Workshop, yoyos and animals

Saturday I had fun with the Spirited Quilter's bunch and Pat Wys. Pat has a book out (pictured), and we worked on making the cover quilt.  I love it. Love, love, love it!

If you are a Silver Thimble Club (Pat Wys' club) member, you may have seen me working on un-sewing some yo-yos a friend of mine made.  I gave the fabric back to her, all ironed flat, along with a Clover yo-yo maker, and we had a little lesson. Now she makes perfect yo-yos every time and she made this lovely pillow (above).  Good work Sarah!

I had a doctor visit on Friday at which he pronounced my cowboy boots unfit apparel for my feet.  He wants me to wear only tennis shoes.  I bought "comfort shoes" to wear to work as I can't seem to wrap my mind around wearing tennis shoes all day unless I am on a tennis court. (but that's just me)

Joey is getting too big for my lap.  His cuddly baby kitty days are over.  He likes to explore and play out big adventures.

The boys (below) are getting old, so they just chill most of the time.

That's okay by Joey.

It's in the 70s today!

The weather with weekend is stellar!  Yesterday I was at Macon State College for at tutoring conference, but during a break I was able to sit beside a lake and relax for a minute.  I was exhausted when I got home last night.  Today I hope to work on the fan quilt, and, if I get much done, I will report back at the end of the day.
This post is a collection of some of the shots I took when I went walk-about on the Forrest Hills property during the Spirited Quilter's retreat.

I thought this patch of moss was an amazing yellow-green.

A close up of the stump shows the blue of the moss growing on it.

And yet another bit of moss on a tree:

I looked up into the branches of the tree and marveled at it's height: 

And then down at the rail fence made of a felled tree:

Take time in your life to look around at the textures of life around you.

We should not be in such a hurry we put innocents at risk.

Should we?

Egypt? Not even close.

Last year Spirited Quilters had a challenge. I showed you the winner of that challenge in a previous post. My quilt didn't get very far down the road to stitched. I kinda got stuck in the oh-I-need-to-purchase-brown-fabric phase. Honestly, I completely forgot to be a quilter and was quite happy to be a fabric collector.

But today I decided to dump the brown fabric collection onto my cutting table and see what I could do with it. Ah, now I have triangles. The mystery was that it was supposed to represent Egypt. I chose the all-colors-brownish to be the "Valley of the Kings." I think that was what it was supposed to be. Really my excitement over having to shop for fabric overcame any sense of mission to completion.

I hear we can still claim a finished quilt reward bead if we bring our finished mystery quilts to the January meeting. Nah, I'm not gonna make it. I decide to name this quilt "Good Dirt" for it's brownness.So now I still have this much fabric left to cut up. I am determined to cut at least a few triangles from each piece of fabric I collected for this quilt.

Then I remembered Brannock & Patek's Looking Back line of fabric for MODA. Yes! There are some beautiful brown fabrics in that collection!

I especially love this tobacco colored floral!

Catch up post #1

I attended the holiday meeting of the Spirited Quilters in Duluth. They have this fabulous raffle event for the holiday, and I always buy extra raffle tickets, even at the regular meetings, because it is money for the club and a lot of fun. My fun turned to embarrassment as I won 4 baskets. One of the baskets was meant for my kitten, so that was okay, and I gave one away so I would not feel so "piggy." I love the coffee mug, Elm Creek novel, fabrics and thread that were in the baskets.

And Kitten LOVED her basket. She keeps batting her yellow kitty tree ornament off the tree like she has somewhere she wants it to be, and that place is not on MY tree.

But the big winner of the night was Christie. Her beautiful quilt won the International Mystery Challenge for the year in TWO categories: Guild Favorite and Best Quilting.

Congratulations Christie!

More Photos from Mom's House

In the frame is a picture of their beloved dog Sugar (now deceased).

Here is a view of another library bookshelf:

And this is an amazing little quilt. It is made from checked fabric and tied with the knots in the back. I love this little gem!

