Design Wall & Thank You

This is on my design wall today.  It is step one of my Journal quilt for May.  I don’t know if you can see that it is woven with two different blue fabrics.

And this is step two.

This will be step three sometime this week, that is once I work on all these little pieces a bit.  I think I am getting into this art quilt thing.  Next week I will show the quilt and what I am using for inspiration.

Here is what I got from Australia last Friday.  It came from Peg Cohen, she is one of the OPAM administrators.  I have used OPAM to help me complete several UFOs and in February I won the drawing.  Here is a quilt pattern that I probably will use for a comfort quilt and four DMC embroidery flosses.  With all the hand embroidery I am doing on BOMs, I can really use these.  Thanks Peg.

This weekend was our great grandson’s 3rd birthday.

Here he is attempting to blow out the candles.  After three blows, his mother had to help him and then we could have cake.

 

Now, last but not least, here are my hydrangeas, just starting to bloom.  Soon this bush will be covered in blue: how wonderful.

Now, it is time to go to Judy’s blog to see what else is going on in quilting land.

It Is Summer in AL

Saturday night it was 82F at 10:30 pm and Sunday it got up to 97F. For this reason I have spent a lot of time in the studio.


This is my design wall, today. I have had stuff on and off of it for the last week. Currently there are 10 string blocks and 4 Snowbound blocks (Bunny Hill BOM). I am almost caught up with the snowman, am only one behind. I figure I will make block 5 after block 6 comes out, do the two of them together.

Along with the above blocks I finally got the binding made and put on Purple Rails. I am very pleased with how this quilt turned out.

My big accomplishment is getting the quilting done on Baskets & Lace. Not only that but I embroidered a label and made the binding for it. I have the binding all sewn on the front and pinned down so I can hand sew it to the back.

Did I mention that these blocks are also Bunny Hill designs?

One of the advantages of summer is the flowers. I am in no way a gardner but each year I have tried to add a little something/color to our yard. We live in the middle of the woods and have done little to civilize it but I do like to add a few cultivated plants, now and then. I am especially proud of my hydrangeas. Isn't that a beautiful blue?

My roses are Knock Out roses and once they start blooming, all one has to do is water them and dead head them when the blooms fade.

Be sure to stop by Judy's blog so see what other quilters are up to.

Some work - Some play

So far this has been a great week. Monday I spent almost all day in the studio.


I squared up the Fish charity quilt, pieced batting (a tedious job) and found a piece of heavier shirting that was just the right size for backing. So Fish is on the HQ ready to quilt. I am still mulling over quilting ideas so I moved on to other things.

I worked on getting caught up on my calendar challenge strips: I had only completed through the middle of June so I had some catching up to do. I got June done, fabric picked out for all of July and August is almost complete. I also have strips ready for most of September and some for November and December. My next job in this area will be to get caught up on the appliqués for these strips. And I had been doing so well, too.

Then I spent some time on organization. Not the kind that results in a cleaner studio, oh, no! I made lists: UFOs, tops that need quilting, monthly BOMs and such, gifts I might make (ha, ha), and ideas for new projects. I put these in my day planner so I could refer to them as I go along and hopefully cross some off now and then. lol

Tuesday is laundry day at our house. So I spent the first few hours on the computer watching the first of two disks of “Mrs. King’s Gallery Baskets.” This is a workshop video to make fabric baskets and I can tell you that the DVD is very well done. It made me want to run right over to the studio, cut 1 ½” strips and get going. However, it still was laundry day and so far neither of the machines were making any noise. So I sorted and loaded the washer, good girl that I am, loaded the dishwasher, and decided what to fix for dinner (my turn in the kitchen). Then I decided that while everything was doing it’s thing, I would go grocery shopping. Now, I don’t know about you but the fact that the LQS is clear across town doesn’t mean that I can’t stop there before the grocery store, does it? So a few (quite a few) minutes were spent visiting with friends and buying fabric.

The picture is a little washed out, the background is a very pale green. This will be used as a backing for a gift quilt I am working on. That is all I bought. I usually do not buy fabric for a project, I prefer to buy because I like the fabric and then let it tell me when it wants to be used. But nothing in my stash wanted to be the backing for this particular quilt so I had to go fabric shopping. That’s my story and I’m sticking to it.

The last pictures are of my hydrangeas. Look at how cute they are.

The three new buds are on the already blooming bush and the one bud is on the other bush. These bushes are only about 2’ high and the blooms are about 3-4” around but I am so excited.

And of course the roses just keep blooming and blooming.

Oh, and the laundry did get done. lol

Coming Up For Air

We got home from MD at 6am on Monday and the week has been filled with mundane things: laundry, napping, cleaning, napping, furniture moving, napping, company (DD & SIL) for dinner, more cleaning, napping, and finally a visit to the LQS for a BOM meeting today. I had done my block the day after last month’s meeting so I was ready.



