Finally a cool day in Texas!

"I have not failed, I have just found 10,000 ways that won't work!" Thomas Edison

Yesterday....105!  Today...79!  And Monday when we were in Granbury, our car temperature showed 113!  I don't think I hae ever seen a themometer read that high!

I just watched a short video that one of my quilter friends had put out on Facebook...It was an interview by Susan Shie at the Festival of Quilts in Birmingham, England.  Susan's website is http://www.turtlemoon.com/ and her blog is http://www.susanshie.blogspot.com/ .  I didn't see the interview on either yet but I bet it will show up soon.  I am interested in her technique more than I am in her final product...although it is very interesting, it is just a little way out for me.  But she is a marvelously creative spirit!!  I would love to take her workshop sometime.

I just finished reading "A Reliable Wife"...it is touted as a Gothic novel and, although it is set up similar to that genre, it is more contemporarily written.  It takes place in winter, Wisconsin, 1907...a gentleman puts an ad in the Chicago paper for a reliable wife and as it is described..."she is anything but reliable"!  It is written by Robert Goolrick, author of "The End of the World As We Know It".  This is his first fiction novel and is a very intriguing read.

I am now starting "The Poisonwood Bible" by Barbara Kingsolver...a book sent to me by one of my "blogger buddies" after I had mentioned I had not read it.  I think it will travel well with me as we head out.

Going International!!!

         "Knowledge speaks, but Wisdon listens!"  Jimi Hendrix

In addition to our daily crossword puzzles, the Tuesday newspaper has an additional quiz.  Today's "test" was to finish "famous Quotes".  Although we weren't real successful, I really liked some of the quotes so am going to add them to my "quote of the blog" list.  The above....Jimi Hendrix...who knew he could be so deep???

I just finished reading "Moonlight in Odessa" by Janet Skeslien Charles....and we are not talking Odessa, Texas!  This is her first novel and I am looking forward to more from her.  It was really good...one of those "okay, what next!!"  kind of books...not a mystery, just human interest story but gave  a really good aspect of life in post communist Russia/Ukraine.  The author had lived there for two years and her writing certainly reads authentic!  A warning...guys, no automatic  weapons/ bombings/ violence...so you might not care for it as much as we gals!

The book I just finished right before this one was "The Children's Book" by A.S. Byatt.  She is a new author to me and I would read her again...not a  first novel.  This book takes place in England at the end of the 19th century into the 20th, around the time of the first World War.  Very good also... descriptive of the time period...historical fiction...and full of quirky characters...but as with many British authors, a little to wordy at times...sometimes TMI!!!  I am a pretty good scanner though so can move a story right along!

My last International thought is the Netflix we watched the other night..."Invictus".  A movie about South Africa and Nelson Mandela when he first became president...how he got the country to get excited together over their National Rugby team...I highly recommend it!  I still do not understand rugby...seems a little odd to me.   I may have to check out the procedures on the 'net sometime!

Trinity Valley Guild Meeting Friday..am going to show my "Chinese Coin" quilt.  No meeting in September as our quilt show is at that time.

Happy Birthdays!

"Growing old is compulsory - growing up is optional." Bob Monkhouse

At the pool at Andrea's

Getting ready to use that new grill!!

Happy Birthday, DAD!!

And Happy Birthday, Graham!

We had a great day with everyone today...celebrating birthdays..cooking out...much laughter..a little swimming for the family fish...seeing all Andrea's new stuff...furniture, grill, etc.  Family fun is hard to beat!!!

What a good looking bunch!!!

HOT IN TEXAS!!

I did forget to mention that it is hot!!! The weather report is on tv right now and they said this is the 19th day of over 100 degrees!   Our outdoor thermometer shows 106.9 right now at 6:25 PM.  Gotta' love Texas!!!

I am posting this to remind myself that it CAN be a whole lot cooler!

Finally finished!!

"The cardiologist's diet: If it tastes good, spit it out!" Anonymous

I can finally report I have some finished products!!!  Below are the small quilts I have finished for our guild show's Silent Auction.  We have a scholarship fund for college students we choose from several applications to help with their college expenses.  (See our website http://www.tvqg.org/ if interested in finding out more about it.)  The money we make at our Silent Auction goes towards our scholarship money...the more we make, the more we can give. 

The top Quilt was pieced by my daughter and quilted by me..24" X 24"; the bottom quilt...12" x 12" was  a leftover block from a previous quilt to which I added some more borders.

The top quilt is a block I was experimenting with to see if I wanted to make a larger quilt.  And the bottom one is from the Paula Nadelstern class I took a few weeks ago...some of the left over small blocks I had made...both are about 14" X 14".

And I finally have finished my Challenge Quilt...each year, the guild has a member's only challenge with a different topic...I think I have given the criteria in a previous blog.  My quilt turned out to be  21" x 42"; I have titled it "Chinese Coins: 170 X 2"...the title comes from the traditional block (my interpretation) Chinese Coins, and the fact that I have used 170 fabrics/six columns/ split in half which gives me 12 columns...thus the "x  2"!  And I added some fake Chinese coins and a little Asian script (which I have no idea what it means!) for some embellishments....also hand quilted with perle cotton thread.

Chinese Coins: 170 x 2

Two close ups of my embellishments.

I meant to make it kind of "crude"...not straight lines etc. so I am hoping that will not be taken as errors!!  But, oh well, I am happy with it!

Other distractions from my quilting...(not really complaining!!!)...Monday I met with about 15 of my ex-fellow teachers from when I taught....some still teaching; most retired as I am...We had a great time and are going to make it an annual event!  Second Monday in August.  Then Wednesday, we met with our poker pals...fun time as always...we again weren't big winners, but we made a "not quite such a loss" comeback before we called it a night!  I am sure if we played for several more hours we would have come out way ahead!!!  NOT!!