Re-Do's

I have 2 wall hangings posted on my website that are listed as classes and as patterns for sale. I suddenly realized that I no longer had the samples, sooooo I thought I'd better get busy and re-do them. The one on the left is Marsh Life and the one on the right is Oasis. It had been quite a while since I made the originals, so I really kind of enjoyed re-doing them. Size is about 24" x 24". I made Marsh Life in a different color palette than the original one and I made Oasis a little bolder than the original and that made the process a little more interesting.

Yesterday, we had a big party to celebrate my mother-in-law's 90th birthday. She had a blast! She lives in the full-care wing at the Franke Home in Mt. Pleasant and they did everything they could to make it a nice event. The food was so good that people kept asking us who we got to cater it and couldn't believe it when we said Franke did. One thing I want to mention that I thought might be a good gift idea for those of you who are always wondering what to give an elderly person. My sister-in-law got one of those digital picture frames and had her daughter download all kinds of family pictures on to it. My mother-in-law could hardly pull her eyes away from it--she liked it so much. And now it is in her room and she can look at the the ever-changing pictures as much as she wants to--which is good because she was exhausted after the party and just wanted to lay down!

Our Day

My husband, Smokey, and I are celebrating our 44th anniversary today-- No, I don't know where the years have gone. We had a trip planned to the Congaree National Forest but decided that with the price of gas we would do that sometime on the way to somewhere else (it works for us). So, what we decided to do today is to walk the Ravenel Bridge--something that we've not done yet even though it's practically in our front yard. It's a beautiful day today and so we set out.

The first thing you need to do in order to walk the bridge is to find a parking place. That worked out pretty well because Thursday is not a peak walking day. Soon, there will be a park underneath the bridge and it will be easier to walk up onto the bridge from there. The road is actually already finished but I think they're delaying the opening of it until the park is ready to open also. (I personally think they could open the parking on weekends when no one is working there but no one asked for my wisdom on the subject). Here you can see Smokey on the uphill part. It's not really too bad--unless you're running, I guess. The bridge supports are huge when you're right beside them and when I see something like that I really marvel at the mind of man that can figure out how to do something so massive and beautiful.

The vista from the top of the bridge is really wonderful. The picture at the left is the Yorktown in Mt. Pleasant and the picture on the right is of container ships across the harbor in Charleston. I still remember years ago when they brought the Yorktown to its present resting place. We took our boat and anchored on the shore of a small island and spent the entire day watching them bring it in and maneuver it into place. It was quite a day to put in our book of memories.

For me, the only downside to walking the bridge today was the noise level. I can understand why so many people wear i-pods. Maybe next time we'll try it on an early Sunday morning. But, noise level and all, it was a great day to commemorate the day we were married. When we were married in Mt. Pleasant in 1964, there was just the one old bridge and now, today in 2008, there is just the one new bridge. I don't know that there's any symbolism there--it's just nice to think about.

This and That

I'll start off with another finished unfinished project--my winding ways quilt. I call it "Winding My Way Back Home." I started it several years ago in a class, finished the blocks and--there it sat. Finally, this winter I got it out, sewed the blocks together and searched for the border fabric. After I quilted it, it took another search to find the binding fabric. But it's done now and I'm ready to move on. The size is 83" x 91" and I quilted it on my Juki. I used Superior Bottom Line thread on the back for the first time and was VERY pleased with how it turned out. I will definitely be using it again--and again.

Hasn't Spring been just too beautiful this year? It's almost like a miracle here in Charleston. I know it will be hot and sticky soon enough but right now I'm really enjoying my time in the yard. Since we most likely are going to be here most of the summer, I went ahead and even put flowers in pots with the expectation that I MIGHT keep them watered. We brought my mother-in-law over today so she could she how some of her old plants are progessing and I think she is really happy that we've moved them to better places for their growth instead of getting rid of them. I know she misses her yard so much but she is very glad that it has stayed in the family.

My husband has had atrial fibrillation for about 9 years now and it has gotten a lot worse over the past several months. We talked with a specialist yesterday about an ablation procedure that should improve things for him. It's not without risk--a lot of risk--but the drugs he has had to take have dramatically lessened his quality of life. So we're going forward and hope that a month or so from now, it will be history and he will be better. Assuming everything goes well, he will still have to stay in town for quite a while afterwards in case there are problems--and because of that, he has promised to learn how to do his own email! Our son is going to help us get a router installed so he can have his own computer to work on. This I am really looking forward to.

So this was my This and That. Hopefully This and That will turn out well.

Projects, Projects

We've been busy, busy the last couple of days--but not much quilting has been accomplished. We have been moving my husband's office downstairs to his "Man's Room." Since I have promised not to fuss at him when it's messy and since it has the entrance that is most used by people coming to our house, I have told him that I am going to put a sign on that door that states: Please Use Side Entrance! I doubt anyone will pay attention to it though.

Anyway, yesterday we fixed the top of his desk. This desk was from a farm somewhere in Virginia or Pennsylvania and was called a plantation desk. We bought it many years ago and at the time, it had a felt insert that was in bad shape. About four years ago, a family member gave my husband a hand-tooled leather piece to replace it but, unfortunately, they measured wrong and it was too small. So . . .what we ended up doing--finally--was to order pool table felt--a very sturdy material. This is the before and after. I laid the felt on top of the desk and used a chalk marker to draw the outside edges. I then used a rotary cutter and ruler to cut along the line. We then glued it with Elmer's and piled books on top to keep it smooth while drying. We're both happy with the result and it only took 10 years or so.

