I've been shamed into posting! Ha!

Lori, from Humble Quilts blog, noticed I hadn't posted since I returned from my trip.......about 3 weeks ago!  What's up with that!?!  Surely I have something to say, or pictures to show, or I could do my usual ramblings.

So.....yeah.......usual ramblings it is!  lol

I guess I have been busy, trying to get back into a routine......but it's damned hard to do after being gone for a month!  Vacation is so much fun, and normal life is so blah!  And full of chores!  But I have managed to find a few fun things to do since being back!

In fact!, yesterday!  My friend Pat and I headed over to Cyndi's Busy Thimble shop in Litchfield, and had a ball!  What fun!  And Cyndi's shop is packed full of nothing but reproductions!  Woohoo........Heaven!  It's so funny, cuz I was running out the door to meet up with Pat, and I raced back in to get my little 8-pointed stars, cuz I thought "I will need them to match to the fabric I want for the sashing.".......and then I realized.....Duh!......it's all civil war repros......it will ALL go together!  Yay!

So......first things first......this is the fabric I've chosen for the sashing for the little stars.

And here are the 24 little stars I have finished so far......I'm sure I'll need a couple hundred, but I'm still not sure how big I'm going on this......so we'll see!

I also purchased a few other fabrics at Cyndi's.......and these gorgeous birds were on on the discount table!  Yummy!  The flower rows were used in a beautiful little quilt for the borders, and Pat and I both bought some of it......we just couldn't resist!  So perfect for the borders!

THEN......we went to Marden's (a big discount place here in Maine that has a fabric section) and JoAnn's, but I didn't get anything at those.

BUT THEN.......we headed over to Quilt Essentials in Lewiston, and I picked up a layer cake of the Australian fabrics that I saw there just before I went on vaca.  I had been thinking about them the whole time I was gone, and I loved the display quilt they made from them.......it had a very masculine look to it.  And I just knew I needed to make my hubby a quilt with them!  I'm so excited, and they are stunning fabrics......and totally out of my usual box!  I'm really liking stepping out of my box!

Arent't they amazing!  I just love them!

So when I got home, of course, the first thing my hubby always asks is, "What did you get?"  (He's so well trained, huh?  lol)  I had packed all of this stuff into one bag, and I had my little stars in their fat baggie in the bag as well, so I dug in and pulled out the sashing fabric and birds that I got at Cyndi's, and had the stars baggie on top of everything else, so he couldn't see that there was anything else in the bag!  Yay!  I totally hid the Australian fabrics from him.........so he is going to be so surprised!  I'll try and work on it when I know he's gone for a while, and I'll just one day magically have it done!  Ha!  I can't wait!  And yeah, he never reads my blog, so I don't have to worry!  :o)

That's something I've never had to do with him......hide fabric.  I know a lot of quilters stash stuff and sneak it in the house, but John has always been the first one to say "get it", so I've never had to sneak anything past him!  And it's not that easy!  lol  Good thing I never have to do it!  :o)

Of course, I have worked (just a bit) on my Jubilee quilt, too.  I've put all the blocks and sashings together, and now it's just needing the last two borders!  Woohoo!  I'm nearly there!

I just love how it's looking, and I already have the plan in my head for the pieced back!  Yippee!

And one last thing........the other day, I was driving past the animal shelter thrift store, and out on the lawn was a treadle machine.  Well, I was heading for work, with not a minute to spare to look, so I called my hubby who was at the nearby golf course, and said check it out, see if it's crap, but if it's decent......I might want it!

He arrived at my work a couple of hours later with it in the car!  Woohoo!  And it just needed a little WD-40 on the mechanism and that wheel is running smooth!  Totally cool!

It just needs some polishing, and cleaning up a bit.....but I love it!  And I checked the site with the serial number and it's a 1923 vintage!  Love it!  The cabinet is in really nice condition, too......with the little decals all in tact!  Just needs a little polish!  And it had two bobbins in the drawer!  Score!  lol

Ok.......that is truly all I have to say........except that I just had my physical and mamo on Tuesday, and everything is great, including my cholesteral!  Woohoo!  Life is good!

Have a great weekend!

regan

An Awesome Vacation! Woohoo!

