Little Orange Peel........

......finished !

Here are a couple of shots I managed to get today.

Shown on a twin-sized bed

The little quiltie finished at 27 1/2 inches square.  I backed it with the same polka-dots that I used on the Blushing Bloomers quilt.  These are the same fabrics that were used in the top of that quilt, also.......I cut out 5 inch squares at the same time that I cut the other quilt pieces.  I then drew the peel shape onto the squares, placed one over a light-colored 5-inch square,

 and machine-zigzagged over the drawn line.  At that point, I trimmed the top, colored fabric right up against the machine-stitching.

Because I had leftover triangles from making the border on the other quilt, I started stitching those triangles together today, based on an idea I got from Wanda of Exuberant Color.   I love the idea , but it's all I can do not to stitch them together into bigger pieced squares !   I need to MAKE myself put them away so that I can add to them, but I trimmed them down to 2 inches square, and I don't know if I'd EVER make enough of that size to make something substantial.  It would really be neat-looking if I could stick with it though.

Here are some of the ones from today.

Covering my bets !

Just IN CASE I don't win that giveaway, I did a little bit of fabric shopping online where I ACTUALLY paid for my choices.........Ha !

I cancelled Fabric.com's emails back when I dropped the internet for awhile.  Previous to that, I received regular emails from them announcing sales and offering coupon discounts......which I LOVED !

Well, when I starting getting internet access at home again,  I re-subscribed to their emails (several times now ), but they have never started re-sending them and I very much miss their coupons !

So, tonight I've perused their clearance fabrics and found fabric for backing this quilt

Seth's quilt-top

and I added enough half-yard cuts to the order to qualify for free shipping.  I hope that this new order will encourage them to start sending the specials to me again.

Here's the fabric I chose for Seth's back........

Gone Fishing Ribbit Geo Navy--Fabric.com

and here are the other four goodies I can't wait to get.

I'm hoping to collect blues and greens for a soothing all blue and green quilt........

Chains Black/Blue - Fabric.com

Timeless treasures Mechanical Genius Hexagon Navy - Fabric.com

And these dots look like great fabrics for making bindings, don't you think?

Pocket Full of Posies Bubbles Red - Fabric.com

Pocket Full of Posies Lime - Fabric.com

I finished the orange peel quiltie for the kitchen wall, but don't have a good photo of it yet.

Today, hubby and I marked off a section of the yard for an actual vegetable garden we'd like to plant next Spring.  I tilled up about a 3-4 ft width times the length of the thing (have no idea how big we've made it.)   I'll have to do a section every once in awhile, as the vibration from the tiller makes my hands feel all crazy. 

Last debate !

HE Loves Me........

Looking forward to it, but the most telling part is watching each network 'spin' the results their own way to choose a winner !

And speaking of winners, I hope to win this bundle of fatquarters in Fresh-Squeezed Fabrics latest giveaway.

I have some BIG stuff going on early next year, and WHICHEVER way it goes, I'll be starting over, in a manner of speaking, and maybe quite literally.  So, I've chosen Daisy fabrics, because they're one of God's purest, freshest blooms, present and welcome in my Springtime garden each year now.

And that's what I'm clinging to, ....... my fresh start, .......... paid for by the precious blood of my Savior, Jesus Christ !

Check out the rules for this giveaway, here, if you'd like to enter, too !

Day by Day

Life goes along, quietly.  Praise God !

A couple of days ago, I spent many hours doing some cross-stitch that was printed on a couple of towels (accomplishing very little).  I must say that counted cross stitch is a much better project.  The  printed x's do not line up with the weave of the fabric, making it a much slower process to try to make nice even stitches. 


So yesterday I roused myself to go OUTSIDE and work in the sunshine while the ground was at a good stage for tilling
 I started the day with taking some photos of the beautifully colorful trees on my land. 

And I snapped a shot of my Rhododendrons that I finally got replanted in this big pot.  I love the beautiful red color that the leaves have changed to.


















And this Spirea is really pretty right now too.

My big surprise was when I found that my Elephant Ear was blooming........I have never had one do that before, and didn't even realize that they COULD bloom !

