Another Finish

I finished another baby quilt.  woohoo!

It's really square, there was just a delightful breeze that kept it from hanging straight.

On to the next one!

A Finish, and a Trip to MO

When I last posted, I left you with a picture of my design wall.  Since that time, I have sewn the borders onto the oceanside houses quilt, and hung it in the closet for quilting, eventually.  Once that was out of sight, it was also out of mind.  whew!

I then took down the first basted baby quilt, and finished it up.  I will ship it to the beautiful baby today.  I had hoped to give it to her mama last week, but by the time I finished it, I was on my way to Missouri.  By the time I returned, her mama was back on the East Coast.  oops!

Last week, I traveled to MO, to attend a baby shower for my daughter-in-law.  I arrived late Thursday afternoon, and left on Sunday.  The shower was on Saturday.  I don't often get a chance to visit one-on-one with this son and daughter-in-law, so it was a special treat.  Here we are, on our way to their home, getting ready to leave the airport.  :)

 Early in the morning, I would sit at their dining room table and watch out the window.  It is so peaceful.  The red red robins are constantly bob bob bobbin' their way around the yard, first thing.  It also rained every day that I was there, over 2"!

 Rabbits are also a frequent sight, busily mowing the lawn.  I didn't get any pictures of the squirrels, but they are a special kind of invader.  While I was there, they stripped the apple tree of its four apples.  My son & DIL were pretty miffed about that.

 The shower was held on Saturday afternoon.  My son was invited to arrive about an hour into the festivities, to assist in opening the presents.

Back in the 90's, my quiltie friends advised me to make baby quilts for the grandkids because "when they arrive, you won't have the time!"  I am very glad that I took that advice.  I began my granddaughter's quilt in 1997, and finished it a couple of years ago.

 I was thrilled when I heard that they painted the room a pale shade of purple.  (Look at that Baptist fan quilting - it is quilted by hand!)

We had a lovely visit.  My husband stayed home this trip, but we plan to go again in a few months, to welcome our new little granddaughter.  I highly recommend taking Alaska Airlines through San Diego to St. Louis.  It is SO comfortable compared to some of the flights we've been on over the past several years.

We currently have a vet student staying with us.  On Monday, she asked if she could watch me quilt.  Turns out, she did not know how to work a sewing machine.  I have several baby quilts ready for quilting, so after demonstrating a few lines of in-the-ditch, I turned the quilt and the machine over to her.  She quilted about 1/4 of the quilt.  I finished it up yesterday.  Today, I hope to cut and attach the binding.  Perhaps I will have a picture by the end of the week.  goals are good!

And on that note, duty calls.  Hope you're all staying cool and finding time to put in a few stitches here and there!

Trip Wrap Up

Our last stop was Venice.  By this time, I was tired, and ready for the cruise to be over and done with.  But it wasn't.  I am so glad we chose the excursion that we chose!  We began with a water bus to the island of Murano, home of the famed glass blowers.  There, we watched a demonstration of a Master at work.

 After seeing the skill needed to produce a bowl, we were invited into the Master's Gallery, to shop.  Everything was well out of our price range, with all of these asking 100's or 1000's of euros.

 It wasn't until we were almost ready to catch our waterbus that we realized there was more for sale downstairs, that was more affordable. 

From there, we went to St. Mark's Square, and hiked a bit to catch our gondola ride.  It was quite reminiscent of Disneyland.  I don't know if you can see (click the picture to make it bigger), but the gondolas were stern to bow to stern to bow as far as you could see.

 It didn't really matter.  We were in Venice!  In a gondola!  :)

 On our way back to the waterbus, we stopped for a few pictures of St. Marks Square.

By this time, I was exhausted.  It was time to return to the ship for one last amazing dinner, where we were serenaded by gondoliers.

 Fast forward to last week, when I finished another little seascape.  I think this brings me to the end of the half-done littles that were on my design wall.  yay!

 There are a couple of lines of beading and French knots on the piece.  I do the French knots first, then fill in with beads.  This picture is a bit blurry, but it gives you the idea.

 I've basted the four baby quilts, which are ready and waiting for quilting.

Unfortunately, I suspect it will be a while before I get them done.  We are expecting a house guest for the next two weeks, so I've cleared all sewing accoutrements from the sewing annex.  Where did I put them?  I stuffed them into the "studio," which is once again the Dump.  sigh.  Maybe one of these days I will be able to sew myself out of this mess.

Then again, each time I begin, I get distracted.  Witness what I have up on my design wall.

yep.  That is more that enough to keep me busy for a month of Sundays, let alone all the quilts that are currently basted and waiting to be quilted.  Let us hope that the next time I check in, I've quilted something!

Goals are good!!

Croatia, and some sewing

 After Montenegro, we traveled to Dubrovnik, Croatia.  For those of you who are Game of Thrones fans (personally, I've never seen it), this scene should evoke squeals of delight.  Or so we were told.  GOT gear was everywhere.  If you're not interested in it, well, there's always a Croatian soccer jersey to spend money on.

