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.

February.....Really?

It's a good thing that February has one extra day this year because it has arrived much too quickly for my likes.  How about yours?

Of course a new month also means that the new BOMs and swaps are out and the fun begins all over again.  Surprisingly, the It Takes 2 blocks are only two blocks this time.  I did finish my second set of blocks and look forward to a lighter load this round.  Building the house was a tad challenging with the set in Y seams. 

I mailed off my Valentines mug rug to my secret partner so I can show it to you.  If anyone wants to jump in for this swap, you can still join.  It's one mug rug a month for the months with holidays and lasts one year.

Then I made another for a friend who loves cats.

As well, Judy (no Blog) and I swapped accessory bags.  She sent me the most gorgeous beg and it was packed full of fabulous goodies for sewing.  I love everything about the beautifully made bag and Judy spoiled me with all of the fin things inside.  I don't know if she follows my blog, but if so, thank you soooo much.

This is the bag I sent Judy.

 I finally finished the December Birdie Stitches block.  Thank you, Terry, for the great tree design.  These are the last three blocks and now I can assemble the quilt. 

We've had lots of fun grandbaby time this week as well.  One little one celebrated his first birthday.



A little fun balloon time.

 Is there a better way to show a picture of a quilt than this?

Well....tomorrow is Groundhog Day.  Will the groundhog see his shadow in your neck of the woods?  He will be seeing it here.  I wonder what the percentage is of his being correct?  I'm sure we could "google" the answer.

A Reason to Celebrate

What a wonderful week it has been around our house!!  We have been blessed once more with a beautiful little grandson.  All are doing well and he was welcomed home today by his big brother and sister.  The week can't be much better than that.

It also started off in a fabulous manner.  For Christmas our children gifted us a dinner prepared by a chef (and friend of our SIL) for all of us at our home.  The menu was amazing and consisted of seven courses.  We had so much fun and it was such a thrill to watch all of this happening in our kitchen.  Sadly, we were missing one DIL who was ill and one son who was away skiing.  Guess that just meant more food for all of us.  ;-)

A few of the courses.....

Seared Nantucket Scallops with avocado risotto,  mango lime coulis, chipolte oil and crispy plantains.

Merlot poached pears stuffed with gorgonzola dolce and served with peppered balsamic syrup, arugula sprouts and honey port aioli.

Mascarpone and apricot Napoleon - pistachio and thyme twill, Mascarpone Mouse, Muscatel soaked apricots and basil honey.

Does anyone know how to deal with Blogger's problems in commenting?  Several of the blogs I follow are not allowing the page for comments.  Instead it simply comes up as a blank page.  I have read where others are having the same issues, but have not heard how to resolve them yet.

The sewing studio has been a little quiet as we have been busy with little ones and houseguests, but I did have to finish up a quilt for the newest baby.  Our children absolutely loved the book Goodnight Moon.  I was so thrilled to see the line of fabrics with the same title.  In wanting to highlight the fabric prints, I chose the wave pattern.  I also put Minky fabric on the back of it so it is super soft.  I was a bit apprehensive about the stretch of the backing, but it quilted BEAUTIFULLY.  If you haven't tried it on the back of a quilt, I highly recommend giving it a go.  I'll be linking this quilt up as a January finish with A Stitch in Time.

I also decided to join in the It Takes 2 quilt along.  You can check out the link on my sidebar.  Instead of the red and white, I have chosen a chocolate brown and a light aqua.  The first blocks are done and the patterns are now out for the second series. 

There seem to be many Dresden Plate quilt designs showing up on blogs this year.  I am thinking that one may be in my future as I have always loved them.  I may have to use the line of fabric,  Montecito,  from Connecting Threads that I won a few weeks ago from Stephanie's giveaway.    Stephanie always has such an inspiring blog and I love the wonderful, bright colors that she uses.  If you are not familiar with her, please be sure to check her out her blog, Loft Creations.

We are waiting for the arrival of our first storm of the new year.  I doubt that it will give us much rain, but we are hoping for at least some snow in the mountains.  Our winter has been so warm lately that my sweet peas have started to bloom already.  They smell as heavenly as they look.

I think that areas like Portland and Seattle should run a nice pipeline down our way and give us all of their excess.  Wouldn't it be wonderful if there was a way to do that?  Anyway....I am hoping to get into some good sewing projects while I watch the rain come down this weekend.  I hope it is a great weekend for all of you too.

New Year....Old Project

Oh my goodness!  Have you seen all of the wonderful Quiltalongs, challenges, swaps and projects that are out in blogland for 2012?  How does one ever decide which projects they want to start first?  If I could only work it so that I didn't ever sleep I might be able to do a few.  LOL

I always start out the year with the best of intentions to finish up some of the UFOs sitting in my closet.  The new year seems like such a fresh slate to start working on them.  Then someone comes out with an amazing quilt that I can't wait to start.  Then there are the quiltalongs where it is so much fun to see what fabrics and colors others are using.  Oh....did I mention all the swaps too?  Oh my!!!!  One could really be in over their head - quickly.

Several years ago Melissa had a signature swap.  I was new to the blogging world and thought it would be fun.  It really was, but my wonderful blocks have sat in a box for all this time.  2012 was my year to get those out and put them together.  Ta da......

To this....

I added a little of this.....

to create these........

Quilted the sandwich and

Even added a label!  Yeah, a UFO finished!!!!

It was fun reading the names and seeing how many of these quilters I now follow.  I'll be linking this finish up with Thearica and A Stitch in Time.

From there I went to my yellow and blue blocks that Emily and I swapped last year.  I added a few more blocks to make it a little larger and will add a scrappy border on it to finish it off.

Each year we attend a Valentine's dinner dance with an auction.  I have started a heart quilt to donate for the auction.  This is an easy Moda Bake Shop pattern. 

I managed to finish up the last of my Civil War blocks.  The year is now finished and I can start to put those together.  I think this will be a really nice finish.  I love the colors.

A lesson that I learned while sewing this week......NEVER leave your camera on your cutting table!!!!  Live and learn, as they say.

I received a wonderful package of hand dyed fabrics from Deborah in the UK.  This was a win from the Sew Mama Sew giveaway.  The fabrics are absolutely gorgeous and are so soft.  They will be so much fun to sew and I know they will work up beautifully.  Deborah does some amazing work and you should check it out. 

Like many of you, we have been having some gorgeous weather lately.  I had a yellow cymbidium orchid that was blooming in the yard and brought it inside to enjoy it even more.   There are six stalks of flowers on this plant and these are the first two to bloom.

That was my first week in 2012.  I hope that I can continue to finish off some of the other UFOs I have sitting around AND work on some new ones.