Sunday Quilting Upate

I have finally done some sewing and have some time to post about it. The first thing I had to do when I came home from our wonderful vacation was prepare an EQ6 club lesson. I had my monthly club meeting on the 18th. So I spent some time in EQ6.

Here is block 8.
Then I drew the next two Caribbean Sea blocks in EQ6 and sewed them. For block 8 I even scanned the fabric into EQ6 I was going to use to see how it would look. Even at the last minute I did change one of the colors. I used a less busy light purple. It turned out to be a better choice. I made those two blocks.
Block 9

Next it was time to work on the next section of the Washington Medallion quilt. This is a checkerboard border with a floating border in between it and the previous sections. I still have to figure out the math for the floating border. So the checkerboard is just hanging for now.

Finally one of my friends from church asked me to quilt a baby quilt for her first grand baby and since a daughter is getting married on the 11th she asked me to do the binding also. I like the quilting but I was paying more attention to being artistic, and it maybe quilted too heavily for a baby quilt. I have the binding on two of the four sides, all by machine. Here it is just before I took it off the frame.

Vacation Video

I saw this on Kyle & Alli's blog and just had to try it. Too much fun!! I was told this is too short but if you want to see more pictures go to my webshot album.

Vacation Day 11 Going Home

Just because it is lour last day doesn't mean we didn't take time to be tourist. We rode the Miami-Dade Metro rail from start to finish. This is something my honey wanted to do so I was glad to do it with him. I mean he did go to all those quilt shops with us. So here he is, he sure looks like a tourist. Linda told us not to look like tourist, but I think we failed. Plus he keep singing his song "It's almost time to go home" He is more excited about going home than I am. But this is my old stomping grounds. I saw a museum on the way back that I didn't know about and neither did Linda. The Museum of South Florida. I guess I have an excuse to come back again.


Of course Linda and I got one more quilt shop in, The Quilt Scene. It was a very nice shop and very friendly people. They even let me take a picture of this spectacular quilt. It is from the book French Braid Obsession by Jane Hardy Miller. It is gorgeous! She works at this shop and was there on Thursday and will be there on Saturday to do a book signing. Of course I'm there on Friday. I have her first book but haven't made it yet. They had great patterns there and great kits. I purchased one kit, Take 2 to Boston, but I'll name mine Take 2 to Key West. The fabrics are all batiks and you get two quits out of the fabric. Who knows when I'll make that one.

We had a great lunch and I forgot the name of the restaurant, but it was very good. Then back to Linda's house to do some EQ6 stuff and than she took us to the air port. Here I am getting on the plane. It was a very good trip. Linda is a marvelous hostess and a dear friend. I'm so glad she is in my life. My honey was a great traveling companion even when he gets frustrated not knowing where he is. He was so out of his element.

It's good to be home. OK to be back at work. I'm glad my updates are all done, so many be I can do some sewing now. This takes a lot of time deciding which pictures to do and what to write. But it has been fun! I was able to finish this last one while waiting for AAA to come jump my car, the battery is dead. So I used my time wisely. Now I'm going to study my lesson more I'm teaching on Sunday.

Vacation Day 10 Fort Lauderdale & Delray Beach

Our last full day in FL. So sad but all good things must come to an end. This was a Linda and Mary day and we let Richard tag along. First stop return the rental car. Next we went to a cross stitch shop, I came out without spending any money. There were a ton to patterns. Since I had a hard time seeing the Aida cloth to do Linda's gift and couldn't see the linen at all I decided I not to get any patterns. I know I won't do them. I'm saving my eyes for the last two Christmas stocking I hope to do some day for a future son & daughter in-laws.
Next stop Fort Lauderdale quilt shop, Once Upon A Quilt, nice little shop it had been featured in Quilt Sampler. The poor gal on the counter had no sense of humor. My honey came into the shop and started making jokes about "do you have quilts for sale?" "How about that one for $30" Of course the kit alone was $75. She just didn't get it, so he went and sat in the car. Most shops he pulls that on just go alone with him. I found one more piece of fabric I needed for my new project and a reference book I wanted.
Next stop a doll store but it was closed on Thursday for the summer hours. Bummer, didn't they know we were coming.

So we drove alone the beach at Delray, Boca Raton, the ocean was choppy today but the weather was gorgeous, nice breeze. Here is a picture of my "Desert Rat" husband and how he enjoys the beach.

Here is how I enjoy the beach, with my feet in the water. It looks like we took a picture of each other at the same time. I seldom knew when he was taking pictures of me so on many of his pictures I'm squinting in the sun or talking. I ended up finding some nice sea shells, they all have small holes in them and I plan to use them as embellishments on a sea shell quilt I have planned.

