I'm Back!

Hi, sit down and relax - this is a long
one. I have to make up for lost time. (-:

I didn't go on a real vacation; just relaxing,
regrouping and playing tourist.

A friend told me about a really great
restaurant along the Susquehanna
River, where you dine outside under
a large tent. As a former Long Islander;
I miss the Atlantic Ocean! For lunch
we had hot pastrami on rye - another
New York thing! I felt as if I was right
at home.

How's that for a view? Nice, calm and relaxing.

See this bridge? If you click on the photo; I outlined
where the old bridge was. There is a plaque which
says:
In 1814, the first bridge connecting
Wrightsville and Columbia was completed.
It was the longest covered bridge in the
world (5,690 feet.) Since then, five additional
bridge have spanned the Susquehanna at this site.
Of the six, two were destroyed by natural
forces, and one was burned in 1863 by Union
militiamen and townspeople to prevent
Confederate troops from invading Lancaster
County and reaching Harrisburg.

My daughter came from N.Y. twice; once with
her hubbie and once by herself. We went
and hit the outlets! Guess where we're headed?

I also had another visitor; one with four legs:

I was out early one morning cleaning out the
weeds in my tomato garden and when I looked
up I got the shock of my life! A deer was just
standing there looking at me. He didn't move
for at least 5 minutes. So I ran inside and got
my camera and it stood there and posed for
this photo.
What can I tell you..
first the ground hog now this! I hope this
deer doesn't get any ideas and eat my stuff!
It's cute though, isn't it?

Now the quilty stuff. I joined Facebook
awhile back and became a fan of
Pat Sloan. One of the discussions
is: My First Quilt.
Pat posted hers
on her web site and some of the other
brave ladies did also. They are really
nice for a first quilt.
You can view
Pat's first quilt and her story
here
It's really funny and I love how she
did the back of her quilt! I couldn't
stop laughing. So anyway, I thought
I would also post my first quilt but first
let me tell you about it.
When I first moved here I wanted to
learn how to quilt. My sister told me
to look in the mail for the Adult Ed classes.
The day that I received it; I filled out the
form and signed the check and had it in
the mail the same day. I didn't really read
what the class entailed; I was just so excited
to take my first quilting lesson!
When I got to the class; I found out it was
applique and my heart sank but I was
determined to do this no matter what.
It was an "Baltimore styled Album Quilt".
I had no supplies so I had to get the "works" -
cutter, board, rulers, scissors etc.; I spent
over $300.00! I had to do this quilt!

It looks kinda nice if you look at it from
far far away...
The first block we did was the tree with
the cherries. First I practiced the leaf
before I did it on the block. My nephew
was visiting and he came over and said
to me "What the heck is that?!" I said,
trying to hold back my annoyance (what
is he stupid?) "It's a leaf" (smile)
"Well it doesn't look like one" I told him
to go back and play his computer games.
hmmmf
My instructor said that applique is
very forgiving and that if you make
a mistake you can make fudge. ???
Cover it up -- and that's exactly what I
did. If you look at the block with the
cherries; I made a booboo at the bottom
of the vase; so I added another leaf
and cherry to cover it up. My instructor
Marge came over and looked and with
a smile she said "ah you made a mistake";
I said "No, I made fudge."

I can't believe I'm showing this!
For the cherries; we used a quarter.
(5 yrs. later - I now know about Karen
Kay Buckley's "Perfect Circles")
The method that I learned for this
applique is with freezer paper.
You make your cardboard template;
then trace around it on freezer paper
and cut.
(5 yrs. later - I now know about
back basting - thank you Jeana Kimball!)
I can't believe those leaves.

We were told that we were going to make
mitered corners. (haha) I watched, I saw,
and I did the first one good. When I went
home and try to do the others; I had to
make fudge! I wanted to save face; so
I looked through several magazines and
found the bird and covered my mistakes!

Also learned how to make different 3-d
flowers. Not too bad.

I also learned a lesson. Never use dark thread
for quilting...unless you are a very good quilter..
or stupid.

There was a applique pattern to go all
around the border but by this time I was
too frustrated to do it; I just wanted to get
it done.

The best is yet to come.

For tracing the pattern on fabric we
used a pencil. I found out that this
doesn't wash out. Now I use one of
those pens that the ink washes out
very easily.
This is the end because I can't
seem to adjust the font size.