Camping 101

I went to 8th Lake Campground in the Adirondack Mountains the last weekend in July. My family has been going to the same campground since I was 10 but this was my first solo trip and I simply cannot wait to do it again! I even made a list of campsites I prefer for next summer - including sites on the lake! This was home sweet home for 5 days:

Some of you are probably saying..."But Sarah - that's not your car?!"
And that is because this was my car:

I won't bore you with all the details but this is the end of my very own driveway. I was all proud of myself to have the car packed Thursday night. I just had to get up Friday morning, shower, scoop the litter and jump in the car. And I did just that except while I was backing out of the drive, the brakes grabbed and just wouldn't let go. Dad came right over to take a look but there was nothing he could do. I called a couple local repair shops who couldn't even look at my car until I was on or back from my trip so I had a good cry right there on the lawn. Turns out the pads had come unglued and wound around the brake drum, they were starting to do the same on the other side and the bearing broke. Thank God this didn't happen while *on* my trip.

Daddy saved the weekend by letting me borrow his truck. The extra room allowed me to take my bike and some other extras and now I need to figure out how to take my bike next year without needing to drive his tank of a gas-guzzling truck!

Anyway, I was only three hours late but soon enough I saw this beloved sign:
 

Can you see on the GPS where the background is part white and part green? The green designates park land.

 I didn't do much Friday night other than set up camp, feed the ducks and fuss with wet firewood to cook dinner. Firewood cannot be transported more than 50 miles so you are stuck with "tourist" firewood...

On the drive up I had seen signs that there would be an antique show in Old Forge over the weekend so Saturday turned into a shopping day. I don't have any pictures of my purchases but I will probably do so next week. Just think antique cutter quilt in a lily design!

Saturday I also went to the Black Bear Trading Post Quilt Shop. She was having a sale on batiks so I purchased a "couple" which I have of course neglected to photo of yet. Anyway, I signed up for her mailing list and was very sad to receive a notice just yesterday that she is retiring and closing her shop after Columbus Day weekend. Now why couldn't she have told me that when I was there? Sew, now I'm saving my pennies to hit up the final sales when I crash Mom and Dad's camping trip in September for a long weekend.



See the pink Adirondack chairs? Those are for the waiting hubbies!



What's a black bear trading post without the black bear?!

I think tomorrow I will show you some wildlife pictures and then save the rest for next week. I'll actually show you some sewing on Thursday! Like sewn with a machine, not just hexies! How novel.

My parents went to ...

Remember those t-shirts that say "My parents went to (fill in the city) and all I got was this t-shirt" ??

Well...my parents went to Australia and Hawaii and "all" I got was a boatload of gifts!!!! And since their luggage was delayed coming home I still haven't seen the books and things they bought themselves.

They also took lots of pictures for me (Australian lighthouses and Hawaiian quilts and such) which I have yet to see.

On the left is an iridescent purple bracelet of freshwater pearls and a foam plumeria hair clip from Waikiki. I mistakenly clipped the plumeria to my left side before Dad told me that meant I was married. You can bet I moved that sucker lickety-split! The cookie cutter includes a recipe for Kahlua spice cookies and Kahlua frosting - Yum!

I love the feel of tea towels and use them almost exclusively now a days. This black and white version of Aussie animals is very graphic and endearing. I hate to get it dirty from daily use...but don't want to "save" it in a drawer either.

I bet you are saying that this doesn't look very appetizing. OK the eggs and ham do but what is that purple thing??!! Trust me it WAS yummy. Mom & Dad went to a luau where they were served these rolls made with poi.  Not only was it purple, one of my fav colors, but it tastes like the Hawaiian bread sold in grocery stores. I tried nibbling but it didn't last long...

This bone chine tea cup/infuser is from Sydney. Mom said she had a hard time picking which design to get me but the lavender was a perfect choice and it's very delicate given it's size. I just picked some of mom's lavender flowers to make lemon/lavender tea cookies - both the plant and the cookies are a favorite of mine. Maybe it's time to start my own lavendar garden.

And if you have a new tea cup, you need some new tea!!!  The kiwi tea was from the New Zealand Airport (Just one of their many stop overs - why they needed 11 flight segments is beyond me!) and the rest are from Australia, altho a few say made in New Zealand. I've tried the kiwi twice and it's just divine. Today I am trying the Mi-Chai. The irish breakfast and Lan-choo are loose teas, the rest are bags. Mom sealed the boxes in a plastic bag for the flight home, opening the bag smelled like candy!

Thanks Mom & Dad!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Feline Friday - 6/22/12

Today we bring you the latest in Kitty Bling.
All the fine jet-setting pussy cats in your life deserve a little bling!

* No models were harmed in the making of this rediculous post.
*African mask was from a trip to Ghana in 2005: It's a keychain converted into a necklace.
* I think the heat has made us all go bonkers :)

Design Wall Monday - 8/29/11

Nothing new on my design wall. As you may remember from last week, I was pretty lazy and got nothing done. This weekend I started working on school taxes (my second job) so nothing sewing related was accomplished then either.

