Lily's Quilt Top is Done!

Okay, here it is- Lily's quilt top, ready to go on the Gammill today! The flowers, letters, bugs, and even the bias tape are fused on and then applied with invisible thread and a tiny zigzag stitch. Can't wait to start quilting, then embellishing!

Originally, I was just going to spell out her nice, short, four-letter name. But at the beach, I noticed that her family all called her Lily-bug, even three-year-old brother Avery . That nickname works perfectly with all the dragonflies and the ladybug- not to mention the extra space at the bottom of the center block! Hope she does not mind when she gets older. When I was little my mother often called me Jeannie- Bean, which I did not like, and my dad called me Jeannie-Bird, which I loved. Lily has actually been called Bugs or Bugsy since she was born, because of her GREAT BIG EYES. Cute as a bug?

Back to Reality

It was a wonderful week at Sunset Beach. On Wednesday, the birthday girl arrived with her mom, dad, and brother! Lily loved the water, taking to it like a little otter. Sunset Beach has tidal pools that remain in the sand at low tide, just perfect for little ones to play in without worry of waves knocking them off balance. We loved watching them! Friday was a little cool and rainy in the morning, so we took a little trip to North Myrtle Beach to see Alligator Adventure. Grandson Avery is crazy about alligators, mostly thanks to a kid video with the late Crocodile Hunter, Steve Irwin. I was surprised that they also had two Siberian tigers, a bear, some beautiful macaws, lemurs, and a large reptile exhibit.

Yesterday I went back to the store to refill our larder, and then invited our son and his wife who live in Raleigh to come to dinner for Fathers' Day. Usually my husband takes charge of these Sunday dinners by grilling something yummy, but I wanted to make a special supper for him all by myself. So what did he do? Washed my car for me. What a nice man! He enjoyed his chicken pie, salad, corn on the cob, fruit salad, croissants, and strawberry shortcake. I tried something new that I loved when we ate at The Boundary House in Calabash last week. They used sugared pecans in the green salad. I did not know how to make them, so I did a quick search on the Internet. They are so sweet and crunchy and added a very different taste to the salad. I have a wonderful husband who is a great father and grandfather. I had to make do with wishing my own dad a happy Fathers' Day on Saturday at the beach before we left. He is such a unique dad with time and love to devote to his seven children and their spouses, fourteen grandchildren, and seven great-grandchildren. Love you, Daddy!

I have just finished doing last night's dishes by hand, since the dishwasher chose an inopportune time to conk out. Made myself do my exercise video for the first time in ten days. Now on to working on little Lily's quilt!

Beach Blanket Bloggo

Checking in midweek from Sunset Beach, NC! We have found several wireless connections available, so I thought I would post a few pictures. We are having such a restful but fun time here. One day was slightly cloudy and it has rained twice, both times after a full day on the beach. The only bad thing is that son Dave threw his back out trying to hoist the cooler up the steps of the walkway to the beach. That has put a slight damper on the fun. Today our other son Bryson and his family should be arriving. Their little boy Avery had to get stitches in his chin on Saturday after falling on their concrete driveway, so hopefully he will get the doctor's OK to come to the beach today after they are removed. Today is granddaughter Lily's first birthday- can't wait to see her!

Hat night was the first night, as always. Here are a few of us trying to figure out how to have fun.

Me, hubby Charlie, brother John, sister Katy

Daughter-in-law Emily and me

Son Dave and Em

Trying out watercolor pencils

I have recently begun carrying a small sketchbook and watercolor paper book along with some watercolor pencils when we travel. I really know nothing about the pencils, except that they are handy to use, easy to manipulate, and you do not need a water supply while you are applying color. Here is a drawing that I did with the pencils on dry paper while sitting on my bench overlooking the creek in the mountains

Here is the same drawing after I added water with a brush. It softened the colors and blended the lines a bit. A photograph of the same view is below:

Here is a little sketch of some of the wildflowers near my bench, done "dry."

And this is the same sketch after using the brush with water. I also added some outlining with a fine-point black marker.

Just playing around...guess I should get on the Web and see if there are instructions out there for using this medium! Meanwhile, it never hurts to try to improve drawing skills. (Mine could use a lot of work.) Maybe my dad will feel like providing some lessons while we are at the beach next week.

We are so excited about our upcoming beach vacation! We have been going to the same beach in North Carolina for over twenty years, and have been renting the same cottage for at least fifteen years. Sunset Beach is the southern-most beach in North Carolina, on a barrier island that is reached by a one-lane swinging drawbridge. The cottage we rent is nothing to brag about, but the location is fantastic. It is on what we call "second row," meaning there is one other row of houses between it and the beach. However, it is located on the very southern end of the island, facing "Madd Inlet." There is water in the inlet at high tide, but at low tide it is a sandy marsh replete with seabirds and crabs. One year a dolphin was trapped in a small pool of water at low tide right next to our cottage. A concerned crowd gathered, wondering how to help him, but about six hours later he happily skipped out of there when the tide turned. From our deck we can see the ocean peeking over the dunes, the high-rise motels of South Carolina beaches in the distance, and boats on the Intercoastal Waterway. Lots of fine porch sitting, especially for morning coffee or evening Margaritas! And at sunset, the beach earns its name by offering unobstructed views of the western sky, often reflected in the waters below.

