Wanted: Hiking Pictures

I live on the Appalachian Trail and hike often. OK, so I used to hike often. I hiked regularly until Mother's Day and haven't hiked since. Until today.

For the first time ever, my husband came with me. I got a great picture of him at the top of the mountain with the gorgeous view behind him. Wanna see it?

Well, you can't. Don't feel bad, though, because I can't either. My camera didn't come home with me. I'm beyond bummed. If you happen to hike the AT and see my green Samsung camera, let me know, ok?

I'm going to engage in some quilt therapy and maybe finish Old Tobacco Road part 3. And then I'm going to go through camera withdrawal. Is there a 12-step program for that?

Old Tobacco Road, part 2

Here they are:

And yes, I did put them all together backwards. Thanks for noticing. I'm going to reverse everything in step three, hoping it all comes together ok. If not, it's a graduation quilt for someone and they'll love it regardless.

No scrap baskets were emptied in the making of these blocks. Not empty at all. So much so that I'm thinking of finally starting Orange Crush, just to use up some of these scraps.

Old Tobacco Road, part 1

I decided to take the Old Tobacco Road plunge. I don't get much time for personal sewing, so here's hoping I'll get to finish this one.


For my four-patches, I raided my 2-inch square bucket. I used mostly browns.





I made 190 or so, and will cut the triangle blocks from these later.


Wow, I forgot my scrap buckets actually had bottoms to them. One down, eleven to go!





On to the Windmills!!!

Another good book

I have a very weird system for picking books to read. Sometimes it's everything by an author. Sometimes it's what I've seen others read in airports. And sometimes I pick audiobooks based on who the reader is.

Scott Brick is one of my favorites. I requested a whole bunch of books that he's read and found some very enjoyable ones. "City of the Sun" by David Levien is one of those. I started listening with absolutely no pre-conceived ideas and this book blew me away.

Gritty might be a good description. Moving would be another. Tragic. Compelling. I finished listening to this book in my garage after listening to the last CD while driving and arriving home before it was over. I couldn't stand the thought of turning it off long enough to walk upstairs and put it in the CD player in my office.

So, not for the faint of heart (sensitive subject matter), but absolutely compelling. Read it!

I'm not dead yet!

Things just got a bit crazy. Sorry.

I'll post now, though, if that's ok.
__________

My daughter and I went to the University of Maryland this weekend. I really, really liked the school, but it's not completely about me, I guess. We had to be there at 10am Friday. In case you are new, we live in New York. I love waking at 4am in order to cross the George Washington Bridge before rush hour. Yay! I also love construction traffic, weekend traffic, and all other forms of traffic. We hit them all.

To pass the time, we listened to "Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption" by Stephen King. I was shocked to discover that I have never read it before. I've read most of his works (except The Dark Tower series. I don't like them). I rarely read books after I've seen the movie; it's such a set-up for disappointment. I took the risk since my daughter and I both love the movie. The book was read by someone who wasn't Morgan Freeman but who sounded shockingly like Morgan Freeman anyway. We pointed out places where the screenplay differed from the book, but thankfully they were few. All movies that are based on books should at least resemble the books they were based on, don't you think? It's tragic how many don't.

Stephen King outdid himself in this novella. The last line is now one of my favorites: "I hope."

Making a Spectacle of Myself

I've often mentioned that I hang my laundry outside to dry. It's something that is good for the environment and our budget. It's a bright part of my day. I love going outside in the morning and listening to the birds and critters making their normal racket. It makes me wonder why people think that it's quiet in the country. I'm soothed by the process of hanging laundry and I love folding the fresh-smelling clothes at the end of the day.

It's obvious that I enjoy my laundry-hanging experience. Today, it became obvious that someone else enjoys it as well:



This lovely lady made herself comfortable and watched me intently for the entire process.

Mission Accomplished

I've had some interesting experiences on the road recently. Unfortunately, a lot of them involved tow trucks.

My husband and I have had several 'date night' trips to drop my car at the shop. I enjoyed spending that time with my husband, but I would have preferred candle-lit dinners. With what we paid the mechanic, they would have been some ah-ma-zing dinners.

We started visiting exciting places with bright lights and friendly people. Places like this:



and others like Pontiac, Nissan, and Dodge.

After too many days spent without a working vehicle, I finally have a new baby:



Ugly car comments? Bring them on!

Black socks & sandals

Are these the most typical tourist photos you've ever seen?:











It was a good day. And one totally filled with incredibly cute toddlers and dogs. Was there a convention or something? Because they were completely adorable, all of them.

Huh?

Makes perfect sense to me.

More pictures later.

Quilt Tour

Another "hospital" quilt:




This was machine appliqued and hand quilted.

My daughter loved this as a little girl, but it is so far from her current color preferences, you'd laugh if you knew her.

Quilt Tour

The first quilt I ever made:



My son absolutely trashed this quilt. I'm not upset because he literally loved it to death. I made it when he was in elementary school. The blue and orange fabrics were in recognition of the fact that he would one day play for the New York Knicks. He's changed career goals since then.

Glutton for punishment that I am, this is hand-quilted:





Does anyone else have a quilting stencil shaped like a basketball? No? I'm shocked.

