road trip

Yesterday a couple of my quilting buddies and I ventured north to Sherman, Texas (a little less than an hour from us) to see Becky Goldsmith's quilt exhibit at Austin College.

Fourteen of Becky's wonderful quilts were on display in the gallery. It was fun to see  them up close, examine her fabulous fabric choices and really study each quilt. This one is my favorite...

It's called Tree O'Life. If you look closely you will see this guy...

Little details like this really make her quilts special!

This quilt was another favorite of mine (probably because of the colors!) It's called Whirlygig...

 Blowin' in the Wind is the most recent quilt on display. The handout says the pattern will be in a new book due out this spring....

I think it is a perfect "modern" quilt. Here are some more random photos of what we saw....

If you are nearby, you really should go see this wonderful free exhibit. It will be there until March 15. 

miss me?

Sorry there haven't been any crafty updates this week. I'm spending some quality time with my two oldest kiddos in Phoenix.....

And some time with my parents too. It would have been great if I had gotten a picture of them, wouldn't it? Oops. Anyways, I have made a few quilt shop visits and will share my goodies with you when I get home (or pictures of my goodies. I'm not sharing the actual goodies. No way.)

Hope your week has been happy!

Christmas stitching

First off, I never showed you the beautiful potholder I received in the swap at The Quilt Asylum. Thank you Lois! This is a wonderful addition to my Christmas decorations. I will think of you every year when I hang it for the holidays.

 I have been working hard to fill orders for customers (who also happen to be special friends!) I made these to send to Sue....

 They were fun to create. Maybe I will actually make new stockings for my family this year?

And look what my sweet hubby brought me back from a business trip to Germany! A gorgeous porcelain thimble. Love that man! And my thimble too.

Are you doing any Christmas crafting yet?

hello? anybody still there?

Sorry I've been MIA for a bit! I don't have any awesome excuses. No crazy stories to tell. I wish I did. Maybe I should make something up just to make the blog more exciting. Nah. I'm just not feeling that creative today, sorry!

Some of what I've been working on I can't show you. It's that time of year, you know? I have so many projects going that need to be finished. But, you know how easily distracted I am, right? After I taught the young gals to sew buttons last weekend I just kept sewing mine. Then I added some embroidery. It actually came out pretty cute.....

 I've also been working on getting all of our London photos into a scrapbook. I haven't scrapbooked in a long time! I'm really enjoying doing it again.

Check back tomorrow for a pattern review and new sewing project. Oh, and this week is Crafty Tuesday again so I'll have some more fun stuff to share with you soon! Hope you had a great weekend.

my other favorite hobby

Even before I began crafting and sewing I loved to sing. I wish I had the picture of my sis and I in our children's choir robes with the big blue bows tied around our necks. I can picture it in my head. I have loved to sing for as long as I can remember. When I graduated from High School, I travelled for a year with an international cast of Up With People. This weekend, I flew down to Houston, TX and had the opportunity to visit with four others who travelled with me, 30+ years ago....

 Charlotte, Kendall, Me, Leigh Ann and Adraine

I stayed with Leigh Ann this weekend and sang with her church choir in their Meet the Composer events.

 How's that for a big choir? Leigh Ann and I are in the front row on the left side. The composer this year was Joseph Martin. We had the opportunity to get to know him and his lovely wife, to sing his compositions under his direction and to listen to the two of them perform. It was so much fun! Here are Leigh Ann and I with Joseph...

I'm back home again, catching up on laundry and finding my way back to crafty endeavors!

pictures from Ohio

My brother sent these pics with instructions that I blog them immediately! Apparently (according to Ally) he is sitting at the computer hitting refresh... so here goes....

 Two of my favorite girls in their matching Ohio State shirts. Apparently there is some brainwashing going on. They think if they buy her clothes she will choose to permanently leave her mommy and daddy and Texas. Ha!

And a picture of the sweet sleeping Mackenzie with her Dora quilt...

looks like it works!

leaving on a jet plane....

I got myself into some trouble. You see, I didn't blog about Ally's 16th birthday which was on the fifth. You never know how teenagers are going to feel about things like this... you know what I mean? It's a fine line we moms of teens walk. Did I say too much? Not enough? Apparently I was supposed to blog about her on her birthday. She told me so. Oops!

It's been another big year for Ally! Last week she got her drivers license. I got to check "chauffeur" off my mommy to-do list. I had a little blue moment. Does anybody need me anymore? Then I got a message from my 22 year old that a button had fallen off of her dress. They do still need me. A little. I'll take it.

