A Walk in the Dark

DH always takes an early morning walk - before light.  You can imagine his shock when this came bounding out of the bushes to greet him this morning.  Remember our dog was killed by a mountain lion in our yard not so long ago and we've had many coyotes in our yard as well.   One never trusts animals coming out of the dark.

It followed him for the entire walk and back to our house.  SIGH!!!  We have placed "lost dog" signs throughout the neighborhood and that someone will call SOON.

We had a delightful five days at our annual business trip in Florida.  The weather was the best that we have ever experienced there.  Some of the sights we enjoyed.....

View from our room.

Ooooh!!!  The flowers!!!!

I know that I showed this last year too, but it still fascinates me.

As you can see, it continues across the entire front of the house.

There is a wonderful pond that I always thought was a lily pond, but after seeing Vicki's beautiful quilt in the making, I am thinking that it might be lotus flowers.  Am I right, Vicki?

Our dear friends departed in style for Maine as we dreaded the long lines of security and a cattle car plane trip home.

Have you heard about the wonderful contest with the projects going to a terrific cause?  Please check it out at http://www.henryglassfabrics.com/media/fabrics/projects/HappyTown_join_form.pdf .

The fabrics being used are Henry Glass fabrics designed by Jacquelynne Steves and the winning quilts will be displayed at International Quilt Market in Portland.  All submitted quilts will be donated to the Quilts for Kids charity and distributed to hospitals throughout the U.S. As well,  all royalties from the fabric sales of the Happy Town line will be donated to the charity.  Hurry though as the deadline is April 15th.

 
I took more scarf making material with me for the long flights and managed to get MORE scarves finished.  I think I have filled all the granddaughter's wishes now.

The orange is great.

Another block is finished for our Starburst QAL.  I really like the yellows in this one.

I'm trying to sort out my goals for this month.  I really need to hand sew the binding on this very large quilt and I would like to quilt my Halloween Schnibble that I made a few years ago.  It's a busy month with our family snow trip coming up, two sets of houseguests arriving and my mom's upcoming birthday party.  Wish me luck!  I'm linking up with a Lovely Year of Finishes.

Wednesday's Words and Pictures

Gosh...it's been two weeks since I last blogged so there is lots to share.  There has not been a lot of sewing as we have been away for a bit.

We had a delightful trip to Florida.  This is a time when I normally meet up with a fellow friend and blogger, Midlife Mom, but it was not to be this year.  Her father had fallen off of a ladder and was in the hospital so she was staying with her mom and getting things sorted out.  I am glad to report that he is doing much better and is now home in Maine with Louise.  I did miss our chats and will have to make up for them up next year!!!!

We were staying near Key Largo and this year we made the drive down to Key West.  It was a fun and interesting drive.  I always love the colors that you see in that area.  I am sure that we would be fined by our HOA if we were to paint our home one of the luscious colors that can be seen.   They have such a tropical feel to them.

Of course I love seeing the flowers - especially the orchids that are planted on the palm trees.  I would love to be able to do something like that here, but I would worry about a freeze.

Can you imagine doing a topiary like this on your house?  The entire house was done like this and this is only a small section of it, but I found the rats very interesting.

During our stay we enjoyed a fun concert with KC and the Sun*shine Boys.

We returned home for two days - long enough to unpack, do laundry, shop and repack for our annual trip to the Sierras with the children and grandchildren.  The snow pack was nothing to write home about, but we did find some good areas for sledding and, of course, the skiing areas were open for those who ski.  We all had a fabulous time - snow or not.




The techy group.




Birthday boy.





Dinner in shifts!!!




Sun rising on the mountains.



While we were away several wonderful packages arrived in my mailbox.  Some wonderful Valentine fabrics arrived from Annie.  Aren't these fun fabrics?  I think I see a valentine quilt coming.

From Pat a package came with a glue stick and another pretty piece of fabric.  I will use the glue stick for the paper piecing that I do.  I tend to go through it quickly so I am excited about trying this new brand.  Thanks Pat.

