Camelot Quilt, A Quilter's Day Out, and Zucchini Report

The quilt maker was kind enough to supply the following information about this quilt.
"Camelot", made from instructions in the Quiltmania magazine, starting with the Jan/Feb 2016 issue.

We discussed quilting ideas, then I sent her a few mockups that I drafted on Intelliquilter (which is the computer drive for my quilting machine).  She chose a couple of borders, and the pretty feathered wreath that fills in between the blocks.

The treatment in each of the blocks was up to me.

I stuck with straight lines, curved lines, pumpkin seeds, and feathers.

When I had everything done except the spaces between the blocks we discussed again, and settled on the bowtie-ish fill.  I really liked that choice because it echoes the circles of the compass blocks.

The wide border got a new-to-me feather design.  Love. 💓

The back.  Sooo pretty.

For those quilters who think "Oh, she's computerized, she doesn't really have to DO anything."...these are the rulers I used on this quilt.

So.  Do you want to hear about my day out this past week?  I had to go pick up my sewing machine which was in for service.  I picked up my friend who was keeping me company and we headed off to Sew Etc. in Burlington, where I got my Pfaff out of hock (a $10 surcharge for cleaning?  Really?).  After I got my machine safely ensconsed in the back seat, we were  discussing lunch locations and decided to head over to Swiss Chalet.  The Bulk Barn just happens to be on the way so we made a pit stop there and I filled up on Almond Butter.  Next stop:  Swiss Chalet.  BTW, they are hiring for all positions, if anyone is looking for a job.  Next door happens to be the CIBC so we walked over and I did a little banking.  Then my friend said:  "Oh look, a shoe store."  Well, dammit.

We tried to go to the Farmer's Market (even though I had NO MONEY left) but the farmers were all closed and heading home.  Up the escarpment we go, and I asked if she needed anything at Costco.  I had to stop for a double package of vinegar, and the ziploc bags that were on sale.  Well, as you probably know, you can't buy just two things at Costco.
So my day out cost me:
machine service: $147.45
Almond butter:  $10.90
Lunch:                $20.00
Shoes:               $185.43
Costco:              $51.45
=====================
Total:              $415.23

I'm not sure if I should go out MORE often so I don't spend so much in one friggin' afternoon, or LESS often which would mean I'd stay home and eat zucchini.  For free.

ZUCCHINI REPORT

Picked this week:  18
Picked YTD:        104 ***Woo Hoo!  Broke the 100 mark!
Gave away this week:  0 none, zip, nada.

I didn't give any away, (well except to the compost, which got a few fuzzy ones)  but I did make six jars of relish, and froze 12 cups of shredded zucchini for the winter.

Fruitful Abundance quilt, Crazy Book, and Zucchini Report

This is Fruitful Abundance, a class that was run at Quilt Junction.  The maker is a bit of an overachiever and completed hers waaay before the others in the class.

She had three requests with the quilting - one was to keep the 'folk art' feel and not overdo the quilting.

The second was to add a bird to the vases, and the third was to quilt a running leaf vine in the outer half-square border.  There is a TON of s.i.d. and outline quilting on this.

So, on to the Crazy Book story.
Y'all know, sort of, Diane - leader of the Beach Girls.  One day last summer I was having a glass of wine and talking with her husband (let's call him Bill) about goodness-knows-what, and he mentioned that he had a book I might be interested.  When he finally remembered who the author was I'm pretty sure my jaw dropped, because "Bill" never struck me as someone who would follow Deepak Chopra.  I've read one of Chopra's books and it was about the chakras.  The next time I saw "Bill" he handed over his copy of You Are The Universe, and made it abundantly clear that he wanted the book back.

I was kind of getting into the book because some of the concepts were pretty mind-blowing.  Here's a page....

and the following page....

Even though I found myself having to reread a lot of it, it was pretty interesting.  Sadly - as it progressed, it was getting to be more and more like this, which required MANY page rereads.

I finally gave up around page 200.  But I appreciated the way it changed my perception of a lot of things.  I had that book for a year.  Diane would laughingly ask me occasionally how I was doing with it.  So I'd remind her that every page required THREE reads before I'd "get it", so Bill was just going to have to be patient.  I think he was glad to get it back when it was returned at Beach Day.

On to something that is much more understandable for many of us...

ZUCCHINI REPORT
Picked last two weeks:  27
Picked YTD:                 86
Gave away last two weeks:  6  (What?  Only 6?  sigh.)

Beach Day! and, of course, Zucchini Report

I presume you've been following me long enough that you know all about the Beach Girls.  My longarm compatriots.  People are often surprised that we're friends, and not backstabbing competitors stealing each other's bobbins.  Meh.  Life's too short for that shit.

This past week was our annual Beach Day which generally lasts for three days.  We rarely make it to the beach...but this year it happened!

Diane took us on a mystery outing that lasted all day.  We started at the consignment store in Exeter and ended the day at the Lion's Pavilion in Grand Bend.  There was a very fun band featured and their set was "the British Invasion" (or maybe that's the name of their band?, but I don't think so).  Anyhow, the 2 1/2 hours they played was such fun, starting with the Beatles and ending with the Beatles, and over a decade's worth of music in between.  I felt sorry for the folks sitting around us because we're not really aware of how extraordinarily badly we sing.  And we sang a lot.  With unbridled verve.

In our down time we celebrated a birthday and solved the problems of the world.  😀 As Deb and I were on our way home we stopped at the Restore in Exeter, where I was able to save myself fifteen bucks on clear bags that I use for customer quilts AND I got four c.d.'s at $2 apiece for the drive home.

I won't see these gals again until September at the next SOLO meeting.  Anticipation....

ZUCCHINI REPORT

Picked this week:  18
Picked YTD:       59
Gave away:  lots.  I took a bunch to Beach Day but neglected to count them.  I also made four loaves of Zucchini Bread and forced those on the girls too.