Last one is a graduate!!

This weekend Mark and I flew to Texas to see my son Thomas graduate from HS. That's him with his GF Sarah in the picture above! It was a quick trip but we spent some time together at a movie on Saturday afternoon, at birthday dinner saturday night (Mark's birthday) and then the graduation on Sunday.

This was our second trip to Texas in the past month - about 4 weeks ago we were there for a 4 day weekend and did lots of stuff together! Thomas will be heading off to Southwestern University in Georgetown Texas in the fall. (Go Pirates!!)

Sharon's Quilt

I finally unloaded my camera of pictures so have the shots of my SILs quilt to post. The colors are not very true - too much sunlight on my terrace I guess so am posting the second picture which is a closeup of the fabrics and really shows the swirly inspiration fabric. Hope you like it! It is a queen size and the colors all match her new paint scheme of warm gold walls and lilac and sage accents, mid tone brown furniture and a pop of color with one magenta wall behind the bookcases! I popped the magenta on the binding of the quilt also to give it great definition when it is on the bed. I sent along a couple of pillowcases with a matching border to use with the quilt.

This week has been busy - more in my next post!

New picture coming soon!

I am anxiously awaiting a quilt to be returned from my long arm quilter in Ohio. Yes I know it's far from home, but this quilter is so worth it! Her pricing is not to be believed and I have never been disappointed in her work - she finds just the right panto to bring my quilts to life. The quilt I am waiting for is a belated birthday gift to my SIL Sharon in Seattle. I cheated and sent her a few clips of just some of the fabrics I used in the quilt and she is excited to receive it! There's a little surprise she does not know about it that I know will make her even happier!

Also on the quilting front, I have decided to publish a quilt pattern I created recently for a wedding quilt for a friend. It is unique that the quilt block and layout has a story behind it that makes it perfect for newlyweds, anniversaries or anyone in a relationship. More news to come on that front after I find the time to file my business name, get copyrights, etc. Not sure yet what my marketing approach will be but I think "start small and grow" is the best plan right now, after all I do have a real job too!!

We've been deluged with rain the past few weeks. Even when we flew to Dallas for a long weekend with Thomas the rain came with us and we had it 3 of the 4 days! So that one day we got out and did as much as we could, including visiting a quilt shop, going to the stockyard in Fort Worth and running the stockyard maze. Too much fun!! Hopefully the swine flu gets under control and we are able to get back to Texas for Thomas' HS graduation in just 3 more weeks!

Well - That's about all the news I have today. I moved a credenza into the quilting room and it is providing some much needed additional storage and a handy place to keep my racks of my spools of thread.

I am so inspired by the quilts I am seeing on line at at the HGTV.com bb that I am itching to spend some time in the studio and create! More news soon!

Stimulate the Economy Today!

I just read about the most incredible offer to stimulate our economy. One of my fellow quilters is offering an opportunity to get your quilts quilted for a special reduced price. Limited time offer, and full instructions are on her blog go here http://splittingstitches.blogspot.com/2009/03/update-on-stimulus-package.html

I read about this on another blog I follow - which is Bingo Bonnie's blog. She is a quilter from the HGTV quilt bbs. you can check it out here http://bingobonnie.blogspot.com/

Hoping I make the schedule I have a couple of quilts I would love to get done and am always interested in finding a new LA quilter!

Speaking of quilting, I finished the quilt for my SIL and it has been sent for quilting. I actually sent her clips of the fabrics so she could compare with her new wall colors and not an hour ago I got her email saying they are perfect!

Last night I started assembling my Flutterby blocks from a 2008 swap I was in on the hGTV bbs. My flutterby is very scrappy and full of bright colors. I don't know if it will stay at my house or go to live with my brother in Seattle, but I like it so far! Will post pictures when they are done done!!

No news is no news!!

Not much going on in the way of quilting lately. I have been struggling with the birthday quilt for my SIL. The colors are perfect, but the fabric was purchased over three years ago and now I find out I don't have enough to do what I want in the borders. I will have to improvise which means a lot of 'UN-sewing' but I am motivated to finish it and get it in the mail to her.

