Skidaway Island camping trip

We recently spent a week with some camping friends at Skidaway Island State Park, here is our trip:

Going to Skidaway we encountered some of the worse rain I have ever driven in- and we drove for about six hours! We arrived during a lull in the storm, and were able to set up in the dry. We did all the outside setting up, left the inside for later, and drove over to say hello to the rest of the group. Tow of our friends had picked out one of the handicapped sites for us, I think that it must have been the best site in the park, and of course, it was close to the bathrooms. The only down side is that it was so far from the rest of the group, too far for DH to walk. It was a large, large site, a lot of brush before any neighbors, quiet and without mud. The rest of the group was closer to the swamp, had noisy frogs and a lot of mud with all the rain. It certainly was perfect for us.
Anyway, we drove over to visit the group. Jack, a yellow lab, thought DH had brought him the neatest new toy, it was hysterical. He saw the tennis balls on the walker and just wouldn’t leave them alone. He kept digging and pawing at them, determined to get a ball to play with. Oddly, none of the other 13canines were interested. We only had a short visit before the rain started again and everyone headed for their campers. Not much later, the TORNADO siren sounded, and we headed for the restrooms

.DH made his first visit to a ladies room, where we sat on the seat in the shower and waited for the all clear. We were in a different restroom than the rest of the group; we had fewer people-and much fewer dogs. I don't think all of the other campers realized what the siren was about. Spring time sirens in GA-if the weather is bad, you know what it means-tornadoes in the area, take cover. I slept in my clothes that night.
Sunday was one of God's more beautiful days, as was Monday. Sunday a pair of friendsgrilled burgers and franks for us. They picked up salads and such and we all chipped in to cover the costs, the athletes among us got in some practice for Washers, trying to determine who will represent us at the Olympics in London. (Washers is a game similar to horseshoes, the group joke is that we will send a team to the 2012 Olympics we even have uniforms planned)
Monday we ordered pizza and we also had a round of washers. This time the festivities were at our site, complete with laughter around the campfire.
Tuesday was overcast, but DH and I attempted one of the trails. The ground was hard packed, but rocky. It was not easy with the walker, so we didn’t get very far, but we tried!

The weather stayed dry long enough that one friend, DH and I went into Savannah a bit early so that we could walk the riverfront before meeting everyone at Paula Deen's restaurant. The friend did the walking, DH and I mostly sat on the benches watching people and boats and listening to the street musicians. We found that the cobblestones and old, cracked sidewalks were not walker friendly at all. To push the wheelchair would have been impossible. I’m glad we left it in the car.
Wednesday it rained, and rained. We all did our own thing. A small group of us drove out to Tybee Island to have dinner at a place one gal remembered from past visits to the area. If you ever go to Tybee, visit the Crab Shack. Don't be put off by the kitsch and tacky (surely the tackiest place ever seen by human eyes!) the food was great. Yummmmmm.

Thursday it rained some more, with warnings of the possibility of more tornado activity at night. That evening we all went to a restaurant a few miles from the campground. Oh, WOW! Wonderful food with humongous windows overlooking the waterway. Some great lightening moments, too. Back to the campground to spend MORE time in our camper.--you know how the sound of rain on a tin roof evokes images of lazy summer days and quiet moments???

Not so much!

This rain pelted us mightily for days, sort of an amplified Chinese Water torture, when it finally stopped, the silence was almost painful. I slept in my clothes again that night. I stayed up until about 1 pm, waiting out the storm, prepared to drag DH from bed into the shelter if need be. Our nice, ‘high’ campsite became lakefront property- if it had rained much longer it would have been an island! Here’s a shot of our lake it is between our camper and the road.

I must say, the bad weather had an upside; I made progress knitting my socks! Only have the toes to go. Will have to remember in the future that knitting is so much more portable than my quilting. I have toyed with the idea of bringing some along, but this is so much more compact and 'do-able'.

Friday was very nice. DH and I went back to Tybee Island to visit Fort Pulaski and the Tybee Island Lighthouse

.