We left for vacation on March 24, and got back yesterday, April 17!  And we put 4, 187 miles on the car!  Whoa!

It was a fabulous vacation in every way!  The cruise, the visiting with relatives and friends, the golf, even the drive was great!  We saw some really beautiful parts of the country that we hadn't really checked out before.  And the weather was so perfect the entire time!  I think we lucked out in every way!

I've posted a few pics from the road, but here are the last of my vaca pics.

Besides driving around to find golf courses to play, we also hit several antique shops!  Yay!

I found this great 'yard long' military pic at the first shop we hit!  What luck!  Never did see any more along the way, so I was really glad I picked up this one to add to my collection.  Just above the pic is a little 6" wooden ruler.....old and very sweet!  And above that are darning eggs!  I've been collecting those for about 30 years.....and they are harder to find these days, but I managed to find 5 in one shop!  The mother lode!  lol  And a nice long spindle spool with wool attached, and a drawer from a treadle machine......these will make nice little display items in my antiquey house!  I also picked up 4 vintage booklets for tatting and one pot holder booklet.  I also collect vintage pot holders, and I've been thinking to make a few myself.....I just love 'em, but would never dare use my vintage ones.

We also managed to find a few thrift shops and I picked up 3 shirts for cutting up for quilts!  Woohoo!

And, of course, we stopped at Mary Jo's Fabric Store in NC.  The top of the pic shows my 6 yards of cheddar (Woot!) and some really great cotton candlewicking thread that I think would be perfect for some embellishment.  I got the colors that looked like they would go with my civil war repros......we'll see what happens.  I was very restrained while in the shop, and I'm kicking myself now......cuz each paddle of that thread was just 5 cents!  I should have bought the hold dang rack!  LOL  But again.......will I actually use it, hmmmmmm!  Maybe it's good I only bought ten paddles!  lol

As I said in my post from the road.......we turned this vacation into a Krispy Kreme road trip!  I ask you......is there anything better than seeing that red light on!?!

Holy cow.......I couldn't even wait to get a pic......HA!

It was so disheartening to learn that so many of the Krispy Kreme shops have closed!  There is only 1 in New England now, and that's at the Mohegan Sun Casino in Conneticut!  Sheesh!

When we were in VA,  the guy pumping our gas got so excited to see the box in the back seat....and asked where the heck we got them!  We had been in Greensboro, NC that morning, and he was so bummed, cuz they had closed the two shops that were near him.  Of course, we only had 2 left in the box, and there was NO WAY I was giving up either of those.  Is that greedy......yes!  But hey, we're talkin Krispy Kreme here folks!  I'll share just about anything, but not those!  lol

I'll tell ya, hubby was a real trooper this trip, cuz not only did he willingly stop at every antique, quilt or thrift shop I wanted to go into, but he also stayed awake the ENTIRE 4,000 miles of this vacation!  In case I haven't mentioned before, I do ALL the driving when we are together.  My hubby's driving scares the ba-jesus out of me!  So, rather than hear me freak out or whine about it, I just do all the driving.  Which is great, but hubby usually falls asleep the minute we leave the driveway!  Which made this vacation just that much sweeter......he stayed awake, he managed the gps the whole way, and we talked, and laughed, and noticed the scenery, and made plans for future drives, and had a wonderful time!  It was amazing!  And he's awesome!

When we got home yesterday, the first thing I saw was our 'crazy tulip'!  We call him crazy, cuz he is the first thing that pops out of the ground, usually while there is still a lot of snow!  And most years, there is no bloom, just leaves.  We never planted him, he just appeared one year......and has come back each year!  None of my other tulips have survived the gophers, but this little guy is still around!  And we caught him in bloom, too!  Yay!

And, of course, the first dang thing I wanted to do was sew.......but I just wanted to push fabric......nothing too mind-bending!  So I cut a bunch of 2" squares from my repros, and started sewing them up!  These will finish at 6" square, and I've cut enough for 9 of them......I'm thinking to put them on-point......but I'm not there yet.

Here are 2 finished, and 4 still needing the center seam.

