Coming out...thanks for all the chins

Hi! My name is James, that's my Mom hiding behind the jacket-

I'm coming out of the blogging closet. Here is an unfortunate picture of me and cousin Nancy in Charlotte. I am on the right with all the chins. Good Lord-this is the second best shot I could find and I might as well bite the bullet. The other shot is me, hiding behind my black suede jacket in an attempt to convey my horror at being photographed. The best thing about this shot is that my son's face is in it. The guy in yellow is my BIL Bob. That's enough family stuff for a while. I must now go and recover from the many other photographs of me that make me look like a float in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade.

Yesterday I had no cable connection for the better part of the day. I got a lot of other things accomplished-so it wasn't a bad day all around. It's 12 degrees outside so I think I'll hang around inside today and try to finish up a couple of projects I've begun. I got all the rows of James's quilt sewed together yesterday and now I just need borders. He'd probably like to use it in this deep freeze we have fallen into.

I leave you with a shot of the last of the larger Amish type quilts that I did a couple of years ago-excuse the lint. Digital cameras are great but they sure show up every tiny tidbit. I had a full on shot of this but blogger is finished with me today. It was a no go for three attempts. Hope you are all staying warm and happy...

Deb G. is an artist and a genius

I just had to go over to Deb Geyer's new site and see what is becoming of my donated quilt top. OMG-that girl can make a silk purse out of a sows ear. Thanks to Debra for alerting me to it. I hadn't caught up on blog reading yet. Anyway, if you get a moment go and look. I'm amazed at how beautiful it looks with feathers and wreaths. Thank you so much Deb. I just know that the young woman soldier who gets this will be thrilled with how pretty it is.

Lookee what I found ..y'all...ancient WIP

This is a cache of strips I did a long time ago. Again, it's one of those that came from the era before the quarter inch foot and so there are many points that do not match. I made it years ago when I first joined the Keepsake Quilting monthly mailing of fat quarters. Back then they didn't have choices like today. You just got a standard few choices. Now I joined the Moda Club. These strips of flying geese are the result of that old standard club- I just made hundreds of flying geese with that fast method that lets you start with a couple of larger squares and wind up with four units. At some point, I just folded up the strips and put them in the closet. Before we left for N.C.-I was in there looking around and I spotted them. I'm a little undecided about what I will do to finish so I think I'll just look at them for a while. It's funny how much your tastes change over the years. I never would put together these fabrics today. Back then I saw this as scrappy. Now it just looks kinda like a "mess o fabric"
I wanted to mention to Jane Ann and others who care-I am always delighted by how much I enjoy it down south. I live in an area where the trees block out the skyline and so when I'm in a place like Charlotte-I'm reminded of how great it is to see the horizon all around you. Charlotte is one of many cities down south that are so pretty it's a pleasure to be there for many reasons. There were beautiful pansies and flowers growing all around-in Jan. That's got to be worth the price of admission alone. I live in a very hilly area so I enjoy the flat expanse of land as well.
Big Daddy's is not the kind of place you want to go if you're into a quiet ,elegant meal. Normally I am. Big Daddy's is GREAT BIG LOUD FUN-with yummy food.You can't be unhappy there and it's a great place to take a large crowd of people. For instance-the following night we went to a "quiet meal" ,upscale type of place. The room was nearly silent,and sterile the food was overcooked banquet fare and it was not fun at all while costing three times as much.
Something strange happens to me when I'm down south though-I think it's a rescessive gene that comes from my Kentucky heritage.I was born in Germany but my Dad was a many-generations Kentuckian. In my life I have spent about 10 days in Kentucky. Once to visit my Dad in Maysville and Augusta before he died, and once to Paducah to see the quilt museum. Given the right moment though-I can easily fall into the "y'all" and "honey,lookachoo" dialect at a moments notice. I find myself thinking in that dialect for days upon returning home. There's also the amazing thing for New Yorkers-really, genuinely, nice, polite ,people...everywhere. I do love me a trip south...I can live without the white Keds and balls on the ankle socks though.....

I'm back-and with loot to boot.

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I have returned from the wilds of North Carolina. Big Laugh...since the place we stayed in was very posh and had great maid service up the wazoo!!Perhaps posh is the wrong word-it was very new, sparkling,nicely furnished and decorated. It was a really nice apartment rather than a motel room. If you ever have the opportunity to stay in a Marriot Residence Inn-take it. It cost a bundle but it's worth every penny. We had a suite with 2 bedrooms and 2 baths, a livingroom & kitchen. That meant that James had his own bath and could come and go in his 22-year-old life without waking us & having to troop through the bedroom to our bath. It's a small thing for some but speaking for all us light sleepers-it really rocked.

I wanted to show you the cool things I got from two of my cyber friends before I left. The wonderful ATC, and card it came in, from Janet-who clearly has the post card thing down pat and is running with it.Thank you so much Janet. The fabric is from the wonderful & generous Rian-who was thoughtful enough to send me a group of beautiful Asian fabric she was not using. With everything going on in her life she took the time to mail this to me. I'm so fortunate to be among this great group of women. Thank You Rian, and I'm so happy that Jim is doing well.

The 90th birthday party for Aunt Mattie was very nice. There was yummy cake and punch at the church in the afternoon for over a hundred and dinner at a restaurant in the evening for just the 25 or so immediate family. Better than all of that was dinner at Big Daddy's the night before. Lets just say I finally had my fill of hushpuppies- for a while at least, I'm not going to think about the cholesterol intake today-I'll worry about that tomorrow, Sincerely, Scarlett. It pleased my son no end since he's a huge car and racing buff. Big Daddy's had race cars on the roof and when we got ther they had all sorts of racing paraphernalia in the parking lot and of course inside. Charlotte Motor Speedway is around the corner and so James was in heaven.
Aunt Mattie & Uncle Don were so happy that we all made it from all over the place. My BIL Richard, SIL Diane, and the Best& Prettiest Niece in the World, Michelle, came from Richland WA. This was no small feat(heh) for Michelle who broke her foot in a fall a couple of days before. The Cousins Susan, Dottie, and Nancy, came from Ormond & New Smyrna Beach Fla. We came from L.I. NY and there were Mattie's nieces from Tennessee and somewhere else I'm sorry to say I can't remember. Really nice. Don's son Carl and his wonderful new wife, Gayle, were there. Gayle is really fun. I could spend a bunch of time with her any day. I managed to find a really great Quilt shop in Mooresville called The Quilter's Loft. It's on main street,around the back and upstairs, in a historic building. I wish we had made a road trip and not flown- I had to curb my enthusiasm for everything in the store because I only had so much room. I did manage to scam the few things in the picture below. If you're in the area-don't miss it. It's a great place. It used to be a dentist office and all the rooms are decked out with different themes. Very Cool.
The weather was awful and cold but the family was warm and welcoming. We had a good time except for the return to the airport and turning in the rental car. There was some damage to the rear and we know we didn't do it but that's a problem for the insurance company to figure out. Our flight back was very fast and spacious. An hour and ten min. and the flight was far from full so we could stretch out.
I'll have more pics tomorrow along with a WIP for WED. It's good to be home but I can't seem to find the maid and the complimentary danish weren't on the table this morning????? What's up with that?????