A Great Weekend

I've been watching to much HGTV. They make it look so easy and fast to paint a room, that I decided to paint our bedroom while Mr. Luckybear was out of town. I had bought a new green comforter a while back, which meant the vibrant blue wall color had to go. I couldn't decide what color would work best with our furniture. Saturday afternoon I decided it would be a chocolate brown. After an afternoon of prep work - they don't show that on TV - I started painting Sunday morning.

Time was lost in the afternoon cheering on Oakland to beat Tampa Bay and the Texans to beat Chicago. Amazingly this all happened and the Eagles and Cowboys game really meant something. The Eagles were amazing; crushing the Cowboys hopes and dreams by the score of 44-6. On to Minnesota next Sunday.


Back to painting. I finished up around midnight. The room looks great. The dark color makes the room looks larger. Mr. Luckybear was really surprised and pleased with the result. He is still sulking with regards to the Cowboys season though.

Its Almost Christmas

Now that my shopping is done and shipped out, I have been enjoying the holiday season. Our tree turned out pretty this year. The girls have had a good time hiding under the tree amongst the presents, waiting to pounce on one of the other kitties or each other.


My Santa collection


Our tree in red & white

A-12 Framed Fancy

Saturday was our December Dear Jane quilt meeting. It was a lively meeting as we tasted the goodies we brought with us. The shop, Quilter's Connection, was having a year end sale, so there was a little shopping too. We even worked on our quilts. I finished A-12 Framed Fancy.

Star BOM - Blocks 5, 6 and 7

Finally some quilting time. I had fallen way behind on my Star BOM blocks. I am pleased that I have kept up with this project as I am not too crazy about my fabric choices. They looked good together at the quilt store, but now that I am piecing them together in the Stars, the oranges are not right. However I love the Star patterns so I'm going to keep moving forward. I still have blocks 8, 9,and 10 to catch up but I have until the first of February when block 11 comes out.

Myra's New Friends

Through our front window

Four Seasons Quilt Swap

Once again the amazing Margaret is hosting a swap. This session sounds very intriguing and challenging. The finished quilt will be monochromatic using a season as the theme. You get to pick the color and season. Sounds like fun, so I have requested to join in. Come be part of the fun - Four Seasons Quilt Swap.

Dustin Pedrioa - AL MVP

A well deserved award. In only his second year in the Bigs, Dustin is the true leader of the Red Sox. He is already one of baseball's best all-round player.

Change Has Come to America

What a glorious day to behold. So many Americans cared about their country to come out and vote. A day so many people thought would never happen in their lifetime shows that America's promise to all is possible. As always columnist Leonard Pitts for the Miami Herald puts it so well - "We' are finally part of `We the People'". We are a stronger country for it - Yes we are!

Home from Houston

I just got home from the Quilt Festival in Houston. I met a dear friend and fellow quilter from New York there. It was her first visit. Although I tried to prepare her, it was still very overwhelming. There were lots of great quilts - so many different techniques and styles. I find I most enjoy the quilts that include some sort of traditional quilting in them - even the art quilts. I would show pictures, but I'm not sure it OK from a copyright point of view.

Ahh - the shopping. I thought I would be good as I have many UFOs and projects waiting to be started. I was sooo wrong. I found fat quarters for my Dear Jane quilt, new patterns I had to have and fabric for a new project. My friend was no help -she kept encouraging me! Of course I was also urging her to buy too.

As always I couldn't resist the Sweet Treats offered by the Pincushion Boutique. Sweet Treats are eight coordinating fat quarters ready to be made into a quilt.


The frogs are so cute.

I also love the handmade jewelery that you find at the show. I bought a lovely pair of earrings made of polymer clay that are small quilts (Quilted in Clay), a whimsical cat pin with quilt motifs (Gita Maria), and an antique button with cats that I want to turn into a brooch.


I was happy to see the folks from Quilting by the Bay in Galveston. Their shop was destroyed in Hurricane Ike. I hope they will continue in the business as they really had a interesting and fun shop.

