Show and Tell at Neuse Quilters Guild.........

If you are ever going to be in Eastern North Carolina on any Wednesday let me know.......... You can join me at the Neuse Quilters Guild..................

Always great fun..................

The quilt pictured below is completely hand done................ Of course the ribbon is made of UNC material..................


This is also an opportunity to layer a quilt........... She started out alone but in a few minutes was joined by several others that helped get the quilt basted in no time at all...............


This quilt is being sent off to our local long arm quilter......... the blocks are 8 inches square and all done with crumbs............


A cute little quilt made to give to Ronald McDonald house..........


One member is becoming a grandmother and has already started the layette.

This will be the raffle quilt for the First Baptist Church (tickets $2.00). Lilly just finished quilting it and now it has to be bound and labeled.................



Click on this to see the outer border.......... She did a fabulous job of mitering the corners.


And a total of 16 pillow cases were finished for the Children's Oncology unit in Greenville.


A postage stamp quilt....... The tree skirt is only attached at the top giving the quilt a third dimension.....



Another quilt for the first grand child........


A quilted vest finished and ready to wear..................





A UFO back from the quilters............ As soon as the binding and label is on there will be some happy dancing going on at this household.



Another Care quilt ready to give...........


It seems that the world is a much warmer and brighter place with all of the things quilters do for others.....................

DISCLAIMER: This may contain content that is boring to most people. However, I do have family and friends that live far away and this is my method of staying in touch and showing them exactly is going on in our life.



Friday we met Jason and Kim at the house.......... The bonus was that Amanda and Andrew came along too............ We didn't stay to long.... He learning to get around and there is too much to get into there that is not good for him..............



As we were leaving I noticed the sunset......



By Monday morning there were lots of boxes in the family room........ Hurray, the cabinets are here............


Some showed up Tuesday to start the assembly....................... And started opening the boxes...


This cabinet faces into the hallway.............. That hole in the wall has had a lot of people wondering just what we were going to do........... I do not like blind cabinets. You know the ones that you have to get down on the floor and just about climb inside to get something in the corner. The place you store things you rarely use and then use them even less often because you do not want to take them out or put them away.............. Some folks put a turntable in that corner and I had one in Orleans but I wasn't wild about that either........... The new kitchen has two corners to turn so that would net me two of those cabinets.......... I decided to have this one open into the hall way. It is near the dining room and the perfect place to keep napkins, placemats, napkin holders and individual salt shaker........ (I used to have some of those, I wonder if the made it here to NC. I will know when unpacking time comes)......

The second one is where the bar turns the corner and it will open into the breakfast nook......
I am getting too old to get down and get back up from the floor.........VBG.......

He started the assembly in the master bathroom...... Lots of storage space in this house. Now for the challenge of not using it................




Yesterday was a glorious gift from the Lord................ The weather is a bit cooler (in the 80's).

The lab test was better............ I had a grand time in fellowship with the prayer shawl ladies.....

After lunch we met with the contractor to look at steps on another house he had built.........(with the owners permission.) I really liked them so we will be doing something like that.......

Then we went out to the house to make the bannister selection....... I will have about 3 feet of banister showing going up to the STORE..........

Jason was in the area and stopped to say hello.......... Chad from Fergusons Supply came by to discuss faucets and such..................

Kim stopped in so we sat on the porch and had a good visit with her...............

We had take away for supper............. Went to bed at 9:00.......... I sure was ready.

Road Trip

You can't take pictures when you leave your camera at home.........Silly Me.......

We went for a long ride on Saturday....... All the way to Oriental, Arrapaho, Dawson Creek, Chocowinity, and then toward home...........

Saw lots of things........ Trees..........Crops.............Water...............Church and Boy Scout Camps....

Lem went on a tour of the places of his youth.................

We had a grand and time.......... Did I do any stitching you ask......... Very little... Wade Hamilton and I had some one on one time and he got petted a LOT............

I did some stitching on my redwork quilt but not as much as I would have liked. We stopped at Bojangles in Ayden on the way home for a dinner and took it to the new house to eat. We have some chairs there so we sat on the back porch for lunch........ It will be nice when it is screened in and I don't have to fight the wee midges for my food...............

