Friday I went with friends to Rochester for the Minnesota Quilters show.  The eye candy was fabulous, and of course, even though I couldn’t think of a single thing I needed to shop for, I still managed to go home with a bag of hand-dyeds.  I have only used them once before, so this is something pretty new to my stash.  And I think there were four different vendors tempting us with such a depth of color and texture, it was impossible to resist!  (No, my mermaid didn’t win anything, but it was fun to see her hanging out at the show!  And I think she had a good time too.)

I ordered some Moda charm packs from Hancocks of Paducah a while back.  These are the Posh line.  I thought they were so pretty, and I ordered four packs, so I started sewing them together randomly with a dark yellow-green sashing.  The border will be all the dark green with maybe some feathered quilting in yellow or gold or … who knows?  Maybe a variegated.

I also completed Kate’s chicken block for our box exchange on Wednesday.  The block turned out really cute, but can’t share it yet.  I think Kate stops by once in a while!

–Sue

It will be our 37th anniversary this week.  This is my favorite photo of all our wedding pictures.  My Uncle Dwight was our photographer, and he really captured the moment in this picture.  Is Jim handsome, or what???  And don’t you love the glasses?  And THEY’RE BACK!  I could probably go and buy the same glasses now.  I made my dress and veil, and my bridesmaids made their dresses also.  We all sewed back then mostly out of necessity; now we’re all sewing for fun!

(A note to those looking for Judy Laquidara’s last Quilt for an Hour quilt, her link is “Judy L — Patchwork Times”, to the right.  You can see my rendition of her quilt by clicking on my Quilt for an Hour blog entries (lower right).  Judy does remove her directions shortly after the QFAH is completed, so watch for her next challenge!  Glad to have you visit.  Stop by any time!)

Retirement is wonderful — it totally changes your view of Mondays.  This week is a pretty open slate for me, which is a treat.  I have two customer quilts I want to get done this week (maybe three, if I’m ambitious).  The only things on the calendar are fun things.  Tonight is our once-a-month guild meeting.  It’s our summer party (with a cowgirl theme), so we’ll be having a potluck dinner.  Fortunately I have a pair of boots to wear, and of course jeans, and — yee-haw! 

It’s been nine years since my dad passed away, and I still think of him every day.  So Father’s Day was a little nostalgic.  It still feels like he’s here, and I could call him up and…then I remember I can’t.  I don’t think that will ever change.  So I’m drinking an extra cup of coffee to you, Dad.  (He was Norwegian, and LOVED his coffee!  Me too.)  And a tip of the mug to any of you who are missing your dad, especially this time of year.

We are being re-roofed today.  Our entire townhouse development had hail damage to our roofs last fall, so a huge roofing crew is here.  They do the tear-off and re-roofing in one day. four twin-homes at a time!  We woke up before 7:00 to the pitter-patter of workmen’s little feet.  It’s very noisy, and this is before there’s any nailing going on.  A good day to sew!

And speaking of sewing, I’m working on the first quilt I’ve taken in from a gentleman.  He does wonderful work.  He’s in our guild, so I’ve seen a number of his quilts, and they are distinctive from what we women tend to do.  His patterns and colors are more bold, and he will do colors I wouldn’t think to do (he did one memorable quilt totally in shades of green), but his quilts ALWAYS draw oohs and aahs.  This one is very scrappy black, white, and some red.  I’ll post a picture if/when I get his permission tonight.  So I’m heading downstairs, I’ll put on my wireless headphones (a MUST if you’re a longarmer), and get to work.  I won’t hear the roofers at all!  Enjoy this fabulous day.  Even if you’re at work.

–Sue

Minnesota Quilter’s organization has a big show the end of June.  Every year they sell a challenge package — several pieces of coordinated fabric (something I would NEVER buy normally), along with size limitations (no bigger than 160″ around) and a theme.  So last year I bought the packet for about $15.  All year to work on it.  Well, it turned out to be all year to think about it, a week to get it done (just like high school).  I won’t share the picture yet, as the deadline for turning in our finished projects is Friday 6/20.  So after that date I will post a photo.

The theme for this year is Quilted Jewels.  Besides the three pieces of fabric (a 60s-looking daisy print on black background, a black with silver crinkles, and a light turquoise with silver coin dots), we were given a little bag of beads.  We’re required to use recognizable amounts of the fabrics and at least half the beads.  We can also add other fabrics and embellishments, if desired.

I am NOT a beader, NOT a fan of silver coatings on fabrics, and NOT real crazy about the daisy print either.  Wonder of wonders, I love my little quilt!  I will finish it tomorrow, more than a week ahead of the drop-dead due date.  Another wonder!  It always amazes me that, when we’re forced out of our comfort zone, we can dig down deep and surprise ourselves.  Oh, and I didn’t even mention that it’s — I can hardly say it — applique’!!!

–Sue

This week I quilted Julie G’s sock monkey quilt.  It’s her first big quilt, and she did a great job on it.  I quilted the Popcorn pantograph design on it, but stopped short of the sock monkey.  He seemed to need some special treatment, so I quilted around him.  (The quilt is cut off in the photo at the top — the rows below the monkey are repeated above the monkey.)

May was the first month in 2008 for our Wednesday stitching group (Daystitchers) to resume our box exchange (we had to wait for all the Snowbirds to return from the south!).  I posted photos in my photo album of our first month’s efforts.  It’s always fun to see what everyone did and how they interpreted the theme and the fabric into a block.  Note:  The person holding the block is the person who MADE the block, not the owner of the box.

Three years ago Mother’s Day, my husband said that he would like to buy me flowers for the occasion.  I love flowers, enjoy seeing them in a vase, but it seemed like such a guilty pleasure, considering the cost, for the week of enjoyment.  So, being a practical girl, I said I would rather have a plant.  Even if I killed the darn thing, it would cost half as much and last four times as long.  Off we went to Bachman’s and picked out a gorgeous hibiscus plant with orange flowers the color and intensity of orange Kool-Aid. 

Since my husband, Jim, takes care of the (very few) plants in our house, the hibiscus has done quite well.  Every now and then, it surprises us with one, two, or three monstrous blooms.  They each only last about a day, but what a sight.  We had one bloom yesterday, and two more today.  Seven inches across, and they are just beautiful.  Here’s a close-up shot of just the center.  It makes me feel like it’s Mother’s Day all over again.

Here in Minnesota we had a gorgeous Sunday today, both in the weather department and being a great day to get some things DONE.  Somehow, it’s much easier to start jobs than it is to finish them. 

A while back, eldest son Dave in Virginia mentioned that he thought I should be blogging about baking oatmeal-raisin cookies for him rather than all this blogging about quilting.  In spite of it being a shameless attempt to get something homemade sent his way (he mentioned having to cry his cookie-less self to sleep at night, pretending he had a mother who baked for him…), I did bake some oatmeal-raisin cookies today.  They will go in the mail tomorrow.  Well, what’s left of them.  Dave, you should know it’s dangerous to request Dad’s favorite cookie!  Two dozen, all boxed up:

In addition, I got some laundry done, read the paper, did most of the crossword puzzle (either it was hard or I was dumber than usual), got the binding for a quilt ready, and got a package ready to send to sister-in-law Marilyn as she recovers from shoulder surgery (ow).  And having a yummy roast-chicken dinner with mashed potatoes and tomato/Vidalia onion/fresh mozzarella salad was just right.  What a good day! 

P.S.:  Tony & Rob, this is a test to see if you read my blog — a new requirement to get cookies sent to you!