In 2 weeks Ally will begin her junior year of High School. She applied for the school's medical clinicals program and was accepted! This year she will work in a nursing home and the local hospitals and become a CNA (certified nursing assistant). Her long term goal is to earn her Doctorate in Physical Therapy. We have begun looking at colleges... the next 2 years will fly!

Today Ally left on her second annual Ohio trip to visit her little cousin Mackenzie (oh, and Aunts and Uncles too). Have a great time, Ally! I'll be here waiting for you when you get home. Oh, and Ally? It's ok to need me now & then...

eating gluten free in London

I think the thing I worried most about before our trip to London was food. I keep a strict gluten free diet because I have celiac disease. It's not a big deal when I am at home, I know what I can and cannot eat and I know where I can go out to eat and get a safe meal. Would I be able to eat out in a foreign country for more than a week? I wasn't sure.

First off, I have to give a shout out to American Airlines! Our travel agent notified them that I would need gluten free meals on the plane and they came through! My dinners to and from London were delicious and breakfast was fine. Nothing fancy but gluten free and nutritious! Yay!

On our way to London we had an 8 hour layover in Boston. When I heard that, I knew exactly what we would do with our time! We took a cab into the city and spent about an hour walking around Boston Commons. Mom and Dad had taken my sister and I there to ride the swan boats when we were little girls. What fond memories! We didn't ride the boats this time, but it was fun to sit in the shade and watch.

And yes, this is my shameless way to include a photo in an otherwise photo-less post! Can you believe I didn't take a single food photo? I was too busy enjoying it. While we were in Boston we went back to Legal Seafood for lunch. We had taken Steve there last year during our Baseball Trip and I knew I could get a wonderful gluten free meal (complete with fresh hot rolls!). They did not disappoint.

London was a wonderful gluten free surprise. Just about every restaurant we walked into either 1) Had a gluten free menu or 2) was able to accommodate me with a wonderful meal! The hostesses/waiters & chefs were far more educated and aware than most are here in the states. This is one of those areas where the British seem to be miles ahead of us.

Here are some of the places where I had a wonderful gluten free meal:

Ask Italian  This is a chain all over England. There was one right near our hotel, near the Gloucester Road Tube station, and we ate there twice. I was able to have fabulous gluten free pasta! Lots of great options.

La Tasca This is also a chain with many locations. We ate at the location near Leicester Square. They had many gluten free options, including paella and lots of different tapas. All Spanish food and delicious!

The Diner at Harrods believe it or not, we had lunch at the Diner inside Harrods and they had fabulous gluten free options, including gluten free burger buns! Yay!

Olives Restaurant a wonderful (if a bit expensive...) Italian restaurant on Gloucester Road near our hotel. Although they did not have a gluten free menu per se, they were happy to offer lots of great options and the food was delicious. The chef even prepared one piece of hubby's bruschetta on gluten free bread and brought it to me on a separate plate. What a treat!

These are just a few of the wonderful places we ate on our trip. What a wonderful surprise to not have to survive on gluten free pretzels and cheese sticks and salads.

doors

Hubby thought it was funny that I had a slight obsession with the doors in England! I am thinking there just might be a quilt idea in there somewhere? Hmm....

I'm thinking it would be so much fun to paint our front door mint green.... or maybe pink? I'm also thinking the Home Owners Association wouldn't go for it. Darn! Does anyone else have a thing about doors?

London craftiness and getting ready for the Olympics

You already know that there was no way I could travel to London for 10 days and not do any crafting! I considered taking my fusion blanket, but the skein of yarn I am using is much too big and bulky to carry along. The gals at the quilt store were all going on and on about "twilling" a new (to them) embroidery stitch they had discovered. So I found a tutorial, did a few practice stitches, and drew up a London souvenir that I could work on while I was gone. 

When I got home, I added the patchwork borders using some leftover scraps of my London fabric, layered and quilted it, and now I have myself a very personalized London souvenir!

Is anyone else getting excited for the Olympics? It was fun to watch the city getting ready. When we first arrived, there was lots going on, scaffolding in the squares where they were erecting big screens and temporary bleachers, plants and grass being ripped out and replaced so it would all be beautiful for the tv cameras. We saw lots of fenced off areas where the venues are, not yet open to the public.

 If you look at the photo below, between the tree and the building, you can see the "football" (soccer) stadium. This was as close as we could get.

