Book Club

The book club met Friday night to discuss "Drowning Ruth" by Christina Schwartz. The book was pretty good and kept me involved because it was kind of suspenseful. It was difficult reading because it was written in the first person by the characters in the book so you really had to pay attention to who was talking or you would get confused. The characters were extremely unlikable with there only being two that I even liked. The main characters were all women and all unlikable. The book discussion was very interesting but the non book discussion was a lot more fun. Maybe because it was a Friday night and we didn't have to think about going to work in the a.m.

Christmas in July

35th Avenue Sew & Vac had its annual Christmas in July sale and I went to it after work to pick up several sewing items. 35th Ave. is reputed to have the largest selection of quilting fabrics in Arizona and I wouldn't doubt it. One day, I will need to get pictures or a video of 35th because it really is an amazing store.

Since I am now getting into multi-hooping embroidery, I picked up Jenny Haskins new book "Aquamarine Ambiance" I think the quilt is just gorgeous. It will be a lot of work but I want to try it.

I also picked up a fabric calculator for quilting. Something that I hope will become my right hand since I am deficient in the math skills.

Along with these I also bought some marking pens, a bunch of ARC embroidery thread, stabilizer, a special compass and ruler for our next class project, a couple of pieces of fabric, and a thread box. I really tried to keep from looking at all the gorgeous fabric since I have boxes and boxes of fabric that I will probably never use in my lifetime.

Sew In photos

Here are some photos I took at the Sew In:

This is the room in which we were fed our lunches and dinnners.

This is the Sewing Room.

This was our masseuse Michelle. She won the table prize which she is holding in her hand.

This was one of the two quilts that sold for the highest bids at the silent auction. This is a machine embroidered wallhanging done by my friend Sue. The other high bid wallhanging was done by my friend Beverly.

These are my friends, Beverly, Lynn and Mary at Happy Hour.

Mary working on her kitchen valances.

Testing uploading a video

Test video

New quilts

An almost finished quilt which will be a retirement gift for a friend at the firm.

And an unfinished cat quilt (even though I'm a dog person).

Obstacle course

Getting to and from work each day has become hazardous business. The construction of the light rail has pretty much destroyed Central Avenue. Driving south on Central off of McDowell is like driving through an obstacle course. Every day, the barriers change and you never know if the next day you will even be able to get through. I could misquote Forrest Gump and say "Central Avenue is like a box of chocolates; you never know what you're going to get."

Still messing around with my camera

I took a picture of one of my latest quilts in order to play with the indoor features of the camera. As you can see, I should have messed around more with laying out the quilt since I left so many wrinkles in it before taking the picture.

While piecing this quilt, I was really unhappy with it and thought it would become a U.F.O. I finally finished it though and I'm pretty happy with the outcome. Now, it just needs to be quilted.

Trouble posting subject lines

Blogspot is having a problem accepting the subject matter. My last two posts appear without a subject line. As of yesterday, they were still working on the problem and the temporary fix they provide does not work for me.

Tagged

I have been tagged and need to give 8 facts about me.

Here are the rules:
1. I have to post these rules before I give you the facts.
2. Each participant posts eight random facts about themselves.
3. Tagees should write a blogpost of eight random facts about themselves.
4. At the end of the post, eight more bloggers are tagged
5. Go to their blog, leave a comment telling them they're tagged.

Here are my facts:
1. I love to iron!! I know; it's crazy but I just do. Good thing too since I am a quilter and there is a lot of ironing involved.

2. I absolutely detest cell phones. I have one but rarely use it and no one knows my number because it is for my convenience only; nobody elses. However, that being said, I do covet the new IPhone although will never have one. I just think it's so cool!

3. My biggest pet peeve is seeing people driving in their cars with their kids and/or babies unrestrained in the front seat. I really wish they would be pulled over and cited for it and then given a major lecture from the cop about how dangerous this is for children.

4. I was in a movie once but my part was left on the editing room floor. The movie was "Stir Crazy" with Gene Wilder and Richard Pryor. My roommates and I were in a restaurant scene. Sidney Poitier, the director, came over to our table and gave me a big hug and then had me get up and do some kind of a walking part. That was cut from the movie but you can see my roommates and my arm in the movie. So much for stardom.

5. I am related to the Roosevelts by marriage. My mom's cousin, Romelle Schneider, married James Roosevelt, the son of Franklin and Eleanor. When the local paper asked my great grandpa what he thought of his granddaughter marrying the president's son, my great grandpa replied he wasn't too pleased because James was 1. divorced and 2. not Catholic. He did accept the marriage and probably was not too displeased about it. They were eventually divorced but I have met their children a couple of times at family reunions. Anne Roosevelt, the only daughter, looks very much like Eleanor except for being much, much prettier.

6. I LOVE DOGS!!!

7. From the age of five until college, I spent every day of every summer in the pool. Growing up, the town pool was right across the street so I would go over there for the whole day and then go back at night. Pretty cheap babysitting for my mom I guess.

8. I was born on Friday the 13th and my mom was born on Friday the 13th.

Now, I'm supposed to tag 8 more bloggers but I don't really know any. But I will go ahead and tag two of them here. Nanflan of New Mexico and Rowena

What kind of bird is this?

What kind of bird is this?



I was messing around with my new camera and I found this bird and his family living in the eaves of the cabin. I was between him and his nest so he couldn't go home with me standing there. These photos were taken from about 12 feet away.

Sigh

The Sew In is over. The event I have been looking forward to so much for so long has come and gone. It was a wonderful weekend with good times, good food and good friends. I'll post more later because my laptop is now fixed and once I pick it up and load some photos, I can start posting them here.

Granny J has tagged me so I have to come up with 8 random facts about me. Presently, I have no idea what those could be.