I have found that quilters are generally friendly and interesting people to meet. This weekend my friend and I got to know two lovely ladies from California that were staying at the same hotel as us and also attending the show. We ended up riding together and having dinner together. It was a delightful experience sharing our quilting tales.

Philly Has a Championship!

Congratulations to the Phillies and their fans. I called my dear friend in Bensalem and it was a happy home of 3 generations of Phillies fans - Grandmom, Mom and the ecstatic daughter.

Be Careful What You Wish For!

The Red Sox and Rays have made this an interesting series. Thursday's nights miracle comeback was amazing. I won't be able to watch tonight's game, but I will be following along on my Blackberry. It is my friend's birthday and we are taking her out to dinner and to a movie. She is use to me having one eye on the TV during dinner at this time of the year. It's great to still be playing baseball.

Not much sewing. Today is our Dear Jane meeting, but I can't make it. I'm one behind on my Star BOM and tomorrow is a Judy Day. Yikes!

Bring on the Rays!

Group hug

Last night's game was a real nail biter. Jon Lester pitched a brilliant game through seven innings, leaving with the Red Sox ahead 2-0. The bull pen giving up 2 runs in the top of the 8th led to a wild 9th. Playing small ball the Angels advanced the runner from 2nd to 3rd and one out. A perfect place for a suicide squeeze. Fortunately Varitek and Delcarmen were ready. With a perfect pitch - contact was not made on the bunt. This left the runner half way between 3rd and home. He fled for 3rd, but Varitek had chased him down and tagged him with a flying leap. Out signaled the umpire, then as he hit the ground Tek dropped the ball. Controversy ensued. However the runner was out. The Angels didn't score in the top of the ninth. The Red Sox pounce with a double to lead off the inning by our new guy Jason Bay. A sharply hit ball to right by rookie Jed Lowrie brought Bay home and the series win for the Red Sox.

Cats for Obama

from Pearl

Busy, Busy, Busy

I'm trying to multi-task. Watching my Red Sox play the Angels in Game 3 of the first round of the playoffs and trying to catch up on my work stuff. Thought it was a good time to take a break and catch up on my blog. With 2 out in the bottom of the 5th it's tied at 4, but the Bosox are threatening.

The first 2 games out in LA were lots of fun. Lester started off a little rocky on Wednesday night but was lights out as the game went on. Red Sox win 4-1.


As always Dice-K's start was an adventure. Fortunately JD Drew showed some of last year post season form with a stunning 2 run home run off of K-Rod to break the tie at 5 in the top of the ninth. Jason Bay hit his second home run of the series- matching Manny. The Red Sox won 7-5.

Papi and Coco help JD Drew celebrate

Friday, Saturday and Sunday was the volleyball tournament for the Corporate Challenge. I played with Mr. Luckybear's company.We took the bronze medal. I had lots of fun. I would enjoy playing in a league this winter if they could get one organized. I also squeezed in disc golf on Saturday and Sunday. No water moccasins or any other snakes were spotted like in Austin. Good thing - I hate snakes and I sure would hate to give up disc golf.

Last evening we went to see Ghost Town with Ricky Gervais, Greg Kinnear and Téa Leoni. It was very enjoyable, funny and somewhat sweet (it does star Gervais after all).

Thursday evening we went to the local indie theater to watch the VP debate with the Dallas Obama volunteer group. There was much booing & snickering at Palin and cheering for Biden's zingers. What an airhead Sarah Palin is. It just shows that McCain has very poor judgment and doesn't really care much about our country - just getting to be president. I thought Senator Biden did an excellent job. It's very clear that he will be an asset as an adviser to Senator Obama, if he is elected.

We are getting ready for our cruise at the end of the week. We fly down to Houston on Wednesday morning. The plan is to visit the Johnson Space Center that afternoon. Thursday our cruise heads out for Cozumel. We return to Houston early Monday morning. We are going with our poker buddies. There isn't normally poker in the casino, but we will be setting up a poker room to play tournaments.

