Home for the Weekend!

You know, it doesn’t happen very often that I’m not teaching somewhere on a Saturday, or using a Sunday as my travel day to/from somewhere. I decided a couple years ago that I was going to try to schedule the week around Mother’s Day off as a treat for myself…and it has been great to be home this week!

The one hard part about the scheduling is, fitting in all the stuff I want to do in the amount of time there is to do it. For instance, I’ve got a guild local to me….within an hour’s drive away, that has been trying to schedule me for some time for JUST a Saturday when I could just come and do a workshop. Just down the road…would be fun…easy access, fun day, sleep in my own bed without a lot of travel, but I would have had to give up YESTERDAY in order to do it, and sometimes a girl just needs her own Saturdays, no matter how badly she wants to spend time with the guild ladies down the road.

There is not another place through the whole year that that Saturday for them will fit. It’s crazy! So now, we are looking at any Fridays…I sent them to the calendar to see if any openings I have will coincide with openings that THEY have --- if they can narrow it down for me it helps.

But in the mean time….I tried to not feel too guilty that I was able to spend time this week working on my own things on my own time frame in my own basement!

I took time this week to grab dinner out with Lisa – and we took Shelby for a walk afterwards!

On our walk up the street, we were approached by this orange and white fella who was VERY curious about just what Shelby was! Shelby IS kind of cat sized you know?

Things were going along just fine! Little orange kitty let us pet him, was very affectionate and not afraid of us at all….and Shelby was ready to get into the act and see what all of this was about as well….

They got closer and closer, just about to touch noses --- lots of sniffing going on…..

Aaaaaannnndddd----

YIKES! I guess that was close enough! The kitty hissed, reached out a paw….and the blur of Shelby you see is her getting the HECK outta Dodge! LOL!

We really enjoyed our evening walk, and made plans for Lisa and Karen to come to my house to sew the next day ---

Morning arrived, and my doorbell starting ringing! Lisa set up her FW at my sewing desk and started piecing on her project, a shop sample in blues..

After the previous night’s shenanigans, Shelby was going to stay close to “MOM” under the desk!

Karen and I loaded her 4 patch scrap quilt in the machine….and commenced to quilting! She has a house guest coming, and you know, there is nothing to spruce up a guest room like a new quilt on the bed, especially when the house guest is an in-coming guild teacher!

We used a variegated purple thread, and the 4 petalled posie pantograph called LAVISH by Hermoine Agee of Lorien Quilting was perfect for spring!

It was so perfect, that I also used it to quilt the CRUISE QUILT!

Doesn’t it look pretty on the aqua blue border!?

And I’ll give you just a sneak preview of the corner treatment..LOL! I’ve worked it out with Sew Many Places, that the kit I provide will be called a “STARTER KIT!” And just like Stone Soup, by the time we all bring some extra fabric and share with each other, we’ll have a good mix for the center which will be very scrappy, just my style!

Even those aqua cow spots don’t look so bad when quilted! LOL!

Neither does that art deco aqua and peach thing on the other side of the hopscotch blocks! I love the whole texture that the quilting gives…..

The binding is ON…it just needs an evening or two of hand stitching down…and I’ve got a hanging sleeve to make…a good way to use up MORE of those aqua cow spots maybe?!

Today has also been a great Mother’s Day. DH and I headed out to Concord Mills to use a gift certificate that was nearing expiration date. It’s over an hour away, and I stitched hexagons in the car the whole way. Nice eh?

We got there too early! They didn’t open until 1pm, and it was 11:20----what to do? We went and watched a matinee movie! We saw Source Code, and it was quite interesting. After that we had no trouble finding things to spend the gift certificate on. I got new summer sandals! Happy Mothers Day Feet to me!

We enjoyed a nice lunch at Texas Land and Cattle….and I napped all the way home. Here I am, 5:40pm, a late blog post, but I’ve enjoyed this weekend so much.

Happy Mother’s Day, Everyone!

And The Two Winners Are~~

It’s Saturday morning! And you know what that means? I have two winners who are about to each receive a copy of “100 blocks vol 3” by Quiltmaker Magazine!

