Random

When it rains...

Yesterday evening I pulled in the garage and pressed the button on the remote to close the door. I carried a few things into the house. I heard a noise from the garage and thought something fell. But, when I looked I didn't see anything. This morning when I tried to open the door it wouldn't go up. Hmm. I didn't see anything out of the ordinary. Turns out one of the springs broke.

It's that gap in the spring on the right. I tried to circle the spot on the spring that is broken, but I couldn't figure out how to change the color from black. As luck would have it (and usually the way it goes for us) our door uses a different size spring than most other doors. We need the weatherproofing strip on the bottom of the door replaced. They used the last they had yesterday, but have more ordered. We need an extra remote since one broke a few years ago. And the inside handle of an overhead door for the tool shed broke and needs replaced. The repair guy had none of this stuff in his truck. He left to go see what he has at his shop and said he would be back later today.

The alternator in one of the tractors decided to fail just as Husband was finishing up baling hay on Saturday. That had to be ordered. It may come in tomorrow, or maybe the next day. And, since this is a really old tractor they hope the ordered the right one.

The heating element in the oven had to be replaced a few weeks ago. The defrost drain hose on the refrigerator had to be cleaned out since water was puddling in the bottom of the refrigerator. And the handle that is falling apart was going to cost over $100 to replace. No thanks, out came the glue. Not pretty, but functional. I was not willing to spend that much for a handle on a 22 year old fridge. 

But, Monarch butterflies are enjoying the milkweeds out my front door. 

And the geraniums are blooming.

And the umbrella plant is doing well with new growth.

Monday

Retreat was very productive for everyone this time. I don't have photos of anyone but myself. I don't want to infringe on anyone's privacy. 

This is my block for the Exchange. 

I worked on it at retreat so I don't have a picture of all the blocks so far for this quilter. This quilter is using solids in colors that have a Southwestern look. What appears to be almost white is really more of a tan/taupe color and the yellow in the center is more gold.

After completing that I started back in on Bonnie Hunter's 4 Patch X that I worked on at the last retreat. I got the top completed.

I have four blocks left over. I am not sure what I will do with them yet. It depends on if I have yardage in my stash that will work. If I do I will piece these into the backing. If not I will likely get a wide back to use.

Maybe I will use them to make a cushion cover. I have two stadium cushions that I wrapped a towel around as a cover. Or maybe a mini quilt for the wall, or maybe...

Then I got the units sewn for another Icicle Star. 

 

I liked the one I made as a fair entry so much I have decided to make enough for a quilt using different colors. I am also changing up the greens. I think it looks like a flower with green leaves.

I am determined to finish up projects. I have so many. What will be next?

The End

Go to Small Quilts and Doll Quilts to what other quilters are up to.

Monday was the last day of fair. Exhibits were picked up, the building cleaned, display cases moved to the walls to make room for RVs to be stored for the winter and the doors locked.

This is a picture from last year, but it looks the same this year.

This is the quilt display during the fair.

This is the Grand Champion case. It contains the winning hand quilted quilt which is the one in front. A child-size hand embroidered, hand quilted quilt. The workmanship was very good. On the top left is the machine quilted by owner winner (that's me!). On the top right is the winning afghan. This one is knitted. There were several crocheted ones. Below that is the winning photo and on the lower right is the winning artwork. It is a drawing of an owl. The young lady that made it had several other entries - all very nice.

It makes me sad every year that we are not able to display the quilts better so that more of each quilt can be seen. They are all so beautiful and hours of work have been put into them. 

My son got a 2nd place ribbon for his recycled materials item. 

I did well this year! 

Every item I took placed.

This quilt got 1st and Grand Champion in machine quilted by owner category.

2nd place in machine quilted by owner.

1st in crocheted afghan - multi-colored.

12 inch blocks - 1st Iris, 2nd Star

6 inch blocks - 1st Red and Blue Star, 2nd Bee.

Mondo Bag got 1st in purses, totes, bags, etc. catergory. Now I can start using it for retreat. It holds a LOT!

And retreat starts today. I am always ready to spend a few days sewing with my friends. We have a good time. 
We encourage and inspire each other to get our projects finished. I love seeing what everyone else is working on.

