2Bee

Today I had a 2Bee with fellow guild member, Trish. We worked on our upcoming guild's annual anniversary dinner hostess table project. We have a fun idea for out table this year and we finalized what we will present next month plus made the table favors. A great rainy sewing day.

Soleille,
Terri

Photo: A break in the rain with a blanket of pink petals.

New Friend from Nigeria

My blogpost today was an easy one after meeting nursing student, Stella Omo,  at one of the local high schools early this morning.  Not only did we take care of students, and I tried to "show her the ropes" of what my role is in the health room, we had a great indepth conversation on her move to the United States nine years ago from Nigeria (for love and marriage).  She feels it is a lot harder to live and work here, something that surprised her when she first arrived considering so many people around the world think the US streets are "paved with gold"!

But the best thing gleaned from our conversation was that she thanks God for her "exposure" to different cultures, and everyone tries to work together here (in her opinion).  I felt an instant connection to her, and I wish her the best as she persues her studies in nursing and raising her two young children.

BSoleille!  The bright side of "making new friends", but keeping the old, one is silver and the other's gold....

Terri

Last Week of High School

The kids are getting older, but we stay the same! This week is my son's last full week of high school, then on to graduation at the end of the month (May, that is). Where did that time go? This past Friday was the last day the senior class had to wear their uniform, but they could do anything to it for that last day. Ryan tried to dye it with a friend but they missed a step in the dying process and it did not hold.

So Ryan thought he would spray paint it instead. He went to the store, bought the paint and spray painted his shirt. By golly that stuff stinks! The paint held all right, stiff as a board and barely able to wear due to the smell of the thing, but he pressed on to school. Ahh, to be young again.

BSoleille!
Terri

Photo of Ryan in his spray painted shirt.

Dog Toys

Working on tshirt quilts generates lots of scraps or unused pieces of fabric. So instead of throwing it out, I repurpose the scraps into dog toys. I know a couple of puppies, and one in particular, Gunner, just loves them. They are better than store bought toys and once they are worn out or chewed up they can be tossed on the trash. I've got another bag of them ready to donate to some lucky puppies!

BSoleille!
Terri

Photo of the dog toys (and my two pups were playing with a few already).

Baysox Win Tonight

This is my son Ryan's third year working for the Bowie Baysox, a AA team for the Baltimore Orioles. I went to the game tonight to support him and the team, thanks to a friend who had an extra ticket for me! A good crowd this evening (with fireworks at the end of the game), not only to cheer for the home team, but the opposing team as well. The Harrisburg Senators is the AA team for the Washington Nationals. A good rivalry with the Baysox on top tonight 3-1.

BSoleille! The bright side of summer baseball (I know it is still spring).

Terri

A Do-Over

Lately I have had two "do overs"; one being my computer's hard drive crashed twice in two days, and the cabbage soup was still too crunchy that I made yesterday in the crock pot needed more time stewing today. Thankfully, my computer should be repaired tomorrow and the extra 7 hours on the soup made it taste wonderful and favorable!

BSoleille!
Terri

Mini Quilt

My photo today is a mini quilt called "Skippy"! I made it for a raffle basket for the Mattie Miracle Foundation Walk next month. Thankfully, both the "Crazy for Canines" and "Skippy" were mailed out today and I hope the lucky recipient or highest bidder (depending on how they do the raffle) will like it. This was a fun mini quilt to do.

BSoleille! The bright side of a mini quilt (because I rarely do any quilt small).

Terri

Blossoms in Bloom

Even though Maryland is experiencing a cooler front following that warm weather of last week, the blossoming of the trees and spring flowers is full steam ahead. So on my evening dog walk, I could not help but get under an umbrella of pink blossoms and snap my photo for today. Once a rain shower comes along that's -the end of the blooms until next year.

BSoleille!

Terri

JMU Banquet

It was a lovely 24 hours in Harrisonburg, VA for the JMU Women's Soccer banquet. All the young ladies looked great and the coaches put together a nice program plus a great send off for the graduating seniors! Good luck to all the ladies.

BSoleille,
Terri

Photo of the junior class: l-r Haley, Kate, Olivia, Sam, Lauren and Becky

Bad Dogs

I have posted on my mutts on several occasions and they are great dogs, except for today. They took off running when they realized the gate was open (storm from last night swung it open). It was their first let out of the day around 7:45am. I did not realize they took off until 15 minutes later when I checked to see if they wanted back in. My next thought was I cannot chase them and hoped they would find their way home eventually. Hubby drove around the block but came up empty handed - no sight of them.

The last time they ran off was a few years ago. Luckily, they stay together when they are lost. Today was no different and I'm thankful my neighbor one street over called me to say they were safe and sound in her backyard. Those buggers! Once I got over there with their leashes they were so excited to see me! I wish I knew what was going through their minds.

