MMMMM, towels

It was a beautiful day here in western NC. Sunny and in the 50s. Nice breeze....I couldn't resist hanging my towels out to dry. I love the stiffness of an air dried towel (good exfolliant) and they smell wonderful!!! All of my Ohio friends had sent me pictures of all the snow they have up there, so I had to take pictures of my area to share as well.

It is definitely not springtime yet, but is sure does make one dream of continuous warm weather. (We're planning our first hike already, lol.)

Later,

6 PICTURE MEME

Today I was tagged by my new friend Lisa Jo at Life at the Black Bear Cabin with the six picture meme. I had to go to my sixth folder of pictures and find the sixth picture, and show it and tell the story behind the picture. Wow, what fun, I'm new to blog world and new to being tagged as well, so here goes:

This is a picture from a fire tower off of the Blue Ridge parkway called Green Knob Fire Tower. Beautiful views from there. We are doing a challenge with the Carolina Mountain Club to hike to all the fire towers in western NC and have about 7 of them done. This was not my best picture as you can see my finger in the lower left side, lol. But I had to pick the picture according to the rules. Fun trying to remember where it was.

So now I'm supposed to tag 6 other people. Hmmm. Randomly (kinda) chosen, they are:

I have 2 blogging sisters, so they get tagged for sure:

Roma at QuiltinRoma She does nice work. She lives about 5 miles from me but I talk to her more on the computer than in real life.

Patty at Quilter000 and Her Small Studio. Patty makes alot of really nice stuff and is always giving me more projects to put in my "To Do" folder.

Quilter Jan She's an old friend from Quilting Passion Forum. This lady really cranks out the Linus quilts!!

gr8damesplace Another friend from Quilting Passion. And a fellow North Carolinian.

Quilting in Alaska Fran is a new friend who had joined the ABC Quilters. And she can see Russia from her house!!! LOL. Just kidding. She really can't.( I couldn't resist.)

Scraps from Sheryl Another QP friend.

Hope no one minds getting tagged. It is kinda fun.

Later,

Another finished quilt

I had this quilt top laying around for quite some time, I can't even remember what the name of it is, but I do know that my sister, Patty, gave me the pattern, lol. She did one using florals and green, but I don't think hers is quilted yet. Here are pictures. I free motioned it on my super quilter/Juki set up.

I like this one.

Did my taxes today. Love that Turbo Tax!!!! I had it done and e-filed in about 35 minutes start to finish. I get a good refund too. That makes it even better. I don't know how I ever survived without a computer.

It's a rainy day here in western NC. If it doesn't stop we will have to go do our walking at the mall. I'd rather walk outside, but it's better than not walking at all.

Later,

Fabric Bowl

Something else I wanted to show you. I made a cute fabric bowl today. Quick, easy and fun!!! You can get the directions to make one here . I am definitely going to make another one, but a little bigger.

First Cake, now Pie!!

It was a cold and wintry day....and I just didn't know what to work on, lol. Found an old project in a baggie that I must have started about 5 years ago. I don't even remember where I got the pattern. But I finished the top. According to the printed out instructions, it's called "Pie in the Sky". I do remember, kind of, ordering the fruit and creme filling fabrics, but from where I have no idea. It is a somewhat silly quilt, but I think it's cute.

Today is an historic day. I'm watching TV and seeing all of the people in Washington waiting for the ceremony gives me goose bumps. Gosh, I am so hopeful that he will be able to make things a little better, but I realize he is not a miracle worker. But for the moment he is bringing the people of our country together, which is a really good thing. Maybe we can get to being a peaceful loving country again. Hope. We all need some.

Later,

Only 156 working days til I retire. (Remember, I only work 2 days a week!!)

Kid Stuff

I have been having fun making a few things for the children of one of my friends, Aeron and Abby McConnell. They have adopted Dave and I as their substitute grandparents, lol.

I saw the cutest little quilt in the new Fons and Porter quilt magazine and just had to make one. The paper dolls fabric is so cute!! The clothes fabric is backed with fusible fleece so it sticks to the quilt. I have played with this quite a bit already, lol. I used to love paper dolls when I was a kid. There is an envelope on the back to store the clothes. Cool eh?

I made Aeron a cute folder from this site. It was so fun to do. I didn't use "mistyfuse" though. I used timtex that was fusible on both sides. I also just used a whole piece of cloth for the covers instead of strips. I will be making more of these.

I just love making all this stuff!!!

Well, I need to go look at my favorite blogs and see what everyone is up to.

Later,

Only 158 more working days til I retire!!

As Granny said: Let them eat cake!!

I can't take credit for this idea, although it's one of those "why didn't I think of that??!!" things. I found this in Granny's Tips from Claudia's Quilt Shoppe, then for some reason that same week we got a nice ice cream pie from TCBY. So I kept the container, and it really is great to store fabric. I will surely HAVE to buy more cake, lol.

The fabrics in the container are from the Bee's Knees line. I just love them. There was a pattern in theMcCalls Fast Quilts magazine called Lattice Garden that is so pretty that myself and a couple of my friends are doing one. Here's a picture from online. I'll show you mine when it's done. Pretty eh?

Well, that all for now. Must get busy sewing before all the people get up and want me to talk or something, lol.

Later,

Updates on old stuff and a January BOM project

I finished up a hexagon quilt that I mentioned in an earlier post on my blog. It is now hanging on the wall in the living room. I really like this one.
I also started a monthly small block BOM from Ellie's Quiltplace. You can get the patterns here . They are going to be really cute. I finished the one for January today and hung it on the side of the refrigerator.

Veronica wanted to see a close up of the metallic rickrack I used on the NY mystery, so here's a picture.

Now to get my new January tea towel finished, then I can get started on the February hanging for the Quilter's Dozen. I am in quilting heaven!!!!

Later,
(Only 160 more working days til I retire!)

NY mystery quilt and an anniversary

It is most important that I mention that Dave and I celebrated out 36th wedding anniversary on Jan 3. We didn't do anything as we both had to work, but it was special just the same. I love that man!! I'm grateful every day that we were lucky enough to find each other all those years ago. Scary to think we only knew each other 17 days when we got married. And they said it wouldn't last, lol.

This year I was actually off on NY day and was able to take part in the
Planet Patchwork NY Mystery. The finished quilt is called "A Big Fan". I hate trying to pick fabrics for a blind project, but we were told to choose fabrics that looked either oriental or like water. I chose water. I also used some directional stripes, but I think it came out nice even though I didn't place all the stripes going in the same direction. The rick rack I used is metallic, but you can't tell that from the picture.

There are so many projects I want to do this year, many of them BOMs. I'll tell you about them as I go.

Later,