What I'm reading

I was traveling again last week so I got a lot of reading done. I found Mercy Falls by William Kent Krueger in the *local* section of the book store. It's a mystery that takes place in Minnesota - I enjoyed reading it and I'll have to look for more of his books.

I also took The Devil Wears Prada with me and the latest Stephanie Plum novel from Janet Evanovich. Both good summer reads - light, entertaining, and quick.


Mercy Falls
William Kent Krueger


The Devil Wears Prada
Lauren Weisberger


Twelve Sharp
Janet Evanovich

Forgetful

After going through all the trouble to collect a binding *kit* - scissors, clips, thread, needles, thimble - and tossing it in a small case to bring with me this weekend, I walked off and left it sitting on the bar at the house.

Mom's quilt

I finished quilting a top for my Aunt last week and today I'm loading this top of my Mom's. The block is called Honeybee and she used a beautiful set of fat quarters. After quilting this top, I still have one each of my Aunt's and my Mom's waiting to be quilted.

My Quilting Studio

Moving will at last force me to completely and ruthlessly purge my quilting supplies and material. None of the housing we're looking at will have the kind of space dedicated to quilting that I have now so before leaving on this trip I started going through my books and magazines.

I'll donate a ton of my quilting books to the library and I've already started to rip out pictures of quilts I like from my magazines. They'll be placed in a binder and the rest of the magazines will be tossed. Going through the magazines has made me realize how many magazines I get that have absolutely no quilts that appeal to me in them. I'm going to let all my subscriptions end and in the future just buy issues that appeal to me.

I haven't decided for sure how I'm going to decrease my stash but some fabric will be donated, some cut into strips for future scrap quilts, and possibly some cut into fat quarters.

I'm finding that I prefer making scrap quilts and I like working with fat quarters. When I participated in our guild cut-in for our charity quilts we cut a lot of donated yardage into fat quarters and that seemed to work well for the patterns for scrappy quilts that were distributed.

I did get some quilting done between all the visits to and from family. I quilted both blue braid quilts that will be donated and a queen size top my Aunt sent me to quilt for her.

Minneapolis

We arrived in Minneapolis on Friday afternoon and spent a couple days looking at townhomes and condo's. Just as I thought, a condo isn't going to work for us but Keith wanted to look at them so we did.

We found a townhouse community by the river within walking distance of downtown that I really love. They're more expensive than I wanted to spend but not more expensive than I can afford so they're my first choice of places to live.

Keith hasn't definitely decided to move yet but even if we don't relocate to Minneapolis with his company we decided we're selling our house and we have it on the market.

Now Keith just needs to make a decision and the house needs to sell and we can move ahead in one direction or the other.

What I'm reading

Having recently read two of Jodi Picoult books, Vanishing Acts and The Tenth Circle, I bought a 3rd book of hers the other day.

I finished reading Keeping Faith tonight and liked this one even more than the two previous books. I will definitely read her other books. Click on the title to read a review of the book.

Family

The Johnson's
The Johnson women (I'm on the far right)

A whole week without blogging that's unusual for me.

The house is listed for sale and my fingers are crossed that we'll be able to sell it by November. Sooner would be nice.

Keith's brother and sister and their families have been visiting and just went home today. We spent a couple days here at the house and then went up to Big Canoe for a couple days. They all left today and while we had a wonderful time, I've spent most of today getting both places straightened up and started washing all the sheets and towels used by our 7 guests. It will take a couple days to finish the laundry and get all the beds made back up.

In the next couple days I also hope to get a binding on the second braid quilt I finished quilting last week and to load my Aunt's quilt on the longarm.

Monday

We're back from Virginia and we had a great time. I really miss spending time as a family so it was good to have both boys (and Becky) with us.

Today I spent some more time getting ready to get the house listed and preparing for the next set of company coming on Wednesday. I've washed a pile of sheets and towels in the last few weeks and stripped and made up beds repeatedly. This next week should be the last company for a while.

