My Box of Quilt Tops

Have I ever shown you this? This is a box I keep of quilt tops that need quilting. I use to send these off to the quilters and keep up with things, but when my husband's working hours were cut I sacrificed this 'treat'. That is one of the reasons that I have been practicing stippling and meandering.

When our friends came to join us on our trip to NYC, my quilting friend, Judy, just loved this quilt top.

Judy is the reason I first grew interested in sewing and quilting. She is very talented and has always made me the nicest hand made presents. Her daughter was who the last quilt was for, btw. She loved it. It was a perfect present, in my mind.

Here are a few embroidered towels Judy gave me for my birthday, arent' they lovely? I just love them.


Judy's birthday is July 14th, so I sat down and quilted it. I used a dark brown thread since so much of the top was dark brown. But, I wish I hadn't because it is so bold on the lights. I guess I learned from that one. It does blend perfectly on the chocolate colored borders. I just need to add the binding and it will be ready to ship.

The Skinny on New York City

Okay, so I am back! We had a great trip with good weather, we missed most of the rain that was originally called for. On Tuesday, I realized that I was breathing easier, too, which was a great start to the vacation.

If you've never been to NYC, I highly recommend it. NYC was clean and the people were quite pleasant. I never felt unsafe. I think it is a great place to take a family, with older children or to spend the week with your gal pals. I plan to take Buddy in a few years. Here are some of the things I'd recommend doing and visiting:

We stayed at the Belvedere Hotel on 48th Street in a Double Executive Room. Our room easily accommodated the 4 of us, was very modern and clean. We payed $289 a night, in a very safe area. We were exactly 2 blocks away from Times Square, 4 blocks from Rockefeller Center, right in the heart of the theater district and all the Broadway shows, and lots of places to eat were nearby.

We took a tour with New York City OnBoard Tours which was WONDERFUL! First of all, we were on an air conditioned bus with water bottles for guests (and we did get caught in rain sprinkles that day, so we were lucky for the enclosed bus). Secondly, we had a VERY knowledgeable tour guide. He was FABULOUS. He was very knowledgeable on the history of the city, having lived there all of his life and attended NYU for his undergrad degree and his masters degree. He shared all sorts of personal stories that really made you feel you were there during different periods of history. We saw all kinds of sights from Central Park (Strawberry Fields pictured here with our tour guide giving the history of the mural), Times Square, Rockefeller Center, Statue of Liberty, the Twin Towers site (which he gave us a very personal account of the day, he worked in building number 7), and various other spots we would not otherwise have seen like Wall Street, SoHo, and lots of beautiful churches. I highly recommend this tour company, although there are lots of deals to be had on the streets, this one was worth every penny.




Mamma Mia was quite a hit for us. I would recommend that, although there are tons of great shows in NYC right now so it is very hard to choose. Be sure to hit the theater ticket booth in Times Square, for 50% tickets.

Another favorite part of the trip was a carriage ride around Central Park. That was fabulous and it was a beautiful day, so you cannot beat that.

We also enjoyed going to the Top of the Rock...the best view in NYC. I enjoyed getting a nice shot of the Empire State Building from here.


We did enjoy some shopping. Macy's had lots to see; plus, they have a great place to grab a quick bite in the basement. The food was quite good there.


We did ride the subway to SoHo where we went to a tiny quilt shop, Purl Patchwork. While it was small, it was obviously a very popular place. The staff was very helpful and they did carry a large number of Japanese fabrics along with some other lines that I do not see at my LQS. If you get to NY, you should check them out. We also went to the other shop, Purl Knitting. Beautiful yarns...BEAUTIFUL.

We enjoyed lots of great food. One of my favorite lunch spots was Bocca on 50th Street right in Rockefeller Center area. They had great sandwiches, salads, pizza, and pasta. Delicious and very affordable. I also thought Bubba Gump Shrimp Co. (located in Times Square) was a lot of fun with all of the movie memorabilia. I also answered all but 1 of the trivia questions right that our waiter asked us, not to mention that the food was terrific. This last shot is of the cupcakes from Crumbs Bake Shop on Broadway. The funny thing is that I enlarged this shot and asked Buddy which cupcake he would have picked and he picked the same one that I had picked. What can I say, the kid is just like his mama. Can you guess which one it was?

A quick hello from New York

HELLO!! We are having a fabulous time. We've had good weather and seen lots of cool places! I leave tomorrow and will blog about the trip soon!

Things to do today. . .

1. Make husband a steak dinner before he heads off to work. check (Although I had very little time to do this, so I was still in my pajamas when we sat down to eat, and my hair looked horrendous, I still feel accomplished.)
2. Vacuum the entire house. check (Although doing this made me realize how neglected the house has been while I have been resting. So then, I mopped the hardfloors, too, and cleaned the bathroom, and many other things.)
3. Laundry check
4. Pack for my trip. check
5. Pack Buddy for a trip to Grandpa's. check
6. More Laundry when Buddy came in drippy wet from a fun adventure with the hose. check
7. Cleaned out my purse for my trip. check (Although this led to me deciding I needed a little change purse...so out came the sewing machine. VOILA. Does anyone have any nice little change purse patterns, mine wasn't quite what I envisioned????)

Still to do
1. Give Buddy a thousand kisses before I go. I hope I don't miss him too much.

