Gone...

I don't know where the week went, but it was gone fast! I got a lot done this week. I did some customer quilting...this is the back (click to embiggen!), the front is gorgeous. And I did some more quilting for customers....
And a little more customer quilting....
I took a some time to watch the birds...
And I did a little stitching...totally screwing up the part where I was supposed to stitch panels for BOTH ends of the caddy. I hope my partner likes it anyway! :o) Today I stepped away from the quilting machine and was off from my job with Weight Watchers, so I did some cleaning and decorated for Halloween. I hate Halloween and would much rather decorate for fall, but....I don't have any fall decorations! I inherited my mother-in-law's Halloween decorations when she moved to Arizona, so that's what I put out. Pictures over the weekend of those.

I also straightened up the attic today while the temps were cool. I found 4 tubs that I hadn't looked at in several years. Two are crystal and glass and two are a treasure trove of old linens from my grandmother and great grandmother. I never could decide how to properly display them...there are a lot of cutwork napkins...so I packed them away. I'll share some pictures of those as well, once I've laundered and pressed them. If anyone has any suggestions on what to do with them, I'd appreciate it!

I'm off to a party tonight to remember a friend's father...today was his birthday. In his dad's honor, Van is having a screening of Darius Goes West. I'm bringing my little pretzel things...there will be kids there and I'm sure they'll like them!

New Life...

has been breathed into an old cabinet. Back when my mother was in nursing school, about 50 years ago, my grandfather made her this sewing cabinet. When she decided she no longer wanted it, I scooped it up and moved it to NY with me. It was covered with a wood veneer, which was peeling off, so I stripped it down, painted it white and for some reason, sponge painted it with a colonial blue paint. I guess because it went so well with the blue and mauve wallpaper in my sewing room? A very 90's thing to do...

Inside the cabinet my grandfather built all sorts of cool spaces for sewing supplies..thread holders, little curved drawers that swing out to hold buttons and what not, pegs to hold scissors and even little racks to hold patterns, which he carved out in the shape of scissors!

I decided it was time for an update. I'm going to be painting my laundry room cabinets black and decided to do a trial run on the sewing cabinet. Eventually it will have a little quilt on top of it along with a few odds and ends, but I have to make one first.

I even found great little knobs to complement the black...

And...yesterday was my father's birthday, so happy birthday dad! :o)

Strangely Quiet...

It's suddenly very quiet in my house. The boss just left with our daughter to head to college. He's going to be up in New England next week on business and timed his trip to be able to take Ellen up to Johnson & Wales in Providence, RI. They had planned to leave tomorrow morning, stop at the Mystic Aquarium on their way up and then get into Providence at dinner time. Tropical Storm Hanna changed their plans, so they're heading to Mystic tonight to avoid the drive in the rain and wind tomorrow. After visiting the aquarium, they'll continue on to Providence when the weather lets up some tomorrow. I'll miss her, but I'm willing to bet I hear from her just about every day. And if I don't, I'll be calling her!

Grace will spend the weekend recovering from her first three days of high school (which she loves!) and watching horror movies. I'll be quilting and cleaning. Do I know how to have fun?

My week...

started last Sunday with a belated birthday cake for Grace. (I'm a bad mom, her cake was only 20 days late!) Aside from work, laundry, cleaning and all the usual stuff, it included practicing the guitar (a lot!), some applique, a new phone and a little light reading. (The book is total fluff...definitely a beach read!)
This week will be interesting...we'll be packing Ellen and sending her off to college, Grace will be starting high school and I'll be starting a few new projects around the house once it's quiet again. As much as I love summer, it's good to be getting back to the regular routine this week. If it can ever be regular again with two away at college!

New Friends...

I wish I'd taken pictures of Suzy's Quilting Room last night...I've never seen such an immaculate, perfectly organized quilting room! As a matter of fact, the whole house was that way and I hear that it's not just clean because it's on the market, but it's that way all the time. When I grow up I want to be just like Sue... We had a wonderful time getting to know each other while we sat and stitched. It turned out that I knew several of the women there from guild and I had even quilted for one a few years ago. I stopped going to guild because I couldn't get there when my children were younger, but I've been invited back and will be going in September...I'm looking forward to it!

No strip poker was played because only 3 of us showed up with the strips we needed, so we chatted and stitched and ate...lots of delicious food was there! I was the first to show up and the last to leave because I was treated to a private quilt show...Sue does beautiful machine applique and piecing and has a number of finished quilts, as well as some quilt tops waiting to be finished. We asked her husband to take our picture before I headed home...

Thanks for a wonderful time and I'm looking forward to getting together again!

Fun Friday...

I have a new applique project prepped and some strips cut...