This was really REALLY a great blog tour….I had fun visiting the other blogs on the tour as well, some that were new to me. What a great and amazing tool the internet can be! My life is so enriched by connectivity to wonderful women who inspire me, lift me, encourage me, keep me laughing!

Our first winner is Linda in PA! She has been contacted by email since her email address was available in her blogger profile.

Linda’s comment was:

I really like your block. I am using your scrap saver system and am enjoying having useable strips and blocks ready to sew. I am also using your leaders and enders technique. My double delight quilt top is just waiting for me to decide if I want to add a plain or a pieced border. Thanks for all the great mysteries and quilt patterns that you give us. Thanks for the chance to win a copy of this magazine.

Linda, send me an email with your snail mail address, and I’ll be passing it on to the folks at Quiltmaker Magazine. Your copy will be coming direct to you from them!

My second winner is Teresa in Music City!

Teresa wrote:

Congrats on having a block in the magazine again this year! Your block has SEW much character!!! I love the way it has the potential to give that secondary design.... everything you do has that deeper level. Like the fabric to honor Oscar - such a special touch for a special kitty! =^..^=

I’ve also contacted Teresa by email, and her signed copy will be mailed from my house to hers as soon as I have her snail mail address!

Congrats everyone! This has been a great drawing, with 538 comments!

Don’t forget…if you didn’t win, you can still pick up your copy of 100 blocks, vol 3 either by ordering it online, or check local book stores such as Barnes & Noble. It hits newsstands this week! Don’t delay though, all of the previous issues have SOLD OUT in no time. You can still get the earlier versions in digital format from Quiltmaker, so you won’t miss out on any of the previous patterns.

And the weekend continues Chez Quiltville! I’m in the studio kicking up a mess of creativity! Scraps have been sorted, sliced, diced, kitted up for future projects! You know, they don’t look half bad once you iron them and cut them to size! AMAZING! :cD

The cruise quilt is going on my machine today --

And now that things are finally under way, and are starting to feel REAL!! ((As in, her travel arrangements are made, so she can’t back out now!!)) I get to share the cruise excitement with my good buddy Lori from Humble Quilts! Lori is coming as my assistant and I am SO PUMPED to be spending this time with her.

((Yes, It’s my 30th wedding anniversary and I’m spending it on a cruise with my quilting buddy instead of with my DH! LOL! But he is coming with me in November instead, as it works better for his job!))

Lori and I go way way way back, to somewhere around 1994? 1995? To a little old email list serve called INTERQUILT, way back in the day. Any of you remember that list serve? We had to pay $20 a year to be on that list. Yes. We paid money to have daily flame wars in our inboxes..LOL! But it was our first internet contact, and our friendship has grown over the years. I’ll be retreating with her the week of the Sister’s Oregon show in July – we do this every year! AND…she is coming on the Caribbean Cruise with me in August/Sept!

At last count, there were still just a few spaces left..If you want to join us, contact Sew Many Places! There is more info in the Cruisin With Bonnie tab at the top of this blog!

Christ Church, Philadelphia ((And Betsy Ross too!))

I was born in Minnesota and raised in San Jose California. My boys were both born in Oregon, in towns that had their beginnings in the mid to late 1800s. To refer to something as “OLD” there has a completely different meaning than what it is to refer to something “OLD” on the East Coast! I learned that when we moved to South Carolina and visited Charleston for the first time.

The dates didn’t just start in the 1800s, they started 300 years before then! And loving history like I do, I found it fascinating to learn the details of what was founded when.

I get chills when I visit buildings that have been around since the early 1700s, such as Christ Church in Philadelphia.

Can you read this plaque? The bells that proclaimed our Independence rang from here. They rang for freedom on July 4, 1776, but they had hung there since 1754 – 22 years!

What I think is amazing is that this is still an active church, not just a historical site.

I loved the light from the windows inside, and the box pews!

This was the George Washington Family pew box..the name is on the brass plaque:

I sat down for a minute and just pondered and thought about what life was like then…The patriots didn’t KNOW they were going to win. They could have just as easily lost? How different would life be now if that were the case?

