What a week...

and it's only Wednesday! The sewing room project is...ummm...messy. The carpet, padding and tack strips are all up. My DH and I have an exciting evening planned for Friday when he returns from Alaska...we're going to Lowe's to purchase the flooring! Yes, it's our 22nd anniversary on Friday and that's what we'll be doing. :o) So you don't get the wrong idea, we do have reservations at Braddock's Tavern, on the upstairs porch, overlooking the knitting store, I mean, beautiful Main Street, for Saturday night to celebrate.

On Monday I found out that I need to have a hysterectomy. My surgery is scheduled for August 22nd, which means I won't be starting school this year until sometime in October. So, if any of you have any advice, suggestions, funny stories, etc...I'd love to hear from you! No horror stories please...I can imagine those well enough on my own. :o)

It's that time of year!

It's time to start building our float for the annual Canoe Carnival. Usually we start in May, but this year our float is of a simpler design and we haven't had to put in as much detail work. The elements of the float are being built at different houses, but this weekend we got together to get the canoes on the water and build the platform. Every year it is our tradition to do a "float around" where we all sit on the platform, bring a cooler of beer and float around the lake to make sure the platform will hold the weight of the float. Of course, at this point we know it will...it's just fun to do it! It's one of my favorite parts. So, tonight was the night and since someone stole my camera to take a picture of me, I figured I'd post it...it was a glorious night to be on the water and the picture isn't too bad...

Of course, I couldn't have considered going out on the lake unless I had finished reading the new Harry Potter book! I started reading at 8 last night, read until 11:30pm, got up and started reading at 8 this morning and finished by 11:30am. It was incredible! Now I need to read it again to find all the little details I missed!

What was I thinking?

I decided that the trim in my sewing room needed painting and the closet doors needed replacing. Took the doors to the curb, then decided that the disgusting old carpet would look much nicer in the trash. I cut the carpeting away from the places I needed to paint and yesterday got two coats of paint on the trim. The trim looks much crisper against the green walls than the dark wood did, but do I have a mess to clean up now!

I still have to remove the rest of the carpeting, padding and all of the staples and tack strips. We're going to be putting a vinyl floor in here that looks like wood. I did something similar in the old sewing room, now my daughter's bedroom, and you'd never know it wasn't a wood floor. We hope to spend Labor Day weekend installing the floor.

Can you tell no sewing is being done? I did finish another prayer shawl (pictures later) and I've cast on a very sweet cable knit scarf that I (hope) plan to have done by winter. Pictures of that once it's big enough to tell what it is!

I've had two people sign up for my Pay It Forward. Rebecca (RatedC), please contact me. Your email address is not in your response and your profile is not available to the public. Thanks!

My youngest is taking her first guitar lesson this afternoon. She's so excited!

Just listed...

I just listed a few things on eBay and thought I'd share one of the items with you, in case anyone is interested! I've had this bag for a few years and thought it would be great for carrying my Dear Jane and other quilting projects around. I think I've used it once...I just don't go to retreats or places where I bring my sewing along. And my DJ has stalled, I'm not sure if I'll ever finish it! So, if anyone is interested in the bag (It's a great bag, more like a briefcase.) You can find a description of it here...

Dear Jane Quilt Briefcase/Bag

If you have any questions, please feel free to email me! Thanks...

Pay It Forward

Over on Tami's blog, Getting Started, she has issued a Pay It Forward challenge. To celebrate my 200th post yesterday, (doesn't seem like much as I've been blogging almost 2 years!) I'm going to continue her challenge. The first 3 people who leave a comment for this post and agree to "Pay It Forward" on their blogs, will receive a small, handmade gift from me. I have no idea what it will be and it may take a little while to get to you, but I promise you'll get something by Labor Day! So, let's see who wants to play....

Christmas in July

This started out to be a table topper, but it seems to have grown into a lap quilt. But it's finished and that's all that matters!

It's been a busy week here, but we did manage to take an afternoon and go see Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. It was entertaining, exciting and some of the scenes were exactly as I had pictured them. Definitely a must see if you're a fan. Now I'm waiting for the last book to come out...I don't plan to move out of my chair until I've finished reading it!

