Tuesday's Orts

Another Tuesday, this one the longest Tuesday of the year.  I kind of feel like that already, and it isn't even noon yet!

• Father's Day BBQ was a pretty quiet affair--only one offspring of ours was here and I was the only offspring of my parents' present!  It sure made the noise level lower than it normally is for family gatherings at our place. There was plenty of strawberry shortcake too.
• Traffic rant:  This is of the restaurant sort.  How do you feel about people who leave sunglasses or bags to claim just-emptied tables and then get at the end of a long line to order food, far far behind you?  Yeah, makes me homicidal too.
• Its getting so I don't want to order soft drinks in restaurants due to the ridiculous prices--$3.00 for an iced tea is pretty common.  On top of a sandwich or salad it can quickly add up to $10 for lunch and I am not willing to do that more than about once a week!  Water is still free most places.
• I bought DH Grant a nice adjustable lounge/chaise for the backyard for Father's Day.  He has been wanting one for a long time.  I tried it out and now I want one too--however my blinding white legs can't tolerate more than about 10 minutes of sun so it would be a quick lounging session. 
• Mini the cat supervised me on Saturday morning as I was assessing the pantry:
  
  

She was just sitting in there looking up at me before I pulled the camera out.

Frosted Flakes appear to be a favorite.  See her question mark tail?  She nearly always holds her tail in that little crook when she walks.  Too cute.

Design Wall Monday

On my design surface today is a quick thank you gift for the caterer-to-be at DD Elaine's wedding.  This is a restaurant owner we have known and Grant has served in the foodservice industry for over 20 years, and she gave us a fabulous price per person, required no deposit, and will take very good care of all the many details during the entire reception. 

I had a partial charm square pack of Boutique that I won a couple of years ago, and pulled the pink and blue squares plus a couple of yellows for the layout.

This is the Sweet Escape table runner from the On the Run book by Heather Mulder Peterson.  The deep blue was a remnant I picked up at my local fabric store and I thought it would look great with these charms.

These blocks are only 4 1/2" inches.  Heather includes pressing directions to make the seams lock when joining, which I appreciate with these small pieces.  DD Elaine helped me with the final layout when she came over to see her Dad for Father's Day.

All the rows got sewn.

And a couple of rows sewn together before I finally went off to bed at 11:40 last night!   See more design walls on Judy's Patchwork Times.

And the Amish Stripes goes to...

A big Thank You to all who entered my 400th post giveaway and shared your must-have non-quilting accessories.  I enjoyed reading them all.   Music/TV were the top mentions, along with a beverage of choice.  Lots of quilters mentioned chocolate too!   Two ideas I found unusual were using an empty tin can for thread cones while sewing (ANudge), and storing thread with its matching bobbin on chopsticks in a coffee mug (Kathryn Smither).  Thanks for the great ideas, ladies!

There were 39 entries which were scientifically analyzed, written in tablature format and separated before being placed in this receptacle:

I bought this beautiful woven accented gourd in West Lafayette, Indiana at an artists' collective gift shop when my sister and I went there for a Ricky Tims seminar in 2006.  The tag was still inside the gourd and serendipitously this artwork is named "Pot of Fortune" by the artist (handweaver Carol J. Kuebler). 

Here the contents are being stirred by the mixmaster.

The winner is Kate!  Amazingly, Kate was the first to enter the giveaway. Her three essentials were a calculator, notepad, and sticky notes.  Kate will be getting an email with the good news. Kate blogs from Oklahoma and you can visit her at Life In Pieces.  She takes some lovely photos and has a 15 Minutes a Day quilting challenge. 

Thanks again to all readers, commenters, and visitors--hope you enjoyed your time here and please come back again soon.   

Tuesday's Orts on Thursday

Since Tuesday was taken over by the 400th post giveaway, orts have moved to Thursday this week.  As noted in my header, an ort is defined as a bit, a scrap.  I commandeered this definition to reflect my love of scrappy quilts and to categorize my random thoughts once a week!

