Moving Right Along

Thought I'd post the next completed step of my Swamp Hibicus quilt. I finished the borders today and now I have to decide what to put on top of the border fabric.

The little "squiggles" on the upper right border are just pieces of fabric placed to think about color and shape. After I decide on what to put there--and actually PUT it there--I'll be finished. And then on to the quilting! I took the picture of the swamp hibiscus over a year ago and have been thinking about it ever since. It is such a beautiful and delicate flower; and yet, unlike the typical hibiscus that one buys at Lowe's, it dies down in the winter and regenerates in the spring. As well as seeing the in Charleston, I saw several huge plants at the Arboretum in Asheville this summer, so I'm hopeful that I can have a plant in my yard in Hendersonville.

The beautiful Angel's Trumpet (which will be a quilt some day--hopefully sooner than later) that we had in our yard in Hendersonville was full of buds the last time we were there, but the weather was so cool that the new flowers were very hesitant to break out from their protective covering. So when we came back to Charleston, we loaded it onto the back of the truck (COVERED back of the truck) and brought it with us. Once it hit the sun and warmth of Charleston, the flowers just jumped out and shouted for joy. The Angel's Trumpet is a night-scented flower, so we placed it by an entrance to the house. When you walk by it in the evening, the odor just envelopes you. I love it--although it COULD be called over-powering. . .

On a different note, I've been taking pictures of everything in our house. I saw a piece on the television that addressed the issue of insurance coverage in case of loss. They advised video-taping household contents (I don't have a video camera) or taking digital pictures. They also suggested taking photos of the contents of drawers, the point being that we don't remember EVERYTHING that we own and the pictures serve as an aid to remember and, at the same time, prove to the insurance company that we actually had what we say we had. I have 3 more rooms to do and then the cd's will go into the lock box in the bank. I'll have to admit that I didn't do any house cleaning before I took the pictures. Now there's firm, provable evidence that I'm a lousy housekeeper! Oh well. (And I don't think I'll be posting any of THOSE pictures.)

There's Fiber and then there's FIBER!

Although we don't subscribe to the newspaper anymore because we're spending so much time in Hendersonville, I always try to buy the paper on Wednesday (for grocery ads), Friday (for activities over the weekend) and Sunday (well, because it's Sunday). We're in Hendersonville now and when I got the newspaper yesterday, I noticed that there was a quilt show in Brevard this weekend, as well as a fiber fair in Fletcher. Since the two places are fairly close together and since we've been working so hard this week on house repairs, I decided that an outing was in order.

To begin with, the weather has been incredible today. The leaves are beautiful and the temperatures are just right--just a little nip in the air. We went to Brevard first. The show had no admission fee and was strictly a local event. Nothing to write home about (or even to blog about) but the people there were nice and enthusiastic and obviously enjoyed quilting.

Next we went to the fiber fair at the Ag Center. I have to say, what I had expected was to see some angora goats, rabbits, sheep and llamas--and I did indeed see them. You can see one of the prize specimans here. The animals were beautiful. And then, we saw some of the raw and dyed wool that people had brought to sell. Since I don't spin (or card or any of the other things it takes for raw wool to become yarn) I was only interested in the finished product that I could manipulate with knitting needles. And there was some very nice yarn there and I did buy a hank to make a scarf.

But THEN . . .we went inside the arena and there were VENDORS! I had absolutely no idea the enormity of what was going to be there. The variety and types of yarns, raw materials, notions, etc. were so incredible--I almost wished that I wanted to knit an entire wardrobe. I felt as if I were surrounded by a soft rainbow of heavenly colortones. I have to admit that I did buy enough yarn to make a fancy shawl and a warm sweater--so that will be my "carwork" for the forseeable future. It is really hard to describe how I felt when I first saw all of those wondrous colors and textures but I think some of the joy came from realizing that I wasn't actually looking for anything (like I do at Mary Jo's) and I could just simply enjoy the sight. And that was the greatest gift of all.

And, now I am posting my latest efforts on my Swamp Hibiscus journey. For those of you who noticed my last post on it, you might notice that part of it is missing. Well, the more I looked at those corner pieces, the more I realized that they just didn't belong there. I spent several days looking at the quilt, making samples of what "might" go there and, finally came up with something I'm happy with. I haven't sewn everything down yet, but I think it's a "go." I'm getting close to completion and then I'll have to start all over with the quilting choices. That's what makes it such an exciting journey, isn't it?

Surprises Come When Least Expected

Well, I got back to Charleston yesterday (in the midst of pouring rain) and checked my messages on the telephone. There was a message from Margiotta's Sewing Store saying that they had a surprise for me. I thought . . well, never mind what I thought. My husband said, "Maybe it's about the sewing machine you won in the $100,000 Quilt Challenge." Duh! So, I called them, and you know what? He was right! So, we went there this morning and brought home a shiny, new Baby Lock Quilter's Choice Sewing Machine. Pretty nice, huh? It sounds good and is pretty easy to use (at least the straight stitch and zigzag that I've tried so far . . .) This is a nice size and will be the one I take to classes. It even cuts threads (which I have become too accustomed to. How lazy can one get?)

Also waiting for me when I arrived home was my quilt that traveled in the Hoffman Challenge 2006 Show. What I want to show you is the Prize Ribbon. Whoever made them, made them from the Challenge Fabric. I thought that was really neat.

And finally today, a minor update on my swamp hibiscus quilt that I'm working on in the mountains. I haven't had a lot of time when I've been there because we've been pulling up carpet and refinishing floors, but I did choose the background I've been looking long and hard for and got the oval sewn in place. I then decided on the yellow frame roping (although technically it will be in the shape of hearts--not rope), fused it down and did the blanket stitch around all of it. When I left, I was working on anchoring down the flower itself. I pinned it on the design wall along with the corner sections I'll be working on next. This is still very much a work in progress, but I'm pretty optimistic . And when I go back in a week or so I'll have a fresh perspective. Who knows what I'll decide to do then!