We tried stopping back at the Crab Shack for lunch, but the parking lot was full up. One of our friends cooked a pork roast for dinner and everyone brought a side. She also made a key lime pie for dessert and provided a beverage she is quite a cook and entertains frequently.

Evaluation- People, dogs and food were great; rain, mud, bugs were awful ( I look like I have the measles, I'm so bitten up) You can tell the weather was bad when the best part of a camping trip report was the restaurant reviews!

Ready for the next step….

               

                                      Here is the latest step of Bears in the Farmhouse, the current Quilt Along by Judy L. That outer border is not black, but a very deep purple with lighter print on top. I love the fabric, just wish it showed up better in the photo.  Judy will be sending out the last set of instructions tomorrow. It is so nice to be all ready to go, for once.

We take our research seriously around here

As you can see by the photos, there isn’t much left of our Butter Pecan ice cream! These are the first round of possibilities. Any opinions on which one to use, or should I keep looking for a better match?

Research

Ah, the sacrifices we make for our art! Melinda has issued a quilt challenge, and I have joined in. This is an ice cream challenge. Melinda assigns each person a flavor of ice cream and the color of the ice cream is the color you use in your quilt, plus (possibly) two others. My flavor is Butter Pecan. Now, I haven't had Butter Pecan in quite a while, I'm more of a vanilla girl. So I don't remember exactly the shade of Butter Pecan. Wanting to be correct in my color choice, I have to do some research. So here is my research: a newly opened carton of Butter Pecan, see the color. Then, a newly scooped carton, observe the difference the disturbed texture of the surface makes to the color. Aha! the color of a DISH of Butter Pecan.

You know, I think the artifical light of the nighttime kitchen is not giving a true representation. But I will pull some fabrics that are in this range and then, tomorrow, in daylight, ...I'll do more research! I just love a challenge!!

Bear blocks are done!

Here we are, up to date on the latest step of Bears in the Farmhouse. My guess is that the next step will be the sashing and perhaps a border or two. One is more of those HSTs; they look great but are time consuming to do. I really hate the squaring up process. I may try another HST technique this time.

Quilt Along progress

JudyL is sharing another of her designs with online quilters. This one is a bit different than others she has done in that there was a sign up with a cut off date. Sign up was to send or post a picture of your fabric choices by the deadline. Once that was done Judy emailed the first step, which also has to be emailed/posted by a deadline in order to receive the instructions for the next step. Here are my fabric choices and the half square triangles for the first step. I'm waiting to see how these look when in position, I may need to add more of some colors to liven things up, or even throw in an additional color to spice things up. The color in the hst photo is a little off the lavendar looks a little grey and the two mottled purples look too blue. If we ever have a sunny day, I may take some of these outside to see if I can get a photo with accurate color.

Hello again

It has been quite a while since my last post, but I haven't had too much to show. Hopefully I will have more to share and will get back to being regular with my posts.

Yesterday was my grandson's birthday. He and his daddy baked cupcakes so that he could have exactly the cake and frosting he wanted for his birthday.

Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah

The hurrieder I go, the behinder I get......

That old Pennsylvania Dutch saying rings way too true, especially these days. We had the grandchildren for the weekend, which means we didn't get much of our stuff done. Miss Thing and I did work on her quilt blocks, but this time we didn't quite finish, so no pictures of them yet. I still haven't gotten around to putting borders on the two quilts I assembled at retreat. I'm trying to catch up on some chores around here, however, I did get some sewing done. Back in the spring I showed some pictures of Fabric Art Postcards that I am doing as part of a birthday swap. Well, we are down to the final two people, one in November and one in December. I decided while I was making one, I might as well make the second, because this time of year I may just never get the chance again! Here they are.

