Meme

Okay--it's going around and I'll bite. I am working on something ala "lazygalquilting" in free form letters, but not quite ready to show. It's too much fun! but, in the meantime....

One Word for -
1. Yourself: energetic
2. Your partner: hardworker
3. Your hair: sassy
4. Your Mother: neat
5. Your Father: handyman
6. Your favorite item: computer
7. Your dream last night: grandkids
8. Your favorite drink: diet coke
9. Your dream home: beach cottage
10. The room you are in: office
11. Your pleasure: quilting
12. Your fear: heights
13. Where you want to be in ten years: beach
14. Who you hung out with last night: family
15. What you're not: bored
16. Your best friends: fun
17. One of your wish list items:private jet (okay--I can dream!)
18. Your gender: female
19. The last thing you did: laundry
20. What you are wearing: barefoot
21. Your favorite weather: autumn
22. Your favorite book: fun
23. Last thing you ate: cereal
24. Your life: hectic
25. Your mood: light
26. The last person you talked to on the phone: Tenille
27. Who you are thinking about right now: Cortney

and now YOU are it!

Reversible Quilt Done!

Finally--after 5 months, my reversible, quilt as you go quilt is done! I've been adding binding strips to the front and back, a few at a time in the mornings, and then doing the hand sewing them down in the evenings. Slowly, but surely, I am done! I think I figured it took about 10 yards of black Kona fabric to do just the bindings! The back is mostly tans and blacks. My husband only wants those colors in the bedroom. But when he saw the colored side, decided that might be okay too. Such a silly guy! But I figure I have one for fall/winter and the other side for spring/summer.
Well, I'm cleaning up and packing for my trip home tomorrow. I miss the kids and the hubby. Then I have another shot this week, get my nails done and go to my daughter's graduation party. She got married her junior year in college, got pregnant 4 months later and quit. Well, for the last two years she has been doing the college thing on-line and is finally done. I really admire her tenacity in finishing, especially since her job didn't require it, she won't get a raise for it, and has raised two kids during the duration. I could almost hear her scream of joy on her last night of class clear down here! So no more lazing in the sun for a while. I am returning next week with hubby, my daugher and my granddaughter. My brother and family will be visiting too, so a busy week. Glad I got my rest ahead of time! :)

A new quilt top

I know I'm not supposed to be sitting and sewing, but just a little bit of sewing a day and voila! A quilt top! It was hard to pace myself though. I could have it all done in an afternoon, but I controlled myself! That was a new thing. I bought this pattern and fabric for a friend of mine and treated myself too. (it's a common thing between us--heehee). Anyway, she lives in SC now, so I've been going to her house every day for a little bit to sew....and eat...and laugh... It's nice to catch up with long distance friends. We don't get that very often, so it's been nice. I love this fabric and loved this pattern. Wasn't there someone on this ring that made one for shop model? I'd like to know what she thought of the pattern. This is a very simple quilt to do, but the quilt designer made it VERY complicated. Yes, it's hard to believe, but she did. And I don't understand her reasoning behind some of the things she did. Like when we cut the blocks apart (another big ordeal--that we did our own thing), and sewed them back together--they were 8 3/4", like she said. But then, she fussy cut her sashings (to the point of taking template material, tracing each circle along with color) to be 9". ??? Then you had to mark 1/8" lines all around the sashings to lay the block on to sew. So, in other words, the sashings were 1/4" seams and the blocks were 1/8" seams. I'm sure I'm not making sense--but neither did her pattern. To take such a simple design and complicate it so much would make a beginner give up. So, we just looked at the picture and then did our own thing. I really wish I knew her reasoning behind everything she did. Oh well, it's done now and is pretty and will look good on my sewing room wall.

Just chillin'

Nancy--does this look familiar? We did this as an Internet exchange in 2001 or so. We each did a block or blocks for each other in each row and each row had some meaning related to quilting and the internet. There were 2 groups going and our group chose to use batiks.
So that's the news from me! :) It's hard to report anything when you are just sitting around relaxing and reading. I did start working about an hour a day on my reversible quilt, so not much to show on that quilt.
My back was doing great until a few days ago when floating in the lazy river, a bunch of kids swam under us and one of them kicked me right on my nerve. I shot out of the inner tube like a cannon. The pain was excrutiating and I lost control of my leg for a bit. Of course the kid didn't stop or even look back. In the meantime, I hobble out of the lazy river, trying not to cry. It definitely was a set back, but I'm doing better. My husband talked to my doctor and I'm going to do one more epidural shot when I return home next week. I was hoping all this lazing around would help me avoid that! Oh well...if it helps. The first one did help a lot. I'm just waiting for 100% recovery. I'm not complaining much--there are so many others that suffer much more than I am and I just don't know how they do it. So for those of you who suffer daily from whatever ailment..my prayers and sympathies go out to you! I WILL be better!

