Feline Friday - 5/27/16

Hey Momma...

...you keep weeding, I'll snoopervise!!!

You better move faster Momma - I think those are turkey vultures circling overhead!

OK - wait - I know it's dinner time but I just gotta finishing getting all these fresh cut weeds rolled in to my furs. I just love the smell of a fresh cut lawn. Just don't get near my divine, fluffy, white belly. I've got my eye on you, Momma!

All done! TGIF Momma!!

An InLinkz Link-up

Workin' Wednesday

Yesterday I got the tire tube replaced on my poor little wheelbarrow so I could start the dreaded weeding process here at Casa Grande.

This garden is directly behind my driveway...
If the taillights light up the reflector I know I'm backing in straight :)

I started with my favorite flowerbed - the peony garden. It's my fav not just because it has peonies (duh!) but it always has the least number of weeds of all the flower beds even tho they all get equal attention. Apparently the Bessy's Best I put in this bed only targets plants and not weeds. Yeah right!

Looks like 9 buds, which is 5 more than last year!

There are 4 peony plants in this garden - one of which is very new and hasn't popped up yet so I'm not sure if it made it through the (mild!) winter. There are several shades of pink and a very pretty double white.

Can't remember what this is called but it's a pretty purple.
It spreads pretty easy so I am always pulling up sprouts in other parts of the garden or lawn.

There are also 2 clematis plants and it looks like the white one already has several buds which is several more than last year :) The yellow clematis in the back sprouts new growth on the old growth so it always looks a little ratty but the yellow bell-shaped flowers are pretty so I'll take what I can while I work towards my purple/yellow/white color scheme for all the flowerbeds. 

Once the weeding is done in this bed I can add another dark pink peony and lemon drops - both were purchased from the local garden club sale.

After the sun sets, I've been working on The Bathroom Quilt. Just 2 more rows on the right to have it match the left, then the bottom diamond and eventually I'll fill in the corners to square this off. The pieced border will emulate the original tile border in my office bathroom using seminole piecing and that can take a lot of fabric. I might have to adjust the fabrics/colors...

Design Wall Monday - 5/23/16

Instead of moping 100% this weekend I just dug right into my hexies Thursday/Friday evenings and half of Saturday.

My fav fabric of the 5 is bottom left.
The 2 bottom fabrics I just got in Cobleskill.

And what better project to work on while moping? Why Salt & Pepper, of course!! Read about how the project started here.

Eventually I got tired of working on the stars and moved my sorry butt to the Quilt Lab, looking for something "different" to work on. I quickly remembered from my recent trunk show that I told everyone of my Rose Star project. It's become my camping only project. I had no actual finished project in mind when I started it - I just had 12 or so coordinated FQs and I wanted to make as many blocks as I could. I decided that I would finish fussy cutting the parts so I would be prepared for the 3 camping trips I am planning on this summer. This will give me 23 blocks - a weird number but it will work out perfectly for a layout that I found.

I had meant to bring the neutral bits to work to stitch during lunches this week but managed to leave it at home. Boo! Hiss!

For the rest of Saturday I worked on The Bathroom Floor but didn't take any pictures.

You'll be glad I didn't take pictures of what I did on Sunday - spending an hour or so in each room of the house; cleaning, putting away and purging. We won't get into the psychology of that project but the mutlitple bags in the garbage can and windows open to let in the sunshine and fresh air helped lift my mood in this big, old, "empty" house where the  remaining feline wants to spend his time outside...

Feline Friday - 5/20/16

RIP Squeaky

11/23/10 - 5/19/16

I will forever miss my:
"Dolly,"
"Pretty Girl,"
"Honey Bear,"
lap warmer and
quilting assistant.

Squeaky was at least 2 or 3 years old on her Gotcha Day - shown far left center.

Read Squeaky's gotcha story here!

An InLinkz Link-up

HeLP for Hexie-aholics - 5/17/16

This was not the HeLP post I had planned on since I've been worrying over a sick kitty today, (including running home at lunch for a quick check in) and not taking pictures.

These were my pieced hexies after a Sunday of "doing nothing" while planted on the couch with a (seemingly well) kitty. Since then I've added almost all the grey hexies around the blue echo rosette on the right and I've finished the blue buzzsaw block on the left, added the green "leaves" and started on the gray.

Please feel free to link up any English Paper Piecing project of any shape or vintage and let me know if you need help linking.

