Creativity at Work

I am enjoying a fun filled mini retreat session with friends.  It is three days of quilting and fun.

Today began with breakfast on the porch.   
After a relaxing morning we proceeded to our sewing mission. 

My sewing room was cleaned in order to make room for the guests.  This is the second day of sewing and everyone has their work station set up. 

Yesterday I received a newsletter email from Laura Murray.  She had the most beautiful hydrangea leaf rubbing with the Shiva sticks. lauramurraydesigns Today our group decided to try out the technique.  We watched the DVD (previously purchased at a quilt show) so everyone understood the Shiva sticks process and then we picked our leaves and began the fun.  Thank you Laura for this inspiring afternoon! 

We are all pleased with our results.

Tomorrow the fun continues. 

 Buck-a-Bear-Block
Wrapping up the 2011/12 Saturday Sampler has been quit a task.  There were two fabric options to satisfy varying tastes in fabrics. The groups that were just finished were 12" stars for twelve months.  One color choice was Moda - BasicGrey - Origins, the other choice was Moda - Minick & Simpson - Wiscasset. 
I just completed the Origins setting pattern.  Even with all the wrinkles I think this is on it's way to becoming a masterpiece. 

I completely finished the quilt with the Wiscasset fabric blocks.  The fabric made for a great layout and I am proud of the results.  The quilting was done by Nancy Graham of Newport, NH. 



Having successfully completed the first series of blocks I am confidently ready to tackle a second year.  I hope that once more people see the results from this past year they will want to join in. 

In addition to all the work spent on the quilting, my dog, Gilbert, has injured here ACL joint.  Twenty months ago she injured the other leg.  I was warned of a possible injury to this leg and Monday it happened.  She gets along pretty well on three legs.  But being our only child, we are opting for surgery to correct the problem. 

Thread Bear Fabrics

Thread Bear Fabrics, LLC
515 Sawnee Corners Blvd
Suite 500
Cumming, GA 30040
Phone 770-781-0001

Cumming, GA

www.threadbearfabrics.com

This local quilt shop carries a huge selection of name brand high quality fabrics.  I spend much of my free time either at the shop or planning for the Saturday sampler.   I develope both the monthly patterns and the setting designs. 

 

We will be starting a new Buck-a-bear-block this Saturday, May 12th – same times 9:00 AM, 10:00 AM and 11:00 AM. I hope you will participate and I look forward to seeing everyone at the shop. The details for this year’s blocks will be explained at the May kick off. I have a little twist for this years blocks and am very excited about the finished quilt. There will be an offering of Civil War or Brights. Janet is planning some administrative changes that she will explain at this Saturday’s sessions.

I am also planning an applique ‘club’. This will start in June. It will be on the second Saturday each month, in the afternoon, after the Saturday Buck-a-Block. It will be a bee style group where we work on our projects and exchange ideas. Those of us that worked on the Noel are welcome to attend and work on their Noel blocks. Janet has ordered the Edyta Sitar ‘Elegant Garden’ patterns ($5 for pattern, no class fee) for us to work on. I am developing samples for both fuse and hand applique. I learn so much from the others in the group and the creativity is contagious.

 

 

Happy Stitching

Jellyroll Derby

Tally Ho!!
Thread Bear Fabrics hosted their first annual Jellyroll Derby.  Kentucky Derby Day was selected for the race day.  Participants were required to wear their best hats.  Ten wonderful quilters showed up.  There were prizes for win, place, and show. 

The first place winner finished in an hour.   The others rolled in shortly after. 
We had a few lessons learned.  One participant brought her class machine only to realize that it had no fast speed.  Others broke thread and kept sewing so intently that it went undetected.  Everyone agreed we would have a rematch sometime this summer.

Landscaping

For years we have been unable to grow grass in our shaded yard.  Then we ended up paying for maintenance on our 'dirt' lawn.  This year we resolved to correct the problem, not just add another patch.
We contacted three professional landscapers and decided on POPS for the job.  I am talking major landscaping.  We cut down our Leland cypress and had new ever greens planted along the back property.  This is a small cluster home, so there isn't much land.

On the side we added a path and dry rock bed to control the erosion and mud issues. 

In the backyard we added the rock path and plantings.  What a difference.  Mike had mulched the entire backyard two years ago and we have had no charm at all to the backyard. 

It's hard to see, but there are all new shade tolerant plants under the tree and throughout the yard. 

We are very pleased and think POPS did a great job.  They were great to work with and the results are awesome. 

Christmas prep

Merry Christmas to all.
I am playing with my new iPad toy. What a joy. Not much shopping for gift exchanges, but I have enjoyed getting my iPad all decked out. Speaker, cover, and apps, oh my!
Gilly is nestled all snug in her bed (our couch).

Photos are added using the pc laptop, but taken using the iPad.

This table topper was painted by my sister (in-law), Lori. We used a pattern from last year's Quilting Arts. I am so impressed with how it turned out. 

