Archive for January, 2016

Naples Florida, Snow and Book Review

Saturday, January 30th, 2016

I had the pleasure of working with the guild in Naples, Florida this past week.  Great group…so appreciative.  I taught one hand and one machine applique workshop.  Here are some of the ladies hard at work in the hand applique workshop.

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The classes were held at a really nice quilt shop called “Flash. Sew and Quilt”.   It was a great classroom.

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After the first day of classes we rushed to the beach to see the sunset.

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There were several wind surfers on the beach.  There was strong wind and these guys and girls were flying across the waves.  Fascinating.

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Directly behind us, on the beach, was this amazingly beautiful full moon.

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While we were enjoying some sun in Florida our part of the world was getting hit with a very, very big snow storm.  Here is what Joe’s car looked like in the parking lot at the airport when we returned.  It took him 30 minutes to shovel enough snow to move the car out of the spot.  Crazy.

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Joe keeps a heater in the bird bath during the winter and our vulture buddy came to visit.  We don’t normally see the vultures during the winter.  He was having a good old time.

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I am a Linwood Barclay fan and I did enjoy his new book “Broken Promise”.

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David Harwood and his young son have moved back in with his parents after his wife passed away.  David lost his job at the newspaper.  David’s cousin, Marla, lost a child at birth and has had issues adjusting.  Someone drops a baby off at Marla’s house and David finds his cousin and baby at her home when he stops to check on her.  The story line has some good twists and the book definitely kept my interest.

 

I’m off to the Dallas area this week to teach at The Kathy Dunigan Academy of Applique.

Aloha! Kauai, Hawaii and Book Review

Sunday, January 17th, 2016

My sister and I took our first sister trip ever to Kauai, Hawaii.  There was so much beauty at every turn.  Below are just some of my favorite photos from our very memorable trip.  All of my photos were taken using my IPhone 6s.

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Picture below..this is called Spouting Horn.

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We had a 4wd rental so we drove on every and I do mean every road on the island. Around each bend we’d find another slice of paradise.

 

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The gentleman at the botanical garden told us this plant is called Blue Jade.  I have never before seen nor had I heard of this plant.  So beautiful.

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As we were photographing the falls..the two photos below…this wild board walked up behind us.  I almost peed my pants!

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I hated to leave the island, but so glad to come home!!!

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Book Review:

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I really liked this book: “The Nightingale” by Kristin Hannah.  You must put this on your reading list.  The story begins in France in 1939.  It is about two resilient sisters, Isabelle and Vianne.  The story takes you through their journeys during the war.  READ THIS BOOK.  You will love it.  Hard to put down.  Extremely well written.

Happy New Year and back on the road to Delaware

Friday, January 8th, 2016

Joe and I spent the first day of the New Year 2016 with our girls on the Outer Banks.

 

Ahhhhhhh! The best place on earth just to sew and chillax.

 

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On Sunday, we headed to Lewes, Delaware. I love the beach. Lewes is a beach town, therefore, I love Lewes. Love the beach, the great shopping, the fabulous restaurants and the excellent quilters! I gave a lecture and workshop for the  Ocean Waves Quilt Guild. What a fantastic group. They are lucky to have Ginny as one of their officers as working with her was wonderful. To learn more visit their website at: http://oceanwavesquiltguild.org/ .

I have taught many, many times in the Lewes area and one of my former students, a member of the guild, Lucy Morgan, brought her finished Magical Medallions Quilt to show me.  The quilt is stunning. Great job Lucy!!

 

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Here are some of the ladies from the guild

 

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And we were grateful to have Skip as a member who did such a good job helping Joe display the quilts during the lecture. Thanks Skip!

 

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The next morning on our way to my workshop, we noticed these beautiful white birds landing in a field. Luckily Joe had his camera.

 

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I had never seen snow geese, but now understand that Delaware in and around Lewes is a stopping point for a many migrating birds.

 

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We saw a few, then more

 

 

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and still more

 

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Until the entire field was covered with thousands of the snow geese

 

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Even when Joe put on his wide angle lens he could not get them all

 

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We watched and listened to their songs of happiness as they picked away in the field.

Then in a second, with the whooping sound of ten helicopters,

 

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They all rose

 

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and rose, then headed south

 

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Truly a wonder to witness.

 

I’ll have a few book reviews the week after next, because I am heading out to Hawaii this evening with my sister Paula. We have never done a sister trip and we are spending a week on Kauai so I will not be writing until my return.

 

Aloha!

 

Outer Banks in North Carolina and Book Review

Saturday, January 2nd, 2016

We spent the week between Christmas and New Year’s at the Outer Banks in North Carolina.  For those of you who follow my blog you know we travel to the Outer Banks one to two times each year.  It really is our favorite place to relax.  And we can take our sweet dogs with us which makes it an even better vacation.

Here is a panoramic shot from our balcony.

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We did not have much sunshine on this trip but we were able to walk on the beach comfortably as the weather was in the 70’s most of the week.  One day we were walking up the beach for about 45 minutes, which meant we had to go back 45 minutes.  We started walking back and all of a sudden I turned around and this is what I saw in the sky behind us. Yikes!!

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The temperature dropped 20 degrees in a matter of seconds as we saw one ugly storm was coming up the beach.  And it was moving quickly.

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What does that mean?  It means…walk really fast or you are going to get wet.

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We made it without getting too wet!  Yippee!!

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On the ride down we listened to Michael Connelly’s new book “The Crossing”.

Book Review

I am a Michael Connelly fan and I love his character Harry Bosch.  This book also includes the Lincoln Lawyer character.  Harry is now a retired detective.  His brother, Mickey Haller, the Lincoln Lawyer has asked Harry to help him on a case.  Harry is not happy about crossing to the other side as he has worked on the police force for a long time. He resists going to the dark side but agrees to do so because he believes his brother is representing an innocent man. Bosch wants to find the real killer.  The book kept my interest.  I have one complaint….Dick Hill has been the reader of the Harry Bocsh series and I have grown to like his voice, inflection and delivery. This new book featured a new reader and I did not believe he was as good as Dick Hill.  Sorry new reader.  But the book was still great.

 

Have a wonderful New Year.  I hope it is filled with peace, prosperity and lots of love.