I got holes dug for my new plants, including another Rose of Sharon shrub that Rose offered to me. 

I also tilled up some beds along my boundary line, and planted the Irises that were leftover when I thinned the ones that were growing along the front of the trailer.  I get such pleasure out of that little tiller......so glad that I made (and was ABLE to make) the purchase.

Today was my yearly female exam, which went well, with NO mammogram, thank God !

I've spent an hour or so hand-quilting this evening, but there's not enough new progress to document with another photo yet, so I'll leave off for now.

I surely do miss my Kelley, Tim, Zoe, Timothy and Seth.......hope they're having a good week !

Sidelined.......

......until I can obtain fabric for backing Seth's quilt, I picked up another little project.

Today I basted the little orange peel quilt that I'm making for the kitchen wall.

 It's funny......I machine-zigzagged the blocks so that I could hurry the project along, and now I find myself hand-quilting it.  But it's a small project after all, and I'm enjoying the handwork now that the sun goes down early and leaves me hours when I can't be fooling around with my flower gardens.

In fact, the biggest problem I had was getting my quilting chair away from Lottie-dah !

Brought To You By The Letter, 'S'

I finished piecing the top just now, and after snapping a photo of it on the clothesline, I noticed that I had not trimmed the bottom left corner border.

This is one big quilt for a 3-year-old boy !  He hasn't even moved out of his youth bed yet, and this one hangs well over the edges of a twin mattress.  Oh, well, he can grow into the quilt, right?

I usually wait until the quilt is quilted to share a full shot of the quilt, but I liked my border treatment so much that I wanted to share it now.  My plan had been to do the left and top borders in blue, and the right and bottom borders in green, or something like that.

The bottom border is not skewed........it's just the wind

 blowing the quilt-top.

But looking at the little stack of cut-off pieces of blocks, I decided to alternate the two fabrics, adding a skinny cut-off strip between the joins.   I like it.   Hubby likes it too, although at first he told me that the borders were "too much fabric".  I told him that he's always wanting me to make my quilts "big enough", and this was all the fabric that I had for blocks or borders so it would just have to do.  Once I added the strips, he thought it looked good.

When the quilt is on the bed, the color orange pretty much takes over, due to my shaping out the letter 's'. right in the center of the quilt in the different orange fabrics.  I hope it's not too intense in the long run.  

For the record, today's temperature is in the 60's and we're expecting our first frost in the state tonight.  Maybe not our area, but parts of East Tennessee will probably have frost tomorrow morning.  I heard, in a weather report, that Oklahoma City had their earliest hard freeze ever, last night.

This has been such a strange year, weather-wise, I don't know WHAT to expect from this Fall and Winter !  But God is still on His throne, so praise be ! 

I've named Seth's quilt....

........it's called,

 "BROUGHT TO YOU BY THE LETTER, 'S' "

I know that the photo is dark.......that's part of sneaking a peek!

and you can see the inspiration in this sneak peek of the top.


 I got all but the borders done today.......a simple job, but I had to forbid hubby to put the foot out on his recliner, so that I could come and go past his chair as I lay the blocks out on the living room rug.

And totally off-subject, have any of you been following the quilting of this quilt .  Check back through the previous two posts for some really beautiful shots of the quilting in progress.  Outstanding quilting !  Kudos to Jenny of 'Sew Kind Of Wonderful' !  She has a separate blog, for her machine-quilting business............SO worth perusing !

Slow going on a simple quilt

Somehow, life just keeps interrupting this quilt.


It's a very simple design, featured on Connecting Threads website, sold as a kit made up of the Mastermind line of fabrics.  I wanted a larger quilt, and didn't need a pattern, so I just ordered extra stacks and fabric for borders.

Not my design.......adapted from a kit seen on Connecting Threads, just adding blocks and changing the border coloring

I finished piecing the blocks.......I simply cut the 10 inch squares at 3", 2", and 5inches, and switched out the middle piece for each block.

