Netting Christmas Tree

Hi, look under the Free Projects tab at the top of the page for the instructions of making a Christmas Tree made of netting and a cardboard tube! It is receiving compliments at the shop. The only tools are scissors or a rotary cutter and a blunt tapestry needle. It's not a precise project, so it's easy to make with children.

The Dogs of Team Stryker

A little background for my readers who aren't involved with Team Stryker. Friends of mine, Genie and Rich, are in Baltimore while he is in the hospital. A large group of friends are pitching in to help take the burden of daily chores and some care giving off of Genie and her family. I signed up on their care calendar to walk Mollie and Dante.

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I had a brand new experience today. I walked dogs for the very time in my life! That probably surprises almost everyone. I grew up with dogs, but I grew up on a farm and they walked themselves.

As expected I was greeted by barking, however Mollie and Dante are getting used to strangers,  because it stopped as soon as I entered the house. I've never been to Genie and Rich's place, so I had prepared by looking on google maps for directions, writing down her dad's contact info and the access code I needed.

I failed to look up the mechanics of a choke collar. I determined which was larger and managed by telling the excited dogs to "hold still.... hold still..... hoold still" "come ooon hoooold still" to get them on. When they were finally both ready, after looking in vain for a pooper scooper to go with the poop bags (good thing they were readily available because it wouldn't have occurred to me until it was too late), I picked up the leashes and headed out the door. 

Soon we met their neighbor Sara and her kids. Mollie and Dante about jerked my arms out getting to her dog. I'm glad they are okay with each other. That is when I realized that although my folks black lab was bigger than Dante, he was still plenty big enough to make me feel like a light weight!

I felt sure they had done it with Genie, so we jogged for a while. 

They did their business and I made sure I got every little bit of it. Then I started wondering if it was acceptable to drop it in someone else's trash barrel. There was one sitting at the curb. I decided that surely it's a social "no no" especially if you aren't really a neighbor and resisted.

Interesting Smells to Investigate

Part way through the walk, my shoe lace became untied. "Hold still" "No, hooooold stillllll. It's my turn to stop!"

About two thirds of the way through I realized that one of the collars had flipped wrong side out! It then became apparent that I had not fastened the collars correctly. duh... no choke potential this time!  It was again obvious that I hadn't done all of my homework. No trying to back out of the collars. In this they were total angels, they did not in the least act as though they realized my error. 

One plus to walking dogs is the people that pay attention to you that wouldn't otherwise. A man obviously grinning at the sight of me walking two dogs (they were behaving beautifully), Genie and Rich's neighbor Sara, a little girl across one street who said hello to Mollie and then started talking to me.

They were very good about letting me pull leashes out from under them, helping them take their foot out of the extra hand loop, not insisting on moving when they had stopped at a corner to look across the street and then had traded places when they decided it was time to turn that corner FINALLY and move on and I was still facing the street and had to flip around.

The Corner

Mollie tired out and became positively docile. It was a brisk day and I was looking forward to a nice walk to suit the day. By the time we rounded the corner for home, I was beginning to wonder how much dog walking actually consists of walking. There seems to be a LOT of halting to investigate wondrous smells.

I feel sure it will go more smoothly next time.

Binding, Cutting Methods

Part Two of my series of tutorials dealing with binding, shows cutting and piecing methods. Click on the "Tutorials" tab at the top of the page to find it.

For this demonstration I’m using a classic little calico that a friend gave me. 

Out of Focus

When I forget to take my new camera out of close-up mode, it can ruin a perfectly good scene. Here's an example for you.

So I went back and did it all over again, see?

Much better.

This is D dock at the marina. I love boats and water so you'll see quite a few pictures from there. I promise no more fuzzy demonstrations. The only fuzzy pictures I'll inflict on you are those I can't replace.

Such as the little praying mantis.

Til next time!

Binding, the Finishing Touch

I get more questions on binding than any other one topic. So I felt my first three tutorials should cover it. Part One is on how to figure the amount of yardage you need. Click on the "Tutorials" tab at the top of the page to find it.

I've been working on all parts simultaneously. Part Two deals with cutting the fabric and Part Three with binding your quilt. Part two should be finished soon.

