B is for . . .

BEES, Buzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz, Bordeaux, Brussels and BAGS!!!

Looked what just BUZZED in from my DF Jane in France! It's a fabulous fabric bag with BEES on it that she got in Brussels on a recent trip. Thanks Jane! Love it! I know someone (CW) who will be a bit jealous. But I don't think this bag is big enough for her standards, so I'm probably safe. Also along for the ride were two plastic shopping bags showing some hive activity! Why can't Publix have bags like these???

Here's hoping that you all get buzzing around this weekend, productively work your hive, and get a few sweet projects completed or on their way there!

Saturday Night in Jacksonville!

I attended a trunk show/lecture given by Paula Barnes of Bonnie Blue Quilts at the Olde Green Cupboard on Saturday night. Paula (that's her on the right) explained that Bonnie Blue Quilts is not only designing quilt patterns, but are now designing fabric lines to assist quilters in getting reproduction fabric. Their indigo shirtings line that OGC had displayed was gorgeous. All of the Bonnie Blue Quilt patterns are tied to the Civil War - historical people, places, and events. It was fabulous to see the 20+++ quilts that she brought and to hear a story about each. The machine quilting on these quilts was spectacular. We got to examine them close-up after the lecture. Enjoy the pictures, and if you are interested, check out their website for patterns, kits, and fabrics: http://www.bonniebluequilts.com/ Of course, I treated myself to 4 of their patterns with DREAMS of going in my sewing room and not emerging for days!!! Not likely to happen, but the patterns and quilts certainly are inspirational.

IT'S A SIGN, IT'S A SIGN!!!

Whoa! What happens when you see a sign like this on your way to a yarn shop??? In my world, it's a sign, for sure, that SOMETHING special will be there for YOU! My DF Mel and I were on our way to The Local Needle in Macclenny, FL (www.localneedle.com) last Friday night, and just around the corner from the shop, we saw this sign. We had to go around the block, so we could get a picture of it and even figure out what the business was all about - since I was just babbling - There's a sheep head and it says LAMB!!! OH! OH! OH!

Well, we did indeed have a great visit to the shop and YES, there were a few special balls of yarn there for us! More on the rest of the weekend - but I just had to get this picture up for my SHEEP friends!

Thought Provoking, For Sure

O Edel Herz Bedenk Dein End (O noble heart, consider your end)

That's what the initials in this motif stand for - OEHBDDE. Possibly originating from a hymn, the couplet is: O edel Herz Bedenk Dein End, Wer weist wie nah der Lauf vollend (O noble heart, consider your end, who knows how soon the course is run). The O starts in the lower left corner and then the other letters follow around clockwise.

This motif is one of the religious motifs found on Pennsylvania German show towels and features a heart in the center, a crown above, and branches with flowers extending from the heart. Surrounding the motif are the initials standing for the first line in the couplet.

I was fortunate recently to add a show towel to my collection that has this motif on it. I've always been fascinated by it and the individual interpretations of the motif. There are lots of variations as each stitcher tried to personalize her version - solid or open hearts, different flowers, lengths of the extending branches from the heart, and different crowns. This motif, besides being thought provoking for the stitcher, would no doubt hold the viewer of the towel in thought for a moment as they looked at the motif and understood the meaning of it's abbreviation. Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . O Noble Heart.

When In Doubt

Use ONE color!

Here's the last BBD Loose Feathers that was stitched by a friend and shared at our sampler guild meeting show and tell yesterday. The pattern was shown stitched in a red, but she loves browns and MUD colors, so she stitched it in Belle Soie Espresso. I loved it!

So when we were talking about the newest Loose Feathers, which is done on a peachy-pink (or as CW said, "FA-LESH") colored fabric in muted pastels, it was eventually suggested that this one too would have to be stitched in ONE color. So, the Belle Soie rack was spun and WAAAA-LAAAA! Plush Plum was chosen. Am anxious to see how it turns out. I stuck with the colors given in the pattern because I liked them, but I'm already imagining the benefits of using ONE color - only have one or two skeins hanging around with your project, not having to worry that you used the WRONG color someplace, and no changing colors while stitching! You can just STITCH, 100% stitching. There's something to THAT!!!

Weekend Finish

That was a fun and easy stitch. It was done on 28 ct. linen - THAT might have something to do with it! It's A Flock of Birds from My Heart Is True - Blackbird Designs and Nicoletta Farrauto. I stitched it in cotton, instead of Belle Soie, and love the colors - Havana, Bark, Lancaster Red (all WDW) and Flax (GA). Guess I'll be picking out a frame when I get down to the shop.

That's a gorgeous woven tray of willow that my stitched piece is sitting on. It was a great gift from France and sits on my dining room table so I can continue to admire it!

Painful Pictures

Well, here's my latest basket "haul" from the Flagler Beach Farmers' Market. It was great to meet the woman behind My Bolga Baskets (there's a link to the website in the right column) and I am looking forward to her moving down this way. Hopefully she can get established at a few of the local markets and grow her business down here. I got her new U-Shopper (Navy and Rose), 3 Markets (little one, navy/rose/natural, and big blue/green) and a Jumbo Shopper in Navy/Sage/Natural. Because she does such a volume business, she's now able to request certain colors and is even working on getting new shapes woven. The quality of the baskets was great and so were the prices!

Okay, as to the PAINFUL part - Just as I got all the baskets hooked on my back fence and was dealing with the camera, I felt something on my left foot. Looking down I saw that I was standing in the middle of a fire ant nest! I had been so focused on whether there were any wasp nests under that area of the fence and how the baskets looked, I forgot to look down. As I was making sure that all the ants were off of me, a mosquito lands on my arm. I smashed it and got a blood spotted palm. That was it! I grabbed my baskets, screamed "It's a jungle out here!" and retreated to the house to deal with the FIVE ant bites on the tops of my feet - I was wearing shoes, but no socks. One good thing - no sitings yet of any 12 foot plus pythons!

PROGRESS!

Okay, Okay, I'll post something MB!

Last weekend I had a great time at a rug retreat in a quilt shop. How close to heaven is that??? Hooking with bolts and bolts of quilt fabric, even some gorgeous wool fabric. AND I got a lot done on My House Sampler rug that I started in January. In fact THE HOUSE is complete. It may not look like I got a lot done, but the house does take up the whole center of the rug, as one of my friends kindly pointed out. So I felt pretty good about accomplishing that. Since I got SO MUCH done, I had to spend some time shopping for quilt fabric and taking pictures of the fabulous quilts on the walls. It was ANOTHER weekend of lots of fun, laughs, shopping, and good food. Most memorable - Jill's Stuffed French Toast covered in Maple Syrup. YUM!!! To make it she used 30 eggs!!! and pints and pints of half and half. That amount served at least 15 people, so we each had our morning eggs!