Quilt projects

A long time ago on this blog, I talked about some projects I was working on or wanted to work on. I've completed a couple (one on the list, and one not...) and have compiled some pics...

One little thing I mentioned was a "jar quilt". Now, fabric isn't cheap, and the thought of searching all over to buy lots of different fabrics for a jar quilt was a little daunting. Until I hit ebay! Not only did they have a variety, it was already cut, and would all come in a nice little package.

This was the first bundle of pieces, the sweets!

And then came the fruits and veggies.

And after some working and tweaking - came the quilt!

When the dining room table is clean, it's a table runner.

Oooops - didn't think to take a picture of it on the table!

The next quilt was a test of ability, patience, and speed. Let me set the story....

A large group of my friends participate in something called "MMC" or "Make-My-Christmas". I've only been around this group of folks for a couple of years, but this tradition has gone on for 16 years or so. Everyone who wants to participate puts their name in a hat, then everyone draws a name out. Whoevers name you draw, you must MAKE them a present. There are about 30 people who participate, including a couple of kids. Sounds simple enough, right?

What about if you draw someone's name that you know nothing about??????? Don't even know who she is????

Names were drawn on November 1st, and the exchange party was December 19th. Just a tad under 7 weeks. I had to learn about this woman, and design something, and make it in that time.

What I learned was that she was a HUGE Boston Redsox fan, that her favorite colors were green, orange and yellow. (I learned other stuff, too, but it wasn't relevent to this post... LOL!)

I knew I was going to make a quilt, but now was undecided to go with the green/orange/yellow theme. Or the BoSox theme.

As you can see, the Bo Sox theme won out.

Although the BoSox fabric didn't.

I managed to find some scraps of VINTAGE fabric, but all other BoSox fabric is discontinued.

So I went with the Boston Red Sox colors, and held my breath.

(Just a shot of the back and some of the quilting...)

I decided on a simple pattern that would most highlight the few logo scraps that I had, and went from there.

And made it lap size. Big enough to curl up with on the couch.

But most importantly, I think she liked it! I was terribly worried. It's a bit nerve-wracking to make something so personal for someone you don't know. From the design, to the fabric shopping, to the assembly, and presentation.

Although I've watched and attended MMC before, this was the first time I participated. I really had a good time, and will do it again for sure. I had a TON of comments, and really felt good about my accomplishments. Not just that I made this quilt for someone, but it's also the fastest I've ever completed a quilt.

So now I know I can....

Are you working on any projects??? Like what???

AMW

Atlantic City Thanksgiving

Ahem... I realize it's January. And I'm just getting around to a post about Thanksgiving. I've been a little remiss in my blogging. Ooops. Anyway - here's our Thanksgiving mostly in pics.

We drove up to Dover Wednesday night, and stayed at Dover downs (sorry, no pics there). Thursday morning, Thanksgiving, we got up and drove to Atlantic City.

Most every place was closed for the holiday, so we decided have our Thanksgiving dinner at WAWA. Yep, WAWA.

We had the classic Turkey Bowl which had mashed potatoes, stuffing and turkey, covered in gravy and topped off with cranberry sauce. Sounds daunting since it was from a gas station, but it was quite enjoyable!!

Now for AC pictures:

This was the sunrise from our hotel room at the Tropicana.

What a great way to wake up!

It was cold and crisp, but beautiful out there.

Here is a shot later in the day of our view.

Looking away from the ocean.

The blue building in the center is Harrah's. At night, the side of this building is a great light display. Pictures didn't come out!

The Tropicana was decked out for the holidays already at Thanksgiving. This is in the center of "The Quarter". This area is surrounded by clubs and restaurants and once an hour they have a Christmas light show with the trees. And it snows. Inside.

We were also told that while we were in AC, we needed to get a sub from White house subs. They were MUCH larger than we thought, and took us all weekend to eat them. Of course, we went back on Sunday on the way out of town to get some to-go for the one who told us about it. While there, we met a guy from Hampton (in AC) who was getting 7 (yes, seven) of these subs to take back home. Small world.

On one of the days, we decided to venture down the boardwalk to check out other casinos. We went into Trump Plaza, Bally's and Caesar's. Caesar's has "The Pier Shops at Caesar's". A pier that extend out over the Atlantic, but is a 3 story mall with shops and restaurants. The views from the end are amazing, and the third floor has a seating area perfect for watching sunsets.

Also inside the Pier Shops, they have a three story water show. Here is a picture right before it started, with the fountain spelling "HI". Shortly after this picture, the lights dimmed and a terrific water show ensued to a beautiful blend of music, sound and light! If you ever get up there, don't miss this!

Here is a sunset picture from the third floor of the Pier.

And one more right before the sun completely set. You can see the Tropicana off to the right with the small dome on top.

And as we were walking back, the sun almost completely gone, I got this neat picture of the boardwalk. Lots of activity going on there...

And that was our Thanksgiving weekend in a nutshell! Not much to talk about the casino, cause we lost all our money, but at least the rooms were free, and the views spectacular!

AMW

Brrrrrrrrr......

Baby it's cold outside!

