Stormy Weather & Quiltathon

This is about all I accomplished for the Quiltathon. Life has just gotten in the way. I began this as a piece for over the bed in our room several years ago. It has been a learning experience for what not to do and why the rules are sometimes very important. I am the Queen of not reading directions and also the Queen of carelessness. Does it matter if you do paper piecing and not all the paper is off the seams-YES! yes it does. Especially if you plan to hand quilt it. Does it matter if you don't trim the multiple layers behind the paper carefully? YES! It does matter and if you don't you will have a big hairy mess of fabric to try and pull a needle through resulting in many un-lady-like angry words and bloody fingertips. I have a dear friend who loves this piece and it is pretty so I can't seem to let it go. Stitches have been ripped out and it looks like I may just tie it to death. Possibly just outline quilting the lanterns. It will always remind me of how important basics are and a shortcut will cost you in the end. "Sloppy work habits are us!" That's my new motto. Well...that and stop eating crappy food, but I digress. This is the only Quiltathon-type work I accomplished but I was sewing along with you all. Sorry about that Judy. I will be prepared for the next one.

Yesterday, we had another wild summer storm. Not all that unusual for summer by the sea. This one, however, was very violent but not in the usual way. First it got so dark I couldn't see from one room to the other. It was like midnight. Then the wind kicked up and thunder & lightening....but wait....what's all that noise??? Wow, it's walnut and quarter-sized hail coming down in buckets. It banged and pinged off of the roof and the noise of it hitting my car didn't make me feel too good about the possible pits in the gelcoat. The yard looked like it does after a hurricane. Branches and leaves and actual walnuts all over the place. I grabbed the phone and a pillow and got ready to head to the basement since they were warning of tornadoes. It was a doozy. I never had to go to the basement, thank goodness, but it did give me the creeps..a lot!After it ended the air was so clean and it was chilly. The temp. was about 63. That's unheard of in August on the Island. Real crisp fall-like air. Just beautiful. When Roger came home he found the garbage can but the lid was about 3 blocks away in a stormy puddle of leaves where someone had kindly run it over several times.

The picture is clickable and that is big white blobs of hail. We didn't lose the power so I kind of enjoyed all the excitement.

I'm aiming for a more quiet experience today with some possible sewing thrown in.

Thanks for stopping by.