places

Fabric and Progress on Hexies

by Karen on February 10, 2013

in Bow Tie Medallion Quilt, Diamonds Are Forever, Inklingo, Lucy Boston--Patchwork of the Crosses, places, quilts

Yesterday Mike and I took a day drive – we drove over towards North East Arkansas to a town called Batesville which has Marshall’s Dry Goods.  I posted about this store  a couple years ago here.  I hadn’t been back to that area since then it is about 2 1/2 hours from us.  I have been running low on white and white prints and I was hoping to find some more really good deals on that type of fabric – but no luck – they had very little in white on white prints – darn – couldn’t let it be a wasted trip though so I bought some other things instead – 16 1/2 yards of fabric for $52!!  and 3 yards of that is a Riley Blake at 3.99 a yard – how sweet – it is the polka dot fabric in the stack below.  I know I said I wasn’t going to be shopping for fabric much this year but I meant full price stuff – not sale stuff Smile  my stash today – the top is a 2 yard piece of white that is 120 inches wide – they had pieces prepackaged I will be able to use it for the back of something.  The next from the top is a “moda marble” type of fabric with a pale yellow 3 yards I think.  The polka dot is Riley Blake 3 yards, the a 1 1/2 yard piece of white on white from the dollar table, then a 3 yard piece of a RJR? fabric and the red/white batik is 4 yards.  I do not know where all they get fabric from – some of it is good and some isn’t all that great – you have to feel it to know if you like it – I think anyhow as some will have a bit of a stiff feel to it – these that I picked out I liked.  I don’t always like to buy yardage with no plan in mind but I should be able to use these for something even if it is backs.

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So that took up a big part of yesterday then last night I put Netflix on – I am watching 3 series on it right now, last night I watched 2 shows “Nikita” I am on the first season and I finished one more of the Patchwork of the Crosses blocks.

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And I got started on another one -

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Friday I made more of the diamond hexies – here are all of them up on the wall that I have done -  and thank you all so much for your opinions on the background fabric – right now I am leaning towards white – with the brown as a second choice.  I well decide on that much later.  I think I still need about 200 of these!!

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On Friday I also got more quilting done on the Bow Tie Medallion – which I have not been doing a lot of work on – still having a little arthritis problem in my right thumb so I have not been able to get a lot of quilting done (at the quilting frame I tend to use my thumb a lot) – it doesn’t seem to bother me when hand piecing though as I do not use my thumb so much.  So I think this catches me up on what I have been doing the last couple of days – a little yard work was thrown in also – I was going to go to the fitness center on Friday afternoon but then changed my mind and worked in the yard for about 45 minutes instead two times.  I really need to start doing more of that.

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So how is your weekend going – everyone out east digging out from the storm? hope you all have your power back on if you lost it – sure is too cold to be without it!

Ok I just proof read all this and I’m tired! I think I have done enough – I might have to rest today!!! LOL  (I doubt it – I don’t know how to sit and do nothing) Smile

{ 12 comments }

A Little Shopping While Traveling

by Karen on September 30, 2012

in places, Travel

I managed to stop at 4 quilt shops while traveling.  I  went crazy!!  What can I say – I celebrated my 60th birthday while visiting my daughter.  I get to pick out my presents from Mike – he doesn’t like to pick things out as he knows quilt shops are my favorites and it is better that I choose from from quilt shops myself as I know what I want!

On this trip I stopped at 4 shops as I said – 3 were in Wisconsin and 1 was on the way home in Hannibal, Missouri.

I visited Millhouse Quilts in Waunakee, JJ Stitches in Sun Prairie,and  My Sister’s Quilt Shop in Sheboygan and Hickory Stick in Hannibal.

I must admit I went the craziest in Hickory Stick, MO — they had a good sale room – what can I say -I have no quilt shops near by here– I had to make up for it seeing as that store was right across the street from what we went to visit there on the way home – Mark Twain’s boyhood home.

My purchases:

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I love these two books – the Bowtie Medallion quilt needs a little applique on the border and I thought what better than some hexie’s! tiny ones of course – that means it might not be done when Joseph’s Coat comes off of the frame but that is ok, I have two small quilts waiting in line also – one of them can go on it while I work on the border.