Vacation Day 9 Orlando & Visit with Ed & Sharon

It must be Wednesday, it's been hard to keep track of days, as much as I don't want to go home and I would like to stay longer. I do have a lovely home and a job to return to. So I have keep track of the days. Today is quilt shop day in Orlando. I have restricted myself to only two shops. I found them on Google and I was very pleased with them. Today my husband just stayed in the car and listened to radio via his phone.
The first shop I went to was The Quilter's Cove. Denise at the store was very helpful and gave us good directions to find the shop. Which really helped since we found Orlando very confusing to find our way around. It was a nice clean and bright shop with some nice sample. Denise showed me a project she was working on which is very cute. Maybe if I had grand kids I would make it but not now. I purchased some fabric. She kindly gave me the directions to the other shop I wanted to go to and a Shop Hop passport so I would know all the other shops in the area. I gave that to Linda.

The second shop was The Cornerstone. Here I found some fabric I fell in love with. I mean I could not leave it behind and it had some lovely coordinate fabrics with it. I decided to make a Yellow Brick Road out of the fabric and I was easily able to find a few more fat quarters to make a lap size quilt. I left with enough of the theme fabric for the borders and a resting border fabric. It will look lovely. Now when will I make it?? Not this week. I haven't taken a picture of it yet. OK I got up and took a picture. Here it is. The colors are so much better in person.

After my quilting fix we headed to Lakeland Fl to see my youngest brother Ed, his wife Sharon & son Teddy. Here we are in front of the quilt I made for them as a wedding gift in 2000. My husband tried to tell me they just hung it for our visit. I told him I don't, care, they cared enough to have it out when I was there. I still think it is a permanent place. I was amazed at how much Ed looks like our Dad, but with more hair. My Dad was bald, he use to tell people he gave his hair to me, when I was 9 or so because I had hair down to my waist.

Here is son Teddy, playing in the pool and keeping cool.
We had a really nice visit. We looked at the pictures I have taken of Don & Kathy. Ed & Sharon's wedding pictures, and pictures Ed has of us as kids. That was really fun. Ed made us a great Lasagna dinner. My Dad was a great cook, we loved it when he cooked. He was also the cook on his shift as a fireman. Don is a good cook, so his wife tells me, he was also the cook on his shift as a fireman/paramedic. George my brother in TX also likes to cook, he made this wonderful French Onion Soup one time when I visited. I guess the boys got the cooking gene in this family. I can cook and I'm a good one when I put my mind to it, but I just don't like to cook. That's strange I sure like to eat.
We spent the rest of the evening traveling back to Miami. Even that had it's adventures. We hit about three hard summer rain storms. The rain was so heavy in the first storm that we were going 30 miles an hour on the interstate and could only see 1 to 2 car lengths in front of us. Scary! Lucky for us a break in the weather came just as we were at Venice Beach and we took a break for ice cream, for me to put my feet in the gulf and to watch the sun set. You can see the storm behind me and here are the last of the sun set.

The rain followed us all the way to Miami for it rain the next morning in Miami and since we are been home AZ it has started to rain. Usually it doesn't start raining here until June or July.

Vacation Day 8 Epcot

It's Tuesday we must be at Epcot. Here is a picture my husband took with his phone. We arrived just before 10:00 AM and left about 8:30 PM. We did a lot of walking and a lot of standing. The day before I left on my vacation I had seen my podiatrist for pain I have had in my right ankle. Luckily there is no tear in the ligament but he wants me in a boot for 6 weeks. I have been wearing it when ever I have done a lot of walking. It's big, black & very hot in this humid climate of central FL. I did wear it all day long here. I have to admit my ankle feels better.
We enjoyed our visit it here a lot. It is very expensive and I don't know how families afford it. There are some serious fans here you recognize them by all the Disney stuff they are wearing. We saw some honeymooners, the bride wears white Mickey ears with a veil and the groom wears Black Mickey ears with a little top hat in the center. They also wear buttons that say Just Married.

