Smelly smells and more pics

Sometimes smells bring back memories.  And sometimes the smells are stinky!  Now, I'm not going to say that cow manure is a pleasant smell, because, well, it's not.  Not really.  But to me it brings back memories of my childhood.  We didn't have cows, but had friends who had a dairy farm.  And in the summer my great grandpa would get a load of manure to spread on the garden.  Oh, did it stink!  But it was a good kind of stink.  It wasn't garbage or chemicals or decay. 

Some people, my husband included, do not like the smell of limburger cheese.  I'm not crazy about the smell either, but that also brings back memories of my youth when family members used to eat 'stinky cheese'.  Oh, that stuff is wicked!  But they ate it.

Here's a few more pics from Paducah:

These two quilts caught my eye.  I like nature quilts and think that moose, deer, caribou, and the like are all great subjects.  The top picture is neat because it's so rich looking and the bottom picture has such depth of color.  I first thought the bottom picture was supposed to be northern lights, but the label said it was fire.

I also like Christmas scenes.  The one above caught my eye.  There was also a block of the month, I think, pattern called Santa's Loading Dock that looked really neat.  I believe it was an AQS pattern.  I didn't buy it, but the quilt was just stunning.

Sunday afternoon and a few pictures

As promised, here's a few pictures from the show!

Here I am, getting a little love from Quilt Man!  Gotta love this guy.  He's not afraid to wear tights and a cape.  Thanks, Quilt Man, for letting me take a picture with you.

Here are the Tentmakers from Cairo, Egypt.  Kind of funny, considering that they were only a few miles from Cairo, Illinois! 

More Pics

There were so many quilts at the show, that it was sensory overload.  Some of them just radiated the love that you knew was put into their creation. 

This is something that I would like to make someday.  I have a scene in my mind that would make a beautiful quilt and one day I may put it together.

You just have to think that the quiltmaker that made these two beauties loved the places they were creating in cloth.

home again

I am home. Had a great time but still pretty tired from the drive. More to come soon. Sorry so short!

At the Show!

Just a quick post.  Spent the day at the show in Paducah!  Having a really run time.  I've taken lots of pictures and will post them in a day or two.  We took a class in color today.  Tomorrow is my class on edge to edge quilting on the longarm and we are both going to the lecture given by Alex Anderson and Libby Lehman.

What I should have and what I did

What I should have worked on:

What we all worked on instead:

The beginning of the day above.

We had our big Sweetgum Tree trimmed drastically, our one Maple tree trimmed, and the bushes chopped to a manageable size, but soon to be removed if I can get Ev to do it!  There was a lot of brush to haul away and we made 16 pick up loads to the compost pile.  There is still a lot of brush left to be removed, but we just ran out of steam after loading, hauling, and unloading for 6 hours straight!

So tomorrow I go to Paducah and I'm really really excited.  The two quilts aren't going to be done by next Sunday, so I'll just give cards with scraps in them and tell them they are on the way!

Cascading Colors

I've decided to name the second top Cascading Colors.  Here is a pic of the top without borders:

I'm going to put a two inch border of black as the inner border, then probably that same goofy multi colored material as an outer border that I used in Stained Glass.  As long as I have the tops finished by the 28th, I'm happy.  I would like to have them both quilted, but not even stressing out over it.  I'll give the tops then take them back immediately to quilt!

The tree guy was supposed to come today but had an emergency call for some storm damage.  I'm afraid if he doesn't get here soon, we may end up one of those emergency calls!  He may still come this afternoon or tomorrow.  Either way, Ev and I are going to do some running.  I think I can convince him to go to Lotawata Creek...  Yum!

Also going to look at some flooring.  Want to get moving on that project.

Row, row, row your boat...

This post could have two meanings and both of them would be appropriate!  We have had so much rain in the past few days, it's just unbelievable.  And I'm not really complaining, after the year we had last year.  That horrible drought was something I never want to go through again.  So if it wants to rain, I'll dance in it.  Well, figuratively, anyway.  And it could come in lesser amounts at a time.  My basement got a little more water in it than usual and some of it was in places it shouldn't have been.  But that's not a big deal, and it has been dealt with.

The other good news is I have just about all the rows of the second quilt put together!  I should be able to finish up the top quickly by adding a couple borders.

