Hiatus Happenings Part 5....More Finishes

I love how my grandson's I Spy quilt turned out! The side and top edge pieces where done by winging it and experimentation and worked well. More fabric (full price...non sale price) was wasted than I would have liked, but I just couldn't abide with any upside down clouds.

You can't really see the backing fabric to full advantage in the photo...it was so darn cute. As I had mentioned in a previous post, the quilts headed North before I took any really detailed photos myself. Fortunately we had Quild Show & Tell before Thanksgiving and I was able to round up some some photos to document them.

My granddaughter sewed the quilt's  center from from charm squares during a visit and sewed on a couple more strips during a three week summer visit...then she was done with sewing. The pool had more allure. So I finished it.

Both the tops languished on my design wall for months until I found out in early October that my son's family was coming down for Thanksgiving. A couple of spools of King Tut were ordered and quilting commenced when it arrived. I burned through even more audio books.

These are left over bits of the faux flange bindings that put on the quilts. The blue star fabric was also used for the triangle star pieces on the I Spy quilt and I really love that fabric.  I went back to the quilt shop to see if they had any (full price fabric) left but only had a darker version left.

These two are the first quilts that I put labels on and was pleased with how they turned out. But alas ...no photos.

I need to make some labels for Lauren's quilts and add them on a future visit.

Hiatus Happenings Part 4.....2014 Finishes

I'm doing this post on my iPad and I don't have the ability (well,one of us doesn't have the ability) to rearrange the pictures. I inadvertently deleted the picture that I wanted first and now it's last...one of life's little disappointments.

Anyway, these three quilted items were for my DD's baby shower in March up in WI. I was really scrambling because the shower was a month earlier than I had anticipated....I burned through a lot of audio books finishing them.

After I got back home, I made the matching valance from my scraps from the project...fortunately I had plenty of the white background dot fabric and didn't have to make yet another trip to the quilt shop in Jasper and have lunch next door.

Lauren Patricia was born in May, on her great-grandmother's birthday and the day after her Mom's birthday. I made the long drive again to be there for the birth and hung the valance for her arrival home. During those drives I burned through quite a few more audio books...thank God for audio books!

I carried the zigzag theme to the back with fabric from Dahlonega.

Hiatus Happenings Part 3......301A

I had been taking my Juki TL 2010q along but it is such a heavy beast to be bring in and out of the RV. A friend in my guild got me started on eBay and this is my one and probably only purchase on eBay. There just seems to be too much of an opportunity for dishonesty in the bidding process. This machine was not a bid or make an offer buy and was less money than any of my losing bids or declined offers.

She's not pristine but she suits me just fine and sews a really nice stitch. I like winding bobbins on her much more than the Juki.

Sweetie has made several times for the RV....one is the wine rack. It rides right where you see it and doesn't budge as we go done the road.

Hiatus Happenings Part 2.5

Our go to spot for camping is Woodring COE campground on Carters Lake, which is only 26 miles from the house...probably less than 10 miles as the crow flies.

These are our two favorite sites.

This one is our number one choice of the two...it's just so private. Camping here is like having lake front property without the expense or maintenance and if we want a different lake view we just move on down the road.

It is handy to be so close to home for those times that we forget something. Every time we go there different groups of friends come out and spend the day. Two couples came over for Sweeties birthday this summer.

Hiatus Happenings Part 2

In May, we brought Mel (Jayco Melbourne 29D) home and then we hit the road! The above photo was taken at Oconee COE Campground on Lake Hartwell...we're heading back there this Spring.

Above, we are at Lake Powhattan a Cradle Of Forrest campground outside Asheville. This was the only site available when we booked and although it had the best view in the whole campground, it was a weed patch. This was the only time that we stayed at a COF campground....and maybe it's just this one, but it was run oddly. In most campgrounds, there's usually two host sites...here there were ten and it's a small campground....odd. We stayed in the full hook up loop (only time so far) and the most expensive, yet most poorly maintained loop....odd. Our loop was weedy (especially our site) and gravel was sparse in most sites (especially ours) and the only thing we saw the hosts doing was aimlessly ride in golf cart and walk the loop with a leaf blower cleaning the road (several times)....odd. If we were to camp in the Asheville area again, we would stay at the campground again, but in the primitive loop. The sites in that loop were more spacious and better maintained and this COF campground had the best shower houses that we've seen so far.

