Day Off?

I had today off. This is part of one of today’s projects.

Vintage Friday — Sunbonnet Sue

Among items that came from Guy’s ancestors is a box of Sunbonnet Sue blocks.  I’m not sure who made them, his grandmother or someone further back.

Upon close examination of the blocks, I noticed that all the applique was done with white thread.  So much more frugal than today when I try to match the thread to the piece being appliqued.  And even with the white thread on the darker fabrics the stitches aren’t readily apparent.

In addition to the finished blocks there are at least 13 more cut out and ready to go.

Some are even basted in preparation for applique.

Which means, I know how to proceed when I someday decide to make this project mine and finish it.

Just for Fun Decorating

I follow several decorating blogs and many of those writers are decorating for Spring.  It is Spring break here and the first day of Spring is in two days, so I took some time to play.  Little nests are popping up all over blogland and I stopped in at Hobby Lobby looking for small eggs.  I was looking especially for eggs that were about the size of Robin’s eggs.  The only ones I could find were glittery plastic Easter eggs.  I didn’t want to decorate for Easter, but for Spring. 

I bought the little plastic eggs, brought them home, primed them, mixed acrylic paint and achieved a more realistic color.  My nests are made from small grapevine wreaths and Spanish Moss.   Here are a couple pictures.

At the end of February I picked up a Pottery Barn catalog while I was in Denver.  On the cover was the cutest watering can with a decopaged egg sitting on top.  I looked at that egg and thought that would be fun to make.  So on the same trip to Hobby Lobby I picked up some paper mache eggs that were chicken egg size, and some Modge Podge.  I also looked for napkins, wrapping paper or stickers that had pictures I liked.  I didn’t have any luck on that front.  I’ve never done decopage before, but at some point I’ve read how to do it.  The eggs may not have been the best first project.  Since I hadn’t found pictures I liked, I went searching for images on the internet.  I just pasted and resized several pictures in a Word document and then printed it out in color.  I was having trouble getting the pictures to lay reasonably flat on the egg.  When I went back and looked at the description of the egg in the Pottery Barn catalog it was more like Ostrich egg size.  I’m fine with what I ended up with, they serve no useful purpose, but they are kinda cute.

I played with some other things and if or when I finish them, I’ll toss a picture your way.

Time Off = Getting Things Done

It’s Monday, and technically the first actual day of school vacation.  Which means I finally went down to the basement and finished quilting the quilt that has been on the machine since at least early October.  I know, pitiful!  The quilt is Blizzard Bunch from Pearl Louise Designs.  It was made by Mimi and has been at my house for longer than I care to remember.  Mimi is never in a hurry, she always says she’d rather store the quilts at my house than her’s.  I think this was an appropriate quilt to finish this week considering the weather in much of the country.

Here’s a little more detail for part of the quilt.  I was having a really hard time getting good pictures on this one.

My Bag is Packed, I’m Ready to Go

The temperatures are falling rapidly and there is the possibility of snow tomorrow night, but it doesn’t affect me!

Guy and I leave tomorrow for 4 nights in the Bahamas.  We will be staying here :

Atlantis picture from their web site

This trip has been in the works since this time last year, but true preparations didn’t start for us until about 6 months ago.

 √ April  — Get passport  I have only left the U.S. to go to Canada and Mexico and at that time a passport wasn’t necessary.  So this is my first trip with a passport.

√ May or June the official invitation is received and ACCEPTED.  Nolan says this is the coolest invitation ever.

√ July — purchased a camera to use underwater.  The batteries for both cameras going on the trip are charging as I write.

√ Early this month — purchased snorkel equipment.  There is just something unappealing about putting a snorkel in your mouth when you aren’t sure where it has been before or how it was cleaned.

√ Yesterday — “Guest Parents” arrive (Nolan’s term because Sheila thinks babysitters is too juvenile for the boys)  I wish the boys could come along, but no minors allowed.  They will have a good time with Auntie Sheila and Uncle David.

√ Tonight — suitcase is packed except for last minute items.  I can have two suitcases, but one is enough for me.  Thanks Nolan for the loan and Jesse for loaning his suitcase to Guy.  They have far better luggage than we do so we will add some wear and tear to theirs at the airports.  I still have reading materials gather for the plane trip.

Tomorrow — 7:00 am at the airport for a chartered flight direct to Nassau.  The computer is not going, so I’ll check back in next week.

Yes, Lisa I remembered the sunscreen.

Cheat to Win

I confess, I’m a cheater!  At this point my sister would gleefully tell you I’ve been cheating since I was fairly young.  So before I get to the current day cheating let me beat her to the punch and tell you the story.

For some inexplicable reason several members of my family love to play Rook.  I do not happen to be one of them, however I have played my share of games.  My sister has had a life long love of the game.  She takes it very seriously.  When she was a kid she would play with the dog if no one else was available.

Sheila & Pepi playing Rook

I have no idea how old we were, but I’m pretty sure I was less than 10.  Saturday night after sundown was almost always  fun night.  This particular Saturday night we were playing Rook.  The only three people I know for sure were playing were my Grandma, my sister and me.  Most likely my dad as well.  In Rook you are required to follow suit if you have the color that was led.  If you don’t have the correct color you can use trump cards or slough junk.  I was very slyly playing out of suit.  (That was before my sister memorized what everyone was playing and counted cards.)  I must have gotten caught and my Grandma exclaimed, “Cheaters Never Prosper.” 

I looked her straight in the eye and replied, “Well, I’ve been  prospering all night!”  (corrected per Sheila’s memory)

Now on to the modern day cheating.  I’m having an extremely difficult time working on customer quilts when what I really want to do is work on finishing more of mine.  To motivate myself I make up games or rewards.  Do this much on the customer quilt and I can do (fill in the blank).  This week I loaded a customer quilt on one machine and my quilt on another.  The deal was use up one bobbin on the customer quilt and then a bobbin on my quilt.  I regret to say I started cheating.  Pretty soon it was change colors on the customer quilt and do a bobbin on mine.  Then it was advance the customer quilt and do a bobbin on mine.  Eventually I think it got to where I was doing two bobbins on mine for whatever excuse I could come up with.  I did finish mine first.  I’ll show a picture after it is bound.  I finished Barb’s Winter Wonderland quilt today and it was on the machine way longer than it should have been because of my cheating.

Barb's Winter Wonderland

Winter Wonderland Quilting View

There you have the extent of how I cheat these days.  Sorry to disappoint if you were expecting something more devious.

By the way the title of this post came home with Guy from the Shooting Range.  Apparently if you are in a gun fight, it is OK to cheat in order to win.