It has been quite a week, I will say that.  I am looking forward to Paducah next week!  Woohoo!

Building an ark

It has really been raining here.  Our street is flooded at the corner.  I'm guessing the water just doesn't have anywhere to go right now with the ditches being full and all that. 

Ivy will be happy that there will be another 'lake' forming in the yard...

I did get upstairs and sewed a few more blocks into rows last night.  I have two more sets of blocks to sew into rows then can sew the rows together.  Glad that it's getting close to being done!

Orange you glad you read my blog?

Hee hee hee.  Remember that old knock knock joke?  Here's what got me thinking about it:

I stopped at Wal Mart during my lunch hour and bought a box of oranges for $5.  There were about 28-30 oranges in the box, and all were a nice size.  The oranges are about the size of a baseball, maybe a little bigger and have a good flavor and don't have that real thick rind.  I'm pleased with my purchase.

Last night I did some sewing on the second top.  I have over half of the rows put together (rows aren't sewn together yet, though).  Going to try and get some more done tonight.

The a/c people were out to fix the air conditioner today.  Remember when we snipped the freon line last fall accidentally?  Well, it's all fixed now.  Not that I'm wishing for hot weather, because I am not!

This Saturday, unless the weather is bad, the tree guys are coming to trim our two big trees in front of the house.  I'll be glad when that's all done, too.

Bad People

I am sure we have all felt heartbreaking sorrow over the events yesterday and our prayers go out to victims and their families. I just do not understand how people can hate like that.

Ten days and counting down!

Next week is the quilt show in Paducah and I'm counting the days until we go!  Today I called to confirm our hotel reservation (just out of paranoia because I had made it online so long ago!).  All was well with that.  I have our name badges ready to be printed out for admittance to the show.  We are going to be attending a couple classes and lectures and are really looking forward to that.  It's going to be so much fun!  Can't wait!

I'm still working on the second top.  I've resigned myself to the fact that I may have to give just the tops for their birthdays and then take them back to be quilted!  We shall see how it goes. 

Yesterday I went to something I had never been to before.  It was a fundraiser and they were having a 'quarter auction'.  My friend had been to one before and showed me the ropes.  If you haven't been to one, I'll try to explain the concept. 

There are items which are up for bid.  Most of the things at this one were donated and were worth between $10 and $40.  When you get there you buy 1 or more paddles with numbers on them.  As an item comes up for bid, you can bid on it with 1 or more of your paddles.  Each item has a bid of 1 or more quarters.  So, if I bought 2 paddles and wanted to bid on an item that was a quarter bid, I could either bid one quarter with one paddle, or have 2 chances and bid both paddles for 50 cents.  When everyone has contributed their quarters, they draw a number and that paddle number wins the item.

I ended up getting a $25 gift card to the lumber yard when they called my number, and also a drink cooler and snacks from another bid.  It was a lot of fun and we really enjoyed it. 

A cutting tale

Not really much of a tale...  Just wanted to report in that I have cut all the colored pieces with the one side of black on them and now I have moved on to cutting the black strips to be attached to the other side of these pieces. 

Last night I made a small beef roast with carrots and onions around it.  Ev had some of it last night and tonight I'm going to shred some of the leftover meat and make some beef quesadilla's for dinner.  Hope they turn out good.  Sure wish I had some of my home made salsa left, but it's long gone.  Will have to make a lot more this year.

Had I spelled the title of this post 'a cutting tail' it could have been about the time Ev cut the dog's tail with the hedge trimmers.  It was a very long time ago, when the kids were still in diapers, and I remember to stop the bleedeing we tried to wrap a diaper around the poor dog's tail!  He was quite a sight, running around the yard like that.

Sewing to keep my mind occupied

I'm not fond of storms.  Having gone through a tornado when pregnant with Nick and Johanna under a year old, when the weather turns dark, I turn skittish.  So, tonight we are under some severe watches and warnings, and I'm going to keep my mind occupied by pressing and cutting pieces for the second, yet unnamed, quilt top.  But I'm going to do it at the kitchen table, rather than the upstairs sewing room...

I have some yummy breaded chicken breasts baking in the oven.  They are from Aldi and are in the freezer section.  The bag is labelled Southern Style Chicken Breasts, Chicken Fillets, and the brand is Kirkwood.  This is one of my go-to meals.  I bake the chicken, make some mashed potatoes, make gravy from chicken broth, and some kind of vegetable.  Quick, easy, and very tasty!