BSoleille! The bright side of two lost dogs found.

Terri

Photo of "innocent" Lucy Loo. Notice her scarf is left over scrap from yesterday's blog post backing fabric of the dog quilt.

Must Love Dogs

I am thankful for two great things today. First, I finished the quilt I started yesterday entitled either, "Must Love Dogs" or "Crazy for Canines". I made it for the Mattie Miracle Foundation Walk to be held May 19th in Alexandria, Virginia. I did this in between a meeting at my son's school and the Apple Store since my hard drive crashed yesterday on my MacBook.

So the second thing I'm thankful for is that the Apple "genius" was able to restore my hard drive in about an hour and fifteen minutes. I really did not sweat it because I have been religious in backing up my computer on an external hard drive. Dave, the Apple "genius" who worked on it, told me that approximately 80% of his Genius Bar customers start crying through the diagnostics because they never saved anything on their computers! Take heed for any personal computer and buy and use an external hard drive for piece/peace of mind!

BSoleille!

Terri

Photo of the quilt and fleece backing. One word for my hair: humidity! Lol

First Quilt Loaded

After several attempts to get into my sewing room during the day, I finally made it in by 10:30pm. To late to start anything but I was able to load up my first quilt on my "new" machine for tomorrow. I've been quite nervous in starting, but I'm going to take the leap and dive right in. Fingers crossed that it goes well.

BSoleille! The bright side of stepping out of the comfort zone.

Terri

Clutter Free Garage

It took me almost a full day today to finish cleaning the garage (I wanted to quilt instead), but for a New York minute, I was able, to put two cars in the garage. We have not done that as long as we lived here (17 years). I'm thankful that the temperature to work was perfect, no humidity, and no mosquitoes so I plugged away until finished.

Photo today goes from this to that!

BSoleille. The bright side of a clean and junk-free garage (for now)

Terri

Garage Cleaning Day

I told myself that when the nice weather hit the area I would force myself to straighten and purge our garage. It's a daunting task as we know. What do we really need to keep? Do we need two tool boxes? What about leftover toys, some never opened? Since my van died in January, hauling has been a slight problem. However, my good fortune hit this week with the availability of my friend's van. Yippee! I've been to the Goodwill donations center and the dump, and I have a load packed ready for the morning when I'll go to the same places tomorrow.

BSoleille! The bright side of a clean garage! Now the trick is to get two cars in it.

Photo of Ryan checking on the toys from years past.

Sad Day in Boston

My father used to say that we live in a "sick society" whenever tragedy struck in and around Cleveland, Ohio and certainly blunders around the world. His words, unfortunately rang true at the Boston Marathon this afternoon after a two terrible bombs went off at finish line. The "sick" perpetrators certainly got the worlds negative attention to the tune of lost lives, plus innocent spectators injured as they watched their loved ones cross the finish line in one of the worlds' toughest marathon.

My good friend Linda Misencik was one face in the crowd heading toward the finish line when the two bombs went off. Thankfully she is OK, but quite shaken up by this tragic event. She was at 26.1 at 4:09 (running clock) miles and was unable to finish as chaos ensued everywhere at that point in time.

My prayers go out to the lost lives, the injured and all the runners, volunteers, fire, rescue, police and spectators for the 2013 Boston Marathon.

Terri

My photo of me and Linda from this past fall.

To South Dakota

My photo today looks like garbage but its not! It's fabric and notions and other crafty items that will be on its way to a new home on a Sioux Reservation in Pine Ridge, South Dakota this week. Georgetown Pediatric Art Therapist Tracy Councill befriended Arlette Loudhawk, a Sioux Indian several years ago through the arts.

Recently, Arlette contacted Tracy regarding the donation of several sewing machines to the Reservation, but did not have any means to obtain fabric and other sewing supplies. Tracy reached out to me, and I, in turn, reached out to some very generous guild members and abracadabra, the much desired sewing supplies are on their way. I was thrilled to part with duplicate sewing items to Arlette and her band of crafters!

BSoleille!
Terri

An "ADD" Kind of Day

We have all had these kinds of days, racing from one thing to the next. That's how my day was today starting early with a job at one of the high schools (with, thankfully, an early dismissal); lunch at The Cheesecake Factory and some resale shop browsing with a friend; then home to relieve dogs, plus feed and water; then onto a quilt show in Columbia, MD. Of course traffic on a Friday afternoon is no picnic, but I muscled it home for a spell then headed out to a local community theater to see another friends' daughter in the production/musical "The Little Mermaid"! Under the Sea is now ruminating in my head....

What a cute show! The kids were so good, as was the young lady I went to see in the play. It was a great end to a busy day.

BSoleille!
Terri
Photo was taken on the Crofton Parkway. As crazy as I was today going from one thing to the next, I stopped to "smell" the cherry trees!