Retreat part deux

Thought I forgot to include what we actually sewed, didn't you?? Here are just a few of the projects being worked on, some folks pieced blocks, some assembled blocks into tops, some added borders to tops, and some basted tops for quilting. We all brought more quilting projects than we could possibly work on and precious few clothes! Here are Murrell's lavendar and green blocks, Carols lively pastel blocks, Jane's top, Pegs pieces on her design wall,and Ann's spectacular dahlia, which she intends to hand quilt. I didn't get pictures of everyone's projects, and one picture that I haven't included is Ellen's new design. I didn't include that because she may publish it. I also haven't taken pictures of the two tops I worked on. I finished making the blocks (about 140 of them) and put them into rows and it is now ready for borders. I had brought the border fabric with me, but when I laid it out, the fabrics just didn't seem like the right choice, so I moved on to the next project. That next project was Judy's Winter Break that I started way back when. I'm down to the last of the borders on that one- pictures when I get that far.

Retreat !

My guild just had its annual retreat, and for the first time I was able to go- color me a happy girl! We met at the FFA camp in Covington. What a nice place that is, I'd love to go back again, soon. There were ten of us for two and a half days of sewing and eating. We sewed from breakfast to bed time in a room below the dining room. That was so convenient, only having to go up the stairs, have our meal ready for us, and return downstairs for more sewing. Here are some photos of the facility, which was well off the beaten track and manned by some of the nicest folks you could ever want to deal with. Our cottage, the dining hall, different angles of our sewing space and an early morning shot of the mist rising from the lake behind our cottage.

* FFA is Future Farmers of America

New Quilt for new baby

My brother has recently become a grandfather! We just won't say what that makes me......shhh! Anyway, when we were at his home last summer to bury mom, I saw the preparations for the baby shower and absconded with one of the napkins. Since we live so far away, we all knew I wasn't going to the shower, so I guess having a 'souvenier' didn't seem odd to any of them. My newphews wife said that the baby's room was going to be blue and tan and that they were going with a cars and trucks/transportation type theme. The napkin was a train. You quilters know what I am getting at, I made an enlarged version of the napkin into a crib quilt. I did make a few changes, but basically, I think it looks a whole lot like the napkin. I'm about halfway thru the quilting.

Orange Crush

Hooray! My OC is quilted and awaiting binding. The binding is ready to apply, I'll do that tonight and then the hand sewing will be 'TV watching work' until its done. Also, will need to stitch on a label. So, while it isn't 'done-done' it is much closer to being done than anything else. I couldn't wait to share a picture, so here it is, sans binding. I think that it looks different in the photo than it does to the eye. If you scroll on back to see the earlier posts with OC photos, you may be able to see what I mean. I think the dark borders have a definite influence on the appearance of the blocks, and I like the quilt so much better with the borders on than I did before. Those borders are not solid black, but a black with olive drab fluer de lis, this will be the last of that fabric, and it has been one of my favorites.

There is also a picture of the back, which is pieced with assorted fabrics from my stash, The whole thing is leftovers from previous quilts and small stash pieces. The back may not be beautiful, but it didn't cost anything additional. Since this entire project was a stashbuster, can I consider this quilt a 'freebie'?

Would you believe?

Because the rawhide bone was a bone of contention between Mac and Nic (German Sherpherd), MOTH decided to put it out of site to be forgotten. I guess the thing has a really unique and appealing aroma, because Mac found it inside a plastic bag, on a table out of his reach (yesterday's post). This time it was put higher, and behind other things. See what MacSmarty is doing? He's got it in his radar and has been relentless. I bet if we leave the room and he is unattended that he may find a way. The amazing climbing Silky! Should have named him Sir Edmund Hillary.

Failing that, he is not above resorting flattery and oh-so-adorable cuddles.

I actually have gotten into the sewing room-really. I put the thin and then pieced borders on my OC. I like it better with these on it, it balances out the lighter colors. I will probably add another unpieced dark border. I have yet to start JudyLs Star BOM 3, but that is on the list for the weekend, too. I want to get the OC onto the frame and would really love to get it quilted so I can take it to my guild meeting on Wednesday, but that would really be pushing it. Pictures when I get progress worth showing.

