More rain......

....blessedly, we received a little bit more rain and some cooler temperatures over the last couple of days.

And it seems like since I decided I need a new quilt, the options just won't quit flitting through my senses !

I don't know WHAT design I'm going to do, but I've taken another step atleast.    I set up my cutting table at the end of my kitchen, so that I can keep the 'guest room' bed set up still.

I'll probably play around with a few ideas before starting in earnest.

I DID get a template made for this orange peel design that I'd like to start for carry-around work.

I have the photo labeled with the name KTQuilts.....credit to her, whoever that is (I find so much inspiration while I'm surfing quilty blogs !)

I go to a fun little auction on Tuesday and Saturday nights quite often, and I'm always lamenting the fact that I don't have any hand-work to do while I listen to the auctions that I DON'T want, waiting for that super bargain deal !  Appliqueing these peels onto 5 inch squares could be just the ticket, and the only way that I would ever get this type of quilt made.

I need a twin-sized quilt.....

...for my own bed.

Since moving into this home and down-sizing to a twin-sized bed, I've been making-do with larger-than-couch-size quilts, or with store-bought WONDERFUL microfiber blankets.  But it's time for me to get started on a quilt that will actually cover my toes this winter.

I'm thinking of using this tutorial, and extending the length of the quilt an extra three pieced-block rows.  I  like the varied colorations I've found of this pattern, like this and

this one

 that I don't have a link for, but have labeled "  Blushoz from Germany".    

 But I may need to buy background fabric (gonna try a little somethin' I've got first.).  Speaking of background fabric, have you seen the sale going on over at Connecting Threads for a couple more days?  Their solids and Mirage fabrics are on sale for $2.96 per yard !

These are the fabrics I've got set aside at this point.  Most of them were in a baggy, being collected from all the fat quarters that JoAnn sends.  She always slips a few into any commission that she sends for me to work on.......she's just sweet that way !

Anyway, it turns out that although they've been picked up here and there on many shopping trips, most of them will go together wonderfully in ONE quilt (actually, while I have them out, I hope I'll be smart enough to cut extra squares to put into more than one quilt).

What's holding me up is the fact that I haven't yet RE-TRANSFORMED my little bedroom back into a sewing room.  So, although I have access to my ironing board and my sewing machine, I have to set up a cutting board in the kitchen/diining area, and that creates too much of a mess to leave out for more than an afternoon.   And this looks like I could be cutting for several days, not to mention squaring up blocks as I go along !  Ooh, it sounds so fun, I've just got to make it happen !

In other news, the baby shower is this afternoon, so I hope that the little 'River' quilt will be a happily received gift among all the always-welcome diapers and cute clothing !

Lottie's back in her favorite perch

I saw this storage thingy from Ikea for sale at a yard sale and just knew that it looked more like a kitten toy to me.  Sure enough, she has a blast jumping in and out of the different layers, chasing paperwads and yarn balls in and out of it.  She even escapes to it to foil Piper's attempts to rough-house with her.

Lately, though, since she's been just a bit slower for the past week, she can be found in the bottom layer, taking a nap !

Sports Gives Me The Blues !

I finished the baby quilt for my great nephew-to-be !

It finished approximately 37 1/2 inches square.  The fabrics were mostly given to me by my galpal, Jodie Ann in Oklahoma.   She's always buying novelty fabrics to use in I-Spy quilts and such, and she sends me her leftovers.  I can never imagine, when I receive them, just what they'll become, but they always wind up being greatly appreciated, and pretty cute to boot !

I used a polyester batting, and a piece of light green stars fabric for the back.  The quilt feels really good, .....lightweight, and yet, warm, at the same time.  I didn't know what to quilt in the border, since nothing was going to show up very well, so I just quilted around each of the soccer balls!   They just poofed right up !

I received a package in the mail from Jodie today, actually.  She sent me a couple of new Olfa blades for my rotary cutter.  She gets them for half-price at the Hancock fabric store's sales.  Oh, how I miss Hancocks !  I mentioned them at our local quilter's meeting yesterday, and the girls looked at me all confused-like.  Only one knew what it was, and she mentioned that they're found in Kentucky.  I knew about Alabama, 'cuz that's where they directed me when I tried to find the closest one to my home, when I first moved back here !

