Sunset

What a beautiful sunset last evening!

 Of course, these pictures to not do it justice. I took these through the kitchen window and, the camera decided to 

focus on the screen instead of the wonderful sunset.

I did spend some time sewing. 

What I expected to take a short amount of 

time ended up taking ALL morning.

 Because I just could not get good points on these seams.

I usually have what I call a 'rule of three' meaning that I will redo a seam three times and  if it still isn't perfect, I leave it.

I am planning on this block being a fair entry so I worked with it until I got it right.

I thought this would be a good block to eventually make into a quilt to highlight the paper pieced blocks I have been making for at least a year, but had no real plan for. There are ornaments, stockings, bells, and Santas. I will need to make several more 4 inch blocks to have enough for a quilt.

The red and green fabric came from my recent 

shopping trip to the store that is closing. 

Thankfully I decided to get several yards of each.

The gold was left over from another project and the 

white is W on W scraps which is what I am using 

for all the 4 inch blocks.

The block is Morning Star 2 from The Quilter's Cache

The 4 inch paper pieced blocks are from Quilt-Pro Systems Block of the Day. They post a new block Monday - Thursday, some paper pieced, some applique, some quilting designs. You have to subscribe, but it's free and the block is only available during the month it is posted.

Small Quilt and Doll Quilts is 

hosting Design Wall Mondays and  

What a Hoot Quilts is challenging quilters to 

finish '18 in 2018'.

Check them out.

So, I Just Did This...

... all by myself.

My son will be coming home in a few weeks for fair week. 

He informed me last time he was home that he is tired of the air mattress. So I went upstairs and cleared what I hoped would be enough space to at least get the mattress out.

It was waaayyy back there in the corner, between the cedar chest and office divider on one side and the wall on the other. Behind the box springs. I pulled and tugged to get it out.

Then I had to get it down this hallway and

around this corner and

down these stairs. This is the view looking down.

Looking up.

Then around this corner

to the left and down that hallway to the left

and into that room.

The door on the left opens to the stairs.

Finally, to lean up against some boxes still in his room.

But, there is enough room to lay it down and still have room for the dog crate.Hope he is happy. I was drenched in sweat by the time I got this done. There is no A/C in the upstairs room. That room is used for storage now. I used to sew up there, but with no heat or A/C it is only comfortable for a short time in the spring and fall.

When we first moved in my son was two years old. There was an old, cracked, crumpling piece of linoleum up there. We removed that. I decided to paint the dark blue walls an off-white color. My son wanted to help and since we were not going to live in this room I let him. Well, the floor ended up needing painting after that. I put polyurethane over the paint hoping to make the paint more durable. However, I somehow used two different kinds of poly and they dried different colors, one being more yellow. So the floor looks terrible and I never painted all the way to the stairs. Life got busy and I didn't have time.

The reason I did this by myself if because the husband was doing this...

The forecast all week has been for rain. It is not good for hay to get rained on so husband kept waiting. And, waiting. The forecast seemed to change by the hour the last few days - 90% chance, 40% chance, 60% chance, 20% chance. 

Finally, he said, enough and mowed. He is busy enough with things that I don't like to ask him for help if unless I absolutely have to.

I have also been busy working on little projects for possible fair entries.

I had saved this idea to one of my Pinterest boards...

I felt like the knitting, a scarf, was too small for the ornament ball, which was the smallest I have so I made another one, with longer knitting.

It looks better, but I think I need a smaller ornament ball.

 Also, this.

I don't know why, but I enjoy making things in miniature.

My friends think I'm crazy. Maybe I am!

Small Quilt and Doll Quilts is hosting Design Wall Mondays and  

What a Hoot Quilts is challenging quilters to finish '18 in 2018'.

Check them out.

A Good Day

Sunday was 'date day' for us.

This jokingly started back when my son was still living at home. 

Since we like to do our shopping early in the morning (while most other people 

are still at home/in bed) our son didn't want to come along since it was 'too early'. 

So we had some quiet time to ourselves. I know that makes us sound like bad parents, 

but my son is special needs and we just needed some alone time once in a while. 

Anyway, we went to the farm store, found most of what we needed and moved on the the WM store. Again, finding most of what we needed. Had a nice talk in the car as we were driving along taking the scenic route. We were home well before noon so we decided to sort through some of the many boxes taking up a corner of the tool shed where husband used to park a tractor. A little back story is needed here - many years ago (40 FORTY!?!?), after graduating high school my husband had moved 2 hours south of his family farm. 

His grandparents passed away a few years later. It was decided the house would be 

rented out so everything had to be removed. The items from their house, belonging to 

my mother-in-law's parents and grandparents, that would be kept but nobody 

wanted/had room for would go to husband's house two hours away. 

Apparently during the years there was more stuff that nobody had room for but didn't want to get rid of so one of the upstairs rooms of the grandparent's house was turned into a store room. A lock was put on the door so the renters could not access it.  

Twenty+ years ago when we moved back to the family farm I carefully packed up 

all the wonderful things that nobody wanted, labeled the boxes as to what the contents 

were and they got moved back into the grandparent's house. Three years ago it was decided that the house should be sold so all the things in that room were brought to our 

 tool shed because they couldn't be gotten rid of but nobody wanted them. 

Relatives told us they would come and go through it and take what they wanted. That happened once and that turns into another sad story that I will skip for today. It has been almost two years since anyone wanted to look through these things. Time for it to go. We kept a few things, but it was with a sad heart that we took most of it to the dumpster. We are glad it is gone, and I understand that people today do not want things that belonged to elderly relatives. But, I couldn't help but think about how someone carefully chose those items for their family. Or, that they were gifted by someone who loved them. But, now those boxes are gone. There is still more to go through another day.

On the way back from the dumpster we found a patch of wild blackberries and filled up two butter tubs. Those were eaten on vanilla ice cream later that evening. Yum!

It was a good day, we got some things done that we had been intending to do but hadn't made time for and it seemed that everything just fell in place. 

Something that doesn't happen often for us. 

Yesterday I had a lovely lunch with a co-worker that I haven't seen since the end of the school year. She is having some family issues that she needed to vent about. We talked for a long time. I hope her family is able to work it all out.

Today my quilty group visited a local quilt shop. Sadly, they are closing in a few weeks. 

All fabric was discounted to $3.99 a yard. That is hard to pass up. 

Here is my haul (the second one in a week's time). 

Fat eighths.

Cute quilts! I have a plan for these!

Fat quarters - $1.00 each

Minimum cut of 1 yard was required. I took the rest of the bolt of some of these.

Most of these I have plans ideas for. Some will marinate in my stash but will eventually get used. I am always adding fat quarters and light backgrounds. I say I am adding to my retirement fund. When fabric is that price ($3.99/yd.) it is hard to pass up!

I finished the quilting on this T-shirt quilt. 

And, now my thoughts turn to working on a fair project.

Pulling fabric and thinking, thinking and pulling more fabric.

Small Quilt and Doll Quilts is hosting Design Wall Mondays and  

What a Hoot Quilts is challenging quilters to finish '18 in 2018'.

Check them out.

I Should Be...

...working in my yard. It is cooler today, we have had rain so the ground is soft. 

A good day to pull weeds. But, instead I am doing this...

I need to get this quilted and off the frame so I can put this one on.

It is a cloudy, dreary day here so I used the flash on my camera.

Without flash.

The last time I refreshed my hummingbird feeders I noticed a LOT of ants.

I began searching for ways to fix this. There are lots of ideas on Pinterest.

One led me to a sight on how to make your own with things you might already have on hand.

I had left the sight open on the computer. My husband saw it and asked about what it was.

Next thing I know, here he comes with can lids and wire. I now have ant moats!

Every morning and evening I get to watch the barn swallows swooping around catching bugs.

Picture found here

They are very fast!

There were at least 10 of them flying around, but I wasn't able to actually get a picture of them.

The camera focused on the bell of the wind chime.

And isn't that pink hollyhock pretty?

The corn will be much taller than 'knee high' by the Fourth of July!

I got pictures of everything except the barn swallows.

Today is going better than I expected since this happened when I took my shower this morning.

By the end of my shower I was standing in a couple of inches of water. It is draining fine now. I don't know what caused it, but I hope it doesn't happen again!

Small Quilt and Doll Quilts is hosting Design Wall Mondays and  

What a Hoot Quilts is challenging quilters to finish '18 in 2018'.

Check them out.  

Thankful for the Rain

We have gotten several inches of rain over the last 2 days.

Probably more than we need, but I am still thankful for it.

Yesterday I spend a few hours in the yard between the rain. I got quite a bit cleared around the rhubarb patch, but still more to do.

Then I spent the rest of the afternoon and this morning making these...

Bowl Buddies for a friend.

This is the fabric she chose. They are for one of her family members who has cats.

Then I made these for my niece who is celebrating a birthday at the end of the month. 

She has cats, too.

Two bowl buddies for soup bowls. Doesn't my pink Fiestaware bowl look nice?

One large bowl buddy for serving size bowls.

Two Plate Pals (a name I made up). My turquoise Fiestaware plate matches the Plate Pal much better in person. The camera doesn't show the color correctly.

I am adding a dishcloth and scrubby to the pile.

Here kitchen is done in turquoise/teal colors so I hope these all fit in.

Small Quilt and Doll Quilts is hosting Design Wall Mondays and  

What a Hoot Quilts is challenging quilters to finish '18 in 2018'.

Check them out.  

Hummingbird

I finished this little hummingbird block...

I am pleased with how it turned out. 

Now I will need to think of a way to finish it after it is shown in the fair.

I really enjoy hummingbirds. We have two feeders out in the flower bed right out the front door. The computer is set up by the front door so if I am sitting there I will see them. We use another room where the TV is most of the time so I don't see them very often but I know they are there since the feeders need refilled every few days. I have tried to get pictures of them but they are way too fast!

Small Quilt and Doll Quilts is hosting Design Wall Mondays and  
What a Hoot Quilts is challenging quilters to finish '18 in 2018'.
Check them out.  

Today's Work

I started the morning early out in the garden trying to beat the heat.

That didn't go well. I drug the hose up from the basement and attached it to the spigot. 
I am unable to get it on tight enough to prevent leaking. It wasn't too bad so I proceeded.

The sprayer worked ok for about 2 minutes and then the handle - the part that depresses the button allowing the water to come out - broke. Ok, I will just switch it out with one of the other sprayers we have. I worked and worked at it, but could not get the old sprayer off. It looks like lots of mineral deposits are keeping it firmly attached. By then the flies were biting and I was dripping sweat. So much for beating the heat. I decided to work inside until husband can get the sprayer off. Turns out my husband can't get it off either.

Since it is too hot outside I decided to work inside.

Another 365 Challenge block.

And, a paper pieced hummingbird. As is it will finish at 4 inches. 

One of the categories at the fair is unfinished 6 inch quilt block. 

I am adding a flange and border to make it 6 inches. 

I think I have decided I like the fuschia color for the flange.

Small Quilt and Doll Quilts is hosting Design Wall Mondays and

What a Hoot Quilts is challenging quilters to finish '18 in 2018'. 

Check them out.