Inspiration

I picked up this book at the library last evening and hopefully I get inspired to do something about my ugly sewing studio

the ugly studio

I am doing the final prep for my trip. Last eveing a perm - check; stop at the drug store and pick up miscellanous items, photo ready make up for all those pictures, motion sickness pills for the plane ride, mascara (mine was old!) - check

a pair of flats for when my feet hurt from my heels - check

Order from Zappos of tights and a bra - waiting on the UPS man today

Suitcase packed - getting there!

Print Boarding passes - check! I am traveling with my older sister, my 85 year old father that can hardly walk and his 85 year old girlfriend that hardly walk either. I called and have a golf cart set up to transport them from one gate to another when we change planes since the gates are in different terminals. If I can just get the three of them to the resort in one piece, I can finally relax. I don't know if I will be posting from the road or not. If not, let's get together next week and I will tell you all about my trip.

Marks in the mud

I am making progress on getting my stuff ready for my big trip to California. I hemmed my pants and will sew the hem on my dress tonight.

Yesterday I went for my walk. The trail was muddy in places. The marks in the mud from aminals, bicycles, and human footprints made my walk interesting.

These don't look like prints from a dog

Humans and bicycles

An empty parking lot

Another McQuilt, dress, pies, and a flannel quilt

I got another McQuilt top done

I got my dress and over top made for the wedding. It is nothing special and I just want to blend into the background. I need to throw a quick hem in the dress and it will be done. I still have two pairs of pants to hem also, but that won't take long so then I am calling it quits for clothes for the trip. There could be some repeat wearings, but I don't care.

the overtop

I decided to work on a flanned UFO that I had on my list back in May. I put a border on it, pieced the backing, and started quilting it. The border is quilted and I will work on the center as I get time. I would like to have it done Dec. 6th to give to a lady at the art museum that is going thru some tough health issues. I think it would be nice to have to keep warm this winter. Oh, we received our first snow this weekend, but it is gone now.

I made pies and sweet potatoes to take to my brother's house on Sunday for Thanksgiving. They ate the pecan pie and half of one pumpkin. I brought the other pumpkin to work - I am sure the guys will eat it.

4th McQuilt top - 4 days off

I got the 4th McQuilt top sewed together. It is periwinkle.

I have a lot of sewing to do over Thanksgiving. Cross your fingers that the fabric comes today for my dress for the wedding. I already have the fabric for the semi-sheer overtop - I bought it from fabric.com. The dress fabric is coming from a fabric store in CA that I found on ebay. I sure hope I have a zipper at home. I don't want to go out shopping at all this weekend! In fact yesterday I decided to buy a pair of flats from Zappos just so I wouldn't have to go looking for a pair. I hate to go shopping! I started to organized and gather the materials for some of the projects I will be working on.

I have to hem some pants and start gathering all the things I will need to take for my trip to CA for the wedding. It is fast approaching!

Have a safe and happy Thanksgiving! I will be making pumpkin pies, a pecan pie, and sweet potatoes to take to one of my brother's house on Sunday. Yes, we are having Thanksgiving on Sunday. This way anyone with in-law's can celebrate on Thrusday.

What a difference a year makes

Remember last year at this time I was recovering from surgery? Well, I had an ugly looking incision

Now it looks like this

Once I got the staples out I used Rose of Sharon Acres' mango goat milk cream on my incision. I just received my order from Monica and here is what I bought - three jars of the mango goat milk cream, mango goat milk lotion, a pack of soap ends, and three bars of citrus soap. The mango goat milk cream is the bomb! I use it on my face, hands, and body. I no longer have cracked fingers in the winter. My eyelids have tightened up - they were starting to get the crepe look (oh no!!!!). I have used a lot of creams and lotions over the years and nothing compares to this. I will never buy anything else. I have a woman at work that feels the same way once I got her turned on to these products. Her products are as natural as possible.

I like the mango goat milk cream better than the goat milk cream - the mango butter is a little lighter in texture and I like the smell better. I usually get it scented and I have sensitive skin and the scent does not bother my skin. The scent is also very light and disappears. Her soaps are wonderful! They leave my skin smooth and last a long time! They make lots of lather and don't leave a film.

