Becky’s Adventures in Quilting and Travel

Cozumel was the only port of call we've previously visited during this cruise. Last time we rented a Jeep and drove to the back side of the island. While the scenery was amazing and my husband enjoyed a swim (unfortunately there wasn't a place for me to change so I didn't get to go in that time) we had some concerns about driving in a country we don't know well in isolated areas leading us to stick to the tourist areas this time around.  We didn't dock at the same location as our previous cruise and I think this time we were closer to a lot of the shopping and had some nice views of the water. We walked almost a mile from the ship before turning around, then we decided to stop at a couple of the restaurants for a local drink and a snack before going back on board. There were multiple people who painted themselves to look like a sculpture. I think if we return to Cozumel a third time we'll do an organized excursion so we can s...

The summer after we were married we took our first cruise for our full honeymoon. The travel agency recommended Royal Caribbean and we were so impressed that we've stuck with them for all of our cruising since then. Ever since that first cruise we've wanted to do another cruise on Rhapsody of the Seas, but it has been doing the Mediterranean most summers so we've not been able to find another cruise that fit our needs. When I realized that this year would line up for our really long Christmas vacation I started to look for a cruise that would line up and Rhapsody was available. I was so excited that I didn't even notice that there was a cruise from Baltimore on Grandeur that would also have fit in our schedule and significantly reduced our drive time. It worked out though because Rhapsody was going to 3 ports we hadn't visited before while Grandeur would have been all repeat destinations. This trip we visited Cozumel and Costa Maya in Mexico, Belize City in Bel...

Fat Cat Patterns makes some of my favorite applique patterns. I have been working on two of her block of the month p rojects and made several other projects that she designed. With all the projects I had/have underway I really didn't need another project when Sindy announced that she was doing a free block of the week of Frosty Friends II of course I added to my project list. I had taken my machine in for service and was anxious to do some sewing so I decided I could hand applique this since I didn't really have a timeline. Once I got started on this project I fell in love and had to finish it! I had a pastel tree fabric I thought would work for the backing and a purple for the backgrounds. I thought I had an ornament fabric for the borders but it didn't match because the backing was white and the ornaments were off white, so I didn't put borders on. A lot of my stitching happened at the local quilt shop's sit and stitch and everyone was ask...

We spent our New Year's Eve at sea this year so I'm a little late in writing a New Year's post. I have so much to write about our cruise but I need to get back to work and get my routine back in place first. New Year's is a time for setting goals. What are my goals for this year? I want to add at least 3 new states to my visited list so I need to plan our trip to Missouri. I know of 2 weddings and a baby quilt that I need to finish and I want to keep up with any others that arise. Last year I finished all but one block of two different block of the month programs, so I need to finish those. My husband needs a new bed quilt so I want to finish my crumb quilt. I've had a top that my great-aunt pieced for almost 10 years, it's time to finish that! I also have several of my Pop's shirt quilts to make and a few more UFO's to finish. I'd like to only enter 2021 with quilts I'm actively working on, but that may be a lofty goal. We already ...

Last week I posted my list of projects for the week, but I wasn’t happy with the name since make a list isn’t alliterative with Sunday.  I asked my Facebook friends for ideas but None of them really sparked my interest.  Finally Saturday I came up with shortlist Sunday since my to do list is always longer than a week, these are the things that makes each week’s short list.  I was feeling pretty ambitious on Sunday, when I made the list, but  forgot to factor in the ear infection I’m still recovering from, or running around to pick up one of the cars from the garage, so how did I do? Well, I made progress on almost everything... 1. Transfer my posts from my other blog site to this one. (About 3/4 done) 2. Label 4 finished quilts. (Done 3. Work on quilting a wedding quilt for a friend (nearly finished] Progress shot on wedding quilt. 4. Post in  The Winter Blues blog hop  (done!) 5. Make more crumb blocks for a new scrap quilt (I didn’t get many...

One of the biggest things I wanted to do when I started my blog was to participate in the various blog hops I have enjoyed reading.  I knew the challenge to stay within the creative limits of the theme would be a challenge I enjoyed! When this one was introduced I knew I had to join in, after all blue is my favorite color!  When I interviewed for my teaching position, one of the questions was how I would handle  motivation in the long period with no breaks in the middle of the winter.  I misunderstood and  said that I find taking breaks for the things I enjoy, like quilting often helps. Of course that answer wasn’t quite what they were looking for since they meant motivating the students-OOPS!  However the more refreshed I am the more I can inspire my students to get through the winter  blues too.   When I signed up I was thinking I would make a string tulip quilt because I’d started cutting one  and then got distracte...

I used Bonnie Hunter’s  Idaho Square Dance pattern from her book  Addicted to Scraps, but set straight rather than on point. My grandfather passed away last year just 5 days shy of his 90th birthday. I wanted to honor his memory by making a quilt for each of his children out of his clothing, so I gathered his shirts-for a frugal man he had a lot of clothing! I decided to make the quilts in birth order, partially because I needed to buy a pattern for my mom but I picked a free pattern for the oldest. When I was looking for neutral fabrics to supplement the shirts I found a fabric I really liked, then when they were cutting it I saw it was called Forget me Not. When I deconstructed the shirts I didn’t want the buttons to go to waste, so I used them when I tied the quilt. I nearly cried in the middle of the quilt shop! This past week (originally posted December 12, 2019) my uncle had a birthday so I gave him his quilt. Unfortunately I had procrastinated and put the binding an...

Our church has always done baby showers for the first baby born in a family, but a year or two ago we decided to start giving a basket of gifts to all new babies. We’ve had a huge growth in the congregation so we were having more new babies but it was becoming more difficult to plan a shower. I haven’t been able to finish a quilt for each basket but I’ve tried to give as many as I can. I thought we were going to have less babies born this year, the Silly Cars pattern from Fat Cat Patterns has been on my quilting radar for a little while, so I decided to make it for one of the new babies when they announced that it was a boy. I really enjoy the flower sculptures.  The older sister had already gotten her quilt and I knew that it was well loved. She insisted that the baby was going to be Buzz Lightyear and until he was born no one (including his family) knew what his first name would be so Buzz stuck. I thought cars go buzzing down the road so it was a good fit. Then I rea...