Outer Banks Vacation

 A few months ago we planned a short trip to the Outer Banks.  We are staying in the First Colony Inn, a historic inn in Nags Head.  The weather is perfect, the crowds are thin, and we are seeing a few sights. 

After checking in, we drove across to the beach access. Made a few selfies as the sun was going down.

We went to a water front restaurant and walked out on the dock to wait on our table. A stranger was kind enough to snap a picture of us.

The sunset was gorgeous.

Today we went to the Wright Brothers memorial and museum. That was interesting. The stone is the marker of the take off point of the four short flights the brothers did in December 1903.

This was the back side of the massive marker on Kill Devil Hill where the brothers did lots of practicing with their kite/plane designs. In 2003 there were over 120,000 people here to celebrate 100 years of flight.

This is the front side of the marker that shows the long walk to it.

A replica of the plane. I think this was sculpted from copper.

A life size replica of the actual plan used.

Then back for a little beach walk, for me, and nap for Jim. 

After cleaning up, and a snack at the reception area of our Inn, we rode down towards Hatteras, and caught some sights and another beautiful sunset.

Scrap Showcase

 I've had a stack of Kaffe Fassett scraps leftover from my two Little Miss Sawtooth quilts I made a few months ago, and they have been calling me to make a new scrap quilt.  I found this pattern from Marti Mitchell that I've always liked and decided to try it.

I think if I'd read carefully and seen that the pattern used Y-seams and templates I probably would not have bought it.  But....I am glad I did.  I was able to figure out rotary cutting for all the pieces but one. I made a cardboard template for it.  The Y-seams are not as difficult as they were on the ring cycles quilt I made last year.

Mine won't look a lot like hers because I chose to do all lights and colors, and no mediums as she did on the big squares and stars.  I hope it turns out pretty, and I think it will.  Hopefully when sewn the circular shape will be more apparent.

I had a wonderful day of sewing, exercising and cleaning.  I managed to get most of the pieces cut so I could eliminate some of the fabric mess.  The star blocks are all cut and ready to sew, the others not quite. I ended up cutting all the triangles rather than using HST, because of all the 'half'.

This one is challenging, for sure, and my points are not all lining up exactly but.....it will be fine when finished, and I think will be one of my prettiest.

So yay!  for challenges.

Quilts, cabinets and other musings - the end of summer 2021

 I almost forgot to post my finished cabinet with the quilts.  It was a good project although a very hot one to do in a garage a 92 degrees.  I need to remember wood refinishing is best done in a season other than summer.

I tried bleaching the wood first but it didn't bleach well.  Later I read that cherry doesn't bleach well.  I ended up using tongue oil product on the sanded finish. It brought out the natural variations of the wood. I used it before when refinishing the twin beds and have always been pleased with the final look.

Very happy with the final product. Finishing wood is always a rough job but always worth it.

I've been patiently waiting to get a tablet computer connected to my Gammill long arm machine.  We've had one difficulty after another.  Hopefully by next weekend I'll be sewing on it.  Today's issue was the cable connected through the handlebars wasn't working properly.  First the tablet was bad.  Oh well, just gotta "roll with it" as my granddaughter says. I'm sure we will get it all working fine before long.  In the meantime, I am continuing to sew, so now have six, yes SIX, quilts ready to quilt.

I made two of the Songbook fabric line quilts.  Love these so much.  One for us, and one for a gift.

Then I made this patriotic quilt, designed by Erica Arndt. She has these truck patterns for every season.

I designed and made two baby quilts.  One in pinks and one with these teal and green fabrics.  I love the design but haven't heard from the magazines in several weeks so I don't think they are going to choose it for the issue. It is easy and cute so if they don't choose it I'll be posting it as a free pattern.

Then just this week I finished the Grace quilt from Thimbleblossoms.  I purchased the kit last spring.

In other news, this handsome, sweet, precious little boy turned five!!  He is the absolute best. He has this Mamaw (and Papaw) wrapped around his little finger.  How does that happen??  That little smiling face just melts my heart.  He is always smiling.