With all this going on I haven't had time to work on my quilting. No time early in the week either as I am volunteering to work the Mini Golf event for the Corporate Challenge. I will put together some hand work to take with me on the cruise. A good time to catch up on some of the applique Dear Jane blocks.

Star BOM - Block Four

Today was my Dear Jane group, but I decided to work on block 4 from Judy Laquidara's BOM. I knew that the fabrics that should go in the center would not show off the design very well, so I changed them - with a Thanks! to Donna for helping me pick out the light/dark orange combination. I really like the center of this block.

We have been so busy lately I was concerned that the 1st of the month would come around and I wouldn't have this one done. Last evening we went with our neighbors to see the Who's Tommy at the Dallas Theater Center. It was an amazing production. The band that played the music was awesome. They were integrated into the action on the stage. Since the theater is small the set had to be very clever to accommodate all the action. It was one of the most imaginative use of space I've ever seen.

We are off to see the Ranger take on the Angels. It was a good game to pick. There will be a fireworks display after the game.

Two Out of Three!

This weekend the Red Sox came into The Ballpark in Arlington and swung their mighty bats. Friday night was lots of fun as we sat right behind the Red Sox (visitors) dugout - halfway between home and third base. It could have been Fenway (with better sight lines!) for all the Red Sox fans. There were loud cheers of Yoooook, MVP for Pedroia and chants of "Papi". Friday night was a win for the Bosox. Saturday night didn't start off very well. Wakefield's knuckleball deserted him in the 2nd inning. The Rangers scored 7 runs before Francona pulled Wake. Unfortunately the bullpen didn't fare much better and it ended up being a 15-8 slugfest with the Rangers winning. Still it's fun to go out and cheer for my team. We didn't go to the Sunday afternoon game, but it was an easy win for the Sox. Big Papi hit a home run, which I was hoping to see in person, but I was cheering loudly from my air conditioned room. :)

Star BOM - Block Three

Well Judy was right - that was much easier. My block came out to be 12.5 as it should be. The dark green of the star points aren't standing out as much as I would have liked. (This picture is making it worse) In hindsight I would have used the medium green. That's another quilt for another day. I am enjoying these blocks and look forward to the next one.

I needed to get this one done today as we had the day off for Labor Day. The next few weeks will be hectic. Coming up this week I have tennis matches Tuesday and Wednesday for the Corporate Challenge. Friday and Saturday we have tickets to the Red Sox - Rangers games. I've been waiting all season for my boys to come to town.

Star BOM - Block Two

I found time today to finish the 2nd block in Judy Laquidara's BOM. I has started it shortly after the block pattern came out on the 15th, but I wanted to miter the inner border. I needed some quiet time to give it a try. No too bad for a first attempt. I'm still having trouble getting the block to be 12.5, but a least this one is a little bigger than the last one.

Hope We Can Believe In

I am already on the Obama bandwagon, but I had hoped in his acceptance speech he would give those not so familiar with his ideas and life story a chance to understand why America needs him to be the next president. He did that in spades - really making his case for himself and the Democratic Party. At this point in history we are at a crossroads. Our country needs to change direction and regain it's moral authority as a leader. Senator Obama laid out his case that he is the person to do that. His speech was full of hope, but also details of how we can make changes to our American policy. He reminded us, America, and the Republicans that this election is too important for lies and smears, but instead the debate should be about policy and how the candidates would run the country. I was also glad to see Senator Obama attack conservatism. In the last 8 years the conservative policies that the Republican party have been pushing for so many years were given free rein. It has been a disaster. Unfortunately Senator McCain doesn't see the hardship that most American families are facing and is offering more of the same policies. I hope that Americans vote in their own best interest this year. If that happens, Senator Obama will win big.

As I am not a wordsmith, I would like to share a quote from Andrew Sullivan in his post "The Hope We Confess". He writes so eloquently about how I felt about last night's acceptance speech. I hope you will take the time to read the entire post.