I'll finish these up tonight, and tomorrow I'll be working on my jubilee quilt again.  The top is really at the nearly-finished stage......I just need to sew the blocks to the sashing, then the borders, and I'm done.  I'm pretty excited about getting it this far so quickly, and I can't wait to get to it tomorrow.

You know, vacations are awfully fun, but it really is good to be home again.  I love sleeping in my own bed, and having home-made soup for supper (it was sooooo good), and getting back into a real routine.  I spent today going through the tub of mail, balancing the checkbook, tons of laundry, grocery shopping, catching up on blogs, and playing the computer games that need more 'connection' than what the hotels can give you.  I even got to go thrifting today, and picked up several more shirts to cut up for quilts.  Yeah......it's good to be home!

Have a great day!

regan

Still on Vacation! Woohoo!

I'm still on vacation, but I have a few minutes of internet access, so I thought I'd post a bunch of pics from the vaca so far!  We are on the last stretch of it.....should be home in about 5 days.  I just love how driving vacations can linger......and I am making sure we are taking our time!  :o)

We started in late March with a drive from our home in Maine, to Philadelphia.  I'd never seen 'the bell' before, so it was a perfect first destination!

First signs of spring in Philadelphia!  Yay!

The Liberty Bell and the statue of George Washington in front of the State House!

The room where 'those guys' signed the Declaration of Independence!  lol

Philly was fun, but we had golfing to do......so we headed to Fort Lee in Virginia, Fort Bragg in NC and Fort Stewart in Georgia.  Woohoo!  It was so good to get to play again.  Our local course closes the middle of October and doesn't open until the middle of April each year......so we are just about to burst waiting for it.  And golfing on bases is really cheap......my kind of golf!  Ha!

Then we headed for Tampa, and then got on our cruise!  Woohoo!  Royal Caribbean to Cozumel and Costa Maya, Mexico for a 5 day cruise!  Totally fun in every way!  It was my 2nd cruise, but my hubby's first, so I wanted to make sure he had a fantastic time......so he'd want to do it again!  AND HE DOES!  Yippee!

 My hubby, John.

Me on the deck, waiting for our room to be ready.  It was a lovely ship, but I didn't get many pictures......I guess I was having way too much fun!

This was a floor medallion on one of the decks......a beautiful Mariner's Compass.  Quilty inspiration!

 Yep.....I love towel animals......had to take a pic of each one!  Too sweet!

 This was the puppy dog towel that I made for our room steward with his tip envelope on the last day.  Hubby and I had just taken a 'towel animal making demo' and it was the one I really liked!

 MONKEY!

Here's the turtle our steward left for us.....next to my puppy!

And hubby and I also took a napkin folding class.......so naturally I left an elf shoe at every table I sat at from that moment on!  :o)

Our excursion in Cozumel was taking the Xtrail dune buggies through the jungle to the Jade Caverns.  It was awesome!  The ride through the jungle was amazing.....and you totally get covered in mud from the tires on the dune buggy.  FUN!  Then you get to the caverns, and you can swim in the pools.  It was a little murky looking for me.....but hubby and a bunch of others jumped in from the top of the caverns!

When we went to Costa Maya, we took an excursion to the Chocchobean Mayan Temples.  Our guide was really good, and gave us so much history and information about them.  There were several temples that had already been excavated (just since the 1990's), and many more that are just hills with trees on them, until the government can come up with some more money to fund more excavating.

Here we are at the top, looking down at the next group!

These were some really cool trees there.....have no idea what kind.  But very cool!

When we finished the cruise, we visited a bit more in Tampa with our cousins, April and Drew.  Did we get any pics of them, or the new grandson?......No!  Sheesh!  But I know April was taking a bunch of pics, so maybe I'll post one when she sends one along.  Speaking of April......she just started a blog......here's the link......Life Without a Tagline.  April is awesome in every way......and as I like to say, she's the 'voice of reason' in every group, especially when the family gets together!  lol

While we were in the Tampa area, we took a quick trip down to Ft. Myers to visit my sister, Alison.  Three words.......Norman Love Chocolates!  If you've never tried them, you are truly missing out!  If you are ever in Ft. Myers or Naples Florida, or a Godiva Chocolatier, then definitely get several!  They are little works of art, and totally yummy!  I even got to talk with Norman, himself!  :o)  And then we went next door and had some of his gelato......Holy Cow!  The best!