A new face at our house

We recently adopted a 5 yr old, 13 lb Silky terrier from the family that could no longer keep him. They called him Max, but we have renamed him Mac, as every third dog we know, including within our family, is named Max. We thought this was not too big a change for him and that he would just think we have a funny accent. LOL He seems to be adjusting well to us, our German Shepherd, our revolving-door sons and grandchildren. He is affectionate, eager to please, energetic and just a little too smart for his own good. ;)

Okay....so I was in the 'powder room' minding my own very important business and I heard the rustling of plastic bags. The rustling went on and on and on. So, being unable to investigate, due to pressing circumstances, I yelled out "is that you, dear?" Of course, the Man Of The House [hereinafter referred to as MOTH-because this is a G-rated blog], without rising from his seat or even looking around, replied that no, it wasn't him. HE was unable to investigate due to the pressing nature of the televison program he was watching. ARRRRGH! When I was finally able to come out, all appeared normal. Until MOTH asked "were did Mac get a rawhide bone?"

Well, that rawhide bone was in a plastic bag that the former owner had given us, and that was on the kitchen table. Little Mac Trouble discovered that one chair wasn't completely pushed in, jumped on it and from there to the table. All the rustling was him finding the opening of the bag and withdrawing the bone. You should see the size of this bone, it is the size I would give to the 90 lb German Shepherd! The end knots are almost as big as his head. Mac Clever got the bone, jumped down to the chair and then to the floor and proceeded to carry it with him all about the house, settling in different spots and happily gnawing away all evening.

Now, any of you that have lived with children, can you tell me when does the Woman of the House ever get to tend to business uninterrupted? The last time that I can remember was pre-motherhood, over 35 years ago. I thought when they were grown and gone...sigh... but now I have part-time live in grandchildren and fur kids, all of whom conspire against me. MOTH even put a phone in the powder room so he wouldn't have to answer it when I was in there. PLEASE- don't anyone tell him there are phones that can be installed in the shower!!

Star BOM block 2

Finally had a chance to make the second block of JudyL's Star BOM. I find that I like the soft blendy quality, but also that I wish I had more contrast to liven things up. Methinks I need two quilts.......but that won't happen as I have too many other UFOs PIGs and things on my 'to make' list.

Star BOM-first star made

Since I was busy helping DGD with her log cabin rainbow, I didn't get to work on the JudyL Star BOM until today. In the category of 'do as I say, not as I do', if you are not feeling well, don't sew! I can't tell you how many mistakes I made and how much frog stitching I did for this block. I have one of the worst summer colds that I can remember, big time pressure in the head, congestion, pressure in the ears,...you get the picture. I wanted to work on this so badly that I forged ahead. I should have given myself another day or two and avoided making some really dumb mistakes.

In any case, it is finished. I am still concerned that there isn't enough contrast between my two dark fabrics, but since Vicky has become my hero, I will adopt her motto and boldly declare "It stays where it lays!"

edited to reply to QUILTER POLLY: Polly, I see that you have asked several of us the same question, however your blog is set for 'no reply' so we have no address to send you the answer. I hope that you stop back, in case you do: I'm using Omnigrid, that's what I have. JudyL says she uses Creative Grid. The rulers aren't marked with 16ths, they do have 8ths. Think back to math class (UGH!) if something says 3/16, that is between the 1/8 (which would be 2/16) and the 2/8(which is also 4/16 or 1/4)-so basically you line up your fabric betwen those marks. It takes good eyes and a leap of faith, but it works.

Miss Thang makes progress...I don't

This is the weekend the grands stay with us, so Miss Thang was eager to get to my machine and stitch some more blocks. This weekend we did the pink and orange blocks. Here is a picture of her with the latest blocks, and also a photo of all the 10 completed blocks arranged pretty much as they will be in the quilt. You can see that the rainbow is being created already. I had put the blocks on the wall so she could see for herself just how things are coming along. Sharp eyed little miss noticed a mistake in the book and was oh-so-quick to point it out to me. LOL. By the way, the book is "Strip Happy - Quilting on a Roll" by Donna Kinsey. There are other neat quilts in the book, and I may well make some. She seems to be enjoying this project, even suggested that next time we sew on both Saturday and Sunday and then we can get 10 blocks finished in a weekend instead of just 5!