Time Marches Way Too Fast! ....sighs

My goal for the day is the long awaited and promised tutorial on quilt binding. It's been a regular goal for way too long. Even if I'm on a roll, when I'm interrupted it's difficult for me to settle back into it.

And I'm easily distracted. I want to do this.....and this......and this! Okay all done, and now I can settle to working on the tutorial. Oh! Now I must do this. Life and other people do have their expectations of us and so there is no choice but to do this other thing also.

Oh my how the day has flown! Now all is quiet and I am too tired to concentrate. ....sighs

Ah well, there is a nice fresh day tomorrow.

Boat in Transit

My husband is an experienced sailor. He first crewed aboard a 50' Morgan regularly off the coast of San Francisco at age six, with an old sailor who believed in assigning duties to everyone regardless of age. Over the years he's sailed in various lakes and the Gulf of Mexico. He is, however, unfamilar with the Chesapeake Bay.

The little sailboat was in Seaford at Mills Marina, which is located on a large creek. There are sailboats there. I wonder if they trucked them in. What I remember of the charts is that the entrance to the Chesapeake Bay is shallow. REALLY shallow as in two to six foot deep. Our boat's draft is only 3'2", but considering that sailboats can't be sailed in a nice straight line down the middle of a channel what happened next is not surprising.

It ran aground; the motor pulled it free of the drifted sand. Again. Two groundings later attempting to make it out of the channel, he came aground on rocks, rather than shifting sand and called for a tow. The man who towed him to Dare Marina a bit further south in Yorktown, informed him that the sand bottom does considerable shifting, is extremely shallow in spots up to five miles from shore and is not adequately reflected in the charts.

That was a big "Ouch!!" It didn't go anywhere for two weeks.

There were however, priceless moments including several minutes when a pod of dolphins accompanied the boat.

Getting Ready for Sale Day! Wheeee....!

I spent my day off at the shop going through two of the four shipments that arrived for my department yesterday and today. I didn't answer the phone. I answered questions from other employees and an occasional customer then turned them over to someone else.

When I said I was a figment of their imagination, all the customers I know smiled, talked for a couple of minutes and then went off to find what they needed on their own.

This is an composite photo taken by Davida of most of the over 500 bolts that arrived. Let's see it's from Timeless Treasures, P&B Textiles, Red Rooster and.....hmmm.....I forget who else. It would be wonderful if everyone that walked in the door during our BIG sale bought at least two full bolts of quilting fabric (30 yards). Could you come help?

 

A Big Surprise!!!

I fully expected my first post to be a "how to" article on quilt binding. After all this blog is named "Shilo Quilts". However the second part of the name ".....and Stuff" is how I'm starting.

Because I have exciting news. My husband bought a sailboat! So I foresee quite a bit of "...and Stuff" on Sundays this summer. He has been talking about wanting to buy a boat, an airplane, build a boat, an airplane, doodling designs for both for years. I'm calling it his surprise of the decade. He doesn't understand why I'm surprised, since he's been looking at boat ads for the last six months waiting for the right opportunity. True, but when he said he was planning on buying a boat two days hence, it changed focus to "right now" rather than "some day" and qualified as a surprise.

We used to own a small sailboat and that was a surprise too. Mostly because of the way we acquired it. We wanted one, but couldn't afford to purchase a boat. As we were driving past a boat dealers, we spotted a 17' Venture (MacGregor) sitting on a trailer. He traded a computer for it! Can you believe that??!!

Sailboats look much larger on trailers with the keel hanging under them when you are standing on the ground looking up at the deck, than they do in the water when you are standing on the dock looking down at the deck. I was surprised how small it was when we put it in the water.

Here is a picture of the new one. Yes it is in need of lots of TLC of the elbow grease variety, but it's not as dingy as it appears. This was taken on a rainy day with heavy overcast. It looks much better when the sun shines through the clouds.

This is a Columbia 22 built in 1969 locally, which is kind of cool. It has a 30' mast, 7'9" beam and a 3'2" draft.

He found it in Seaford southeast of Yorktown. There's a marina less than a mile and a half from us that is one of the top rated ones in Hampton Roads, and is $65 less per month in slip rental then the one in Seaford with much better amenities. AND no bogged down tunnel traffic. It took 2 hours to make a trip of 33 miles to look at it.