I have snacks made, even though blogger keeps putting the picture in sideways...

And I have my camera ready to go for tonight when I head to Suzy's Quilting Room! I've never met a real, live, quilting blogger before and it turns out we live about 20 minutes from each other. Suzy has invited me to her quilting group tonight for some strip poker. I've always wanted a quilting group...I'm looking forward to meeting everyone!

Getting all domestic...

Yesterday was a long day. I worked a lunchtime Weight Watchers meeting, drove about 45 minutes to a doctor's appointment, stopped for a salad at Applebee's and then worked another Weight Watchers meeting (where one of my coworkers was a quilter!) and then ran home to meet the boss...which turned into going to the local pub to have a beer (or two) on their patio.

Today, I got to stay home all day, which had me feeling all domestic. That rarely happens. I don't do domestic. My house is comfortable, but nowhere near a designer showcase. Sometimes it's even clean, but usually it has a much more "lived in" feel. Since it was clean enough today, my domesticality (yeah, I made that up!) headed to the kitchen. Where I made these chocolate chip muffins from King Arthur's website. I used half chocolate chips and half cinnamon chips and oh my God, they are amazing!

Then I decided I needed some sourdough bread for dinner, so I made a loaf of whole wheat sourdough from which I will make paninis with rosemary chicken, roasted peppers, fresh mozzarella, and fresh tomatoes from the garden.
My family is going to love me tonight!

Did I ever leave the house?

I really don't think I did leave the house over the weekend, except to pick up dinner on Saturday night! I spent most of it quilting. I finished the top of this quilt and prepared the backing on Friday night...

I loaded it on the machine and quilted half on Saturday...

And finished the quilting, then sat up until almost midnight to finish the binding on Sunday night. Today it was washed, folded and beribboned and is now on its way to my son's girlfriend who is moving into her new house near the Drexel campus this afternoon. I hope she likes it! The colors are the most true in this picture, they were very hard to photograph because of the low contrast.

I just heard that she loves it and now plans to decorate her room in these colors...and that just made my day!

Now to figure out what to make next....

Friday Finish...

I've been very busy with customer quilts this summer, to the point I was even running behind on finishing. It felt good to finish a quilt today! I don't normally share customer quilts on the blog, but this one was too pretty not to share.

The fabrics were gorgeous and the quilt seemed to tell me how it wanted to be quilted, I love how it turned out.



A close up of the quilting....


And sometimes the back are just as pretty as the front!

Sunshine and Pink Flamingoes...

arrived in my mailbox today...and certainly brightened up this dreary Monday! Cheryl was my swap partner and she sent this adorable summer quilt, complete with embroidered flamingoes and a palm tree on a hand dyed background...it's beautiful, thanks Cheryl!







Last week I received this package in the mail from Little Quilts. After admiring the Jo Morton Little Women quilts on so many blogs, I decided to join myself. I'm looking forward to making these...

I did get to participate in Judy's Quiltathon this weekend and sewed up blocks for half of a quilt. The other half is in pieces on my sewing table. It's coming together nicely, but the colors just don't photograph well! This is for my son's girlfriend.

I'd hoped to have the whole thing finished last night, but storms rolled through and we lost power at 8pm. We spent a few hours sitting around the fireplace, talking, but eventually we went to bed. When the power came back on at 12:40am, it scared the daylights out of us...the lights came on, the TV was blaring...and we had been sound asleep. Talk about a rude awakening!

I did discover something last night...it's really hard to knit by candlelight!

Canoe Carnival 2008

Canoe Carnival is now a great memory and we had a wonderful time. We had amazing shirts this year....

An incredible background...


A great crew of people who worked on the float...(and their families during our annual pre-launch champagne toast!)


Some fabulous music...We had "Tommy can you hear me" by the Who redubbed as "Horton can you hear me"...wish I knew how to get music onto the blog!

And a fun float...from what we've been told it was a crowd favorite. I've had people stop me on the street to tell me how much they loved it!


The judges didn't like it quite as much though...we came in second in our division (sounds better than it is...there were only 3 in our division and one got Grand Prize, so that left 2!) But...it was probably the MOST fun we've had at Canoe Carnival ever!

Now it's time to get back to real life....I haven't picked up my guitar or done much of anything but build the float for the last 2 weeks!

It's that time of year...

with only a few days left until Canoe Carnival we'll be working furiously all week to finish our float. I'll be back next week with pictures...

Show you love quilting...

I received this adorable tee shirt as a birthday gift this year. Unfortunately, it doesn't fit me, so I've placed it in my Etsy store. It's a large Hanes Her Way tee and would make a great addition to some lucky quilter's wardrobe!

