three and three . . .

In 2003, I had a whopping total of three posts in the month of September.  To be specific, I had a whopping total of three posts in the whole of 2003.  That was the first time I'd ever blogged.  Ever.  (My very first blog post was quite touching -- read it here.)  Who knew that ten years later, I'd still be plugging away at it?! 

To be truthful, though, some months I definitely plug away better than others . . . it's more than a little ironic to me that a decade later, in the month of September, I still have a whopping three posts.  LOL!  

I'll get back into the swing of things.  Probably.  In the meantime, here's a healthy handful of photos to entertain, edify, and educate!

Represent!  My Crimson Tide has played (and beat) Virginia Tech, Texas A&M,
Colorado State and Ole Miss.  We're 4-0.  Roll Tide!

I flew to NJ (via Philadelphia Airport) to visit one of my sisters (Sister #3) ... not a
bad way to spend a two-hour flight, right?! 

First stop in NJ -- Olde City Quilts.  It did not disappoint! 

Visited the lovely city of Princeton!   

Found this darling mini-bundt pan at my sister's local Homegoods.
This has been on my wish list for a while -- it was HALF the price!  YAY!

Ate well.  The. entire. time.  ;)

Then Sister #3 and I headed south to visit yet another sister.
Early morning sunshine selfie.  Waaaay early.  

Waaaaay south!  Remember the Alamo!  (We then traveled even
*further* south to Corpus Christi!)

We were greeted by Sister #4 and her oldest and youngest!

Meet darling Liesl . . . she is such a precious baby! 

Meet my brother-in-law . . . quite the entertainer, non?
And this was a quilt shop in Corpus Christi -- a lot of fun things there, too!

Three Sisters!
Please look very carefully ... those are actually bar stools we're sitting in.
I haven't completely lost my sense of propriety!
(But aren't they hilarious?!?!)
It was my idea to pose this way -- perhaps I have lost my sense of propriety!

Ferry boat ride from South Padre Island.  Hello pelicans!

Flight back home . . . totally inspired to make a "travel" quilt!

Welcome home!  My Todd is always so sweet!!

Free book that was waiting for me when I got home -- YAY!!

Not-so-free book that I got soon thereafter.
(It's filled with all kinds of lovely tea-party things!)

Put that mini-bundt pan to immediate good use.

Was given Ellie's high seal of approval.  ;)

Realized Ellie's grown waaaay too much!  Definitely not a baby any longer.

Leia, on the other hand,  hasn't changed.

Sawyer, James and I went turtle hunting.

We actually found FOUR turtles that day!  It was a terrapin record!

We also found some really, really cool mushrooms growing around the camp.

Seriously -- they both look like something you'd find in the
coral reef, not the forest floor!

Helped some dear friends set up the pavilion for their wedding at the camp.

Attended said wedding!

Autumn arrived!

Purples and yellows abound in the camp right now --
this is a favorite combination of mine!

And days like this make it hard to stay inside.  So I DON'T!

The end.

:)

leaving, on a jet plane . . .

But unlike the song, I *do* know when I'll be back again!

I'm heading to visit Sister #3 in her new home in New Jersey and spending a couple of days exploring the new hometown with her, then together, we're flying down to Texas to visit Sister #4 and her family (who has also just recently moved into a new home) for a couple of days.  I'm *so* excited!!  Both sisters have already scouted out quilt shops to visit.  In New Jersey we'll be looking in on Olde City Quilts and in Texas we'll be stopping by The Quilt Cottage!  Whoohoo!  Do I have the best sisters, or what???!

I've finished piecing *and* setting my rainbow-star-burst-thingie-piece.  I think I may call it "Luminous"!  

I'm so very pleased with how this turned out!  I learned a lot EPP'ing this, too. I'd like to make it again. Actually, I think a whole quilt made from this block would be awesome! But this first one will definitely be just a table topper.  Perhaps I should name it Prototype instead.  Ha!

Again, printed out the design in EQ to doodle around with quilting ideas.  I like the idea of lots of straight lines, I think.  Keeping it geometric.  

I also pulled out an oldie-but-a-pretty UFO project from last year.  I got stuck trying to figure out what to quilt next.  When I pulled it out last week, it practically screamed at me to put the fans in the four corners! Although, now that I look at it, I wonder if I should turn them around and have the flowers facing each other? Ugh!

