Did someone say BERMUDA??

I should be up front with everyone here in my office today - I am not going to be able to focus!  This is my last day in the office before a week's vacation in BERMUDA with the family!  I've never been - does anyone who has been to Bermuda have advice or "can't miss" recommendations for us?

In addition to exploring (by bicycle?  Is it one of those places where we can all rent bikes and get along just fine for the week?  I hope so!), I will be relaxing with some new quilt fiction that I ordered just in time for this trip,

and with some hand quilting.  I was hoping to have my String Star Bee quilt completely assembled and ready to quilt for this trip, but so far, I only have 2 rows together.  Last night I sandwiched my Orange Creamsicle quilt

Remember this one, made from vintage linens?

with a vintage sheet backing.  It is relatively small, lap sized, so will be a good one to work on while traveling.

Last night, I also finished the quilting on my little pink and green doll/baby quilt.  I'll definitely do the big stitch with embroidery floss quilting again - it was fun and quick.  The binding is sewn onto the front, and now I just need to hand stitch it down on the back and it'll be completely done.  I'll post a full picture when that is done, but here is what I did with the big white spaces on all four sides of the quilt

No flash so that there wouldn't be a glare and you could actually see the quilting.

and for the little white triangles in the borders, lots and lots of french knots.

OK, taking decent photos of quilts is HARD!

Even though I haven't washed it yet, it already has that crinkly look that I love!

I wish this were bigger to I could use it myself!

So, I'm not sure what my internet connectivity will be while I'm abroad - you may not hear from me a while.  But rest assured, I'll be doing JUST FINE!

Nothing ventured, nothing gained!

Last week, a little Farm Store opened up between Lexington (where I work) and Buena Vista (the next town over).

The Farm Store, Rte 60 and Bares Wood Road between Lexington and Buena Vista, VA

It is a cute little place!

I stopped by to check it out because I love eating local foods when possible, and the Farmer's Markets here on Wednesday and Saturday mornings just aren't convenient for me.  I was delighted to see when I arrived that they also sell local CRAFTS! 

The wheels in my little ole brain started turning and I thought, "hey, maybe I can put some of MY stuff here..."  I'm pretty shy about this kind of thing, but as I was checking out with my fresh veggies, I took a deep breath, closed my eyes, and asked how one becomes a vendor.  I'm so glad I asked!  She gave me an application, I completed it over the weekend and printed out some pages from my ETSY store so she could see my stuff, and took it by to her yesterday.  She approved me on the spot (YAY!) so I went by at lunch today to set up my spot.

My little spot, right under the window! (and beside the potatoes - hee, hee, hee!)

Crayon rolls (making these is like eating potato chips for me - can't make just one!), Scrabble tile earrings, upcycled denim bookmarks and business cards



Half aprons made from upcycled pillowcases and table scarves. I need to go back and take a photo of the orange apron with embroidery - it is one of my all-time favorites!

I didn't take much, just the stuff I've made lately that isn't in my ETSY shop - 3 aprons, 7 crayon rolls, 7 pairs of Scrabble tile earrings, a mini quilt and some bookmarks.  And business cards, of course.  I am so excited, and hope that someone who wanders in there likes my stuff, but even if I never make a sale, I am so proud of myself for getting over my fear of putting my creations out there (and possibly being critiqued or poorly received).  As the old adage goes, nothing ventured, nothing gained!

Way ahead!

My fabric for the August Bee Block arrived early, so here it is still July, and I've already gotten my August block done - awesome!

I'm not the only one way ahead these days. My kids swam in their championship swim meet today. Donald came in first in the backstroke for his age group, finishing a full 10 seconds before any of the other kids! He was cool about it, but I'm so happy for him I could pop!

Jason said it best on his back:

Tomorrow is my husband's birthday.  I'm not sure what he wants to do with the day, but I hope there is time for some porch sitting and some quilting.  I wish summer could last forever - it is my absolute favorite time of year!

Cognitive fatigue?

My brain hurts.  I have been scrappy and wonky for so long that this month's bee block really strained my brain.  The block is beautiful, but I was really stressed out about putting all those HST in the right place.  The construction isn't challenging, per se, but you do have to pay attention.  Isn't this the SWOON block?  There was a time when I thought I'd like to make one.  Well, I can cross that off my list.  Making a whole quilt of these blocks would send me off the deep end.  How smart of her to make this her Bee Block - have everyone else make the blocks for you.  Genius!

