included in this instillation of the Color Inspirations Club.
I hope I will be able to participate next year too!

So...what do you think of this quilt?


I love it!

~XOP~

PS Linking up to Finish it up Friday over at Crazy Mom Quilts