Flying high

The plan was to take the Harley to the Badlands,

a 1 1/2 hour ride.

Seems that that plan went arry

as it seems that I ended up somewhere in the middle of South Dakota

(totally missed the Badlands)

then had to ride on back.

About 10 hours on the hog.

Quite the adventure.

If I have time and remember (and can stand to get back on the bike)

I'll get a photo snapped and post it

so you can see me in all my Harley glory.

Right now I need to take some Advil ass pain Reliever.

Yummy Fabrics!

So here's what I found on my quilt shop hopping halfway across the country:

(I took photos of the shops, but we all know you want to see the fabric first)

First, found this great book on modern quilting at Sarah's Fabrics.

Looks like modern quilters are starting to quilt outside the box and move on from just straight line quilting. Yay!!! 

Then I found this HUGE selection of Kaffe Fassett Shot Cottons.

I could not resist the allure of the weft and weave.

I had to have them.

And, well, I needed some more Kaffe to add to my small collection.

Just a fun mix of fabrics I loved: Echo, Chevrons, and some Amy Butler.

Off to Lincoln to Calico House where I know I can always find

great black and whites. Yes, I bought more Chevron.

This time I went for the full yard.

I also picked up this cute charm pack from moda.

I couldn't resist the scissors.

Took a drive today and visited the presidents at Mount Rushmore.

Then checked out the Crazy Horse Memorial.

Just to give you an idea of scale, Crazy Horse's horse's (say that three times fast!)

nostril will be 50 feet deep and 80 feet high.

That's one big boogie.



Road Warriors Rule!

Vacation #3 is underway with a monster road warrior run.

I left St Louis at 5:30am

stopped in Lawrence KS to check out Sarah's Fabrics

(OH. MY. GOD! I'll post more later)

left there at 11:19am for Lincoln

Stopped in The Calico House for 30 quick minutes of shopping and bathroom

then hit the road around 2:30.

Honest, I planned on stopping for the night in North Platte.

Really I did.

But all the signs on the side of the road said "80"

so I did, and made it to Hermosa, SD by 9:20 pm.



I'll take pics of my purchases and show you around the shops later.

For now, here's a neighbor stopping by to say hello this morning:

Surprises

As I try not to hit the road before tomorrow morning for vacation #3

(I LOVE being a teacher and getting summers off)

I thought I would post a few updates.

Got Batik Quilt #1 bound (thanks mom!) and it is off to South Carolina

to a dear friend of my mom's.

Our visits to Ohio overlapped and I was able to present her with her quilt personally.

She was overwhelmed.

Makes me feel good to make someone so happy.

Those are my mom and dad's feet.

The swing set in the background is over 30 years old and a favorite of the neighborhood.

Every kid that has ever lived next door has spent as much time on it as

we did growing up. You just can't beat a good swing.

Met up with a girlfriend when I got back to sunny (hot) St Lou to get her her Ikea order.

(Yep, when I go to Ikea, I take several lists for others)

She surprised me with two things.

First:

This tub with these great wonky log cabins I started YEARS AGO that I gave to her to do something with. Apparently that meant stashing them away and holding onto them

and surprising me with my own creations years (and 3 houses for her) later.

There is only the one big one, but there are another 15 of the small ones

to play with. I have an idea percolating.

Its nice that I had already mixed two different blacks as I don't think I have

any of either of them in my stash.

The second surprise really was a surprise.

She asked me to be a "maid" in her wedding party.

I'll be the oldest bridesmaid ever.

And it will be an honor.

Off to South Dakota for some hiking, biking, riding, (maybe) shooting,

and R&R.

I'm planning on stopping in at Sarah's Fabrics in Lawrence, KS on my way.

If I don't get distracted, I'll try to snap some pics and post later.

I hear it is an amazing shop!



Tuesday's Truth

No matter how much you get done or how clean you leave your house when heading out on vacation, the house is always filthy and there's a mountain of things to do when you get back. So maybe the answer is to not worry about it.

Vacation #2

Ahhhhhhh, Ohio.

Here to visit friends and family and eat my fill of Handels ice cream.

And of course, going to Ikea this afternoon!

First stop was in Cleveland to visit my best friend from college.

Went for a hike in Hogback Park along (or through as my friend's daughter did) the Mill Creek.

Loads of pretty waterfalls and waterslides.

We had a great picinic on that ledge next to the waterfall.

Then went for a drive through "wine country" and checked out this 100 year old covered bridge

over the Grand River. It truely was Grand!

But then, as we were leaving the park we came across this:

Ummmmmm......

After not sitting in one spot, we headed to the beach.

Yep, I said the BEACH.

For those geographically challenged, Ohio's northern border is Lake Erie.

That makes for a lot of beach in a Midwesternish state.

Picked up a bunch of lake/sea glass and a few interesting rocks.

I know it looks calm and harmless, but that lake has some serious undertow and the wind can really whip up the waves. Lots of people enjoying the beaches.

Heading out we drove through a time warp called Genevia-on-the-Lake.

Its a lake resort community with all the kitschiness you would imagine from the 1950's.

Cute little summer cottages, a main drag, people out and about everywhere.

I should have snapped some pics, but I was too busy looking to remember.

Today I'm off to the local Italian grocery that I love

and then to Ikea for some fun shopping.

I gave away some of my bags to my mother and her friend,

so much fun to share what I make.

I'll try to snap some pics of quilts as I am close to giving away two of the three batik quilts.