And did I mention that we had pretty much turned this into a Krispy Kreme vacation!  LOL  You know, we don't have any KK anywhere near us......and there is nothing like an original glaze Krispy Kreme donut!  YUM!  My favorite!  And all this chocolate, gelato and donuts are on top of all the amazing food we had on the ship!  Oy!

Yep......hubby and I are definitely going back on Weight Watchers when we get home......but for the next week, we are still living it up!  lol  I love being on vacation and eating every yummy I see!

When we left Tampa on Monday, we headed for Suzanne and John's place in The Villages in central Florida. We just spent a fabulous 3 days with them, golfing, eating, visiting and checking out all the villages have to offer.  Hubby and I are in the beginning stages of figuring out what we are going to do with our winters when we fully retire in 2 years.  And this area is looking really good.  We were also told by April that the Mount Dora area (also central Florida) is a lovely little town right up our alley!  And boy, were they right!  They so know us!  And yesterday we golfed with another couple we know from Maine in another local area, and that all looked good, too!  We have so many choices to consider now.  We just need to figure out what is really important to us.....and go from there.

Right now, we are in Atlanta, a good stopping point on our way to Mary Jo's Quilt Store in North Carolina tomorrow!  Can't wait!  Woohoo!

Speaking of quilting......I managed to mark and cut a bunch of civil war repro fabric for my 8-pointed star quilt......my next hand work project.  I saw the inspiration antique quilt on the Museum of the Confederacy's site.....www.mocquilts.org.....The Shelton 8 Pointed Star quilt.  I just love the striped fabric for the sashing, and I've always wanted to do this in small size......so these are going to work up to just under 3 inches square.

I made most of these while at Suzanne's; we spent Tuesday morning at her quilt guild meeting.....a very nice group of ladies.  I'm still deciding on what background to use......an off white/beige, or maybe a small shirting print......still don't know.  The 7 on the right are just half done.....still need the center joining seam, but my light wasn't great, so I didn't want to chance a crappy join.

And.......still on a quilty note......when I saw this car in the parking lot of our hotel in North Carolina......all I could say was......"That's a perfect cheddar color!"  Ha!

My pic reads more yellow......but in real life.....it was CHEDDAR!  ha!

Hope you have a great weekend.  I'll post more when I'm home!

regan

We leave tomorrow! Woohoo!

And today is going to be so busy!  We still haven't packed......and we are driving, so that means packing way too much stuff, just because we can!  lol

I haven't spent one single minute on my Jubilee quilt this week......and I don't know why!  I wanted to, but it seems I only want to work on it when I know I can spend hours at a time doing it!  Twenty minutes here and there is just not relaxing for me.  It's either all or nothing!

I did spend yesterday trying to quilt up a quilt for our group charity project.  Turns out, we have someone in town that should receive it, and I'd like to get it to them BEFORE I come back in the middle of April.  If I can finish up the quilting on it, and sew down the binding, Pat (one of the gals from the group) said she would finish hand sewing down the binding.  Yay!  I'm doing just a simple wavy line down each seam......it's a stripey quilt, so I wanted the quilting to be stripey, too!  I'm nearly done with the quilting......I should finish it tonight!  Yay!

I do need to spend a few minutes today marking some fabrics with templates......for my handwork project on this trip.  I know I'll want to sit and stitch here and there, so I really want to have something very portable with me.  My plan is to make little LeMoyne stars from my civil war fabrics......about 3 inches finished.  I've seen a bunch of these antique quilts out there, and just the other day, Barbara Brackman linked to a site of civil war quilts at a museum, and there was one in the collection with a fabulous striped fabric sashing!  I'm in love!

So that's the plan for stitching on this vaca.  Our trip starts with 5 days of golfing/antiquing our way down to Tampa (with a stop in Philly to see the bell!), and then visit with our cousins in Tampa for a few days, then the 5 days cruise to Mexico, and then visit some more in Tampa.  When we leave, we are heading straight to visit at Suzanne's place in FL......you would recognize her as "Suzanne with the dump machine!".....now famous since Bonnie Hunter put her on her blog!  Ha!  We'll play a little golf with them, then continue our golfing/antiquing all the way back to Maine!  So......I needed to prep for all of this golfing......