The light was kind of bright at the front altar. I really liked that the church was not overwhelmingly overrun with stained glass. The clear windows let in so much more light.

Back of the church toward the organ loft. I wish someone had been playing. I would have loved to listen to that!

As was the custom in the day, there are graves in the floor of the church, down the aisles. I love the backwards “N” in November! This parishioner died in 1734.

The grave of John Penn. Anyone know what the “XLI” at the top means? And in the picture before this one it says “LII” at the top. I have no clue….interesting? huh?

This is my picture from across the street…but it doesn’t show you the steeple like the picture at the beginning of the post does….What an awesome visit!

From here, it wasn’t too far to head down to Betsy Ross’s house….

That’s it folks! It’s just a tiny little thing, stuck in between more modern buildings! I almost couldn’t get this picture, there was a huge tour bus parked in front of it!

This tour did charge a fee, but it was worth it for me……It’s a self guided thing, you read the signs on the walls to see what is what. No picture taking was allowed. She was a remarkable woman, and I bet she would love to see what we do with fabric and machines NOW!

Next Stop? Elphreth’s Alley!

Elphreth’s Alley is America’s OLDEST residential street! And it is still lived in today!

The row houses are adorable, to say the least…..it was just like stepping back in time to walk down this street!

Look at the cute red cellar doors!

I loved the display of window boxes and blooming garden containers!

Hard to get persepctive here too, the street is very narrow and the two rows of houses face each other….

This was in walking distance of where I was meeting up with Elsie Campbell and her son for dinner!

It was the perfect end to a perfect day of sight seeing, and we enjoyed a terrific Mediterranean meal and talking about everything we could come up with! Her son was a real trooper for hanging out with us “old ladies” and we really had a great time.

I loved this visit to Philly, and I know I will be back. Already there have been so many posts saying things like “Where are your pics of the Rocky statue!?” “Did you see the Love Statue??” and I know there were other things I missed that I will have to catch next time….and I will!

Feelin’ Down & Out?! Who, ME?!

I seem to have hit a brick wall here at home…by yesterday morning when I woke up, there was a distinct tickle running down the back of my throat….

A quick couple of hours to get caught up on book orders and paperwork, and off I went to the Post Office, followed by a trip to CVS for some airborne and some cold-eeze and a stop at the hole-in-the-wall Chinese place for my cure-all of EVERYTHING~~A large container of Hot n Sour Soup.

I so RARELY get sick that this has really ticked me off! I don’t have TIME to have an elephant on my chest taking up residence. I don’t have time to sit around with a box of tissues and feel sorry for myself. I need this to be gone…..I am headed to Tyler, TX next week!

Besides, Karen is coming over tomorrow to put a quilt in the machine, and that means that I need the cruise quilt loaded, quilted and unloaded before she gets here. Maybe I should wait a day..the machine needs to be empty when she gets here :c)

There are errands to run….some of which may wait a day or two, but I am NOT passing up on the 90 minute massage I have scheduled for this afternoon. There is a nagging knot in my right hamstring that also needs to go away.

So there you have it, my whiny complaint for today, but it won’t keep me down for long.

See this wrapper?!?

I LOVE how Halls cough drops have little messages of encouragement on them! This one says:

Don’t wait to get started!

Get Back in the game!

Tough is your middle name!

Flex your “can do” muscle! ((Okay, this one had me laughing out loud…and thinking in other directions! LOL!))

Fire up those engines!

Impress yourself today!

You’ve survived tougher!

Seize the day!

I wanted to post more Philly pics, but I’m running short on time this morning, and Karen is coming tomorrow, so some things are hitting the back burner until later. YES! I did go to the Betsy Ross House! And YES! I did sit in George Washington’s family pew at Christ Church..and took wonderful pics..but….another day!

However, I did come home to THIS:

The old roof is off, new plywood has been laid, the skylights removed…and the weather proofing put in place! We are well on our way to having our new red metal roof!

The light was kind of funky toward evening, but it’s going to be great. I am hoping for red shutters eventually too. The house is wood sided, very much like a cabin in the woods type of cottage, and I think that will need a re-staining at some point too.

