"A Good Drying Day"

It's a beautiful day in Lebanon, PA.  The sun is shining.  There is a nice breeze and as my mother use to say "it's a good drying day."  What better thing to do than hang the sheets out  on the clothesline.  We will be sleeping on sheets with a nice fresh scent tonight.

Wait! - Looks like more than just sheets on the clothesline.  What's that hiding in the back?  Is it?  Could it be? 

Oh my, it's the raffle quilt!  Yes, the long awaited raffle quilt that the Urban Cyclist  http://anurbancyclist.blogspot.com/  has been promising is finished. Well, almost finished, it still needs some binding but that's not a big deal.

Here's a closer shot.  It's the twister pattern  "Let's Twist".  The fabric is 100% cotton with a polyester batting.

The quilt measures 74" by 87".

A quilt blowing in the breeze is such a beautiful thing!

Those of you that saw the original choice of fabric and pattern might be confused.  I had a change of mind. It's a quilter's prerogative.  This quilt top was almost finished and I decided that instead of piecing another quilt I would just use this one.  The Urban Cyclist didn't know about this change so don't blame her if your heart was set on the original selection.

If you want to be the proud new owner of the quilt I am sure that the Urban Cyclist would be more than happy to tell you how to make this dream come true. http://anurbancyclist.blogspot.com/

If she doesn't have the info up yet, please give her a few minutes to do so.  She didn't know that I was going to be posting this today.

EXTRA INFORMATION

-  My good friend Lynn  http://cooks-patchwork.blogspot.com/  generously donated her time and skill to do the quilting.  Thanks Lynn.  You are the best.

- All proceeds (100%)  from the sale of the raffle tickets will go to benefit the Leukemia Lymphoma Society.

- Mari and Andrew (UC's Mom and brother) can really keep a secret.  Thanks guys.

- Happy Birthday to my absolute favorite brother-in-law Mike who happens to be the Urban Cyclist's Dad.  You really are the best Mike. 

- A great big shout out to Bethany, UC's sister.  I don't want you to feel left out Beth. 

Oops!

I almost forgot.  If you are interested in visiting Obie's, it's located on Rte. 23, ( Main Street), Goodville, PA.

 If fabric is your thing, also plan to stop at the fabric outlet across the street from Obie's.  Incredible selection of every kind of fabric imaginable at great prices. (I bought some doublefaced, pre-quilted fabric there  for $3.98/yd.)  Lots of notions too.  Of course, shopping always works up an appetite so plan to stop for a great smorgasboard at Shady Maple.  It's just a few miles down the road. 

A trip to Obies

I made a trip to Obie's today.  Obies is one of those places where there are just no words to describe it.  It must be seen to be believed.  These photos were taken a few months ago.  Don't let your jaw drop too far.

This is a shot of the Christmas aisle.  It's a little dark in there but the owner has a flash light that helps quite a bit.  If you want a bolt from the bottom, you need a friend to help you move bolts from the top of the stack.  Sometimes, creative use of your head or butt keeps the piles from falling on top of you.

Here's Jill checking out the incredible array of handmade quilts and other assorted goodies located on the second floor.

View of  first floor taken from the second floor.  That little speck of a person is Lynn.

Another shot from the second floor.

The quilts really are beautiful.  Great prices too.  Can you say handquilted?  Yep, they are.  Please notice the hot pads in the lower central area of the pic.  There are more coming up.

There is quite a variety here.  Odds are good that the fabric you are looking for is in stock.  Finding it is the key.  Not to worry though.  The owner knows everything she has and where it is located.  Really,  All you have to do is ask.

Here's my friend JoAnn.  She is checking out some jouvenile fabric.  Sorry for the blurry picture.  It's hard to get far enough away to get a good shot and still maintain some kind of control of the camera.

Choose your poison!  There are lots of great fleeces too.

and neutrals

Suck it in.  I think I see something I want in there.

Another shot of Lynn.  Don't trip over the bolts on the floor.

Very tight squeeze here.  Requires a real suck in to get through.  If you want to gather some strength, spiritual or otherwise, there is a church pew available.

There is a shot of some more hot pads here too.  Obie's has a lot of hot pads.  All handmade.

It's not just fabric.  There are all kinds of things.  Even some penny candy.  Wish I had taken a shot of the candy.  I guess you will just have to take my word for it or you could ask JoAnn.  She knows all about it.

Finally...Raffle Quilt

With a sincere apology to my niece, the urban cyclist http://anurbancyclist.blogspot.com/2012/01/this-just-in.html, I am finally ready to unveil the pattern and fabric for this year's raffle quilt to benefit the Leukemia Lymphona Society.  My niece will be riding her bicycle in a 100 mile century ride this summer and is looking for donations.  Check out her blog for more details on how you can win this quilt and you will also be able to follow the progress of the team in training as they prepare for the great ride.  She is much better at keeping her blog up to date than I am.

So, with no further ado...A Drum Roll Please

This year's quilt will be the Stir Crazy Quilt from Brenda Henning's pattern in "Strip Therapy 2".  Yes, quilters do enjoy stripping.

The fabrics will be different.  Here's a shot of them.  (For those of you with OCD, I already know that I could have done a better job arranging the fabrics.  At this point, I thought it best just to get the photo and post it.)  You should know that I am a better quilter than photographer or fabric arranger.

Feast your eyes on this and please check back occasionally for updates on the quilt's progress.

I will also advise the Urban Cyclist to post the link in her blog.  Got that MEL?

Catch-Up #2

Surprise, Surprise.  I have returned!

Here are a couple of pics of my Philhaven quilt.  It was part of the Lebanon Quilt Guild's communinty service project.  I finally turned it in at the May meeting.  Many thanks to Theresa C. who machine quilted it for me.  I am pleased with the finished project.

Warning!

I saw this post from Bonnie over at Quiltville.  http://quiltville.blogspot.com/2011/07/whats-in-your-wallet.html

I think it bears repeating.

I met someone just a week ago that had this happen to him and three other friends.  He thinks their credit/bank cards were scanned (from their pockets!) when they were eating together at a restaurant.  All four of them had to deal with the aftermath of straightening up the issues that occurred from the identity theft.  This is the first time I actually knew of someone that it had happened to.  It makes it all very real.

Bonnie offers a temporary prevention solution.  Please check it out and pass the word along to your friends.  Many thanks to Bonnie for the post.

Catch-Up Time

It has been quite awhile since I last blogged.  I am not going to get into the why's and what's.  Let's just say that sometimes life gets in the way and best intentions don't always translate into accomplishments.  Hopefully, I can catch things up a little with some entries.  I have lots of photos.  So...Let's get started.

This is Betsy.  She's one of my quilt retreat buddies.  She was setting up her stuff and put her plugged in iron on the table not realizing that it was still turned on from the last retreat.  The photo tells the rest of the story.  Funny thing is the melting of the resin didn't smell or smoke.  We didn't know it was happening until Betsy noticed that the bottom of the iron wasn't level with the table anymore.  Removing the iron was like a taffy pull or perhaps melted mozzarella cheese that didn't want to break free from itself.  That resin is tough stuff.  I tried to smooth out some of the lumps from the table top with a wood shaver and a sander.  Didn't even touch it.  Betsy is still using the table.  She just put a flat surface over it.  Good ole PA Dutch ingenuity.  Way to go Betsy!