Hurricane Irene was pretty much a nothing for us altho I just found out my brother, who works for RG&E, has been shipped out for at least a week to repair power issues from the Storm. I'm not even sure if he's still in NY or another state.



The highlight of the week was...

   "my parents went camping in the Adirondacks and all I got was a rock and some fabric"

LOL - the big rock is for my garden beds (sorry, no photo until it's delivered to my house) and the fabric was for watering mom's plants. Aren't they pretty flowers (see a theme??!!) and stripes? And of course, there must be neutrals!!

Father's Day on the Arcade & Attica Railroad

For Father's Day, the whole family took a ride on the historic A&A Railroad.

Typically, the A&A consists of a steam engine, several passenger cars and an open car (without seating). For this event an additional steam engine was added - think "Percy" from Thomas the Train - Dad called it a puffer belly.

Part way into the ride the train stopped, allowing anyone that wanted to get off the train to do so for a few minutes. The train then backed up and "flew" past us as a demonstration. Can you guess how fast "flying" is! Mom chose to stay on the train.

I've been trying to upload a video for over an hour - anyone know the trick?

The train stops in Curriers so the engines can switch to the back of the train and take us back to Arcade. This allows everyone to get off the train, grab a bite to eat and for this event there was also pony rides and a petty zoo for the kiddies.

This is the Puffer Belly #6 - it's a privately owned engine that was brought in just for this event

Switching engines also gives us a chance to lay pennies on the rail for smooshing. Tom and I tried to overlap some pennies but the engine wasn't heavy enough to meld them together this time. I layed out 14 pennies, 2 are gone, probably stuck to the engine wheels and I gave several away to my nephews or random kids. Such cheap entertainment!

This has gotten very photo intense...I have a lot more photos if anyone is interested - just let me know...

Civil War quilt update

Remember the old t-shirts, My parents went to the beach and all I got was this t-shirt?

Well, my parents went to Pennsylvania and Maryland and all I got was six 1/4 yard cuts of Civil War repro fabrics. Just what I asked for!!!! Strangely enough, the store they went to wouldn't cut fat quarters of the CW fabrics, altho they do it for other fabrics. Since the Civil War quilt uses mostly smaller pieces, the quarter yard cuts will work fine.

I had Mom pick one of my outstanding patterns to use the blue fabric (which doesn't photograph nearly as vibrantly as it is in person) and this is the resulting block:

11 - London Square

This weekend Mom strongly hinted that she would like my Civil War quilt when it's done. I hesitated thinking of how long it's going to take to finish it and how much I like the CW fabrics that I had never used before. Then it dawned on me that I could make two at the same time. To me the longest part of doing each block is picking the fabrics so making 2 blocks won't be that much more work. Of course, I will need more fabric BUT I just got a call from the LQS that I won the monthly drawing for a $25 gift certificate. Is that great timing or what??!!

Design Wall Monday on Tuesday 7/6/10

It was such a busy 4-day weekend but I didn't seem to accomplish much other than this tote bag for Mom's pending trip to Ireland. Do you think the oppressive heat had anything to do with it? Today's high was expected to be 94F and the rest of the week will be in the 90s as well. Last summer we had ONE day in the 90s. I know we aren't as hot as DC but I live in an rural area that doesn't normally have AC. Thankfully my house is generally 10-15 degrees cooler than outside.

Anyway, this bag is a copy of the Wizard of Oz bag I made but with one long handle to go over a shoulder and 3 interior pockets for Mom's "stuff." I again used texture magic for the red bottom and quilted multiple crosshatch patterns so that some areas were denser than others leaving a really nice texture. You can see that I started with a 19 by 27" piece of red and texture magic that covered most of my ironing board but ended with a much smaller piece (that I forgot to measure...sorry!). I find the steaming part very tedious, especially with a heavy iron full of water. I do however love the final result and it's very worth the expense and effort. I noticed that this red piece shrank a lot more than the yellow for the other tote - is that due to the quilting pattern or because this is newer (and improved?) textureMagic?

(quilted)                                 (steamed)

There's no place like home...

Mom and Dad are going to Ireland soon ... Mom wants a big tote bag to carry all her "essentials" and purchases. We picked out a pattern and fabric at the LQS - the pattern uses Texture Magic. And that's when I saw the yellow brick road fabric. I like the Wizard of Oz but I can't say I go gaga over it; I just couldn't resist making a practice tote with these fabrics...

And it was a good thing I made a practice tote - the directions are for two sizes of totes, with the larger cutting sizes in parenthesis. I didn't realize I cut the main fabric too small short until it was too late. The finished size is usable but more of the characters would  have been visible if I had cut them 3" larger like I should have. I'm going home to highlight the large size cutting directions so I don't goof again.

Mom wants one sturdy strap to cross over her body and inner pockets, possibly with invisible zippers. It's a cute pattern and I won't mind making one for mom and maybe more...