A Quilt of My Church for our Centennial HomecomingThis is the quilt I made for our church's centennial homecoming service which was today. I actually found out I was to make it after I made an innocuous statement at the centennial planning committee meeting to the effect, "Oh, I should have made a quilt of the church. . ." as in "too late now" when it was mentioned that two artists and former members were painting pictures of the church. That meeting was about six weeks ago and the minutes came out about two weeks later and they read in part, ". . .three pieces of art will be on display, .. . one a quilt by Jody Raines . . ." What? Panic! Had a lot of loose ends to tie up, a thread painting program to do for a guild in North Augusta, SC, etc. so I made this in one week working on it all day long. We had it framed to avoid it being touched by a multitude of hands, large and small. Thank you, Roger Newman of the frame shop in Inman! I'll post about it more but my batteries are on 8% and so is my body at this time of night, 10 p.m.

Part Two of My Ocean Lakes PostSee below for our family pix from Spring Break at Ocean Lakes. I just had to blog about it. Ocean Lakes Family Campground comprises 310 acres of camp sites and permanent sites and one mile of prime real estate along South Carolina's Grand Strand of beaches. It is owned by Leonard "Popo" Jackson and his wife and is packed with campsites, permanent sites, an indoor and outdoor pool, meeting facilities, a pavillion on the ocean, bath houses, laundry, security, a golf cart sales and rental building, the front offices, food, etc. Here is the Meet & Eat where you can grab a burger. Note the mix of golf carts and cars. Golf carts are the preferred form of travel (electric only and no drivers under 16 or anyone after curfew at 11 p.m.). The Meet and Eat is next to the Sandy Mart which carries everything from swim suits to RV parts to ice chests to souveniers and candy.
Here is one of the sites which represents the 'early days' of Ocean Lakes, a trailer with a porch wrapped around it. You can still find those but they are becoming antique relics of the distant past as general prosperity has increased and the surplus of wealthy retirees moving to the beach has increased from the '50's and '60's. It's not uncommon to see little signs saying "We've spent our children's inheritance!"
Now you find lots of these, mansions by the sea squeezed in beside more humble abodes, trailers and campers. This is the one Jerry wants when we hit the lottery. Oh, and did I mention the lakes? Ocean Lakes really does have lots of lakes interspersed where you can fish or just watch the ducks, swans, geese and turtles.
And this guy is demonstrating the pace of life Ocean Lakes has to offer. See him snoozing underneath his neon palm tree in his hammock under the cool shade of his RV rollout UV canopy? If you're middle to upper class, it don't get no better than this right here as Larry the Cable Guy would say.

And speaking of decorations such as the natural looking palm tree pictured above, this is my favorite as far as landscaping in Ocean Lakes. So cute! As much fun as lying on the beach or collecting shells is riding around on the golf cart people and dog watching and perusing the various types of housing. Plus, as parents, you can let your preteens and teens run free because security is so high, you have to have a pass to get in and there are so many other kids down there, you know they've either got to be on the basketball courts, the beach, the pool, the Meet and Eat or somewhere they congregate. There is even a small section of ocean front road the teenagers call The Strip and you can find them riding back and forth in their golf carts checking each other out and asking that age old question, "What high school do you go to?" And you will find RVand car tags, little house signs and various t-shirts from Michigan, New York, Ohio, Virginia, North and South Carolina, out west, Canada and various points from around the globe. Truly, it is middle class Shangri-la. Everytime we go down we seriously consider what we could get if we sold the farm, the house, the John Deere and everything else we own and move down. Unfortunately, with the price of real estate down there (and you're not really buying the real estate--you never own the ground your place is on--you lease it for various amounts per year depending on the size of the house and your proximity to the ocean) we could only afford the lowliest of the little trailers and would still have to work full time. Oh well, we can dream!

Half a Week in Paradise!
We, along with half of the upstate of South Carolina, migrated to Ocean Lakes at Surfside, below world famous Myrtle Beach for spring break. I think this may take two posts to get in all the pix and the info I have about Ocean Lakes. I would love to do a documentary about it. Here's Joanna showing a shell she found.
Here's Ben with the wind blown look on one of the cooler, more blustery days. We got down there about 11 p.m. Wednesday and it rained all day Thursday so we visited Bass Pro Shops and took naps. Friday it was partly sunny and cool. Saturday and Sunday, beautiful. We were depressed to have to pack up and leave.
Here I am post-skin cancer with my big ole sun visor and my big ole shirt hiding some of my big ole self. But since I'm usually the photographer, I did want to document that I was there.
Here they are (oh, by the way, Maggie had been there all week with friends and it had rained most of that time so she chose to go on home Saturday instead of staying another day--of course, she and Nick were going to pick out his tuxedo for prom which is next Saturday so I'm sure that weighed in heavily in her decision) on the golf cart which is the preferred mode of transport around Ocean Lakes and, like many other indicators, the more prosperous you have been in life, the bigger, grander and more pricey your golf cart is. People watching is part of the fun as well as driving around, and in our case, dreaming of which house you'd buy if you hit the lottery.

My Favorite at the Pigeon Forge ShowThis was my favorite quilt in the professional division at the annual Pigeon Forge, Tennessee quilt show this past weekend. It was made by Patricia Kerko of Sunset, SC (a fellow South Carolinian) and she used fabric paint to do the face and lots of stippling, feathers, and other techniques.
This one is called Sissy Loves Carrotes by Lynn Drennen of Lindsey, California and since my FIL has donkeys, this is quite typical of their everyday behavior. You could purchase "Sissy" for a cool $3,000.
I'll post more quilts from the show but I had to show the photo that proves I am a good mother. My Dad who goes with us every year likes to take the children, my three and my brother's three to ride go-carts. It was a rainy, chilly weekend and I really didn't want to ride. But the older ones, all 13 and above now, didn't want to ride with Joanna, 8, and Jerry claimed he had a headache so, here I am. There's my neice, Sydnie, zooming ahead of us and I had it floored.
And look what we found off of Hwy. 411 on our way home. Down a side road I went and there it sat. Gorgeous.

