circles and swirls and strings

oh my!!!

the Old School Saturday Sampler BOM meeting for may was ... 

i dunno... 

two weeks ago... 

has it really been that long?!? 

anywho... 

this month's assignment was to make TWO blocks and then put the sashing and corner stones on the eight blocks that are the bottom of the quilt... 

i didn't like the assigned blocks again - big surprise so i made these...

 Circle of Geese and Strings Around the World

the swirly world is a design from Urban Threads named Leafy Earth and took a whole lot longer to stitch by hand than i thought it would...

but it is pretty doggone cool and was definitely worth the effort...

and here are the eight blocks all together...

oooo!!! fairie frost cornerstones!!! where else can i go with this?!?

these are rolled up and put away till june's meeting on the 8th... 

so... 

the center is done and the bottom is done... 

and none of it looks much like this...

not only was this pattern EXPENSIVE - it is also riddled with errors!!!

which is a good thing, innit?!?

long story long

when i was searching eBay for linen calendar tea towels for the years my children were born (1976, 1978, 1982 and 1986) i found the towel that i used for the aspen quilt listed ... i didn't know who Vera Neumann was, but i knew what i wanted to do with the trees in silhouette... 
well ... except for getting from the the little leaves to the big leaves  - ha ha ha !!! 
i bid on it, won the bid, paid via PayPal and waited for it to arrive... 

i ordered a few other things from other vendors at the same time... 

the other things which shall remain anonymous for now arrived... 

but the Vera towel didn't ...

i wrote to the seller and she told me to give it a few more days and let her know...

i did...

and it didn't...

so i wrote to the seller again and she told me to choose something else from her store that was up to twice the value of the Vera towel and she would send my alternate choice with free shipping ... so i shopped and shopped her store and settled for a Vera towel with tulips that i thought would work ... ordered it...

and waited...

and waited... 

and waited... 

and finally gave up on EVER seeing either of the Vera towels land in my mailbox...

so i shopped eBay again for a towel from 1978 and ordered this...

 different clan ... same vintage
with absolutely NO idea Whatever in the World i could possibly do with it ... i was working on Michael Myson's tavern towel quilt when it arrived ... i put this towel away because i was at even more of a loss of what to do when i saw it In Real Life...

and then the Vera towel mysteriously appeared after a six week delay ... i went with the Original Plan and forgot about the Back Up... 

but then the aspen leaves were done... 

and the border between them was done... 

and they were playing together nicely for the next border... 

and i  remembered that there was another baby girl born to another mother in 1978 ...

so i took out the towel and pondered...

and pondered...

and came up with this...

gingham checks ... a LOT more complicated than i thought ... how am i so incredibly capable of messing up squares of color?!?
and decided that the NEXT round needs to be 6 inch paper-pieced blocks from Sylvia's Bridal Sampler because the fun just keeps on coming...

yeah...

i know... 

but i SAID this was a long story long... 

and you should KNOW BY NOW that i paint a BIG PICTURE to tell a little story...

may the fourth be with you ... and the fifth, too

this has been a really, really good weekend... 

i did lots of work outside that did NOT involve a snow shovel except for scooping up leaves and the front porch looks like this now...

no snow ... not even a little bit!!!

and then we ran errands which included... 

 Hallmark to turn in our wish lists

and Noodles - next door to Hallmark - for their famous rice krispie treats cuz i have an aversion to paying $9 for a bowl of noodles 

and Lowes where we spent waaaay too much money on plants because Spring has taken too long to arrive and we needed a fix from the Green Nation 

and Perkins for buy-three-get-three-free muffins

 and Diamond Shamrock for our monthly tank of gas

 and a garden center to look for a planter to replace the one that i broke

 and Wendy's for salads

and then we grilled yes - dianne cooked with fire!!! Auntia's birthday bacon-wrapped filet mignons that have been languishing in the freezer since december just waiting for a warm and sunny day 

and some not-that-great corn on the cob...

we watched Mission Impossible 3 meh while we ate the steaks and corn 

and apple caramel tartlets with vanilla ice cream for dessert...

and then both of us headed into the Magick Shoppe to work on our april blocks for the Old School Saturday Sampler BOM meeting next saturday...

a dandelion log cabin and two not-hot-pink flamingos

which are 

So. Not. Me.

this sampler has made me stretch way, way, way far out of my comfort zone... 

i think i might have pulled some muscles...

anywho... 

this morning Auntia was up-and-at-em really early before me - which almost never happens and we went to see Iron Man Three ... woo hootie hoo!!! 

i love me some Tony Stark smartassedness ... if you go, stay through the credits!!!

and now i'm gonna ignore the housework and laundry and all those dandelions calling my name and go spend the rest of the day in the Magick Shoppe...

"When we become comfortable, do you know what happens around us? Absolutely nothing. Each day becomes just like the one before. We do what we have always done, therefore we get what we have always gotten."

Kip Davis, A Comfortable Situation

may day!!! may day!!!

it has been doing this...

cuh-cuh-cuh-cold again!!!

all the live long day ... AGAIN!!!

there has been no shoveling, though - the streets and drives and sidewalks were heated up past 80 degrees on monday...

 and no snow day off from work and school... 

so much for the very merry month of may...

i'm just sayin'