Dog Days of Warm Weather

Even the dogs want to get in on the action of a warm and sunny afternoon. Today's photo is my dog Lucy-Loo who pretty much stayed out all day lounging around the yard and soaking up the rays. I caught this moment of pure joy with Lucy resting in the sun. She did not even seem interested in chasing birds or squirrels (a beloved pastime of hers). I just wished she would pick up a rake or pull weeds!

BSoleille!
Terri

Some Pretty Awesome Quilts

My quilt guilds' program tonight included the trunk show of Linda Reuschlein, an avid quilter for nearly 50 years from LaVale, Maryland. The best and most intriguing quilts were the five pictorial ones she did for each grandchild. They were simply amazing and so rich in color and detail. Every block had a story to it that she just made up while working on them. She also mentioned that these particular quilts took about two years each to complete and that's working diligently most days. Wow wow! And she had a wicked sense of humor to boot.

BSoleille! The bright side of a wonderful slice of a quilters life in a trunk show!

Terri

Photo of Linda and one of her "story" quilts.

Summer's Here?

Like a flipped switch we have gone from winter to summer in one day (at least here in Maryland). Cool temps over the weekend and 85 degrees today! I am not complaining as I got my first bike ride of the season under my belt this afternoon.

And what was really noticeable with the increased temperatures are all the birds, some louder than others belting out their songs! Not only birds but carpenter bees and all the bugs came out of hiding. Thankful that there are no mosquitos yet!

BSoleille! The bright side of long shadows!

NCAA Basketball

College hoops, especially at tournament time, is wild and crazy. All the fanfare, screaming coeds and coaches and all the energy bouncing off the tv screen is really something else. It's been fun being a part of a pool, though I chose Kansas to win. Before the final second of tonight's championship game, I'm going with Louisville for the big win!

BSoleille! The bright side of college basketball!

Terri

Photo of some backyard work I did today since its warmed up.

Machine is In!

My "Sweetie Sixteen" is in and already comfortable in its new home! Just a couple things needed for me to start humming along with this great long-arm quilting machine.

BSoleille! The bright side of "Sweet 16" -sewing style!

Terri

Charlottesville,VA 1/2 Marathon

A very early race start for the Charlottesville Marathon and 1/2 Marathon on a beautiful sunny spring morning (ok dark at the start) at 6:30am! The best daughter, Olivia, and her BFF, Liz V. competed in this great event. This was Olivia's first foray into long-distance running and respectfully finished in 1:43 placing 60th overall (close to 500 runners); 12th woman and 4th in her age group. That means she won some hardware!

Momma and Papa very proud of her effort and thankful all her hard training paid off today!

BSoleille! The bright side of a good long run (with hills)!

Terri

Photos from the race this morning!

A Long Arm Quilt Class

This morning I went to a quilt class to garner some wonderful techniques in Savage, Maryland! (Held in an old library-very cool location). Handi-Quilter and international teacher extraordinaire Debby Brown's professionalism and humor was just what I needed on the eve/eve of getting my "new" machine. Debby has quilted over 3000 quilts and her expertise is bar none! I am very excited to work and enhance my own skills. Unfortunately, I was unable to go to the other sessions this weekend, but will try to learn additional skills with local Handi-Quilter teachers Dawn Stewart and Mary Nielsen.

BSoleille! The bright side of long-arm quilting!

Terri

To check out Debby's work, books and teaching schedule: http://higheredhands.blogspot.com/?m=1

"Blind" Girl

With the husband hard at work and not particularly a handyman, I took matters into my own hands and learned to install mini blinds in my sewing room. A big shout of thanks to my friend Wendy Allen who brought over her "power" tools (aka cordless screwdriver) and taught me this useful skill. I also have my own cordless drill but it was not charged up, but its charging now for the next time!

BSoleille! The bright side of a good tool!

Terri

U.S. District Courthouse

The U.S. District Courthouse in Greenbelt Maryland is hosting "Maryland Quilts" and I have my "Dazzling Dog" quilt in this exhibit. Today I was finally able to go see this beautiful courthouse and the quilts on display. The exhibit runs through April 26th and its right off the Capital Beltway (free parking). Nearly 40 Maryland quilters are represented in this 4 story rotunda A very neat way to display all the different styles of quilts.

My photos today are taken inside the courthouse.

BSoleille! The bright side of Maryland Quilters!

Ready for Machine

A lot of effort went into readying my sewing room, but its now ready for the "Sweet 16"! It was at the "spa" (tune up) last week and should be ready for its new home any day now. I just need some blinds for the windows as I decided to remove the old time shutters.

BSoleille!
Terri

Blogger is Going Out of Business

Nah, just kidding. April Fool's. Blog is going strong and I'm thankful for everyday that I can post and have readers!

BSoleille!
Terri

Photo of an old Singer sewing machine.