I'm not a big fan of the cold... It's nice for a day or two. And it's ok when you plan for it to be really cold and go for a nice long hike in the woods. But this un-ending cold spell is not really my idea of fun.

We fire up the wood stove most nights and get the game room nice and toasty. And the heated mattress pad is a welcoming treat when it's pre-heated so your toes will be warm when you crawl into bed.

But I'd rather have it warm/hot outside so we could sit on the porch with a nice cold beverage and watch the world go by.....

Do you like warm or cold weather? Why

AMW

Happy Holidays!

Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Happy Festivus, and whatever else you may celebrate. Hope everyone has a festive season, and stays sage out there!!

AMW

Why didn't I think of this before???

My good friend, (and a fine Concierge as well), Kirk started a project a few years ago called the Green Bean Challenge. You can read all about it HERE. It's an impressive food drive for a single individual, and even amongst setbacks, he perseveres! I wanted to help, but wasn't sure what I could do, since I'm not as involved in the restaurant side of things as he is.

He told me once at lunch that the Foodbank of Southeastern VA can actually make a complete meal for one person for 29 cents. 29 CENTS! So a dollar donation will make 3 complete meals!

Can you spare one dollar????

If you can spare a dollar, please donate! If you can spare more, please do! I know it's a tough time for all, but even if it's just one dollar, you are feeding 3 people complete meals. Won't it feel good to do that?

Please know, that 100% of the money that is donated on this site will go directly to the Green Bean Challenge.

AND - I will match the contributions up to $500!

Don't delay! The challenge ends this Friday, December 18th.

AMW

The Guy Fieri Road Show

I LOVE Food Network. A couple of years ago I didn't think it was possible, but now I'm totally hooked. I can (and do, sometimes) watch it all day. I don't usually cook anything that I see on there, but I certainly enjoy the shows. I even did a post earlier this year about one of my favorite shows HERE featuring Guy Fieri.

Well, he decided to create a roadshow, and came here to our town! We had to go see. What was his show like? Hmm... Well in his own words "It is food, rock n' roll, and everything they won't let me do on TV!" And it was a BLAST! We were allowed to take pictures, as long as we didn't use a flash, so most of them didn't come out very well. But you can get the idea...

This is actually the picture from his website, and ironically, almost exactly how the evening looked!

Here we are ahead of time. We bought these great "Flair Hair" hats that looked like his hair, and wore them to the meet and greet. Everyone else there asked us where we got them, and then started asking Guy's t-shirt vendors if they carried them!

I think this is a pretty good look for me. Don't you think?

At the meet and greet, he signed our books, and then right after this picture, he picked up a silver paint pen, and signed the bills of our hats! He loved them!

We ended up with front row seats (which we didn't know ahead of time), and this was the view! When Guy came out on stage, he saw us in the hats, came over and said "There's my sistas" and gave us a "knuckle-bump"!

The opening act was a flair bartender from Australia. He moved so fast, it was hard to get any pics of him at all. This was the best one.

Of course, the action shots are all blurry, but it didn't diminish the fun!

Guy claims to have ADD. Since he didn't stop or even slow down once, and became easily side-tracked while telling a story, it was easy to confirm his claim.

This was Six. That's how he was introduced, and how he was referred to throughout the evening. He followed along with a camera and projected onto the screen so you could see better!

Guy also did an "American-Idol"-ish thing with members of the audience. Some were good, and some not so good.

But this young man, Jordan, STOLE.THE.SHOW. He was extremely shy when he first got up there, but by the time he was done, Guy had offered him a spot on the TOUR! Such a charasmatic boy!!

He sang and danced! When he was done, Guy was so impressed that he gave him the sunglasses off of his head! They are a big deal to Guy! He doesn't go anywhere with sunglasses!

We also had the pleasure of meeting Brian and his folks. Brian has just gotten back from Afghanistan and is a big cook and Guy fan. When seats got shifted, Brian ended up in the front row as well!

You could tell that Guy whole-heartedly supports our troops, and was thankful for their service. He had given Brian samples of some of the food and drink, and then pulled him up on stage!

Brian's parents were beaming with pride. I'm just sorry my pictures didn't come out better than they did.

I don't really know how to sum up this evening. It was unlike any cooking demonstration I could have imagined. It was pure entertainment for the better part of 3 hours. If you are a Guy fan, then you should definitely try to see this if he comes near you.

AMW

Montpelier Hunt Races

The first weekend in November (yes, I'm really behind!), we went to the Montpelier Hunt Races in Orange, VA. We were invited by our good friends R&E. I think the easiest way to tell you all about this weekend is to do it with pictures. Of course, this doesn't even begin to do the weekend justice, and the amount of fun we had, but it will give you a pretty good idea.

We stayed at "The Farm". This is a family-owned farm, although no one lives there year round. It is a working farm, but the owners use it as a vacation spot. And who can blame them?! It's gorgeous and peaceful, and huge!

We took the camper, because although the house is a large farmhouse, it was BOOKED for the weekend. I think there were about 25 people already staying there. So we opted to bring our own housing...

