Taking a break

This weekend we had our neighborhood yard sale. In spite of the rain, people came and did some buying. I made a whopping $25, which reminds why I keep saying I will not do this again. If I figure the per hour take on this, it is just not worth it! But the good news is I got rid of some things and while I was sitting I was looking through old quilting magazines and pulling out the maybe patterns. I had done this with some patterns already and filled a binder with ideas but changed my tactic for a while. I'm a little slow on the uptake but realized just marking the pages with a post-it was not a good idea. I'm about halfway through... After I finish I will have to categorize these.

Now, the picture at the top is what I'm taking a break from... I'm cleaning out the stash closet again! I pulled all these bins out and I have to shift some things on the shelves and try to organize things off the floor. You can see my serviced sewing machine on the floor. I didn't even take the plastic off the machine yet. And I must get to the binding on my quilt too. But I can't work in the very messy sewing room.

I was reading one of my favorite blogs and loved the story of the bottle tree. I don't have that in my garden but decided to share the whimsy I do have. You can read the blog at Between Naps on the Porch.
Check it out here.

Now it is back to the stash cleaning. I love being able to show that picture of the closet to others who can appreciate it. We all have that stash that we need to clean, right?

Pomp and Circumstance

I think that Pomp and Circumstance has to be in the Top Ten of special songs. Every time I hear it, I get a little choked up. Last night I attended the high school graduation of the daughter of friends. It was such an honor to be included in the invitation with the family.

Given that we have had oppressive heat, it was a pleasure to be in a college field house. Love that AC when it is hot. I think the location really added to the special nature of this event. Great to have the screens for those moments that are too far away to see.

It was fun to see the decorated caps. I understand that they are one of the few high schools that allows students to do that. I will say there were more girl's caps decorated than boy's. Hmm. I wonder why.

All the  speakers did a great job. Very interesting that the salutatorian compared the high school class to the characters in The Hangover while the valedictorian spoke in Applied Physics. At least, I think that is what it was! Quite clever comparisons on both counts. 

Here is the graduate with proud parents and equally proud sister. Mom Tami and I met when she came to student teach with me. Just want to compliment both of them on a job well done with both their daughters. 

And best wishes to Cassandra as she heads off to Bucknell!

Finished projects for some of us...

We had our monthly meeting of the Good Enough Quilters tonight. I, unfortunately, did not have any sewing or completed blocks to take with me. Luckily, some other people did. Over the past 12 months we have shared patterns and now should have enough for a quilt. You got it, I don't have my twelve finished yet. Laura has her top finished and Fran laid hers out on Cindy's floor to check it out.

Don't you love the colors in Laura's quilt? 

Laura did a great job with the filler blocks for hers. Now to sew them together.

Our loose deadline for finishing our quilts to share is September. Hopefully, I can meet that deadline. They usually do work for me. A few people had their other blocks finished so we had to admire those too. Fran took hers out of the layout on the floor. Lynn and Karen couldn't join us tonight but I'm sure they would have had their blocks finished. Cindy showed the one she made from our $5 block at Pennington. I haven't made mine yet but she said it was a bit tricky. Hmmmm. 

We had a few other finished to share. Cindy showed everyone the first quilt she made. This was the one we made in our quilt class. It is still amazing to see how different they look with different fabric. Love the bright colors in her quilt. Peggy shared a wall hanging she made for her mother. She was thrilled to have only bought a few fabrics. It turned out this was a real stash buster. Now she is not sure where her mother will hang it!

As a group we plan to make a quilt of bug jars for a local nature center. Dru showed us the sample she made using candy fabric. Everyone is going to check their stash to see if we can use stash fabric to put this together. Who knew I would be searching my stash for bugs!!

Just had to share one final fabric find with all of you. I found these "sewy" fabrics at Connecting Threads  . The line is called Bits and Bobbins and you can only find it on their site. So fun. The irony is I was ordering this fabric at the same time Linda from Stray Stitches was writing about it arriving in the mail. Great minds...

Since we don't meet again until the end of July, I'm hoping to have some sewing to share then. We are also looking forward to having a special visitor at that meeting. 