I'm also debating on the border to use between the fans in the corners.  I was originally thinking the twist would work best, but seeing it through the picture makes me thing the swirls would be more complimentary.

Ugh, ugh!  Perhaps I haven't gotten any further than I was last July?!

I took my youth girls Sunday school class to the Lincoln County Fair yesterday afternoon!  It was *such* fun and we had such a blast, strolling around and riding rides and people-watching and petting animals.  I really do love all my girls--they keep me young!

Seriously! I love the ears in the first one, but pink is most definitely my color, don't you think?! 

They were even willing to take a look at the Sewing/Crafts exhibition and winners (I think perhaps because the building had A/C!).  The quilts immediately caught my eye, and lo and behold, I saw this sweet quilt:

With a third place ribbon, to boot!  It belongs to Ellen, a friend of mine in our Sassy Sewers group.  And I helped quilt it!  (That's me on the very end, left -- hiding behind Tamara!)  

Ellen quilted it for her autistic grandson, who loves, loves, loves all things fire fighting. There are patches from fire companies all over the *world*!  Pretty cool, huh?

And why this guy was just hanging around on the side of the road, and not entered in the fair, I have no idea:

This is one of our neighbor's pets.  He rather reminds me of "Uncle" from Charlotte's Web!  Sometimes they just let him loose and he wanders across the street.  When I called him, to take his picture, he came running, his tail just a waggin'!  I love living rural.  :)

Finally, just finished stitching up this piece for a StitchMAP class.  I have one more lesson to finish to be done with it.  I had to use at least four different stitches and I think I more than succeeded!  In fact, I used seven . . . chain, running, back, outline, padded, split, and a couple of French knots for good measure.  We had to submit front and back pics of our work . . . 

The point is to make the back as neat and near presentable as the front.  Not too shabby, I'm thinking!

I'm linking up to Judy Laquidara's Patchwork Times (Design Wall Monday), and Kathy's Quilts (Slow Stitching Sunday).

Okay ... now off I go to pack and get ready for my trip into the wild blue yonder.  I'll catch ya' on the flip side!

:)

how in the world . . .

. . . did it get to be September already?!?  Did we even have a July/August?  Hello!

I guess it's time to look at my stash and NewFOs from August then, huh?  All in all, my stash enhancement was pretty darn well balanced, for me:

Used/donated this month: 15.0 yards

Used/donated year-to-date: 35.25 yards

Purchased/added this month: 12.5 yards

Purchased/added year-to-date: 83.75 yards

Net used/donated for 2013: -48.5 yards

Not too shabby ... finally some decent usage there, which also brought my net used numbers down.  Jolly good show!

As for NewFOs, I had several jolly good show starts as well, including my Christmas Twisted Hexies . . .

My strip quilt . . .

I had some darling help with that one last week.  They do say that two heads (and one full, furry body?!) are better than one!  Really it was rather appropriate ... it is, after all, fabric from the Dr. Seuss of Cat in the Hat infamy line!  ;)

The silhouettes project with pumpkins . . .

Fooling around with new dimensions for the spirograph (finished) . . .

And of course, my pretty little September block (finished) . . .

Todd and I sat outside yesterday evening, in our screened room we put up next to the sanctuary.  It was the perfect situation for a little handwork.  

I had forgotten about this little 'jewel'--somehow it got lost in the hustle and bustle of the summer--and decided it was time to whip all the pieces together.

I really love the look of it!  Perhaps this evening will be just as lovely and I can finish the hand-stitching part up while sitting outside.  And speaking of the sanctuary, please welcome our newest turtle guest . . . 

Merry! Which really does fit her (I'm pretty sure it's a 'her' because of her dark eyes) -- she's really rather spirited! 

I'm also working out some quilting ideas for Pixelated.

I have a general idea of what I'd like, but I'm still not sure.  It's nice to be able to print a copy from EQ and doodle things onto the printout.  For now though, what I'm busy repairing August's damage to the quilting bunk, so I can inflict September damage to it!  Seems a somewhat fitting way to spend Labor Day Monday!!

Linking up to Judy Laquidara's Patchwork Times (Design Wall Monday and Stash Report), Kathy's Quilts (Slow Stitching Sunday), Barbara Stanbro's Cat Patches (August NewFO Linky Party) and last, but FAR from least, Sarah Did It! (Feline Friday).  Whew!!

:)