This quilt has been to Mexico, Russia, and many other places. He never traveled without it. He took it to college with him, and it died by Thanksgiving of his freshman year. He asked me to sew a new "edge-thingie" on it, but there was nothing left to attach a new binding to!

I raced home from visiting him that Thanksgiving to make him a new quilt by Christmas. I used the same pattern and wondered why I made such a small boy such a large quilt all those years ago!?!? His new quilt was scarlet and gray (go Bucks!) and had music fabric in it. I'll try and get a photo from him some time.

This first quilt has been retired, but will never be discarded.

Book List

The Moon in the Mango Tree by Pamela Binnings Ewen. I read most of this book from Salt Lake City to JFK. It was a direct flight so I didn't get to finish. This book was for my book club at church. The club met for dinner and had a phone interview with the author. I missed it because it was my husband's birthday, but I did get to read the book. It's one of the better books from my club, but it seemed a little disjointed. Usually 'Christian' fiction hammers you over the head (and I don't like that), but this one seemed to almost miss the point. It's a fictionalized account of the author's grandmother's time in Siam and Europe during the Roaring Twenties. Overall, it was somewhat better than meh, but if you are only going to read one book this year, pick another book.

Eye of the World by Robert Jordan. This is the first book in a long series of fantasy quest books. My husband is reading the series and I thought I'd join in the fun. The book was fairly good, but seemed scattered. Maybe it was me, but several times things seemed to happen out of order. A character recovered, only to get sick a few pages later. Someone else wore a new scarf only to receive the scarf as a gift afterwards. Otherwise, interesting story and I will read the second one.
The Crime Writer by Gregg Hurwitz. I will have a tough time conveying how much I enjoyed this book. I read a lot. A LOT. I have a nasty habit, though, of figuring out the book early on and then despising myself for wasting time finishing it. Whereas I did plot out the ending, it was only one of many endings I devised and I was pleasantly carried through the ending, eager to find the resolution. I've never read Hurwitz before, but I will definitely read him again. Trivia: he is Robert Blake's son-in-law.

This book list is incredibly short. Two words explain this: Project Runway. Yes. We finally got cable.

Quilt Tour

Another hopsital quilt:




I went through a serious Americana phase as a quilter. The blocks were from a Marti Michell fat quarter mystery. There were 10 blocks, so the other two are in a tablerunner that I gave to my mom.

Traveling Tuesday

I recently visited a town where the streets are paved with chocolate; Quilt Odyssey is held in Hershey, PA!

I demonstrated the HQ Sixteen for a wonderful quilt shop and was surrounded by some gorgeous quilts in the booth:





The picture above includes a genuine Handi Quilter rep!

I met with blogland's own Amy and her husband one day. I saw her baby bump!!!

On Sunday, I got to see the quilt exhibit. Humbling.

Quilt Tour

A quilt from my pre-longarm days:



I made a drunkard's path block and thought it looked like a fish. So I ran with it. I was arranging all the fish when my husband suggested that the school of fish actually be in the shape of a fish. And so it was.

This quilt is a 'hospital' quilt. My daughter had a few operations when she was young. If we knew ahead of time, I tried to make her a new quilt. She liked having them with her and it gave me something to do while waiting and worrying, too. Now we have no more hospital visits, but we do have a small collection of quilts.

Quilt Tour

Digging deep yet again, I found my daughter's "I Spy" quilt:



A group of quilters, including my favorite lawyer, met together once a month for over a year and swapped focus fabrics. I think there are over 300 different fabrics in this quilt.

One quilter even found fabric that has a spy on it:



After all the collecting, I was so excited to finish piecing it. I laid the top over my bed and proudly showed my daughter when she came home from school. I announced, "Look at what I made for you!" Her reply? "I don't like it."

I'll admit to being somewhat miffed, but she was such a cute first-grader, I had to forgive her. I set about quilting and binding it, since it was now for ME.

Once finished, I again laid the quilt over my bed. My daughter saw it some time that afternoon and it disappeared into her room. It's been hers ever since.

I guess she liked it after all.

For me?

I received a present, and I'm not sure who left it for me. It was icky.

Since Spike is a big weenie:

it was probably Kermit:

Both boys were awarded and praised appropriately for that most thoughtful gift ... which was left on the floor at the top of the stairs ... very, very dead.

Aren't you glad I didn't take a picture of the mouse?

Finished by Friday

I adore this quilt:



It was made with Tonga Batiks Dime Squares. The pattern was so easy and incredibly fun. The only drawback for me was that it was a little small. I'm not much in need of small quilts, so I added borders. I'd probably double the size next time (and there will be a next time).

I'm giving this quilt away, so quick and simple quilting works for me:






The photos are not the best because I'm fighting with hotel lighting. Sorry.

Here are the facts as I know them:

Size: approx 50 x approx 60
Batting: Quilter's Dream Polyester Select
Thread: King Tut variegated on top, PermaCore in bobbin (uncertain of colors at this time)

What not to say....

to me when you are an expectant grandmother with a grandbaby due in a few weeks:

"Debby, I just had to tell you that I have a new..........

...


...


...


...


...


...


...


laptop computer."

Sigh. Continuing to wait.

Truth is Stranger Than Fabric?

While visiting a friend today (and replacing her ant poison that I borrowed in desperation), I saw this:



It reminded me of this.

More of my friend's gorgeous gardens:





And she can quilt, too!