Yoo hoo! Remember me?

I know! I've been an absentee blogger. I'm sorry. After 6 weeks off following my surgery, I had to go back to work. Boo hoo. One of my 'to do' tasks that I wanted to get done a few weeks ago was to hang up some of my mini quilts and wall quilts. Well, I finally got to it today.

I used Command strip hooks (these are the ones that stick on the wall and you can remove them without damaging the wall. I have small dowel rods on the backs of these quilts but I don't like how the hooks show at the top so I'll have to put some other hanger on the back of the quilts.

The top mini is the little landscape I made recently. The bottom one is from one of my Wild Thread friends, Shirley. Isn't it fabulous? It was for our summer mini swap and isn't it perfect for summer. I love how it looks on my red wall too. That border fabric is very cool. This is how they look from a distance. Boy! I really need to work on how I arrange these shelves. Well, I guess I'll just put it on the 'to do' list. Hardy har har, wonder when that will happen.

This is a little quilt I made on retreat last year. It's a woven quilt from Anna Faustino's book. It was great fun to make and I used a great tie dyed fabric for one of the woven fabrics. I really like the effect it gives. I saw this on the cover of a quilting magazine a few years ago and HAD to make it. There are over 1000 one inch squares. Thank goodness for strip sets! I designed the border myself. I am always pleased when I put some effort into the borders, I just wish I would put in that effort all the time. That sounds like a good resolution for next year. Hope I remember it.

My friend, Kathy, made this wall quilt. She used Shiva paint sticks to make the inner blocks after making her own stencils. She made it as a gift for someone else but I was doing some serious coveting so she made a deal with me. I made an adorable Bunny pillow from a free pattern on Kelly Wulfsohn's blog, Don't Look Now. Kathy was nuts about it, so we traded. Win-win!

The last three photos were taken of quilts hanging on yellow walls. I really need to work on my photography skills because I don't see any yellow at all.

I promise another post this week. I am going to give y'all a progress report on my New Year's resolutions. How do you think I'm doing? Will I make it? It's the halfway point but I won't have as much time once I start making things for the holidays. I need to get cracking this summer. How are you all doing with your quilting resolutions? You made some didn't you?

Harvest of Hydrangeas (and a winner!)

I love hydrangeas. Not only are they beautiful but they also bloom for months. Last year I must have trimmed one of my bushes at the WRONG time. Not one bloom on that bush last year. Not ...... even....... one! But check it out this year! It's the big one on the left. I didn't touch it (or any of the others) this spring. This makes me want to just surround the whole house with these babies. There are more out back and a couple smaller bushes in the front. Purty, purty, purty!!!

Okay, okay, how about a winner?! Who wants a couple potholders? The winner is...... Michele who happened to be the first to comment. Congratulations Michele! Email me your address and let me know if you choose the fish, the wonky churndash, or the woodland critter potholders and I'll get them right to you. Have a great Father's day everyone!

Helloooooo from the Outer Banks!!

Check out this awesome view! This is where we had dinner last night, and while we ate we saw literally dozens of dolphins swim by. This is the deck of our rented beach house in Kitty Hawk, NC.

Holy smokes! This might be the best beach house we've ever rented. It is right on the beach and has that fantastic deck.
This is the view looking north.

All day today we just went in and out from the beach to the house. It's so nice to be able to leave the chairs, towels, and umbrellas out on the sand. And who wouldn't love the sound of the waves 24/7. Yup, this is my idea of a perfect summer vacation.

And what else do I love? All the new 2 piece bathing suits with the little skirts for bottoms and the tankini tops. Ooooooh yeah, I feel so comfortable walking on the beach in my little skirt. And I love sipping wine on the deck watching the waves roll in. And ice cream of course, I always love ice cream.

Don't forget my giveaway. Have a great day everybody!

No Way!!!

You call this a giveaway? Only 3 comments and one of them is Mr. 9patch. He asked if he was eligible to win. (I said yes but he really isn't, tee hee) So this is my plan. We leave for the beach tomorrow morning for a week. I think I'll extend this until we get back. Meanwhile I'm going to leaves comments all over blogland and see if that brings a little action over here. I know I have readers that don't comment (that used to be me, a lurker), come on now, you can do it.......just a few clicks.
Every kitchen needs one or two new potholders. I know mine does. And who doesn't like getting a little package in the mail? I know I do. Talk to y'all soon!

Wanna win sumthin?

