I'm Baaaaaaaack!

Wow!! What a refreshing trip it was! Sooooooooo nice to get away from the snow and cold of a Utah mountain winter and bask in the warm and sunny temperatures (mid sixties to mid seventies) of Southern Arizona. We stayed in a mobile home owned by Bruce's brother Dennis (who owns the Tubac Trailer Tether) in Tubac, AZ. He keeps the mobile home for visiting family members, so we have all the amenities.

Every year, Tubac hosts their annual Festival of the Arts, and this was the 50th anniversary. We arrived several days before and stayed several days after the Festival, which itself lasted about 5 days. So much good stuff to see! Over the next several posts, I'm going to include pictures of our trip and adventures. And I'll share pictures of some of the goodies I snagged, too, LOL!! But first - when I got home, I had a wonderful surprise. My peacock block finally returned from the Peacock Round Robin I participated in last year on the Yahoo group Crazy Quilting International. The last person in the rotation was a bit slow, plus had some personal issues, so the delay was inevitable. But, it was definitely worth the wait.

This was the naked block I pieced and sent out. You can see how it just "blossomed"!! The work was done by Susan M., Cheryl, Wendy and Andrea.

I'll make it into a small wall hanging to go into my peacock bathroom (the main guest bathroom). It's already decorated in deep purple, teal and other assorted peacock-y colors, but I thought that I'd switch the dark palette to a lighter one (medium to light purples, lighter greens, blues and teals) during the spring and summer. I already have towels in both dark and light colorways, so all I have to do is switch out my "winter peacock" wallhanging! :-)

The work in this one was done by myself, Pearle Gray Mintz, Dorothy Matheson, Debbie Coon, Barb Babb, Jakkie Lease, Jennie Adcock, and Candji Buckohr.

And finally, my dear FurSon BOOMER, knew something was up when the suitcases came out for packing for vacation. He does not like it when Mommy goes away, and here he's telling me he wants to go along. Look at that sad face!!

But he was much happier when we returned as you can see below, where Daddy snapped a picture of His Contented Highness on my lap.

Until next time,

Off on Vacation!!

Sunshine, here we come!!

We are sooo ready to be out of the snow and cold and visit family in the Tucson, AZ area for a couple weeks. This last week has been hellacious! First we had the flood in our basement (post from earlier this week). I've had to train a replacement at work and DH had to work overtime several days.

And then, in addition to all the other preparation for the trip, we had our car serviced (scheduled maintenance, new car mats and back brakes relined). Came to $532. We paid for it once, but we got charged THREE times. Two debits hit our checking account and one charge hit our credit card. The bank has reversed one of the debits, and we are jumping through all sorts of paperwork hoops to get the credit card charge reversed. We'll get it, but I'd rather have that money now (for vacation) rather than the weeks it will likely take them. Grrrrrrrrr..........


So while on vacation I've got my camera and will take pictures, but I doubt I'll be posting anything until I get back. In the meantime, I'd like to share a picture with you. It's a beautiful needlepoint picture of two birds sitting in a bower of roses. It is a vintage piece that I bought at an antique show at an expo a couple years ago. The dealer had reframed it and gave us a great deal on it. The red, green and black are my living room colors (and NO, the wall is not white or gray - it's actually a warm light brown). Enjoy!

See you in a couple weeks!

Good News and Bad News

First, the good news. The new issue of CQMagOnline is out and it is, IMHO, the best issue ever! If you haven't read it yet, what are you waiting for? Check it out!

The bad news: We had another flood at our home. The first time in August (see account here), we caught it quickly and the damage was limited to fixing a pipe and replacing one panel of drywall. Unfortunately, this time I started a load of laundry in the washer (only 5 years old) and we left to take DD and DSIL out to lunch at Red Lobster. We were gone about an hour, and when we came back, half the basement was under 3 inches of water. It seems that the washing machine (bad sensor?) never turned the water off when it was done filling, and it overflowed and ran for that hour. The drain in the laundry room didn't handle it well, and ..... OMG what a mess!

So, we've filed an insurance claim and the disaster clean-up people were out. The water has been sucked up and the carpets torn back. About a half dozen huge fans are running down here, as well as a de-humidifier. They are deafening, and it's so breeeeeezy in here!!