By the time we left London, there were banners hanging in the streets, flags from all the countries, Olympic banners, all of the gardens were neat & tidy like this one:

It's so much fun to see the broadcasters on TV at all the places we just were!

fabric shopping in London

Let's start out my little review of London with the important stuff, shall we? Say, fabric? First off, I will tell you that fabric shopping in London gave me a great appreciation for my local quilt stores and the resources we have here in the US. We are very very lucky when it comes to fabric shops.

That said, I did enjoy exploring the fabric and crafty shops of London. I had done my research (what did we ever do before the internet?) and found a fabric shop very near our apartment and several others on Berwick Street, near Piccadilly Circus. Luckily, I have a very cooperative husband and as long as I was willing to explore every museum and palace within a 90 mile radius, he was happy to help me find the fabric stores. Gotta love that guy! Anyways, we did go find those shops and I was so disappointed. There was very little cotton to be had and most of what we did see was dated and cheaply made. The folks working in the shops didn't even look up when we entered, no friendly hello like I am used to here. Needless to say, I bought nothing.

Then we headed to Liberty of London and my faith in London fabric shopping was restored!

 Liberty is a wonderful old department store with a rich history and fascinating architecture. Inside however, everything is modern, eclectic and fun. We explored most of the departments and really loved it, but spent the bulk of our time, you guessed it, in the fabric department! I bought some fabric remnants and some treats for some of my sewing buddies. I could have spent a fortune there, but I didn't! I was good. Here are the two remnants I bought. Each one is almost 1/2 yard and they are 54 inches wide! That was a happy surprise.

One day when we were walking from the British Museum to the tube we happened upon Blade Rubber Stamps, an awesome rubber stamp and scrapbook store. I had fun checking that out and bought a couple of little things. The best thing was being able to get the newest issue of Mollie Makes, a good month or so before it will be available in the states. I love that magazine!

I had also read online about the shop called All the Fun of the Fair. I had mapped it out and knew exactly where it "should be" but we searched and searched Kingly Street and couldn't find it. Just when we were about to give up, we came upon a tiny alley leading to Kingly Plaza, and found an elevator with a list of store names beside it... and there it was! So up we went. When we came out of the elevator, this is what we found:

An adorable plaza tucked in between the buildings, not visible from the main streets. We quickly found the shop and thoroughly enjoyed it! It was tiny, but jam packed with fun crafty things, lots of yarn, embroidery floss & supplies, neat buttons, charms and odds and ends. The gal working there was chatty and friendly. I bought a few buttons, charms and some ribbon. Oh and cool magnets that spell out "MAKE" for my cabinet. I'm so glad we found the shop!

I'm sure there are wonderful crafty spots all over England that I didn't find. Some of the most wonderful bloggers I have enjoyed are British. It would have been fun to meet them... Maybe next time!

so I went to London....

This wonderful man, who I have been married to for 25 years, who has put up with my nonsense (and I with his), who I love more than anything... took me to London!

 Look how happy he is! He has been going on and on to me about Stonehenge since the day we met (and I hear it went on for years before that) so of course we had to travel into the countryside to see it. Check that off his bucket list!

We saw all of the wonderful sites that London has to offer. Like the beautiful Parliament building (look at that blue sky! I must confess, we saw very little of that!)

 We ate lots of wonderful food and shopped in all the famous big shops (yes, I did get fabric at Liberty!) and some quaint little shops too...

I have so much I want to tell you. I kept a list in my phone of blog posts I can't wait to write. So, so much.

But right now, I can barely keep my eyes open. It's bedtime in London (sadly, not even close to bedtime here in Dallas). My dryer is squeaking away drying load number 5 for the day (please don't die today oh useful, noisy machine! I need you.) Groceries have been bought. Oh, and it's raining. Of course! What a sweet reminder of our wonderful trip.

More about London to come...

home sweet home

I am home from a fun weekend away. The four of us headed down to San Marcos to visit Texas State University. It's our first college visit for Ally & we all enjoyed it. We ate out a lot....

 While we were gone, we celebrated Hubby's birthday and Father's Day.... what a great guy! We're so lucky to have him to look after us.

 It was really REALLY hot in San Antonio when we got there! We did lots of inside stuff, or hung out down near the river where there was a breeze at least! We spent some time in the Ripleys museum. Here's Steve in the love meter chair. Just for the record, the one that is lit up says "Boring" which is just fine with Mom!

 I took my hand stitching along, the little foxes that I won from Cinderberry Stitches a while back. I actually got a lot more than this done. I'll share it with you sometime this week!

