It’s the first week of Spring and this is what it looks like outside my living room window.  The begonia is impatiently waiting to be planted outside, but Mother Nature has decided that we need one more snow storm before she will bring winter to an end in 2011.

Signs of Spring?

I’m not sure which plant I was supposed to feature in this picture.  According to the calendar it should be the begonia, but the weather outside makes me think it should be the poinsettia.  This 2009 poinsettia re-bloomed for the Christmas 2010 season.  (I’ve never been able to get more than one season out of a poinsettia before this.)

Living  in Central New York, we don’t normally get bored with the weather.  As the saying goes, ‘Just wait 15 minutes and it will change.’  Just another way for Mother Nature to show us that she, not us, is really in charge.

However, the weather gave me the opportunity to get started on a new quilt.  A friend of mine asked me to make a two-color quilt for her son with red and white fabrics.  Not sure exactly how to start I went to one of my favorite quilt shops, Patchwork Plus, and as always they put me on the right track, suggesting a pattern and helping pick out just the right fabric.   I really like walking into the store and having them call me by name.  They ‘always’ are able to answer my  questions as well as share useful quilting tips.   What an invaluable resource for us quilters!

In  every month that has five Thursdays, one of my favorite local quilt stores, Mission Rose,    has a ““Go Green” Bag Day” Sale, which translates into a 20% savings on all purchases.  A group of us take the  lunch hour to check out the new  patterns,  material, etc.  I really enjoy interacting with the Mission Rose staff and fellow quilters.  It certainly is ego boosting to  “go where everybody knows your name”.

Last Thursday,  we were trying to find fabric for the border of my Celtic quilt.  Since I had altered the pattern by adding the Seminole strip, I  recalculated the amount of border fabric and thought that I would need 3 yards to complete it.  I had originally purchased 2-1/2 yds. for both the border and binding.   So, I was on a mission to  find replacement fabric.  No matter how much all of us looked, we couldn’t find anything that we liked as much as my original choice.

Barb, one of the staff at Mission Rose, overheard our dilemma and offered the obvious solutions that we had all come up with and rejected:  Can you make the borders narrower, or add more borders?  Then she quickly calculated the fabric needed and came to the conclusion that I actually needed less than two yards for the border.  The computer calculations were set to make borders that are cut along the straight grain.  Joining the borders with miters will effectively hide the fact that they are joined.  I think it helps a wall quilt hang better and not curl when the borders are cut on the straight grain, but certainly mitered borders will work on a bed quilt.

Avid quilters like to go to quilt shops for more than the fabric.  Not only do the  shops have the best quality fabric and supplies, but the staff is knowledgeable, willing to help as you ponder fabric selections and to help solve problems.  I have come to rely on their knowledge and expertise to hopefully make me a better quilter.

Quilting at Home!

We’ve been spending some time kayaking since we’ve been here at Homosassa, FL.  Here the kayaking is more to my liking – open water where you can glide on the water endlessly.

We kayaked on the Crystal River today.  When we first set out, the mist was dancing on the water.  By the time we left the sun had come out.

Tom saw quite a few Manatees yesterday, but they were hiding when we went out this morning.  These creatures are as gentle as dolphins  – just not as pleasing to look at.  They come right up to the kayak and swim along with you.  One of the attractions here is to swim with them. Gentle as they are, I still prefer being in the kayak.

Normally Tom is on the water before sunrise to take pictures, but he went out a little later this morning and I went with him.  What a beautiful paddle!

Hopefully we’ll get on the water again before we leave.

We came upon a great quilt store this afternoon.  Tomorrow’s Treasures Quilt Shop has a large, well lit classroom and some beautiful quilts on display.  If we come back to Crystal River next year, I plan on signing up for at least one class.  I did find a couple of patterns that I couldn’t resist, but no alligator fabric!  So, I’ll have to keep looking!

Lucia, Quilting from the Road!