Shirley Anne’s Heart

Posted By drsao on October 9, 2010

We went APPLE PICKING today – what an adventure.  If you have never been to Carter Mountain to pick apples then you just might want to hop over to Charlottesville, VA to have some fun.  I think EVERYONE in the entire state of VA was there today having fun!  The apples were nice – the cider donuts were divine – and the traffic made me feel like I was back home in CALIFORNIA!  It was fun spending time with my VA family! 

Enjoy the pictures – the scenery was just breathtaking.  I wish I lived on a farm.  I would have alpaca, sheep, llamas, apple trees and grapes! 

Category: Apple Picking 2010, Life Comments, SAO's Family, SAO's Grandangels | No Comments »
Tags:

Posted By drsao on October 8, 2010

I went into Quilter’s Corner last week to pick up a couple of quilts (YES THAT MEANS MY BINDING CHAIR IS NOT GOING DOWN VERY FAST) and I just gasped when I entered and saw the Swirly Girls display of their new fabric  line.  I mean the hairs on my arms just STOOD STRAIGHT UP.   I was sincerely impressed.   ABSOLUTELY BEAUTIFUL FABRIC!

Just look at the pictures of all of these fat quarter bundles, quilts, pillows, bolts – just luscious fabrics.  CONGRATS TO SUSAN AND CHRIS on this fantastic design accomplishment.  You will all want to check it out when you visit Quilter’s Corner during the Tour de Quilt next week.  HERE IS A PREVIEW OF THE SWIRLY GIRLS DISPLAY (and I have to give a big shout out to Catherine for creating the fabric design board – a true work of art – extremely impressive – you honestly just can’t stop looking at it!)

Tour de Quilt is October 14 – 17 (Thursday, Friday and Saturday 9 am – 8 pm) (Sunday noon – 5 pm)  As part of the refreshments at Quilter’s Corner, my daughter, Christi,  is making her annual QUILTER’S CORNER TOUR DE QUILT PUMPKING BREAD – only this year she is making the same bread in the shape of cute little muffins with chocolate chips included.  She tested this new idea  on the family this week – I think they are OK – in three days we have eaten all but 10 of the 96 muffins she made!)  Come try them – I hope to see you there!

Category: Life Comments, Quilt Shops, Quilter's Corner, Swirly Girls 2010, Tour de Quilt 2010 | No Comments »
Tags:

Posted By drsao on October 8, 2010

I have been having fun working on my SECOND Bonnie Hunter Carolina Crossroads Quilt – but I am not showing many pictures yet – I am waiting for the BIG EFFECT at the end.  I had all of the blocks made and then decided that I LIKED IT SO MUCH that I was going to ENLARGE IT (don’t you hate it when that happens – I even had them all laid out ready to sew into rows.)  So I have started making OOODLES  (and I mean oodles – look at all of these 1 1/2″ squares in each block!) more of all of the pieces……STAY TUNED…..but here is a preview of what  four of the blocks look like……

Carolina Crossroads II

I have fallen in love with the COLONIAL BLUE / BUTTERNUT combination and have my heart set on a quilt for myself with those colors…..maybe Bonnie’s NEXT MYSTERY?  It is coming in November…….are you joining along – if you want to do the mystery quilt you can find it at www.quiltville.com. 

Every month the Colonial Piecemakers Quilt Guild in Williamsburg has a block of the month.  You can make as many as you want and when you turn them in you get your name in a drawing for every block you turn in.  I have NEVER won yet – so I am just HOPING that this will be my TIME in November.  I made TWO of the blocks……  I just love stars and gold and blue would make a nice quilt.  SO……cross your fingers, kiss a shamrock, adopt a pet rock, do a quilt dance, or whatever else you can think of to bring me good luck.  I WANT TO WIN THE BLOCKS!!!! (Yes, I guess I was shouting a bit – I got excited!  :))

Colonial Piecemaker's BOM for November

Ok – so moving on from QUILTY STUFF TO FOOD – look at this dinner.  ALL FRESH VEGGIES sauteed with jalapeno peppers, black pepper and olive oil.  OH MY WAS IT EVER GOOD.  Thanks Catherine for pointing out the package of fresh veggies at Tom Leonards for ONLY $1.99.  I can’t wait to go back and get more.  It was SOOOOOOOOOOOO YUMMY!

sao's VEGGIE DELIGHT

AND NOW FOR THE FAMILY STUFF…..

Every time I think about this I smile.  My grandangel, Leanna (AKA NANNA), just started high school this fall and she is really enjoying it.  Last week, each day dictated that they dress a certain way…..and mis-match day was my FAVORITE.  Just look – you have to smile…..isn’t it awful -ly GOOD!

Leanna on MISMATCH DAY

Category: Carolina Crossroads II, Life Comments, Nanna MISMATCH DAY '10, Quilts in Progress | No Comments »
Tags:

Posted By drsao on October 3, 2010

If you like fiber – to spin, to weave, to knit or crochet with – to produce felted pieces with or to use in your mixed media art projects -then I highly RECOMMEND the Fiber Festival!  It is over this year but look for it next year in Montpelier, VA.   Even if you don’t want any fiber you might want to go look at the beautiful animals – or go to eat the chicken and fried sweet potatoes!  It was a fabulous feast for the eyes……and for the touch.  There is nothing so silky as alpaca……..oh,  I am in love with it. 