This is the view from the back, ladders and all…and the blue tarp is covering the woodpile. The gazebo houses our hot tub, and it will also get a new red metal roof so it will all match….

I want to thank everyone who stopped by to visit yesterday! This drawing isn’t over yet! I’m keeping the comments open until the morning of May 7th when the whole blog tour has ended! So click back to yesterday’s post and leave a comment there if you want to be in the drawing for a free copy of 100 blocks, volume 3!

Back to the quilting machine….Elephant on the chest be danged!

It’s a Quiltmaker Blog Tour! ((And a Give-Away!))

I’ve been waiting and waiting and waiting for my turn to post! IT’S TIME!

This is my second issue as a designer for Quiltmaker’s 100 blocks by 100 designers magazine. I missed the first one. I had too many irons in the fire, and who knew what a big thing it was going to turn out to be!

I loved the excitement that built last time, so there was no way I was going to miss this issue, or the next, or the next or the next!

My block in Vol 3 is #279. It’s found on page 65 and is called Winston Ways. ((I am a Winston Salem, NC girl, after all!))

I really love blocks that create secondary designs, and this one was made to be set block to block to block with no sashings in between as the opposing checkerboard corners will join together and fit light to dark! ((This is also something you have to pay attention to when you are sewing your blocks….the corners are opposite of each other!))

I dug into my bins of pre-cut strips for the checkerboards, pulling out red and neutrals --you know how I love my pre-cut scrap bins, all ready for me to sew in usable sizes!

I did use scrap strips and the easy angle ruler for the 1/2 square triangles, but you can use any method that gives you the size of triangles required.

The white cats on black background are my tribute to Oscar, who I lost last month. He is missed dearly, and I'm happy I used that special fabric there.

And see that stripe next to the star points? That was one of MY own shirts that was re-purposed into my scrap stash when I stopped wearing it. I love how the stripes add motion to the design by twisting and turning different ways.

Here I’ve done a simple straight set of blocks, set 6 X 7 and added two borders, one cut 1.5” to finish at 1”, and the second cut 4.5”

Look at this on point! It also makes an interesting design!

And let me just add, that if this is your first visit to my blog, I'm SO happy that you stopped by! I write a regular column for Quiltmaker called Addicted To Scraps~ Take some time to wander around the blog, there are free pattern links at the top, some recipes, and other goodies for you to discover.

Don't forget to wander over to my Website, Quiltville.com for more Scrappy Quilt Goodness!

I am also busy on facebook! I love being connected to quilters around the globe, and you can find the facebook widget in my right hand side bar ===> Simply click LIKE and you'll be kept up to date with all my doings!

You can also find the "Google Friend Connect" button as well, so you won't miss a post!

In conjunction with this blog tour, We are giving away 2 copies of “100 Blocks, Vol 3!”

One will be mailed directly from Quiltmaker, and one will be signed by yours truly and mailed to you from me!

Leave your comment at the bottom of this post and a winner will be drawn at the end of the blog tour, the morning of May 7th. Please be SURE to include your email address with your post. If you sign in as “anonymous” there will be no way to track you down unless you sign your post with your name and email address!

More news from Quiltmaker!

“We’ll showcase a new set of designers each day on our blog. We’ll have lots of giveaways.”

At last mention on Quiltmaker’s Blog, Quilty Pleasures, prizes were flooding in from all over, so you’ll want to follow along with the blog to see where else to visit during the next few days so you can enter to win there too!

Good Luck, everyone, and Keep It Scrappy!

Philadelphia Freedom!

If I could give ONE piece of advice to anyone who’s life is so busy they feel like they can’t breathe side-ways – If you’ve ever put OFF doing things you’ve always wanted to do, because a better time will come up later, or there will “always” be a next time – it would be to DO IT NOW! Keep your schedule a bit flexible, and JUST DO IT!

I was going to head home from Glenside, PA on Sunday afternoon. That was the plan anyway—but during set up for Saturday’s workshop on Friday evening it struck me, that I had been here several times, always “NP” ((Near Philadelphia, don’t you know!!)) But NEVER once had I actually been “IP!” ((IN Philadelphia!))

