2013 Mid Atlantic Quilt Show Part 1

 We had a rainy and cooler than called for day out. It seemed busy and a lot of folks but no big crush. Seemed to slack off as day wore on. This pic was taken  later in day as we sat to rest and drink a cuppa.
Will post a few pics each day . Did not take a huge amount.

 Summer Wedding by Mary Chalmers of Willmar, MN.

 Machine appliqued and quilted. Loved it myself! Would work fine in my living room!

 Garden Party done by Sharon Gillen-Davis of Lancaster, VA. Machine pieced, hand appliqued and quilted. Feathers looked wonderful.

Green Miles by Peggy Kragnes of Felton, MN.  Machine pieced and long arm quilted. 

 Oriental Impressions done by Judith Heywood of Hendersonville, NC. This one would fit in great at Alice's home. Greens and the shades of purples!!

 This one would work at Alice's too! Called Redbud Ramble by Linda M. Roy was Judges Choice.

Seems purples were the  fabrics of choice this year in all categories! Here we have the art dolls most with some shade of purple hair!

Here is our sweet Ms. Alice in front of one of her favs! We  three gals had a grand time, all fun and laughs! Sadly we do run out of steam and our bodies just say STOP!

Will show more of my favs on next post.

Off to the quilt show!

My gal pals and I are off to the Mid Atlantic Quilt Show in Hampton, Va today!
Sadly we will have rain but it is warmer today...50's!
I  have camera just hope I remember to use it and battery holds!

Here is  Daily Press article about it.

Oh My Stars!

 Do you recall when Samantha the witch used to say this on Bewitched! Love it!
You can say it but not be 'curs'n' as my Mama called swearing! 
Well I am not curs'n or swearing  but sewing up some Scrappy Stars.

There was a Sew Along on these last year I believe, on Terry's Treasures blog.
Was not able to sew a lot at that time.
I did however do some cutting of scraps on the Go!

So kitted up 12 Scrappy Star blocks to make later in this plastic show box. I decided to take them out and play.  Sometimes my brain needs a break with something rather simple! Which should be all the time really with my tired old brain!

I am using blue theme as my DH loves blue. So he says ..but when he picks out a shirt it is red!
Go figure! ;-)

Not sure if I will stop at 12 blocks . May go one more row but will see. I also plan to use up some more of the 2.5 inch scraps as borders.

Please do not stare at the ironing board cover on this board! HORRID!
Need a new one. Either make one or go find one! This is a small antique wooden ironing board I use in my sewing room that I adore!

Now a dilemma I am having with my rulers. They are slipping on the fabric when I am cutting! They have the Omnigrid Invisible Grip on the backs too! So not sure what is up with that. Wonder if it wears out over time!

He loved it...

 See that big smile on my sweet baby boy's face! He loved it!

 So this Mama's heart is still full of 'happy' today!

We had a wonderful dinner made by DH. He made one of Baby Boy's fav desserts Upside Down Pineapple Cake. His Grandma Nellie (my sweet MIL) used to make it for him on his birthday. Sweet memories.

Was not sure if we would have them out Sunday or not. Saturday we were to get a Winter storm... again. Well we barely got a dusting! Now the wind was whipping though.. wind chill was horrid!
Today we have sunshine and warmer temps!

So we have Valentines Day behind us now on to St. Patrick's Day then Easter!
Easter comes on Mrch 31st this year.
So if you have any sewing plans for then best get a move on!
I am resting up from my maid duties over weekend..;-)

Buyer Beware

 This is the pretty fabric bundle I used to do this project. Niece bought it at Joann's Fabrics.

 

 The person who put it together at Joann's did have a great eye. Very pretty set. They all play well together.
But...

..yes there is a but! The person who cut the fats did not do a very grand job!

Lots of waste here if you had planned to do long strips from the cuts.
These 3 fats were very wonky indeed!
So my buyer beware is you never know what ya have till ya unwrap that bundle!
I do wish I had bought a bundle too though. Wonky and all!
Love the fabrics all together!

Well no sewing today the "maid" has to work her magic to get ready for company this weekend.
If she was not so slack she would work along during the week and not have so much to do at last minute!
Oh well but then no sewing would get done at all!!
We are in the eye for some more snow maybe..will see.

