Hey! We Survived a Road Trip!

Since the last time I blogged, I haven't been home a lot.  I've been travelling.  I certainly haven't had time to quilt, so there will definitely be no Show-and-Tell today.

From September 12th through the 20th Phil and I went on a little Vacation/Road Trip.  Now, I have to say I have been pretty spoiled and have really learned to like flying "wherever" for vacation.  We haven't done a driving vacation in a long time.  So, I wasn't sure how this whole Road Trip thing would work out, but considering we logged 2600 miles, we really had a great time!  

The first attraction was the BMW Performance Driving School in Greenville, S.C. Phil really loves his BMW, but he would never drive it as hard as he got to drive the cars in the Driving School. He had the biggest smile on his face when they finished! And not just because he placed 3rd in the timed course and 1st in the five-lap race on a wet skid pad!

Next, we spent a day in Washington D.C.  Since we had only planned to be there one day we focused on just a few special things that we wanted to see.   First, we visited the WWII Memorial and were both moved by the beauty of the structure and the special meaning in every aspect of its design. It was really awe-inspiring. If you ever have an opportunity to see this striking monument, it is well worth the time.

Then we saw the Lincoln Memorial. That is a very somber and beautiful monument, as well. It surprised me how respectful and quiet visitors were, but that is a good thing!

We rounded out the day seeing the Smithsonian's "Castle" and the National Gallery of Art and timed it just right to be able to experience DC's rush hour traffic as we headed out to West Chester, PA.

And just what is in West Chester, PA you may ask??  Why, that would be my BFF!

We have been best friends since we were 10 years old (except for that one year, 6th grade, when we didn't speak for almost the whole school year, but we don't talk about that.)  Phil has known Vicki's hubby, Bruce since they were in the 3rd grade, so we have a lot of history and plenty of memories!  While there we had the privilege of touring the House and Studio of American artist N.C.Wyeth and spending some time in the Brandywine River Museum, where quite a lot of artwork by his children and grandchildren is on display.   We also enjoyed an evening with Bruce and Vicki's kids and grandkids, and that was a real special and fun treat!  (And noisy!)
It was really hard to leave there, especially for me.  (I love my BFF!)  But we had reservations at a Bed & Breakfast in Marblehead, OH and plans to see a young friend of ours in Put In Bay.  (Yes, I did say Put In Bay!)  Jennifer works at Stone Laboratories there and gave us a great tour of the island.  We enjoyed a lovely dinner with her at Axel and Harry's and got caught up on what she has been doing and what her plans are.

Next stop, French Lick, IN where we spent a night at the French Lick Springs Resort and Spa. Ahhh, what a great way to finish off our Road Trip! This place is very cool. It's on the National Register of Historic Places, having been built in 1845 around the "miracle waters" of their sulfur springs, and famous guests include the likes of FDR, Clark Gable, Bing Crosby and many more. Not only that, but in 1917 their famous chef created and served tomato juice! How's that for a mini history lesson!?

We almost needed a vacation to recover from our vacation, but isn't that always the way? I can tell you, though, I was very happy to be reunited with my sewing room! Hopefully, I will have something "quilty" to show you one of these days, soon!

Love those Black and White Fabrics

I hate to think about how many individual fabric collections are tucked away inside my stash. Let's see, there are the batiks (of course) and the oriental prints, the juvenile prints, the brights, the taupes............and the black and white prints. I have been collecting black and white prints for a long time and have been designing all kinds of black and white quilts in my head. I have actually made a few. Two of them were in a previous post (Quilting for the Grands..Part 2)  Those would be Aidan's "Off Kilter" and his "Baby Nines."

They may not be technically Black and White quilts because of the color, but I think at least a splash of color really makes a Black and White Quilt special. 

This is my collection of Black and Whites.  I told you I have been collecting them for a long time! 

