Memorial Day

We went to the Memorial Day Parade in Thomasville yesterday. Here are some pictures . It was very, very hot and we did not go to the ceremony in the memorial park afterwards, we are not really used to the heat here yet and the sun was quite brutal. ;)

RCTQ-BOM

Well, here is the block for May. Can you tell that this is going to be a very bright quilt? :)
The blocks are 12" and paper pieced, which is a bit unusual for me, I normally use PP for smaller blocks, like the DJ blocks, which are only 4.5", but I am happy with how it turned out. This is the block that I tried to sew together on the wrong end. :)

This and that

Yesterday I had one of these days where nothing was going right. Del was in Raleigh for two job interviews and I decided to spend the day sewing. I started with the May block for the RCTQ-BOM quilt. I had trouble concentrating and had to rip out a few seams and in the end I sewed the two parts of the block together at the wrong end. :) Bad enough, next I worked on a DJ block that did not really look all that difficult but somehow I messed it up and had to rip out seams again. It felt as if I ripped more than I sewed. I gave up after I took it apart for the third time and it still does not look like I want it to, I guess it goes in the pile of "better finished than perfect" blocks.
The other picture in this post shows the RCTQ-BOM block for April.
After that I did not even attempt to make any blocks for my WOBQ, although I am already a little behind with them.
Today we delivered 6 afghans to the Camp. I asked if they needed more quilts, but they have gone from quilts to fleece blankets after some quilts turned out not to be washable. Why people do that when they ask specifically for quilts that can be washed, I don't know. I have two that are almost finished and that were meant for the camp, but now I have to think about another use for them. Maybe I sell them and donate the money.
After the visit to the camp we went out to lunch and then did some shopping. I bought two light summer pants, both are a size smaller than the last ones I bought and they fit very comfortably. I also got a cute pink sweater for me and some new polo shirts for Del. I finally bought one of those exercise balls and two 3 lbs. dumbells, now I can try some of the other exercises from the sparkpeople site. I also got more yarn for more afghans for the Camp and more beads and I found a Sidney Crosby figurine (could not resist getting that one).
The weather was beautiful all day today, warm and sunny.
Miss Kitty is mad at me. Last night she found a big centipede in our bedroom (Yikes!) and because I was not sure if it could harm her, I did not let her keep it. :) We caught it and threw it out the front door. She spent half the night sitting by our bed and kept looking under it if, by any chance, there might be more of the funny things (luckily there weren't). Today she still keeps looking under the bed. Since I found out that they can bite but are not poisonous she can keep the next one she finds. :)
Oops, time flies when you are having fun, I better go to bed.

Birthday party at the Camp

The party was great. The camp is now 2 years old and a lot has changed since we first saw it shortly after it opened in 2004. A lot of new buildings have sprung up, some got names now after a sponsor was found for them and there is a lot of construction going on. I was hoping very much to finally be able to meet Kyle Petty, but as my luck would have it he was not there, he had something going on in Phoenix that could not be postponed. Oh well, some other day. We got to see Pattie and Austin Petty and we met "The King" - Richard Petty, not Elvis. :) He was there for a long time, signing autographs and having his picture taken with a lot of the people. One of my favorite drivers in the truck series - Timothy Peters - was there, he read a note from Bobby Hamilton who could not be there because of his illness, and Timothy's team mate Scott Lagasse jr. was also there.
The weather was very nice, at first it looked like it might start raining, but the good vibes coming from all the happy people must have driven the rain clouds away. All the buildings of the camp were open and could be toured, there was plenty of food and two bands were playing. The general mood was happy and relaxed. We arrived shortly after 3pm and left around 7.30 pm. What I still like the best about the camp is it's location, surrounded by woods and how quiet it is (once you got away from the people and the music). It is a very beautiful place.
I did good at resisting the food (barbecue and fried chicken) but I had two small cupcakes and shared a bowl of ice cream with Del, after all, what would a birthday party be like without cake and ice cream. ;)
Today I uploaded my photos of the party: Party Photos

Dear Jane and other stuff

Two more blocks for my Dear Jane Quilt are finished, which brings the total count to 58 blocks, 3 triangles and 738 pieces. The two blocks I finished this weekend are I-4 Stability and I-6 Viewer's Choice.

You can see the whole quilt so far here:
My Dear Jane Quilt

Tomorrow afternoon we will be attending a"Victory Celebration" at the Camp, it sounds like fun and I am very much looking forward to it.
On Tuesday Del will be in Raleigh all day for two job interviews.