Monica and her husband have gone thru some tough times and they have worked hard to put together the goat farm. Monica tests her products on herself until she gets them just right! If you are looking for stocking stuffers think about supporting a small business and give www.roseofsharonacres.com. Tell her Patty from Akron, OH sent you! She and the goats will be grateful! I do not receive anything for my endorsement nor do I want anything - I am posting this so that maybe someone looking for some fantastic products that suffers from dry skin may finally get some relief like I did.

The other thing I wanted to share is this fabric that was sent to me from Becky at St. Theresa's Textile Trove http://www.sttheresatextile.com/ near Cincinnati, Ohio. I have bought my African Dutch Wax fabrics from Becky over the years. How did she know I needed blues desperatly so that I could make another flag quilt?

(for some reason this picture will not post correctly but you get the idea - she sent me a lot of fabric!)

A few years ago Becky and her partner, Amy of Ovenfried Beads (here is the etsy shop link - you have to see her stuff - the beads, buttons, and jeweley are fun and creative!) http://www.etsy.com/shop/ovenfriedbeads?ref=seller_info_count, closed the store and my friend Peg and I went and bought loads of fabric at their big sale. I have still been buying from her since then. I placed an order not too long ago that got lost in cyberspace. She said she wanted to send me some scraps and odds and ends, so she sent me what she had collected and what she had left of what I tried to order. Becky told me she needs to clean up her website because she is sold out of some things. The kicker is that she did not charge me for any of this! Good grief! Now I have to do something special for her - what I am not sure yet. I figure I could at least post about her shop, let my reader's know to look her up if they are ever in the Cincy area, and that she is having this event (I copied it from the email she sent out):


St. Theresa Textile Trove sponsored Quilt Contest called " My Favorite Saint Mini Quilt Challenge". The Challenge is to depict in a mixed media mini quilt art form of your favorite Saint and how he/she has influenced your life or has inspired you. I have made some changes-including the deadline-so read ahead!
THE RULES for the "My Favorite Saint Challenge"
1. Can be comprised of a mixture of mediums, such as , fabrics, beads, buttons, paints, inks, paper, wood, threads, yarns,etc., making a Quilt Square.
2. Size must be no bigger than 12"X12" -but if you get carried away a little-it will be perfectly acceptable!
3. Entry must be accompanied by a BRIEF statement about the Saint you have chosen ,ie., what they are patron saint of, something they did, why they are a Saint, why they have inspired you. The Saint could also be someone you know that you think should be cannonized to Sainthood-a modern day saint, so to speak.Keep it Short and Simple and Interesting!
4. Entry Must include your name, address and Phone # secured to the back of the piece.
5. Entry becomes the Property of St. Theresa Textile Trove to be displayed in the Pendleton Art Center and will not be returned. The Quilt squares will be eventually sewn together to make one big "Saints Quilt" Hanging to be displayed for the enjoyment of all.
6. Deadline is FEBRUARY 18, 2013.
7. All Entrants will receive a $10.00 St. Theresa Textile Trove Gift Certificate for entering their piece. This is a bonus that will help to defrey cost of mate Entries will be judged by originality, technique, content, story and visual aesthetics.
PRIZES: 1st = $250.00 Gift Certificate from St. Theresa Textile Trove, PLUS a one year membership in the ever Bodacious St. TTT Pak o, the Month Club!
2nd= $150.00 Gift Certificate from St. TTT, Plus a 6 month member ship in the St. TTT POM club!
3rd= $75.00 Gift Certificate from St. T's
Textile Trove, Plus 3months of the
Bodacious St. TTT's Pak of the Mo.
Fabric Club!
4th= 3 Months membership to the Mojo-
kickin', bodaciousfying St.T's POM!