I am running off to work. This is a short week interrupted in the middle by one more medical test. I will be so glad when those are over. The Spirited Quilters also meet Tuesday night, but I am feeling quite disconnected from them. Would I be an intruder if I showed up at their holiday meeting after missing the last one?

Organizer Giveaway

The more entries a contest has, the less chance you have to win...Hum, well even though it is not in my best interest to tell you this, Twiddletails is giving away a wonderful gift to celebrate 500 posts. Five, zero, zero, not even kidding! Go see..

Here is how I feel about my work week:

I am back to bed with my tea. I started Augmentin. Doctor says I have a sinus infection. I simply must be better by morning to attend "Under the Sea, Over the Top" workshop sponsored by Spirited Quilters in Duluth and Fiber on a Whim.

But I Need a Better Picture

I took this picture of my new quilt, but I am not happy with it (the picture). I just can't capture how beautiful it is! This is Robin, the quilt maker, holding up the quilt at Harper's. Problem is, I didn't know I was going to purchase it, and I didn't have her in the picture with the quilt. How rude of me! Then, when I got it home (to Mom's house), I tried to get a picture on a bed. That didn't turn out well either. I am going to show it at Spirited Quilter's meeting in Duluth on Tuesday. I will eventually get a better picture, so you may get your fill of seeing my new acquisition.

Today at Primitives of the Midwest I had class with Renee Plains. We started on "Flower Shop." I love it, but since I only got one small portion partially done, you will have to see the finished quilt object'dart (not sure about that spelling) in the future. In the afternoon I took class from Stacy Nash and fell in love with cross-stitch all over again.

Below is a project I have been working on in Mom's studio. Tomorrow is my last day here in Missouri. I will miss the freedom to work on my projects and spend time visiting with Mom and Dad.

Cabin Crazy

Yesterday, in a workshop by Peggy J. Barkle for her Blendable Curves (sponsored by the Spirited Quilter's of Duluth), I was exposed to an amazing amount of useful, practical information about piecing quilt blocks. Most important, I gained some sewing experience and learned a cool new technique. My machine was a challenge though. Last weekend, for some puzzling reason, my New Home decided to stitch all funky, so I sent it out for service and haven't picked it up yet. For the Blendable Curves workshop I brought my Singer Featherweight. I had pieced on it before, so I didn't think I would have any problems. The throat plate was just plain slippery and I couldn't see the quarter inch guide very well (I use a quarter inch foot on the New Home). I now realize how cool those fancy gadgets on the new machines are; like "needle down" and "bobbin alert." When I get my New Home back, I will probably be just fine again, but the only 100% cure for "machine deficit disorder" is a fancy new one (Janome, Bernina?).

While I was still sewing log cabin blocks, other participants were finishing and putting their reassembled curved blocks up on the wall. They were all so beautiful! My table-mate, Sandy, used the most vibrant pink and green. Her reassembled blocks were amazing beautiful! When I finally got two blocks up on the wall, I listened to the supportive comments from others, but I wasn't really hearing them. I didn't fall in love with my blocks until I got them home on my own design wall and away from all the others. I may never piece on the Featherweight again, though. Too much frustration!

Poor Little UFOs

I actually don't remember what UFOs (unfinished objects) I signed up to finish as part of the program at the Spirited Quilter's meeting last month, but these two deserved to be on the list. The poor things are more than 25 years UFO. I keep starting new things. I call it "getting distracted." With the exception of a button, the Weekender Bag (mine doesn't look quite like that one) is finished. I used it yesterday to carry my work to the Applique Club at Intown Quilters. In June I am attending Primitives of the Midwest in Lee's Summit, Missouri. I am not yet sure what projects I will sign up for, but visit the website to see all the fun stuff that is scheduled. I am on vacation this week, so I am planning to do some fun stuff (along with yard work). On the schedule for this week: Quilt Show at Bulloch Hall and the Greater Atlanta Quilt Shop Hop.