Incoming Mail

I mentioned awhile ago about signing up for a postcard exchange. Today I have received my first postcard all the way from Finland. It's from Ihanna and she says she is 9 years old. She also says she will be getting glasses next week. Her online profile says that she has been a member for two years and has sent 314 postcards. WOW, I have some catching up to do.

More Dots

I took a drive up to Sunshine Sewing Company yesterday. Of all the local shops, this store carries the most fabrics and most of them are bright and cheerful. I knew I would find lots of dots and I was right. There were more dotted fabrics then I could afford. Of course, I could always go back again.

Small Accomplishments

I haven't been feeling like doing much of anything for the last two weeks. But I also hate just sitting. As I watch Mary and Judy L knit socks I have had the yen to knit, but socks are way out of my comfort zone. So I dragged out some yarn I had leftover, got out a set of needles and began to knit. The pattern was simple enough, cast on 30 stitches then knit every row until the yarn is gone. It was a project that kept my hands busy but didn't require much thought or moving around.

 

You might be wondering what I would be doing with a warm neck scarf here in sunny South Florida. I have discovered the blog Bridge and Beyond.  Sandy's mission is to provide hats, mittens and scarves to the homeless people of Ohio who live under bridges. That's great for me as I love to make things for charity, and as a bonus I can empty out that drawer filled with yarn that is just sitting around.

Zizzy-Dot Swap - April

Isn't it funny how we both chose purple and green this month.

New in the Shop

I've made another cell phone purse. This is a really elegant purse for evening wear. It's quilted, it's shiny and it has a fabulous vintage rhinestone button.

Gone with the Wind

My Jasmine is in bloom.

And the Magnolia tree we just bought is in bloom.

I just can't help feeling like Scarlett.

Dots

I am starting to feel a wee bit better (although eating anything other than soup or pudding is difficult), so I decided to venture out to the fabric store. I am looking ahead, and attempting to find red, orange and pink dotted fabric. I will be needing these pieces for the flowers on the borders of Dotted Madness. I came home with this selection, a good start.

One of the first things I do with newly acquired fabric is to cut off the selvege. I know there are lots of people out there making cool stuff with selveges, so I have made up bags of selveges to sell in my shop.
But it does get curious at times.

How can you copyright polka dots?

Better Late than Never

My Easter Lily finally decided to bloom. My Dad would say a day late and a dollar short.

Mail

I have mentioned several times before that I just love getting mail. To that end, I have signed up ( yeah, yeah I know what you're thinking) for a postcard exchange. This is not handmade postcards but rather the tourist type from your city. The name of the site is Postcrossing and it does sound promising. You are given the name and address of someone requesting a card and you send them a card. They record receipt of that card and then your name goes on the list to receive. It doesn't look like there's a chance of getting ripped off, like I did so many times with Fabric Postcard exchanges. My first two cards have gone off to Brazil and Switzerland. Who knows how long it will take to get there.
I would also like to thank everyone for their well wishes with my surgery the other day. Healing is slow going and my mouth hurts more now that the anethesia and novocain have worn off. I will now have to wait until August to get my permanent implanted teeth. Growing old sucks.

Taking a Break

Tomorrow morning I will be going in for some long needed oral surgery. I will most likely be out of commission all day and maybe even a good part of Wednesday. There'll be no blogging, blog reading, card dropping, facebooking, twittering, bingo playing sewing, knitting or crocheting. But as Arnold said, I'll be back.

A Quicky House Block

Victoria at Bumble Beans is "astounded by the number of homeless families in America....particularly in NYC". She is calling for some house blocks. The plan is to donate a quilt to be auctioned in September by Basics, Inc. She gives some instructions and measurements for the block she would like you to make, however there is some wiggle room as long as the block is 10 1/2" and not wonky. It only took me one hour to make this block and was a quick diversion from what I was working on.

Dotted Madness Update

63 arcs down, 45 to go

Sir Paul

Last Saturday night. my husband and I went to the long awaited Paul McCartney concert at the Sun Life Stadium (formerly LandShark Stadium, Pro Player Stadium, Dolphins Stadium or Joe Robbie Stadium). It is the same stadium where the Dophins play, the Marlins play, the Super Bowl is played and where we saw the Monster Truck Jam.
I have wanted to see Paul McCartney for 45 years and I am so glad I finally got to see him. The show was spectacular. There were only 5 guys on the stage, no back up singers or more instuments but WOW what music they made. He sang songs from his days with the Beatles, days with Wings and many of his solo works. He had a tribute to Linda, a tribute to John and a tribute to George. He played many different guitars, a mandalin, a ukulele and the piano. The crowd of over 40,000 sang along much of the time and cheered him vigorously which he really liked. He told stories and interacted with the audience often. He sang for 3 hours which included 2 encores, he took no breaks or stopped for a sip of water. One of the highlights of the night was the song Live and Let Die. The stage exploded a few times and there were fireworks going off behind the stage. It took my breath away and the crowd went nuts. If you ever get the chance to see Sir Paul I urge you to not miss him.

This photo was taken with a cell phone, so it's not that good, but it does show the two giant screens on either side of the stage. I also had binoculars with me.

Easter Bloom

This is another one of those orchids that has never bloomed before. With all the really cold weather we had this year, this plant should be dead. But it surprised me Easter morning with these delicate, fragile looking flowers.

Here, There and Everywhere

I seem to be all over the place this week. I've been working on the Dotted Madness, Quilts for Kids quilt and I'm even doing some knitting. I continue to make the dotted arc, but I just couldn't stand it and had to put some together. Here is one half of one of the nine 16 inch blocks. So far so good.

Quilts for Kids

I sent for a fourth Downey Quilts for Kids quilt kit. It just arrived and to my surprise.......

... three of the fabric are dots. Oh I hope there are some leftovers.