That is over $1000.00 worth of prizes and SWAG!! and how many contests pay you to enter($10.00 gift Certificate)?!
I really want to see those Saints come marching in-that is why I have extended the deadline to mid-february and made the challenge for a quilt square -it simplifies it! But of course , if you have already started on an entry using the old criteria-that's ok-send it in!
afterall, this is St. Theresa's! We are prtty much "out of the Box" here!
With Warm Wishes for the Holidays, I leave you now my friends, and look forward to seeing you out, about and at the Pendleton Art Center for holiday Festivities!

Stay Bodacious My Friends!

Bodacious Becky from the Trove


If you enter the contest let Becky know that I sent you. There is nothing in it for me, except for feeling good about trying to spread the word. Check out her shop too. She carries some interesting fabric.

Patches used - patches made

I started putting up patches on the design wall for a quilt top for a top requested by one of my blogging buddies, Vicki. Here is the finished top - 50" x 60"

I didn't have enough red patches so I got out the scrap bins and started making more patches. I ended up using 74 patches I already had and added 46 of the new patches that I made on Saturday. Here is what is left of the original pile of patches - still quite a few

Here is the pile of new patches I made

When I was going thru my scrap bins I found these two stacks of patches - 4 1/2" and 3 1/2" squares. I can see me cutting up more of my white and off white scraps and making some cute checkerboard McQuilts.

I wasn't planning on making more patches this weekend, but I am happy that I used up more of my white and off white scraps along with the red scraps. I then looked around to see how many more scraps I have and was almost overwhelmed! I just had to walk away! I need to quit goofing off and turn them into something!

Sunday I was outside digging up the canna rizomes and covering the rest of my flower bed with plastic when I heard the blimp. It went right over my house.

Here you can see the moon to the right of the blimp - this was just before 4 in the afternoon.

3rd McQuilt top and more

I sewed last evening while I watch a show about fixing people's tatoos that had gone wrong. The show was interesting and the tatoo artist are so talented! I did get the 3rd McQuilt top sewn together.

I laid out two more on the design wall - one periwinkle and another blue one.

Here again is the orginal pile of patches

So after using 240 from the pile here is what it looks like now - still quite a few left!

I have a lot of dark and medium blue patches which I think would make a boring quilt so I went and found my box of scrap strips for zig zag blocks. I think I will go thru this box and make a bunch more patches so I have more patches to work with. There are always more scraps aren't there?

It is sunny here - YEAH! - so yesterday's walk was so nice. It is cool - aroun 36 degrees, but that is perfect for a good hard walk.

There is this electric tower across the canal from the tow path

See the orange cones? I always wondered why there were support lines running from this tower across the canal to the path side. I asked my brother and he said that the tower was balancing on three legs. Look at the left leg hanging in mid air! The electric company is in the process of fixing this issue.

I forgot to post this picture of a blue heron I saw the other day. There is a large population of these birds in the area. I see them fly over my house all the time and they make absolutely no noise when they fly.

Have a great weekend!

Second post today - The Selvage Blog giveaway

Karen over at http://www.selvageblog.blogspot.com/ is having a giveaway. She make lovely pincushions and pinsies. Go check out her blog. He also has an etsy shop where she sells her pincushions, pinsies, and her lovely quilts.

http://www.etsy.com/shop/KarenGriskaQuilts?section_id=12149986

Second McQuilt top done and Buffet quilt pictures

I forced myself to be productive last evening and here is the second top done

My plan is to put together a bunch of tops, next I will spend the time to pin basted all of them, then machine quilt them one after another. I can get them done faster this way rather than doing one start to finish at a time.

I walked to the end of the towpath yesterday. The marked walking path ends at the edge of the downtown area. There are signs for biking, but there is no exclusive space just for bikes - you have to wrestle with the cars and buses.
End of the path

Walking towards the downtown area is an uphill grade. It gets the old heart a pumpin'!

Here is a section of retaining wall that you walk thru

Another bridge

It goes over the highway

This part of the towpath is only.8 of a mile, but the scenery varies a lot!

Here are some pictures of the pictures I have of the Jimmy Buffet quilt I made back in 2005.

Some detail shots

Some machine quilting detail of a palm tree and his intials

Here is the quilt I made for his wardrobe lady. Here is the back which all this fabric - a large floral and a print with koi fish - came from the fabric she gave me.

The front