I pulled out all the Black and Whites recently so I could make a baby quilt for a little one due in just a few weeks.  We don't know the gender so I thought this would be a fun quilt and work for either a boy or a girl. I finished putting the top together today and have not decided how to quilt it yet.  This is just a little different take on a quilt from the book "New Cuts for New Quilts" by Karla Alexander.

Right now I have a plan in my head for a quilt using a star block and a square-in-a-square block, and adding the splash of color in connector blocks.  The idea is from a great book which I have used in the past, "Thinking Outside the Block" by Sandi Cummings.   I have a friend lined up to quilt this one for me because I really want to have it finished in time to give as a Christmas gift -- this year!   (Also because she, Angela, does gorgeous work.)  So....this is all I have done, so far.  But I am confident it will be done in plenty of time.  For one thing I'm inspired and for another thing.....Christmas is coming in a hurry!

Take-5......and Take My Sisters..........Please!

I'm talking about the "Take-5" pattern from "The Teachers Pet." Last fall this pattern became my new favorite way of making a quick, cute and really fun quilt. It calls for 5/8 yard of five different coordinating fabrics and then fabric for the borders and backing. I just completed this pink and yellow version to donate to CASA for a teenager going through the foster system. I hope it gives some young girl just a little bit of comfort.

Let me tell you how this "Take-5" thing started. See.....I have these sisters........

Last year my sister, Barb, said those words that every quilter dreads, "I found some old material and thought you could use it." Well, this time it actually worked out for good! She had purchased this giant cats fabric a long, long time ago to make a dress and never got that far. When I saw it I thought it was actually pretty cool, so I decided to make her a quilt from it. This is the first quilt I made using the "Take-5" pattern. Barb was surprised with her "Comfy Cats" quilt, and she really liked it.

When you have four sisters you can't make a quilt for one of them and not the rest. I mean, you can't play favorites, right? Carol's quilt was easy because she is a real nut for Betty Boop and an internet search revealed that there are waaaaay too many Betty Boop fabrics out there! Carol was surprised with her quilt, too! I called hers "Peek-a-Boop" because Betty looked like she was looking out a window.

It was a little more difficult to select fabric for Debbie. There are lots of things she likes but she isn't actually crazy for any of them. (Don't take that the wrong way, Carol!) One thing Debbie does like is hot food, so I settled on a hot peppers focus fabric and called her quilt "Too Hot Too Handle." I don't know if, by this time, she was catching on, but she acted surprised, and I got the feeling she liked her quilt, too.

Now, Dee Dee.............What can I say? Dee Dee has a great appreciation for really physically fit good-lookin' guys. I had seen a lot of different "hunks" fabrics at quilt shows and in magazines, so considering that her dear hubby is in construction I did an on-line fabric search for "construction hunks" and wouldn't you know it - I was not disappointed. Either was Dee Dee! I couldn't use the same pattern for her quilt without cutting up the guys too much, so I used the "BQ" pattern from Maple Island Quilts and called it "Hubba Hubba." Need I say, She liked it?! (I don't think she was too surprised, though!)
You can see better photos of the quilts (and a close-up of Dee Dee's quilt) in my Flickr albums -

http://www.flickr.com/photos/sandypanagos/sets/

About Round Robins

Admittedly, when you agree to participate in a Round Robin you are taking your chances. You never know what you may end up with. Some of the quilters involved with your quilt may be real "newbies," but there are some very skilled people taking part in Round Robins, too. I had heard the horror stories so I was prepared. And, I am happy to say, the first time I took part in a Round Robin I was very pleasantly surprised.

There are so many different ways to organize this kind of "swap." This time, we were to each purchase three different fabrics and put them in a box which was to be passed around for almost a year and come back to us with our quilt blocks in it. Each quilter was allowed to add one additional fabric if she wanted to, and I have to say that everyone who worked on mine did a beautiful job. It's really a great quilt.

Several years later I decided to try it again. This time I made just this center block........

.........and rows were added according to specific guidelines . I was delighted with the results. I would never have thought to do what some of these quilters did. It hangs in our guest room above a quilt made from the center block fabrics. I really do love this quilt.