Let’s see – adding to my TO DO LIST

– Think about getting an angora bunny

– Think about knitting an alpaca sweater

– Think about felting an alpaca embellished silk scarf

– Think about getting some alpacas to go on the FARM that I am going to think about that will be behind my BED AND BREAKFAST that I am going to be thinking about.  Hey, they say it is the THOUGHT that counts  – so I am going to KEEP THINKING!

– Think about getting a spinning wheel – REALLY – it looks like so much fun!

Even though my voice has suddenly departed (somehow some cold germs have inhabited my body) it was a GLORIOUS DAY. It was also filled with added adventure.  First  Catherine, Margaret and I diagnosed the meaning of the little red exclamation point on her car’s dashboard.  It was a simple solution – WE put air in the tires.  I say WE because I screwed a couple of the little knobs back on.  Catherine said that Margaret and I looked like we were a NASCAR TEAM – but hey we had to run around the car from tire to tire because we were paying for this air and we had limited time before we had to put in more quarters…..but WE DID IT!

THEN the GENERAL consensus of the party was that sao needed to alter her footwear.  I was wearing FIT FLOPS and Margaret pointed out that we were about to embark on a day walking around on a field of wet grass.  SO our next adventure led us to a WALMART – that we just happened to find on the way – where I got a pair of MUCK BOOTS…..and I bought socks and wore a double pair.  I HAD COZY HAPPY FEET the rest of the day!

I never saw so many beautiful fibers – alpaca, angora, wools, wool blends – the colors, the displays – it was just wonderful.  I got some orange baby alpaca yarn for my socks that I am going to start knitting TONIGHT.  Hey, 2010 is almost over and I need to meet my goal of knitting a pair of socks.  I am super inspired – that is for sure!  And the animals were just adorable.  I came SO CLOSE to giving myself an angora bunny for Christmas!

Enjoy the pictures!  Sorry Janie – I looked for a sheep with a black face to photograph for you but I didn’t see one!  There were plenty of other cute ones to look at though.  🙂

Category: CATHERINE, Fiber Festival 2010, Life Comments | 2 Comments »
Tags:

Posted By drsao on October 2, 2010

This was a really great day – the weather was PERFECT – we had lots of wonderful SHOW AND TELLS – Pat Speth  (national writer and quilt teacher) gave the program, Augusta Cole (Queen of the Cutting Bees – writer, and quilt teacher) joined our guild, Catherine gave the funniest product demo ever, and Margaret was a visitor – and these are only a FEW of the highlights of the Colonial Piecemaker’s Quilt Guild meeting today!

I took lots of pictures of the SHOW AND TELLS – I especially love the pictures of just a quilt with LEGS!  I think you will enjoy the pictures of all of Pat Speth’s quilts – oh my – there are SO MANY THINGS YOU CAN DO WITH 5 inch SQUARES!!!!  Pat was entertaining and inspiring.  It is pretty amazing to see how changing fabric and arrangement of the same blocks can result in so many variations.  GREAT PROGRAM.

I was so excited to see August Cole there today – and then when I found out that she had joined I was even more excited.  EVERYONE MARK JANUARY 29th, 2011 on your calendars – August just told me today that  that is the date for the NEXT CUTTING BEE.  I have done it the past two years in a row and I have had a great time – I don’t want to miss it!  Her CUTTING BEE classes fill up at the Hampton Quilt Show – so here is your chance to get in on the fun!

Oh my – Catherine – our product guru amazed and entertained us with her latest TOTE BAG – yes, it really is made from a bag of cat food…..yes, for real.  What a way to reuse, repurpose, recycle – whatever you want to call it!!!!!  And the hat with the little windmills on it – priceless!!!  Catherine was SO FUNNY!!!!!  We should all go out and buy stock in dry kitty food in large bags – but only the ones that have CUTE BAGS!

Now if the quilt guild meeting weren’t exciting enough – just add onto that a trip to CARRABAs for lunch (I had a salad with eggplant and goat cheese that was VERY GOOD) and then some great times at the YANKEE CANDLE “DISNEYLAND” where we got to enjoy the SNOW, followed by a trip to Tom Leonard’s where I got the biggest and “BESTEST” pumpkins ever!  I love fall and everything about it – so these pumpkins really made me smile!  BY THE WAY I love Tom Leonard’s.  This was my first trip there and I fell in love with the store.  I can’t wait to go back…..I wanted everything I saw – the produce was outstanding!  Sigh….so many exciting things to do and places to go…….and NOT ENOUGH TIME TO DO IT ALL!

Enjoy the pictures of the GREAT DAY! Catherine, Margaret and I plan to have another adventure tomorrow at the Sheep and Alpaca Festival….or is it the Sheep and Llama Festival……maybe it is the Sheep and Goat Festival…..I am pretty sure it isn’t Lambs and Llamas…..well, just stay tuned – I will let you know where we went, I will take pictures and post them later!  🙂

Category: Colonial Piecemakers, Quilt Guild | 1 Comment »
Tags: