Finished and Started

This is finished.

It was made by a friend from a 5 yard bundle from  

Boline's Quilt Warehouse in Bloomington, Illinois.

They have great fabrics and prices. They do a great job of putting together 5 yard bundles of coordinating  fabrics and give you free patterns that the owner has designed that work well for the bundles. Backing and binding is separate.
They are friendly and helpful. Go visit it you get a chance.

This is started.

Made by another of my quilt friends. It is lap size and in batiks - my favorite!

The colors are beautiful.

I also finished this 12 inch block that will be a fair entry.

It is hard to see the colors, but the print is a lovely dusty purple color with just a hint of 

silver sparkle outlining the feathery plumes.

I have also been working on reorganizing my stuff, as I mentioned in my last post. 

I decided I needed to make a list of where I put everything since every time I do this 

I forget or cannot find where I put things. Ha!

Before - messy!

After - much better!

It is a beautiful day here, not to hot, a little breezy and the sun is shining.

I hope to get outside to work in my flower beds, but right now I need to quilt.

Monday

 More 365 Challenge blocks.

Two 3 inch blocks. 

And, I have the next 10 cut.

Now, I am only 1 YEAR and 3 weeks behind. 

(The cut pieces are in backwards order in the bag.)

I seem to like working in miniature. Must be the challenge of it that I enjoy.

This is a tiny sweater Christmas tree ornament. I plan to enter it in the fair. 

On my quilting frame is a quilt for a friend. I am almost finished with the quilting of it. And, since it has taken me so long to finish I am going to go ahead and do the binding for her. I have quilted several other quilts for her and she always asks me if I did the binding, although she never wants me to when I ask at the time she gives me the quilt for quilting.

I used Bauhaus Petite from R & S Designs.

We have gotten too much rain over the last few days.

 While this may cause some replanting to be done and slow down the mowing and baling of hay I am thankful that we did not get the damaging winds and hail that some areas around us did.

All the fields in our area look like this, or worse.

My sister-in-law sent me home with some big plants and I found out quickly that 

they needed to be put into larger pots.

Peace Lily before ... see how droopy it was. This happened every day.

After ... much better!

I also got my railing planter planted.

Before ...

 

 After ...

 That one petunia looks pretty sad. It will get replaced with a better looking one.

While I was working outside that day this beautiful butterfly hung around the whole time.

Monday

Go to Small Quilts and Doll Quilts to see what others are up to.

On my wall...

The 365 Challenge.

Over the past few days I have been working on the center Medallion borders and corners.

This is Border 2.

I did not care for the way Border 2 looked so I redid it with different fabrics. 

Here is the center Medallion with all 4 Borders and Corners.

I am going to replace the lower right corner with another 6 inch block. This one doesn't seem to fit well since it is blue and cream only and the other 3 corners have brown and/or red in them. I will be mindful of fabric selection when making 6 inch blocks so that one will fit in this spot better.

I have also been re-organizing my 'stuff'. 

So many projects!

 

Everything on the quilt frame went back into the pie safe, plus a few more projects.

Starting at the top left - tub of fabrics and batting for Bowl Buddies, fuzzy backing piece, stacks of black, gray, practice sheets, and white.

2nd shelf - 6 projects, including the Quilter's Exchange from this year and last year.

3rd shelf - stacks of white and off-white background fabrics, fabrics for 3 baby quilts.

4th shelf - binder totes with filed papers, big boy (man) quilt FQs, flannel exchange FQs and binders with knitting and quilting patterns/ideas.

The binders are getting overfilled so I bought another binder today to help with that.

More projects in this cube. The bottom box on the left holds Civil War Repro fabrics. The box on top of it holds fabrics and towels to make some kitchen/tea towels. On top of that is a photo album I plan to cover as a fair project. I will use it to store photos of the quilts I make. And, on top of that are pages and cut fabrics for the 365 Challenge.

So many projects, so little time.

Since my brother's passing I have been more mindful of taking walks around my yard to enjoy the flowers and critters. He was interested in conservation and protecting the bee population. He and his wife had moved to a 22 acre spot in the country. He had planted 2 areas with wildflowers native to his area. He had bee hives, chickens, ducks and turkeys. He was planning on getting some goats and possibly a cow. 

So everyday I take a walk around my yard, fill the butterfly and hummingbird feeders 

and just look at nature.

Here are some of the things I have seen lately.

Lilies - they grow wild in the ditches up around here, but I have some in my yard.

Yellow Lily

Clustered Bellflower

Yellow Siberian Lily

Butterfly Feeder surrounded by Milkweed

Rose and Clustered Bellflower. Look closely at the dead rose stem on the left.

Butterfly just emerging from cocoon.

Clematis

Columbine and Hostas

My Heart is Broken...

On Friday, May 26 my youngest brother was killed in traffic accident. He was on his way home from work, riding his motorcycle, when a young woman driving a van pulled into his lane to pass a semi truck and hit him head-on. It is thought that he died instantly. He was a wonderful man, husband, father. He was my son's hunting buddy, more like a brother than an uncle. He was active in his community - retired after 25 years as a security officer at the university in the town his family currently lives in, 17 years as a part-time police officer in the town they lived in before moving, active in other police work and training, Habitat for Humanity volunteer, Stride coach (mentoring youth), Conservationist of the Year last year in his county, active in Pheasants Forever and National Wild Turkey Federation, among other things.

He has given so much of himself to others. He loved life, had a great positive attitude, and treated every one with respect, even in difficult situations. At his visitation there were several young people there who he had had contact with when they were in college. They said he changed their lives for the better. I always knew he was a wonderful guy, but I did not realize how many people he had touched with his good deeds and positive attitude until I began hearing their stories.

My niece posted this on her Facebook page. Please read it and do any of these things you are able.

Everyone keeps asking my mom and I if there's anything they can do for us. Neither of us can ever think of anything. Lying here trying to sleep I finally thought of a few requests:
1) Be patient and attentive while driving
2) Do not pass unless you're 100% sure
3) Teach your children to count motorcycles
4) Go find your dad and give him a hug
5) Never leave your loved ones without a hug
6) If you love someone, tell them often
7) Do not litter, recycle if you can
8) Plant a tree if you can
9) Be kind, always
10) Find humor wherever you can
11) Tell people about Pappy (the nickname given to him by his co-workers when he attended a meeting in his overalls)

He will be greatly missed.

Levi and Mike hunting

 My son Levi, on the left, with his Uncle Mike.

He was a safe rider and was wearing his helmet and safety gear. He taught motorcycle safety courses.

I am concerned for the young woman who hit him. This is a memory she will have for the rest of her life.