On the way home I talked the family into Sunday brunch at The Little Aussie Bakery, which is all gluten free! I had french toast for the first time in years & it was delicious! I also brought home a loaf of fresh baked gluten free bread... mmmmm!

So that's where I've been. Tomorrow it's back to the grind... laundry, grocery shopping & hopefully back to my sewing machine! Hope your weekend was as awesome as mine.

heading to the airport...

I'm off to Ohio today. I haven't been there in two years (it's where I am from) and I am anxious to spend some time with my family and friends.

From what I hear, Miss Mackenzie is talking up a storm and has turned into a "real girl" since I saw her last (on her first birthday!). My sister is recovering from surgery. I left the heavy duty, post surgery nursing to her daughter and our mom. Now that she is ready for a manicure and some lunches out, I'm going for the fun part! I'm so sneaky....

Have a good week!

oh hi! yes, I'm still here!

Last week Ally went to visit her siblings in Arizona for spring break! I have to be honest, I was a little envious of them all having time together but it was so good for them to have some sibling time without the parents! Look how happy they all are!

 So, you would have thought I would have gotten lots of sewing done while she was away, right? Hmm. Not so much. Mostly I worked on cleaning and emptying out my sewing room. We are getting new floors this week! I can't wait to have wood laminate floors in my workspace. Here is what it looks like now...

 Kind of depressing... all that time I spent sorting my fabric and making it look all pretty on those shelves... and now they are empty! Sigh. Hopefully by Friday I will be putting it all back together again!

I did finish up the binding on one special quilt. I made this quilt for my hubby to hang behind the desk in his home office. It was supposed to be a surprise for his birthday in ummm June. Oops. I guess I accidentally gave it to him early! He was thrilled with it and wanted to hang it right away, but I told him it had to wait until after I take it to Bring n Brag in April!

 The pattern is City Bank from Cherri House's City Quilts book. I did make it a little smaller than her quilt, one row and one column smaller, so it fits nicely in the wall space. I'm really happy with the way it turned out!

So, no creativity happening at my house this week. Unless you count cleaning baseboards? I don't. But if it's something you enjoy, come on over! I would welcome your help and your company!

I took a little trip...

Sorry I've been missing. I took a little trip... To Houston! My good friend Leigh Ann (yes my oldest is named for her!) lives there. I hadn't seen her in a long time and it was so good to visit, do some shopping, some singing (more on that in a minute), some eating....

Leigh Ann & I met 30+ years ago when we sang together in Up With People. Do any of you remember them? It was an incredible year. Leigh Ann & I were two of the babies in our cast, both just out of High School, 18 years old. Another member of our Up With People cast lives near Houston too. Charlotte and her husband came to have dinner with us on Friday. I hadn't seen her since we travelled years ago! What a wonderful visit we had.

Here's how Leigh Ann finally got me down there! Every year for the last few years she has invited me to come sing with her church choir. Each year they invite a different composer to come and direct a special concert of his songs. I always thought it sounded like great fun, but was never able to get away for the weekend. Until now!

A couple of months ago, Leigh Ann invited me to come this year. And then she told me who the guest composer was going to be. Ken Medema! Well... I had met Ken & sung with him and a local youth choir (in Ohio) in the 1970s! I just couldn't pass this opportunity up! So I went down and sang with nearly 100 others for the weekend. Check out this awesome choir:

That's Ken at the Piano. He did a concert for us on Saturday too. It was wonderful! So that's where I've been, but I'm home now & preparing some more crafty posts for you... stay tuned!

the same and different

Do you remember my Sudoku quilt? It's been getting lots of use, lounging on the couch. I love it! Well I gave my mom the very same kit for Mother's Day and I couldn't wait to see her interpretation of it. I have asked her several times over the last few months what colors she used for sashing and borders, but she refused to tell me! "you'll just have to come and see" she said. So I did....

Isn't it beautiful! So different from mine.... and yet made with the very same kit. And even quilted by the same quilter, the awesome Connie. But even the quilting is so different. Mom's quilt has cool medallions in each nine patch and a neat border. So very pretty! Nice work Mom! I love it.

The long and winding road

The road from Texas to Arizona is a long and boring one. It was a two day drive and we saw lots and lots of trucks.
And trains.

And sometimes, nothing. Just the road stretching ahead of us for miles and miles.

Luckily we had three drivers. It was Steve's first time driving on a long road trip. He pretty much drove the entire state of New Mexico. I think he was happy when his turn ended!

And I was happy to hop on an airplane and fly home instead of driving.