The view was amazing, although on Friday night, it was COLD! Down into the 20's. Even with a space heater, I had trouble staying warm (not that unusual....), but at least Saturday night was a tad warmer!

This is the view from the back of the house. Large, and plenty of parking!

On Sunday morning, we took a walk, and took the camera so we could soak it all in.

I just loved this old barn on the farm. They still use it for shelter for the cows. I just loved it on the top of the hill!

And speaking of cows, we walked out to the pasture where they were. We could hear them "moo-ing" in the morning. So we went out to say hi. They were very curious, and watched the closer we got. So we didn't get too close.

Then is was off to the races!

The races were held at the Montpelier Estate, home of James Madison. I don't know very much about horse racing, but these were Steeplechase races with both flat track and hurdle races. Our tent was one of the ones above, and was on the rail of the hurdle races.

This was our tent! Full of Food, Friends, and FUN!

Here's M have a drink and a laugh!

And what's horse racing, without a fancy new hat? D&V were in the hat store, trying things out...

Here's D and I with the new hats that we bought. I was told on the way home that night (by a very drunk friend) that mine was a "Bob Hope Hat". Whatever... I LOVE my new hat. Bob Hope and all!

R&E held a silent auction for some of the pottery that R has made over the last year at her pottery class. All of the money went to the Carma Lee Lewellyn Scholarship Fund at Mary Washington University.

D with one of the pots she really liked a lot! She wasn't the winning bidder on this one, but did manage to snag two others!

As the sky shows, it was a beautiful day! Snapped this one while waiting for the first hurdle race to start. I didn't know what to expect!

The went by so fast, that this was the best I could do on first shot! Yep, that's just a small piece of a horse's tail, out of the whole pack!

Actually, this one was my first shot, but it's funnier to say that the other one above was. The one above was actually my second shot.

The horses came extremely close! And FAST! I know there is probably not a foot between my camera and these horses!

And here is a better one from the day. You could hear them coming about 20 seconds before they came over the hill. And then they were gone in a flash!

It was an amazing, fun weekend! I'm so thankful to R&E for inviting us! We met some really neat people and got to hang out with some of our other favorite folks as well. Can't wait until next year, and do it all again. Next year, though, I'll be better prepared to know what it's like and what to expect.

AMW

My dog pooped her pants!

WHAT? How can that be, you ask? Ok - here's the back story...

This summer - Casey had some skin issues, and was chewing herself raw. You can read about it HERE, but to sum up: the one thing that kept her from chewing was a doggie diaper.

So you can see where this is going......

She's had another round of chewing herself raw, it getting infected, and being on all kinds of medicines. She stayed at the vets on Monday, D worked from home Tuesday and was home with her, and on Wednesday I putted the doggy diaper on her. No problem.

Now mind you - this isn't because she's in heat, or incontinent. It's just a deterrent so she doesn't chew on her wound.

And she didn't.

But Thursday, I got home, and she RAN.OUT.OF.THE.HOUSE. I had to run after her to try to get the diaper off of her. And when I did - yep! Full of poop!

My poor girl had pooped her pants!

Somehow, there was none on her. She was clean as could be.

I felt absolutely awful for her, for having to deal with that all day (or however long it had been), but it was so funny, I couldn't help but laugh!!

Gives a whole new meaning to the nickname "stinkbutt"!

AMW

Street Corner Vets

Sorry about the poor picture quality, but a picture from the phone is the best I could do...

This is a scene I see every day. Coming off the interstate on my commute home, this man is standing in the same spot. Every day. With the same sign, same bike. His sign says "Disabled Vet. Needs Help"

I have no doubt that he's disabled. What you can't see in this picture that I saw every day throughout the summer, is that he has a prosthetic leg. The right one, I believe. In the summer, he wore shorts every day, no doubt to send the message home that he is disabled.

Most days, I see several people hand him money.

I truly have mixed emotions about this.

I do feel sorry for this man and his circumstances. I do wish I could help him. I'm sure others feel the same way, and thus give him money.

But I don't know his true circumstances. His sign doesn't claim that he's homeless.

I can't afford to give him any money. Not just because I don't have any extra to spare (which I truly don't) but also because if I do it once, I feel like he'll expect it again. Since I see him everyday. I can't help but wonder when he sees my car, if he thinks to himself, "I know she won't give me anything. I see her every day, and she never has."

There's the whole societal dilemma as well... Most local cities discourage people from giving the homeless money. You always hear that they'll use it on alcohol. I don't know if that's true or not, and it's not my place to decide what he's going to use the money for.

But I also can't help but wonder how much money he makes. He's on a good busy corner. Places himself there during rush hour. Holds up a compelling sign. And waits for people to hand him cash. Every day. And they do. Every day. He's obviously intelligent enough to know the best times to be there.

And he's not the only one. Being very close to a Veteran's Affairs hospital, there are these images on many corners near the interstate within a few miles.

It's obvious that I'm better off than he is. I have a car, all my limbs, a job and a home.

Should I feel guilty that I don't give him any money? Should I feel uncomfortable when he looks at me as I wait for the light to turn green? How do you all feel when you see people like this on the corners? How do you handle it?

AMW