Have a grand weekend!!!

Happy 'Quilty' Valentines Day

 Wishing each of you a wee bit of Valentine love today!!  From my 'hearts' to you!!! XO

Santa Runner

 Here is my next project. It is a red work stichery Santa runner my niece finished.
She bought the pretty Christmas fat quarter bundle at the Williamsburg Joann's.

I cut 2.5 inch sqs. to use for the simple border. The red work is DMC floss on simple muslin. It really is adorable! may have to do me one too!

Now it is all layered ready to quilt. I am thinking holly leaves in the border using a variegated green thread. Will see how it looks. If not happy with that will do a simple line quilting of some sort.

Have the Mid Atlantic Quilt Show coming up this month in Hampton, Va.
Was not sure if I was going to go, but seems is a hard habit to break!
I plan to just take my wee bit o cash, no CC's and be very picky over that I purchase, if anything!
Do enjoy seeing the big winners and what the local guilds display.
Can be a long day but this year I have a new knee!!! YEE HAW!

Feb Stuff...

Man did Feb ever start with a bang! Not a great one either. We have had to deal with some CC fraud and a break in on our property! Just makes me sad that there are bad people in my world! Have dealt with all the horrid details as best we can. Just makes me feel violated.

DH brought home a bug of some sort from office. So we have had to deal with that. Glad was not a 2 week variety!

I have been steady working on the Virginia Tech Quilt.

So from sewing up patched blocks and rows...

..to quilting the beast (twin size) on the machine. Simple grid quilting. My free motion stars were just not up to par so left them off after all!

Sewing the binding on! Yes those are hair clips ( from $ Tree) that work fine and much cheaper then the quilt clips!

I sew binding on sitting at the sofa. I have a large OTT Lite I use there for hand work. DH and I watch Castle, Mentalist or some such , chat and visit while I sew.

So that is ready for the birthday boy when he and wife come out for his birthday meal celebration!
Nice to have something done!

I am on the the next project now...see on next post!

Snow Days

 This is Friday evening. Snow still blowing temps falling even colder. 11F and 10 F is as close to single digits as I wish to be and not even that! COLD IS COLD. Been a long cold week! Yes this from a gal who was raised partly in the cold North! DH left office early to beat the mess that happened in the evening on the  major and other roadways. A big mess!

Snow and ice mix once in a bit. This is out the back window across the field.

 Saturday morning sun coming out! YES! Still cold though.

As you can see it is ice on the walkway. So DH did a scraping job on them. Hoping sunshine would do the rest.
Well we still have ice and snow today, Sunday! Calling for higher temps so this will become a memory soon!!!

DH also did this yesterday! Choc chip cookies with pecans. Oh My warm from oven 'yummyness'!

 I sewed up these..more to do today.

Also have my Tisket Tasket to the layer and quilt point..finally! It almost feels like an antique at this point in time! hahahhaha!

I have another project I wish to work on today as well. Need a bit of variety ya know..;-)
Sunshine is coming though the windows! DH is working in kitchen, (shrimp, fish, cole slaw) , so all is right in my world  as of now!

 Aunt Dot gave me this amaryllis for Christmas. Never had one in the rocks before. Always did the ones with soil. I added the water as instructed. Then had to be placed in a sunny bright spot. Well here that has been hit or miss  of late. I have managed to chase the sunshine around the house with it. So it has become a traveling amaryllis!

For now it is on the table so we can enjoy it blooming. This was yesterday. Today second bloom is open. There is a third one on the way as well. 

 Is a pretty dark pink. I have had reds and even pink stripe ones before. I always set them out in spring. They do great. Spot that I normally use though may not be best anymore . The shrubs there are now to tall.

This is our big snow! Did have very low temps though, So had some freeze. Ice on roads out here in the boonies. So Friday some schools were on 2 hr delay, others just closed. Early this AM was 17F when DH got up. Sunshine is out now so warming up! Amazing it can be so very cold but have such bright sunshine and blue skies!!!

So far 2 days of some very bright sunshine!! WANDAMUS! Can sit in sewing room and soak up some natural Vit D!

Have been working on a couple projects. I do have a wool one I would really like to finish up. May switch to that one to give me a break from 2.5" squares! ;-)