I've a quiet afternoon ahead, I'm off to make some journal covers. I do have a question...do any of you have an etsy store? If so, have you been successful with it? It's something I'm thinking of doing, if I ever manage to create an inventory for it! Thanks for your help!

Orphan Train...

I decided to get this one done over the weekend, so here is my first orphan train quilt, completely finished! I quilted swirls all over the quilt, then I got lucky. I was going to sew together orphan strips from old bindings, but then found a binding strip left over from a quilt I made last year that was long enough to bind the entire quilt! I don't know why I made so much binding for that quilt, but I'm so glad I did!

I hope to have another finish in the next day or two...I quilted my Christmas rings table topper quilt and I'm working on the binding. This week is Vacation Bible School at our church, so I can't sew in the evenings. I guess that means I'll have to sew all day!

One Top Done...

And one more to go. Of course I didn't have enough of anything for a border, so I decided to do a piano key border and use up some orphan strips. You'd think there would be some room in my scrap strip boxes now, wouldn't you? Nope...didn't make a dent and they're still packed in there! This was fun to put together!

Thanks, Finn...

Finn is a troublemaker, plain and simple. But I'll get to that in a minute. First I want to show you the new prayer shawl I just finished. I've discovered I can crochet much faster than I knit, so I'll be crocheting them from now on! I love how this one turned out. My next one will be a rectangular crocheted shawl. I do like having a finished edge instead of making fringe!
On to Finn...I've been reading the posts and seeing the pictures of the Orphan Train quilts that people are making since Finn challenged them. Oh Finn, I saw your challenge and I thought I'd pull out my orphans. I smugly went into my scrap box, where I throw the extra blocks and thought, "I may come out of this with a half dozen blocks. I used some awhile ago to make a charity quilt top, put a few others on the backs of quilts, so there's NO WAY I'll have enough for a quilt top. It's just not going to happen..."
Apparently I was wrong! I have enough blocks to make TWO quilt tops! And I still have a huge stack of nine patches that can go into another quilt. Finn, you're such a troublemaker! Now I have at least 3 more quilts to make! But, they will go to good homes, so I guess it's not all bad. :o) So, thanks Finn, you've inspired a lot of people!

Tuesday Afternoon...

and it's hot and humid here in southern NJ. A good day to stay indoors. I've been working on a customer quilt, but took a nice, long break to sit outside with a glass of water and read. I love the longer days of summer...



Last Friday was my birthday, so yesterday I took a ride to Pennington Quilt Works to use my 20% off birthday coupon which expires at the end of June. I had a collection of FQ's and had nothing to go with them. Using my coupon I picked up 2 one yard pieces...the polka dots and one of the florals, and 3 yards of a cream background fabric to go with them. The whole collection is now washed (not ironed as you can see in the photo!) and waiting for inspiration to strike.

I also made a few more blocks for my sampler quilt. I guess this wouldn't fit into Finn's orphan train challenge since I'm making all these blocks new for the quilt. I do have some orphans laying around, I'm hoping to collect them and make something of them this summer.

Back to the machine or I'll never get anything done this summer! :o)

School's Out for Summer...

We're back from Virginia and now I'm done all my traveling for the summer! We had a wonderful time visiting the University of Mary Washington. It's a beautiful school and Fredericksburg is a delightful little town! Thanks Jen for the advice...we did have lunch at Sammy T's and it was delicious. However we opted for gelato instead of ice cream...we'll try Carl's next time we're down.
We're planning to head back down in the fall so she can get a feel for the campus when there are students around. UMW is definitely at the top of her list right now!
As for what summer will bring, I'm not sure! I have a lot of customer quilts to finish, a few of my own that I'd like to have done and I found a cute pattern for a cable knit scarf that I'd like to make for the winter. Add in the prayer shawls that I'm making (I started a crocheted, triangular scarf last night...it's going fast!), doctor's appointments and all of the normal, day to day stuff and I can see summer will go much too quickly for my liking! :o) But it's filled with opportunities....

