The Last Days of Summer

Blogger of course is being contrary and uploading my photos willy-nilly!! But I am back from a wonderful stay in Cape May, NJ.

This first picture (which I wanted to be LAST!!) is my quilty thing!! This is a redwork pillow I started last year and finished to give to our good friends, Ronnie & Susie, who invited us to join them in Cape May this year. They recently celebrated their 10th wedding anniversary. As all of you married gals know, marriage is a rollercoaster with ups and downs! I think the sentiment on this pillow captures that! R & S really got a chuckle from it!!



That's me (back left) and my DH, Bob (back right) with our friends, Vinnie, Susie, Ronnie and Robin at the pool. Our hotel was right across the street from the beach. Ronnie & Susie have been coming to Cape May for years and found this really nice hotel! Vinnie and Robin joined us as part of Robin's birthday celebration! We shopped, sat by the pool, and ate at some fabulous restaurants during our stay. The days were warm (80 to 85 degrees)! It was a perfect way to rest and recuperate.


Here is one of the beautiful sunsets from Sunset Beach!




Before we reached Cape May, Ronnie & Susie treated us to an evening at the Cowtown Rodeo in NJ on Saturday night. Here we are with our cowboy hats! Bob & I had never been to a rodeo and really enjoyed it!! Of course, before we got there, we stopped at the Cracker Barrel restaurant for some good old country cooking including grits!




















I can't think of a better way to say "goodbye" to summer! We enjoyed it so much that all of us have booked rooms for the same time next year! But now, back to reality :( . The weather has certainly turned cooler here in Connecticut and the leaves have started to change!! But it definitely puts me in the mood to quilt! :))

PIGS ON PARADE, PART DEUX

This first quilt was the #1 Viewers' Choice. It was made by Linda Kotyk. She is our treasurer and has been quilting for many years. This quilt was started as a Mystery Quilt last November. It is called Flowing Jacob's Ladder. Linda finished this quilt on her boat this summer. When her DH went out fishing, she pulled out the Janome Jem and stitched away. It was machined quilt by our president, Debbie D'Angelo.
This quilt was made by a new member, Joan Mockler. I just love blue, yellow and white together. She has only been quilting a short time but long enough to have a PIG!!!
The Apple Quilt was made by Lesa Gemmell. This also started as a Mystery Quilt and she said it quickly became a UFO. She had signed on to finish this quilt twice before and finally as a PIG it is finished. Her label reads "From UFO to Roasted PIG, Finally Finished!!"
This last quilt belongs to Cheryl D'Angelo. She bought the Batik panel for her son who loves dragons. The top was quickly finished but she is one of several in our guild who hand quilt every thing!!! She now has it finished. Her son says he likes how the back looks better than the front!

Alas, my PIG was the Mystery Quilt from Hell. Although I did get the top done, I only got half of the quilting done before my surgery and wasn't able to get it finished!! But it will be finished soon and won't be part the next PIG Roast. I have plenty more to choose from in my closet! LOL

I think these ladies did a super job!! We will have signups for next year's roastin January. 

PIGS ON PARADE

Monday night was our first guild meeting of the year. We have programs and drop-in nights during the summer but our "official" calendar is September through June. It was great to see everyone after our summer break. It was also the presentation of the PIGS (Projects in Grocery Sacks). We had 14 members sign up to complete a project and 8 of our member were successful!! These are the "roasted" pigs! Prizes were given to all members who completed a project and we had three viewers' choice prizes as well.

The Butterfly quilt is by Molly Elmer. She called this her "vacation quilt". She always took this project on vacation and did a little bit every year. She finally decided to complete it. All the butterflys are hand appliqued and the quilt is hand quilted.




This is Ginette Wurst's "Paddington Bear" quilt. This is a reconstruction project. Her son got the quilt when he was a baby and "loved it to death", even took it to college. She took the bear parts from the original quilt and put together a new quilt for him using the fabrics in fashion when he was a baby!! I think she did a great job!

Mary Jane Plaza's "See Saw Margery Daw" quilt is a piece that was begun for a baby now full grown! She hand quilted the entire quilt. The quilting is phenomenal!! This picture doesn't do it justice! She was won one of the viewers' choice awards.



The quilt next to "See Saw" was made by Debi Bertenshaw. She is a hand quilter as well. This is a super lap size. Her fabric choices were awesome!! She also won a Viewers' Choice award.

Well blogger is only letting me put these four photos on my blog. So, I will post the others a little later. But didn't these ladies do a great job??!! I love the stories behind how each project became a PIG.

That's a load off my mind!!!!

Your Brain is 80% Female, 20% Male

Your brain leans female You think with your heart, not your head Sweet and considerate, you are a giver But you're tough enough not to let anyone take advantage of you!

