What I Did On My Mini Vacation

Today I am showing my “design ironing board.”  Before we left for Biloxi I pulled fabric for Bonnie Hunter’s Celtic Solstice mystery that starts 11/29/13.  I had pulled blues and bright greens but all of a sudden I decided that I really wanted to do something with purple so I made a change in the green, too.  I think I am going to use the dotted fabric as the neutrals even though I originally pulled black on white prints.




Then we were off to see Kenny G.  He was every bit as good as he is on my albums.  I think I grinned all through the 2 hour program.

















Both on the way to Biloxi and back home we visited some antique malls.  The first thing I bought was this set of shelves.  I love that they have sides and that they rotate up and down.  I also got a copper coffee pot, made in Turkey.  I love copper and have started collecting items for my kitchen.  I hope one day to cover my kitchen island with copper…..someday.  Also on the shelves is a sailor hat.  I looked for one last April when I bought a Navy Middy Blouse for Fred, but I couldn’t find one.  Yesterday I found this one in a mall.  It was $25 but when we got to the register it seems it was 65% off.  Boy, Fred is going to look really good when he gets dressed up to celebrate my father’s birthday month in April.







We also visited two really nice quilt shops on the MS Gulf Coast.  This fabric is from a Northcutt line called Stone Chips (I think).  It was really difficult to choose which fabrics to buy, they were all so luscious. 







The stripe fabric is not from the same line but goes well with it.  However who knows how any of this will get used.











Just when I was ready to move the shelves into the studio, there was Stubby, making herself at home.  I didn’t move her, I just started “walking” the shelves and she decided she didn’t need the aggravation. 












And this is how the shelves are really being used.  I have put the three BOMs I am working on on the shelves.  When I go to make a new block I like to see all of the others up on the design wall so I can make sure the colors are different or a different mixture.  With them on these shelves I don’t have to thumb through other BOMs or blocks to find the one’s I want.  Also they are out in the open where I can see them and, hopefully, keep up.

Not too bad as a beginning of Birthday Month, huh?  There was one other highlight:





I got this on our way to Biloxi.  It was so good that DH bought me two more slices on our way home: there is still one in the refrigerator.  Breakfast?

That’s all folks.  Hope everyone has a great week.    GARI

Kenny G & Me

Guess where we are going?  Guess who we will be seeing and hearing?  I am so excited.  This is an early birthday gift from DH (my birthday is on Thanksgiving this year). 

When I got my HQ I found that I enjoyed quilting best when I was listening to jazz so I started buying Kenny G albums.  He, along with others, has gotten me through a lot of quilts. 





These are the fruits of my labor for the beginning of the week. 


















This is one of the smaller owls.  The pattern calls for a pieced border around but I am thinking that I will use a sashing fabric for each of the blocks.













And this is my most recent fish.  I have tried to use this green fabric a couple of times but this was the first time this fabric fit a fish. 













I also spent this afternoon picking out fabrics for Bonnie Hunter’s new mystery that is starting the day after my birthday.  The colors she has picked out are the ones I used for last year’s mystery so I had to put my thinking cap on and come up with my own combination.  I have pulled yellow, moss green, blue, and rust, for now.  I am not really sure of this as I would really like to use purple, I think.  I really don’t like mysteries because I like to know what I am doing.  But my Easy Street from last year turned out so great that I am willing to give Celtic Solstice a try.

Now, I think I will spend some time cleaning the studio so I don’t loose all those little pieces Bonnie is going to have me/us cut.  I had baggies all over the place last year so I figure it will be the same this time.  And without some clean surfaces I will loose those little parts and just have a mess.  So I have 23 days to get my space ready…..better get at it. 
Gari