Bodyguard? Snails trails and exciting news!

Kirt went on a business trip to Mexico last week. The Ohio Commission set up appts. for him to sell his product in trying to help out Ohio businesses. AND they hired a body guard to go with him. Is that scary or what? The good thing...his name (well, one of his names out of 7) was Jesus--so we figured if Jesus is with him in Spirit and in the flesh, he should be okay! It's just really a bad time for Americans to go to Mexico with the kidnappings, etc. I wasn't thrilled with him going. But he is home safe and said he had some great appointments. I just hope he doesn't have to go back. At one of the hotels, he wasn't allowed to go anywhere except the hotel lobby and the Starbucks within the hotel. 4 businessmen (on separate occasions) were kidnapped the week before in front of that same hotel! When the bodyguard picked him up he had to sprint to the car as he was told. They are targeting businessmen and are demanding such a relatively modest ransom that can be wired within a few hours, so they are getting what they want without resistance. Over 1000 were kidnapped in Mexico City last month alone! Too many for their police to handle. He said he didn't think there were many killed. I guess they don't need to when they are only asking for $1000's of dollars instead of millions or some outrageous sum. Scary anyway.

My friend's sister, who is a new quilter is flew up from Florida last week and along with a few other friends, had our own private little retreat! 3 days and 3 nights of nothing but sewing! It was great to have some concentrated time to sew--on something for me! I'm working on my SITP (Shakespeare in the Park),and got all my Snail's Trails blocks done. See the little spark of red now and then? Well, it's a little more on the burgundy side.

I finished my last dress of embroidered 50's dresses. By the way, it is now available as a pattern at the Bobby Sox Company. I just need to decide on sashing and borders. It's funny, the minute I got the last dress done, my mind has gone on to the next quilt! I wonder if that's why I have so many UFO's? I'm always jumping ahead to the next neat project. But I am going to miss doing the embroidery. There is still nothing to quiet your soul than a little handwork. It forces you to slow down.

Miss Alia--what a little sweetie you are! And so SMART! She'll be two in a few more weeks and is just so sharp and is such a cutie with her sweet little voice. But don't let her angelic looks deceive you, she is into everything! And eats and drinks everything she sees, so we are constantly putting things up. She crawled up the side of her other G'ma's car into the open window and got into her purse today. Fortunately she decided to clean her hands with the whole bottle of hand sanitizer instead of drinking it! Man, do they have their hands full. And guess what? She is going to be a big sister!! Yep, T & M are expecting baby #4! A little surprise for them as they thought things were taken care of, but they fell into that 1% failure rate. I guess God had other plans for them. We are all thrilled and when they got over the initial shock, they are excited as well. Or so they say..heehee

ball tournaments and grabbing some quilting time

My big quilt show was 2 weekends ago and then my husbands big SB tournaments were last weekend. There is just NO rest for the weary! hahaha I had to make 24 dozen brownies and load all the things needed to prepare food for coaches, etc. 400 miles away. A couple of things while I was gone....my car turned 50,000 miles. Is that exciting to anyone else? Having your car turn a milestone number? I don't know why it fascinates me--I remember growing up and our car was about to turn 100,000 miles, but it didn't go to 6 digits, so it was like starting over. And we kids watched for miles in anticipation for it turning over. Silly, silly things like that stick in my memory bank. Wonder why?

I also find time one morning to run to Mary Jo's in Gastonia, NC (we were at nearby Winthrop University). And all I came out with was enough pretty flannels to make a rag quilt for a wedding gift. I saw lots of pretty fabric, but knowing full well that I have a closet of pretties kept me from buying. Plus, you have to be prepared in a place like that..how much backing do I need for this quilt? Or how much would I need for this one..or that one. It's just as well, I didn't need to add to the guilt of having too much as it is!