Disney World wants to celebrate what ever you are celebrating so there are buttons for Birthdays, anniversaries and First Visit. Here is a picture of one our pins. It was Richard's first visit, I was there in 1984, so I wore one also, since it was my first visit with my honey and in 25 years.
Our favorite ride was Soaring, we took it twice. The next one was Test Track. It started to rain while we were there and we walked around in the rain, we didn't car. Disney made a killing on selling rain ponchos, we didn't support that venture. While waiting to ride Test Track they closed the ride because of rain but allowed us to wait in line if the rain stopped it would start again. We were able to finish the ride and it is a wild one. At the end when you are out side we were rained on. They stopped the ride because of the rain just as we got off. We felt very lucky. We cheered when we got off and one of the cast crew told us to be quiet, because we were louder than the announcer. What's up with that? Can't we be excited??
Here we are after the ride in the display are of cars in the future.


I don't look any worst for being rained on do I?

Vacation Day 7 Shuttle & arrving in Orlando

Monday the 11th finds us renting a car and traveling North up I-95.
So you may be wondering what is in this picture besides cloudy skies? Well I'll tell you it is the shuttle Atlantis taking off for the Hubble Space telescope. We had planned to be closer to the take off, but we were a little late leaving Miami and we took too long for lunch. I was looking East since I knew it was close to take off and I saw this bright flash. Of course I wasn't able to take a picture of that. I took about 6 pictures but this one is the best. While standing in lines at Epcot I learned that watching a shuttle take off was a big thing and I meet many people who took the kids out of school to see the take off. They also waited 6 to 8 hours to watch the take off. One of those people happens to be a doctor I know from the hospital I work at. Can you imagine all those people in Epcot & I run into him place a co worker I know from Phoenix. What are the odds of that?

We got lost in Orlando looking for the LDS Temple, our Google map was not accurate. Richard meet a nice man who knew the lovely large white building and he directed us in the right direction. He had us follow him for awhile to get us to the right place. There sure are nice people in the world. We had been hoping to go to the temple but it was closed for maintenance.

It was late in the day by the time we checked in to our hotel room in Walt Disney World. We had dinner and a swim in the pool.

Vacation Day 6 Everglades National Park

Happy Mother's Day! My turned out to be very pleasant two of my three kids called me to wish me Happy Mother's Day! We took it easy today, we went to breakfast with Linda and two of her friends down in Homestead. I know one of the gals also. It is always nice to visit and catch up with old acquaintances and meet new people.

Our next stop was the Everglades National Park. After touring the visitors center we drove over to one of the planned walking tours on an elevated boardwalk. The Mahogany Hammocks are so different from the Saw Grass prairies in the Everglades. It made a nice contrast to the sights we saw on Wednesday during the air boat ride. Unfortunately the only critters we saw were the two deer flies that bit my leg. I could feel that happening. They are still red and itchy a week later. Those darn bugs! It was also hot and humid and we decided one walking tour was enough for us. Just call us wimps.
Our next stop was Robert is Here.. tropical fruit stand. I bought some of my favorite mango jelly, coconut spread, key lime juice and jelly candies. Linda bought some mangos and others fruits and veggies. We had mangos for breakfast for several days and they were very good. We also had a milk shake, I had a mango and key lime shake, which was excellent. I think it was the best milk shake I have ever had in my life. It makes my mouth just water thinking about it. They ship fruit and stuff, too bad they cannot ship the shakes. I would order one right now!
The rest of the day we spent at Linda's home just relaxing and all. Linda is also a quilter so we spent some time in her sewing room, playing with fabric and discussing quilting ideas and plans. She cooked us an excellent dinner. I have eaten some good food here, I hope I fit into my work pants when I get home.

Vacation Day 5 Lauderdale by the Sea, Visit with Don & Kathy

Saturday May 9 found Linda and us in Fort Lauderdale.

I moved to Fort Lauderdale when my Dad retired from the NYC fire department in 1959 when I was 11. Here is a picture of me and my then 2 brother George 9 & Donald 7 in front of our home. Unfortunately we can't see our house. That first year in Florida was very interesting. My Dad always wanted to move to Florida after he was a caddy at Aurthur Godfrey's golf course in Miami Beach when he was in his 20, so we moved. It was very much an adventure for me. We stayed in a motel in Pompano Beach for a week until my parents found a house to buy and a school to enroll us in. I remember my Dad saying that was the fastest he ever bought a house. They paid $12,500 for it, you can't buy a car for that now. Anyway my parents weren't sure if they liked it in Florida or not, one day my Mom won't like it, another day by Dad won't like it. If they had ever not liked it on the same day we would have been back in Whitestone NY. About a year after we moved into the house my parents finally bought curtains for all the windows, they had decided to stay.
As a kid I loved it, my Dad worked a job that had him home by 3 PM and we went to the beach everyday. In the summer the winter visitors left town and if you saw 3 cars on US 1, that was a lot of cars. Friday nights my Dad would take us to a drive in movies. My Mom was pregnant with my youngest brother and I'm sure she enjoyed the peace and quite. For a couple of years when I was in high school we joined a Beach Club to swim at all summer long. We were living it up. We didn't have air in the house for a long time, my Dad did add it.