Ben's Birthday, the Georgia Cousins and Favorite QuotesHere was our Ben on his 16th birthday blowing out the candles on the cake his grandmother made him while the Georgia cousins and his sisters look on. He was a big boy when he was born, 9 1/2' to be exact and I thought they had left him in there too long. He was so big he could barely open his eyes at first and it took two people to unfold him to change his diapers. Now he's about 6' 2" and probably still growing! He played football for one season and decided it wasn't for him and now I get funny looks from the coach who expressed much dismay when he quit. What can I do?
Here's the same motley crew outside Bubba Gump's restaurant in Savannah last summer. They enjoy being together but Caleb, my SIL's little one and my little one, Joanna are both fractious, bullheaded and quarrelsome at times and I find my blood pressure rising when they get into it.
On the Ohio Quilter's Journey blog, she was sharing favorite friendship quotes. This pix I took in one of the famous cemeteries in Charleston, SC, reminded me of my favorite epitaph which is on a local grave, "Remember friends as you pass by. As you are now, so once was I. As I am now, soon you will be. Prepare for death and follow me." Jerry has an ancient aunt whose epitaph should read "I told you I was sick."

And here is my favorite Irish 'blessing': May all who know us love us. And if they do not love us, may God turn their hearts. And if he cannot turn their hearts, may he turn their ankles so that we may know them by their limp." My Jerry often quotes Shakespear: "All the world is queer except for me and thee and sometimes I even suspect thee."

Speaking of Charleston, (I found disks of photos when cleaning and excavating in my basement yesterday and downloaded them to my laptop), this is the pool at the guest house where we have stayed when we go down to visit friends who now live there from our Up-country home. We don't get to swim in it as it's usually winter and the owners just allow us to stay in the guest house, not have complete run of the place--go figure! Anyway, this pool is something to see. The wall is covered with climbing fig which is quite prevalent down there. It must thrive on the salt air blowing in off the Atlantic. We haven't been down in over a year and I'm really needing a Charleston fix. There is something quite magical about it.

And here are Maggie, Joanna, Sarah and Isabelle, friends of our's who went down with us the last time we were able to go down. See the Cheezit's on the table--obviously, teenagers were present. Joanna actually had a good time despite her stoic expression in this photo! Good memories and good freinds.

A Wonderful Surprise in the Mail!! And a Moth Attempt!The other day seemingly out of the blue, there arrived a package addressed to me from Australia!! I wracked my brain to think if I had inadvertently signed up for a swap and was not fulfilling my obligation--or worse, did someone get me mixed up and think I was in a swap and I received someone else's package. Then it hit me--duh! Sue Green, http://greenfingers-sue.blogspot.com/ had a post a while back that said that the first three people who commented would receive a gift sometime in the next 365 days. Not averse to receiving some goodies free and from Australia, no less, a country I would give my eye teeth to visit, I signed up. Looky, looky, looky! A sunny dish towel, a beautiful fat quarter, a recipe, and a quilt template! What a great surprise. Thank you, Sue and I will pay it forward. So, the first three who comment here will receive from me (sometime in the near future) a gift under the condition they agree to also pay it forward.
This is my favorite coffee mug and quite befitting of my curmudgeonly personality at times. My favorite--and only--son, Ben, brought it back to me from Savannah, Georgia. He said he saw it and thought of me immediately--isn't that sweet???! I am also into miniatures and in my non-existent spare time (when I should be housecleaning) I dabble in mini's and have been dubbed The Wicked Witch of the South on the GSOLFOT (Green Sock on Left Foot Tuesday) Yahoo Group. So, this is also my official GSOLFOT mug.
Now this is my piece d' resistance of late, my attempt to emulate Annemeike Mein's moths. They are roughly 11" x 6" and have two floral wires sewn into a satin stitch around the edges for shaping. The base fabric is batik and there are two layers of sheer chiffon on top of that on both sides. There are also two layers of Dream batting and one layer of stiff stabilizer and lots of thread painting. I would be immensely ashamed for Annemeike to see my little efforts--I have decided that only God and she can make perfect moths and how I am going to do the body is yet to be determined although I have both mink and rabbit fur to decide between. Below are a closeup and the back. Feedback will be appreciated!

What are the Kids up to??Here is Maggie before a date recently. Her hair was so luscious and beautiful I had to take a pix or two. This girl leaves us for college this year and I'm trying to be brave about that.
Oh, this guy below is not a kid--he's a grown goat! Haha! I slay myself! This is Papa's newest acquisition, Babe.

And here's my good looking son, Ben with his golden doodle, Scout. Cute pair but they both need haircuts!

Thread Painting an Underwater SceneUsing the book, The Magic of Free-Machine Embroidery by Doreen Curran, I used two layers of sheers to create a small free motion coral scene. I tried another layer on top but it covered everything entirely too much. Then I was seized by one of my "hey, I can do this!" moments so I spent most of the afternoon at the shop searching for mermaid images to inspire a larger piece including a mermaid. So, we'll see if that seizure of creativity bears fruit.
Here is a closeup of the lower portion of thread work.
Here is the upper portion. Next time I work with sheers, I plan to use very dark colors on the underlay and less intense colors on the overlay. But for an experiment in sheers, I thought it wasn't half bad.
I have a thread painting program I'm doing in Columbia coming up in April and am working on some small projects to take to that and found this among my things. I'm going to ruminate about the mermaid over the weekend while I also think about this month's Take it Further Challenge that I have yet to do.