Thursday, August 12, 2010

Travels! Nine patches! and other assorted stuff

Whew! Long time no chat...I have been working, working...and then!! Dear husband whirled me off for an amazing weekend...in Lake Tahoe! It is so beautiful there...and a place I have always wanted to see. He loves, loves, loves old and antique cars, so we went to Reno and attended Hot August Nights...a huge car show and extravaganza! Think of the huge quilt show in Houston...it is like that, except the topic of interest is cars. We saw so many gorgeous cars, his (and my) mouth was watering! I loved Tahoe the best, it was just gorgeous.
On the way, I appliqued basket handles to basket blocks...I have a lot cut out in different colors, but here is what I have so far. I love them! They are 4 inch finished. The red one was an experimental block...it may not be in the finished quilt...or it may, LOL!!
Trisha of www.TLCstitches.blogspot.com recently had a binding tutorial, where you used two different fabrics and sewed the binding to the back, then turned it to the front to hand stitch. I absolutely loved this technique!! I plan to do this on a lot of quilts now...do you see the little pink strip? It is pieced into the binding...how cool, huh??
Caladiums are getting bigger...pretty! I love them. The bright green is my sweet potato vine...hey, does this really grow sweet potatoes? Or is it only ornamental...?




Please see Mary's blog...for some reason, I cannot get her tutorial page to hop over to my blog, but she has the coolest technique for nine patches!!! The post is dated August 7th, 2010. Thank you dear Mary!!
Nine patches are coming for the big swap!! Aren't these gorgeous?? I love them! They are from Susan in North Carolina, and she sent some amazing backgrounds too. I am almost totally out of backgrounds, so I am just tickled pink!!
These are from Trisha in Washington...aren't they so pretty too? I just think this is like Christmas opening these packages...and I think you will too when all these get distributed!! And some wonderful fabric was included...thank you so very much, Trisha!!! Trisha also has a very cool way of making nine patches...please click on her name to view her blog.
These nine patches are from Sweden...how cool, getting mail from Sweden! Louise made these...and they are amazingly pretty. She also included some fabric too...thank you! You all are so very kind to me.
OK...confession time...I ate like a little piggie this week, but still managed to lose a pound. I am not sure how that happened...and I know it will catch up with me. Let's see what next week brings!!




I also took a lightening fast trip to Colorado to see my family...I would love prayers for my sister, who has dementia, and cannot walk or think much anymore. She is fading pretty quickly now...





Have a wonderful day all!!!



Julie

16 comments:

Amelia said...

Oh you have been busy - and on the go too! Sorry to hear about your sister...a hard thing to deal with.

It looked cool there at Lake Tahoe...ready here for some cool temps.

Enjoy the weekend.

Terry said...

Lake Tahoe looks lovely! Sorry about your sister. I can't even imagine what that must be like for you.

Quilter Kathy said...

SO glad to hear you had a special getaway adventure. Sounds like you needed it with all the worry about your sister.
Your basket blocks look fabulous...the red one is definately not like the others :)
I'm working on my 9 patches...it's fun to see the other blocks that have started to arrive.

Sharon said...

You have had a busy time, but it all sounds wonderful. LOVE your little baskets! Lake Tahoe is on my bucket-list, looks gorgeous! And hugs and prayers for your sister...take care.

A Garden of Threads said...

Wow, your trip sounds wonderful, my hubby would love the car show. I will keep your sister in my prayers.

The nine patches that have come in look great. Take care and have a wonderful weekend.

Pat said...

I'm so sorry to hear about your sister but glad you had a chance to go see her. Lovely trip you took to Tahoe. Thanks for the link for the piped binding...I looked at it and liked it and have bookmarked it.

Elaine Adair said...

You have lots of news, projects, photos to share. I am so sorry to hear of your sister's illness, and yes, I will keep her in my prayers. Sad, and I'm sure, very hard for you and family.

Keep on keepin' on.

Anonymous said...

Hello Julie, enjoyed seeing Lake Tahoe, sometimes a quick trip with DH is what the soul needs....sorry to hear of your sister and my thoughts for you.....the nine patches are starting to roll in and gorgeous...hugs lyn

antique quilter said...

a little weekend away was the perfect thing for you in such a busy time.
love the baskets, keep going!
Very nice of you to visit your sister under these conditions...its so hard to see loved ones like this.
thinking of you
Kathie

Carol said...

What a great weekend trip! Looks beautiful...love your little baskets...look at all those 9 patches, I need to get to stitchin'!
I'm so sorry to hear about your sister...sending lots of good thoughts!

Lori said...

So much fun in one post!!!
A quick trip away is all we need sometimes to rev our engines. Because we're in the auto parts business we have quite a few customers that attend Hot August Nights. Love the little baskets too! The red one would be a bit rogue, don't you think? I love it!!

Karen said...

How fun to be getting all those nine patch blocks from around the world. Do you have plans for using all of them?

Loris said...

I'm so glad you had such a wonderful trip! Lake Tahoe is beautiful! Thank you for the link to the faux piping tutorial. I loved it. Your quilt using it is fabulous!

Anonymous said...

Sorry to hear about your sister. You and she will be in my thoughts and prayers.
cindy

Becky said...

That's terrible news about your sister. My father has dementia, too. What a horrible disease! Will keep your sister on my prayer list!

Lana said...

Just stumbled on your site from the Friday Night Sew-In...I love all your posts and your quilting.
I will be saying a prayer for your sister and your family.
I hope you don't mind if I visit now and again...this is a nice place to visit.

Puffins and purples!!

I was tempted by Puffins...a squirrelly breed!!  LOL!  This fabric was shared with me, and I have been loved these bright, candy corn colors...