At night, after eating seafood at one of the fine restaurants in Sunset Beach, Calabash,or Little River, we usually just sit on the deck, listening to music, observing the constellations and planets, and talking to family and friends. This year my family will have three cottages. We all do our own thing, occasionally getting together to eat out or celebrate a birthday or Fathers' Day. We all sit in a long line at the beach, with the hardy ones playing horseshoes, boccie ball, or volleyball. Those more inclined to relax (me) have a beach chair and a good book and a cooler nearby.

At our cottage, the first night is always "Hat Party." The owners keep a supply of straw hats on a hook near the door, and we all choose a hat to wear on the deck to kick off the week of vacation. Too bad we never have any fun!

This year I hope to spend some time chasing my two grandbabies around and playing with them in the tidal pools that form at low tide. We are bringing the laptop, but may not have an Internet service available. So...if you do not hear from me for a week, tune in after June 17! Have a great week!

How to Embellish Lily's Quilt

Here is the top of Lily's quilt without any embellishments. What to do in the big blank in the square?









Here is my original idea- spell out her name in yo-yo's and buttons. These are just placed on here to see how they look. Typically, I embellish AFTER quilting. I also want to add some beads on the insects, and maybe more yo-yo's on the flowers.







Here is a closer look at the yo-yo's and buttons. I'm thinking of first appliqueing cloth letters, then embellishing. I think that would make the center complete better with the strong outer border.





The flowers, dragonflies, hearts, and ladybug are from the book Bugs, Blooms, and Bullfrogs by Pat Sloan. I used a fused 1/4" bias tape in a marbled green for the vines.

I am so ready to quilt this and get it done, but we are leaving on vacation Saturday, and I really need to do some preparations! I'll take it to my bee meeting tonight and see what the ladies think.

A Quilt for Lily

I did work on Lily's quilt yesterday. For some reason, I have had a hard time figuring out what to do for this quilt. I have made many blocks, put on borders, and ripped apart because it was not the look I wanted. My daughter-in-law asked me to make a wall quilt for the nursery. She and her mother made the curtains, bed quilt, sheet and bumpers from coordinating fabrics in deep reds, olive greens, browns, and tans. Not traditional baby colors! I began by making a North Carolina Lily center medallion. What could be better? Her father is from North Carolina and her name is Lily. Then I was going for a sort of round-robin series of borders. However, I have abandoned all those and will be using in another project that I am making as a surprise. I bought a little book of patterns for quilt projects with frogs, lily pads, dragonflies, ladybugs and flowers. I am putting some of the flowers in an outer border with dragonflies. The center will have Lily spelled out in yo-yo's and buttons and beads, with a ladybug and flower beneath the name. I made the yo-yo's last weekend on the way to and from the mountains. I have used some of the fabrics that Miranda used for the nursery, but could not refrain from adding some bright hand-dyed fabric for the flowers. Will post more when I get more of the fusibles stitched down.

Getting it done

Yesterday I knuckled down and finished quilting two customer quilts. I've heard of Christmas in July, but how about June? This quilt is a table runner. I had fun doing freehand poinsettias, holly, and pine tips in Rose Petals variegated thread. I decided to use a gray Bottom Line thread in the bobbin to minimize any "pokies" in the stitching as this top thread ranges from a deep burgundy to a light pink. It does not do anything for the pieced back in red and green, but who will see the back on a table runner?

The same customer brought me a small quilt in lovely fall fabrics that I call Harvest Spice, because the colors in the fabrics look like those in the Harvest Spice quilt pattern. She chose pine green cotton thread, which does not show up in the borders, but is strongly contrasting on the beige backing fabric. That lends a little extra pressure not to show any bobbles or knots on the back. The triangles were done in Line Dancing with a leaf design, and I used various leafy feathers and leaf vines in the border stripes.There are more photographs of both of these quilts on my Webshots site.

Today I want to work on the wall-hanging quilt for granddaughter Lily. She will be one year old on June 13 while we are at the beach. I doubt her quilt will be finished by then, but I will try to have it done by the following week when the guild meets. At the June meeting, there is a big show-and-tell of all the workshop projects that have been completed over the year. It would be nice to have something to show for my two days with Melody Crust! I don't really have anything from the Shiva Paintstix/foil workshop since I sold the postcards I made there. But this little wallhanging will have buttons, beads, embroidery and yo-yo's that can represent the Embellishments workshop.