Musings on Snow and Crocheting

Here's a pic on the drive home on Sunday.  Looks pretty bleak to me.  Although at least in the country the snow is clean.  Yesterday I hit the "big" city and noticed the snow is just yucky to look at around the various shops I was at.  I'm really thrilled -- Kevin gave me a new iPod shuffle for Christmas (my old one had died.) While shopping yesterday I found a car charger and wall charger to use with it.  Yippee. I need to load it up soon! I went wild shopping although not much will be reported here.  I did get a cool bottle of heart sprinkles!  And some beads to try to add to a quilt or something like that.  And more batting to have on hand. 

I am going to venture out to my Wednesday Quilting group.  We haven't met for a month mostly due to crummy weather.  It is so cold today that I wonder how warm it will be there -- even  with the heat turned on.  My home thermometer says 7º while my computer weather report says 6º. Either way it is cold!  I'm going to bring the Carousel Horse and baste it so it will be ready for quilting whenever I am.  

I'm not sure what else I'll bring ... possibly an old ripple afghan to crochet.  I found it in a box of yarn and decided I needed to add enough to make it kid sized and then give to Project Linus.  It was burgundy and beige, obviously using yarn that was left over as I am out of the beige.  I got two skeins of navy blue and will put some blue on each side.  It is really funny looking over this piece.  The strips aren't the same width.  The sides flare out because evidently I added stitches.  But, it will be fine by the time I finish it and someone will love it.  

I'm off to hit the shower, get the backing ironed, cut a piece of batting and gather the supplies. 

Happy Quilting All.   Tomorrow I'll be at home quilting away as another snow storm is predicted... only 1 to 3".

New Fabric Wow!

While on our weekend in Maryland I hit a quilt store and a yarn store.  Today I'll share the fabric purchases I made at Cotton Seed Glory.  The pinks are an attempt at Double Pink as described by Bonnie Hunter at Quiltville.com.  I want to make her mystery quilt Double Delight.  Of course, I'm not doing it as a mystery.  I want to make it a bit smaller -- like wallhanging size.  So I figured I could wait til the end and then figure out what I needed from there.  So this is the beginning.  Bonnie used cheddar, indigos and shirting.  I'm going to be making some changes but I do like that cheddar. Do I have any cheddar?  Probably not but I'll look before I shop!  The burgundy in the background is the sashing for the million brick quilt. (So named by me!)  I haven't decided how big to make that but at least I have enough of the sashing to make it huge should I want to.  (Probably don't want to!) 

I also bought some darker batiks to go with a group I am working with.  These will blend right in with my planned quilt.  It is basically a big nine patch gone funky.  I am using a pattern from McCall's Quilting Feb. 2009.  It has beading on it and is suppose to look "beachy." I don't need the beads but I may actually put some embellishments on after I get the quilt done. That is my priority for February.  

Here are all the fabrics I plan to use on this quilt.  Yummy.  I haven't made a whole quilt from batiks yet but I'm looking forward to working with these.  They will be a joy to work on as winter continues. 

HELP

I have been so frustrated uploading my pictures today.  Maybe some of you bloggers would know the answer to this question.  I uploaded the picture of the 4 turquoise fabrics at least three times today because as I manipulated all the photos I lost that one.  My question is there a way to get this photo back without reloading it?  I know they go somewhere.  The question is where and how can I get it back.  

Happy Quilting All!  Bonnie

Happy Birthday Kevin!

We drove down to Maryland to celebrate Kevin's birthday and our family Christmas.  As Kevin said, Sticky Rice is Asian fusion.  Ok, it was sushi to me!  Here we are: Aimee, Brian, Jenny, Bonnie, Kevin and Pat.  

We started with a pail of tater tots.  Yep, you read correctly, tater tots. They were fabulous.  We had a spicey dipping sauce.  After the six of us dove in (with chop sticks) this is all that was left. Yummy! 

Isn't the presentation beautiful.  This was Shrimp and Crab with rice and cucumber ... wrapped in seaweed.  (Seaweed?)  Actually it was pretty good.  

What I liked best was the Sticky Ball ... don't remember what was in it but it too was yummy.  

We were seated upstairs next to a window looking down on H St. in Washington, DC.  It was the best entertainment I've had in weeks!  Tow trucks were towing cars in the parking lot across the street.  People would drive up and double park to run into the various little restaurants and take out places.  The street was teeming with people.  A lot of fun to watch all the goings on.  

Before we got to Kevin's house I did go shopping at Cotton Seed Glory a great quilt shop in Annapolis.  If you are in the area this is well worth the trip.  I'll post my purchases over the next few days.  

Happy Quilting all!  I won't be back to the sewing machine until Monday morning.  Tomorrow we have our drive home.  We'll be wondering how much snow has fallen in the Poconos as we drive home.  Bonnie 

Trespasser! Stop Thief!

I heard something while I was up in the studio... not sure what it was but came downstairs to investigate and noticed this trespasser on a chair on the balcony off the great room.

He was a pretty cool character.  He scampered off and on the chair a few times and then decided to make for the food. (aka, bird feeder.)  We've lived here for 8 months and the squirrels had not come on the balcony.  There are no stairs to the ground so this intrepid explorer had to go straight up a metal pole.  Yikes. 

You have to look carefully to find him in this picture.  Check out the upper right corner... a bit of leg and tail is showing as he goes over the hanger.  He was on top of the feeder for a moment or two but finally figured out I was inside taking photos of him. 

