FULL Sunday!

I awoke at 4:31 AM and have been going ever since. I read a bunch of Blog posts and watched a couple shows on TV Links with the headset on so as not to disturb the others in the house that were still sleeping soundly. About 6 I did my best to "quietly" gather all the laundry and got it started. Scott got up at some point and made a wonderful breakfast. After breakfast I did our taxes - we are getting refunds! Our plan is to put it all toward the car loan so we won't have that hanging over our heads anymore.

Soon to be PAID OFF!

After the taxes were completed I decided to clean my car inside and out - it's a "yearly" thing for us; or so it seems. Cleaning it now will help us see when the pollen starts settling on everything... yellow shows up so much better on a nice shiny clean surface.

How about that Carolina Blue Sky?

When I was out taking the picture of my nice shiny car I noticed the very first bloom on our tulip tree. You can see all the buds yet to open and I am hoping this beautiful weather continues so I don't loose them to a frost.

I decided to walk out back and photograph Scott's gorgeous garlic in the garden. It's doing amazingly well this year with a good mulching.
You can see where we need to do some weeding and why we need another roll of rolled roofing for our walkways.

We are going to get some newspapers from Scott's Mom tonight so that I can make up some seed starting pots. I'll be starting seeds this week.; tomatoes, peppers and perhaps some summer squash and cucumbers. We are very much looking forward to fresh produce from our garden.

I started work on another quilt block; it's one of the two I have remaining to do for the FQ swap. This block will be "hopping the big pond" to England to Irene. What looks to be tan is really a golden yellow; the sun has started to go down so I have little natural light coming in through my sewing room windows. Hopefully she will forgive my horrible delay.

AHHHH!!!! SQUISHIES!

My mailbox was full of them today - SQUISHIES that is... wanna see whats inside 'em?

OK package one was from a quilting friend who is also a previous Jo-Ann Fabric's co-worker. Here are the goodies from her envelope..

She made me a delightful "Harvest" block as part of a themed swap we are in and she made the adorable coaster as well - I love Peanuts. The green fabric is an FQ (Fat Quarter) that is part of a "Sampler's Swap that we are doing as well. I will make her a 12 1/2" block using that fabric as well as some from my stash. She will get blocks back from each participant using her fabric plus fabrics from their various stashes so that she can make a a"Sampler Quilt". We will all end up with a special quilt in the end.

Next package was some fabric that I bought off Ebay. I had thought it was going to be ONE piece that I could make a blouse out of but it's 4 narrow pieces that I will use up in a quilt. I still love it and it won't go to waste but I was a little disappointed.

And to top all that off I got a package from Carrolyn out in Washington State and WOW! Lets start with her Crazy block that I will add embellishments to....

She attached a note : any embellishments (buttons,embroidery,laces, etc. are okay) Please keep colors to cream, white, beige, tan, gold, grey,silver - no colors.
This has pieces of lace from my wedding gown, my mom's, my daughters dance outfits, etc...

All I could think was WOW this will be something extra special. I didn't think to include a note like this but that's ok as mine is color wild to start with (the corduroy block in a few posts back). She also sent her FQ for the Sampler swap (the blue print) and another "Harvest" block for me. I wish the canning hadn't taken me ALL day but I knew it would in the back of my mind - perhaps one day I will get faster at it.

NOW for the cream on top of all this wonderful stuff. Do you remember the black, white and red block I sent out on a Round Robin tour awhile back? Well it came home today as well... and I was stunned... I mean JUST LOOK AT IT! WOW! The gals really blew me out of the water with this one....

 THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH!!! I LOVE IT!

Goodies In My Mailbox

First wonderful squishy envelope was from Carrolyn in Washington State; it was full of wonderful "I Spy" blocks for a quilt I want to put together to have on hand when "Littles" visit.

"I Spy with my Little Eye someone you visit when you are sick?"

"I Spy with my Little Eye something you wear on your feet?"

FUN FUN FUN!!!!

Next came a box that the Postman had to walk to the door as it wouldn't fit inside the mailbox. It was from Diane in Maine and OH DID SHE SPOIL ME!

"Scrap swap"

Scraps that will be used in the "I Spy" quilt

More "I Spy" blocks

I'm in scrap Heaven!

I was a Good Girl

I just mailed Carrolyn's Round Robin (from the previous post) home to her as well as the "I Spy Squares" that we are swapping for an "I Spy" quilt. We are sending each person in the swap 4 little squares ( 1 at 2 1/2", 1 at 4 1/2" , 1 at 6 1/2" and 1 at 8 1/2").  I also mailed these squares to Diane; I'll cut more if more folks jump into the swap. Here are the fabric's I cut squares for the 3 of us...

Blocks for an "I Spy" quilt

I also mailed 1 yard of BUTT UGLY 1980's peach fabric to Diane to work her magic on and make something "pretty" or at least functional from and then she will mail the creation back to me. I've had this fabric for way too long and can't even remember what possessed me to buy it in the first place.

SORRY DIANE! - It is ghastly isn't it?

Time for a nap... been up since 3:30 AM. I have more to share but I'm just to pooped to party at the moment.

Camisole block swap

I just finished the 6 blocks for the camisole block swap that I am in with my on-line quilting group. The first picture in this post is the blocks "in process" and the filmstrips are of the completed blocks. I will mail these out next week along with some other swaps that I signed up to do as well - combining postage cost and eliminating trips to the Post Office. I thoroughly enjoy these swaps! When I get the other camisole blocks from the other gals I will be making a wall hanging with these camisole blocks.
Now which one of my blocks should I keep... hhmmmm?

A trip for Ice Cream and some current projects

Monday we went to Zesto's for some ice cream after dinner and since I had the camera I took a couple pictures to share here on my blog. This place is a definite MUST if you ever visit the Columbia, SC area - it's located in West Columbia on 12th Street and they have the most amazing ice cream and fried chicken. The GIANT ice cream cone out front makes it quite difficult to miss. The service is AWESOME and FAST; the whole restaurant is always super clean. You wouldn't be disappointed!

I completed a baby afghan that I've been working on; the center is knitted with two skeins of Paton's Melody in "Tutti Fruiti" and then I crocheted a shell edging using 2 skeins of Red Heart Baby Clouds in "Pink Lemonade" - I call it "Cotton Candy Baby" and I've added it to my box to start up my Etsy shop as soon as the box is full.

And I'm putting together some fabric for a baby quilt or two using pink and brown as the color scheme. If these work up as nice as I think they will also be added to my box to sell. I've also been thinking about a turquoise and brown color scheme. Both seem quite popular with the "baby bunch".

Busy Gal

I've been spending a lot of time in my sewing room both before and after my trip up to see my parents. I've decided NOT to combine the green and purple blocks with the red and blue that I started with; I think it's just TOO busy with them added. So I'm going to make the purple and green blocks into a baby quilt; I think it will work nice for the next baby girl that comes along in our lives. Here it is laid out on my cutting table before any have been sewn together as well as after it's been pinned for another trip under the machine.

I also made up these border strips in black and white with a red center. I am hoping that these will go right onto the next Round Robin that will come to me as I have heard it started out as a black and white center. If they end up not working for that I will utilize them on another project. I REALLY like this a lot - perhaps a black and white and red accent quilt is in my future.