Today I trimmed the blocks down to 8 1/2 inches each.  I had thought that they would finish at that measure AFTER piecing the quilt, but lost more than I expected in the piecing.  So the quilt is going to come out a bit smaller than I had figured, but it will definitely be usable on a twin-sized bed.  Seth is still in a youth bed, but I've made bigger quilts for Zoe and Timothy, so I wanted Seth's bigger quilt to be the next one I send to them.

I'd love to make a quilt for Kelley and Tim's green bedroom, but she's sized me out by getting a king-sized bed.  I just don't make quilts that big.   I already don't know where I'm going to lay Seth's quilt out in order to see a good color placement of the blocks!

This fabric collection is so vibrant and out of my usual range/style.  The finish on the fabric is soft and silky, and I really like it.  I'm not prewashing the fabrics for the borders, since I didn't want to wash all the 10-inch precut squares.  It's a rare thing for me to buy a collection, but Connecting Threads makes the choice so affordable, especially when they go 40% off !

Court day update

Trial date has been set........Feb. 13-15, 2013.

Goldie's quilt is finished.......

...washed, dried, and awaiting a label. 













 I took the finished top and my basting frame to the senior center on Tuesday for the regular monthly get-together.  But somebody forgot to tell me that they weren't coming !  So I had the entire big room to myself, and got the top basted in 2 hours.  So glad to have the use of the room, if not the good company to go with it.

Finished top awaiting basting.

 

 

I like to wait until the quilt has shrunk all that it is going to before I apply the label, since it doesn't get quilted.  That way, the quilt doesn't shrink AWAY from the label, causing the label to look buckled and poofy.

Finished size of the quilt is 48 x 72 inches.   After photographing the nearly complete quilt top, I realized that I would like for it to be a little bit wider........but it didn't need any additional length.  So, rather than piece an additional row of blocks, or border it all the way around, I just added borders to the two sides of the quilt.  And, I must say, I like the look ! 

I struggled with a quilting design, trying several ideas and removing a LOT of tiny quilting stitches.  Finally, I settled on using the walking foot to quilt across the blocks, and then using the darning foot to freemotion-quilt feathers in the outside borders.  They don't show, but they filled up the space.

Have I mentioned before how much I like it when a machine-applied binding goes smoothly?   I use a SLEW of pins to make sure that the stitching doesn't slip off of the fold, and it takes a bit of extra time, but nothing like as long as hand-stitching.  

I like the addition of the black and white fabrics to the multi-colors of the blocks. 




















I used the cow print for the binding and for the backing and a white tiger print for the borders.  The quilt has a batting comprised of 20 % polyester/ 80% cotton. 

 
I spoke to Goldie yesterday and she sounded great.  I haven't told her that I was making her a quilt.  I don't know about you guys, but nothing stops me in my tracks like promising something before it is made, or coming up on a deadline.  So, I hope to take the quilt over to her tomorrow and surprise her.  It'll be nice to see her.....she's been missed.

Goldie

A dear friend in her 80's has been diagnosed with cancer and  has started radiation treatments today.

I hope to be able to make something to send to her to convey my love, and assure her of our prayers for her healing and comfort.

 I added some rows to an existing quilt-top that I had and love.  It's now long enough and wide enough to top a twin-sized bed.  Perhaps if I can finish it for her, it will brighten her room during her stay in the hospital.  She's such a sweetie and so full of faith........I know that God is using her as a witness there for His glory. 

What a beautiful last day of summer !

Today was the most perfect gift from God !  Wonderful temperature, days after a good soaking rain, lots of sunshine with cool breezes.......and good health to be able to work and enjoy it !

Praise God !

Yesterday, Hubby's sisters visited and we took them out to lunch.  One of his sisters is selling a house and has been doing some long awaited destashing. 

 

When she came across these blocks, she lovingly set them aside to bring to me.  It seems that she started an afghan and never finished it.

The work is outstanding ! 

After looking over the pattern, I realize that she did an additional round

 on each block that was supposed to be the setting pieces.

 And the original pattern was to be done in yarn,

but she used thread, so these are very fine,

and obviously a different size than the pattern intended. 

 They're pretty enough to just display in
the basket in which I received them,

but it will be a shame if I can't find some way

to make SOME little something out of them.