Meanwhile, I am waiting until the kids leave (or maybe even tomorrow) to get started on my Star BOM. After seeing what some of the others have made, I'm particularly anxious to start and see how my fabrics work out. I also want to start assembling the OC top now that the blocks and rows are put together. I will then need to do the borders to get it to the 'flimsy' stage and into the pile to be quilted. I have a couple that I really need to get into that pile.

Finally decided on the fabrics I will use

for JudyL's BOM which starts tomorrow. I've included a second photo to more accurately show the color of the darkest fabric.

I have also made progress on my Orange Crush. All but one row is sewn together and on the design wall. The little yellow sticky is to mark a 4 patch that I sewed in incorrectly and have to go back to correct. Of course I didn't discover the mistake until the row was sewn together! I guess I need to be grateful that the whole top wasn't finished or even quilted before I noticed the mistake. I'm not too crazy about this one (it was done as a mystery, if you haven't heard of it before) and of course, that is the risk you take with a mystery. Someone pointed out that I may like it better when its all together than I do as individual pieces, and seeing it on the design wall, they were right. I do like it better than I did, but in general, its way to busy for me. If I were try this design with what I know now, I would do it much less scrappy, perhaps controlled scrappy, so that the star shows up more.

It's been a while since I've posted, not much 'quilty' has been going on. I've made the drive up to the northeast to finally bury mom. Had a visit with some old friends, my brother & his family, and then down to the Jersey shore to visit with cousins I hadn't seen in ages. Aside from it being a sad occassion and a lot of driving, it wasa good visit with some great folks.

I haven't done much knitting either. Somehow the knitting aggravated my left hand (I have trouble tensioning, I think) and I have had to stop for a while. I have learned of a method called Portuguese knitting that I am going to try. I'm hoping that the rather different way of tensioning the yarn with this method will enable me to continue knitting--I've started a yarn stash that I MUST use!!

While I have plenty of WIPs and UFOs, I have some more in the thought stages and am still plugging along on the OC(Bonnie Hunter), although in a smaller version. I also have the fabric put aside for JudyL's last HAD that I want to do so I can try her upcoming BOM without feeling even more guilty.

The only quilt related thing that I have done recently is with my DGD. She accompanied me to one of our LQSs a few weeks ago. I pointed out a sample quilt for her, "Do you recognize that?" And she did! It was a log cabin quilt from a jelly roll book (title escapes me at the moment) and is called the RainBow Quilt. We had seen the book last summer while we were visiting another store, and she asked if I would make her the quilt-they didn't have the jelly rolls and I wasn't about to start scouring the store for substitutes. This store didn't have the jelly rolls, but had kitted fabrics in the same colors. Her plea was "Can WE make this, Gram?" - Yes, I knew the quilt sample and the kit was there before I brought her.....I figured if she still liked it, I would make it for her. Since she indicated she would like US to make it, I'm even more pleased. Miss Thang stays with us every other weekend, so we got started and made this block combination. Next time is the pink/orange combination.

Time sure flies by....

We went camping with our son and two grandchildren. We slept in the little camper, son and children in a tent on our site. Once again we camped at Lake Lanier, which is close to home. If anyone had a problem (little one was a first time camper) or the weather had been tooo inclement, it would have been easy to go home for a spell. It did rain and thunder the first two nights, but we all stayed dry and the days were great. Our area is still suffering from a bad drought. You can see in the photos how the lake has gone down. The water usually goes right up to the trees, and the depth post is usually under water at the end of the swimming area. (first pole photo this year, second post photo last year)

Even just last year, which was bad, the pole was still in the water- you can see where the water should have been. Needless to say, we were blown away to see how much worse things were this year.