• On our way out to breakfast Sunday, we were talking about dogs.  We passed a very large man walking a very small Chihuahua--which looked hilarious to us--and I commented that I heard they were hard to potty train.  DH Grant joked that that will be our next dog.  I said if we were ever to get another dog, for a small dog I would pick a Pomeranian.  Son Nick said, "You would officially be old people if you got a Pomeranian!"  Gee, thanks, son.
• Last Friday Bride to Be, Son in Law to Be and his mom and I went to meet a caterer and have taste testing of appetizers and dinner foods.  Future SIL loves to eat and his grin kept getting bigger each plate that came out.  Early on he said, "The problem here is going to be pacing myself".  That didn't seem to end up much of a problem!
• Over the weekend, in doing my medical transcription job a doctor who has a very heavy accent said a word I didn't know.  I could not tell if she mispronounced it nor tell just what she was trying to say.  I looked in my reference books, all of which are over 15 years old, and found nothing.  My co-worker later listened to the dictation and said the word was what I thought it sounded like--patulous--but she found it in a newer radiology reference book.  Guess I need to update!
• Baby names these days are getting pretty varied.  I mentioned Mariah Carey's twins names, Morocco and Monroe and said that if she liked Marilyn Monroe, why didn't she just call the baby girl Marilyn, because Monroe is a boy's name?  DD Elaine said that she knows several Monroes and none are boys.  I told that story at work and someone said Mariah and Nick were going for "Roc and Roe" (i.e, rock n'roll).  Oh, brother!
• I have not yet seen the fabulous scenery photos my mom and dad took on their recent Yellowstone vacation. But I did receive one in an email from my dad titled "Why Ma was safe in the forest":

She was protected by a small blue bear.  See how alert and ready for action he is?  Cousin Florence was kept safe too.

There is still time to enter my 400th post giveaway, here.  I have had a couple of no-reply comments so far so please make sure there is an email address where I can contact you, either in your comment or tied to a profile.  I am really enjoying reading everyone's three non-quilting essentials (personally, I consider chocolate to be a quilting accessory so that's why I didn't include it in my listing of non-quilting needs, LOL).

400th Post Giveaway

The giveaway is now closed.  Thanks for entering!

Slow but sure, the posts have built up to this 400th one!   I started blogging in February 2009 and have enjoyed all the interaction with readers and thank each and every one of you for visiting or following or commenting or just stopping by and taking a look at my little corner of blogland.  I appreciate you!

To celebrate, I am giving away my latest quilt, Amish Stripes.  This is the only paper pieced project I ever started, way back in about 2003 or so, and it has languished since in a box, until Judy's Patchwork Times UFO Challenge.  It is 24 x 30 and is bound and backed in Kona black and machine quilted.

To enter my giveaway, no special leaps, bounds, or somersaults are required.  But I do want information--I am curious to know:  What the three non-quilting accessories you MUST have at your fingertips while sewing/quilting?  Mine are a calculator, a nail file, and Verbena hand lotion by L'Occitane (love that stuff!).  

I will keep the giveaway open until Saturday, June 18th at 5 pm.  Please make sure I have a way to contact you by email, either through a profile or by including your email in your comment.  Don't have a blog or profile?  No problem--send an email to me at:   vtaannieo(at)gmail(dot)com.  I'll either use Mr. RNG or throw all the names in a bowl and let DH or son pull out the winner's name.  Hope you'll join in!

Design Wall Monday

Sewing plans were abandoned for family this weekend.  DD Erica is here from Arizona, and Bride to Be Elaine came over to work on a wedding reception table decorating project.  There was painting, tracing on a light box, and lots of cutting involved.  It was all good, though! 

I did get some fabric shopping in on Sunday--a local store is closing, sadly, but they have all types of fabrics and since I'm planning to make my own outfit for the wedding, I went hunting silk dupioni for a pattern I already purchased (but didn't bring with me and had to call home for yardage requirements. Duh.)

Lucky me, all the silks were 40% off!  I made a near fatal error though, by grabbing the wrong roll for cutting.  I wanted this green on green and there was a navy blue on green just above it that I accidentally pulled.  Fortunately, since I was taking the entire remaining fabric on the roll, it was not an expensive mistake and the clerk was able to simply return the wrong one onto its roll.  Whew!  Both the dress and jacket will be made of this peridot green silk, at a cost of about $70.

I find it curious that the pattern measurements are in English and French...

But the instructions are in English and Spanish.  Anyway, some sewing will be taking place later this summer.  I have not constructed any clothing in a while, but have plenty of experience with clothing and have been putting in zippers lately too.  See more Design Walls on Judy's Patchwork Times.  And come back tomorrow for my 400th post and a giveaway!

June UFO completed

Judy's UFO Challenge pick for June turned out to be a small project for me and I am pleased to report it is complete before the middle of the month!   Finally, no last minute racing for a finish, unlike the other five quilts I've made so far from the UFO Challenge list.

The Amish Stripes quilt measures 24 x 30 and was paper pieced and machine quilted.  I hinted at the quilt's destination in my last post--I am nearing 400 posts and will offer this little quilt as a giveaway prize for that milestone!  So come back in two more posts for the details; this post is #398 :)