What a Fabulous Spring Break!

What a fabulous spring break!

It started with a trip the Quilt Guild of Dallas Quilt show. My youngest daughter went with me (she loves fabric—smart girl!) and my neighbor Randi went also. We had a fun time and saw some lovely quilts.

"Celtic Nine-Patches" by Jaynette Huff. Paper foundation pieced and hand-appliqued and –beaded.




"Hugs and Kisses" by Jay Conrad. It was an fun and colorful use of plaid.





"Three-inch Ohio Star" by Annie Rosser who claims she enjoyed every block. Beautiful work.




A bunny quilt! "Bunnies Running Amok" by Sally Brown.





When we go to quilt shows we think of a “motif” or “traditional pattern” that we play I Spy and look for in the show. When we walked the Dallas show we decided to look for bunnies! As this was our bunny quilt. So pretty!
There are even bunnies in the quilting.



It has a very pretty border and a lovely scalloped edge.



"Amish Go to Hawaii" by Pebble Rehm.



"Bubblicious" by Concetta Boscardin






“Millefiori Revival” by Rebecca Yarbrough. I’m in love with this. I’m fascinated by these diamond star hexagons. Absolutely beautiful!



“Stars Over America” by Joelen Mershon


“Star Light, Star Bright” by Iva Grant. This quilt was pieced by Judith Earp and hand-quilted by Iva. Amazing!






“Dots” by Sharon Chambers. Lots and lots of polka dots-so fun!





“Shannon’s Eye of the Storm” by Vicki Conley. Look for the Storm at Sea pattern.


Even Ellie gave the eye “the eye”.





And the grand prize winner – the aptly named “Icing on the Cake” my Linda M. Roy.


If Randi had moved a little bit to the right, she could have been Best of Show.

But we had to check out the vendors too. Ellie enjoyed hanging out with some well-dressed girls…



and tried on a lovely hat.




Ellie came home with some fabric for an new outfit and I came home with a portable design wall. Sigh. I said I wasn’t going to buy anything. But that didn’t last.

So with the new design wall up, I put up my meager blocks and started ironing. I’ve gotta get busy!





I may currently be a slacker, but now, at least, I look like a professional slacker!

Spring Break!

No Eventude update but the kids, husband and I had a lovely time at the zoo.










Check back for an update soon.

Spring Break!

I do not have an Eventide update! I went to a quilt show with my
youngest daughter this weekend. Then I took all three kids (with
hubby) to the zoo. We had a fun time.

More redbuds

The redbuds are opening more and more each day.



It’s what says "spring" to me. I love seeing the purple-pink color in a stand of trees. We look for them along the creek areas.





Perhaps daffodils are what says spring to you? Here is my first daffodil. I think it is a “Full Throttle” variety. But there’s only one so far.



And I love blue. On cloudy days, they just seem so vibrant.

Slower Than Molasses in January...

I'm slower than molasses in January (well, for the northern hemisphere).

It seems that I have gravely underestimated the time I need to spend in this project. I have two blocks done! Woo hoo!




But it’s slowly starting to make sense to my little mind. I thought I would make a block by itself so I could understand the process.

I sew in my living room, in front of the window seat. I like the natural lighting although today, it’s overcast, gray, and dark. Not the greatest light for picture taking—but it is time for an update!




I cut my fabric by the front door on top of a cabinet! So going back and forth from the sewing machine (see it in the background?) to the cutting area is not the quickest use of my time in putting a block together. But I am getting the hang of it and understand the sewing and cutting instructions the more I read them. Now that I've made a couple of blocks, I'll work and cut out all the necessary pieces. That will save time in the running back and forth!




I'm not that swift when it comes to reading and figuring out the pattern. I read them. I think I understand. I read them. I do a little cutting. I’m slowly getting the hang of it.

I have sewn a few of the Ohio Stars parts and pieces and it's lovely to see the colors together. They are just not an actual "star" yet! But "hope springs eternal"!





I have also underestimated the “lights” that I have for this project. I need to dig in the fabric stash for a lot more light fabrics to really get rolling.

I guess it looks like I’m working hard. At least it’s messy enough to look like I’m working!

It's Springing Forth

The air feels softer.

It's warm, cool and moist, all at the same time.

There's a breeze. Then here's a gale. It feels like spring.

The redbuds are budding.







The hyacinths are blooming. They have returned from last year.





And a tiny, muscari grape hyacinth.




Of course, with all these blooms, come pollen and allergies. I think that the cedar and the oak pollen are the worst.

I'm trying out some herbs I bought at the health food store and they're actually working. When I take OTC allergy meds, I really dislike the side effects - drowsiness or hyperactivity. I feel like I'm constantly napping when I take the OTC meds or my heart is constantly racing. I don't care for feeling either way!

Are you enjoying spring? Or are you suffering from allergies? Do you have spring fever? Has spring sprung where you live?

I'm a Wiener!!

I recently participated in Moda's Pillow Talk blog hop and visited the blogs of various Moda designers. I'm a big Moda fan and had visted several of these blogs already, but did discover a couple of new fabric designers.




The final visit was to the famous Moda Lissa and there I discovered that I was NOT the grand prize winner. But Lissa had very graciously picked 20 additional participants and she is set to mail them.... something. I don't know what it is--but I'm excited! I'll share my "surprise" as soon as it appears.

I made chocolate mousse from scratch this week. I found the recipe on Allrecipe.com. Have you used any of their recipes before? Any favorites?

I also like to use Tasty Kitchen recipes. But I'm usually using what Google finds for me. I also use Southern Living recipes but don't like their website because of the automatic videos and pop-ups that try evade my pop-up blocker. No fun!

But here are a couple of pics of the chocolate mousse in progress. At least the pics are calorie-free!

Here is the melted chocolate and cooked egg yolks side-by-side with the whipped cream.



And then fold the two together.



I used Baker's Chocolate that I bought at Walmart. The mousse was delicious! Ina Garten has a Lemon Mousse recipe that my kids want me to try. So maybe lemon will be next!