It appears the only damage was to carpets (which may be saved) and some walls - which they won't know the extent of for a few days. Just depends on how far up the water wicked. My studio was OK, but I did have to move some things and one bookcase is in question.... The newly-remodeled bathroom was flooded, but the flooring is tile, so the only question is the state of the lower cabinets and the lower wall area. The office area, where I'm sitting at the computer now, just has a damp wall and carpet. DH's electronics "laBORatory" has wet carpets, but no supplies or equipment involved. And the furnace room was wet and the drain there seemed non-functioning as well.

So, tomorrow we're staying home. We'll get the rooter people out here to clean these drains, call the repairman for the washing machine, meet with the disaster company estimator and the insurance adjustor to work on estimates and claims. Can't get to my CQ stitching and piecing unless I crawl under my folding work table to get to that area of my studio. And yes, I'll probably do that!

Secret Sister Revealed & Mail Goodies

On the Crazy Quilt International (Yahoo) group, we've had secret sisters for the past year. This month was the Great Reveal. My secret sister is none other than Carol Lindberg, an incredible CQ'er and seamstress as well as a doll expert. Her blog, Carol Sews , is one of my favorites. Carol has been so generous (almost TOO generous; she's a tough act to follow!), reliable, sweet and very crafty (as in sly, LOL) this year. It was wonderful to be the recipient of her lovely gifts. Her gifts were thoughtful, well-timed, and beautiful. Once she sent me a pieced table runner with fabric for the remaining prairie points and coordinating "goodies" to finish it!

And the culmination of it all came in the form of this BEAUTIFUL needlebook she made for me.
I actually needed a new needlebook badly (the one I use is one I threw together about 8 years ago, and besides being tired of it, it's falling apart!). This is light-years above what I had. Those roses are perfectly executed, and her note was such a lovely treasure. I will keep these forever!

And look at that! Carol even sent some new embroidery scissors. Who can't use those, LOL!?!? See how the lovely lace holds the scissors in place? Carol, thank you so much!!

And talk about a good mail day, as well as Carol's needlebook, one of my stash orders arrived! Here are the goodies I got:

Now I can get started packing up my projects for vacation!

Shopping at the Antique Mall

My car had to go in for scheduled servicing, so DH & I decided to spend Saturday afternoon browsing one of the local antique malls. We would've gone to more places, but the car was done sooner than expected, plus it was pouring rain. :-)

I always like to look for things that can be used in CQ, naturally, like lace, fabric, hankies, buttons and jewelry. But I am also on the lookout for interesting books, paperweights (which I collect), bottles, cookie jars (also collect those) and, well, anything that strikes my fancy. You know what I mean, I'm sure!Treasures found: an old Vogart pattern envelope with patterns (there were several of these but I only bought one), some old crocheted doily parts, silk-covered buttons, a lavender-colored tiny jar, a vintage spool, a hankie, and a porcelain planter featuring a little girl and the Eiffel Tower.

Isn't she precious??


I can't wait to try dyeing these buttons!

I plan to wrap trims or laces around the spool to add a vintage touch to my studio. The hankie and rose doilies will probably begin appearing in my work soon. I'm a sucker for roses!

Construction Complete!

As you can see, the transformation of this blog from a standard template to a "work of art" (at least in my humble opinion) is complete! A dear friend in Canada, Heather, worked with me to create the signature. THEN she surprised me with the blog header. Isn't that sweet? I love it!! Thank you Heather! And thanks again, Judy, for your help with the borders and teaching me a "wee bit" as you would say, about HTML codes and how this process works! As my DH would say, "You're STYLIN' now!". LOL

Round Robin Blocks

My finished block for our Crazily Cream Round Robin in CQ International arrived home this week. Although I pieced it, all the lovely stitching was done by Rita, Cobi, Jo and Gerry. It's breathtaking. I'm going to back and bind it and probably attach lace along the bottom.


And while I'm on the subject of blocks, here is the one I just finished piecing for my latest RR, Hearts II (there are three Hearts RR's going at the same time because everyone is in the mood for romance. LOL)

Those are NOT reds in there - they are just hot pinks - but I can't get the camera or my photo program to "see" them properly. Gerry made the Queen of Hearts silkie for me with my girl image and her vintage card image! All the lace is vintage (and only laying there, I still have to stitch them down). Then this will be on its way in a couple days!!