What's Up Wednesday: Amelia Island

This morning I sure did miss my custom made omelette for breakfast.

Four mornings in a row I enjoyed a yummy lump blue crab and shrimp omelette.  

It wasn't until that last morning that I realized splitting the omelette with my son and partaking of more fresh fruit was the way to go.

The morning before Beryl hit we strolled through downtown Fernandina Beach.

I love visiting book stores, especially when they are locally owned.

Don't you love this No Parking sign?  Got to love the church's sense of humor!

Today will be spent unpacking, doing laundry, and paying bills, but maybe I can find some time with my sewing machine.  A girl can dream, right?

Be Careful What You Wish For

OK, so when I said I wouldn't mind a rain day or two over the long weekend, I didn't mean that as an invitation to Beryl to become a Tropical Storm when hurricane season hasn't even officially started!

My husband booked an ocean view villa on Amelia Island which meant we literally had front row seats to the storm.  You can't see the white caps of the waves from the pictures I took from our back patio, but trust me, they are there.  I wasn't crazy enough (or maybe I just didn't want to get wet) to walk down to the beach to take pictures.

It really wasn't that bad as storms go.  The power did go out for most of the night.  The condo didn't have any flashlights, so we all used our handy dandy flashlight apps on our cell phones!  I am happy that most of the gorgeous canopies of trees were spared from the storm.  

We still had a great weekend!  The weather was perfect the first two days for relaxing on the beach and by the pool.  We even had dinner with friends from home who also happened to be vacationing nearby.

I spent many hours reading, writing, drawing (if you can call it that) and stitching.  My daughter was happy to have at least one of her brothers to hang out with.  She sure gets lonely being "the only child".

One last thing.  Did you see this wedding video posted online?  I can't say for sure this Florida couple is the same one who was married on Amelia Island right before Tropical Storm Beryl hit, but it wouldn't surprise me!

Memorial Day

Remembering those who have served....

and those who serve...

THANK YOU!

Portable Projects

I'm away from my sewing machine this weekend but packed a couple of hand projects for the road.

Believe it or not, I made this solids block BEFORE my We Love Color book arrived.  I wanted to have something small to practice my slow stitching.  

I used a stack of solid charm squares that Michele had given me a long time ago to make this improv block.  

I  want to make another embroidery color wheel, this time for AAQI, so packed up those Cosmo threads and embroidery hoop.

In addition to my new quilt books, I also brought a book on Zentangles to try.  Coincidentally Michele just talked about that here if you want to know more about Zentangling.  

Lastly, Michelle and Michele are correct in that the Random Number Generator does not like them much.  Maybe the RNG has something against any spelling of the name Michelle/Michele;-) Just kidding.  Actually, my Random Number Generator AKA my daughter  loves both Michelle and Michele, but this time she picked #4 which is Cindy.  Michelle/Michele, hope you have better luck in the Sew Mama Sew giveaways this week....they have better stuff anyway ;-) 

Happy stitching!

Score

Today was a great mail day and just in time for the long weekend!


I'm so excited that two quilt books I ordered were shipped sooner than originally promised. These two books were all the buzz on Twitter and Instagram during Spring Market which made me want my books even more!


I only had time to snap a few quick photos of the books before packing them away for our weekend getaway, so I am anxious to delve into them. I know I will be inspired and start making lists of new projects to make....like I don't have enough of those already.


These other recent quilt book purchases and magazines are also packed in my beach bag. Honestly, I won't mind a rain day or two this weekend ;-)

Those volunteers at the Alzheimer's Art Quilt Initiative were speedy at shipping my new mini quilt acquisitions. Both of them arrived today in the same package.


I have to show you the backs of these two quilts. They are just as pretty as the front.


Look how the colorful stitching shows up on the back! That alone is cool, but then notice how perfect Susan's stitches are! How does she do that with all the thread color changes?!


I love how Kathryn was inspired by the backing fabric to design her Mod Flower. This backing fabric is so fun as are her stitches. I am thrilled to add these two art quilts to my collection!

Now that I have typed this post (did you notice that this makes four in a row for me this week? It's been a while since that has happened.), I think I'll pull out one of my new quilt books!

Happy stitching......and reading!

- Posted using BlogPress from Rene's iPad

What's Up Wednesday: Priorities

Two more Priority: Alzheimer's Quilts I am happy to register on behalf of fellow OrlandoMQG members:

Maya and Alejandrina made these two mini quilts for the Alzheimer's Art Quilt Initiative, and they will soon be added to our guild's challenge page.  Three OMQG challenge quilts have sold already, but there are quite a few left waiting for good homes, so go shopping!

Mod Flower made by Kathryn

I did some shopping myself on the AAQI website for the May Quilt-a-Month club.  I fell in love with this quilt during the registration process made by Kathryn.

Come On Get Happy by Susan McConnell

Then I did more shopping when I realized my blogging friend Susan had a quilt on the For Sale page.  I have been trying to purchase one of hers for over a year now.  What makes purchasing this quilt especially cool is that I found out from Susan she has now reached her $1,000 Promise for raising funds for Alzheimer's research!!!!!!!  WooHoo!!!!

So go shopping (for Priority: Alzheimer's Quilts)!  You will definitely help find a cure for Alzheimer's, but who knows.....

You could also help someone keep their {$1,000} Promise!!!!!

Your Name Here

Our guild has a basket that is raffled off each month.  The winner brings the basket back the next month filled with unwanted and/or excess sewing supplies.  Ticket sales go to our teachers fund.

This month I won the basket and was happy for the opportunity to declutter my sewing lab.  After putting aside a few items for the guild basket, I realized I had more decluttering to do....enough for more than a few baskets if you know what I mean ;-)

So I filled this Priority Mail flat rate box with quilting  books and a quilt kit and will send it to an interested reader (has to be in the United States since it is a USPS box).  If more than one person is interested, I will randomly choose from the comments left on this post.

There are six quilt books and a quilt kit with the Pazzo pattern and fabric including binding.  I'm not sure if the backing fabric is included in the kit or not, but the LQS (now out of business sadly) did a good job of labeling certain fabrics so you know what is what.

 I'm thinking this decluttering giveaway is a brilliant idea to make room for more fabric!

Look for more of these to come ;-)

Happy stitching!

Hiatus

This past weekend marked the end of my self imposed hiatus from sewing, blogging and visiting Blogger, Pinterest and Flickr.


Saturday was our guild's Sew Day, and it was great to hang out with like minded folks and feed off their enthusiasm and inspiration.


Heather, our out of state member, discussed color theory as it pertains to quilt making. I have been waiting years for her presentation, and it was worth the wait ;-) Thanks Heather! It was great seeing you. We sure do miss you!


If you have attended Sew Day with me, you will know that I don't get much sewing done as I prefer to catch up with my friends and see what projects they are working on. However, I did get some sewing done once I went home.


I pieced July's Block of the Month, finished another 36-patch block and added two more sections to my Peace, Love and Happiness quilt top.

Now that I have done some sewing and a blog post, next up is to see what all of you have been up to! Happy Stitching!

- Posted using BlogPress from Rene's iPad