I did get a binding sewn on my blue braid quilt otherwise known as UFO #9. I'll take and post a picture in the next day or so. It's a small donation quilt but it's nice to have another one finished.

Speaking of one of the blue quilts, Adam saw the string quilt top when he was home for graduation and promptly claimed it for himself. That's one less quilt to donate but the boys each get about one quilt a year so it's nice to have Adam's next one already pieced. Chris' next one will be a queen sized wedding quilt which will hopefully be done by the wedding.

I did squeeze in an hour hike today - the weather cut it a little short and I was soaked by the time I finished but I'm continuing to lose weight. I had my Weight Watchers weigh in today and was down another 1.6 lbs for a total loss of 28.4 lbs since mid-January.

What I'm reading

I had an email from Jackie who reads my blog and commented that she missed my posts on the books I'm reading. I haven't posted about my reading material in a while but haven't slowed down. The last 3 books I've read are:




DIGGING TO AMERICA by Anne Tyler
I enjoyed this novel written about 2 families who adopted foreign babies.











DARK TORT by Diane Mott Davidson
The latest in a series of mystery's featuring a crime solving chef. I always enjoy these books by Davidson.










VANISHING ACTS by Jodi Picoult
Very good also - about relationships within a family and between the main character and two friends from childhood.

Graduation Day

Adam graduated yesterday. It feels good to have both boys out of school and working.

Today we all go to Virginia to visit my family and for Becky (Chris' fiance) to meet them before the wedding in October.

This is a big year for us - a graduation, a wedding, and a major move. Somewhere I have to find more time for quilting.

Super Simple Strips

I love seeing different versions of a particular quilt pattern. I was reading Vicky's blog and saw she had posted her version of this quilt and decided I'd post mine too. This quilt was given to my sister-in-law last year.

Bits and pieces

Chris and Becky were visiting this weekend and we met her Mom and sister for the first time. We went to a tasting at the wedding facility on Saturday and the wedding plans are moving along.

Chris and Becky took me to lunch for my birthday on Friday and then Keith took us all to dinner.

Keith found out on last week that his company is closing their offices here in Marietta and moving them to Minneapolis - will we move with them? Keith hasn't decided yet but will make a decision soon.

I have gotten some quilting squeezed in between other things going on. I loaded and quilted the small braid quilt which is now waiting for binding and then loaded the 2nd braid quilt and have the quilting started.

Adam graduates next week

Adam had not intended to attend the graduation breakfast and ceremonies for his culinary program but changed his mind at the last minute. This morning we attended the breakfast and next week we'll attend the graduation ceremony.

Another NON quilt related post

Another weekend passed without any quilting but I am going to load one of my UFO's on the longarm before heading out for a hike.

We had a long weekend up at Big Canoe with friends visiting from Florida. Chris also showed up for a couple days which was nice! I got to see both him and Adam in the same week.

Saturday we went for a boat ride on the lake and then on Sunday showed our friends a couple waterfalls in the area. Chesty normally HATES water but he bravely crossed this stream at one of the waterfalls to come to me.

Canoeing

Adam (my youngest son) came to visit for a couple days so we headed for the mountains. This afternoon we went canoeing and had a great time. Keith gets home from California late this afternoon so we have dinner plans overlooking the lake for this evening.

I took my small camera with us and as you can see from the 2nd picture, the one of me, the camera went bad after about a 1/3 of the pictures. I'm so upset because I had some really great pictures. The camera is about 2 years old but probably more expensive to fix than to replace. I guess I'll have to see.

I hate to send this one back

I'm finished quilting Mom's 4 Patch and I wish I didn't have to send this one back to her.

Laurie Ann commented on my color coordination and I can't take too much credit for this one. It's kind of a convoluted story but in a nutshell - Mom had bought a bundle of fabric at Tiny Stitches when she was visiting me, made a quilt top and sent it to me to quilt last year. The woman helping me care for my father-in-law fell in love with that quilt and Mom let me keep the quilt and give it to Emmorgean to thank her for her help in caring for my father-in-law.

