March Road Trip #1

The weather is beautiful--well, maybe little cloudy, but we can't complain too!  We are heading south to enjoy a local festival.  Our first stop is this quilt shop--yippee!  A Quilt Shop!  Hubby can sit in the car while investigation takes place..............................

Cedar Chest Quilt Shoppe right in the middle of town!  As soon as you walk through the front doors, you are greeted with a warm 'hello' and 'welcome to Cedar Chest'!  Really nice folks here--willing to assist you with whatever you are looking for.

We are browsing--looking at their displays and fabric selection.  This is such a cool kids section!  Love the kiddies pillow and quilt!

The neat thing about their displays throughout the shop are not only these lovely quilts but the pattern that was used to make the top are right there beside the finished project.

Great Balls of circles!  Super fun!

This is such a sharp looking top!

And this one with red and white!  One of the quilters working in the shop talked about her black and white quilt for her daughter--can't you just see this top in black and white--simply smashing!!  And you say what was purchased??

You just can not leave this shoppe without purchasing something.  So, these fabric bundles caught our eyes--and yes, there is a purple bundle!  Can you believe??  It was difficult to pick those up, but we did!  We also joined one of their BOM clubs.  This one released through Patch Abilities.  It is a monthly calendar flag for table stand--kit includes stand header, pattern & fabrics--all for $25!    Back on the road and heading south again........

Arriving in Fulton, Rockport, TX for the 33rd annual oyster festival!  We are going to enjoy those fresh oysters right out of Texas bay waters.  Shuckers are kept busy as we pull out our tickets and pick up a dozen. 

Fresh, salty and delicious!

Along with our Shiners beer and a dap of cocktail sauce and a few crackers, we settle down to enjoy as our ears listen to country rock band on stage #1.

Don't like oysters, then one end of the tent is set up for you--fried shrimp & oysters, sausage on a stick, fried pickles, crab cakes, funnel cakes, etc.  All the food you care to chow down on.
Spring in Texas bursts forth with a wide variety of wildflowers and blooming trees.  The byways are decorated with blooming Huisache trees.  We spied many Indian paintbrush as well.  We are looking for those state flowers--the bluebonnets to appear. Happy trails to you as you traverse across your state during the spring time! 

Great Group of Weavers!



The first week of every month is a real treat when the weavers gather to discuss, show and tell what they have been working on for the past four weeks.  It is always inspiring to see the latest creations straight from their looms.

Linda had samples (finished projects is more like it!) from her workshop adventure at VAV weaving weekend retreat.  This is one of the cottolin twill towels she had to display.

One of her accomplished wovens was this fulled wool throw--once again in twill.

Very traditional Swedish towel in clean blue and white cottolin yarn--woven by Linda.

Here is the bath mat that was woven in heavy cotton yarn--very absorbent.

D'Anne showed her  samples from workshop presented by Inge Marie Carmel, who works with e-textiles and soft circuits, combining weaving and electronics. 



This braclet has connector threads that run along the back.  When the snaps are connected completely then the LED lights will function--flashy!

Two or three of the members participated in the guild swap exchange--the study was on overshot.  This was one of the samples pulled from the notebook.

This is an interesting interpretion of one overshot.

Marian is weaving satin and had this lovely scarf to show.  She is working to achieve a different front and back in structure.  Her yarns are silk warp and tencel weft with 5 H weave.

Barbara is working with woven shibori--This is bamboo 10/2 dyed with navy and red.

Aside from the swap swatch exchange, Barbara wove this overshot in butterfly pattern.  Once again she has used 16/2 bamboo for warp and 8/2 tencel for weft--this had a light weight and nice touch to the hand.

Karen I working with overshot at a recent workshop, brought this interesting rag rug.

This is her second rug on the same warp--she used a heavy cotton seine yarn for the warp thread.

Here is how the rug looks on the floor--great pattern detail.

We welcomed Gretchen back to our fold after an absence of many years.  Gretchen has been living abroad.  She recently joined one of Anne Hanson's Knitspots knitting club.  This one is called Bare Naked, featuring natural color yarns and a different pattern each month.  We've got to check this one out.  Okay, that loom sitting in the corner must be uncovered and warp must be applied.......................................such inspiration--how can we can begin to weave??!!

