Another little quilt show!

Years ago, my friend Brenda received a bunch of quilting stuff from an elderly lady she knew that was downsizing to go and live with her daughter.  I guess the lady (Bea) was not planning on doing any more quilting.  Well, Brenda was reorganizing a while back, and came across a bunch of bowtie blocks that Bea had made, but never set together.  Brenda thought....."I'll finish this little quilt, and then send it to Bea!"  So Brenda set all the blocks together, and asked me if I would quilt it!  Of course!  So this last week I scrambled to get it quilted and bound because yesterday there was a little quilt show at a meeting house in Oxford, Maine, where Bea was from.  Turns out.....a lot of the ladies that were there knew Bea, and they were quite pleased to see a quilt that she had a hand in!  Sweet!

Here it is laying across the seats in the meeting house.  And here are a few pics of some of the other quilts at the show......

This was a really nice quilt.....and huge.....I wish it wasn't laying across the pews, cuz it is really hard to see all the patterns.

This one was a mini......only about 8 inches square!  SO SWEET!

There is another quilt show for Oxford County in September.....and I hope to put the bowtie quilt in that, as well, before we ship it out to Bea.....I think she'll get a kick out of her quilt squares making the rounds of her old stomping grounds!  lol

Here's a pic of my Stargazer lilies......it seems I can never remember to take a pic of anything in my garden until it is well past prime......but I remembered this time!  Yay!

And here is a pic of my hubby, John, as he is re-stringing a Crown kite.  The kite is the long line of color at the far end of all the strings.  This kite is a giant wheel when inflated, and it rotates......it is 75 feet across the wheel!  It's huge!  And these lines (the strings) that run out to it at the edges are 100 feet long!  There is such a pull on this kite, it takes several guys (minimum) to control it......it is anchored by a truck, so it can't fly away!  At our first chance, we will take a pic of it inflated......it's really a show-stopper at the kite events!

I've been working on the wedding quilt......I'm piecing the back now, and should have a pic in a couple of days!  Yay!

The countdown to the Bonnie Hunter cruise is just 12 days now!  Woohoo!  I can't wait!

Hope you had a great weekend!

regan

Home Sweet Home!

We arrived back from our vacation on Monday......we drove a total of 1,968 miles!  And my hubby stayed awake and kept me company the entire drive!  I love him!

Let me just say that I am the worst picture taker ever!  And the whole vacation I kept thinking I was getting really great shots!  Sheesh!  Out of 80+ pics, I have just a handful that are not blurry!  I'm really hoping that the other people that were clicking away will email me some of their shots!  I don't have a single one of our grandson at his graduation!  I barely have any from Colonial Williamsburg, none from Kitty Hawk, a few from DC, and nothing at Maureen's (although, those two her son took.....so it's really not just me!  HA!)

Our first day in North Carolina was hot hot hot!  We had just come from Maine, where it was in the low 60's!    And what did we do in that heat.....headed for an outdoor festival!  Crazy!  But it was fun, and it was on the harbor, so there was a slight breeze (very slight!).

We had a ball at Colonial Williamsburg.....none of us had ever been!  I had expected it to be a little corny, with the actors getting way too 'into' their roles......but that was not the case!  It was really done well, and all the 'in period' people were amazing!  They really knew what they were talking about, and were actually 'doing' what their profession was.  We watched the shoemaker for a good half hour.....and he was actually amazed at how into it I was.  But heres the thing......the amazing thing......he split a boar's hair to use as a needle to sew the leather......a real boar's hair!  Not any bigger than a cat's whisker.  And I watched him split the hair down, then shave off the end of a strand of flax for the thread.....take this ultra fine thread of flax and splice it onto this boar's hair.....cuz there is no eye on a boar's hair needle!  You have to splice the flax thread onto it so there's no bump when pulling it through either!  Ok......if you aren't amazed by this.....then I'm not explaining right!......Because it was AMAZING!   AND.....the whole time he's doing this.....he's talking away, in period mind you, and giving all sorts of info and little tidbits!  WOW!  I was thoroughly impressed with this guy, and the whole day was just as impressive!  The wig maker lady was making wigs, and talking away about all sorts of fun stuff, as was the basket maker, paper maker, printing press guys.....everyone!  They were all so good!  Then we went to the Courthouse building, and the woman there gave the most amazing tour.....complete with history lesson, and doing 'in period' and about that day's date back then.....fabulous!  I would go back in a minute!

Of course, my only picture is of a gigantic magnolia tree (at least 80' tall) blossom on the grounds.  These magnolias are all over the place in this region......and they look so much different to the magnolias I'm familiar with.  Gorgeous!

I also got a couple of pics of the quilts that were in the Museum there.  Gorgeous quilts, but the lighting was so dark, it was really hard to get pics.