An InLinkz Link-up

Design Wall Monday - 5/16/16

Sew....I got to go on a little adventure this weekend and I got to meet a blog friend as well!!

Sit tight - there are lotsa pictures!

Last spring Sharon Vrooman of Vrooman's Quilts asked me to come to her guild, the Schoharie Valley Piecemakers, to teach a class on English Paper Piecing and give a trunk show! My first travel teaching experience and I had a grand time!

Sharon and I were so excited to meet up at her house on Friday that we both forgot to take pictures. Oopsies! When I first got to Sharon's house, her black cat Moe was outside. I called him and he immediately came running for some scritches. He probably wondered how this complete stranger knew his name but he and his sister Bella were later rewarded with catnip toys sent by Zorro and Squeaky so all was well. Sharon gave me the full tour of her quilting space, stash and their quilt store and class area. I kept thinking I've seen that in pictures and that and that and that.

Sharon gifted me this clothesline and thread caddy, both made by her dad. She also gifted me the darling basket quilt with the flower buttons. I think this might be the time to finally make something with 1/4" hexies so I won't have to worry about taking out the papers and just hang it "on the line."

Our class and trunk show were held in this lovely church on Main Street in Middleburgh. You can see one of the town's murals on the building to the right. You can also get an idea of the overcast skies... I drove east to Schoharie in the rain and I drove back west in the rain.

Across the street was the library where Sharon has done several programs and then blogged about them. The Library boasted just one of the many barn quilt squares from the area.

Sharon introduced me to the group - you can see their guild banners in the background - we had a good laugh about pronouncing last names. It's hard to see but I mended my poor blue jeans with a chrysanthemum rosette. It was fun to wait and see if anyone spotted the rosette - which they did!

Our class had 13 students (including one guy!!) where only 3 students had done hexies before. One student said she struggled just a bit at the beginning but once she got the technique down, she really enjoyed it.

Some of the ladies had their rosettes done before the trunk show started!!

I think everyone was pleased with the class and there just might be some new converts!

Does this look familiar to anyone? Look at my "giraffe" project, which was based on an antique quilt.
Everything old is new again!
This quilt was made by basting each hexie through the papers.
She said she was glad to learn the "right" way to make hexies - no more removing basting stitches

These hexies were all stitched with a sewing machine. Y seams!!
Next decision? Sashing between the rosettes or not?

We even had a quick show-n-tell for the students that had made hexies before.

Mom let me borrow several of her smaller trunks and,
of course, the doll cat bed came along as well

Some of the ladies were not familiar with a trunk show nor a bed turning.

I think they really enjoyed looking at my quilts and UFOs - seeing how different shapes and sizes play together, and then adding in fussy cutting or pieced hexies. I've encouraged them to send me pictures of their projects - maybe they will join in for HeLP tomorrow. Hint! Hint!

Before I hit the road again we finally posed for a selfie. Yes, the 2 gals who don't like to be in front of the camera...

The farm tracts run from the side of one mountain across the valley to the side of the next
mountain with the main road running through the middle of the valley.
The valley that had something like 6 FEET of water during a recent hurricane!

My trip home ended up being just a bit different than planned. I crossed the creek to catch a glimpse of Vrooman's Nose Mountain and then the GPS was going to send me the long way to the thruway.

If I zoom in, Martha's house is on the left.

At some point I realized I was up over the Schoharie Valley and could see Martha's farm house were I spent Friday night. We won't discuss the middle of the night footsteps on the stairs in an otherwise empty house!

B&W fabrics for my Salt & Pepper project
Blue and yellow fabrics for my pieced hexie projects

As I continued towards the expressway, I realized that I was near Cobleskill, home of The Yardstick. Hmm...might better stop in while I can...

Then the GPS took me on a lot of fun, twisting back roads until I eventually got to the thruway. It was nice to see more of the valley and mountains, the Victorian houses in the small towns. I will not tell you how much I laughed at the set up for "runaway trucks" on a 2 mile downgrade near Cherry Valley.

The color was much more vibrant in person

I was eventually rewarded with a fantastic sunset as I reached home.

Yesterday was a do nothing day while it snowed.
YES #1 - it was snowing on May 15th
YES #2 -  I spent the day on the couch doing HEXIES and I'll share those for Hexie Linky Party tomorrow...

I best get this posted as I know that Sharon is chomping at the bit to publish her post.
Hugs and Kisses Sharon - I had a fantastic time and maybe we can get together again some time!!!