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I’m not sure what this bundle will be used for but it was half price 20 fat quarters for $30.00

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I have 20 fat quarters of these prints – I think it is called “Grace” by Moda – 3 sisters?  I can’t find anything on the salvage.  Not sure what to do with them at this moment but at half price I will find a pattern.

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I thought these would go well with the brown bundle that I won awhile back – maybe a log cabin – the pieces in the back are 1/2 yard cuts and the others are fq’s.

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These I thought would go great with the Common Bride quilt.

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I have wanted to try these sticky thimbles for awhile – I will let you know how they work.

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Hard to get a photo of these – 1 inch hexies in plastic with a punch hole in the center to pin while you baste.

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So yes I went crazy – at least I can say a lot of it was on very good sales and I paid no shipping and handling like I usually do Smile

When I say I have no quilt shop near by I really mean it – to me near by is less than 30 miles and the closest shop is about 85 miles from me – I don’t like to drive that far and then not find what I want – in all directions the shops are about 85 miles from here.

{ 18 comments }

Parks and Quilts

by Karen on August 18, 2012

in animals, Inklingo, Joseph's Coat, Lucy Boston--Patchwork of the Crosses, places, quilts

Last night was the first pleasant night that I can recall that was perfect for a walk out at the lake – and this was actually the first time this entire summer that I felt like doing that!  It had just been too hot.

Such a nice evening and we were lucky to see a mink searching for food last night just before  sunset.  It is not a really good photo of him, but he was too skittish to get very close to him and this was with the zoom lens.

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And other of him, he ran back around us and I got him in a different position.  I don’t know why I didn’t realize they were quite so small.

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A variety of cypress trees that grow near the lake.

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these are the seed pods up close – kind of weird looking

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This is the visitor center at Lake Dardanelle State Park

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The next POTC block started.  This one is #18 – a little blurry – sorry about that – I will take another photo when it is finished.

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I decided to go with the aqua and green batik for the squares that join all the blocks – I will put 4 blocks together soon so I can show you all how it looks and also so I can make more progress Smile  I have a lot of pre-cut 6 inch squares (plus more yardage) of these two fabrics that I was going to use for another project several years ago that turned into a table topper instead of a full size quilt – I need to use up these squares and thought it would be perfect for this project.  The joining squares are 1 1/2 inch with the seam allowance included.  For those that don’t remember this is an Inklingo project where you print your templates on fabric from your computer.

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I finished the last little bit of a row  on Joseph’s Coat last night and gave the quilt another crank down – almost the end in sight now – Row number 10 the last section is still to be unrolled.  So nice to know the end is almost in sight!

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It is cloudy today and so far not hot! Time for me to do something other than sitting at the computer or sewing – have a great weekend everyone.

{ 11 comments }

The Old Mill

by Karen on February 26, 2012

in places

Scheduled post:  In North Little Rock there is a really pretty Old Mill that is surrounded by a park.  We visited our daughter on Thursday and before we headed home we stopped at the park to take a walk and I wanted to take some photos to share.

In the opening scene of the movie “Gone with the Wind”featuring Scarlett O’Hara back in the civil war days – the opening scene is the Old Mill.  This is the center piece of the park.

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A beautiful swan and ducks.

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You can imagine in another month or so when all the leaves on the trees start and the flowering trees and bushes come in how pretty it is.

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A close up of the swan

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Camellia’s in bloom.

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Daffodils

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Looking down at the water wheel from the top floor of the mill.

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{ 9 comments }

Joplin, Missouri

by Karen on July 2, 2010

in places

Here we are at our first stop along our journey.  We did not travel far today and are barely out of our home state of Arkansas.  Tomorrow’s drive will be about the same distance, slightly longer and we will be further from Arkansas and camping the weekend in southeastern Nebraska.  It was very hot when we got here as expected and little shade for the camper.  We turned the A/C on after we got set up and then went to find some air conditioning for a walk.  We are on the outer edges of Joplin Missouri. It was too hot and sunny to really do anything so we just found a mall and walked two miles inside it.  This evening we will probably walk around the campground a little and look it over.

