Still running...

Good Morning!

Spring break is over and we are still running at full steam ahead. I am blogging from the dentist office this morning on my cute little net book computer my husband got me for my birthday. Ahh the thrill of multitasking. I normally bring something to stitch on, but I didn't have anything ready this morning....not that I haven't been working on a thousand things. Yesterday I had to go take my big Bernina 820 to the shop. It already has almost 1 million stitches on it. I am a bit obsessed with checking the stitch counter. I love that feature on Bernina. Did you other Bernina owners know that you can check how many stitches your sewing machine has sewn? I love it....I always feel so productive after checking.

Here are some pictures from our little Omaha trip. I only took 2 since the batteries were all but dead. This is me at the International Quilt Study Center in Lincoln, Nebraska. It was a great museum....I would definitely recommend it if you are in the area. I am going to suggest it as a filed trip for our Kansas City Modern Quilt Guild. My favorite quilt was by Susan Shie. I can't find a direct link to the actual quilt I saw, but here is a link to her website. I was busy absorbing some of the other quilts in the contemporary section ( I was saving the wonderful old 4 block quilts for last) when Emma came running up to me and said "Oh Mom! You gotta see this one over here! You will LOVE it!" I turned around and saw a lovely blue quilt with funny fabric. As I got closer to it Emma couldn't stand it any more and blurted "It is COVERED with words!" And holy cow! it was! Almost every inch of her quilt was covered with hand written words. Just brilliant. Look at her website and you will see her work....the words seem to be prevalent.

I also really liked the hand applique upstairs. Just stunning stuff. All the hand applique inspired my work on my Project Plume Quilt down towards the bottom of this post. I will chatter more about it later.

Since I went to Kansas City yesterday to drop off my lovely big Brunhilda (the Bernina 820 who was acting up) I had a couple hours to kill while I was waiting with baited breath to see if they could fix her in the same day or if I would have to abandon her and give them more time to figure out what is making my sewing machine run so horribly slow.

Our KCMQG meeting has been held at this lovely little shop in Overland Park (Harpers' Fabric) and I have wanted to wonder around that little shopping area while the shops were actually open. I had Mr Sam with me and he was quite a lovely little buddy. We went to Penzey Spices. Holy Moly! That place blew me away! Any spice or spice mix you can possibly imagine! I finally found Zatar. And the olive Oil and vinegar shop down the street was fabulous. I can't find the link to it, but I know they have a website. Sam and I got to sample balsamic vinegars and flavored oils. We left with a blood orange infused EVOO and a 15 year old balsamic vinegar that was just what I was searching for.

Ya know I used to whine and whimper all the time about how hard it was to find some kinds of food when we lived in Australia, but while we were there I sure fell in love with other kinds of cuisine. Middle eastern food, Indian food, just cheese and olives for dinner with a nice wine. Good times. I have to go to Kansas City I guess to find that kind of chow. That is fine with me!

After that we went to Wholefoods. And I just stood in front of the cheese section with my mouth hanging open like a fool. I have saved my wholefoods trip until I was pretty sure I have been acclimated to the lovely American way of life and our wonderful grocery stores. (you know I have a love for a good grocery market...well more than a love. More like an obsession). Anyway we bought several different cheeses and some delightful Mache (or Field salat if you are in Germany) and that was dinner....but first we had to stop at the handmade marshmallows. I bought them as a bribe so Sam would just hold tight for another couple moments.

As I was putting away groceries, spices and my lovely olive oil I gave the kiddos each one of the marshmallows. Sam took one nibble and then ran to the cabinet where he had the stay puffed marshmallows hidden and took a bite of it, and then demanded to know why the marshmallows tasted so different. I asked which he liked better and the little snob tossed the stay puffed marshmallow in the bin and held up his fancy schmancy handmade vanilla bean marshmallow made with pure cane sugar...."duh, mom."

Here is Sam's room with all his planets hung up. Well, I guess this isn't all that well centered since you can't see the sun or Venus...oh well they are there and well loved. Thank you so much mom and dad. It was just what he wanted and he names them off before going to sleep each night.

Here is one of C. Fox's bags. I will put the other pictures up on my Flickr soon. I put a Magnetic snap on it and I just LOVE how it closes now. I will be offering magnetic snaps if you want one. I really liked working with these desert camouflage from Desert Storm. I haven't used it before and I think it is great. This week I am working on Lisa Able's order, it is going to be so very fantastic.

Here is my little quiltlet for Project Plume. I am trying a new quilting style (new for me) called Trapunto. I don't think I will be killing anyone to make another large one anytime soon. Trapunto is alot of work and I am just not terribly sure I am wild about how I did it. Oh well...Emma loves the quilt so I am happy ;o)

And here is the only picture we took of the zoo. My own little monkeys....not the residents of the ape house. OK, I think I am about to run out of computer juice.

Have a great day and wish me luck on getting my Brunhilda back soon. I miss her already. I am using my little Bertha (who really is not little at all, and she is thrilled to be taken out and exercised) for the time being and she is doing just great. Just like old times.

xo,

Tia