Here's a pic of something I'll never see in Maine.....blechk!

People actually order that!?!  I just can't imagine!

We also went to Kitty Hawk and I got to fly my kite on Kill Devil Hill, where the Wright Brothers first flew!  So cool!  Do I have any pics?......no.  Our son got some, and I'm hoping he will email me one!

Then we went to DC and had a great time!  I got to spend the first day meeting a blogging friend, Maureen from Pursuit of Quilts.  She is just as wonderful as her blog!  And her quilts are to die for!  I got to see so many beautiful quilts and her current projects, and her sewing room.  She made a lovely lunch, and then we popped on over to the local quilt shop, and I bought a pair of Machingers gloves for free-motion quilting.    We exchanged some canned goods that we've put up.....I had made salsa and sweet pickle relish, and she presented me with her homemade tomato sauce and a copy of the Ball Canning Recipes Book.  Sweet!  Thank you so much, Maureen.....I had such a great time!

While in DC, we also went to the Smithsonian, and several of the monuments.  The reflecting pool is under renovation.....it was so odd to see it like that!

I didn't take any pics in the different museums.....to busy seeing all the amazing art.....but I did get a pic of this really unusual plant along one of the walkways......I've never seen it before; the blossoms create a kind of tower with 4 sides.....just like the Washington Monument, come to think of it......and then these wispy, feathery petal pop out here and there.  Does anyone know what this is?

When we got home, I was so happy to see that I hadn't missed my peonies blooming.....almost, but there was one bloom still at prime time!

And my Sum and Substance Hosta had totally popped out while we were gone.....it's about 5 feet across!

And the iris were in full bloom......yay!

We love to go on vacation, but we definitely love returning home again!

Have a wonderful day!

regan

Gonna be a busy weekend!

I started yesterday with the garden......we bought the seedlings on Wednesday, and I wanted to wait to make sure the ground was warm enough!  Those of you in the New England area know that we have not had any sun since.....well......last September!  And this whole Spring has been nothing but rain and cold......anyone who planted anything two weeks ago has probably had everything rot!  We usually wait until Memorial Day weekend anyway.....just to be safe!  And here it is already.....sheesh.....I can't believe it's the end of May!  But it's gorgeous out.....sunny and beautiful!  Yay!

Here's a pic of the garden from the second floor bedroom.  John put the fencing up (those dang critters just love tender little seedlings!, and the electric wire will go around shortly!)....so I put in 12 tomatoes, 6 zucchini, 6 pickling cukes, 6 jalepeno and 6 green pepper.  I screened two wheelbarrows of compost for the little guys, so they should have a really good start!  I'll be setting seed with the green beans and corn tomorrow AFTER I get one of those screen hats.....because I have at least 20 blackfly bites on my head!  And they are all welting up, and hurt!  Sheesh!  I'm like a magnet for bugs that bite!  And it wouldn't be so bad, except they seem to go for my eyes!  So I have a big old welt right next to my left eye, and I'm looking a bit like Quasimodo!  Fun times!

Hubby has gone to the Jersey Shore for a huge kite festival.  For those of you in that area, it's going on Fri-Sat-Sun at Wildwood.  It's really fun, but I bowed out this year, cuz I'm taking a lot of time off for my other trips, and as it is, I have almost all of June off, so he went alone.  So I'm taking advantage of being home alone, and quilting my brains out!

I finished making all 480 flying geese for Jeanne's quilt.  And got them sewn in strips of 4, too!  Sweet!  It's now on the wall, and I started to sew strips together.....got the top left corner row done, then realized I had something else I needed to do first!  Eek!

My friend Betty at the town office is having a birthday on June 2!  Yikes!  And I've been talking about making her a wall hanging for over a month now!  Have I started it!?!  No!  So I got busy on it last night!  It's the same technique I blogged about on my October 30, 2010 post, an idea from Jenny Bowker at Postcards from Cairo.

 

I got brave this time and used the contrasting thread for part of the design!  I'm loving it!  I borrowed a piece of the pinecone fabric from my friend Brenda, who made Betty a quilt last year using some of this.....so the wall hanging will match perfectly!  Yay!  I'll finish the quilting up within the weekend, and have it ready for Thursday delivery!

And am I worried Betty might see this ahead of time.....No!  Cuz NONE of my friends here ever read my blog!  What's up with that!?!  They always ask what I've been working on, and the first thing I say is, "Have you read my blog?".....and they always say no!  Sheesh!  I have pics of my projects and everything!  Oh well.....maybe one day, right!?!

I can't believe I have to work this weekend.....I have so much quilting and gardening to do!  lol

Hope you all have a wonderful weekend!

regan