Then home for a rest....... Still no energy but that is what happens when you have Anemia. Yes, people that are overweight can be anemic........Who knew..............

Sunday was church.......... Wade was sick and his bedding needed to be washed. Alas, still no washing machine so that meant a trip to the laundramat.......... Then home to dry them (Rebekah got a new dryer and gave us her old one).

Today is going to be busy................ I have to give blood at the Doctor's office first thing and then is my prayer shawl group at church................. Bills to pay and Lem and I are going shopping for some new clothes........Lots of sales going on right now..............

Maybe I can get a stitch or two tomorrow............

And Did I Sew Today?

NO...................

I thought I would get the kitchen chores out of the way and then head to the studio. Lem wants to go out of town tomorrow so that will mean no sewing for me........ I really need to get a few things accomplished with a needle..............

I thought I would make some pudding for Lem......... But I bought the kind that has to be cooked... Silly me.......


All done and I even sprinkled a few nuts on top.

I made salad dressing, cooked chicken breast for the freezer for meals later, repackaged the rest of the meats I purchased yesterday and put them in the freezer................ Fixed lunch...... By now I am out of steam. I had a wee toes up and then decided I needed to walk because I had a cone of Soft Serve yesterday so Lem and I headed to the mall to walk.............. I even spotted a few things I liked on sale as I went through a couple of stores. We will go back for them later.

Home again and I made a tossed salad for dinner..... diced nectarine, dried cranberries and sliced almonds......... I will use a raspberry vinaigrette dressing on it..........



Got the spaghetti sauce bubbling...............



Of course it is now 4:30 and I need to be back in the kitchen by 5:30 so that we can eat at 6:00...

Oh well, maybe I can sew next week..............

This picture is for my sister Jean. She shared some cuttings that she was rooting with me... I added a slip of coleus to it.......... What a lovely picture it makes in my kitchen window.

Now I am going to tackle the tea towels again. I do want to have at least 6 for the church bazaar. Then I can move on to Lucinda's gift................

And How Did the Day End

Well, we did go grocery shopping............ And then stopped to look at appliances. After all I will have to purchase some soon.......... I found a freezer that had a good sale price so we bought it. They will keep it for us till the house is ready..............

Then it was lunch (late) and I was ready for a rest after that.........

We wanted to check the mail in Grifton so we rode out to the house.......

Yes, more boring pictures of the inside of an unfinished house...........

The studio is the first one in these pictures.........


And Jean, and Pat and Rebekah and Lu ................. (and any other guest we might have). Here is your room.........


View from front door into family room....



View from family room into breakfast nook.............



Kitchen and breakfast nook..........


Dining room from the family room....................



Now time to cook............ BBQ pork chops, mashed potatoes, tossed salad with fresh fruit........

Quick and easy......... Maybe I will stitch a bit tonight................

What To Do?

Grocery shopping is in my future today.......... Lem hasn't said yet when he wants to go so I can play in the studio till then...........

But What To Do First?????? That is the question.............

I like tea towels............. LuAnn at Loose Threads (HERE) had a picture once on her blog of things at a Quilt Show and one of the booths in the picture was Bird Brain Designs. (HERE) and the rest as they say is history........... I figured out a way to make my own tea towels..... Some with a scalloped edge and some with rick rack trim........ I think they are lovely gifts.........

I cut up all of my white muslin into the correct size and I am going to try to make two tea towels each day to be ready for the design.......... There are a couple of products on the market now that you can use to transfer your design by printing the pattern onto a special sheet using your computer and then just stick it to your fabric.......... When the embroidery is done just wash away. How cool is that?

So this morning I need to do my two tea towels.......... Finish two dish cloths.......... And according to the list on my sidebar I should be working on Lucinda's gift.........

Now that I have made that decision I will listen to a book while I stitch. Maybe pictures later.

We Are Home Once More......

And you probably did not even know that we were gone............ My niece was visiting my sister in Richmond, VA so Lem and I went to join in the fun......................

I made bread and cookies to take with me as a hostess gift and we left Thursday afternoon. It took just over 3 hours to get there............

Tonight I am tired and ready for a long rest..........

My sister sets such a lovely table......... And she is a good cook too. I came home with several great recipes...........


Bill (brother in law) and Lem........