My brother sent us a lovely box of King salmon and Dungeness crab from the Pike Place Market fish market last weekend, I have really enjoyed it all week. The timing was perfect as we had a family birthday dinner last weekend, so I purchased a roasted garlic aioli marinade from our local grocer and marinated the salmon (filetted) for about an hour then wrapped in foil and roasted on the outdoor grill. Luckily it stopped raining long enough to cook! After it was almost done - I brought it in, sliced into servings then put on a baking sheet sprinkled with panko crumbs and slid it under the broiler to brown the crumbs. Scrumptious!! We used more of the marinade as a dipping sauce. As it was 7 1/4 pounds of salmon we had leftovers, and I have had it reheated, and cold over caesar salad this week and loved it each and every time. The dungeness I steamed briefly with a little Old Bay seasoning in the water and served with drawn butter for 'ripping and dipping' it was fun and different! Reminded me of fondue with everyone gathered around the pot!

Well - work is hectic as usual, I am still loving the new car - 3 weeks old tomorrow and I will have 1200 miles on it by then! It is good on gas, but it has a smaller tank than my van and I am not used to having to fill it up every week, but that's the only downside of the new car! I really wish I could plan a road trip somewhere!! More later - hugs - Toby

Is it STILL winter????

Just a quick post of the fall/winter quilt on my office wall - hopefully he will come down soon and Easter will go up!!

I am going to HE _ _ !!!

If the road to perdition is paved with good intentions then this blog is definitely proof of where I am going.

I find nothing more annoying than finding a really interesting blogspot and then finding it has not been updated in ages!! and here I am guilty of the same - though I hesitate to infer my blogspot is anything more than a place to share my life and loves with family and friends.

Life has been incredibly busy aka stressful lately. Work is a rush and home and community just doesn't let up. Mark and I kept thinking it would quiet down after the holidays but it's just not happening! We are already planning what Lions conventions we will be attending this year, (I think we're limiting it to one night at District and two days at State but commuting from home for a change)then we want to fly out to Texas to see Thomas run a track meet, then back out to DFW the end of May for his graduation, so right now we are in the deciding on college and how to pay for it phase, Stephen is in college and on track, but he needs a part-time job since he has a GF that likes to eat but doesn't cook, and then there's the Legion activities - Spring Brunch, barbecue at North Chicago, Bags Tourney, Fish Fries, Steak Fry at the VA, and Lion's meeting and events like Senior picnic, Casino Night, Rose Festival, Taste of Roselle, on and on....

I've been to Boston again this month for work, just two days, but it was on warm days, so I got to enjoy a brisk walk along the river one night and a great seafood dinner at Legal Seafood in Cambridge.

My old mini-van finally bit the dust this weekend, the transmission went just 2.5 years after having a rebuild put in and just two weeks after another pricey repair to the transmission that in retrospect was not the problem after all!! So I got a new car this weekend - straight off the dealers lot a 2009 Hyundai Sonata Limited. It is beautiful!! Hyundai put in some new fuel efficiencies so hopefully it will perform better than our 2003 Sonata on gas. The 2009 is ranked higher than the Camry and Accord across the board, maintenance, fuel, size and features. I am loving the satellite radio, getting to listen to music from the BBC, and the steering wheel controls are fun! I have to stop looking at the odometer though I drive at least 60 miles a day so the miles are going on quickly!

I have been sewing but not finishing anything! I'll have to get a quilt done for my SIL for her new color scheme for her birthday this weekend, and I have one waiting to be quilted for my brother's living room, and this weekend I located the black batting to finally finish the Celtic quilt for Stephen. I'll try to get pictures as I finish them!

I did sign up for the Annual Scraps to Treasures challenge (picture of last entry below) so I will be pulling fabric from stash for that challenge soon though the quilt is not 'due' until September.

Raffle tickets are on sale for the Crayola Quilts - there were so many quilts and ticket sales have been slow so the odds are good of winning! Tickets will be on sale until end of June, so let me know if you are interested I can send you the link to the whole gallery of quilts that will be raffled.

That's it for today! More soon!