Ooops....I forgot to cyber shop!

And now my chance is gone for another year.  Thankfully, my shopping is finished and the decorated tree is standing tall.  So, I can sleep in or relax over another cup of coffee or play with photos from a recent vacation.

A few weeks ago, we decided that  a long relaxing weekend was in store for us.  Found a beautiful Victorian-style bed and breakfast for the layover and then set out for three fun-filled days. 

The Buffalo River near Harrison, Arkansas



Eureka Springs

Eureka Springs

 

 

Autumn Leaves:  Little Buffalo River added the perfect backdrop

 

 

Granny's river was just as I remembered it even after all these years
 

 

Water rippling over the rocks and boulders

 

 

Parthenon, Arkansas

 

A view across The Little Buffalo River.  In her later years, Granny married and moved to the beautiful home place of Papa Claude Matlock  There once was a swinging bridge across the river at just about this point. 

As a child, I remember being terribly frightened

of the bridge

swinging to and fro. 

 

 

 

 

Seasons: There Are Four ~

Every season has its color and rural Autumn color is spectacular ~ 

 The crispness of the cool sky brings out the best of the drabness of the old barn in its dress of rust and aged wood

surrounded by leafless trees,  cut hay and withering grass.

 

Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving from a quilter's point of view.  One of my favorite vintage quilts I saw while at Houston Quilt Festival, 2014.....artfully draped over a prop in one of the vendor's booths. 



 

I'm having a snack attack!

Do I multi-task?   If I'm quilting:  YES.  I do enjoy having more than one delicious snack right at my fingertips to grab and stich on.  It's my snack attack buffet.   I enjoy gathering fabrics that might add to one project or the other  'cause one never knows when the attack might hit!

Here's Snack No. 1 all packaged and ready to bite into:

 

I've made up a few orange peel blocks in various fabrics to keep me reminded of where this idea is going.  It ultimately will be a modern improvisational orange peel quilt! 

 

 

 

 Snack Attack No. 2 will crunch down to be a very liberated quilt top.....not sure if this is trip around the world, log cabin, courthouse steps!!!!  I just know that these blocks are very much to my liking.   

Snack Attack No. 3:

 

I made a couple of blocks like this and added them to one of the Louisiana Traveling Quilts....in progress.  And, I called my block "Fields and Streams".  This block didn't make the cut for the traveling quilt, so I'll just enjoy it in a quilt of my own....somewhere down the road. 

 

 

 

Snack Attack No. 4....well, of course, you all know a house block when you see one.  A quilter friend and I want to exchange house blocks.  I got two made, one for her and one for me....then ran out of time.  If the clock keeps ticking, we'll eventually get back on track and crunch down on this fun swap-a-house-block-project.

 

And finally, Snack Attack No. 5 has made it to the design wall.  Very minimal, very modern, very much me.

 

 

 

Hope you enjoy your treats as much as I do mine. 

I'm not leaving this room.........

..............UNTIL I post on my poor, unattended blog!

It's not that I haven't been inspired

or that I don't have something to blog about


 



















or that I don't have enough pictures to add interest to my post

 

 
or that my life is uneventful

 
 
 










It's just........well, what can I say!  I just haven't posted lately. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

What do you mean?

You really mean it?
October has come and gone?
October, Where did you go?

 

 

Since I'm well into the next month, may as well look forward ~

and rejoice

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In A Safe Place ~

I've been rambling around in my pictures,
where I thought I would be safe.....
this morning.....
but I got lost in the many thousands.....
of pictures
in one file or another.




 

 

 

 

I'm in a safe place, where are you?

 

 

 

It was a trip ~

A once in a lifetime trip for me - a trip to the Houston Quilt Festival,

where they were celebrating their 40 years of great quilts. 

I walked in the door and saw

  A most spectacular display of red and white quilts from around the world.

Breathtaking ~

My most favorite quilt on display was entitled Fade Into Gray

pieced and quilted by Stephanie Ruyle, Denver, Colorado

A favorite quilt series of sixteen by Yvonne Porcella

A most fun time watching the people - 

A lady in a most thoughtful mood drinking in the beauty of Yvonne's collection. 

 

Oh, what a most delightful surprise

to see my lone start quilt hanging in

Hannah's booth

One of my favorite vendors:  Color by Hand -

where I left a bundle, but didn't come home empty-handed!

 

 

 

A most unforgettable view:  only a portion of the more than 1100 vendor booths....Oh, My!

A picture taken through a mezzanine porthole ~

 

Home again, but still thinking about the Houston Quilt Festival, 2014.