Prayer Shawl

Last night I finished my first prayer shawl. I totally enjoyed knitting it and can't wait to get another one on my needles. It was so relaxing to make this and I know that it will be greatly appreciated by the lady here in town who will receive it. The pattern was simple and I only messed it up in one spot. Of course I didn't find it until it was completely finished, fringe and all! If quilters make humility blocks for their quilts, do knitters make humility rows? :o)

Quilt Show Pictures

Saturday was the NJ State Quilt Guild Show in Edison, NJ. Thought I'd share a little eye candy with you. My apologies to the talented quilters who made these quilts...I didn't write down the information as I went through the show. If you see something you have made, let me know and I'll give you credit!
This quilt was a miniature...the little triangles in the feathered star were so small! It was lovely...


This quilt I can credit to Jane Lange, quilted by yours truly. It was striking!

I loved the strippy set of this quilt...so simple yet so beautiful. Love the cheddar!

This one was made to commemorate a visit to Notre Dame in Paris. Stunning!

I just really liked this one!

The show was very nice, the quilts were beautiful, especially the display of antique quilts. I enjoyed the show, it was a much needed, relaxing break! As I was walking around the vendor section, I saw a quilt hanging at the back of the booth and fell in love with it. I went into the booth for a closer look, found the pattern and kits for the quilt and realized...I bought this quilt kit a few years ago! The kit is now out on my sewing table, I guess it's time to make it!

Met the Other Woman...

Yes, that's right. Last night I met the "Other Woman". My husband travels a lot for business. When he's not on the road, he often has customers come into Philadelphia and he wines and dines them, takes them to Phillies games, whatever the customer wants.

For several years, whenever customers are in town, they stay at the Comfort Inn on the Philadelphia waterfront. Over the years, he's come to know the bartender there very well. I've heard stories about her for so long, that I often joke that she's the "other woman" in his life because he talks about her so often!

Last night, after dinner, we hopped in the car and took a ride into Philly. Destination? The bar at the Comfort Inn! I finally got to meet her and she is a sweet lady. I think when he is with her, the DH is in good hands! :o) As we were leaving the hotel, which is at the base of the Ben Franklin Bridge, I snapped this picture with my phone. I love the way the lighted bridge looks at night!

I've been working diligently on the customer's quilt which is loaded on the machine. It's very large and seems to be taking forever. (It's really not, it just seems that way!) I have a second, similar quilt to do for the same customer when this one is done. So, no quilting on my sampler quilt this week!

A Quiet Friday Evening...

And I've been sewing. After returning home from the Philadelphia airport where I picked up a friend of my daughter, I grabbed something to eat and headed up to the sewing room. I wanted to quilt on the longarm, but thunderstorms were rolling through so I left it unplugged.

I wish I could get a picture of the blocks that shows the colors better...that light blue isn't nearly as bright as it looks!

I have a nice list of blocks to make for this quilt...thank you for all of your suggestions! I've decided to make almost all of the blocks that you have said were your favorites. You have all contributed to this quilt and it makes it that much more special to me. I'll need a lot of blocks, so keep sending the names of YOUR favorite blocks...there's plenty of room!

Thanks!!!

Starting New

Is there any feeling better than starting a new quilt? (Okay, I'm sure there is, but that's where I am right now! LOL)

Last night I made my first block for the sampler quilt I decided to make from the "He Loves Me" line of fabrics from Maywood. I just love these fabrics, and love the block. I have no idea what other blocks will make it into this quilt...but so far I'm happy!

I'm feeling that adrenalin rush...new fabric, new quilt, new design and no idea how it will all end up. Or if it will ever be finished! But I'm optimistic...and hopefully by late summer it will be on my bed.

Any block suggestions? What is YOUR favorite block???

It's Wednesday Already?

It's amazing how having a day off can completely throw you off for the rest of the week. We enjoyed our Memorial Day. Somehow we wound up with no kids at home for the majority of the day...one was with friends, another working and the oldest is in Florida with a few of his fraternity brothers. We almost didn't know what to do with ourselves since it was so quiet! :o)

My husband fired up our big green egg and smoked two pork butts. We shredded part of one and had pulled pork sandwiches for dinner. The remaining meat was put into the freezer to be pulled out on Friday and served Saturday night to our float group. While that was smoking, I finished hand stitching down the binding on my Underground Railroad quilt. Since it's been washed, it's hard to see the quilting in this picture, but I used my Baptist Fans template on it...that design just looks great on everything! I'm so happy to have it done.


