I Like A Challenge

Or I'm an idiot.  Not sure which.

I have other things I could tell you about.

Like opening my garage door Monday afternoon and finding a (pocket-sized) dog locked inside.

Or opening my BBQ and finding (another) birds nest (filled with eggs).

Or I could show you more pics of the trip to NC.

But I'm lazy....so I'm going to start with this instead and if I get up the motivation (at a later date) to show and tell the other stories I will.

But for now....the challenge.

I finished this quilt top this week.  I bought the kit from Guildcrafters many, many months ago.  I don't know why I bought it because I found working on it to be a dreadfull experience.  I hated the fabric choices, the lack of variety, etc.  I will NOT buy another one of these kits.  (Next time you see me with one in my hands you have my permission to SLAP ME SILLY.)

So anyway, weeks back I made the 1/2 square triangles, and this week I laid them out on the floor.

After laying them out I just dreaded the idea of sewing them together.  More precisely, I dreaded the idea of getting in and out of my sewing chair and walking back and forth to where I had laid them out......

So I decided, after leaving the blocks on the floor for a couple of hours that I didn't want to pick them up and stash them away for ever....that I would just set my old machine up on the floor and sew like I did when I was a kid SO lazy that I couldn't even clean off my desk top to do my homework and would just spread out and work on the floor.

So anyway, it took Monday night to sew the blocks into rows, and most of Tuesday to get the rows sewn and pressed, and here is is, Saturday, and I'm finally getting around to taking photos....
Of course, I couldn't take any photos until today due to rain and lightning and MORE FRIGGING  RAIN....but today it's  WIND that I am battling....And THAT is what today's challenge is.  Trying to get  a picture of the damn thing.

Like I said, I'm not in the least bit fond of this quilt....so I'll be finishing it myself and giving it away to the next charity in need.

And that's that.

Sometimes I make mistakes....

I did have a couple of pics from our overnight roadside stay:

 We look so well rested, dont we?

 Stray dog.  He actually looked both ways before he crossed the road. 

Our very scenic view.  Mountains.  Fog.  Semi's.

Our view has changed quite a bit since we arrived at Tom Johnson's RV Resort:

RV'rs like their tow vehicles to match their rigs.  (Photos loaded huge...click for correct image!)
This ain't tent camping, chicks.

But I Did Stay In A Holiday Inn Last Night......

Oh no I did not!
(Monday, 16, 2011)
Location:  Somewhere north of Bluefield, West Virginia....No photos because it is dark and foggy.
We slept /stayed at a rest stop somewhere near Bluefield, WV.  I think.  With no cell phone service, no Internet connection, and no local radio station to tell us anything except that we were going to burn in the fires of HELL because we had not been saved, it was impossible to pinpoint our exact location.
Of course, we did have the option of getting out of our rv and walking over to the sign that tells you that You Are Here.......but it was very dark.  A little scary.  So we remained uninformed.

West Virgina, while being breathtakingly scenic, offers little in the way of food or lodging when traveling along I 77.  We drove past the capital city of Charelston, where we saw a high rise Marriott, but didn't think we wanted to maneuver the motor home thru city streets, and we ASSumed that there would be an exit on the outskirts with lots of hotel choices and restaurants .
There weren't.
Nary a restaurant (not even a Bisquit World????) nor a skanky motel were to be seen past Summerville. (Remember Summerville kids?  And Summersville Lake Retreat?  The Liger?  The fire that Would Not Start!?)
So we pulled off into the rest stop, parked amongst the idleing semi's, and attempted to sleep.
I had my earplugs in which did next to nothing to block out the  WISH sound of the airbrakes of the trucks, or the Womp Womp Womp sound of their J Brakes..... and wondered if we would die from carbon monoxide ppoisoning from the running truck engines parked just a few feet from where I attempted sleep..)

We awoke, un-refreshed, and Tim joked about how there was probably a huge exit just ahead with tons of restaurants and hotels.....and damn it if that wasn't the case.
There was even a Country Inn and Suites (My usual  lodging choice) and every imaginable restaurant (including a Biscuit World, Waffle House, and a Bob Evans, among others....
We stopped for gas ($154 bucks....)  and eventually Bob Evans for breakfast,
Got back I-77....and navigated hairpin turns at breakneck speeds in rain and fog..........

Sights we are seeing:  Mine Rescue Trailers
                                    Porn Palaces
                                    Fog
                                    Endless Rain
Sights we did not see: "Nipple Mountain"" (too foggy)

To Be Continued...................

Spring....It's Here!

Im sure hoping that it will last.....

I got the last couple of rows sewn together for my thrifted shirt quilt Sunshine and Citrus.
It looks like it's as big as it's going to get.  I might make a quick trip to the quilt shop to see if they have anything I would want to use as a narrow border, or maybe just call it a day and find a back ad binding.
I thought Id get a pic of it in its current Flimsey state, but Mother Nature had her own ideas:

Until the wind dies down, that is as good as it's going to get.

Until next time.........

Coming back to life, slowly..

Hey Girls. I feel like I'm starting to come back to life after the NYC trip.  Went Krogering, put some laundry out to dry in the sun, and ate some lunch. 
Since I also got the bills paid , I think I'll take some time to show you a few more red and white quilts.

Enjoy!

New York City, And Three Centuries of Red and White Quilts

I'm exhausted girls.  I don't even know if I have the energy to tell you everything I saw and did.....so I'll post some photos for you and hopefully you will be able to get a sense of what I experienced.

Sunshine and Citrus

I was out and about with my friend Claudette last week.  Our travels took us to The Salvation Army, as it frequently does.  Claudette found a couple of denim skorts...her go-to summer wordrobe staple.  She needed to replace her well-worn (worn-out) skort that has seen her thru many good times and adventures.  I wish I had a pic of it to show....

Anyway,  my search took me to mens shirts and this is what I found.  This pic does not do them justice. The shirts are in the colors of sunshine and citrus and bellinis. I just love the madras plaid shirt.  The colors in it are beautiful and blend with all the other fabics I chose. 

And this is what I did with them.  I cut them up into random sized strips and just started free-piecing log cabin blocks. I added some of my scraps to the blocks and I think they fit in perfectly.  These blocks are 6 1/2 inches...because that is the size ruler I had on hand.  All the shirts I purchased were large, XL, or 2 XL, so the amount of fabric I got from each shirt was tremendous.  The 30 or so blocks I've made so far only used the fronts of the shirts....the backs and sleeves are still whole.

And these little guys are 3 1/2 inches.  Not sure how they will all end up together, but I was having a great time working on them.

So that's what I worked on this past weekend.  Not spending any time at the machine this week, but I'll be back at it next week.  I'll post more progress when I have it.

Talk to you chicks later!