Just Peachy

It's peach season down here in SC--and plenty of roadside stands to buy them. We bought a basket of them and the smell in the car was so intoxicating! Nothing like fresh grown produce. I made my uncle's recipe of French Toast with them. Thought I would share the recipe and a picture.
Okay, this is really bizarre. When I inserted my picture, it shows up as HTML code. It converts to pictures when I preview it, but then goes back to HTML. So now I can't move the pictures around like I like. Does anyone know what I have done wrong?
So, since I can't move the pictures where I like, obviously one of them is food! I'll get back to that. And the other is a little wallhanging that I made when I first got my house down here to remember Charleston. I love their Rainbow Row houses.
the other picture is Peachy French Toast and it is SOOO yummy. Here's the recipe...

PEACHY FRENCH TOAST
1 loaf unsliced Italian bread,sliced into 1" thick pieces
3 eggs, beaten
1/2 cup milk
2 T. sugar
1 T. Peach Schnapps OR 1 T. vanilla
1 1/2 to 2 cups crushed Corn Flakes
Fresh peaches, peeled and cut up and then semi-smashed to release juices (I also add a little bit of sugar to make it juicier.)

Mix the eggs, milk, sugar and flavoring. Dip the sliced bread into the egg mixture, coating both sides. Then roll in the crushed Corn Flakes. Place on a greased baking sheet. Bake in a preheated 350 degree oven for 15 minutes, turn bread over and bake another 8-10 minutes. Serve with crushed peaches on top. MMMMMMMM!

I am a Snapdragon What Flower Are You?

Decided to join the fun too--"Mischief is your middle name, but your first is friend. You are quite the prankster that loves to make other people laugh."...............yep, I guess that describes me. I'm a good friend, but a little mischieveous. I do like to have fun, that's for sure!

WELCOME to all the Stash Ring members! Whoa--I zipped through the ring last night and noticed we had quite a few more. I love it! Sorry I couldn't make comments, time is limited to sit for me, so I barely made it through as it was. But I enjoyed reading everyone's adventures, seeing all the neat quilts and looking forward to getting to know more quilters!

A little R&R in SC

Here I sit in sunny SC, trying to relax the back. :) The shot seems to be helping as my pain level in my back is finally subsiding. Ted Storm has come over for a visit and we are both going to take it easy to recharge our bodies and have a few laughs in the meantime. Ted is pictured with her "Nocturnal Garden" Quilt--deemed a "Masterpiece Quilt" at the recent NQA Show in Columbus, Ohio. Oh, to only have it hang in my house for a few days was a thrill! The "Trip Around the World" quilt is in my living room in SC. The house is mainly blues and greens to reflect the beauty of the sky and sea here. And so this quilt fits in so perfectly with the serene surroundings here. I know the quilting doesn't show, but in the light blue diamond is quilted with the sea oats that are so prevalent on the dunes here.
My instructions have been to relax and not do a whole lot, so the quilting will be at a minimum at best for at least a month. So, I am FORCED to float on a raft at the pool or sit in a beach chair at the ocean's edge. Not a bad recovery option, huh? I had been really bummed that I wasn't able to get my next season's class samples done or my personal quilts quilted. I have a Open House/Quilt Show in early fall to kick off my classes and then also feature Student Quilts as well as my own quilts done over the previous year. Well, since teaching is so consuming, I don't get a lot of tops quilted. Then I rush to get them quilted in the summer. So, you can see the pickle I am in now! But, I figure this is just one year, life goes on whether my quilts get quilted this summer or next. Coming to SC gets me away from those pressures as there is really nothing I can do anyway, so I might as well just enjoy my surroundings and be thankful at that. No more complaining about it :)
Since I won't be doing too much sewing, I'll be posting some of the quilts that I have down here. More to come!

Happy 4th of July!

Happy Independence Day to our country and Happy 70th Birthday to DAD! He claims the whole country always celebrates his birthday in grand fashion! You're alright, Dad! I seem to make a lot of patriotic quilts, and this was one that used lots of leftovers. Took me 2 whole weeks to make this one, which at the time I thought was a lot! It represented our county in the Ohio's Susquintennial State Fair in 2003.

On a side note--I had my epidural yesterday in the spine with steroids and came out a little bummed thinking I would be 100% better. Then they told me that it could take 3-8 days to kick in. And then when I went out to wander around my studio, I saw the whole stack of things to do. I really can't sit much (sewing or at the computer), so it was a downer day. Today, though, was a much better day! My pain level was way down and I hope it continues! I have resigned myself to the fact that it might be a while before I get back into the sewing 12 hours a day thing. In the meantime, I dream up more quilts to make. And am thankful for a much better day. :)