This is kindof my thing......I HAVE to have decorated golf balls......I just can't play with a plain ball!  It doesn't feel right!  I really like looking down at the little flowers just before I smack the snot out of it!  Ha!  It just make me happy!  :o)

And yeah.....I usually get a lot of comments like....."Gee, someone has a lot of free time on their hands!"

And NO, I really don't......but this is a necessity!  Really!  My game just wouldn't be the same without the little flowers!

And on other non-quilty topics.......my hubby just finished making a kite for a friend of ours who does kite building workshops with kids.......and the kite came out REALLY great!  It's the logo for his workshop business, and it flies like a dream!

Ok......I'm off to pack, stitch and mark fabric!  Whew!

AND.......I'm officially NOT keeping track of my food starting tomorrow!  I've been following Weight Watchers since the beginning of February, and I've lost 13 pounds since then.  My goal was to lose 10 by our trip......so I'm totally jazzed about it all!  I'm not even going to worry about it during our trip......and I'm eating every dessert I see on that dang ship!  Ha!  Cuz vacations for us are ALL about the food!  Yum!

And I'll get right back on WW when I get home!

Hope you have a great few weeks.....I know I will!  :o)

regan

The worst thing ever!

This is just a quick post to pass the word on some quilts that were stolen from Karen's car in Texas.....here's the link to her post with the pics and info on it.

http://karencombs.wordpress.com/2012/03/18/quilts-stolen/

I just can't imagine how awful that must feel!  Hopefully, they will be found.  As she said, if everyone can check yard sales, flea markets, etc......they might turn up.  Obviously when the punks stole the suitcase from her car, they had no idea what was in it, and will probably not care anything about them.  Ugh!

..................

And.....thanks to everyone who sent me get well wishes.....I'm nearly back to normal (whatever THAT is!)  :o)

Hopefully I will be quilting tomorrow and posting my progress.......I have less than a week until vaca!  Yikes!

And today it was 80 degrees here in Maine.....in March!  Woohoo!  That just felt SO good!

Have a great day!

regan

More Jubilee Progress! Woohoo!

So I posted progress on the Jubilee Quilt Project Blog last week, but forgot to post here.  Sheesh!  So, to catch up, I've finished all 20 blocks, and now I've finished making the sashing strips.

I just need to square up the blocks,and put all the pieces together now.  Yay!

Of course, I would get sick last night, with the crud that is going around!  It's totally in my head and throat, all congested and can't breath or hear.......and my body feels like it's been hit by a truck!  So I don't think I'll be doing any sewing tonight.  Everyone here says this lasts about 4 days.  I guess I can deal with that!  Thank goodness I've still got about 10 days before my vacation, cuz NOTHING is going to mess with that!  I just won't let it!  :o)

Have a great week!

regan

Progress on Jubilee!

I've been working away on my Jubilee quilt.......and posted on the Jubilee Project blog.  If you haven't been over there yet, check it out!  Everyone posting is either preparing to turn 50, just turned 50, or has fond memories of 50!  lol  And the quilts are just a fun way to think about your life, your passion for quilting, and all the fun you can muster at this milestone!

Here is my progress on my quilt......I've de-papered and trimmed all 80 string pieced sections.  And I've put together 5 blocks.  They aren't trimmed down yet, I'll wait until they're all done for that.

I'm just loving everything about this quilt!  Well.....except for having to take off the papers from the string piecing!  There is so much static here, that they are sticking to EVERYTHING!  That makes me crazy!  But if that's the worst thing about my day......then life is good!  :o)

And we are still in full winter-mode here......two days ago we got about 10" of snow, and last night another 3.  Now we're having an icey rain,......fun!

On the right of those posts is a little stair way leading to our field.  The low hanging branch is the actually about 5.5' off the ground.  In the spring it's covered in beautiful white flowers.....I love it!  I just barely have to duck to get under it, but everyone else always complains about it, and wants to chop it off!  I just say......"You have to be smarter than the tree!"  Ha!

Have a great weekend!

regan