This and that

We are having typical fair weather, only more so. It is HOT! The buildings are hotter as there is no A/C in them. There are ceiling fans in the Fine Arts building, but they only turn one direction and they are pushing all the hot air at the top down. There are big floor fans but the display cases block some of that air movement. I feel bad for the animals. The exhibitors do bring fans to blow directly on them and they do water them frequently. 

We got to see a lovely sunset on the way home Wednesday evening.

Don't worry; my son took these pictures as I was driving. And, the pictures do not do it justice. 

My son and his dog are here for the week. 

I think the dog has made himself right at home! 

He is a good dog and I enjoy having him here.

There is a rose blooming that I didn't think would survive this year. Yesterday it looked like this.

Today it looks like this.

I think a setting got bumped on my phone camera because this picture just doesn't seem as clear.

Done and Done

I finished this 

And this

Now to print pictures and attach them to each one.

Sadly, these projects will be folded up with only a small area showing. There is just not enough room in the display cases to show the entire quilt. 

This picture is from two years ago. The Champions in the quilt, afghan and art categories are displayed in the center of the tall glass cases. The remainder of the quilts and afghans are folded and hung over bars in the tall cases or on shelves in the short cases. We are fortunate enough to have these cases that lock. They were donated when a jewelry store closed or upgraded their cases (can't remember which), but they do protect the quilts and afghans. We have been trying for several years to come up with a display system that allows more of the quilts to be seen and remain protected from dust, toughing and theft, but so far we  have to found a better way to do that.

I always help with the judging. I get to bring the quilted and knitted/crochet items to the judge and watch while the judge looks at each item. I enjoy seeing the items fully and hearing the judge's comments. It is always a long day and hot. The buildings are not air conditioned. There are big fans at each end of the building, but the displays stop the flow of air. This year the temps are to be well into the 90s with feels like temps over 100 degrees. We will have lots of water available and we do take breaks during the judging, but when it is this hot it is hard to cool off.

Go to Small Quilts and Doll Quilts to see what other quilters are up to.

Bugs and Quilts

I finished this quilt!

There was not much fabric left over when I applied the binding.

Yesterday was Sew Day at the local library where my Exchange Group meets. They meet the second and fourth Thursday of each month. The Exchange Group meets the fourth Saturday. Four times a year a four day retreat is scheduled to coincide with the fourth Thursday and Saturday.

Anyway I took Corrugated to hand sew the binding down. Got that finished and went to work stitching stars onto the Flag Afghan.

I loaded the Patriotic Stars quilt and as of this writing am a little over half finished with the quilting.

For some reason the quilt looks very yellow in this picture. The top picture shows the color better.

When Husband came in for lunch he reported that a cucumber was just the right size for eating. Thankfully he doesn't like them so I get them all to myself! They needed watered so I checked them out further as I was doing that and found another. I promptly ate both of them. Yummy. There are more coming.

Sadly, the celery did not survive outside.

Husband had also mentioned that he is concerned about the apple tree. We had very windy day early this spring just as the leaves were budding out and the top part of the tree just never leafed out well. But, today...

Let's get a little closer.

And, a close up of the leaves.

This tree is buzzing with Japanese Beetles. I was being bombarded while I took these pictures and had to pick several of them out of my hair. Yuck. This tree does still have some leaves and apples, but I don't know if it will survive this. It doesn't appear that the beetles will be leaving anytime soon.

Today's Plan

I have the binding cut, ready to piece together and get sewn onto Corrugated.

And, the borders are cut for Patriotic Stars. I hope to get them sewn on and get this quilt on the frame today.

D$%n Japanese Beetles

They are eating everything in their path.

My plan for Corrugated didn't work out so well, so I spent yesterday morning taking it out and most of today working on Plan B. 

It will be just as nice, actually better. There was too much space inbetween the quilted columns which caused puckering and loose fabric on the back. I tried to do some stitching in the ditch, but I have not perfected that skill well yet :) so it had to come out. No one will know about Plan A except me. And, I learned a few things which is always good.