Feline Friday - 5/13/16

Momma!! 

No girls are allowed in my fort!!

Well, just Sissy ... cuz she's my fav sister!
Promise not to tell her I said so...

An InLinkz Link-up

Design Wall Monday - 5/9/16

One extra...how did that happen?

blue "scissors" pieced hexies were constructed as leader-enders

I made (16) 1" too short...

yellow "cogs" pieced hexies were constructed as leader-enders

Then I made (16) 1/2" too long...

Finally!!! Just right!!!!

I love how the striped batik "surrounds" each wonky 4-patch

This i-spy quilt has 100 different hexie fabrics!!!
I'm thinking the name should be something along the ideas of "99 bottles of beer on the wall"...

Funny how the final quilt is really different from my initial idea.

Feline Friday - 5/6/16

I can think of only one thing better than sleeping in on a Sunday...

...and that would be sleeping **IN** Momma's bed!!!

Happy Mother's Day to all!

An InLinkz Link-up

The Bibliophile Files - 5/2/16

Hello and welcome to The Bibliophile Files!!

You will probably recall that I didn't get to post TBF last month so these 15 books represent a two month haul. Not too bad but not great either. Goodreads says I'm 4 books behind schedule to hit my annual goal but with several driving vacations scheduled in the next 4 months that should be easy to catch up on.

I'm also hoping that as the weather continues to improve (How can I joyously walk in a blizzard but not a measly rainstorm? I could see my breath this morning!) I will get in more steps and more books.

FINISHED
     Language of Bees
     Spare Change
     Black River 
     Weeping - This was touted as book #1 in a series but 12 years later there is still no #2. Too bad because this was a good premise for a series.
     Orphan Train - such a sad tale based on the real orphan trains which I had known nothing about.
     Angela's Ashes - I didn't know until the audiobook finished that this was an abridged version. I always wonder what was left out - and in this case - how the book got it's name. No mention of ashes in the entire audiobook.
     Shadow Play
     Little Giant of Aberdeen County - horribly slow start but I'm glad I stuck it out as the end was quite interesting.
     Dance of the Bones
     Lost Empire
     Burial Rites - based on the true story of a woman forced to work on a family farm waiting to have her head chopped off as punishment for murder.
     Blood Lure - I love this series - each book takes place in a different national park.
     The Scarpetta Factor - when did Kay Scarpetta get so jaded? I love this series but she just seemed mean and nasty in this book.
     Garment of Shadows
     Outlaw Mountain

IN PROGRESS
     on my iPhone - Book of the Dead
     on my stereo - Day of the Dead
Funny they both have similar titles...

And now it's your turn...what have you read in the last 2 months?
Anything is fair game: novels, magazines, new quilt books or even cereal boxes.

Design Wall Monday - 5/2/16

I was able to go on my F.A.R.T.** this weekend and it was partially successful.

I went to the not-so-LQS in search of new hexie fabrics. I needed 5 but found nearly a dozen so I had to make tough choices. And yeah, I chose the pink over a brown. Highly unlike me but I wanted bright colors, even if it is pink.

I did get a half yard of another hexie fabric (matches the one in the middle below) that would make a cute backing for a small quilt.

I'm pretty sure this will be the only tractor in my iSpy quilt :) The big question will be red or green. The answer will be which can I fussy cut the easiest or cleanest.

It's kinda hard to tell but the daisy's have white hexies in the background.

Full Disclosure - other fabrics were purchased but were too shy to be photographed.
In other words, I forgot...

I had also been looking for the stick-on thimble pads which they didn't have at the time. Maybe I can try superglue for the next week or so until I'll be near another store...

The rest of the weekend, (other than a fire, a rescue call and cleaning & cooking for Mom's Birthday dinner) was spent working on various hexie projects. OK, fine, I guess I didn't need to explain that. I'm *always* working on hexies!

I'm working on putting together a pieced hexie project of my own design and it's almost finished!! This project was stalled for a long time since it had no purpose or direction. As soon as I found a purpose it's just flying together as fast as my punctured little fingers can stitch. LOL.

I'm currently working on these modified "rototiller" blocks, making four strips of four. I've got 5 more to baste and then I'll be able to design the corner bits. I would love to share a full picture with you - and I promise I will in a few weeks - but I need to keep some surprises for my upcoming trunk show!

That's it for today. Anyone else working on a pieced hexie design of their own?


** Fabric Acquisition Road Trip