My quilt is home from the fair.  Now I can finish up the quilting and just admire it.  I wish it were just a tad bit bigger so I could have it on my bed.  It is 77" square (well, kinda square), and it covers the top of my queen sized bed, but if either I or my husband were to roll over, the other one would be left out in the cold.  

Oh well. I have a scrappy green and cream quilt I've been working on for years that is probably big enough to cover my bed. I must finish it - I can't go through another winter without a quilt on my bed - it just isn't RIGHT!  Of course, I've said that before. This post from 2009 references the fact that I started quilting this quilt for myself years before and hadn't finished yet, and that was three years ago!

I hosted a quilting bee at my house back in 2004 or 2005 - that's how long ago I started this quilt.  Time to finish it, wouldn't you say?

Surprise!

I promised my kids that we'd go to the county fair last night, but this has been the "Summer of the Storms" here in southwestern Virginia, and last night was no exception.  Heavy rain, thunder and lightning meant that the midway rides were closed down.  We went anyway to see everything else going on.  We started with the quilt show (of course!).  As I walked up to my quilt, I was hoping against hope for a green ribbon, Honorable Mention.   I've gotten 2 of those in the past, for this baby quilt

Honorable Mention - hand quilted, 2010 Rockbridge County Fair Quilt Show

and for this mini quilt,

Honorable Mention, Miniature (although also hand quilted), 2008? or 2007? Rockbridge County Fair Quilt Show

and well, heck, it just feels nice to be recognized, doesn't it?  But I knew it was unlikely.  After all, my quilt wasn't even DONE, for heaven's sake.  So when I didn't see the green hanging there, I admit to feeling just a bit crestfallen. 

Until I got a little closer and saw the RED RIBBON!!!! 

Are you kidding me?  Second place!?!  I am just over the MOON!!!  To say I was surprised doesn't even do my feelings justice.  I must have let out a shriek or something, because all of a sudden, other people at the quilt show were peeking around the other quilts at me to see what was going on.

After that, I didn't care that I got wet and dirty wandering the fairgrounds with the boys.  We got our dinner, followed up, of course, with yummy funnel cake.  We watched them show some cattle, and then checked out the rest of the animals on our own, petting all of them at least twice, I think.  The cutest thing, though, was this kid, born right there at the fair just hours before.  Isn't he/she just adorable!

Before we got back home, my husband called to let us know that a tree had fallen across our road during the storm, and that we'd have to park the car, climb the fence into our neighbor's pasture, and hoof it back up the last STEEP hill to our house.

To my kids, this sounded like a fun adventure, so they were pretty disappointed when we got home and my AMAZING NEIGHBORS had already cleared the road.

Who says life in the country is slow and boring and predictable?  NOT ME!

Board meeting vs. BORED meeting

I have a Board Meeting once a month for our non-profit community-owned drive-in movies here in town, and I usually have to bring my kids along with me.  They call them BORED meetings, and I can understand why - what 7 year old wants to spend 2 hours discussing the price of buttered popcorn or staffing issues or fundraising ideas?  (although, Jason did suggest one time that we use kids as carhops so people can order from their cars, and we are actually considering it for next season!)

Our meeting space is actually right next door to the (indoors) movie theater in town, so last night, I let them go see The Amazing Spiderman (again!) while I went to my meeting next door.  Boy were they excited, not just to miss the BORED meeting, but also to go to the movies alone! (turns out, one of the city cops that we know was seated behind them, so when they came out of the theater, he let me know that they were perfectly behaved - I couldn't have planned it any better if I had tried!)

I brought my little pink and green scrap quilt to work on at the meeting.  I know some people think it is wrong to sew or knit at a meeting, but truly, it helps me to stay focused on what is going on at the meeting rather than daydream about what else I'd rather be doing.  And I participate MUCH MORE than some Board Members who sit there silently (with nothing in their hands) throughout the entire meeting, so they can't claim I'm not paying attention.

Anyway, I'm really liking this big stitch quilting.  I will definitely give this a try on some other quilts. 

I have some wide open white space, and wasn't sure how to fill that. I was thinking, since it is embroidery floss, perhaps I could try some french knots. LOVE IT!