It was a deeply substantive speech, full of policy detail, full of people other than the candidate, centered overwhelmingly on domestic economic anxiety. It was a liberal speech, more unabashedly, unashamedly liberal than any Democratic acceptance speech since the great era of American liberalism. But it made the case for that liberalism - in the context of the decline of the American dream, and the rise of cynicism and the collapse of cultural unity. His ability to portray that liberalism as a patriotic, unifying, ennobling tradition makes him the most lethal and remarkable Democratic figure since John F Kennedy.

Progress Has Been Made

Sunday was a Judy Day at Quilt Country. I made some headway on the Lone Star portion of my Hawaiian Star. Here is one segment and the portion of the Mariner's Compass that will go with it.


I have some more help with my Pumpkins Gone Wild Quilt. Myra is holding down the panel that will be part of the back.


Lucky is helping me cut out my fabric for Block 2 of Judy's Star BOM.

Winners All Around

My quilty friends may want to skip this entry as it's all sports.

Cycling Time Trial

I'll start with Fabian Cancellara's gold medal win in the Men's Time Trial. It was a great win for him, as the course really didn't favor his talents. However as the current World Champion of this event he was not to be denied.

Out on course


Gustav Larsson, Sweden (silver), Fabian Cancellara, Switzerland (gold), Levi Leipheimer, USA (bronze)


On the women's side of Road Racing, American Kristin Armstrong had a strong effort in winning the gold medal for the Time Trial.


On to baseball - The Red Sox and Rangers series

The Rangers have been forced by circumstances to bring up young pitchers that are quite ready for the Bigs. This led to the Red Sox scoring 37 runs in a 3 game series. The first match up was a wild roller coater with the Red Sox jumping out to an early 10-0 lead in the first. More runs were exchanged until the Rangers went ahead. The Red Sox came back to tie it and then Youck put it away with a 3 run home run in the bottom of the 8th. The Red Sox won that one 19-17. Big Papi hit 2 three run homers in the 1st inning. He hit another, but due to fan interference it was ruled a double. Youck can up behind him to hit his first homer of the game. Since we won it was exciting and fun! We won the second game 8-4 on a good outing by Jon Lester. The last game was won 10-0 behind Dice-K.

The Rangers saw a lot of this!

A Fall Quilt Project

I love the jelly rolls in all of the quilt shops. They are so tempting, since they offer a little slice of all the fabrics in a line. I've been eying the Pumpkins Gone Wild Jelly Roll by Sandy Gervais (Moda Fabrics). When I found a pattern for Jelly Rolls I really liked, I was set to make a nice fall quilt.

This is the pattern:


Myra and some of the blocks:

Olympic Men's Road Race. - Cancellara Sighting!

What a truly grueling race given the heat and humidity. In an exciting finish my favorite rider, Fabian Cancellara closed the gap between the chase group to the lead group with less than 2km to go. It was an amazing effort. He was rewarded with bronze for his effort. Next up is the individual time trial, where he is the world champ. I wonder if Shumacher will be as on form as he was in the Tour.

Fabian Cancellara wins bronze


Race finish with Sammy Sanchez (left) winning, Davide Rebellin second (middle) and Fabian Cancellara third (right)

Block One for Star BOM

I am a big paper piecer, so I would usually do a block like this using that method. This will be a good challenge for me to become more accurate in my piecing. I like the way my colors have come together. I can't wait for the next block. Thanks Judy!

A9 Log Cabin Fever

One advantage of the beastly heat - I don't want to go outside. I finished a fun block. I like orange and black together.

Paper Pieced A9 Log Cabin

Good Bye Manny

Now that I have stopped sulking so bad, I can savor some favorite memories of Manny's days as a Red Sox. Why are we fans of the the Bosox always saddled with front offices with egos as big as their star players? Clearly our owners have given up on this season. Ahhh - that felt good to get out. I can even comment on the nice job done by Wakefield last evening. Seems like when the pitching staff gets shaky, Wake is there steady as she goes. Given his preferred pitch that's pretty amazing.