I found Dubrovnik to be disappointing, probably because we arrived a few minutes before the beginning of a marathon through the city.  There's not a lot to see when the streets are roped off for the runners.  The rooftops were clear, and the sky a gorgeous blue.

 Our guide definitely shaded my impression of Croatia.  She spent a good portion of our time talking about the war with Serbia/Montenegro.  Though she insisted people need to forgive and move on, she also says they will never forget, and Serbia and Montenegro, well...she had lots of opinions as to what should be done with them.  I guess this is what happens when one grows up in a war zone.

There were bay leaves around the town. We were told they symbolize peace.  I think they also ensure that they never forget.

We went to an "authentic" home, where we were served a Croatian meal by a woman in traditional dress.  She was on the move, so I didn't get a picture of her.  However, I did get one of a street vendor, who was working on her wares as people walked by.

 The items were pretty, but I did not buy anything.

Fast forward to this past week, when I've been sewing up a storm.  My "studio" is in an awful state.  I can't get to anything.  There are piles of this, that, and the other thing everywhere.  I decided to cut the pulled fabrics for baby quilts, instead of stashing them then pulling them out again later.  In the past 10 days, I pieced 4 tops, plus part of one for veterans.  Here they are, waiting to be basted and quilted.

 In a mystery box, I found this Xstitch that I hadn't touched since 1995.  It needed a few hours of backstitching to finish.  So I finished it, and it is now at the shop, for framing.

 This little quiltlet is kind of an inside joke.  I sent it to a talk show host because I lured him into talking about quilting several times before and after Best of the Valley Quilt Show.  At one point, he said that he'd talked so much about quilting, "Those quilters should send me a quilt!"  It's not a big one, but it's a quilt!  hahaha!

And other than that?  Well, there are still other projects that are moving forward, as I try to get them off my table or off the design wall and back into production.  It's definitely a challenge.  As I think I said, it's out of control.

Thanks for hanging in there until the end.  I have one more day of cruise pics to share.  After that?  Hopefully I'll have some quiltie things to share as well.  Happy Stitching!

After Corfu, Montenegro

Have you ever heard of Montenegro?  I may have, but never paid attention.  I never once thought, "Oh, I'd like to visit Montenegro."  And then we did.  It was amazing.  Our ship was able to park right next to the street.  Not a dock, a street.  There is a deep deep water-filled gorge that accommodates cruise ships in Kotor.  Incredible!

 I think I took this next picture from the top of the ship, looking across to the city below.  You can see the old city wall, which has been there for centuries.  The entire town is surrounded by huge mountains, with another wall at the top, so it is quite protected from invasion.

 We took a bus tour up the mountain shown behind our ship in the first photo.  As we gained altitude, the weather changed from grey to foggy to pouring rain.  We had the misfortune to be sitting in the front row of the bus, so we could see how close we were to the edge of the drop off.  This narrow road had 25 hairpin turns up the mountain.

When we got to our stop, they offered us wine, at 10:30am.  I was so rattled by the ride, I took it!  This is the little restaurant where we snacked on wine, prosciutto, homemade bread, and locally made cheese.  Delicious!  As you can see, we've risen above most of the weather.

 Here you can see how far up the mountain we are.  Our cruise ship is that little arrow, way down below.

The drive was quite informative.  The other side of the mountain has a completely different climate, and it is there that most of their agriculture takes place.  We got back to the ship, ate some lunch, then went back to the old city.  My husband had heard of a climb, to the ruins at the top of the mountain.  He suggested, "We can try it, and if we don't make it, we can try it again, an hour later."  I told him we get one shot.  If I can't make it a first time, there's no way I'd make it a second time, especially in the same day!!

 It is 1350 stairs to the top.  I've marked with arrows how far I was able to make it, and how far hubby went.  He made it to the flag.  I did not.  The walk/hike was actually quite lovely, which you would never guess from a distance.  The walls are overgrown with iris and other greenery and blooms.

 Here is a midway point, where we stopped for air.  I think it's 3000' or something like that?  At this point, my memory is hazy.  He loved it, and had no problem setting a brisk pace.  Me?  Not so brisk, but I kept plugging along.

 Here is a picture of the ruins at the top.  He made it to the red arrow.  I stopped here, where I took the picture.  I probably would have stopped on the steps below this landing, but that would have been rude to the steady stream of climbers, heading to and from the top.

One thing we did not realize was that after climbing a bit, there is a gatekeeper.  It was 8 euros to continue past him.  Some people turned around, not wanting to spend so much.  But really?  How often does one get a chance to go to Montenegro and climb this?  It was totally worth it, though once we got back to the ship?  I wasn't good for much else.

Montenegro?  I highly recommend it!  The people were friendly and welcoming to tourists.  I think one of the most fun things was the number of people who saw hubby's hat and said, "Nice hat!" as they walked by.  Good memories, yes, indeed.