Last night I made a big pot pie.  I browned ground beef and added onions, celery, mushrooms, carrots and potatoes (the potatoes were cut up pieces of leftover baked ones, but I could have used raw).  Added some beef broth and let everything simmer until the veggies were tender, thickened with corn starch, the put in a dish and baked with a cover of crescent roll dough and cheese.  Very good.

Thrift store find

Isn't this cute?  It's a small wall hanging that I found at the Salvation Army Thrift store today on my lunch hour.  It looks like it was just a panel that someone sandwiched then hand quilted around the outlines.  It's really sweet.  I was trying to decide if it looked to "Christmassy" to hang up year round, but I'm at the point now where I don't care because I like it so much!

I'm going to take it home, wash and press it if necessary, then bring it back and hang it up at work in my new office space.  I would like to make some cute little wall hangings for my area, but right now I just don't have time to make anything other than big quilts. 

Speaking of which, I cut out the strips and sewed half of them together last night for the second quilt that needs to be done before the month is out.  If I can get the top done by this weekend, I can at least get started quilting on Gemma on one of them.

Traveling memories

When I was a young girl my mom and I would travel between Illinois and Ohio.  This was in the 1970's and I used to get a thrill out of making the 18 wheeler's honk their horns by pumping my fist at the driver.  Well, this one time I was spending the long drive entertaining myself in this manner every time Mom passed a big rig and got such a surprise.  Mom and I stopped at a little restaurant along the way and while we were enjoying our meal this man comes over to the table and says to me "Do you remember me, Little Girl?".  Now, my mother was about ready to jump out of the booth and slap the man, thinking he was some kind of sicko, but I pipe up with "Yes!  You were in the US Mail truck!".  He got such a kick out of it and it made such a nice memory for me (although I doubt Mom remembers it so fondly...), I just had to write about it. 

The reason this little story popped into my head after so many decades is that Nick and I were at a restaurant yesterday and he wanted to say something to a little girl about her cute hat, but he didn't say anything for fear of being labeled a pervert.  Kind of sad, but that is the way the world is these days.  I told Nick about that time so many years ago, and that his grandma did indeed think the guy was a perv, so Nick made the right choice to remain silent.

I've made some progress today on the quilt top.  I completed the Stained Glass top.  Here's a pic:

This is just a corner of the top because I didn't have a quilt holder around.  I sure hope this border is okay.  I'm thinking the binding will be black.

Friday at last

Been a long week at work.  Glad it's over.

Didn't do any sewing last night, but that's okay.  Tonight I have an errand to run, so I don't think I will get any sewing done, but tomorrow is all mine!  Ev will probably have to work, so that will leave me with the whole day and night to get a lot done, hopefully.

I decided what to do for the second quilt.  I'm going to use the same colors and black fabric.  The pattern will be Falling Charms from the Missouri Star Quilt Company.  I watched a tutorial on it today and it looks very easy.  It also looks very fast, which is good!

Progress on stained glass

 The backside and frontside.

I've got three more seams to go and the middle of the top will be done.  All it will need is borders and then it will be ready to be quilted.  I even got up early and did a little bit of sewing before work.  That was a good thing because it was another stressful day.  I will be glad when things mellow out at work.  And I know they will soon. 

So when this top is done and ready to be quilted I can start the second top.  Still kicking around what I'm going to make for the second one, but I'm leaning toward the same pattern, just different placement on the color blocks. 

Not much to say

I guess I'm in a bit of a blog funk here.  Just don't know what to talk about today.  My son is having trouble at work, my daughter had a fender bender over the weekend, hubby is stressed at work, and my office move has not been easy.  So with all that crud floating around in my brain, I just can't seem to steam roll it out of the way and put something nice and quilty up on the blog.

I have been working on stained glass and think it has a good chance of getting finished in time.  Problem is that another quilt is due the exact same time, so I have to get busy!  It's not a matter of giving one and not the other, either.  It's all or nothing.  sigh.

Making stew tonight for dinner.  It smells yummy already.  Going upstairs to do some sewing while it simmers away.

April already

Wow. Hard to believe another month gone. Still moving in at work. Been sewing on te stained glass quilt.