Five Ugliest Vehicles in USA

Way back when...about 2000 or 2001 or so, I had a list of what I thought were the Five Ugliest Vehicles on the Road. I thought about it Thursday on my way back from the car rental business the other day. And I had to laugh out loud.
1. Pontiac Aztec - I thought this was butt ugly. Then I saw the front and my suspicion was confirmed. This was one uuugleee (pronounced you-glee) car!

2. GM Avalanche - This made my list because it was and still is just one stupid idea.

3. Ford Focus - Just not a pretty car

4. Brown Ford Focus - If I thought any other color was bad, the brown Ford Focus looked like a dog turd on wheels. (So sorry, kinda, if I hurt anyone's sensibilities. Nor do I want to slander any dog's doo by comparing it with a Ford Focus.)

5. I can't believe I forgot car #5. I also can't believe that I remember numbers 1 - 4.

By the time you've read this far, I'm sure you've got it figured out. I am just sooooo glad that #1 There's been a body change and #2 It's not brown!
I would make a new list of 2010 ugly vehicles, but I'm afraid that there's a relative or two that I might offend. ;o)

Further Escapades

From the quilt retreat...
Jean/Jayardi's Show 'n' Tell Jayardi put made this top pretty much from beginning to end.

Jayardi also tats! I thought this was needle tatting, but she corrected me. She shuttle tats like first hubby's grandmother did. This is one needlework art I have not tackled...yet.

LisaTX made a dress for one of her daughters, a matching dress for a doll, and a fairy skirt. ;o) She hung this yo-yo quilt for Show 'n' Tell.

I machine quilted a table runner.

Got the binding on it at home.

Kathy/Shawkl taught a lace dying class...furnishing the dyes and the laces! I've got to find my MIA CQ blocks...they are in a really, REALLY safe place. eyeroll

Visit http://www.shawkldesigns.com/.

I also assembled 2 1/2 Grandmother Flower Garden blocks...completing the third block yesterday.

I am doing the English Paper Piecing method. Long story short...here's how I do it.

I cut butcher paper (the paper with one coated side) to fit my printer. Then I put it under my cutting mat to flatter and take the roll out. After a while, I print off pages of hexagons. The most tedious part is cutting the hexes apart. Using a paper punch, I punch a hole for easier removal after the stitching.

Press a piece of fabric. Arrange the individual hexagons on the wrong side of the fabric, coated side down. You want the paper to stick to the fabric...not your iron! ;o( Make sure to leave enough room around the hexes for the seam allowance. Cut about 1/4" from the hexagon. This does not have to be precise.
Take some waste thread...thread from old projects. I'm probably doing a no-no because I'm using poly/cotton blends from my garment making days. Getting rid of that stuff. This stitching is not structural...so no biggie. Finger press the fabric over the edge of the paper on two sides making a tuck. Tack the tuck with a couple of stitches. Don't tie off, knot, or break the thread, just fold the fabric and move along to the next 'corner.' At the final tuck, take an extra stitch. Clip thread.

Start with the center...add a second patch face to face. Whipstitch the edges. Build around, then add the next row. Once a hex patch is completely surrounded, you can remove those paper templates and reuse them.

I added my three new blocks to my GFG stack. I think I counted 22.

The 4-Runner is at a body shop in Sherman. I pretty much stripped the inside of all personal stuff. Except this morning I realized that I'd left my spare office key and another incidental set in a small cubby hole. Sigh.

We should hear the verdict in a day or two.

Couldn't get a rental car yesterday, so hope to get one today. I'm in Sam's pickup. As long as it doesn't rain, he'll be okay on his Harley. My insurance will not fully cover the cost of the rental. I'm hoping the property owner's insurance will pick up the balance.

EventFUL Weekend

Had a great time at a quilt retreat in Tomball Texas. We ate really, really good food! We furnished our own food and drinks. Don't you think THAT was a GREAT idea?!We furnished our own projects. Shared tips, hints, and how-tos.

I think this is Susan's/~~TX~~Wildflower...Got to bed at horribly late times...or early depending on whether you consider it "last night" or "this morning." ;o) This is Carol/Needlecrazy's...Worked up a tutorial on a sewing implement caddy (the red/white caddy was given to me last year by Wenonah/Jackie). The base is a photo frame. Mine is one of those acrylic frames. The Friday shoppers found five similar frames but they were metal. A tutorial has been worked up. Once it has been edited and perfected, it will be shared (with Wenonah's blessings). WillQuiltForChocolate/Jill made the Jack-O-Lantern caddy. We took loads of photos for the tutorial.Then...the tree limb broke Saturday evening. And fell...30-40 feet...see that naked limb sticking almost straight up on the left side near the top center of the photo? The limb was just below that. The leaves are green...not dead! Quite a bit of damage. To MY 4-Runner!! I'm insured...the tree owner is insured. No traffic accident. No one injured. No livestock killed. (I hit a bull in the middle of the highway one dark night in 1995 so had to put in that disclaimer.)Margarita time! Quilters autographing my car. "What happens at the cabin, stays at the cabin." "Quilter aboard." "Quilters use duct tape too." "P.S. The light does not work." LOLHere we are. From Wisconsin, Alabama, and Texas. (The lone man is Tom Russell. A quilt artist who shared his newest projects with us Saturday evening.)

The trip home was almost uneventful. The car handled just fine. I was on interstate only 10 or so miles. State highways the rest of the time. With no left brake/signal light (BUT the brake light bar on the 'spoiler' over the rear window...what was once the rear window...did work), I was very careful about lane changes and left hand turns...remembering the old-timey hand signals that I learned when I started driving a 1951 Chevy 2-door coupe when I was 16 years old. I'd roll the window down and stick my arm out to signal left hand turns and lane changes. Of course, the younger drivers had no idea what I was doing!!

Coming into Henderson from the south, a little black car with a light bar on top pulled right up to my bumper. I had my fingertips on the turn signal lever to start the right hand pullover. As 259 merged with the Jacksonville highway, I made my turn and stayed in the right-hand lane. A car coming from Jacksonville whipped right behind me...and in front of the trooper. He/she crossed a thick solid white line...which is illegal in Texas. (Well, sorta illegal: http://www.texashighwayman.com/laws.shtml )

I saw the bubble gum lights come on and watched as the little white car pulled off the road. With the trooper right behind it! YES!!!

I think that the trooper probably pulled so close to my bumper so that he could read the inscriptions written on the plastic!