So........... I decided to go ahead and try the whole Round Robin thing one more time. But this time, I kept putting off making that center block and I couldn't decide what to do, and I moaned and groaned and complained about it until the day before I had to mail it. Too late -- I threw something together so I could make the mailing deadline and I just hated that block. (I have to say, my heart still hasn't changed all that much towards that center block!) I knew that one of the rounds of this Round Robin called for appliqueing "anywhere" on the quilt, so I was confident that all of that horrible white space around my goofy looking trees would at least come back with some great applique on it. (Right??)

((((sigh..............))))

I would never, for anything in the world, hurt any of these gals' feelings. But, when this quilt came back, well, I just wasn't crazy about it. I really can't blame any one but myself. I mean - I didn't exactly offer up any great inspiration with that center block, did I?

This quilt has been sitting in my UFO pile for a long time. I finally decided to do something with it and boy, have I worked! I removed the hodge-podge of appliqued snowflakes. (That was fun. They were fused on and then zig-zagged around.) And then I reworked the ribbon border into a flying geese border. (Which meant taking the entire thing apart and re-sewing it.) I added the baby rick rack around the trees and houses so they would stand out better. And I added a LOT of applique and embroidery to that sad center block. Whew! It's a lot more work than I should have spent on it, but ya know......it's not too bad! I actually like it.

I have nothing against Round Robins. Honest! They can be a lot of fun. I just have so many other quilts floating around in my head waiting to be made, that I think I will stick with one-woman quilts for a while.

Quilting for the Grands - Part 2

Posting a little while back about all the quilts I have made for Gavin gave me a kinda queasy feeling knowing that I would have to come clean about the fact that I have only made two quilts for Aidan so far. Uh oh --- need to even things up. Turns out, though, that it isn't as bad as I first thought. Gavin got his 3rd quilt from me when he was 3 1/2 years old, so I have about a month until Aidan hits that point. Whew!! Guess I'd better get busy, huh?

This is the quilt I made for Aidan in 2006 as we were awaiting his birth. I used the "Baby Nines" pattern from the April 2000 issue of McCall's Quilting magazine. They made it out of pastels for the sample quilt which graced the cover of that issue, but I like to think outside the box when it comes to my quilts. (In case you haven't noticed.)

Aidan's next quilt was from another Debbie Caffrey book, Another Can of Worms. I couldn't find any photos of him with the quilt when I first made it in 2007, so I took this photo when I saw him last week. This one is in my studio right now for repairs because it has a bleach spot on it, but that's what applique is for -- right?

Just as before, I would rather show off the grands than the quilts, but you can see full images of the quilts on my Flickr page right here:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/sandypanagos/sets/72157610375681178/

See ya later. Gotta go do some emergency applique!

Missing............And REALLY in Action!

I really did mean to come back to my blog before now, but I've barely had a minute to take a breath in the past two weeks. It started on the 23rd of last month when Adam and his family hit town for a few days to attend a wedding. (I think it's the 7th wedding Adam has been in. He's a popular guy!) They made a mini vacation of it, and when they went home they left Gavin and Aidan to spend some quality time with Gramma and Grampa. Today is the first time in 14 days I have been home alone. YAY!!!!! (Why am I already missing those guys?!?!?)

One of the things we did while they were here in town was spend a very cool day at The Magic House in Kirkwood. I just had to take a photo of the glass balloons that filled the ceiling of the entry area. Inspiration, anyone??

All three of the boys had a blast and were kept busy with the hands-on displays. Aidan liked climbing Jack's beanstalk ladder in the Story Book area.............

Gavin pretended to give a speech as the President of the U.S. in the Branches of Government display...........

and Noah climbed the giant beanstalk that spanned several stories.

Grampa treated all of us to a tasty dinner (and dessert!) at Fitz's - a real St. Louis Classic. I had to eat fast to get my share of the banana split Gavin and I shared!

After a few good nights' sleep and a nap or two, I'll get back to blogging about quilts. BBFN......