Jean (sister) and Mary Katherine (niece)................



After we got back to Lenoir County we stopped at Jason and Kim's to see Andrew.....

He is learning to crawl. Instead of using both knees he uses one knee and one foot to scoot along.... He sure lights up with a big smile when he sees his granddaddy........

But then Grand daddy lights up too................

Round Robin

Sunny at Quilting Dreams (HERE) has come up with an idea for a Round Robin........ It sounds like a chance to improve my skill a wee bit so I thought it would be fun to join.

The first step is to make your center block. I have been looking around for something and today LuAnn at Loose Threads (HERE) showed a table topper she just finished with the perfect center block. Now to find time do draft it...........

Oh this is going to be so much fun................

Today is Guild so I must away..............Later............

Another Red Letter Day

Yesterday Jane and I made our second trip to Greenville for shopping............ Such fun we have and we also stop at Olive Garden for Soup and Salad.............

Since we both liked the flowers out front I got some pictures of the arrangements. Gathering ideas for my own garden.............

I have never seen Lambs Ear with such large leaves......


I got more pink fabric for tea towels and a skein of yarn for a matching dish cloth.

Some Rick Rack to put on the bottom of some tea towels, two skeins of DMC that I needed, Pearl Cotton for embroidery, snaps, scissors (on sale) for trimming my applique pieces and two packages of Aida. I have an idea for a pillow and if I get it done I will share it with you.

Also an assortment of zippers for coin purses I hope to get made for the church bazaar........


Barbara at the Sanguine Stitcher (HERE) is always making something lovely to wear. Her success is encouraging and I am going to give it a try once more with Jane to help me with the measuring....................... The green dress on the left pattern is the first one I plan to try.


When I got home I found my Monthly Mini Quilt from Temecula Quilt Company... (HERE) Now I have three to get done................



I also got my yarn order from Herrschners (HERE) in the mail........ They have sale right now on a bag of yarn for $12.99.............. Their choice........ I ordered two bags and I now have enough for four prayer shawls and of course hats made from the leftovers...........



I even got a book with some different patterns that was on sale.............


We fit in a couple of consignment shops and I found this great bag............


We had just the best time.................. We even stopped for soft serve ice cream on the way home.

I had laid out a frozen meal from several weeks ago so dinner was all ready to warm up when I got home...............

We went to visit Jason and Kim and then home for some TV and to unwind till bedtime.........

It was a great day.........

Thanks Jane....................

Week One is Finished

Okay so most participants have finished three weeks and are starting to assemble their quilts but the best I have so far is the first week. I am going to keep right on till I get this puppy done.

Thanks so much to Anne Ida at Quiltaholic for inviting me to join in............


I also got the strips cut for the next section. Seriously doubt I will get them finished next week either but that is okay.......... One day they will be done...........

Yes, I do have on block turned wrong in the first picture. Wade Hamilton walked across my blocks before I could get the picture and I failed to get that one turned around. Sorry, just feeling really tired today and some histamines have attacked me so I am having problems even thinking.....

Our First Gathering..............

When we were checking on the house earlier this week I noticed a lovely breeze on the not yet screened porch........... I then thought it would be fun to ride out there one evening after the news (Lem has to watch the news) and sit on the porch with a cool drink......... I also thought that having someone else to chat with would be good so I called the family and issued the invitation to bring a chair and join us.............

This is the group that greeted us when we arrived. Well, we did have to drive farther than they did....

Left to right is Kim, Jane, Beck, Lem and Jason.........

While we were there a neighbor came by to say hello........ She had one grandchild with her....

And was followed by another one.........


We sat and talked and got acquainted with the neighbor........ It was GRAND........

What a wonderful blessing from Our Heavenly Father........

Maybe we can do it again next week.................

Now for the ubiquitous house pictures........... The sheet rock crew is working this week....... So far they have the ceiling up and 1/2 of the walls...........

This is looking into the dining room from the family room......



And from the family room into the foyer (right) and hallway to guest room and studio (left).


And from the front door toward the family room........... The area looks larger than it really is because of the archways being so open. I wanted a place for family and friends to gather and enjoy good fellowship.



Now off to finish the house blessing and perhaps I will get a chance to sew a bit today........