Slow and steady wins the race

Do you find this saying apropos to your quilting journey?  Many times, I've had that saying in mind as I plug away on a quilting project.  It's those projects that require hundreds of individual units to make up the blocks, like Bonnie Hunter's scrappy quilts.  When her directions call for 589 four squares units, it can be a bit daunting, but I plunge in and begin what sometimes seems like an endless journey, and around the halfway mark, I hear the "slow and steady" refrain in my mind. That's when I feel like this little sea turtle trying to make it's way to the ocean.  But somehow I manage to carry on because I have faith that in the end I'll have a beautiful quilt.

The past 2 days, I've been in the "slow but steady," more slow than steady.  I took out the third UFO, the aqua and neutral Roll Roll Cotton Boll, by Bonnie Hunter, that I began last year here at the Gulf when I took a class from her.  This is the center with the first narrow border that I put on 2 days ago.

I really like how this is turning out. I'd made this quilt in neutrals, reds and greens when Bonnie introduced it as a mystery quilt about 4 years ago, and when I had the opportunity to take her class last year, I decided to use up a lot of aqua, blue and green fabrics I had left over from other quilts.  One of the things I like best about Bonnie's quilts is the variety in the fabrics. When I buy neutral fabrics, I look for ones that ate a bit whimsical and interesting, like the ones below.  A black and white tiger kitten, kites, Downton Abbey and theater playbill fabrics all mixed together.  So much more interesting that simply cutting a triangle and sewing it in.  But it all takes a lot of time, and it gets tedious!

After attaching the narrow border, I decided to make a 4 inch piano key border, and began piecing it. This is going to take quite a while! 

Yesterday, I did very little sewing--just did a little cutting for the piano keys.  Don and I met our new friends, Mary Ann and OH for lunch at a very nice restaurant that we'd not been to, Acme Oyster House. Oh my goodness! What a delicious meal we had! For anyone who likes the foods of New Orleans and Cajun Country, you will love this place! There are several locations along the Gulf from New Orleans east to Gulf Shores AL.  Each of us had a shrimp Po Boy which were amazingly good!  Although I've been to New Orleans many times, I've never had a Po Boy and I absolutely loved the one I had yesterday.  Actually, I had a half Po Boy and added a cup of shrimp gumbo that also was out of this world delish!  I highly recommend this place and will definitely return for another meal.  

But better than the food was the company.  Mary Ann and I met at the Bonnie Hunter class last year and have stayed in touch throughout the year. She lives in Missouri and such a very nice person.  I really enjoyed spending the day with her when we went to the quilt show a week or so ago, and now we arranged to have lunch so our husbands could meet.  Both men are retired educators and had lots to talk about, so that was a hit.  Mary Ann and I made plans to get together when Don and I are in Missouri next June for a family reunion, and I wouldn't be surprised if the guys found some way to spend time together as well.  

After lunch, Don and I headed to the outlet mall to see if there was something we could waste our money on.  And, yes, there was!  Both of us found a couple of shirts that we had to bring home with us, but that was all. We also stopped at "Old Tyme Pottery,"  which was on the way. Now understand, I have a collection of hand made pottery that I've collected over the years, and I've always been interested in stopping at this place. Last year we did, and discovered that this huge warehouse kind of store had tons of interesting things, but no pottery!  What's with that?  False advertising, I think.  Anyway, it's an interesting place and last year we were tempted to bring home something but common sense prevailed and we didn't.  This year we decided to go back and get the thing.  We found the things and liked them so well, we decided to get two!  And here the little guys are:  

Gnome 1

Gmone 2

We have given the acquisition of garden gnomes a great deal of thought over the year and finally decided that they will be perfectly at home along side the small flock of wooden pink flamingos I've had for years.  We'll find appropriate names for the little guys and I've heard that there's no snow in WI so maybe I'll put them outside as soon as we get back.

On the embroidery front, good progress is being made. I finished stitching the snowshoe block and will rinse out the sticky later today.

I immediately took out the last of the 6" blocks, the moose, and began on it. When it's finished, I'll only have the 4 rectangular blocks to do and then I can begin turning it into a wall quilt.  

Today, Don is on the golf course and that means I have uninterrupted time to work on the piano key border for the RRCB quilt.  I'd like to get all the pieceing done on that today so I can attach it tomorrow and call it done.