OK -- not real snow -- this is better! The snow I'm talking about is Snow as in Snowplow3840 -- you know -- Ann! She and her husband were up this way in their RV so we met up last Monday! I drove out to where they were parked and got to see all her beautiful quilts! They're gorgeous! They're so full of color and they all have this happy kind of energy about them and I just loved them all. And she showed me some of her embroidery as well -- just as fabulous! Talk about multi-talented! Wow!

First we hit Hobby Lobby and found some fun things there -- I got some clearance trims -- I have no clue about what I will be doing with them but they were too fun to leave on the shelf! And I got some squirt bottles for dyeing. My other ones were too small and I never think to order them. Oh and some beads -- 'cause I don't have nearly enough of those! Hee hee!

Then it was off to the quilt store! We went to Sew Unlimited in South Elgin, IL. What a cute place! The lady there was very nice and the store had a nice selection. I did not break out the video camera this time! I wouldn't want to be reprimanded like Ritzy was! (No one would ever want to go anywhere with me ever again -- I'd be bad luck!) So anyway, they had these great little half-yard pieces of silk dupioni that I decided I needed for my pond quilt. Look how cute they are all rolled up and tied with a pretty bow! Of course I had to get these! (I have since made little squiggles out of them and tried them on the quilt. Nope. No good. Then I made little circles. No. Still too busy. I think they're going to have to get their own project. Luckily I looked at it for a few days before fusing them down!)

Ann had told me about some great fabric she had gotten there on her last visit to that shop and lo and behold -- they had more! So she walked away with some goodies too!

And then it was off to lunch! I used my new handy-dandy GPS that was on sale last week and thought I had found a Baker's Square restaurant right down the street. Wrong! I have no clue where that GPS lady was going to take us so we went to the Chili's that we saw instead! We had a nice lunch and a nice chat. What a fun afternoon!

So I drove Ann back to the RV and we had a little photo shoot! Her husband was gracious enough to snap a few pictures for us before I had to go back to the little monsters at home. I had a great day! Kinda like a "last hurrah" before the kids go back to school. It's way more fun going shopping with quilting friends instead of trying to drag a 2-year-old along while searching for just the right fabric! So thank you Ann for a wonderful day!

Especially 'cause the next two days were not fun and relaxing! I ended up babysitting my nieces on Tuesday and Wednesday. All I can say is thank goodness Katelyn is old enough to help out because things got a little "busy" at times! Actually, the baby is pretty easy to take care of. She is happy and content all day and takes good naps. However, Brooke and the 4-year-old are like oil and water and that's where the problems start. They'll be best friends for a couple of hours and then it all breaks bad and someone isn't talking to someone else and there are tears and whining and fighting. Ahhhh! So on Tuesday, I told them that if they behaved, we would walk to the park. There is a lake nearby with a nice little playground next to it. It's a lovely place to take a walk. So Katelyn and one of her friends came along and we took all four little ones to the park for the afternoon. Katelyn pushed the baby in the stroller and I took the other three in the wagon. Boy did I get a work out! We played and watched the ducks and stuff like that. Here is a slideshow from our little walk....

So between the babysitting and getting-ready-for-school stuff, I didn't get as much quilting done as I would have liked to. I finished all of my pond applique pieces but the only piece that is stitched on is the strip of rocks. The pieces are painted and stitched together and pinned up. So I'm getting a better idea of what the finished product will look like.

So far so good!

OK, and some of my week was spent playing with Photoshop Elements. Dana just had to tell me that it was on sale at Best Buy this week so I mentioned it to Dave and he brought it home that afternoon. Oh boy could I get into trouble with that program! Actually, the above slideshow was done in Photoshop. I'll try to get a tutorial up later this week if I have time (I still may be on babysitting duty!). Katelyn and I put Brooke's face on a Hannah Montana CD cover and stuff like that. And I found out how to do the map thing. Margo was looking for something like this to map out all the BOM members. She sent me her list (thank you Margo!) and I posted it last night. If you're interested in seeing where all the TQS members are that are participating in the block of the month, click on this link....

TQS BOM Map (You may have to wait for it to fully load.)

You can zoom in or out and when you click on a "pin" the member's profile photo will show up. If you click on the photo, their screen name will show up. Just click on the globe to return to the map. I had no idea there were so many people making this quilt! Cool!

So I think that's about all that's going on around here. One more week until the kids start school. I guess I'll have to enjoy the lack of a schedule while I can!

Have a great week everyone!