Dr. Pepper and Bonnie Hunter WARNING!!!!!!

Honest...I waited 3 weeks to wash my truck after Bonnie sat in it. And I followed a suggestion of one of my commentators to just save some of that road dirt in a bottle/envelope and wash my truck for goodness sakes.

Today I had a phone call from Bonnie. Like a blast....I did not expect it! WHoooHooo.!!!

Later in the day I moved the passenger seat back for my daughter and what rolls out from under the passenger seat??? An opened liter of Dr. Pepper!!!!!
It belongs to Bonnie. She had transferred some things to my truck when we went to dinner and exploring.
Now don't you all remember her story about soda exploding in the back of her truck????
So beware if she moves any possessions to your automobile!

Star Struck, Rag quilt, swap blocks and a Kaleidoscope quilt!

Where have I been? At the sewing machine of course! And the rain is light and wonderful. Makes for a perfect sewing day. But I am also doing the laundry. A gal cannot do just one thing at a time you know!

I have my Star Struck pink/brown all done and ready for the borders. Pattern is by Bonnie Hunter at : http://www.quiltville.com

Right now it is a comfy 48X55". Then I was caught by another quilt in my head and took it down from the design wall. I do have the borders all cut and ready for a quick finish.

I really like this pattern. I want to do it in all colorways including scrappy. There is not enough of me to go around. I even sew in my sleep!

This is what took me away from the Star Struck quilt. There is a story here. Last week I won one yard of "ugly" fabric at my guild meeting. Next month I am to bring a yard of what I consider ugly fabric to a drawing. Anyway, I loved the fabric and used it in this quilt. This quilt is now 52X66" before borders.

The fabric I won was the guitar fabric. It is by Michael Miller. A beautiful piece of fabric. Hubby and I both play guitar and the fabric fits us to a "T". I told hubby he can have this one when I am done with it. I have been asked to teach a pattern at my LQS and this one will be it. If you make smaller blocks it is doable in one lesson day.

One afternoon last week I got another "itch" to try a technique...rag quilting. This picture is after just one wash/dry. I understand they will bloom the more they are washed. The cats have claimed this one alread. That is fine, I was only testing the technique.

This is before wash/dry. I have a whole bolt of the brown floral flannel. It is so beautiful. I need to start selling some of my stash. What will I ever do with 15 yards of this beautiful fabric? It is made by Andover Fabrics 2002 American Folk Art Museum, Broderie Perse Pattern #2017.

Any takers at $4.00 a yard?

I am in a batik block swap on a Yahoo group and these three sets are what I am mailing out. I just love these swaps. I worked on these last week too. Guess that is why I have not been blogging.

Here are the fabrics all washed. Batiks bleed so bad. These will not.

And this is the project that really took a big bunch of my time. There are 200 3" nine patches for mailing. And I do not have have the other 200 rail blocks pictured. I mailed out 400 mini 9-patches and rails. I cannot wait to get the return swap! It really impressed the ladies at the post office. They love to look at what I am swapping. And it is job security for them.

I moved around some more furniture and added a pressing station to my sewing area. Gosh am I lucky or what!

There is more room for the kitties to help me too!

And here is MaggieMae in her glory. She loves to lay on cool hard surfaces. I think that is because of her heavy fur. Less static or clinging.

Two summers ago there were two baby squirrels born without tails. One did not make it through the winter. But little Stubby made it. I think it large part because I made sure she was fed through the winters. She is now heading into her third winter year. She has had 2 litters each summer and is an excellent mother. She is so tame she takes peanuts from my hand. She also knocks on the door to get my attention. I fear she is going to dash into the house when I open the front door to give her peanuts and what a mess that would be. I fear she would really hurt the cats. They all love her through the window as you can see. Pearl is just calmly watching her. I guess I really love her as I bought 25#'s of raw peanuts this summer for winter feeding. I also make them peanutbutter/cornmeal/birdseed balls.

See? All she has is about 2" of fluffy fur. All her babies have long gorgeous tails. Maybe something got into her nest when she and her brother were VERY small and they each lost the tail. I looked it up on the internet, and she is showing and sharing her terrritory with only one of her last litter. I watched her showing the little girl the boundries and marking them for her. All while I was filling the birdbath with the hose. She has even came up behind me and touched my leg to get my attention. Hope she does not try to use me as a tree.......

Bonnie was at my home! and Star Gazing from Bonnie Hunter's Scraps and Shirttails

EVIDENCE! Bonnie was at my home on Friday September 4th! She is entering Teri's address into that great GPS tool, a Tomtom! It gets our Bonnie to where she needs to be. Or very close anyway!