Let's Chat!

When you are with friends, you can let your hair hang down, get burdens off your chest, sing the blues, cry in your beer, shout with each others joys, laugh at jokes and unload your sorrows.  And these friends, who have ventured with you down the long halls of life, lift you up, give you support and bring you the peace you desire.  They are truly there for you no matter what!
We are just chatting, but oh what a strength we get out of these chats!
The expatchers gathered Tuesday to 'just chat' as our hands were busy with various other chores.

Karen brought her four patch flannel blocks to square up.  She is making blankets for 'her boys'.

She has her ruler marked where the boundaries should rest--that makes it doubly correct, before trimming.

Camilla has brought her machine so she can work feverishly away on a Binky quilt top.

These squares were cut at a previous gathering and quick to sew.

Linda was adding the finishing touches to the binding on this quilt top.

Brenda, our hostess for the day, was happily stitching away on a burp cloth.

This lovely collection is going with her as she journeys to be with her newest grandbaby.

Bet you can guess the sex of this new addition?
Yes, we are just chatting.  But, somehow, when you walk out the door, your steps seem lighter, your heart is filled with laughter and joy--just knowing your friends are listening and they care.

Spinners Delight

Tuesday was the monthly meeting of our spinners group--a great group of talented people who brighten any dull day.  The highlight of the gathering is the round robin of show and tell--Here's what was shown on this special Tuesday.

Rosemary had her crocheted sari silk (or maybe it's rayon--hard to tell without a burn test) scarf to show--lovely colors.

From the hands of Scharine, we have this seafoam yarn from fiber purchased from Rhonda Selser's sheep Buffy.

Connie, a master at any spinning wheel or equipment--this charka especially--showed her brown cotton/silk noil blend--such fine spinning.

An interesting way to contain the spun yarn.

Up close and personal of this fiber combination

Another one of Connie's brown (red) cotton skeins.

In this experiment, Connie carded wool and angora bunny-dyed it one color, then overdyed to give the skeins a rich shade.  She was trying to achieve a halo affect--we think she succeeded.

Susan brought her sick little bunny so he could receive his meds every two hours.  She is wearing one of her latest shawls--she has joined Ravelry group--12 shawls in 12 months--really ambitious.

This is a lovely color combination that Penny was plying.

This is the label on the fiber combination that Penny was spinning.

 

Scharine was showing lovely ikat woven fabric that she has created.  She has become a super ikat weaver having studied under her grandmother.

Susan showed off her spinning--she is a fairly new spinner, but is doing good work. 

Not Really in the Mood..............

Not Really in the mood...is right!  What is it about those cool rainy days that makes one just want to sit by the fireplace, have a nice cup of tea and read a book?  Our area has had plenty of those days lately--not complaining too much though, as those rains are badly needed in this drought.  So, we'll just take our cup of tea and a nice book to sit in front of the fireplace to enjoy some relaxing days.  The sewing room 'called' out a few times though....................

This small quilt was begun last summer so have been sewing these 3" wide X 5.5" blocks together to give us stairs.  This was made from a jelly roll.

This will be an addition to the Binky Patrol quilt stash for Expatchers group.  No borders needed, just a nice binding will do the trick.

Not in a real mood to sew on these squares either--another one of the Binky Patrol tops.  One of these days we'll be in the mood--it won't take long to sew these.

Let's pull out some bright colors to cut strips to make for nine patch blocks--okay, these are easy to sew too.

And the nine patch blocks will be added to the already finished 6" snowball blocks in the stash.

This free pattern was pulled off the internet last summer as we had snowball prints to work with.  This is a great setting and will make a nice size Binky quilt for an older child. 

And it doesn't take much energy to fuse February's FatCat Patterns to keep up with the project.  Just need to thread the machine with black to do the buttonhole stitch around the edges.  Sindy also has another interesting BOM going on--Be My Neighbor--house blocks.  check it out.  Okay, today is another cloudy day, but maybe a long walk will turn the tide of 'not in the mood'!