Who I Am Makes A Difference

One

In the Sun...

It was a nice day yesterday to play with a little sun painting. After collection all my supplies, I realized I didn't have any more sponge brushed. I searched the house to improvise, and I came across one of those foam sponges in the kitchen, well I think it works so much better than the brushes, cost wise probably not, but I employed one that was moderately used, and it was great.

I let it bath in the sun for an hour...
Here is the result...

Then I stamped it...and later I will quilt and embellish it.

No photos today...

My aching body...Yesterday Dan and I attempted to race (Sailing) in 20mph winds. Needless to say we sailed 2 legs of the course when the winds increased, it was too much for us to handled and we abandoned the race. Later in the day we went back to the lake to cover the boat as we didn't bring the cover up with us earlier. I did my third run for the week there.

My 2 daughter's and I doing a triathlon in July as a relay. My part is the 5k run. I've been in serious training now for 6 weeks. Beth and I are taking a beginning running class, through the Training Zone, building endurance, where the goal at the end of the 12 weeks is to run a 5k. The class ends a month before our race, but instructor is going to give us run work outs to do for the time untill our race. Beth is very competitive. She is pushing me to run 10 minute miles, where right now I'm running about a 13 minute mile. Last summer when I started running I was at a 17 mile pace, which Dan thought was a fast walk and not a "run". The two of them are "athletes", Dan has played ice hockey and has since he was 5, through high school, college, now in a men's league. He also ran 15 marathons since 2001. Beth has been a competitive swimmer since she was 9, and also swam in college, now Masters. She ran one 1/2 marathon , a 5k, and will doing 2 additional triathalon by herself this summer as well as the Broad Street Run and few more 5k's. I was a cheerleader, not much of an athlete yet very active, in high school, so long ago, but it was not like today's cheerleaders with all the tumbling. So running is hard for me, Dan learned that when I wore a heart rate monitor one day when running. Now I'm running about 3 miles, 3x a week. I must admit how good it feels after a run.

Cinco de Mayo a.k.a. Salsa

The top is finally done and ready to be quilted. I think I'll call my Cinco de Mayo "Salsa".

Weekend Road Trip

I must be Smarter, I stayed at a Holiday Inn. This past weekend I took a road trip with Beth to Bristol, CT. She was going there to take her Aquatic Exercise Association certification test. I went along to keep her company. It's kind of weird spending an entire day in a hotel room, sewing. I did manage to finish the remaining blocks for my Cinco de Mayo quilt. Now I just need to sew the blocks together, then quilt.

On Sunday, we visited the New England Carousel Museum.

Bristol, Ct. is the "Home of ESPN"

On our trip home, I spotted this fun van as we were cruising South on I-84.

Vintage Embroidery

Sue Reno often shows photos on her blog of vintage textiles that she has collected. This is one I stitched when I was about 8. The fabric is about 9 x 6 inches. My grandmother taught me how to embroider and I still love it, yet I may not be a master, or know thousands of stitches.

Cinco Update

I finally finished sewing all the arch section, now this leaves assembling all the arches within each block together. I was able to follow through with my goals for this project, use each fabric only once and not purchase any new. Stay tuned...

Cinco de Mayo Update

The progress is awesome, I love this project. So far, my goals are still in tack, use each fabric only once, and not purchased any fabric for this project. However, donations will be gladly accepted.

Cinco Update

This is my pile on the floor, sorted by color of those fabrics that have "already been in the game"... The following 3 photos are the the arches, shown with the original fabric next to them, that I painted over to improve the contrast.

This is my wall this morning... I removed all the "corner" pieces for a better view of the arches. You may also notice a few switches took place also. In addition, there were 3 arches that looked a bit pale, so I painted over the fabric spires with a thin layer of paint to show the texture that was already there. They blend in much better now.

Update...

Well, I think I'm making real good progress on this, it has been 3 weeks since I started. The arches are not sewn together yet as this will allow for parts swapping as it progresses.

PS...Grandma is now in Chicago

Cinco de Mayo

Today's history lesson:
Cinco de Mayo - a party to celebrate freedom and liberty. On May 5, 1862, the Mexican army defeated the French army that was twice their size. This victory kept the French from adding soldiers to Confederates which in turn allowed the North to build a majestic army only to defeat the South at Gettysburg, in essence, ending the Civil War.

So I guess that's why this Karen Stone quilt (link is to EQ)is so colorful. This may look intimidating, but it’s simple paper piecing with a multitude of curves, a few re-drafted arches and mitered piecing. So here’s the challenging part, use only my stash, without repeating a fabric used among each arch.

I like to work organized, (but messy) here's how it begins...I strung yarn horizontally and vertically to make 36 - 12 1/2 inch squares on my wall. This is the size of the unsewn blocks.

Then I started adding the arches I have already sewn, placing them in their location/orientation.
Stay tuned for updates, it's going to be timely project...

Before and After: A Day of Cleaning

Not much explanation need here, just a few before and after photos of a day of cleaning...

Before...

After...

Before...

After...

I folded all my left over batting pieces, then labeled their sizes...

Spikes ready to quilt...in my clean room!

Spikes on My Wall...

Now it's assembly time...this is a small version of Judy Niemeyer's 4th of July pattern.

Spikes in Progress...

More spikes sewn today, I'm not sure I like the pastel fabrics in the center, maybe they will become another shade of orange. However, I like the contrast it created in a black and white photo.

More Spikes

I had a chance to sew a few more spikes... think I need a trip to the quilt shop.

Dan had arthroscopic surgery on his right knee yesterday. We arrived at the surgery center at 9:00am, the procedure was at 10am, we left for home at 11:30am...He went up and down the stairs a few times and has not need to use crutches at all, and he's not in any pain today even without drugs, all is going real well.

A Little Bit of Home Dec Sewing

A few years ago I purchased new drapes for the Dining room. I also bought an extra swag to cover the chairs. With the left over fabric, I had planned to make a runner for the table. Well like I said, few years ago, I did recover the chairs but never made that runner until today. This is the drapery fabric and the off white fabric is an old tablecloth I cut to use as the back.

I added the point to each end and pinned it to the back, trimming off the excess. After the sewing was completed, turned and pressed, I added the fringe to the short end that was on the original swag used for the chairs.

Here it is... I wanted the drop with the fringe added to be the length of the tablecloth. It worked out just fine.

Free Stuff

I received this 5 pound box of "goodies" from Deb Lacativa today. These are bundles of carpet fiber samples. They are better than I expected them to be! I shall keep you posted on what I use them for.

I saw this test on several Blogs this morning and thought I'd give it a try... Your Brain is Blue

Of all the brain types, yours is the most mellow.You tend to be in a meditative state most of the time. You don't try to think away your troubles.Your thoughts are realistic, fresh, and honest. You truly see things as how they are. You tend to spend a lot of time thinking about your friends, your surroundings, and your life. What Color is Your Brain?

Photos for Sharing

My son Luke who works for the Post & Courier newspaper in Charleston SC, sent me these photos taken by a staff photographer from Obama's speech which was given at the College of Charleston. Luke graduated C of C in 2003.