Sneaky Peaky

Started a new quilt to soothe my black and white obsession

Here's a sneak peak:

This is the small pile of black and whites and a little grey mixed in.

Hmmmm...

I will tell you that this is my own version of someone else's pattern,

done my own way.

You'll have to wait a bit to see a finished quilt, I'm off to 

The Heart of it All, Ohio

visiting friends and family and planning on eating more than my fair share of Handel's

black cherry ice cream and popping over to Ikea for a bit of fun.



Tradition

Went to the ballgame today.

What a show!

What struck me most wasn't the Champions Club we were in with its buffet and carving stations,

free beer and drinks and waitstaff and air conditioning if you so choose instead of cushioned seats in the shade.

It wasn't the manager getting ejected in the first over a possible blown call on a possible triple play

(so glad Matheny is our new manager!)

((later the catcher said the umps got the call right))

Or the homeruns by an energized team.

And it wasn't the thrill of the final pitches thrown by our closer for the win.

What struck me the most actually happened before the game.

There were over 300 hungry, chatty fans in the fancy party room along with servers of all kinds.

It was LOUD.

You almost had to shout to have a conversation.

And then down on the field a group of kids came out of the wagon gate to sing God Bless America.

The room quieted down, not silent, but more of a hum than loud din.

Then the kids sang The National Anthem.

And everyone in the room stopped.

And stood up.

And it was quiet.

And some even sang along.

And when the kids were done, we all clapped

even though we were inside and the kids couldn't hear our appreciation.

And that was really cool.

Oh, and the Cards beat the Royals 10-7.

A good game.

Holy Cow, I almost forgot!

I totally almost missed it.

Today is the one year anniversary of me starting this blog.

WOW!!

Its been a wild and wooly fun ride and I hope to keep on trucking down this road.

Love sharing my little corner of the world with whoever deems me worthy of a few seconds of their time.

I might not always have anything fabulous to say or share

but who's judging?

So in celebration of this milestone I thought I would share with you the results of my toils

(yes... I'm on vacation... how can I possibly toil over anything...

except trying not to be a slovenly slug...

its a rough life, but someone's gotta do it)

I've been catching up on Zakka projects.

My Zakka Quilt.

I know... supposed to be blocks not rectangles.

But I had this great Kaffe Fasset charm pack I wanted to use...

And to make it a usable sized quilt (lap/picinic) I had to double up...

And I love it. That's Essex Linen in the sashing and I quilted it with Superior King Tut thread in Ramses Red.

Then I made the Leaf Messenger Bag.

Its pretty cute but my efforts to make it big enough for my laptop failed.

Might just be someones new school bag in the fall...hmmm.

Up next was the zipper organizer.

Learned a few things about using single fold bias binding, mostly that single fold means SINGLE FOLD.

Ooops. 'Salright.

Still turned out cute and I think its kinda nifty with the zipper going all the way around.

So now I was kinda caught up. But..........

Why not get those hand warmers done and outta the way?

While I didn't do the embroidered boy/girl faces,

at least I found a use for some of that rice I seem to have pounds of laying around forgotten.

Finally I knocked out the pot holders.

They were super easy (hmmm.. maybe because I used some presewn scraps I picked up from a friend...

its not cheating, just using what I have to my advantage... really)

I did NOT make another trip to Joanns (went 2 times making the messenger bag)

for the insulated fleece, so maybe I'll just call these WARM POT HOLDERS.

I did put two layers cotton batting, but I'm not going to be using these as trivets anytime soon.

So now I'm almost caught up with Zakka, just in time to go out of town again.

If I'm a good person I shouldt run over to the thrift shop and find a bit of tweed for this week's project.

But I hear other things calling my name... bindings... Single Girl quilt... zigzag quilt...

bottle of wine... new Better Homes and Garden Magazine...

Sigh.

  

Tuesday's Truth

Men are a bit like accessories; not really necessary, but useful to have around to change our look

and easy to change when we are bored or tired of them.

We now return to your regularly scheduled blog

Dork.

I am a self proclaimed dork.

I love trouble shooting guides, if only I would remember to use them.

Back in business.

I'll share some photos from the trip here and there like this one

The view from Niner Winery in Paso Robles.

Yep, thats a bocce court behind the massive fireplace.

But what I love is the mass of trees on the hillside that appear to grow in the shape of a heart.

Also went to the coast (had to dry out sometime from all that wine).

Hmmm. A tad bit foggy. And cold! Only 51 degrees on the coast thanks to all that fog.

A bit chilly after 97 degrees only 25 miles inland, the same day!

Ok. Thats all I'm posting for now, 'cuz who knows if this will post!

Crossing my fingers!



We are now experiencing technical difficulties

I have been trying to share some photos of the trip

but for some reason the pics aren't loading onto the bloggeroo.

Any thoughts or ideas would be welcome!



Tuesday's Truth

The best part of vacation sometimes is coming home.

I'm still here, sort of..

Just a quick not to say I haven't dropped off the edge of the earth, just in California for a long week of wine tasting. Needless to say, not much to report on the quilty side of things other than a quick  (hour long quick) pop into Birch Fabrics, home of FabricWorm.com! OH. MY. GOD. Soooooo cool. I was so entranced I didn't take any pictures. May try and squeeze in another stop (wineries don't open until 10am!) and will defiinitely snap some pics then to post. Will catch up later.....