So what does that have to do with this quilt? Well, I gave her these fabrics to replace the ones she'd used in the top she gave me. Most of them came in a fat quarter bundle - again bought at Tiny Stitches and I bought the border to coordinate at the same time.

Norma asked how I planned on quilting it - well, the fabrics are pretty busy so I did what I usually do on scrap quilts - I used a pantograph. This one is called Frisky Feathers by Lorien Quilting.

Mom's 4-patch finally loaded

The practice muslin from my bee meeting is finally off the machine. Saturday I did spend some more time practicing some freehand designs and then removed the muslin.

The plan was to load and start Mom's 4 patch top on Sunday after Keith left for California but I was in a lazy mood and decided to read instead.

Finally, this afternoon I loaded and started quilting Mom's top. I love this quilt. It's a larger scrappy version of a 4 patch quilt in the book 40 Fabulous Quick Cut Quilts. I have strips cut out in greens to make myself a king size version but haven't started piecing mine yet.

This is much better!

After the new carpet

Before the new carpet

Here's a picture I posted in January of the downstairs bedroom in the condo with the new quilts - although we replaced all the carpet in the condo - the improvement was most dramatic downstairs.

No quilting but I do have new carpet

We did get our carpet installed at the condo today which is good news but they took the molding off and there's about a half inch of unpainted wall in all the rooms I had carpeted. Next I'll have to find someone to paint and/or replace molding. Funny how one home improvement project leads to another.

Another day without quilting - by the time I get home Friday it will be two weeks without working on any of the quilts on my to do list. I still have the practice muslin loaded and want to play some more before taking it off and loading one of my Mom's quilts then I'll quilt a couple UFO tops.

*****
Thanks for all the nice comments and emails about Mother's Day. I'm glad both boys are living on their own but now I guess I'll have to get used to not always having them at home for special occasions. Kind of like my Mom had to do when I moved away from Virginia 16 years ago!

I miss my boys!

I'm kind of depressed - I miss my boys and won't see either of them tomorrow on Mother's Day. I am glad they are both living on their own but I miss seeing them.

Bee Meeting

I had my Bee meeting today at my house and everyone had a chance to try the longarm. I enjoyed showing how the machine works and demonstrating different quilting methods - pantographs, freehand quilting, and marking with stencils. It's been a while since I'd loaded any practice muslin so I had fun trying out some new quilting designs after everyone left.

I've been a member of a guild for several years but have started attending a bee meeting in the last 6 months. I'm really enjoying the smaller group.

We're back at Big Canoe for the weekend so these are my *after* pictures with the vinyl floors. Much better than the carpet.

This busy week is almost over

Finished
Mammogram done, bathroom floors installed, guild cut-in for Ronald McDonald quilts attended, helped a friend shop for fabric to make a quilt from blocks her grandmother made.

Still to go
Cleaning my sewing room and the downstairs in preparation for my Bee meeting tomorrow, grocery shopping, piece batting scraps and load practice muslin on the long arm for the Bee meeting, bake a coffee cake.

Bathroom floors finished

The floors are finished. The bathrooms definitely look better than with the carpet but I don't like the molding.

The baseboards in the upstairs bathrooms will need repainting anyway and the wall needs touching up downstairs so I'll hope the trim will look better once that's done. I really need to repaint all three bathrooms but its been a long time since I painted myself rather than having someone do it for me. Not sure I want the hassle of doing it myself.

Well the pictures wouldn't post and I left the disk up at Big Canoe so I'll have to add pictures to this post this weekend.

New floors for the bathrooms

I had to be up at 6:30AM this morning (very early for me) because I had someone coming to install new flooring in my bathrooms at the condo. Right now all three bathrooms have old carpet on the floors - yuck!