Over the weekend, JoAnn's was having a huge sale, so I ran over and picked up two more colors of yarn to make prayer shawls with. These two colors are supposed to be "painterly colors" and will have a soft, gradual striping through the shawls. I'm anxious to start, but won't until I finish the one I have started. Hopefully that will be done soon and I'll post a picture. The book is for the Bible Study I'll be participating in come June. We're studying the book of Esther, I'm looking forward to it since I've never been to a Bible Study before.

I've seen some beautiful work as I head through blogland...I'm trying to be better about commenting, but it's slow progress. But I'm visiting and reading...

Only 15 more days of school here, 13 for me and then I'm heading to Virginia with my daughter to look at the University of Mary Washington. We're looking forward to a little rest and relaxation on the trip, but since we'll only be gone two days, I'm not sure we'll get it. Are there any "must see" places in Fredericksburg we should visit once we're done our campus tour?

A message from our governor

NJ governor John Corzine has made a public service announcement for wearing seatbelts. I'm glad to see he's using his mistake for good! Have a wonderful holiday weekend, everyone!

Things are growing...

Last year I wrote about the landscaping work we had done. We knew what we wanted the yard to look like, but didn't have the equipment or expertise to set the "bones" of our garden. This year has been so much fun...now that the foundation of the garden has been laid, we've had a wonderful time playing in the garden! These pictures are the before and after of our front walkway...I love the transformation...
We've been filling in with perennials and because we have a lot of trees, I'm trying to choose plants for a "woodland garden". I've always loved bleeding hearts and finally found one for a shady area along our dry creekbed. For the front which gets a little more sun, we've planted some foxgloves.
And near the street where we get a lot of sun, we planted some marigolds to complement the black eyed susans that are there...hopefully they will spread across this whole bed eventually!

And look what's growing in our backyard? We've had an empty lot behind our house since we moved in almost 9 years ago and someone is finally building a house on it. Since our house is set almost to the very back of our lot (we have about 18 inches off of our porch!) this new house will be verrrry close to us. But...at least we'll be able to do something with our backyard at long last...because we'll know where it ends! (It also helps that the new neighbors are very nice people!)

And to make this quilty, I have my Underground Railroad quilt on the machine and plan to finish it tonight...pictures following soon!

Tulip Garden Quilt

Many years ago, when my daughter was little, I made this quilt for her. It was a Debbie Mumm pattern for a wallhanging, which I expanded many times over to make this tulip quilt. I used very pastel colors, rotary cut for the first time (I'd only used templates before!) and hand quilted it. I love this quilt, but as she grew older, she didn't want it anymore. I eventually folded it up and got her store bought comforters and put it away. The other day I pulled it out of the closet to take a picture and put it away once again. I'm hoping that some day her child will want it...although she swears she's never having children! But just in case...I'll keep it safe!

Thank you very much for the kind wishes for my youngest daughter. As it turns out, she has mononucleosis! The test showed she's in the convalescent stage, so she was spared the worst symptoms and only has a mild case. This explains her exhaustion lately! She also had an ultrasound today to look for the cause of abdominal pain she's been having, so we're awaiting the results of that test.

As for me, I had a very nice Mother's Day. My two older children had to work so I didn't expect to see my son at all and would only see my daughter in the evening. I headed over to my sister's house, where we celebrated Mother's Day with my parents, my sister and her son and my brother's family. We also celebrated my nephew's college graduation. Andrew, who sent me 2 dozen roses since he knew he was working and wouldn't be home, surprised me with a visit...but I wasn't home! I convinced him to come to my sister's...it was great to see him and spend time with him. After dinner, I headed home to spend the evening with my youngest and my DH. He stayed home with her because we didn't want her around my little nephews, just in case she was contagious!

I hope to get to some quilting this week...I did start to sew the Underground Railroad quilt together but stopped when I made a mistake! Oh well...there's some ripping in my future...