It is a faux grandmother’s flower garden a’ la Eleanor Burns. We have now done 7 blocks and I am beginning to get an idea of how I want to set them. I think this may be a gift quilt as repro fabrics are not my cup of tea.







It has been raining every day for the last two weeks. I had ask my DD to water the hydrangeas while we were gone but she said that she never had to turn the water on. That has been the case this week, too. And today I was planning to dead head the rose bushes today but every time I started outside there was thunder, sometimes with rain. Anyway, look at my little hydrangea flower.

I am so excited although it is still the only one. And something is eating the leaves of the other plant so on Saturday I will be off to the nursery to see what can be done to protect my little plants. And look what else is growing in our yard.

Now, as much as I like eating mushrooms, I figure these humidity loving little stems would not be good for me. We only get them when there has been a combination of a lot of rain and humidity at the same time.

I did spend one morning this week in the studio and prepared two basket blocks for appliqué.

I am really enjoying doing these blocks but have no idea how I am going to set them or what fabric I will be using. I guess that’s what I like about how I do quilting, a never ending adventure.

A Little This, A Little That

The weather has been wonderful: low 90s, sunshine and a nice breeze. I have found myself balancing piecing with reading (and of course housework). And look at what a week of rain and then sunshine has done for my plants. My hydrangea flower is getting bigger and my roses are outdoing themselves.








I did get all my Dresden plates done and have started working on a layout.






I also have been working on the A Tisket A Tasket BOM at Bunny Hill. I got a late start with these but have now gotten them done through May.

And, I have made another Quilt in a Cup.

They have come out with a lidded cup so, of course, I had to have one. It arrived Wednesday and Thursday I was busy making a little quilt for it.

See, I even made a label for it.

DH and I will be leaving for Maryland on Monday so I am putting together some things to work on while we are traveling and visiting. Each of the above BOM blocks have a small amount of hand embroidery to complete so I am bringing them along. I did a lot of hand embroidery MANY years ago so figure I can do a little now. LOL I will also be sewing down the binding on Alabama Escargot. Any bets on how much I actually get done?

I am currently enjoying an evening “home alone.” DH has been assisting with a college musical, Footloose, and the first performance is tonight. I went to the dress rehearsal last night and it was terrific. Tonight I am finishing the laundry, reading blogs, and beginning the planning for packing. And I guess that sitting here writing/reading on the computer isn’t getting any of that done so I better get off and get busy.

I love my husband.

I really do. However yesterday, while working on these, he came home from work toting a bright red jacket and a red baseball cap.

Would/Could I embroider a “B” on the cap, the jacket front (to cover something else) and on the back? Seems it is needed for the play he is helping with which, by the way, is going on this weekend.

So I spent some time on the computer finding a good font and then setting up three designs, the letter “B” at 1.5”









4.5”





and 6”. I got the cap done and the front of the jacket but then had to leave for my Weight Watcher’s meeting: I left the machine stitching away so the letter was done when I got home. The jacket, however, went to rehearsal and didn’t make it back so I guess I will be appliquéing it on tomorrow.

Today was laundry day (no pictures of that. LOL) so when I was done I spent some quality time in the pool. No shots of me in there but the thermometer ducky also had a good time.

Then I decided that the best dinner we could have was pizza so we jumped in my car and enjoyed the wind in our hair on our way.

Then when I got home I noticed that one of my hydrangea bushes seems to have a flower coming. I searched both plants but didn’t see another potential flower.

Quilting Rebellion

My design wall still has the Christmas swap blocks on it and then over them I have put some ideas for a gift quilt. I, however, have decided that at this time I don’t want to work on either. I will leave them up until I need the space and if I am not ready to work on them by then, back to the UFO shelf they go.

On Friday I took a stroll through a local nursery and these hydrangea bushes “jumped” into my car.

I had them sitting in the shade of an oak tree and started digging a hole. This was not a successful venture as we live on clay which is HARD. I dug a little and then filled it with water with the idea of the clay getting softer. When I went out later there was a really big hole. Seems that DH had seen my puny effort and took that as an excuse to go to Walmart where he bought a post hole digger. So we got the first one planted in. Then we started the little bit of digging and water soaking routine for the second. Last night we had a storm and are having off and on storms all day today so the ground should be receptive by tomorrow and the second one can go in.


I have started a new project. I have decided to do a Snail’s Trail quilt, similar to one I saw in the latest issue of Fabric Trends. I am going to do this one in batiks and these are the ones I have chosen.

And this is all I have gotten cut. The pattern calls for 14 fabrics so there is still a lot of cutting to do: did I ever say I HATE cutting?

My other sewing accomplishment was to get my Eleanor BOM block done for July. This is the second Dresden plate block I have done: this one I machine appliquéd which was much easier on my hands. But this block is so easy that I may think up a Dresden quilt to do.

And now, before I get to the dishes and then the studio, I think I will accept DH's invitation to lunch.