 

Here he is back in the safety of his tree.  Notice that nice red spot on his back?  That's the only way I can tell him from the others.  He's a brave guy but finally I yelled at all the squirrels hanging around.  I really don't want to be feeding them too.  I watched them scamper back to the tree and because I was out on the balcony creating a fuss they bounded in to the forest. One even went across the street.  Hum, an interloper!  

Of course if you go to the bay window and look out to see what is under the bird feeder.... 

My guess is the noisy one who looks like he is bossing the other squirrels is the explorer. (Upper left corner.) Hopefully he won't explore up on the balcony any more. HAH! Surely I jest!  

The last two days

have brought squishies to the house!  Yee Haw. I won a drawing at Roberta's blog and the fabrics arrived today.  One has already been added to the current scrap quilt pile.  The others are being tucked away for future Project Linus quilts.  Isn't that a neat light ... looks like a granite counter top.  

The other squishy is for a group I am in.  I'll post photos and explain it in a future post.  

 Happy quilting all... and stay warm!  Bonnie 

Skating Rink?

No that's just the driveway after more snow, sleet and rain.  Yikes. I don't think I'll be getting the mail today! Most of that is ice!  And now at 3:00 pm it is grey and bleak looking.  Yuck. I don't hear rain/sleet/snow hitting the roof so maybe it is done for the time being.  But, I think it is suppose to snow again tomorrow. The good thing is I do hear snow plows around.  We'll see if Pat can get the car up the driveway.  Fun.  

Here is the Carousel Horse quilt top -- all sewn together.  It is 40" wide so I doubt I'll put any borders on it.  The fabric I have for the backing is about 42" wide so this is going to be tight.  I may bind it with the green. (The backing is the stripe.)  Although I may decide to use bias on the binding and use some of the stripe.  It would look cool.  

Now I am focusing on getting some other tops further along.  Specifically a mystery quilt with a million pieces.  Marge says no but .... I know better than that.  Specially since I'll probably make it bigger than what I originally thought.  

I have one more day to get all the ornaments off the tree.  We will be down in Maryland to celebrate Kevin's birthday and Christmas.  Lucky thing is the weather reports that both Friday and Sunday should be dry.  Of course, Sunday is a long time away so who knows what it will do on those days!  

Happy Quilting All! Bonnie

Sweatshirt Done!

Here's the picture of the When Pigs Fly sweatshirt I finished the other day.  This will be very cozy during these cold winter months.  And most of my decorated sweatshirts have been worn so many times they look thread bare!  But, it is hard to retire those old ones... but may be I will as I make a few new ones.  

Saturday I got quite a bit of quilting done.  I am working on one of Mysteries for Relay mystery quilts.  It has a million 1 x 1.5" blocks in it.  The blocks are strip pieced so it is taking less time then I thought it would.  I am still making blocks for the Carousel Horse quilt.  I've decided I need only 5 more blocks and then it is getting sewn together, bordered and basted.  I'm hoping to have it done some time this month.  This is a Project Linus quilt and I need to have it done before the next blanket day. 

This little bird visited the feeder on New Year's Eve day.  It was cold and really windy outside. He came and sat in the feeder for quite a while.  He looks wedged in there.  We will be traveling quite a bit over the next few weeks and I know the birds are going to be upset with us.  We fill the feeder every day so they will be hungry when we're gone for three day weekends and our one week vacation that is coming up in two weeks.  And, below the feeder the squirrels gather to eat what the birds drop.  This is one of the few places we've put our feeders that the squirrels haven't been able to get to it. 

Tomorrow laundry will be calling my name and some vacuuming (ugh.) But I hope to get all the carousel blocks finished.  And, perhaps some of the mystery quilt blocks too.  

Happy quilting all! Bonnie

A Day Out

Pat and I decided to go out today.  We drove to Wilkes Barrie (which is farther than our normal shopping area.) I was searching for a Bed, Bath and Beyond because I wanted to buy some more reed diffusers. Have you tried them yet?  I have one that is made by Yankee Candle.  Used it for more than 8 months and it still smells great.  I bought another brand to put in our walk in closet and after a month or two I can't even smell it.  Anyway I bought two more of the Yankee Candle variety.  I'm taking the lilac one to the studio and haven't decided where to put the other.  Maybe the closet.  

We also visited Staples to have a pattern printed at 200%.  I'll share more info about this possible quilt once I decide if I can make it or not.  Last thing I picked up was a cable to connect my mp3 to my mini speakers.  I used the one that came with the speakers in my car.  How cool is it to hook up my mp3 directly to the car?? Very cool.  With the new cable I can also hook it up to my speakers and listen to audio books from Net Library.  (hey, maybe I'll finish the book I started 2 months ago.) 

Then we had a great burrito somewhere... I can't remember the restaurant's name.  Did a bit more shopping before we went to a movie. If I haven't mentioned it I was a school librarian for 15 years or so.  And, I love kid's books.  Don't read them as much as I did but wanted to see The Tale of Despereaux, the movie adaption of Kate DeCamillo's Newbury award winning book.  It was a nice picture.  Come on, how exciting could it be with a G rating!  But we both enjoyed it and got a few laughs.  The book is great for 3rd, 4th and 5th graders, especially as a read aloud.  Pat's a trooper to go these shows with me.  

I've got a finish to share but no photos until tomorrow.  I completed the sweatshirt and it turned out great.  I was happy to use some buttons from my button collection.  I'm also stitching down the binding on a lap quilt.  

Today's photo is from the town of Milford, Pa.  We visited this summer and had to get a picture of the trash can with the quilt design.  Pretty cool.