That's right people! This is my 99th post, so the next one will announce my '100th Post Winner'!! So if you want a chance to win a pair of potholders, all you have to do is leave a comment. No linking, no questions, no blogging. Just say 'hi' and you are in. On Friday I'll pick a random winner and he/she can choose between the fish, the woodland critters, or the wonky churn dash, and I'll send a pair of potholders.
We had a whopper of a storm tear through here on Friday and it blew down several BIG trees. Actually one of the trees, which was at least 2 feet in diameter, just snapped halfway up. Yikes!! We wonder if there might have been a twister. Run Auntie Em!! Another tree not only pulled down our power lines, it actually RIPPED all of the lines and the big box right off our house. We had live wires in the yard (sorry kitties, you are NOT going outside). The electric company sorted out their wires and got our power back on after 24 hours. Out here, no power equals no water which is the WORST! We're still without internet or cable. I'm borrowing my mom's internet right now. I'm waiting for the cable guy now so cross your fingers.
While the power was out, I decided to play with some shiva paintsticks I got a while back but never tried. I also have some rubbing plates so I just cut some random squares and played/learned. Below is my design wall with all the squares hanging to dry. I discovered that I definitely do better on certain sides of the plates.
These two squares used the same plate, much better on the left don't you think?

Again, same plate. I like the right better, it's a cleaner design.

I don't have any ideas of what to do with these, so if you have a suggestion, feel free to share.

There was a dreadful 'shiva paint' mishap while I was playing. I don't know how I did it but I got a glop of blue paint on a quilt top. Right before the power went out, I had sandwiched and pin basted the xmas block of the month I worked on last year. You can see it here. It's an awesome McKenna Ryan design and I can't believe I actually made it. Somehow I got blue paint on a penguin's WHITE belly. Good grief!! All of the jewel tones in that quilt and I only mess up the bright white. I'm going to embellish the quilt with beads and whatnot so I guess that penguin will have to be holding something.
So don't forget my celebration giveaway. I don't get too many comments so you have a good chance of winning, but if you want to pass the word around, I won't complain.

Adios until Friday!!

My exciting news!

Remember this? when I had a little adventure in 'art quilting' and used found materials? Well, I sent the little quilt to AAQI for the Alzheimer's auction months ago. I got an email with it's number (4815) and was told that it sometimes takes a while for them to get an assignment. Some of them are priced and go up for sale and some go into the monthly auctions. I've been checking now and then and little 4815 stayed in the 'Waiting for assignment' section month after month. This week when I checked, I couldn't find it. Not for sale. Not for auction. Not waiting. There's a section for quilts that will be going to Houston. Wow, I thought! That would be awesome. Nope, not there. Then I saw another section, Quilts under consideration for "Alzheimer's Illustrated: From Heartbreak to Hope". It's there!!!! 50 quilts will be chosen by June 15 to be part of this traveling exhibit to raise awareness for Alzheimer's. They will travel for 5 years then go up for auction. Holy smokes! Little 4815, 'Tearful Broken Heart' might be hitting the road! Cross your fingers for it. I will definitely be making more little quilts for this worthy cause. Check out the website, there are lots of quilts to see. And don't hesitate to make one, their size makes them so quick and fun.

Potholder fun!

It started when I fiddled around making a couple wonky churn dash blocks. There have been so many potholders around the blogging world that I couldn't resist playing. I chose to use grommets instead of making loops for hanging. I was so nervous cutting the holes, worried the grommet wouldn't work and I'd make a big mess. But, success!! (I did practice a few times first.) Then I figured I would go ahead and use the wonky 9 patch blocks. Here are some little woodland critters potholders.
I just can't stand how CUTE this hedgehog fabric is.

And then! Yesterday I got a Wisteria catalog in the mail and they had 'fish shaped' hand towels. That got me to thnking and this is what happened. Fish potholders. I ran out of grommets but these fishies will have grommet eyes soon. And I think I'll put rickrack on the top one too. You would not believe how long it took me to draw this simple fish shape. It was torture! I finally got my hubby to help me. Good grief!

I couldn't resist taking this picture. It's by the door in my sewing room. I always wear shoes into the room then kick them off to sew. Slowly, slowly, all of my shoes end up in there. I'm not sure where the other red slipper is though. I guess I'll have to start crawling around looking under fabric scraps. I'm closing in on 100 posts! Wow! Tomorrow I have some exciting (I think) news to share and I think I'll announce a giveaway too. Sew long!