Scattered Sunday - Summer Photo Album

Since I've got my nose to the sewing machine, buried in all things Jane (or so I hope....I've pre-scheduled this blog post), I may as well entertain you with some random photos from my lost summer months.

One good thing about the cruise in June was that I got to visit one of my go-to Florida quilt shops...That Quilt Place in Rockledge.  Imagine my surprise when I found out they carried that super cute hedgehog fabric I picked up a small bit of at a show this past spring. Obviously I stocked up and added coordinates.

July was crazy. I attended my first 'psychic circle', where apparently I was visited by spirits of my sister/father/mother. I felt a little bad because my relatives seemed to hog the limelight and I was really wishing they'd just shut up so the other 6 people in the circle could get their promised 15-20 minutes of visitation before our medium called it a night. As for whether or not I'm a believer in this....the jury's still out (and my thought process leans more toward logic).

The day after, I left to spend a week in Portland, OR for work

 Not too shabby view from my little hotel room.

The few hours I did have off I spent half of standing in the rain (it wasn't raining when I started ) in this Disney-esq line for:

Over-rated, but you know what they say.... "when in Rome"...

Pretty amazing view from the flight home. Not sure if it's Mt. Hood or the other one (Jefferson...Washington...one of those guys)

The week after Portland I went to Quilt Odyssey in Hershey, PA. Check out this Australian pattern that Carly from Web Fabrics convinced me that I needed to use my Kaffe Fassett stash leftover from Dear Jane on:

She made hers with batiks, and she uses it as a table cover in her booth. It's amazing!

At the end of the month we spent a weekend in St. Michaels, MD with a bunch of our neighbors. I got to visit my 2nd favorite fabric shop (Quilt Vine in Trappe, MD) where I scored some great Aussie prints:

And I also picked up some 50% off Modas for My Whimsical Flower Garden (when and IF I ever start that). These prints scream 'Piece O Cake' to me. (The stylin' starfish and octopus came from a pretty cool home deco store in Essex the ladies ventured out to--had to have.)

In St. Michaels, we stay at a house on the water with beautiful landscaping, as well as a boat, and a couple of jet skis.

My first spur of the moment ride with the hubs....I was assured that I would not get wet (which is why I am dressed) as long as he did nothing crazy--he didn't--probably because I was squealing in his ear when he went the slightest bit fast. Maybe next time I'll take a solo spin like my neighbor Linda did.

We always have a crab feast and we spend the evenings out on the deck and on the dock just chillin'

During the afternoon I bring along a little stichin' to go along with the drinkin' (no bitchin' allowed this trip). My little wool pincushion was a quick finish the first day.

Back home I had to put pedal to the metal and finish the Kaffe Scrap quilt for the County Fair

Sadly it only took 5th place.  And while I am probably biased as the quiltmaker, I scrutinized quilts 1-4 and don't see how I finished 5th. More than 2600 perfectly aligned pieces, swirled flat seams, piping, and a super tight binding....it got no better than good/very good grades from the person that judged it. First place and a champion ribbon went to this crib-sized drunkards path.

Go figure.

The Dresden tree skirt did win a blue ribbon as well as a Champion ribbon. At least there was some validation of my work. (and it wasn't entered in the 'quilt' division so it had a different judge :) )

The following week we scattered some of my FIL's ashes in the Potomac, and we hosted the Remembrance Party. The family agreed it should be upbeat, party atmosphere, and a crab feast. So that is what we had. And a few days before I managed to whip up this from a little kit I picked up at from Quilt Vine in July. Apropos.

It hangs from this horrendously huge and bulky cast iron stand I bought at Quilt Odyssey. It's way too large to set on a normal table, so I need to find a new banner stand (I've got 2 more kits this size), or else we need to move into a medieval castle with a huge mahogany table in the foyer. For now it sits on the hearth.

The last week of August I saw this really cute crazy quilt t-shirt quilt on one of the FB groups I follow. The quest began to find the pattern/instructions. My SIL, who I haven't spoken with in 11 years, made a comment on the quilt photo I shared, and later messaged me, which resulted in an all afternoon  conversation, and her finding the pattern and ordering it for me as we were messaging. It was delivered a few days later (thanks again, Julia).

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Now, instead of associating the summer of 2014 with the not so good stuff that happened, I'm going think of it like this:  I may have lost one family member, but I found another....because of a quilt. I like that. Quilting definitely brings people together.