Some Dance Lessons and A Rose Embroidered Pillow

A friend of mine asked if my husband and I would like to take Latin dance lessons at a local adult education program.  Much to my surprise, my husband was game (I thought I would have to drag him).  Well, we went last night and there were about ten couples in all.  I kept wondering how many of the husbands were there willingly.  I know that it will take a lot of practice before we master the dance we learned last night, I have forgotten the name of it already.  How sad is that?  Any way, we all had a good time and then headed over to get drinks afterwards.  I think my husband enjoyed that a bit more.  Next week we will be learning the ChaCha...I will let you know how it goes.

On another note, a while back I embroidered a rose on a linen napkin.  It took me a while, but I finally decided to sew it on to the front of a pillow.  I used a solid fabric on the front and strips of pinks and reds for the back of the pillow.

My Strip Quilt

Okay so I was inspired to make a strip quilt after seeing the one that was posted on Daisy Quilts Blog.  I have always wanted to make a strip quilt and I had a lot of scraps to use up.  When finishing a project, I have always cut the scraps into squares, triangles, and strips (widths of 1" - 2 1/2").   So it was really easy for me to make this quilt.  The only thing I had to do was decide what size the muslin base would be.  I chose a 6 1/2" x 9 1/2" block.  It may not look as coordinated as other strip quilts, but when I look at this quilt I can see bits and pieces of all my projects. 

Away Again

It seems like that the last few weeks, one of us has been away for the weekend.  This time it was to look at Scranton University in Pennsylvania.  We stayed at the Hilton and had a nice Valentine's Dinner at Casey's, the hotel restaurant.  The man sitting to the left us of proposed to his girlfriend of 3 years.  The mood was set.  All of us sitting for dinner had a nice time and each woman was given a single red rose by the establishment.  The following day, we looked for things to do.  The buildings in the area were beautiful, but sadly most of the stores were closed down.  It seemed like they were starting to rebuild/resurface some of the buildings.  I love walking around and looking at old structures, but it was a bit too cold for me so we drove around and looked for a quaint coffee shop.  Unfortunately, we could not find one so we settled at the Starbucks (in the university's student union building).

My daughter's overnight stay was successful.  She is now deciding between two schools.  We shall see which one she picks.  It is exciting and stressful at the same time (for me anyway).

Did I Bring the Snow With Me?

A friend and I rented a cottage at the Adamstown Inn to sew and shop for the weekend.  We have stayed at the Adamstown Inn before, but this cottage was new to us.  We decided to go fabric shopping on Friday because we heard about the snow heading our way.  We were able to go to Zooks, Sauders, Lapps Quilt, and others in the area.  We managed to get what we needed and headed back to the cottage to sew/quilt.  By the time we woke up on Saturday, there was at least a foot of snow.  These are the views outside our kitchen.

The first picture reminds me of a Thomas Kincade painting.  It was beautiful.  Luckily the proprietor of the inn shoveled our porch and walkways so we were able to get out if we needed to.  I worked on several projects that I will post pictures of when the tops are done.

Back home, there was not even a flurry of snow.  But today as I sit and look outside, the snow is coming down.  I am not sure how much we will get, but they are forecasting 12" - 18".  Maybe I brought the snow with me.

Jeff Dunham's Show and quaint shops in Providence RI

My daughter bought my husband and I tickets to the Jeff Dunham show (Christmas gift).  For those of you who do not know Jeff Dunham, he is a ventriloquist/comedian who has several characters like Peanut, Bubba J, Walter, and Achmed the terrorist.  He was very funny and we had a lot of laughs.  We stayed over night and the following day we shopped at a few stores around town.  At the Studio Hop (810 Hope Street) we bought this tile.  I love supporting the local shops which carry unique art/crafts.  I think it might make a really nice applique block...

There were a lot of quaint shops and we loved having coffee and cinnamon buns at the Seven Stars Bakery.  We bought some bread to bring home and I have to say that they were all delicious.  I especially loved the olive bread and foccacia.