Memorial Day Weekend Goodies

We are in Upstate NY for weekend visiting both sets of parents-the real Upstate! 30 minutes south of the Canadian border not 15 minutes outside of Albany. We started out Friday AM-2 adults, 1 kid and a dog heading up PA Route 220-can I just say yet again that I HATE that road! I swear that is the absolute last time we are taking it-I am erasing it from Judith's mind (the Garmin). I know that I have said that before (maybe not here but the hubby has heard it plenty of times) but I had tried to pull a sneaky by programing Judith with a quilt shop stop in Johnson City (right outside of Binghampton NY) and didn't want to bypass 220 for fear of missing the quilt shop. So off we went on the route that had a drunk as a foreman or they followed the black snake up the mountain-needless to say 10 minutes on that route the dog was sick and the kid was squealing because the dog was "barfing". We kept trucking along knowing that when we got to Tonowanda the road straightened out. Sure enough once we got off the winding road she was fine. All was good-nope-we get to NYS route 17 heading east and the sun is on her side of the car-peeuuuu did she stink-now she, her bed and the seat were in desperate need of a washing. I fessed to the boys what I had done with Judith and they were fine but gave me a timer-20-30 minutes-WHAT!! Barely enough time to touch everything-better than nothing so with no complaints I walk in to Sew Many Quilts-oooo lovely. Such pretty displays and a nice array of fabrics. I was in search of Friends & Flowers Red Geranium in yardage not a cake, jelly or charm-new concept but you know some traditions die hard. They offer so many classes and answered my questions about what the blocks were called and how big they were-they could have easily told me to take the class-as I have heard before. Plus they sell the Viking Sapphire 870-which I drooled over for about 10 seconds-no since wasting time. I got what I needed and then some-you knew that was going to happen didn't you ;) and we headed north. Arriving safely and without further vomit.

Upon arrival to Mom and Dad's I got presents!! Mom got me a Quilter's Journal, the mini Thangles that I have searching for, and the cutest thing for binding-you wind the binding around this spool thing that has a rope so you can hang it over your neck and as you sew the binding it unwinds from the spool hanging around your neck. I normally refuse to buy gadgets and Mom knows better than to buy them for me but this one is cool and will be used!

Saturday my parents and my family traveled even further north (didn't know there was so much Upstate did you?) to see my Grandparents in Potsdam. We detoured yet again to Rensalear Falls to the cutest little quilt shop and they were having a 25% off sale!!! Beautiful! I bought 20 fat quarters in a bundle of the Retro Jell-O fabrics and coordinates! Love it! I think I will actually do a Turning 20 out of them. We saw my grandparents which was nice because we haven't' seen them since moving to PA.

I doubt I can sneak in any more quilt shop stops this weekend-liable to get the hairy eyeballs form the son and the hubby, so I think this is it but it all is wonderful!

My First Swap has been received!

How Cool!

A few months ago I was searching the Internet looking for the Disappearing Nine-Patch and seeing what that was about. During that process I came across an "online quilt guild". Having worked nights while going to school full-time I was in the dark about what the Internet offered beyond a classroom. And so my cyber quilt guild began.

Today I learned that my Miniature Booty Swap made it to my partner-so finally here it is:

I had never worked with Batiks but thought the 3 values of pink would work really well in a Triple Irish Chain. I like how it turned out and hope the recipient enjoys it also.

Mail Surprise!

Yesterday when I got home from work I had a package waiting for me on the dining room table. I did not immediately open it thinking it was my Mary Engelbright charm squares and not wanting the temptation/distraction. So I left it there...this morning I went to eBay to leave a comment to the seller and realized that they were not coming from Oregon-what was in the box??? Well excitement hit me at 7AM pre-coffee and I tore into the box to find a lovely, lovely miniature, a great drawing by a 4 year old and a sincere note from my partner. This was her first quilt swap too! The colors are perfect as yellow is one of my favorites. I have been buying and saving yellow fat quarters for years with the intent to someday make myself a scrappy yellow and white Bear Paw.

Thank you so much to Melissa in Oregon!

Tease Post

I was catching up on the blogs that I like to read on Saturday and realized that my Miniature Booty Swap is due in a few weeks. I started out ahead of the game and with the nice weather weekends and busy work weeks I have fallen behind. So I informed the boys that I would do whatever they wanted on Saturday but Sunday was mine and I NEEDED to sew!
They were fine since that meant they could watch the hockey game and invite the neighborhood "boys" over. The little boy decided the hockey was not cool and played LEGOS on the front porch with his peeps while the big boy and his buddy tested the home brew and watched the hockey game.

The puppy must have been feeling the testosterone in the house and decided to help me quilt. She normally sits in Zach's rocking chair playing with the fabric strings I have tied to the back of my chair. Sunday she was clingy and wanted to be up on the sewing table or on my lap. I have not mastered sewing with her on my lap so on the table it was-she was good for the most part.

As we speak the binding is sew on the front and awaiting the hand sew to the back-whew I caught back up!