Weekend Getaway

My hubby suggested we take Friday and Saturday last week to get away together.  

He chose Ohio.  About 3 1/2 hours from home. 

 First stop was Ellies in Yellow Springs for breakfast.  

Such good food! 

Chicken and waffles for me?  

YES please.

It was rainy and cold so of course he suggested hiking in Clifton Gorge.  

 As we walked along there were 3 crazy geese that kept following us and yelling the whole time!

 There were several gorgeous waterfalls.

 Here we are trying to do a selfie.  My hair looked like crap but what are you going to do?

This was the largest waterfall.  

The pool that formed at the bottom of this one was pretty impressive.

I called these 2 the sisters.  

I took so many photos but you can see how fast the current is in this one.

I think from all the rain they had.

These geese would swim down stream then back upstream.

They were so vocal, must have had a nest nearby.

Everything was so GREEN!

Breathtaking!

After the hike we stopped at the Clifton Mill.  I just love how this photo turned out!  

There was a covered bridge there too.

 We continued on to Lebanon, Ohio to the hotel we had booked, the Golden Lamb.  

12 different presidents have stayed there. 

 It used to be a stagecoach stop.  

We stayed in the George W Bush room.  

His mom had stayed there and when she did she requested

 they move the bed currently in that room to that room.  

So both she (while campaigning with her husband) 

and George W (while campaigning) stayed in our room.  

I like to think it is also now the "Lincoln bedroom".  

LOL  

This was framed in the room.  It included his thank you letter to the hotel.

 Hanging on the stair wall from the first floor to the second floor was this beautiful pineapple quilt.

We went to some antique shops and other small shops, 

walked into the historic district to see the old houses and past the train. 

 I wish we had gone on the dinner train.  

It was only wine and chocolate train this time, which we decided was not the trip for us, 

but maybe another time.

I have more photos from Saturday but this post is pretty photo heavy already 

so I will post the rest tomorrow.

~XOP~

Count Down To Christmas SAL

I was able to finish my March and April blocks this weekend!  YAY! 

 I had previously shown block 6 so here are 7, 8, and 9.

This block was so cool!  I would love to make more of this for a quilt someday.  

I was not overly thrilled how she had you make the flying geese (actually it was the trimming part).  

I think I need a goose trimming ruler, maybe that would have made it better. 

I LOVE this block!

I was staying with one line but when I found this HO HO HO fabric...

I have never done a house block but like how this one turned out.  

It was a little challenging to get the sweater things to line up and 

they aren't perfect but turned out pretty well.

I'n not sure I would like to see that bear when I open my door for real though!

So if you are participating I am going to do a link up.  You can link up your March and April blocks.

~XOP~ 

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Ocean Themed Traveling Quilt

I bet you are all pretty tired of hearing about this traveling quilt.  

Almost as tired as I am of working on it.  

While I love the quilt I am SO ready to be done.  

I could not really share all the blocks either as I wanted my finish to be a surprise.  

All week I have been hard at work frantically trying to finish up the last of the blocks I needed to do.  Last night I finished the last of them and decided to sew the strip together.  

THEN, I thought, Hey, why not add it to the quilt top and BE FINISHED?! 

 So that's exactly what I did!!!

Here is the ocean themed traveling quilt top with my top and left side additions.  

It has one more person to visit then back to the owner.

 I made stars and surrounded my mermaid with them. (pattern by Quiet Play)

 I made a "Nessie" (Loch Ness monster) pattern by Elizabeth Hartman.  

I added the word Thalassophile, which means sea/ocean lover 

using the letter patterns of From Blank Pages.

 The patterns of sea creatures were from Sarah Elizabeth Sharp.  

They are in her book Adventures in Paper Piecing & Design.  

(a totally awesome book!)

First I made invisible jelly fish.  I enlarged and shrunk the pattern.

 Next up was a sea dragon.

Followed by an octopus.

And another sea dragon.

I did a LOT of improvised water for the quilt to make all my side blocks 12".

I decimated my blue/aqua low volume stash.

I had fun making the stars too.

I took this last night as I made the final 4 stars.

Before I put them into the quilt.

Lastly my friend that was taking photos made me pose for this one.

So here it is without the side 

And completely finished and ready for me to mail!

I am very proud of the additions I did and hope that Jenny loves them as much as I do.

I think it was second only to the Hallowedding quilt for time and effort!

Have a great weekend!

~XOP~

Sea Life

I have done some work on the Traveling Quilt, but not much this week. 

 Holy week is a super busy week normally but this week we had a mission at our church so it has been church every night this week!

I did finish a few pieces for the side of the quilt though and 

have 2 more creatures and some stars to make.

I made this invisible jelly fish.  It is kind of small and needs a bigger one to go with it.

I started on the bigger one and since taking these pics have finished it.

 My favorite part is the little starfish peeking out.  TOTALLY intentional.  I love paper piecing!

Lastly is this sea dragon I made.  I LOVE him so much!  

I made him as suggested by the pattern then added some improv water, 

turned it and cut a 12.5" square.  

I could not love him any more!

These are all from the book Paper Piecing and Design by Sarah Elizabeth Sharp.  

This book is amazing! 

I can't wait until I have time to read it cover to cover.  Currently I am just making patterns from it!

I also finished 2 backings ( and hand embroidered labels for them) 

for the twin girls that were born April 7th.  

Those quilts are now at the quilter's. 

 I cut the backing and batting for my Minky patchwork quilt but saw a bit that needs to be sewn better so I will fix it and wait for my quilter to return from vacation.  

I know I have to do the March and April blocks for my CDTC sew along too. 

 I have 1 of the 4 completed. 

I don't anticipate having any time to sew this weekend so, um yeah.  

Not sure when that is going to happen.

Have a great weekend!

~XOP~

Stash Additions

I am so sorry but I have been super busy and neglectful of this blog.  

I promised that I would show the things I purchased recently and have not done so.

I have been quickly using up a LOT of my low volume fabrics on this traveling quilt 

so I picked up a few more.

That gold "love" I bought for a friend to use in a quilt she is making for her son.  

I found some of the new Pinkerville line.  

I have an idea for a quilt and needed some of the fabrics to 

see how I think they would work in said quilt.  

 I thought that second one from the left would work in my LV spots but it is too "creamy".  

Oh well I will use it in something else. 

 That woodgrain?  

I have used just about all of it that I have so replenished it.

More fabrics (potentially) for that quilt I was thinking about making.

Have you guys seen the pattern called Showering Stars?

I am thinking that I will use the purple Tula fabric 

with the multi colored birds and dots for the background.

I am still thinking about the other fabrics to use. 

 I was going to use prints but think maybe solids would be even more amazing 

with that print as the background.

I may have to play around with this using a combo of prints and solids.

I am excited to work on it but this one is not moved on the list just yet.

Traveling quilt needs to be finished first, then the things I just decided need to be made for my daughter's bridal shower in June.

Next up after that is her wedding quilt.

Then, *maybe* this one.

I have someone in mind, but won't share who just yet.

She will be TOTALLY shocked, LOL.

Just the way I like it!

How about you?  Do you like to surprise people when you make them a quilt?