Photo catch-up

From dear Ms. Stephanie:






















White chocolate ready to go to the quilter:










For little Ms. Megan:

Good Wednesday

It seems that I have several bits and pieces on this day after my birthday. :-)

a. I drew names from my commenters for my 100th blog entry and Marika I will make something for you. I don't know what just yet, but I know a bit about you, so will try to think of something that you will like.

b. Stephanie has certainly confirmed her membership in the Over-Achievers category. Many moons ago she had offered to do a P.I.F. (pay it forward) gift and I had left my name. On my birthday I discovered a parcel on the front porch and it contained:
(photo transfer is not working at the moment on blogger - I'll try again) Stephanie sent this and this and this. Imagine. Lucky me! [3 photos]

c. I helped fellow Stashbuster, Alayne, to install new wheels on the rails and the carriage of her APNQ longarm machine. It proved to be a much more difficult task than either of us had envisioned. And so over the course of 3 days we worked on this. She said it still does not feel quite the same as it did before, but she's giving it a try.[2 or 3 photos]

d. And one of those efforts will be on White Chocolate on which I have finally gotten the last two borders. Everyone of you (and me) will be so happy when we can say "fini" and it comes to reside on my bed. [1 photo]

e. Grandchild #3, Megan, got a quilt when she was born, but will soon be 2, so Nana is completing another for her. As the third child, she doesn't have to talk too much - those two older siblings can do it all for her. So this is to encourage her to say more things (although her receptive vocabulary is great). I loved Dick and Jane and now perhaps she will too. [1 photo]

Sorry about the photo part. I will try later on, but for now it has failed 4 times, so I'm going ahead with the words and will catch up with the photos later. Thanks for stopping by.

I'm getting over my bad attitude

I've received two lovely things in the mail - great fun. 1. I have been part of a round robin with two women in the Netherlands and another person in Belgium. Unfortunately the Belgian member hasn't been the most dependable participant and we feared that one person's center had been lost. But at last - the lost has been found and arrived on my doorstep. So I will add the last border and my houseguest can take it home. (see below)









2. When I was lucky enough to travel to the Netherlands in February of this year, I met Caroline Dijkerman. She and her husband, and English cocker spaniel, live in the Hague. We just "hit it off" right away and have been mad correspondents ever since. Of course I invited her to come for a visit and she decided to take me up on it (accept the invitation), so she will arrive on September 3rd. Of course, this is just terribly exciting. I think she will not be allowed to sleep in order to squeeze in all the things we want to do while she is here. She has also been looking forward to coming with me to my quilt groups and has prepared "kits" for them of some typical dutch design fabrics, to make a pin cushion and a needle case. So she has sent me a sample of what she has put together. Aren't they so cute! I'm sure they will just love these.





So, she will take the round robin back with her, as well as bringing mine from its last addition. This is special delivery!

And I haven't anything particular to show you (or can show you right now)on the quilty front. Later.

P.S. I just realized that this is my 100th post. Now that should deserve something special, shouldn't it? You send me a note and I'll figure out something that would be a nice momento. Great!

I'm whining

So, the class for the African ladies is finished and it was time to clean out the cupboard where we keep our materials. Over the year, things got in the wrong boxes and mixed up. There were many items that we found we did not need or use. And there is the proverbial problem of fabric. Norma and I met at the center and began the task. Oh my gracious. We gave 3 large bags of extraneous fabric and patterns and notions to the Goodwill. But the whine. . . . . people, intending to be generous, I'm sure, make donations, primarily of fabric to the program. Our task yesterday was to go through the old stuff and then sort through the new. Today no one wears dark brown polyester double knit! Faded blue velour isn't popular. Lining fabrics can only be that - lining. And then there was the box that had been thoroughly doused in moth balls. I brought home a garbage bag full and washed it, trying to get the smell out. So here are some samples:










Who in their right mind would think these were appropriate for ladies who wear burkas (bui bui, hajab - whatever you call them)? They would draw way too much attention to the wearer and are just perfectly wrong! So I am arguing with myself trying to appreciate that these folks tried to do the right thing, but honestly what were they thinking?

I have been working on my matchbox exchange (crazy exchange is exchanging things that can fit into a matchbox.) Cute idea, heh? That will be mailed mid August. Can't show you yet. And then by mid September, there is the autumn exchange - again, can't show you. Just have to reassure you that I am doing things with fabric.

Lazy, hazy Days of Summer

Well, no, I didn't fall off the face of the planet, but somehow the days have been chock full and rushing past and I haven't caught up for a while here. Not too much sewing going on.

Over the 4th of July, we went dry camping. For those of us with motorhomes, that means no electricity, no running water, etc, etc. We did manage just fine. I used the new lantern style flashlight I bought, hung on a hook over the sink. Terrific. We had a bit of drizzle on Saturday night, but othrwise, it was just great. We were on Hwy. 410, over Chinook Pass. This pass had only been opened for a couple of weeks, because they got so much snow over the winter. Thus there were lots and lots of flowers and things were very green. Some photos:


























These adventures were followed by new adventures on Monday. In the morning I arranged to pick up 5 1/2yo grandson for a 3 day visit with Nana. As usual he was on his very best 'behabior' and we had a terrific time. Multiple trips to the park, some splashing in the wading pool, lots of 'wing on the wing'. [that translates to swing on the swing]. On Tuesday we rode the city bus (a 'bendy' bus, i.e. articulated bus) to downtown and visited the central library. Many interesting things to see, as well as some wonderful yellow escalators to ride up and down. He fell asleep on the bus ride home. We went out for dinner of fish and chips beside Lake Union - with no end of things to see: boats and bridges and ducks and geese. Stop at 31 flavors and it was time for bed. The child obviously was exhausted as he slept for almost 12 hours and then was playing quietly in his room/bed with the assorted stuffed animals that live there. Wednesday morning we went to the University of Washington Burke Museum. Obviously he only has limited attention span for all of that, but enjoyed seeing the dinosaur bones and opening the drawers in the natural history part of the museum. Nana really enjoyed the photo exhibit on polar bears, although he wasn't just overwhelmed. Then it was time to catch the ferry home and mama and baby sister waiting for us. I'm exhausted, but we had a great time.

































The head of Stone Soup Quilts has been in Burundi (Africa) since mid June and we have been trying to carry on without her. I have brought home several quilts and have been sewing bindings. She returns today and Monday is our friend Sharon's Memorial Service. We are trying to complete any quilts we still have unfinished that Sharon designed. She was most talented and we want to have as many as we can round up at her service. Here's the one I'm working on at the moment.




Beautiful no? We will miss her in so many ways.