Love it, Love it, Love it

I started and finished the binding on this quilt yesterday....while watching several movies. I really fell in love with this quilt and I am sad to be giving it away, honestly. I love the colors of it. I love the size of it.
The Back

A Close Up of the bird fabric

Love it, Love it, Love it

Now I need to move on to another project.

Soccer Fever Pillowcase

Buddy had a doctor's appointment today and afterwards we skipped into my LQS. They had this great soccer material, so we bought enough for a pillowcase.




Little Mister was quite pleased. . .Almost as fun as playing soccer.

Keyholes Quilt

Remember this quilt? Well, it has been sitting on my ironing board now for a few months. The other day, I took the "keyholes" and was amazed how quickly they became these 9 blocks. Today I ironed them. Do you like my new use for leftover garage sale stickers? After I took the picture, I decided to make them all facing the top correctly.

Do you ever get a 'mental sewing block'....you know, where you convince yourself that something is going to be much harder and frustrating than it actually is? I can think of a few times I did this. . .like this, or like this, this, and for some reason I had convinced myself that these blocks wouldn't come together well because you had to partially sew down one seam, then put on another rectangle and so on until you came back to the first and finished sewing it. Now, I ask you....why did I stew about this forever? IT WAS A PIECE OF CAKE! These blocks came together better than another I can think of. So, now you all know that when I set a project aside, it is because I have a mental block.

Onto other family news, we had our last soccer game of the season. Here buddy is stretching. I think there is nothing cuter than 4 year olds stretching.


Can you feel the burn? LOL
This shot is right before buddy scored. He had 5 goals on Saturday, which I thought was pretty sweet. Do you see the yellow practice pinnies? Well, Saturday's game didn't go so well because it was a constant. . .'I don't want to be yellow, I want to be white.' My poor husband had to try to please everyone (most of which needed a nap) while keeping the game going.


I am not sure what he is doing here. . .LOL.

Afterwards, they had pizza, balloons, and trophies. Buddy was thrilled to get his 'first' trophy.

1 week from now

One week from now I will be in NYC! I am so excited. I just got off the phone with my doctor's office and I will going to get 1 more dose of antibiotics and an inhaler this morning. I think this is probably a good move. However, yesterday I felt much better and didn't use any cough syrup to sleep at night. I still have a heaviness to my chest and feel very tired when I do much of anything, so this is probably a good move before my trip. Seven days people to be ready to walk all over NYC!

The question is . . .is NY ready for me? LOL I hope to have a cup of coffee in my hand most of the trip. HEAVEN!!

Patience is Something I Have Always Lacked

So, my x-ray report came back that I still have pneumonia. I was not surprised by this news, but on the positive side I am not coughing much these days. I just feel like someone has knocked the wind out of me on occasion and I get tired easily. So, tomorrow I am going for a chest CT and then the doctor is going to decide what to do next. I told the nurse that I only have 12 days until I leave for NYC!!! I want this beat by then. I think my husband is even more anxious for a recovery than I am! LOL He has had a long honey-do list and he feels he needs a vacation.

And the winner is. . .

Well, this is a bit behind. I was suppose to draw last night, but I was too into watching the new season of The Closer. I love that show and I am very excited to have something new on to watch!

You know I am usually a fan of drawing. . .but I am in a bit of a rush this morning and embarassed to admit that I am still in my PJs! I have to get around and go have that follow x-ray on my lungs. So, in the interest of time. . .I picked a number between 1 and 21. Today's lucky number is the number 5 because we are all about turning 5 this summer. So, Pat....send me an email with your address, and I will get that charm pack out to you.

But don't worry. I hope to have more drawings later this summer. I really enjoyed meeting several of you that normally visit, but don't comment. I loved reading all of your comments and appreciate your loyalty.

Our soccer season is wrapping up this week. Here are a few pictures of 'soccer fever'.

Getting Ready for a Garage Sale

We've been pulling stuff out of closets marking it for a garage sale. Buddy was so cute yesterday afternoon. He was walking back to his room for a nap when he announced, "Mama, I think I am going to sell my blankie in the garage sale." Okay. He threw it in the pile. I made a mental note to grab it later. Last night on the way to bed, "Mama, I don't think I want to sell my blanket at the garage sale." Okay. You don't have to sell your blanket. "Maybe I will sell it when I am 5." Okay. I try to hide my smile. "You didn't already put a sticker on it, did you?" No. "That's good."

I know one thing, I sure would have missed the blanket. We've been friends a long time now. But like most things in this picture, the diaper, the pacifier, the sippy, at some point we will have to say goodbye.

Belated Birthday Gifts Post

So, a while back I said I would post some of my nifty birthday presents. Well, these were from my mom. A Moda home bag for traveling on our trip. A clutch with Ginger Blossoms pattern on it. A whole bunch of cool Sweet material for a quilt I want to make from Anka's Treasures patterns. I love it all.

If you made it to the end of this post you are one of my devoted readers. I have really appreciated all of your comments and get well wishes lately. So, I am going to give away this Deb Strain charm pack. I will draw on Monday. Please do not advertise the giveaway on your blog, as this is just for my friends that visit frequently (even those that normally do not comment). Thanks!!!

My summer vacation starts today and I am sure that will help boost my recovery quickly.