What Gender Is Your Brain?

Thanks to Nancy at Nancyquilts.blogspot.com for this cute little quiz!!! After my "surgical adventures" last week, it's good to know I'm still a GIRL~~ LOL

Slow and steady

I have finally given in to my body and have put things in neutral. I am now in RELAX AND REST mode. After getting home from the hospital, I was hot fired to get back into gear. One afternoon of that followed by a total meltdown (crying uncontrollably because I couldn't find a little mirror!!) and I learned that I need to listen to my BODY, not my CRAZY HEAD!!

I am now recuperating and actually enjoying doing nothing!! We as moms, wives, workers, and the other many roles we have, do not take the opportunity to just sit back and do nothing!! It feels foreign, we feel anxious and guilty! But ladies, I highly recommend it when the chance arises. I spent an entire afternoon just sitting in the garden, looking at the flowers, feeling the breeze, just sitting and doing nothing. You start to hear and listen to the sound of the children playing in the next yard, the smell of flowers, the feel of the sun on your face. It is really rejuvenating.

Now I must thank publicly four people who have made this recuperation possible. First of all, my DH, Bob. He is the most caring, loving man! He has taken over the reins of running things here so that I don't have to think about anything else.

Second, my dear friend, Debbie. She is our guild president and a longarmer. Not only has she called me daily to check on me, but has passed the word to others. She arrived Sunday afternoon with enough casseroles and all the fixings for a small army!! All the directions were on the packages and all we have to do is defrost and heat! I know that all I have to do is call her and she will do whatever is needed or find someone who will!! I have only known her a few years but I don't know what I would do without her friendship,love,and support!

Third, my good friend, Diane. She owns our LQS. She stopped to visit yesterday with a casserole, dessert and a bottle of wine. DELICIOUS!! She has been through the same "experience" as I have and she is a wealth of knowledge! She has made going through this procedure a lot easier. Just knowing I can call her with questions gives me peace of mind.

Finally, my boss. I work for an attorney in a small office and have worked for him for 10 years. I know that having me out of the office for three weeks is a BIG DEAL! He has been super supportive and understanding. I am lucky to work for such a great guy!

And of course, thanks to all my blog ladies. Your warm wishes and good thoughts mean so much to me. I' m not doing any quilting but following your progress is a good substitute!!

On the Road to Recovery

Good Morning Ladies!!
Just a quick note to all of you to let you know that my surgery was successful and I am on the mend. I got home yesterday and will spend part of the day trying to catch up with all of you!! Thank you for your warm wishes and prayers.

I have several little hand projects to work on while I watch TV and have pulled out all of my old magazines to look at again!! Some of them I don't even remember!!!

The hardest part about recovery is learning to SLOW DOWN! After going 90 miles an hour every day with work, family, etc. it is hard for me to just think about me! I actually feel a little guilty. I guess that's just a woman thing.

Hope all of you had a great Labor Day weekend, especially those who had kids home from school. Will be floating through your blogs over the next few days!!

Quilt til you Wilt !! Annie

Labor Day Progress

This weekend was very productive, quilty and otherwise. I joked on someone's blog that I was going to "trick" my DH into helping me clean the house this weekend. Since we had been away for a couple of weekends prior to vacation and then went on vacation. Our home sweet home had been a bit neglected. With the rain from Ernesto at our door on Saturday, he was my captive!! I have to give him lots of praise ( and hugs and kisses) because once I set him loose, I couldn't stop him!! He went floor to ceiling through the house and it hasn't been this clean in quite some time. Not only was the cleaning done, but we changed out curtains and pulled our fall decorations out! He sure did labor on the Labor Day weekend.

On the quilty side of life, here is a picture of the Flying Geese top completed. Dawn had posted one on her blog and I remembered an orphan bag of FGs and Voila, a quilt top is done.

As for my mystery quilt, I was able to find fabric for my borders (since I had used the original fabric for another quilt...oops!). I was originally going to have dark green borders but wasn't able to find one I liked. So, with assistance from many at the LQS, I found this mauve/rose fabric which actually matches a color in the light green floral fabric, and is one of the colors in my living room!! I am going to carry the light gold fabric out in the binding. It is all ready for quilting which will be done before next Tuesday, the date of our first fall guild meeting and when we will hold our PIG roast or Parade of PIGS.
Finally... I will be off screen for a few days. I have postponed some "lady"surgery over the summer and now with fall here, my son back at college, and things settling down, it is the right time to have it done. SEWWW, I will be away for a couple of days but will check back in with all of you on Friday... Please keep me in your thoughts. and try to take it easy the next few days so I won't be exhausted trying to catch up on all of your blogs!!! LOL