Spring Break flight

Last week was Spring Break for my daughter, so we flew to Indiana to visit my brother, his wife and THE CUTEST BABY IN THE WORLD!  It was fun to play with my nephew and do my best to spoil him rotten.

The flight itself was a nice milestone. This is the first time I flew a long cross-country flight without another pilot next to me. The air was a bit bumpy but I managed it and arranged "VFR flight following" (voice contact with air traffic controllers who watch out for me) nearly the entire 5 hour journey coming and going. Wow, I flew 10.5 hours this week!

Tip to other pilots:  Do NOT fly with a hungry teenager. He/she will hound you to land at the closest airport with a restaurant or fill your cockpit with snack wrappers from the last airport's vending machines.

 Views from the air:

We actually had to delay our return flight one day after waking up to a freak snow shower when a cool front went through.

As for sewing, I returned to working on Celtic Solstice King and found myself needing to take a quick break to finish something---anything!  So I put together a Connecting Threads tote bag kit. I substituted the orangey floral middle section with a soft blue which is my favorite color. The bag is bigger than it looks and has pockets sewn to the lining. See the 2014 Quilts tab for that view.

Slow and Steady Wins the Race

"Slow and steady wins the race".  It's like a mantra I have to keep repeating, reminding me that a quilt is a collection of blocks of time, not just a collection of fabric blocks.  In the past two weeks I have added to the Blueberry Hill / Jamestown Landing quilt and around 14 blocks for king-size Celtic Solstice.  I have also made four blocks for Block Lotto's March drawing. My fingers are crossed in hopes that I win some blocks this month.

Next I will be making a lunch bag as a gift for my sister-in-law, tweaking the design to make it a bit bigger and improve on the version I made for myself.  I also bought a tote bag kit from Connecting Threads to make another gift which I will not describe yet because the intended recipient follows this blog. 

I highly recommend Soft-and-Stable to give structure to bags. My first package of S-S (18 x 58 inches) went fast; I was able to line two lunch bags and one side of a larger tote bag and have just a 3 x 20 piece left over.  It is a thin foam with just the right blend of flexibility and stiffness.