Usually I like ceramic tile in bathrooms and kitchens but decided to go with a vinyl flooring that could go over the existing vinyl that is under the carpet. I didn't want to get into a major deal - just get something simple and clean on the floors. Next week all the old carpet will be replaced.

Here are before pictures of the 2 upstairs bathroom floors - the downstairs has the ugly pink carpet too.

Progress

No progress with my quilting but today I got my DSL set up at the condo. I had dial-up but it was so incredibly slow compared to the DSL at home that I decided to splurge and have DSL at both places.

I also set up my printer so now I can upload pictures from my digital camera when I'm here at the condo instead of having to wait until I get home.

I guess both the above show I don't have much patience or maybe just that I'm spoiled.

To test the printer I took and uploaded a picture of the wallhanging my sister Debbie made for me. It's not hung yet but it will be as soon as I buy the rod and get Keith to hang it for me.

Rainy Day

Thanks to a lazy rainy day I finished one of the afghans I brought to the condo to work on. It's a diagonally knit baby afghan from a cotton variegated yarn. Next up is to work on the crocheted shell baby afghan.

I'm still not set up to post pictures from the condo but I'm one step closer. I bought a new printer for the house and brought the old one from home (this one has a card reader built in). I just need to set it up but I'm waiting until I get the DSL hooked up so it won't take so long to download the driver from the HP site.

A busy week ahead

I can't believe it's already Saturday. I had planned to load and start quilting my Mom's 4 patch this week but now it's too late - It will have to wait another week or so. I have a busy week planned and not much time for quilting.

We're at Big Canoe for the weekend and I'll have to stay thru Tuesday when we're having the new flooring put in the bathrooms. Monday I'll have to drive back to Marietta for my mammogram and straight back here - so no time for quilting thru Tuesday.

Wednesday, my guild is having a cut-in for our Ronald McDonald quilts and then I hope to meet a friend for lunch and help her pick out fabric to coordinate with blocks her grandmother made.

Thursday, I have to clean the house, load some practice muslin on the longarm, and shop for some snacks and drinks for Friday.

Friday, I'm having my Bee group over and am going to demonstrate quilting on the longarm and let them all try it.

Then we'll be back at Big Canoe for the weekend.

For now, I've brought a couple afghans I'm working on to keep my hands busy. I'm going to seriously have to think about getting a machine up here to do some piecing but I hate the thought of having to set up a second quilting area. I'd have to store everything in the guest room and set up on the dining room table when I want to sew. I guess I'll stick to handwork and afghans.

Blue Strings top completed

I finally finished the borders on this top tonight. The borders aren't wavy although they do look like they are in the picture - it's just the way the top is hanging from the hooks for the photo. I'm done with blue thank goodness!

While I like this top, I learned that I prefer string quilts in multiple colors and don't think I'll be making another monochromatic one.

Home again

A quiet section of the river beyond the busy Riverwalk area
San Antonio Central Library
Southwest School of Arts and Crafts
Riverwalk during a quiet time of day.

I enjoyed the San Antonio trip but am glad to be home.

Highlights were visiting the Southwest School of Arts and Crafts along Riverwalk, the Riverwalk itself, the library, the Alamo of course, and finding a quiet stretch of the river away from the riverwalk area to walk along.

What I'm reading

It's been a while since I posted the books I've been reading but since I'm still out of town and haven't been working on a quilt I'll post my vacation reading. And yes, I've read all these books since Friday!

A Lady Raised High: A Novel of Anne Boleyn Laurien Gardner
Very good - I enjoy historical fiction.

Alone Lisa Gardner
I enjoyed this mystery and see that she's written a bunch of other ones. I may have read some but I'm going to check them out and will order the ones I haven't read. I'm always looking for new (to me) authors and love it when I find a bunch of books I haven't read yet.

Sullivan's Justice Nancy Taylor Rosenberg
Another mystery, my favorite genre, this one was good - not great but I enjoyed it.

Kill Me Stephen White
One of my favorite authors. Again, this book was good but not great. If you've never read him start with one of his other books.