Thank you, Jodie Ann, for the blades AND these fabrics !  I hope you enjoy seeing what I've made with them.

In gardening news, the deer are bothering my Rose of Sharons !   I have one poor little tree/plant that nearly died over the winter, but miraculously re-grew from the base of the old seemingly dead stem.  It was just getting to be about 2 1/2 feet tall and was sporting quite a few buds when........I went out a couple of mornings ago and all the branches were bitten down about 4 inches or so !

I've taken to putting this chicken wire around the closest other tree to protect it at night.  It's a double purple variety, and has just started blooming good.  Gotta protect my babies !  Durned deer !

Still quilting on 'River's' quilt

Not much imagination put into this quilting, just following the seamlines of the blocks.  But still I think that it will be a nice little quiltie when finished.  I don't know yet what I will quilt in the soccer-ball border, since it will hardly show up, but the baby shower is this coming Saturday, so decisions need to be made.  I had hoped to make a bib or two or something to go with the quilt, but time seems to run through my hands lately !

Lottie is pretty much getting back to her normal play.  I found a little carpet covered plaything for her at a yard sale on Saturday and she is very much enjoying it.

I only included this photo to show that she's rarely still enough to capture a good shot when she's playing at her new 'castle'.  She's a joy in my daily life and silly though it may seem to some, I thank God for her.

 In gardening news, I also scored a couple of big pots at a yard sale on Saturday.  I have been buying up shrubs as they go on clearance at Walmart, but am waiting to put them into the ground.

They seem to do better if you wait until Fall or Spring.   I may just go ahead and put two Rhododendrons together into this biggest pot (they're not actually potted up here, just sitting in their original plastic pots inside of this bigger one).  They say that Rhodos like an acid-soil mix, and I don't think that I have that in my yard.  I must figure out how to make one up for this pot.

The other large pot is holding my new Spirea for now.   I'll probably put it directly into the ground once Fall comes.

My Crape Myrtle have started blooming now.  The dwarf ones are a cherry red,

and the bigger one is  called 'Catawba' and is a pinky/purple.

Lottie's feeling better

Thank you for the sweet messages for Lottie and me yesterday.

  It was so hard to see her wobbling around trying to walk, 

while still under the effects of the anesthesia. 

 I think that they send them home way too early these days. 

 Last night I was near tears as she was almost comatose,

 breathing fast,

 but if you moved her head it just limply moved around with your hand. 

 But she roused before bedtime

 and ate a little bit of food.  

Then this morning, she had already been down off of the bed

 and back up before I even awoke. 

 Some night nurse I am !

As you can see here, 

she's getting back to normal now.  

                                                  Praise God !

Lottie's at the vet

My new little baby girl is getting spayed today, and I can't get her out of my mind.

A complete hysterectomy, is the way the receptionist put it........

"they're cleaning everything outta there", she says. 

  Yuck, I never thought of it so graphically........and she's only 4 months old ~!~

So, I'm trying to get a little quilting done by hand, 

after mowing

 and mopping

 and generally trying to occupy my mind as well as my body.  

Don't you just love the way the rows puff up around the hand-quilting?
This is a polyester batting so it's 'poofier'.

Finally back to a little sewing.......

........I put the final borders on the little sports-themed quiltie for Hawkins.  He's due in September, and his mama really wanted to name him River, since they have a camp on the Buffalo River and spend a lot of time at her parents' camp there too.  But the last name is Moss, and she was afraid that it would make for a lot of teasing as he grew up if he was named "River Moss".  I still like it and will probably always think of him that way.

Anyway, here is the top.  It's awfully busy looking, or I would have placed the blocks together without sashing.  But I had to provide some LITTLE resting place for the eyes.......or atleast I thought I was.  It should finish about 38 inches square.

single block--sports fabric from Jodie Ann

Here are my mockups from EQ5.

I like this block alot and would love to do a scrap quilt with it.

Outlaw partial reunion !

Finally, after over 3 years apart, 3 of the original 8 outlaws were reunited yesterday, albeit only for a few short hours !

It was so great to have Wanda and Terri stop overnight at my home on their WAY home.  It was like we just saw each other yesterday, only with more hugs and grins and GOODIES for ME thrown in !  And this after just getting to see Mary Ellen and her daughter a month ago, right here, too !