I joined up for the Year of Mug Rugs and the February mug rug arrived while we were away.  Jeanne also included some fun charm squares in the package.  I have enjoyed using my seasonal mug rug!

Also from Jeanne, I received fabrics that I won from the Blog Hop.  Aren't the colors pretty?  They remind me of the Florida Key colors!!!

As I said, there has not been a lot of sewing going on as we were away.  I did manage to finish up my heart quilt for the auction next week.

As well, I made the doll school uniform that I make each year for the grandchildren's school auction which is in a couple of weeks.  It feels good to have those both finished.

It's a rainy day here so I am heading in to my sewing room for some fun.

Added later.......

Is this new word verification driving everyone else as crazy as it is me????  I simply cannot read some of those words.  I notice that I am leaving fewer comments due to it so thought I would add a hint as to how to get rid of it on your blogs. 
to turn word verification off:


Go to dashboard, then  settings, then comments, scroll down this page until you find word verification- fill in the NO bubble. Click "save settings" at the bottom of the page.

From the Pacific to the Atlantic

It never ceases to amaze me that travel is so easy for us these days.  Last Thursday morning our plane took off flying out of Los Angeles over the Pacific Ocean and that evening we were enjoying the sunset on the Atlantic Ocean.  Amazing!!!

Midlife Mom and I get to meet up once a year at a gorgeous resort in Key Largo while our husbands have a meeting.  I do think that this was probably the nicest weather we have had in the seventeen years that we have been able to do this.  It was warm and sunny with little humidity and no rain.  Needless to say we had a marvelous time.  MM and I really got a chance to get together often which does not generally happen with events tightly scheduled.  It was just what we both needed as we so look forward to our visits.

The event has a yearly theme and costumes are provided for the theme night. I'll let you guess what this year's theme was.







Right out of the 60s!!!!




Love the lava lamp!!!



It is sad to report, but I remember living through those days.  Then again....maybe it is good that I can still remember it.  We got to talking about the terrible drug scene at the time.  My husband was going to college in San Francisco during those years and was very close to the Haight Ashbury district.  There were many sad cases up there, but perhaps the memories of what made a big impact on society was the Charles Man*son family.  They lived very close to where we lived and we used to go horseback riding on the Spa*hn Ranch.  Of course we all thought those people were "freaky" looking.  Little did we realize how dangerous they were.  So much for thinking that the 60s were about peace and love!!

The mode of transportation while we were there is a golf cart.  They are so much fun to drive/ride in and it is always fun to explore. 



I just love the colors of the buildings - blues, yellows, pinks.




The signature flagpole.




View from our balcony.




The marina with many pelicans.




I loved this orchid tree.

This year I went to visit their Art Gallery as they were having a one day art show.  Check out these wonderful brass eggs in the show.

We did venture "off campus" one day to go to a biker hangout that we always pass on our way to the resort.  I'll suffice it to say that it was interesting and we did have a blast.  The best part was a couple of ladies dancing to the cowboy band that was playing.  They were amazing!!!!  These gals were nearly 80 and danced like nothing you have seen before.  As well, they were dressed in their full skirts, petticoats and cowboy boots.  I am hoping that MM got some pictures of them as I only have it on video.  They were a hoot!




MM and her dear hubby.

 Sadly, all good trips must come to an end and this was no different.  Once again we awoke to the sunrise over the Atlantic and saw the setting sun over the Pacific.  Again....amazing!

So.....how much of my hand sewing did I get done while I was there?  Very little!!!!  I did take it with the best of plans, but just did not get a chance to do it. 

Joanne asked me if I had a picture of my blocks for the Thread Head Quilt Along.  It has outgrown my design wall, but I did lay them on the floor to take a picture of them.  The floor was also getting a little small so I just starting putting the blocks down.  I need to get blocks #15 (and probably #16) done soon.  There will eventually be 20 sets of blocks.

When I returned home there was an envelope from Leona waiting for me.  I had admired a wonderful quilt she had made with a Loralie panel.  It was all sewing themed and just precious.  She sent me a panel that she had and I can't wait to make a quilt for my sewing studio with it.  Look at how cute even the border is on it.  Thank you, Leona.