Finally...Another Project Completed!

With the weather so hot last week...at least three days in the 90's....the gardens were left to the weeds while I stayed inside in the air conditioning and used the opportunity to finished my version of our quilt guild project: The Underground Railroad Quilt. We received instructions for the blocks one at a time. It took so long to complete that frankly I got really tired of the fabric I chose to use in this quilt. But, now that it's finished, I've decided that I like it after all but I'm glad most of the fabric has been used up. What is left will go into a scrappy quilt in the future.

Quilt top

Unbleached muslin was used for the sashing and on the backing. I used twelve of the sixteen blocks on the top and the remaining four blocks on the backing. Leftover fabric from the blocks was used to make binding for the quilt.

Quilt backing

I'll let you in on a little secret though. I didn't assemble these blocks in the recommended order. I guess you could chalk it up to artistic license .

Wow! It's Been A While

I can't believe it's been so long since I last posted on my blog..26 days. Where does the time go? Yes , I have been busy. I spent time in the gardens when it wasn't raining. We've had so much rain I haven't been able to work in the veggie garden...too much mud. So I shifted to cleaning the front perennial bed. Some plants were hiding in the weeds I'm ashamed to say. I still have one more hosta to free from captivity. Last week the temperatures were in the 90's. I stayed in the air conditioning. I'm such a wuss! Today it was nice and cool so I worked on the herb and fruit bush garden. It's almost done and I'll finish up tomorrow.

On Monday my daughter Dianne and I went strawberry picking. I picked 11 quarters in an hour. I cleaned them the same day, sugared one quart for strawberry shortcake, and froze the other ten. We'll enjoy strawberry goodness this winter if we can leave them alone that long. LOL!

Members of our quilt guild have each been working on the Underground Railroad Quilt. I haven't quilted mine yet but I did finish the top.

 

Have a good week everyone. I'll be back blogging and quilting as soon as I can.

Just Playing Around With My Blog

You may notice that I've changed my blog banner. It may not be permanent but that's one of the fun things of having a blog. You can change it as often as you like. It may make you dizzy to see how often I change things until I am satisfied so bear with me.

Before Mother's Day I was shopping at a local dollar store. I found this stuffed flamingo at the checkout counter and it reminded me of my mom who had passed away ten years ago yesterday. She had this thing for pink flamingos and I couldn't resist purchasing this little guy.

As you can see, he's my new painting buddy. You'll be seeing him a lot more on my blog. And I've named him 'Pink Floyd'. No, he isn't named after the 70's band. It's just that the name Floyd fits him and hey, he is pink so why not? You just have to be a little silly once in a while. See what happens when you delete your facebook account?

Floyd and I will be posting again soon. Watch for us.

PS Be sure to check out my art page. I've posted work from the last class I took.

Happy Mother's Day

I had a great Mother's Day. Both of my daughters came to visit me this morning. My youngest one brought me a lovely plant and the older one brought me earrings she had made. Hubby put them to work helping us set a new fence around the vegetable garden. the extra two pairs of hands made the work easy. Thanks girls! Afterwards a trip to the garden store to get peat moss, top soil and fertilizer. Then back to the garden where I finished wiring the trellis for the tomatoes, amending the soil and finally got those tomatoes in. I'm exhausted and I won't have trouble getting to sleep tonight.

This was part of our veggie garden last year. The tomato plants became so heavy that they pulled the wooden stakes almost to the ground. This year we sunk fence posts across the row and I wired them with chicken wire to tie the plants to.  We'll keep trying until we find what works for us. Tomorrow I'll be back out dodging raindrops to get my peppers, onions and broccoli in the ground. Then there's the raspberry bushes to plant and the list goes on.

The online art class I was taking has finished just in the nick of time. The only time I won't be in the garden is when it rains. So not much time for quilting or art for a while.

Oh, and one little last treat for Mother's Day was given to me by the way of the sweet melody of an oriole in the tree in our back yard. I am blessed.

It's Raining Shoes!

Remember the saying 'waiting for the other shoe to drop'? Without going into great detail, I've had a lot of shoes dropping on me during the past three weeks.  It started when I backed into a car. No worry. I'm fine and so is my car. Then a series of other happenings: appointment canceled without notification (gas and time wasted), health crises of two family members, husband's work slowdown (picked up now), propane leak in the furnace (repairs the cost of a week's pay-ouch!), and finally ANTS in the kitchen. Whew! I think it's finally over. So now when I here the phrase 'it's raining cats and dogs' I will always think of 'raining shoes'!

Now for a 'walk in the park'. The following shots were taken a few years ago of a local 4H center park, my favorite place to take a walk. I haven't been able to visit there in about 4 years and I really miss it. And no, I didn't doctor these pictures...it really is very 'green' under the tree canopy there. I have many more pictures of this wonderful woodland that I'll share in the future.

Eye Candy Part 3 of 3

With this post is the last of my collection of pictures from the quilt show last weekend. So many beautiful quilts.  I hope you enjoyed the show.

I love this one. Makes me wish I was at the beach.

Same as above., different color.

This is about 16 inches square. It doesn't show up but this was made with teeny tiny pieces.

I saved the best for last.

Eye Candy Part 2 of 3

As promised here is the second installment of the three posts from the quilt show my oldest daughter and I attended last weekend. Enjoy.