Sunday, June 29, 2008

Sandcastle Quilt Kit Giveaway



Look at this cute sandcastle quilt! Brenda at Pumpkin Patch Primitives Quilt Shoppe is having this summer quilt giveaway. Simply go to her blog and leave a comment. You are entered twice if you post about it on your blog. I am not going to wish you luck because I want to win it myself! LOL. The last day is June 30 so you'd better hurry.

Sorry, this giveaway is closed!

Saturday, June 28, 2008

Road Trip!


Today I went on a great road trip with several quilt guild friends. I met Anne, Oma, and Doretha at an Interstate exit near my house and we took off to check out the Charlie Eliot Wildlife Center in Mansfield, GA for our guild retreat next year. It is a really great place, such a step up from the 4H center where we have had previous retreats. Since the 4H center reserved it for some other group on "our" weekend, we had to find an alternative. It looks like it may be a good thing after all. We took lots of pictures and I am putting some of them here.












Of course, we had to stop at a couple of quilt shops on our way. First we stopped in Hogansville, GA at 1910 House Quilts. What a great quilt shop. It is only a 32 minute drive from my house. I have never lived so close to a real quilt shop! And, to top it off, she was having a 100 bolt sale. There were 100 bolts all for $25 each. They all had at least 5 yards on them, but most had more. I bought three bolts!! I don't know how much fabric is on them but it is a lot. You can see a picture of me, Anne, and Doretha carrying our loot.




Our next stop was Quilts 'N Fixin's in Jonesboro, GA. This is another great shop, but we didn't buy as much there. Needless to say, a fun time was had by all.
Julie

Monday, June 23, 2008

Travel Day


Traveling day was today! Today we all had to get up at 3 A.M. to have Joy at the Montgomery airport for her flight to Hawaii with People to People. I am including a picture of her acting silly a few days ago. I didn't bring my camera with me to the airport and so didn't get a photo of her with her People to People outfit on. They were a really great-looking bunch of kids though. She will represent us well, I am sure. As of this post, she still has not arrived in Hawaii. Her flight was delayed three times and they won't arrive now until after midnight (our time) but it will be about 7 P.M. local time in Hawaii.

Here is a photo of my son, John Owen (on the right), with a couple of his buddies. After we took Joy to the Montgomery airport, we had to travel to Atlanta to put him on a flight to Ft. Myers, Florida, for his weeklong visit to his Aunt Carol. Carol lives in Naples and will be taking John Owen to Universal Studios and Kennedy Space Center. He called me earlier and is very excited. They are already having a great time. It was a little weird putting him on that plane and leaving him there, but he was extremely excited and I know it is a good confidence-building exercise for him. Well, more later!
Julie

Friday, June 20, 2008

First Day of Summer!

I am posting some photos of some of the lovely flowers blooming in my yard right now. I was careful to crop out the weeds! It is just too hot to deal with weeds right now. It is very dry in the yard and we hope for rain every day. The last two summers were classified as a drought here and the rain seems to be avoiding us this year as well. I tend to plant drought-resistant plants which helps a lot.
My grass needs cutting in the worst way. Of course, something always seems to go wrong with the lawnmower when we are cutting grass. Most recent disaster - one of the wheels fell off of the riding mower while cutting! Well, a man came by and put it back on today. Now to get Joy back out to finish it up. She is busy getting ready for her trip to Hawaii next week. She is leaving Monday for TWO WEEKS!


I hope you can get out and enjoy the day today. I am going to go for a swim later today to cool off. Have a great one!
Julie

Sunday, June 15, 2008

The Block Scrambler


Here is the infamous "Block Scrambler." I like to lay out my blocks on my bed when I am working with them, even though I do have a design wall. Cabalito insists on jumping up and walking around on the blocks the minute I start laying them out. Soon they have a somewhat scrambled appearance! I know he thinks he is helping me and fancies himself to be quite the quilt designer. He seems to be doing a pretty good job here. I am pretty sure I will do the on-point setting for this quilt, even though this picture depicts a straight set. I love the wild colors and can't wait to have a complete quilt. I think I am going to do the "quilting in sections" method with this quilt. I would love to have it done, done by the end of my summer break. Unfortunately I have been sidetracked doing another scrappy bargello for my mom. It all depends on how much help I receive from the Block Scrambler!

Julie


Thursday, June 12, 2008

Plucky Chickens



Here are a few pictures of the chicken pincushions I made back before Christmas. I am posting them again here for members of my quilt guild to peruse. I am doing a demo at the guild meeting next week. If you would like to make on it is called the "Plucky Chicken" and the original pattern is retired. However, the creator, Susa Glenn, has newer versions available at her website. She has many cute pincushion patterns there. I might have to try some different ones myself!
Julie

Friday, June 6, 2008

John Owen went to Ecology Camp - Camp Discovery at the Louise Kreher Forest Ecology Preserve this week. He had a great time. It was his second year to attend the camp. They learn about native animals, plants, etc... He especially enjoyed learning about the snakes. They waded in a creek and found salamanders, turtles, frogs, bugs, and fish. He loves this kind of camp and I am glad that we have such a great learning opportunity for him within driving distance.

The quilt above is a small wallhanging I completed using some of my "reject" Dear Jane blocks. I just included it here for eye candy since I didn't have any photos from the camp.

For those of you who asked, the new kitty cat's name is now Chuck-Fuzz. My kids named him, don't ask how they came up with it or what it means - who knows! LOL. If you didn't read about the rescue kitty, you don't know that they originally thought it was a girl and named it Zelda. I noticed that it was actually a boy and they had to change the name.

Until later,

Julie

Tuesday, June 3, 2008

Finally Catching Up



Since school ended for the year I have been trying very hard to catch up on Orange Crush. I am working on steps 4 and 5 at the same time. Last night I stayed up until 1 A.M. sewing and watching the Stanley Cup finals. (It went into triple overtime!) I am rooting for the Detroit Redwings. I enjoy watching hockey but usually only watch the Stanley Cup finals. Needless to say, there is not much hockey here in the South.


I found out that Zelda is a boy! I had not really looked that closely at the cat and had just listened to my kids telling me it was a girl, but as I watched him walk away from me today I noticed something that convinced me the cat was of the male persuasion!


These little wrens are out on our carport. So cute!! Today I noticed the parents going crazy out there and I found a baby that had fallen out of the nest. I put it back and all is well again. I just love all the new babies in springtime.

Julie