San Antonio

We've been here a day and a half and I've explored the Riverwalk area, had a massage, read a book and relaxed by the pool. I still want to walk along the mission trail, visit the Alamo and the San Antonio Central Library (I have a thing for visiting libraries in the cities I travel to).

On a quilting note I did get started on the borders for the string quilt before I left home. I got the first inner border on, a pieced border partially sewn on, and have that to finish along with another final border once I get home.

A rainy day, a hike, and a honeysuckle scented trail

No quilting today at least not so far although at 1:24am I am considering working on the string quilt borders.

I almost didn't go for my hike today - it was rainy and cool and I thought the weather was too bad for a long hike. Luckily Keith and I were emailing back and forth about other things and he said I should go anyway. I spent 3 hours hiking along honeysuckle scented trails and came home feeling wonderful.

Another trip coming up on Friday. Keith has a meeting in San Antonio and I'm tagging along. Several years ago he worked for a company based in San Antonio but the kids weren't old enough to be left so I never got to go with him. I haven't been to Texas - unless you count flying through Dallas airport so I'm looking forward to the trip.

Strings

Can anyone explain how I can have finished 4 lap sized quilts without having that pile of strips and strings on the floor decrease at all??

Actually the 4th one is not yet finished - I put the blocks together today and just have to add borders. I am thinking of a striped pieced border sandwiched between a narrow and wider blue border.

So far I'm liking the Hourglass Strings better but its not unusual for me to not be crazy about a quilt at this point in the process. I've learned to wait until the top is finished and if I'm still not crazy about it - give the quilting a chance. It's amazing how much I like so-so quilts after they are quilted.

Photo's from Friday

Since I couldn't post these on Friday while I was up at the condo I'll share them now. I've posted the view before but it seems *new* with everything greening up for spring.

Chesty enjoyed the view with me.

Tagged again

I'm not very good at these but I'll give it a shot.

All That History
20 years ago (1986):Working as an RN, divorcing my first husband, single mom to Chris - 3 and Adam - 1.
10 years ago (1996): Remarried to Keith 7 years by this time, living in Tampa, still working as an RN, raising Chris and Adam.
5 years ago (2001): Working some, taking some classes, trying to decide what I wanted to be when I grow up. Quilting for about 6 months and loving it. Living in South Florida with Keith, Chris and Adam.
1 year ago (2005): Spending our 3rd year in the Atlanta area, brought Keith's dad to live with us and cared for him until he died in May. Chris graduated from college, Adam still in Culinary school, still spending my spare time quilting, traveling with Keith when I can.
1 month ago (2006):Signed up for the Breast Cancer 3 day and started training walks, weekends at the condo in the Georgia mountains, a trip to Boston, celebrated Adam's 21st birthday by visiting him.
Today: Breakfast with Keith, a trip to Home Depot to order carpet and flooring for the condo, my Weight Watchers meeting - 22 lbs lost since mid January.
Tomorrow: Put together my Blue string blocks, take a hike.
Tagging: I'll tag Norma, one of the newer members to Stash Quilts so we can all learn a little about her!

This day just kept getting better

My husband came home with flowers and a card for our anniversary AND reservations for a trip to Ireland in October. We've been trying to plan a trip there for 10 years and something always comes up - last year we had tickets booked but his Dad came to live with us and was too ill for me to leave him so we canceled.

I'm so excited but October is going to be exhausting - first we'll have the 10 day trip to Ireland, then the Breast Cancer 3 day, then my son's wedding. It's a good thing we're the parents of the groom and have no responsibilities except the rehearsal dinner since we'll be tied up the 3 weekends before the wedding!

Sometimes good things just happen

I was *stuck* at the condo today waiting for a guy to come measure for carpet when I read a message on the Stashbuster list about someone getting an early start on the stay at home weekend retreat.