The buildings in our apartment complex have been painted these last
two weeks and I was worried that our furry, feathered and scaled friends
may not come back, but they did not really mind and are happily munching sunflower seeds (at least the birds and squirrels are, I am not sure what the little lizards prefer to eat.). :) Very much to Miss Kitty's delight.

All my drivers qualified for the Indy 500 next Sunday and I am looking forward to watching the race, although with mixed feelings, I think it is one of the most dangerous races because of the high speeds and it's lenght. I'll pray for a safe race for sure.

Dear Jane

While watching practice for the Indy 500 on the internet today I finished block no. 56 for my DJ quilt. It is block G-3 and it is called "Four Leaf Clover". Practice ended early again due to rain after it began late, also due to rain. It seems to rain a lot in Indianapolis in May. ;)

This and That

I just finished three more afghans for the Camp while watching practice for the Indy 500 on the internet. They are in the wash right now and next week we will deliver all of them.
My weight loss program is still going very well, I lost almost 7 pounds so far and what surprises me the most, is that I really stick to the exercise plan. I do cardio three times a week for 20 minutes and strength training three times a week, five different exercises. I found a lot of yummy and healthy recipes on the Sparkpeople website and I am trying them all out.
Del had two more interviews this week and has one more on Friday and two more next week. I sure hope at least one of them will lead to a job in the near future.
I read the latest book by Earlene Fowler "The Saddlemaker's Wife" last week and I liked it, but not as much as her Benni Harper series.
We forgot to set the alarm on Sunday and we overslept and did not go to church, oops. ;)

WOBQ

I finally finished last week's block - Ruth. It was a lot of work but I am very happy with the result. It is hand pieced, using English paper piecing technique. It consists of 29 pieces.

Another bookmark

The only other creative thing I did this week was make another beaded bookmark - for Del. He picked the charms for it and I picked the beads. :) I got plenty of beads left and will try to make some other things with them.

WOBQ

Today I finally finished the block for last week - Naomi. It is not the original pattern, I made an alternate block because I did not like the look of the original one. It is hand applique and I worked on it during tonight's Busch Series race, which was very disappointing, my driver got taken out by another one who left his brain at home. :(

Weekend

We went to the Farmer's Market yesterday. It is still a bit early for most of the local produce but they also had a craft fair and I was curious to see what people are crafting around here. It was mostly wood craft, jewelry, candles and cosmetics. One lady sold very nice looking jumpers. We bought a small bucket of really yummy strawberries. I plan on going back when more produce is available. There were also lots of plants for the garden and a garden center with all sorts of huge planters and garden ornaments, from St. Francis statues to rather ugly goblins. I saw a cute stone garden bench with a cat mosaic and matching step stones. A few of the fountains were nice too.
Today it was raining all day and I spent most of the time crocheting and watching TV.
My theory about alternating creative and domestic weeks came to a screeching halt this week. :) I got tangled up in more housework than I thought would be necessary and did not get any sewing done. I made another bookmark, this time with green beads, for Del, and I cut out the pieces for the next WOBQ block.
I also watched two races, well, more or less anyway. The first one started very late, due to rain and I went to bed around halfway through it and the other one we alternated with a silly movie on SCIFI. Since my driver did not qualify for either race I was not that much interested in them.
Del had two more interviews and he will be working part time for a local store as soon as the background check and drug test are complete. That will add some money to our dwindling funds while he waits to hear from one of the other jobs he applied for.

Weight loss

My new weight loss and excercise program is going very well, in two weeks I lost about 4 pounds and 1/2" all around. That is very encouraging.

Afghans

I have been making crocheted afghans for the Victory Junction Gang Camp in Randleman, NC. I have 4 finished so far, they are all done in the colors of Adam Petty's first racecar, red, yellow, green and purple. Last week I bought some yarn in red-white-blue and that's what the squares for the latest afghan look like. (Photos of the others to follow once aforementioned roll of film is full. :))

RCTQ-BOM

My roll of film is still not full, therefore no pictures of finished blocks yet. But I did pick the fabrics for the May block and this is the Pattern for it. I'll be working on the block tomorrow and hopefully also finish the film and finally get some photos of my blocks and more.

WOBQ

This is my fourth block for the Women of the Bible Quilt. The pattern is called "Blind Man's Fancy" and the block stands for the story of Delilah. I did not like the characters or the story much, but I decided to use a dark color for Delilah's betrayal of Samson and a deep red for Samson's lust that made him forget everything else. It is paper pieced, 6" square and was a lot of work. My scanner has a problem with recognizing green, the actual color of the background fabric is a dark green with some purple in it.