What we learned: we like camping by water.

The above photo was taken at Springfield COE on Lake Hartwell. You can't go wrong at a COE campground. We camped there again in the late fall.

Here we are at Twin Lakes COE campground on Lake Hartwell...we shared a double site with our friends that live up the road from us.

We left Twin Lakes and headed up to Devils Fork State Park on Lake Jocasee . The park was only OK, but Lake Jocasee is spectacular.

In the second half of 2014, we camping for 50 days and we have some big trips already booked for 2015.

Serendipity....My Word For 2015...and a Lambeau selfie

Unfortunately, I'm not in the picture. It's my son and DIL at Lambeau today and it's a balmy 28 degrees.

GO PACKERS!!!!!!!!

Now back our regularly scheduled program:

This is the first time since I've started blogging that I've participated in "My Word The Year". So I thought I would start big.

The word serendipity has been stuck in my head since the late 70’s from when I was doing a word puzzle type thing that was going around the office. There was a list of common phrases but in written in obscure or highfalutin verbiage and you had to figure out the common phrase. Now I have always tested really well in word comprehension (math not so much) and I did really well on the puzzle. One  of the puzzle phrases was neophytes serendipity or beginners luck.

I've learned over the years that serendipity has more meanings than just luck. One is the ability find good in a bad situation, like when you turn down the wrong street and end up finding a new restaraunt to try. That's how I discovered Jason's Deli...I was heading to Costco in Marrietta, Ga and I had been there plenty of time, but that particular day I ended up in a lane too far to the left and couldn't move right. So I was forced to take this huge loop before I could make my way back to Barrett Parkway...quiet a few stop lights past Costco. After I had turned back onto BPway, there was Jason's...I didn't pull in that day, but it is my lunch stop when shopping on BPway.

Serendipity can also mean the ability to see value in things that others may not...say you're still driving down that wrong turn and you see an old table at the curb, you put it in your vehicle, take it home and show it some love. It becomes a cherished possession.

Maybe this is why I love digging in a scrap bin so much...I see the value and I take them home and make a cherished possession ...like the snowman mini shown in my January 1st post.

In November, I had finished a placemat top out of bright batik scrap bin scraps and was going to FMQ it with a complementary bright thread but, I was in such a rush to get to the quilting after the design was pounced that I didn't change out the new spool of King Tutt Pinecone (brown) thread. I had only about four inches of the design stitched when I realized my error, but the stitch quality looked really good and the brown thread didn't look offensive, so I thought "What the heck, go for it". Well after it was finished, I just loved the look. There wasn't any brown in the fabric at all but it really worked and I will use that combo again.

So, you can see value in things cast off by others, take a wrong turn and discover something unexpected and believe that with a little luck things will turn out OK!

Hiatus Happenings Part 1

In my absence, I spent a good amount of time working on these two quilts...as a matter of fact the one on the left is done and gone. And of course, I didn't get good pictures before it headed North. I'll have to look thru guild Show & Tell pictures to post. The quilt top on the right is now also complete and in the quilting queue.

I was also pulling out blues from my stash and looking for blue fat quarters and eighths that were on sale. All the fabric was sprayed with sizing, pressed and run thru the Go Cutter. Neutrals were also pulled and shopped for and processed. Actually, I still have some more to run thru the Go and more to shop for. 3.5, 4.5, and 6.5 inch HST are being cut.

Hhhmmmm....once again I'm making a mental note to recover that ironing board! Trust me the HST's were strategically placed.

....and a Happy New Year and she's just too cute to not put in a post!!!

The last few days I've been down in the quilt shop making order...putting things back where they belong and reorganizing my fabric....conceding that I wasn't really going to make all those future projects that I had kitted in recycled plastic containers and putting the fabric back in the appropriate color container.

We had a really nice, low key New Years Eve. Our friends, Jim and Gail, came over and we had a roaring fire out side in the fireplace. We drank wine, the guys had cigars and we all talked and laughed.

Then we went inside for snacks and played German Pinochle until the ball dropped in Time Square (we were all so glad we weren't there).