Today was a different kind of project. We ordered a HUGE load of top soil and it came this morning and was dumped in the front yard. We then took shovels and rakes and spread it out. This picture really doesn't do justice to the magnitude of the dirt. We have the most sun and least wind at the front of the house and I wanted more contour to the "lay of the land" so mounds help to solve the problem. We have already done that along the side entrance and really like the effect. We bought some plants today and I planted those and mulched them. Hopefully, we'll get more tomorrow and the job will be done--until the weeds poke out their nasty little faces!

The Queen City

We drove up to Charlotte yesterday to see their annual Quilt Show. We didn't get there in time to see it without rushing, so we did the next best thing--went to Mary Jo's. The entire shopping center there is being remodeled--with most of the stores closed. BUT Mary Jo's was still up and running although the entrance was altered. I managed to buy 9 batik pieces in 30 minutes so I was a happy camper. And it was still early enough that we could go to The Cheesecake Factory before the crowd got there! What more could one ask for?

This morning, we headed out pretty early, having typed the address of the quilt show into our navigation system (even my husband now LOVES it). Unfortunately, the navigation system didn't know that there was some kind of charity run and every street we tried was blocked by the police. Oh well--we finally just stopped and waited with everyone else for an hour.

We did ultimately get to the show and here are a few of the quilts:

This was the Best of Show. I had seen this quilt at the Asheville Quilt Show last year and liked it there. The quilting is good and the colors are good.

This was my husband's favorite. He liked the geometry of the circle.

I don't know the name of this pattern, but I liked the colors (It looked better in person). There was another one there with the same pattern and there were four or five of them at the Asheville Show last year. So I guess it's popular.

And the interesting thing about this quilt was all of the machine embroidery. I think it was from a Jenny Haskins pattern. It was really hard to get a full view of some of these quilts because the space was tight and you couldn't get far enough. Anyway, it was nicely done.

This was the winner in one of the small quilt categories. It is a rendition of their mountain house. It looked pretty nice. And my husband does, too.

And, finally, this was a small quilt that I liked. The quilting was nice and the colors were happy.

The Charlotte Show is a fairly small show. I don't know how big the Guild is or how popular quilting is in Charlotte. Maybe someone who reads this could let us know the story behind the story.

All in all, it was a nice little getaway. I am so blessed to have a husband who likes to look at quilts and who waits patiently while I shop. What a hero.

My Studio

Today I've been taking pictures of my sewing studio for a digital program on members' sewing rooms at our next Guild meeting. Since I was doing that anyway, I decided to post a few to my blog. I feel very fortunate to have the sewing space that I do have. When we bought this house from my mother-in-law, the place where I now quilt was a 10' x 10' room with no heat and no airconditioning. Part of the bargain to get me to move here was a GREAT sewing space. And a great space I DO have. Walls were pushed up and out and over to get me a wonderful place to design, sew, listen to books on tape and just to sit--if I would ever want to do that.This picture is at the top of the step leading into my studio. I have a wonderful pair of dolls-an old crone and a wizard--greeting me as I come in.

One of the great features of my space is this wonderful worktable and all of the cabinets underneath. One day when I was at my friend Annie's house, I noticed her worktable and asked her about it. She told me that she had bought the cabinets at Home Depot and then had the top made by them. And that is exactly what I did. Fortunately, my husband could secure the cabinets to each other and then a nice man came from Home Depot for the finishing touch of the large formica worktop. I absolutely love the entire thing. The problem will come when we have to move it out for some reason!
And now, here is my neatly folded fabric! But who knows for how long? I sure do enjoy looking at it when it is so neat but I know I'm doomed when it comes to the consistently neat department.
Finally, this is the space where I sew. There is room for three sewing machines--and I use all three depending on what I'm doing. You can also see some of the railing that looks out over the creek. I hang most of my quilts on this railing. A handy spot.

Location, location, location

Certainly, spring is here and summer will be here in just about five minutes! Our red climbing rose is really growing great this year.The blooms are simply gorgeous and are more like those on a tea rose. When we bought our house from my mother-in-law, she had this rose planted right next to the creek in the backyard and it absolutely did not like that location. It struggled to put out a single blossom. So we moved it to the front yard and we could almost hear it say "Thank you!"

We did the same with the Ceceille deBrummer Rose. It is huge now and soon will be covered with a mass of sweet-scented pink blossoms.

By the way, the trellises for these roses are in their third incarnation. The first incarnation was as a base for a hammock that we had on our porch when we lived in the mountains. When we moved back to Charleston, we took it apart and made a base for a wooden swing. Once that rotted, it became two trellises. Truthfully, it's about to fall apart again, but we're hoping it will hold out until we decide how to manage the roses. (We LOVE to recycle).

A last little tidbit on my "Ladies of the Night" wallhanging. I have finished the quilting and blocked it yesterday before adding the binding. (I'm glad I did because, in that process, I realized I needed to take out some of the quilting in the border and redo it). I also am auditioning some possible beading on the flowers. I mention the blocking because I think that that is a step that many quilters skip and I think that it is a mistake many times. A quilt that could look really nice often looks rumpled and uneven because it needs to be blocked. I wish that I had taken a picture of this one before I blocked it because it was a lot tighter in the center and needed to be stretched. What I did was to wet the quilt in cold water in the bathtub--got it REALLY wet--and then wrapped it in a towel so it didn't drip on the floor. My studio has carpet in it, so I laid the quilt on the floor and started stretching it out smoothly and pinned it down through the carpet. (For a better look at the pinning, click on the picture to enlarge.) This small quilt actually took quite a while to block but, I think, was worth it in the long run. It's also helpful if you use your 12 1/' square to keep your corners straight.

Can't let this day go by without mentioning the Cooper Rover Bridge Run today. I only saw it on T.V. this year, but what an event! I have walked the race twice and thoroughly enjoyed it both times. Maybe I'll make that a goal for next year--of course, I need to get a new pair of feet first.