Hmmm, that one on the bottom right is crooked...I wonder how much that is going to bother me.  Enough to take it out and do it again?  Unlikely!

Superpowers!

With both Spiderman and Batman movies out this summer, I'm not surprised that the boys have resurrected their superhero action figures and are saving the world in the backseat every time we get in the car.  Even adults are in on the act, re-igniting that age-old question, "If you could have any superpower in the world, what would it be?" (what would YOURS be, by the way?)

Have you seen this Amy Bradley applique pattern for SUPERQUILTER?  Following the whole "superhero" theme, someone made one of these and entered it in the fair this year!

I want to say, "the ability to heal others with just a touch," but guys, at my core, I am just more selfish than that.  When asked that very question this past weekend, I responded, "to be able to stop time for everyone except for me.  While everyone else is in suspended animation, I could catch up on my sleep without missing anything important or exciting, finish up projects on time, and come up with witty responses to snarky comments that are made to me - you know, the ones where you wake up in the middle of the night and say, 'Man, I should have said THAT!'."

(sigh) Mother Theresa, I am not.  But I was feeling a lot of self-imposed pressure this weekend.  My Pick and Choose quilt had to be turned in to the fair by Monday at noon if it was to hang in the quilt show.  I've had a quilt in the fair every year for the last 8 years, and I wasn't about to miss this one.  It shouldn't have been a problem, I was close to being done, and had all weekend to work on it.  But then, at the last minute, the boys and I were invited to a karate leadership overnight retreat, complete with ropes course participation, and I couldn't NOT let my kids (and myself) participate just because I'm a procrastinator.  So we went, and I worked on the quilt during the 10 minutes of free time after meals and surreptitiously with my Bean N Read light in the cabin after lights out. (GREAT purchase, by the way.  I even quilted at the drive-in last weekend!)  Then, on Sunday night, I pulled an all-nighter trying to get it done, taking one 2-hour nap, and then a 15 minute nap every hour on the hour from 4 AM on. 

I got SO CLOSE to being done, but not quite.  Another hour and a half would have been enough time, but as it turns out, we came home from our retreat to find that one of our hens, Peck, had died, and I had a very sad little boy to console and a chicken funeral to facilitate. (side note: I live in Rockbridge County.  After digging a grave for Peck, I'll say our county is aptly named - there are rocks EVERYWHERE!)  All that took about 2 hours, but I'd rather have a not-quite-done quilt and a kid who had someone to help him deal with his grief over the passing of his favorite hen, than a completed quilt and a bereft boy.

So, I turned in the not-quite-done quilt.  One block, which is actually at about eye level now that the quilt is hanging, is not as quilted as the other 24 blocks, and the 4 corners of the quilt have no quilting in them at all.  The judge will not like it, but let's be honest, I wasn't going to be winning any awards anyway - we have some uber-talented hand quilters in this area, and I just can't compete.  The whole point of entering a quilt is to 1) make sure I finish at least one quilt a year and 2) promote quilting and our guild throughout the area.  So I think I'll post a challenge on Facebook for my local friends - visit my quilt at the quilt show at the fair, pick out which block is not quite done, and I'll give a handmade little something to everyone who gets it right.  There is more to the county fair than the animals and the music and the midway, after all!

Now that my quilt is entered, did I take a break from quilting?  Heck no!  I had an hour at home yesterday between work and the boys' swim meet, so I sandwiched a little doll/baby quilt that I made 7  years ago from left over strips and bonus triangles from a quilt I made for a friend.

I've been wanting to try my hand at BIG STITCH quilting with embroidery floss.  So there I was at the pool for the second week in a row, QUILTING in the 90+ degree heat.  (yup, I'm that crazy quilt lady in town for sure now!)

I think it is harder to keep the stitch sizes even when they are so big, but so far, I am liking this method of quilting, and am already thinking of other quilts I'd like to do it in. 

Do you have photos online of quilts you have quilted using the BIG STITCH method and embroidery floss?  If so, I'd love it if you'd post a link in a comment so I can see and get ideas.

And once I get to spend some daylight hours at home again (not this week - I can't believe how busy we are this week!), I want to finish up blocks for my Let's Bee Together quilt.  I received blocks from 3 more participants recently, and I LOVE how the quilt is coming along!