Here I am my Senior Year Sept of 64 in front of the house. I went to Cardinal Gibbons High School.



So Linda took us by my old house, but it has changed. Here is how it looks today.

We had lunch at a restaurant right on the beach by Lauderdale by the Sea. After lunch we walled on the pier.

Linda took me to a quilt shop, Richard stayed in the car. The poor guy has been to every quilt shop in AZ, and several now in FL, CO, CA. He is defiantly a quilt widower.

Next stop my brother Donald's house. He is 5 years younger than me. Here is a picture of him on his wedding day and a picture of us now. They were married in 1981. We had a great visit catching up and remembering our childhood.




Well I half way through my vacation and I'm going to take a break and do some sewing, something I haven't done in a few weeks. More to come. I hope this isn't too boring for you all but I'm also doing this for my kids so they have a little record of my childhood.

Vacation Day 4 Key West

Friday May 8 found us in Key West, we took the Conch Tour Train to see a lot of sights and to hear some of the history of the island. Cayo Hueso means island of bones, but the English pronunciation became Key West. The Spanish found a lot of bones on the island, thus the name. Here is a historical plaque at the Southern most point and the picture of us there.


We also saw the Little White house, were President Trueman stayed when he was in Key West.



Here we are your typical Key West tourist ready for the beach!


We took more pictures of the biggest Banyan tree I ever seen. It is in front of The Banyan Resort and it crosses a drive way into another section of the yard.


On the drive home we stopped on the old 7 mile bridge and took more pictures. My husband was amazed at how narrow that is. I told him when you drove on it, and a truck was coming towards you from the other direction you thought you had to inhale so your car would be able to past by. Not that it would help, but that is the feeling it created. The new bridge is so much nicer. It was funny to see trees starting to grow on the old bridge. The old rail road rails are really rusting bad. On the old bridge the guard rails were made from the Old Flagler Rail Road rails. (See Webshots for more pictutes.)

Vacation Day 3 Going to Key West & Sunset in Key West

On Thursday Linda loaned us her car and we drove to Key West. Our first stop was John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park. We took a class bottom boat to Molasses's Reef. I didn't take any pictures of the fish from the boat because I could not figured out how to turn off my flash on my camera. I haven't up loaded any of the pictures I took from the boat on our trip out to the reef. If you want to see more pictures of my trip with out the story go to my webshots album. Use this link here or the link on my sidebar.
Here is the view that we watched while eating our lunch.


Here we are enjoying our desert after lunch which was a pineapple and coconut ice cream cone, very good!



This is a sea grape tree, this tree grows a lot in So. Florida, and usually close to the water. The leaves have a waxy film on them. Early settlers use to use them to leave a message at some one's home, if they stopped by to visit and found no one at home. Just a little trivia I learned when I took the Key Biscayne lighthouse tour before I moved from Florida.


This is the entrance sign to the park with e trying not to squint in the sun.

Below are many of the pictures I took while watching the sun setting in Key West, we had dinner while watching. A very relaxing way to spend an evening. We also watched many of the street entertainers in Mallory Square. After this we took a moon lite walk on the one of the beaches, it was one night away from a full moon, my husband took some pictures on his phone but I don't have his pictures let. Very romantic end to the day.

Richard took this with his blackberry, holding it in his hand, this is while we were waiting for the sun to set.


I was able to take a moonlight walk on the beach. Richard took this picture with his cell phone.

Vacation Day 2 Sites in Miami & Air Boat ride

On day 2 we toured around Miami, down to the Marina, across to Key Biscayne, took lots of pictures of Banyan trees. I have always been fascinated by them and my husband was very impressed with them.

Here is my husband trying to swing from the roots, not really.

One of my other favorite trees are started to bloom and they will be in full color by June, that is a Poinciana.
The highlight of the day was a air boat ride out in the Everglades. Because of a draught we were not able to ride across the saw grass. The water level was down 3 to 4 feet. Up in Broward County there are fires in the Glades. They are waiting for the summer rains to begin.
We did go down one of the canals and we saw lots of alligators and birds. Our guide gave us a lot of information about life in the Everglades. It was very interesting. Here is a little slide show of our adventures in Coopertown, FL. I'm holding a baby alligators in one and Richard is being a he-man with the same gator.