Give it Another Go

I haven't done much quilting lately. My quilt room is probably the hottest room in my house. I have central air conditioning but it never seems to really cool off the upstairs. Someday I'll need to invest in better insulation.

I'm also busy taking care of a very busy 5 (he'll tell you 5 and a HALF) year old. The other day I tried to sneak upstairs. Just for yuks I counted... I made it to 19 before both Cubby AND Chloe were at the quilt room door.

 Here is what happens when you try to sew "just one more seam" when it's late at night and you're really too tired.

Next night. OK, that's the way it's supposed to go.

Finally. Here is Terry's finished block. At this rate it would take me HOW LONG? to make enough blocks for a quilt?

Today's rain (finally!) has reminded us that cooler, quilting weather is on the way.

It's been a warm summer (ok 'hot' but you'll never find me complaining about the heat because I really hate being cold) but I'm not ready to give up on summer quite yet.

"Gamma, Gamma. Can I play with your phone?"

One More Skill

For those of you who don't know, I broke down and purchased a "Smart Phone" about a month ago to go on the trip to North Carolina.  My old phone (for the last 10 years!), which I dearly loved, which fit beautifully into my pocket, which was just a phone and uncomplicated, would no longer hold a charge.  I asked about a new battery and was told they were no longer carried in the store but that I could contact the manufacturer. The manufacturer's rep almost laughed at me and just said, "sorry".

Since I was going on a trip and might want access to email or Mapquest or Google and since I have a iMac at home, I purchased an iPhone. Seamless integration, Cloud and all that - what???

Anyway, this weekend Cindy and I went to the Ann Arbor Quilt Show. Here is the first picture taken with my iPhone (which has more megapixels than my Nikon camera). I wasn't sure how uploading would work. My faith was that I only had to connect the cord to my iMac and Apple would do all the rest. Yay! It worked! 

Next on the list is cropping and resizing...

The photo on the left behind the plastic sleeve is the original photo. The resulting quilt is on the right.

Rock climbing Cubby out on a perfect Sunday morning bike ride.  Love it!

This Little Piggie.......

A Pigtail, A Pig's Tail?
This cute little piggie pirate was on the back of the T-Shirt of the guy in front of me at the Grandfather Mountain Highland Games in North Carolina.  The pirate himself was not all that cute but he had a great braid.

This version of Blogger is going to take some getting used to...

The Ayes (i's) Have it

I just finished reading The Paris Wife by Paula McLain. It's a fictional account of Ernest Hemingway's first marriage as told by his wife, Hadley Richardson. It takes into account their time in Paris in the 1920's whe he wrote The Sun Also Rises and all of their real life friends such as Gertrude Stein and F. Scott Fitzgerald.

This was a time after WWI. They were survivors. Celebrating every day as though it were their last. As Cole Porter wrote, "Anything Goes".

This is my "i" quilt (18" x 20"). We each took a vowel. Many ideas came to mind (like ice cream) but I like the graphic quality of the lower case 'i'. I originally thought of solid backgrounds with printed fabric i's but then I came across this great fabric in the stash that I had purchased from Kari (see earlier post) and this is what evolved.

Yesterday, the whole bunch went to Kalamazoo to celebrate my dad's 81st birthday. It was a beautiful day to travel and a fine day for a birthday party complete with corned beef and cabbage, of course!

Tangerine Tuxedo

C'mon and see, see, see, Tennessee Tuxedo... Do you remember the cartoon series Tennessee Tuxedo? From 1963-1966, Tennessee and his friend, Chumley would escape from the zoo for some misadventure. They were always rescued at the last minute by Dr. Stanley Livingston. Don Adams was the voice of Tennessee at the same time he was on Get Smart (1965-1970). I wonder if he ever got his characters mixed up? Very coincidentally, I just read in a magazine that Tennessee Tuxedo is going to be released soon on DVD! I wonder if Cubby would find it funny?

Here is my little quilt "Tangerine Tuxedo" (12"x19"). This is part 2 of a pentaptytch (5-part) art piece. We took a large piece of paper, drew lines and circles the length of the paper and then cut the whole into five pieces. Each piece was interpreted separately by a different quilter. The only commonality was the orange "ribbon" running through all five sections.

I hope to pick up Claire's Dr. Seuss Quilt from the quilter in Howell this week. Can't wait to see how it turned out. Wasn't the weather perfect today? I actually raked a little and cut back some of my grass plants. And I met my new neighbor, Rebecca. All sorts of things happen when we are cocooned inside for the winter!

Purple Shirley!

This is the little quilt I did for Daisy's Paint chip challenge (20" x 20"). I didn't make it to the December meeting so I'm not sure who has seen it. We had to include the four colors on our paint chip and could add one additional color. I chose lime green of course!

The title of the Post come from a neighbor of my mom's. My mother had a sage green living room and chose to recover a pair of side chairs in purple wide wale corduroy. A woman before her time, we all know now that purple and green are au currant. Her neighbor came over to see the newly redecorated room and could only exclaim, "Purple, Shirley!".

For Christmas Chloe got the greatest present since sliced bread. Deer, elk, and moose shed their antlers every spring and some enterprising entrepreneurs are picking them up, cleaning them, sanding them and selling them as dog chews (at a premium price). They do not splinter. However, dogs do like to playfully toss them in the air and my cousin's Rottweiler threw hers through the glass door of an antique china cabinet. Ooops!

Another Birthday

Another year. Happy 2012 and Happy Birthday to me! It was also Ian's birthday so we celebrated together.

Cubby is always up for a party.

My sister gave me a present of fabric money. I hope it doesn't upset Jan's tummy.