The design is embroidered and embellished with buttons. Please go take a look! Thanks! :o)

Stashbusting? Not so much...

I had a nice visit to the local quilt shop today! I decided to make a quilt for my son's girlfriend and her favorite color is yellow. The yellow floral will be the focal fabric, the blue and green will be accents and the leaf print will be the backing. Yes, I even bought backing fabric! I love this line of fabric, it's Amelia from Timeless Treasures. I'd never seen it before and once I did, there was no going back.

Except for the shopping, I've been taking it easy because my dear husband gave me a concussion on Saturday. We came home from Target on Saturday night and he grabbed some of the bags out of the back of the car. He asked me to get the last one, so I leaned in, got it and when I straightened back up he slammed the tailgate on my head. Yeah, that hurt. I spent some quality time with an ice pack and except for a little blurred vision and a killer headache, I'm doing okay. Although, if the headache doesn't ease soon it may warrant a trip to the doctor. Good thing I have a hard head!

I need a mindless project right now since I can't seem to concentrate (wonder why???) so I cast on a little ribbed knit cap for Newborns in Need. It's very cute, I may have to make a few of these! Pictures when it's a little bigger...

This and That...

If you are interested in Cross Stitch, I've put some vintage (late 80's, early 90's) magazines and books in my Etsy Store...take a look!


Viv finally allowed her daddy to take a picture of her with her quilt...I think she likes it!



I received a wonderful Pay It Forward gift from Tami at Getting Started. Thanks Tami, I love it!

I've spent the last week creating a few friends to be part of our Canoe Carnival float...see anyone you know?

And I've joined the Stitchers' Angel Swap, you can read about it here, or by clicking on the picture in my sidebar.

Too bad I didn't mention any quilting going on here! Maybe next week...

Divine Providence

The last week has been a whirlwind! The boss and I took Ellen, our older daughter up to Johnson and Wales in Providence, RI, for Freshman Orientation. With the way the 2 day program was set up, we got a lot of time to explore the city which will be her home for the next few years. What a great little town Providence is! The area where the campus is located is a nice part of the city, with great restaurants, a small theater and plenty of shopping within walking distance. My favorite part of the city is Federal Hill, which is the Italian section of town. The nicest shops, restaurants and delicious dessert bars are located there! I can see myself visiting Ellen at college a lot...not that she'll be thrilled to have me camped on her doorstep. :o)

This past weekend also marked my parents' 50th anniversary. We surprised them with a family dinner at a local Italian restaurant, then went back to their house for cake and coffee. Happy Anniversary, Mom and Dad...here's to another 50 healthy, happy years!

I'm not sure if my partner for the Four Seasons Quilt Swap reads my blog, but if you do...your quilt is on its way to you! You should have it on Thursday...I hope you like it!

Friendship...

Over the years I've had friendships that need a great deal of tending to and friendships that come naturally. Last Wednesday, we had a chance to meet up with our friends from when we lived in New York. We met Debbie and Rich through the school our children went to. It was always a comfortable friendship...we attended their family events, they attended ours. I watched their kids after school when Debbie returned to work. We'd get together for birthdays, just to hang out, for playdates, and most often for a cup of tea or a beer. After leaving NY, we stayed in touch, but didn't see each other for almost 10 years. I missed them...they missed us, but life went on. When we saw them on Wednesday, it was like we'd never been away. We fell right back into the easy friendship...and there is no way we'll let 10 years pass before we meet again!

Debbie and Grace

Rich and Andrew

Their daughters, Brittany and Katrina

And in case you think there's no quilting going on, I did finish Viv's quilt...but forgot to take a picture. I also finished my Four Seasons Quilt Swap quilt. I'ts overcast and I couldn't get a good picture of it, so here's a bad one. I hope my partner likes it...once I make the label it will be heading somewhere in the US!

I've also started playing catch up on my Dear Jane quilt. I've missed 11 blocks and one triangle, so will spend the next few days trying to get them done. Last night I put together H-13...the easiest of the blocks I missed! I also had another guitar lesson last Thursday. I'm enjoying it, but have found I get very frustrated when my fingers won't move the way they're supposed to! I'm working on it...

Summertime...

has been delightful so far. We're enjoying some time on the lake as we cat sit for friends. We've been out in the canoe...

(Andrew, his girlfriend Liz and Grace)

We've watched some beautiful sunsets...

And I've found time to do a little quilting. I finished piecing this top this morning, then quilted it and sewed the binding on this afternoon. Tomorrow, we're heading to NY to see friends that we haven't seen in the 10 years since we moved back to NJ. I'll be hand stitching the binding to the back of it as we drive...hopefully I can finish it and get it washed so I can give it to a little girl on Thursday night...I hope she likes it!