A Visit to the Dallas Arboretum and Botanical Gardens

Daffodils in bloom.

To celebrate 30 years of marriage, the hubby and I decided to enjoy some local scenic spots. Among those selected for our special "staycation" site seeing was this gem. We thoroughly enjoyed walking the grounds of the Dallas Arboretum.

There were plenty of benches like the one above where we could rest and just soak in the beauty of our surroundings.

 

The cherry trees were in bloom and created a wonderful profusion of pink blossoms.

 

Our trip included a tour of the DeGolyer home, where we were led on a wonderful (private) tour by a very engaging docent. Over 18,000 books were in the DeGolyer collection.

Crape Myrtle Allee

I can't wait to get back to the Arboretum when these trees are lush with foliage. I guess it's a good thing we decided to purchase the annual pass.

Hand-Me-Down Batik Beauty

 

I dug this baby out of the closet. It was in a trunkload of stuff I received from a fellow quilter who was cleaning out her sewing room. I was happy to take these "leftovers" off her hands. When I say trunkload I mean that back of her car was packed full of garbage bags full of stuff. This was just one of the UFOs that was there.

At the quilt shop where I work one of the teachers teaches this quilt. She calls it Batik Beauty. I've overheard her say tons of times that squaring up the blocks is key to getting this quilt together, so I spent some time and squared up all 120 blocks. Now...this is going to become my new Leaders and Enders project for the next month or so. I'm hoping to get this together by the end of April. We'll see.

Snowballs in Progress

To demonstrate how to make bonus triangles (Bonnie Hunter style) for Scrap Happy Club, I made some snowball blocks. Not wanting them to go to waste I decided that they really could become a baby quilt, which was their hypothetical purpose in life. Now that they have sashing strips and one inner border they are on their way to becoming a quilt.  Hopefully tomorrow they will get borders 2-4. Then I'll have to face the challenge: finding an outer border. For now...I'm happy with the progress I've made.

Beautiful Autumn Leaves

I just had to stop and take a picture of these trees that I saw after dropping off some items at the local thrift store. In a day of near panic attacks for stupid reasons, this was a refreshing reminder of God's handiwork. I'm thankful that I could enjoy these beauties as I went about my daily tasks.

A Day Off Turns Into a Day to Shop Hop

Yesterday was my "day off." A day just for me. I decided that I needed to go on a little shop hop down south. So I took off at 10am and was able to get to 3 shops and back by 4pm. Not too bad.

First stop - Quilts N' More in Midlothian. Next was the Corner Square Quilt Shop in Cedar Hill. I ended my journey at Common Threads in Waxahachie. It was quite a little trip...complete with a stop for lunch at Burger King - yuck! and a stop at Dairy Queen that was much better - way, way cleaner. Below are my thoughts about the places I visited.

Quilts N' More has tons of stuff. Fabric, Notions, Books and Patterns. Lots and lots of stuff. It's a bit of a ramshackle kind of place with a somewhat cluttered look. This store is packed to the rafters with all things quilt related. If you're looking for awesome ambiance, this is not the place. If you are looking for something unique to complete your quilt, you'll likely find it here. I was overwhelmed and awed at the same time. I wouldn't put this shop at the top of my favorites list and I probably won't be back, but if I lived in the area I'd be happy to be a customer.

Corner Square Quilts is a bright, cheerful little shop with an enthusiastic and hospitable shop owner. The selection is limited and that helps keep things fresh because turnover is quick. For such a small shop I felt that it had a nice variety of projects and patterns. The batik and blender sections were full and could be incorporated into many lovely quilt tops. The shop has tables available for guests to drop in and use.

After a bit of back tracking I finally landed in Waxahachie at Common Threads. My friend, Sally Ashbacher, adores this shop and I can see why. It is indeed a lovely shop. Packed with beautiful samples and a large range of fabric, there surely must be something for everyone. While the focus is on Civil War reproduction fabric, there are certainly many other genres of fabric available, such as thirties, blenders, novelties, and other traditional styles. There were many patterns and books. The staff was friendly, even though there focus that day seemed to be redecorating after Halloween. The displays in the shop are well done and present interesting vignettes. The downtown location is quaint, attractive and clean. Located across the street is a nice antique shop. The town itself offers many scenic photo opportunities and I am inclined to think that I will be returning at some future date, with the hubby.

Over all, I was satisfied with my shop hop and am glad that this was how I chose to spend my day. My GPS, on the other hand, died part way home. Thankfully, it was the part where I already knew my way, so I made it home safe and sound, with a few fat quarters and a pattern or two.

Hello, Old Friend

Yesterday I revisited my Roll, Roll, Cotton Boll quilt. I started this quilt just about 2 years ago. It was a Bonnie Hunter mystery quilt, that is now only available in her String Fling book. I was excited, on fire, hyped up. I just knew I could keep up. Ha! Right! So here I am 2 years later still plugging away.

Yesterday was a sew day and I was amazed at how much I got done in a little over 1 1/2 hours. I was motivated after watching Bonnie on her quilt cam. She is my quilt idol. I decided to follow her example and set aside some time to quilt and just see what I could knock out. All these blocks got the red & white side triangle strips added. It's amazing what I can do when I focus!

Now, it's time to set some goals and get this baby finished. The top and bottom triangles and cornerstones are next. I'm shooting for Friday.

Sewing is Fun!

Tomorrow is the second day of my "weekend." Since I spent yesterday (the first day of my weekend) doing household stuff, I will be able to spend tomorrow having fun. Now I just need to decide what that fun looks like. I'm thinking it could look like sewing.

I tend to put off sewing until all the work is complete. Which is being disciplined, I suppose. Or boring. I got a chance to sew a little at work the other day and it just whet my appetite for more sewing time.

 Here's what I whipped up -

It's a 10 minute table runner. I saw the instructions on YouTube. It really took about an hour. That's because I was using a strange machine - not my usual trusty Bernina. Plus the ironing board was in a different room. The instructions were in yet another room. It was crazy. At the insistence of a co-worker I even made the tassels with metallic embroidery floss - that took the most time. I think it turned out cute. And it motivated me.

 Now...what to work on tomorrow?