 I'll have to study on it and experiment a bit.

Former (memorial gardens) layout

The past week has found me attempting to change my flower garden area a bit.  I planted my dwarf crape myrtles 10 feet apart last summer, and then filled in between each one with gladioli this year.  But having to twist and turn the mower in and out of all the spaces I created has become quite an aggravation, not to mention that the yard looks like a memorial garden with each bush growing out of it's own perfect little circle of broken up soil.  

New flowerbed incorporating present plantings

So I took on the job of making one long flowerbed down the length beside the driveway, incorporating the bushes within it.  I de-grassed between each circle ......... took me hours  to remove the sod and then shake all the good topsoil out of it.  And now I have begun using my little tiller to dig the bed nice and deep.  I don't know what I'll plant in those areas......need to keep it low to showcase the bushes ........ but atleast I'll have options now.  I think I'm going to like it, although I do need to outline the bed somehow.  Everything costs money and I'm not exactly swimming in it right now !  So, I'll do it as I can !

The current outstanding bloom in my other flowerbeds is this plant that was here when I bought the place last year.  Rose calls it "House Leek". 

 The leaves resemble a succulent; and the magnificent big blooms have bees on them constantly, but the bees don't attack us, thankfully.

Court news for family and friends

Once again, we ride the roller-coaster.  Second review date gone by with nothing but a request that the case be deferred to the next scheduled date, which is, by the way, the plea-date.....  October 1st. 

 Reading Psalm 56, as suggested by friend and neighbor, Rose.  

Taking comfort at the Father's table.  

Oppressed, but not depressed.  

Deflated, but not defeated.  

Victorious, 

always, 

in Christ Jesus, my Savior.

Connecting Threads package..........

....arrived today, and has me longing to start Seth's quilt.  It should be a quickie to make, based on the design shown in these fabrics on Connecting Thread's website.  You could buy a kit for the quilt, including all fabric AND the pattern, measuring about 63 by 71, for $20. + change.   Instead, I ordered extra stacks and yardage for borders, hoping to enlarge the pattern to 72 x 90 or so.

We'll see how long it takes me to actually get around to piecing it.  Atleast I wrote the kids a letter today and sent my daughter some seeds from the flowers blooming in my yard.

I took the quick way out, and machine zig-zagged my orange peels........I realized that I just wasn't at a place in my life where I wanted to start a long-term project.  So, for instant gratification, I made 36 blocks, each measuring 4 1/2 inches.     I like it, but don't know if I want to stop at this size.  It would be a great size for my kitchen wall, but I'll sit and stare at it for awhile before I go farther.

Fun things ahead......

....I ordered some precut squares in a collection called "Mastermind" from Connecting Threads.  I'm hoping to make a big boy quilt for my youngest grandson, who is currently accomplishing potty-training.

I look forward to working with a different type of fabrics from my usual bright, more girly collection.

 We got the yard mowed again today.......it had only been a week, but the recent rain had really spurred new growth.  But sweat was rolling down from my eyebrows from all the humidity along with the temperature.  We're expecting thunderstorms tonight with more rain, and possibly a real cool-down next week.  


 The flowers all over the yard are really loving it, especially the
morning glories.

Happy Labor Day.......so long summer !

Unofficially, it's a wrap.  I know we'll have some heat for a while longer, but September means 'it's coming!".  Not too soon for me........I just adore the Fall season !

Finished measurement-21 inches square

I basted the Amish wallhanging this weekend, and got a chance to machine-quilt it today.  I used the walking foot for stitching in the ditch, and then played a bit with the free-motion quilting.  I've grown rusty, and my movements were not smooth at all.  I wound up having to do quite a bit of un-quilting, which was NOT an easy feat since my machine 'coasts' to a stop, making a lot of tiny stitches in place at end points.

Pictures are not too good, as the center wants to be washed out.  But the batteries are low in the camera and are recharging as I type, so these photos will have to do.

Here's a little bit better shot of the center.

 I'm so glad to have this hanging to put on my kitchen wall to remind me of Wanda and Terri visiting me this summer after 3 long years of missing them.