His momma made the cutest birthday cake, complete with diggers and tractors.  It was so great for ALL the family to get together to celebrate this boy.  When I say all, I mean, my ex-husband, his wife and his three sisters (and two husbands) all came to our house.  Something I've prayed would happen -- all of us could be together, forgiving the past, to celebrate our joint grandchildren. We all get along great. Such a blessing.

              

               His great aunt made this great chocolate piñata that he got to bust with a little hammer.

The only rock painting I've done lately is this one for my retiring Ob/GYN.  This doctor is the best and I will miss my annual visits.  I've been seeing him for over 30 years. He is kind and wonderful, and dealt with my uterine cancer a few years ago with such compassion and patience.

So there you have it -- an end of summer update!

New Wood Project

I've been looking for a cabinet to use for small quilt storage.  Watched facebook marketplace for several months hoping to find a glass front cabinet the right size.  Finally found it and it is the perfect size. It had been used for a bookcase in its former home.

I thought I'd like to try to remove the stain and bleach the wood.

The wood is cherry  After putting three coats of bleach on it, I learned that cherry doesn't bleach well. It definitely was lighter, but I think most of that is due to removing the stain and sanding. It didn't turn the color of bleached oak I was hoping for.

That little hand sander is the best!  I like this tool better than power sanders, chemical strippers, or sanding blocks.  I know why wood workers love wood....after I got the stain removed and used the 320 grit...if felt so smooth, like butter.  :)

My plan now is to put an oil based sealer on that just enhances the natural wood.  I think it will still be pretty and not so orangey as it was in the beginning. I plan to paint the inside white.  It has two shelves.  The next time you see it, it will be filled with quilts.
 

Summer time

 Just capturing memories over here......

Remembrance Quilts and Painted Rocks

 I made this Remembrance Quilt recently for a sweet widow.  Her husband passed away late in 2019 of pneumonia.  He was 84, they had been married for 62 years.  He had such nice shirts!  She said he was the oldest of 12 children and really liked to have nice clothes.  She was pleased with the quilt, and shed a few tears, which I did too.  I hope it is a blessing to her when she misses him -- to wrap herself up in it and remember the good times.

I haven't painted in quite a while so after the Remembrance quilt I decided to spend a little time with this hobby.  I did another 3D apple.  I love doing these!  So fun.  I watched a youtube video over and over to try to get it right.  I gave this to a school teacher friend who was so excited to get it.  Makes me happy.

I attached my label which is what I do for the rocks I hide in our community for our Rock group.

Amazing, aren't they?

I also tried my hand at a June Bug.

I've noticed a lot of these flying around the pool where I've been taking the grandkids to swim.  I remember them as a kid. I was afraid of them but had neighborhood friends that would tie a string on them.  Poor June Bug :(

I got a few blue rocks with red hearts for a world wide painted rock drop next weekend.  The effort is to bring smiles to people around the world who will find and pick up these rocks. Its called "Paint a rock, hide a rock" day, and people are encouraged to post their finds on facebook.  The blue represents the world and the red heart the smiles in making someone's day brighter.

I wanted to duplicate a painted rock I found online.  Mine isn't nearly as good as the original by Martha Winenger (credit) but I like to try. Those little raccoons are harder to paint than they look.

...and I got in a little canning. I made some caramel apple jam. Tastes a lot like apple butter, in fact may be mostly the same recipe, except bits of the apples are still in tact in this jam.

The year is half over!

 How can that be?  2021 half over!  It's true. We are all enjoying the summer. The fourth of July was no exception.  Kids came over for some fireworks.

And they had some fun down at Grumps and Gigi's too.

This year was their first July 4th holiday fun as they were in the United Kingdom (Scotland/England) the past six years. They thoroughly enjoyed blowing stuff up!

I finished the second Little Miss Sawtooth quilt in blues and did a change out of the quilts on the beds.

Still my favorite room...

Jim "posing" with the new quilt.

Love this room too!

Put the colorful Jagged X on the love seat.  We are still awaiting the arrival of our couch we ordered five months ago!

My porch seemed a little bare this year. I loaned my patriotic quilts to our church for a display.

The display was amazing.

Uniforms from many arms of service and wars. Notebooks detailing top gunners missions, army rations, many photos and stories.  Amazing what the 'finest generation' did for our freedom.