Malls are not something I enjoy all that much anymore.  There was a time when I did a lot of mall shopping  – now I tend to only shop when I need something.  But malls do come in handy on hot days when you have traveled for a good part of the day and  just want to walk and stretch after sitting for long spells.  Ok — it was only a 5 hour trip today including the stop for lunch :) but that is long for me.  I do not like to sit for hours on end in the vehicles.  I am constantly up and down all day normally – sitting for hours is not what I like.

When we first moved to Arkansas – in the central part of the state it was a long drive to NW Arkansas to visit my family.  The interstate 540 was not there then.  We would drive on old highway 71 which is known as scenic – but very twisty and curvy up through the Boston Mountains.  (serpentine curves) After the interstate went in it cut the 3 to 4 hour drive down to 2 hours and 20 minutes :)   nice!  Seeing as we used to enjoy parts of the highway we decided today as we were on no schedule to cut over to the highway after we were well up into the mountains.  There is a rest area that is quite pretty and would be just right for lunch.  Then we would drive the 20 miles through the tiny towns back to the interstate 540.

The old rest area was given a face lift and we were pleased with what we found.  Now there is a loop trail – only 1/3 mile but nice for a walk after lunch.  There is an area where you can cut down to the river and walk along side of it.

I didn't think to take my camera when we started the loop trail so Mike took these with his phone.

some of the water - we got our feet wet when crossing sections. It felt good!!

the trees are so pretty the way they overhang the river. This river is called the West Fork of the White River. The water was very low today but still enjoyable.

These benches are now scattered throughout the park.

It was really nice seeing this old rest area again and it really looked more like a picnic ground than a rest area.  It used to be packed with the big semi-trucks – which is the reason it took so long to travel the road (besides the steep curves of course) – there would be so much truck traffic that it made it not enjoyable to drive this route – now that we have driven a few sections of it over the years we might just do the whole highway next time we go to visit the family.

I did get a little applique done today – I will post a photo in a day or two after some progress is made – now I am going to get my shoes on and see about a walk around the campground.

{ 13 comments }

“Monticello” Thomas Jefferson’s house and lands

by Karen on May 10, 2009

in Dear Jane - "Insanity Revisited", places

3518504214_892b24b3e7On Friday after leaving our camp we drove straight to Charlottesville to see Thomas Jefferson’s house which we love and have seen several times in the past.  This is more of a side view of the house but I think I put a link to a site with plants-023photo’s of the house so I won’t do that again.

Around the back of the house is actually the side I like best   :)   the gardens.  I’m talking vegetables, orchard, grapes, you name it if it can grow in the area he tried it and the garden people at the site take care of it all and has it looking like it did then.  This photo on the left is part of the vegetable garden! yes just part.  I love it – it reminds me so much of the garden we had when I was growing up – it wasn’t this big, but it was long like this and not quite 3518458020_9645174e6ato so wide.

Since we had been there last a new visitor center and store, theater and museum were also built.  Here is a photo of that area.  The house is at the top of a very tall hillside, the visitor center is at the bottom of the hill near the parking lot so it does not detract from the mansion.  A shuttle bus has to be taken from the parking lot to the mansion, about a 1/2 mile to mile drive I believe.  If you are ever in that area it is very well worth the trip to see it – allow a half day if you want to take any or all of the tours.

Now on to my quilting.  I don’t think I have posted any of the photo’s of what little quilting I have done in the 9 days 3516457735_c6f081d070since we left the house!  Here is a Dear Jane square on the right – G1 I don’t remember the 3516457745_17b45078f9name and do not have the book handy.  On the left is my work space in the motorhome.   I am working on G2 in this photo.   We normally leave the bed made up for days on end inside of using it as the dinette area – it is easier to leave it made and not have to put the bed together at night.  We have 3 captains chairs on the opposite end so it is not a problem with only the two of us here.

I do not think I will be back on the computer for the next 4 days or so – maybe longer.  We will be at the Shenadoah National Park until the 15th – I do not think they have wireless in the park and then on to a state park in Northern Maryland.  I might have to resort to a bookstore somewhere that has wireless.  I will post more photo’s when I can.  If we have a rainy day we just might load the computers in the car and look for internet cafe.

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