After the weekend, we headed to our place in Pawley's Island for a little R&R, slept til 9 AM the first morning! We haven't done that in ages! Felt pretty good actually. Then I hand sewed the binding on a quilt that I was trying to get done for my quilt show and just didn't get done. I could have done it by machine, but I never like it as much as I do by hand. And it seems a shame sometimes to hurry that last step, just to get it done. Plus, I like how relaxing it is to do a little handwork at the end. It's just not as fun under a time crunch!

And I finished dress #11 of my 50's embroidered dress series and am working on #12, the last one. Then I'll finally be able to make a nice sized wallhanging. But I'll miss the pick up and go handwork. Guess I'll have to find something else to pick up and go project.

more embroidery and a new project

Here is one more dress that is embroidered.

I was lucky to have a day of sewing with my friend Marilyn (who was just up visiting me a few weeks ago) and we worked on a project that we started probably 5 years ago. Well, let me clarify, we cut it out!

I got one block done yesterday, quite tedious. And the sad thing is, I'm not really sure I like it. :( I love the colors, but not real happy that the spikes don't show up very well. Then I placed it on the fabric that is going to be the alternate blocks and not liking that very well either. Hmm, what a bummer. I think I'll make 4 more blocks (the pattern called for 25 pieced blocks total) and then decide whether to invest my time in the whole thing. It's just not striking any chords with me. I guess I better find out now before I make all those little arcs! But dang it, now they are all cut out. I may have to get my thinking cap on!

off again

here I sit in SC--basking in some warm sun, well, warm to me anyway. The people down here can tell we're from the north as we wear our short and sandals and they are all bundled up! But I'm loving the blue skies. We found ourselves with a very light week of commitments, so re-scheduled the few we had and buzzed down here. The sun does us a lot of good.

I brought some hand embroidery with me. I had started the Retro Dresses that was on The Bobby Socks Quilt Company a few years ago and thought I really should finish them. They are so darn cute. I've never been taught how to do embroidery, save for a few minute lesson from Ted. so, I'm learning. I went to Leanne's website, hoping to find a tutorial. Instead, I just enlarged her photos so I could see how she does her beautiful embroidery. I hope no one enlarges mine! LOL I'm halfway done with the 12 blocks and don't think I'll be able to finish them while I'm here, but I'll be close.

a sneak peek..

a sneak peek as to what I've been doing......

Well, I've got the second dress done in the series of embroidery that I'm doing. I only work on it during a few TV shows that I watch--American Idol and House. I like CSI, Without A Trace too, but forget to watch them.














For the next Quilt 24 Challenge, we have to do a Medallion Quilt. I have come up with a dozen designs and could never decide what I wanted to do. I finally decided to do an hand applique center...so here it is, all basted and ready to applique. I hope to get it done tonight during my quilt group.







This is one of the borders for my medallion quilt above...it only used 1 1/2" squares from each of my FQ's! At this rate, I'm going to get 20 quilts out of all those FQ's. This is quilt #2.










This was a storage room, that was full from floor to ceiling of stuff! To name a few things: 5 sets of metal bed frames??? A twin headboard/footboard set of my husbands, a picket fence, a box of books, 7 Cabbage Patch dolls, a kitchen play center and boxes of dishes, play food,etc., a miniature kitchen cupboard that my Dad made for ME when I was a little girl, boxes of games, clothes, a laundry hamper from my girls younger years and many more odd and end things. I should have taken a picture. It was a mess, and filthy! The walls were dirty and dusty. I turned it into my Quilting Supplies closet
and will store all my batting, quilts to be quilted, threads, and stencils/templates for my HQ16.


I just love the colors! Lime green and aqua...it looks so fresh and clean. And hopefully ALL my supplies can be easily found now and I can see what I have. I do know that I will not need to buy batting for a LONG, LONG time! :) I found all sorts of batting for all types of needs. You don't even see all the batting--that big bin below the W&N batting roll, is full of packaged batting and I need one more bin like it to hold the rest!