I managed to ask my "across the street neighbor" Sharon, to come and take a picture of Bonnie, myself and Carol after we had pigged out at Rack&Helen's. It is a great new/old eating place here in New Haven, Indiana.

And me with our Bonnie.

And here is the Star Gazing all assembled. Those sashing strips were tricky but the end result is awesome! I still need to add a narrow border and then make all the picket fence units. But for now it sure looks great!

As usual, whenever a quilt is laid on the floor for a picture, one of my five kitties has to investigate. Looks as if Pearl was the only one awake and I managed to get a couple great pictures of my Precious Pearl.

Looks as if she likes it. And the colors go with her so well.

Then I climbed two spaced stools and got the Star Gazing onto the design wall. I put lots of pins in the top area to prevent and stretching from the hanging. On the left are some leftover blocks from former quilts. Anyone know what they are?

Today I feel a bit hung over. My hubby's older brother, Ron Mohr, is currently in a PBA bowling competition. We watched him at the alley last night and then closed a great Mexican eatery afterwards. We were up way past our bedtime. So Hubby went to watch more playoffs today. I stayed home to finish my assembly.

Ron Mohr is currently in the LEAD!!!!!!!! You can check out his progress on my hubby's blog: In one Era and Out the Other. http://jimmohr.blogspot.com/

I found this sewing box in the clearence aisle at Walmart. I paid only $10 for the box. I love pink/brown combinations. The box is light and has all kinds of clever things on the inside and the outside.

The sections inside can be configured by moving the velcro or removed completely.

Little plastic side pockets. I do not think I would put sewing items in them while traveling but once at my location I could place the scissors or marking pens and grab them as needed.

And this side is advertised as a pin cushion. They are so very clever!!!!!

And here is my Bess. She was worn out from being the sewing/pressing supervisor today.

Kaye England Seminar in Indianapolis

http://www.sewmanyplaces.com/index.html

Well, I have decided I love "quilty" traveling and have signed up for this event. It is not until March 2010!
Sign up and join me!

Batik Dark Star Struck

Ok...you can all relate to this story. I was down to my last units to sew together. The pieces I had cut all came out even but I ended up 2 units short while assembling. So I had to drag out the fabric and make two more then finished adding them to the wall. Now I was doing laundry while sewing away. I was putting some of the retreat stuff back and what shows up in my ironing basket? You got it....the two units I was short.

Bonnie's Dark Star Struck has sashing and a picket fence border. So this one is not done yet. I had taken a pic of hers at the retreat but it came out too dark and faraway to see any details.

This was Lane's request to see what I had worked on at the retreat.

I still have to assemble my pink/brown Star Struck. I hope it does not come up short too. Cross your fingers for me.

Camp Mack Retreat with Bonnie

Here is our Bonnie in her glory. She is such a fine and patient teacher. She traveled all around to every sewer to make sure they were clear what to do with her instructions.

My machine and work on the Batik Star Struck I am making.

Bonnie was right next to me while she sewed. When we arrived on Friday we plugged in my MP3 player and maxed out on music we BOTH love. When I asked her if she knew of Nanci Griffith she jumped up and hugged me saying she had every album of Nanci's. I do too. We sang and sewed Friday away. She was so tired from traveling but she look lovely to me. Her blue eyes were so bright and friendly. And friends....she is skinny! She eats all the right foods and exercises everyday. That is dedication!

The candle ceremony Bonnie mentioned on her blog brought tears to all our eyes. And I was doubly honored by having Bonnie light my candle! Sigh! She is so wonderful!

I do not want to wash my truck. Bonnie sat in the passenger seat. Precious memories for me. And the gravel dirt on my truck reminds me of the campground. I may never wash it!

Yes, laughter was the rule for the weekend. And machines hummed into the wee hours.

This is right outside one of the rooms we sewed in. Camp Mack had received tons of rain the week prior and everything was very wet. It also rained after we arrived on Friday. There went my hair...all frizz! Oh well...I wanted to sew.

Waterfall from a spring right off a path. Lovely sound that water made as it played down those stones.

I tasted the water. It was a sulfur water spring. I had no stomach problems after tasting.

We went to a diner that was like or was a old train pullman train car. Very tight spaces inside but the service was great and the food even better.

That is me in the pink shirt. Gezzzzz....I need to lose some weight. Oh well...fat and very happy!

Teri made all our nametags from Maverick Stars with our names inside! Lovely momento of the retreat. I also bought a great mug at the giftshop.

This was Bonnie and my setup on Friday before the others arrived. She is working on blocks for her next book. I will not spill the beans Bonnie. You can trust me not to spoil it for you and your loyal fans!