Since I'd tossed my hexagon flowers in a tote to bring with me this weekend I decided I would *retreat* while I was waiting. I put some music on and spent the afternoon out on the deck sewing hexagons. It was a beautiful day and one I would probably have spent inside sewing at the machine had I been at home.

Then just as I was thinking what a wonderful day I'd had, my husband called from the airport saying his flight was already in and that he'd be at the condo in time to go out to dinner tonight. Since today is our 17th anniversary and I thought he wouldn't be home until late this evening this was just icing on the cake!

I wish I could upload the pictures I took today of the lake and trees from the deck but that will have to wait until I get home Monday.

Progress

Another quilt top finished.

21 pounds lost since mid January

34 miles hiked last week

$1,695.00 raised so far for Breast Cancer research.

******
Thanks to those who have already made donations to help me reach my goal. To make a donation in memory of someone lost to breast cancer or in honor of someone fighting the disease please click the link below.

Breast Cancer 3 Day

I made my deadline

I did finish both the quilts on Thursday that I wanted to get done before the weekend. The first was this log cabin quilt my Aunt made and the second one was a donation quilt I was asked to quilt for my guild.

Tomorrow I can get back to work on my string quilts.

Family Quilt Challenge/Exchange

Debbie's quilt
Ann's quilt (she's on the left)

Maureen's quilt

Mom's quilt (this is the one I got in the exchange)
Janet is Debbie's daughter-in-law and didn't finish her quilt in time for the exchange but it was her first quilt so maybe it was best she got to keep it.

Evelyn asked if I had pictures of the other quilts that were exchanged when I did the Toile quilt. I don't have those but my Autumn Geese was done for a family challenge two and a half years ago and I do have pictures of those quilts. The rules were simple - the quilt had to be a scrap quilt and have a minimum of 25 fabrics.

After everyone showed their quilt we pulled numbers out of a bowl to see which one we would win. It was random EXCEPT if we'd already previously won a quilt from someone we drew another name.

My Toile quilt was for the exchange after this one and my sister who hates scrap quilts made the rule that it had to have only 3 fabrics and applique - I think she was trying to get back at me!

We were supposed to exchange quilts again last June but life got in the way. I did get mine from Debbie but haven't yet made the wallhanging I'm supposed to make for Maureen. I guess I should move that up my list.

Thursday already?

I can't believe how fast this week is flying by. I've got my Aunt's quilt on the longarm and plan to finish it up today and then have a small lap quilt I agreed to quilt for the guild to get loaded.

The plan was to have both tops quilted before Friday so I could get back to my blue string quilts when we get home from the mountains on Sunday - not sure if I'll make that deadline. However, Keith is out of town tonight so I might just get finished if I get back to work. I decided I'm going to make a smaller quilt with the hourglass string blocks so I have enough of them - it will make a cute baby quilt - but I still have to piece more of the string blocks for the 2nd quilt.

I'm spending quilting time hiking both to boost my weight loss and to train for the Breast Cancer 3 Day walk. Yesterday I did a 10.3 mile hike which took 3 hrs and 15 minutes to hike and by the time I added travel time it was about 4 hours. Today I only did 6 miles but that was another 3 hours by the time I stopped by the post office to mail the taxes off.

I'm off to shower and then quilt the rest of the evening (and into the night if needed!).

Autumn Quilts

Autumn Leaves

Autumn Geese

I was living in Florida when I started quilting and missed the colors of fall so each year I make an Autumn quilt.

I'm looking at patterns for this year's quilt but haven't yet picked one. I have the fabrics - fat quarters brought over a year ago that are just waiting for inspiration.

I thought I'd share 3 of my previous quilts.

Autumn Cabin was last year's finish although the top had been made the year (2004) before that.

Autumn Leaves was designed in EQ5.

Autumn Geese was inspired by a picture in the first Nickel Quilts book. I don't own the book but had seen the combination of flying geese and four patch blocks and thought it would suit my fabrics. This quilt was given to my sister in one of our family quilt exchanges.