Two New DJ Blocks

Yesterday was our Dear Jane group meeting. I was able to complete 2 blocks. A record! Both are paper pieced. I'm working on a couple of hand appliqué blocks. It's a slow go though.


A4 Courtney's Stethoscope


F3 Snowball

Start of a New Quilt

I must be crazy - I have too many quilt projects started, but when I saw this Star BOM designed by Judy Laquidara on her blog, I had to start a new one! Here is Judy's EQ purple version. Please note that this quilt design is copyrighted by Judy.


The colors I am using:

The dark, medium, light greens are the purples is the above version. There is a dark and light orange. A gold for accent along with the elephant focus fabric. I plan to use this fabric as the outermost border, instead of the dark green. The background is the same yummy Patrick Lose's Sunstreaks black that I am using in my Dear Jane quit.

A2 One Two Buckle My Shoe

Before leaving on vacation I finished a Dear Jane block. It was paper pieced.

Back from Maine

For the past 10 days I have been enjoying a vacation in New Hampshire and Maine. The first 5 days were at a awesome tennis camp in North Conway, NH. New England Tennis Holidays is located at the base of the ski area Cranmore. They have very well maintained clay courts which my old knees have become quite attached to. The instruction was top notch - a shout out to Wayne, Curt and Jeremy. I think I learned more in the first 3 hours than I have in the last 7 months of classes. I stayed at a charming inn, the Spruce Moose Lodge, which served delicious breakfasts. It's a good thing I was getting plenty of exercise. Also staying at the Spruce Moose and at the tennis camp were a lovely Father and Son duo from Maryland. The helped make the whole experience fun, as it could have been a bit lonely as I didn't know anyone there.

The next 5 days were spent visiting with my family in the Portland area. One evening we took Italians out to the park at Ft. Williams in Cape Elizabeth and found thick fog creeping in.


The view from our picnic table.


Up the hill to Portland Head. I have many great photos of Portland Head, but none in the fog.

Fun New Toy

You can find all kinds of fun things on the Net. There is a web site called Wordle that will create fun “word clouds” from the words you type in. I chose the lyrics from Bruce Springsteen's Jungleland(greatest song ever). Jungleland Word Cloud

Another Cancellara Sighting!

Switzerland's Fabian Cancellara from team CSC, celebrates as he wins the 9th and final stage of the Tour de Suisse in Bern, Switzerland, Sunday, June 22, 2008. (KAP Photo/Keystone / Lukas Lehmann)
AP

Le Tour starts soon. I can't wait!

A Fun Game To Try

1. caught in daylight, 2. Pasta Flower, 3. 127, 4. Sea Monsters: Dying Lovers on the Beach, 5. Fabian Cancellara, Tour of CA Stage 3, 6. My garden looks better with wine...., 7. Ida Sunrise, 8. Chocolate Mousse and Raspberry Cakes, 9. Work in progress, 10. vintage tea set with cupcake, 11. Cat Conspiracy, 12. care bears lucky bear magic 8 ball

The pictures on the first page found using a Flickr Search to answer the following questions. Since many of the pictures didn't seem to really apply I often chose the one I liked best.
The Questions:
1. What is your first name?
2. What is your favorite food?
3. What high school did you go to?
4. What is your favorite color?
5. Who is your celebrity crush?
6. Favorite drink?
7. Dream vacation?
8. Favorite dessert?
9. What you want to be when you grow up?
10. What do you love most in life?
11. One Word to describe you.
12. Your flickr name
Give it a try here.

Off to Ft. Lauderdale

There has been some quilting progress, but no time to blog. I'm off to sunny South Florida with Mr. Luckybear to celebrate our 10th Wedding Anniversary.

New Dear Jane blocks (all paper pieced):

A1 Pinwheel Gone Awry

D6 Cathedral Windows

M2 Duff's Bluff