Sum Sum Summertime

Been cleaning up the yard lately and enjoying watching everything in full bloom! I've added some pics here of the girls, helping me plant some flowers near the front door, and the blueberry bush (we're enjoying fresh blueberries in our yogurt and pudding, and on waffles....), and my lillies, and my rose bush in bloom. Hope you enjoy these!

Going to a show!

See, I promised to do better, and here I am again, already!!
Today's post is not quilting-related, but I had to share. We went to a concert with friends last night. We went to see .38 Special and Styx. This is quite amusing to me because I saw both of those bands in the mid 80's, so here I am nearly 20-something years later, listening to the same music! So, we took the boat across the bay, parked it at a restaurant that we were really looking forward to eating at, and planned to leave the boat there while we went to dinner and the concert. Turns out, everyone else had the same idea! The restaurant was absolutely packed. So we wandered on over to the concert, just down the road, and ate at the food stands there.

The concert was wonderful! Except for the 4 people who were 2 rows ahead of us and refused to sit for the entire show. I have a lot of wonderful pictures of their backsides, but I won't share those with you. I will add a couple of pics from the show here, though. So, of course, by the time the show was over, it was dark and we had to take the boat back across. I had not been out for a couple of years, and I had completely forgotten how much I LOVE being on the water at night. No sunburn, no skeeters, no jet skiiers ~ just calm peaceful water and the company of good friends. That was my favorite part of the whole event!

Alright, alright, alright, quit naggin'! I KNOW I haven't posted anything here for a long time....but I do appreciate that you all keep coming back, just in case!
So....here's the scoop.....we moved back to MD, I had to get it together to teach MQX shortly afterward, and since then I've been up to my neck in boxes and painting rooms and now the kids are out of school for summer (whose bright idea was that anyway??) so I can't get anything done. Planted some flowers out front and as soon as I can find the camera I'll post some pictures of those. Got a beautiful shot of the magnolia blossoms.
So, we got a few machine sales from MQX, and now we're in the middle of delivering and setting up those. Got one done last week, and will do 2 more this weekend, and then we'll be all caught up. So I have several used machines and frames, if anyone out there is interested!
And we spent a couple of weekends up in PA. Kids had a blast on Uncle Justin's new go-kart and are begging for one of their own now.
Must close now and pack tools and stuff for tomorrow's machine delivery. I promise to look for the camera so I can post those new pics and I promise I will try to post here more often. 2 months is definitely too long!

Until next time.....

On my way home now from MQX in NH. Had a fantastic time with old and new friends!

My friend Jody (from high school!) came to hang out with me this week. We had a wonderful time reconnecting and renewing our friendship. PLUS, I got to hang out with all my quilty buddies and teach a few classes. What a FABULOUS week!

Landscape quilt

The quilt is covered with tulle, and then quilted.

Finally done! This is the last of my class samples for MQX. Finally done, and bound, and tucked away in my suitcase for it's trip to NH tomorrow!

Landscape Quilt

These are pictures of my latest project for my MQX class called "Not Gonna Take It Lying Down." This class covers things we can make on the quilting machine, but not real bed quilts.
So this is a landscape quilt. It's made kinda like a real quilt, but then I've added some charms, shells, foam pieces, rocks. Next I'll add tulle on top and quilt it to finish it off. I'll post more pics of that when it's finished later today or tomorrow.

New (old) Studio in MD

Just a couple more pics to update you all on the progress in the studio. Got the room painted (well half of it....the other half has to wait til after MQX) and my desk unpacked, and some of the studio set up. More to come...

The rack and hanging baskets came from Ikea.
The green paint dried to a more sage color, that I am quite happy with, after all. I was really worried that it was too green at first.

Still have trim around the windows and door to do, and a door to hide the sump pump, too. All that will come in time (and with much nagging!) I'm sure.

And, I still need to put up a pegboard and get all my thread hung up on it. I love all the color on the wall! But, I'm hesitant to cover up my pretty new paint!

And the IQ still has to be set up.

And the hand-grenade.....well, I think everyone should have one on their desk!!

Now.....back to work. All the business end, bookkeeping and such is caught up, so now I can finish working on my MQX class samples. My new class, Not Gonna Take It Lying Down is going to be sooo much fun and I'm really looking forward to it, but since it's new I don't have any samples made yet for it. So, gotta get to work on that, and an updated handout for TNT, and a new handout for the Bodacious Borders class. Think I can get all that done in one week? We'll see....