Have a great sewing week!

Two houses and a quilt shop

It was a very busy day today. Some of the docents from the Pearl Buck House were given a tour of two historic houses in Lower Bucks County. It was really interesting to see these houses that I had heard of but never visited.

We started at Andalusia which was the home of the Biddle Family and is so lovely. It is sitting on the Delaware River with Greek columns and a sweeping lawn down to the river. You can just imagine the ladies sitting on the porch or by the river sipping tea.

After we left Andalusia we headed a short distance north, again along the river, to Bristol and the Grundy Mansion. This was a beautiful home with amazing woodwork throughout the house. Again, they had a wonderful view of the river from many rooms of the house. There is also a public library next to the house which is built into the hill. Who wouldn't love to sit in the library reading and looking out at the river?

We finished our tour and since I was really close to Burlington, NJ I went across the bridge to The Olde City Quilt Shop. I had heard about this shop and hated to miss the chance to visit. It was lovely and the people who worked there were very helpful and friendly. Always nice to find in a quilt shop.  

I almost forgot, after taking a 3 hour lesson, you can rent time at the Longarm to quilt your own work instead of sending it out. 

You can find out more about them at Olde City Quilts

The shop seemed to specialize in reproduction fabrics and more traditional patterns, etc. This is not really my style but I still managed to find some yummy fabric to bring home anyway. My lighting isn't great but I hope you can appreciate the fabric anyway. 

Top fabric is for my green and brown quilt. Perfect contemporary fabric for the  wedding quilt
Bottom fabric has quilty words all over it. 

I love this toile teacup fabric. They told me that they also had teapots  but that was all gone. 

My real find. I thought that all the Make Life fabric was gone. I bought two yards and really had to resist buying more. I love fabric with words!

And finally, I think we can all relate to this fabric panel. If there is a fabric avalanche... Pure bliss to be buried in it!

Now, I wonder what tomorrow will bring. 

My "new" chair

Now, before my family and friends get too excited because they are thinking, "You don't need a new chair!", this is actually a refurbished chair I already had.

I bought this youth chair at a barn sale about 30 years ago. I kept it in my kitchen and would occasionally use it when a child was here for a meal. And then it would be put back in a corner. 

A few weeks ago, I found out that the art teacher at school painted furniture. I took it to her right away, asked for a rooster and Voila! I picked it up today and I love it! 

A closeup of the rooster. Isn't it pretty?!

Now, it can't go back in the corner and I have to find a better spot. Just wanted to enjoy the pictures tonight!!

After my post this morning about our beautiful weather, I was out for a while this afternoon and didn't mind it a bit. The weather is so nice. I'm even closing some windows now because it is too chilly.

Go figure!

A pretty picture

No, it is not a finished quilt. I will get to that. It is an open window after three days of breathtakingly hot weather. And not breathtaking in a good way. I know that other places have had horridly bad weather and not meaning to complain but it was dreadfully hot here the first part of the week. I was subbing for two days and came home totally drained. I salute all those teachers and children in un-air-conditioned buildings who are nevertheless continuing to work hard as the school year ends.

Anyway, I digress. I'm just posting this in thanks for the absolutely gorgeous day we are having. If I was  able to stay home it would be a lovely day to sew but I'm on my way to a retirement celebration. Maybe later. 

I hope your weather today is beautiful and you can enjoy some delightful fresh air in your house. 

Take care.

Nancy

It's finished! Well, almost...

I got the quilt back today from the quilters and it looks great! As always they did a wonderful job and now all I have to do is put on the binding. It is always amazing to see how different it looks once it is quilted. It just gives so much more depth to the quilt itself.

These presented a challenge since there was so much white but they underlined the word and stitched around the edges. 

The border will look different once this is washed and marks are gone. 

I just love the look and can't wait to finish and send it on its way!

As most of the east coast, it was very hot today. I was subbing in first grade and even had to go outside for recess duty. A sure indication of just how hot it is - most of the first graders were hanging out in the shade. It was almost funny to see them reacting to the heat this way.