And as much of a history buff as I am, it just hit me ---WHY DON’T I JUST ----and I voiced it out loud! And you know how quilters will just chime in and push you along---Marsha started telling me all the places I *HAD* to not miss, and before I knew it, on Saturday morning, she had brought me a tourist map!

From then on ---wheels were really turning! Did I have to really hurry home? No! The roof was half OFF the house by Saturday afternoon when I last talked to DH. It’s a mess of pounding and construction debris and, well……okay! I’m going in to PHILLY to sight see!

And I posted it on my facebook page, and lo and behold, I get a message back from Elsie Campbell who I’ve taught with at a couple venues this year telling me SHE is in Philly too visiting her son! She lives in Ponca City, Oklahoma! So what are the chances we would both be showing up in the same place at the same time? She was on her way up to NY to teach this week….and more plans were quickly made to meet up for dinner at a Mediterranean place downtown!!

SO…off I go!! Guess where I went first?

It was kind of pricey, but the visitor’s center has 24 hour parking beneath it….and it is central to EVERYTHING, and since I had quilts and books in the car, I felt safer in the spendy garage than I would have on the street.

These guys were so cute, I could have just taken them home with me! All over the place, people are dressed colonial style, and they will talk to you as if they are in complete character. VERY fun! They directed me to where to get my tickets for the tour at Independence hall….which is free, you just have to get tickets for it.

I was just AWED to be looking at these buildings….thinking of all the history that happened here. It gives me goosebumps! I think because it was mid afternoon on Sunday, the lines were extra short, and there I was, just walking into these places that have so much meaning in our country’s history!

Here I am in the court room side. I love asking families if they want their picture taken together, whenever I see them struggling to find a way to get it to work. ((I don’t know about you, but trying to take my OWN picture by holding the camera at arms length does NOT work for me!)) And sometimes, they will return the favor! I'm getting a bit braver about just asking people if they wouldn't mind just snapping my pic too in exchange!

But THIS is what I really wanted to see. This is the room where the Declaration of Independence was signed. Our tour guide was fabulous, so full of information and she made it all sound SO exciting, really pulled you in. See that chair in the center back? George Washington sat in that chair. He really did. More goosebumps!

From here I walked across the way only to find that the line for the Liberty Bell was VERY short!

The light is pretty crummy, it was late afternoon, but can you see Independence hall behind me through the window? Just amazing! I’ve seen the image of the Liberty Bell all through my life….but I was THIS close to it. Very cool!

I was meeting up with Elsie and her son at 6pm, so I was hoofing it on foot to as many places as I could get in a very short time frame! Some other highlights were:

Benjamin Franklin is buried in the Christ Church burial ground along with several other signers of the Declaration of Independence, and other well known patriots.

Old cemeteries just have such a reverent feel to them. I guess it brings to mind my own mortality, and I think of these people who lived, loved, laughed and wonder about their lives, and what they would tell us if they could. Would they be amazed at how we live now, or would they think we are missing out on so much because we are SO BUSY!?

All shapes and varieties of headstones and markers. I love reading the names and the dates, and pondering on each – some of them had really INTERESTING verses on them! But the one I came to see was close to the front, very simply marked:

Here is Benjamin Franklin’s tomb. Covered with pennies and nickels! I couldn’t hardly read the writing from the foot, so I had to go around to the front and take a picture from the other end, and then reverse the photo to have it legible…

Benjamin & Deborah Franklin, 1790 That’s all it says. With all the other graves so beautifully marked, listing the accomplishments and memories ---the simplicity of this one just was so striking to me. Really. What more needed to be said?

Of course, Benjamin Franklin was a Mason, as were many other of our nations’ founders..and I found it wonderfully fitting that this beautiful floral display was at the head of his stone.

I have more pics to edit down, my day was only about half done at this point, and I’ll continue this post later! Stay tuned!

Also, remember to return tomorrow, it is my day for the Quiltmaker Magazine blog tour for 100 Blocks Volume 3! You’ll want to remember to leave a comment to be in the drawing for 2 free copies!