I will be making an effort to blog more. Come back for future posts. I also have some older drafts regarding my vacation that I never finished. Once I get the photos added to them I will post those also.

After Yellowstone

We certainly did enjoy Yellowstone.  We were there Wednesday through  Friday.  We then had a day traveling to Jackson Hole. There were some photo stops along the way.   This is a typical photo stop.

Here is some of the scenery we were shooting.

 I was surprised that we really did time it to hit the autumn colors.  The colors are more yellows and less reds.  As you can see the sky has had fantastic clouds and wonderful weather. 

Jackson Hole was a two night stay where the 'billionairs are pushing out the millionaires".  On the second day we had a raft ride on the Snake River.  Some of the mountains behind us were the Tetons.  This is a nice shot, but some of the hill were smokey because they were having controlled burns. 

This is one of the three American Eagles that we saw on the raft trip.

That night we went on a wagon train ride to a barbecue in the woods.  There were about nine wagons in the convoy.  There was a small show as part of the evening and the guy that played the fiddle was a champion fiddler.   I couldn't believe that someone of that caliber was a part of this production. 

Stay tuned more posts to follow. 

Remember the opening scene of Northern Exposures?

Anyways as I was saying we had looked all over for elk and didn't see any on route.  We checked into the Mammoth Hot Springs Lodge and the elk were everywhere.  People complained that they heard the male 'buggleing' for it's 'harem' all night.  I slept quite comfortable all night. 
So in the mean time the entire tour group is getting use to the masks...
Everyone is checking on us to be sure we are keeping up with the mask photos. They are all offering to take our picture.

Back to the hunt for wild life...  Bison are every where.  Here are bison rolling in the dirt and playing by butting heads.

The colors of nature has just been awesome.  The springs and fumaroles have such vivid colors of minerals.  The landscape changes with each corner we turn. 

Well before I sign off for the evening one last photo op for Mary. Mike is being quite a sport about these photos...

Good night Gracy...

(I know it is Groucho nose, but the Gracy line seemed appropriate.)

... and the trip goes on!!!

This is for Mary

Two days in Yellowstone without TV or Internet was quite a feat.   The first night was in the notorious Old Faithful Inn.  It had the ominous of an old inn with a grand lobby.  Old Faithful was right outside the front door.  Mike and I woke up at sunrise to watch it.  I am glad we did it, but it was an ordinary sunrise.  We saw geysers, hot springs, fumarole, elk, bison and lots of gorgeous sights to amaze the mind.  We are seeing more sights and having more activities than I can keep up with on the blog.  This is a bison we saw at sunrise in Yellowstone.   There were tons :) of bison through out the park. 

The group kept looking for elk and we couldn't find any all day.  The second night at the park there were elk and bison.  Well you will need to wait to see the outcome.  I can't upload the photos and it's late.  More to come tomorrow. 

National Parks Vacation

It has been a long wait and a lot anticipation getting to this vacation.  We arrived in Rapid City Saturday, Sept 24th, after an uneventful (meaning everything went well) day of travel.  I had to visit a local quilt shop and the local Pumpkin Festival when we arrived.  We settled in and attended a 'meet 'n greet' orientation.  Sunday is when the real excitement began. We went to Crazy Horse first.  It is a rock sculpture to give tribute to the indians.

 Here is a photo of Mike and me at Crazy Horse.  The visitor center is so far from the carving that the size perspective is totally lost.   The carving is a spec in the background and isn't visible in the photo with us.  The masks are courtesy of my buddy Mary.  She wanted to give us something for our vacation - thanks Mary....

We then traveled to Mt. Rushmore.  I enjoyed this more because I was able to get more of a feel for the size.  All four images of the Mt Rushmore sculpture is smaller then the head of Crazy Horse.  Of course we needed to continue the Mary photo ops.  I hope Mary is enjoying these photos as much as our fellow tour travelers are enjoying these photos. 

thread bear

It has been a long time coming, but I am back to blogging.  The East Cobb Quilt Show is over and  am off on my vacation.  (More about that later.)  thread Bear has been given the Octoberr blocks info and Janet will carry on in my abcense.  Here is a sneak pick at the block to come. 

Carolyn's New Digs! - exterior



Side View of home front to back



Back view of duplex
No that is not a pond.  It is called detention.



 This is Carolyn's new digs.  I am practicing creating a "blog" and thought her home images would be an interesting posting to share.  Wish her luck in her new home. 


 

Front view

Living Room - wall unit has been removed



kitchen

master bedroom

walk-in closet

Gnarly???

To blog or not to blog: that is the question.  I see so many people blogging and it seems to be easy for them.  For me, I couldn't even pick a sign on name.  My sister once said (20 years ago) that I looked "gnarly".   I didn't know what it meant then and now I would love to be gnarly again.  I figure if no one else says so I can pretend I'm gnarly. 
I have so many opinions and thoughts that blogging seemed like a venture I wish to try.  I always say "I may not have the answer, but I always have an opinion". 
I am also a wanna be photographer.