You're next, Jodie Ann !  Sadly, our Joy Del passed on a few years ago and is looking down from above, so it'll be a while, hopefully for obvious reasons, before we see her again.  You know, she's probably reaching for her outlaw holster, since she already knows what I just found out !........that in the 3+ years I've been gone, our old group has only gotten together once, for the 2009 Christmas party !   I'm ready to whip out my rotary cutter myself and have at it !

Oh, like I told Terri and Wanda, those years together were a very special season in all of our lives, and    couldn't go on forever, I guess.  But it's seems such a shame that it is no more.

However, on the flip side, my experiences are proof that the friendships forged in that season DO last a lifetime, and that's the good stuff, right there.  I mean, SERIOUSLY, I love you guys !

One regret.......I'm so ditsy ..........Terri said, "so, Walmart, is that the only place that you have that sells fabric here?"  And Dolly says (in my defense, I DID stay up a couple of hours later than I'm used to doing), "no, besides Walmart, we have a little fabric store downtown."    La, la, la, la, lah............uh, we have NO FABRIC in our Walmart, and why didn't I see that she wanted to GO to whatever fabric store we DO have?   Terri, I'm so sorry.  I shouldn't drink TWO cups of coffee, but you came up with that Amish-made blueberry struesel cake, and I just lost all sense !  Ha, when I make me a little Amish quiltie with the fabric you bought me, I'll always have a memory of my ditz moment (as if it were a single occurrence !)

Anyway, for now, I treasure ALL of these moments.  Be blessed, dearest friends !

The sweet little room.........exploded !

Nah, not really, but you can either have it NEAT, or you can get some inspiration and work going,  am I right?

I figured out a design that I wanted to use for a baby quilt that is needed for an anticipated September arrival, so I dragged out the appropriate fabrics (thanks once again to Jodie Ann's leftovers), and got to work yesterday.  Well, it didn't take long for the room to look like a bomb had been dropped on it.  But,  inspiration reigns !

On the other side of the coin, I am just jumping with excitement and anticipation of a couple of my dearest Oklahoma galpals arriving this week to stay overnight on their long drive home.  My husband asked yesterday, in front of his 59 year-old nephew, "honey, are you going to straighten up this mess before your friends arrive?"   REALLY?

LORD, I know that you set the solitary in families, and I am blessed to have been married to this man for over 35 years now, but........REALLY?  Where do they get these questions?  I think maybe it is because they were formed from the dust of the earth, and we were formed from good substantial BONE, albeit theirs.  I don't know, but we surely are different.

Anyway, never fear, Wanda and Terri........you are welcomed with open arms, a picked up home, and hopefully, LORD willing, a big pot of that Chicken and Dumplings that we used to enjoy during our quiltathons !

Then, next week, we'll think about this quilt.......

Blessed rain !

The rain has come, and I am so thankful !

My dryer has been out for a couple of weeks, but I haven't been concerned, as it's been so dry, and I hang out most of my clothes regularly anyway.  I only dry jeans and towels to avoid the horrible stiffness that they get from drying on the clothesline.

Well, yesterday I hung out a load of clothes and it started raining !   I rushed out to get them, but not quickly enough, so I wrung out the most of the water, and left them to dry overnight.   When they were even wetter this morning, I ran them through a rinse cycle and returned them to the line.  Before they were fully dry.......you guessed it, right?........it started to rain again.  Well, this time I took down the nearly-dry clothes and put them in a basket to wait.   I had called the dryer repairman earlier in the day, thinking that I would replace the dryer, but quickly deciding that it would be more prudent to repair it instead.

He arrived about an hour after taking the clothes in, and replaced the thermal fuse.  Now she's running like a a top again, the clothes are dry, folded and put away, and mama's all happy !  I enjoyed an entire afternoon of slow, soaking rain, and praised the LORD for his bounty and blessings.

The little room

I got up and started refilling the little bedroom this morning.   

There aren't alot of options as to how to arrange it.  

I've tried 3 now, and came back to this original one for now.

I really like this green.  

 I wish that the room had baseboards, but it's not something that I want to tackle right now.

 If you look at the pillow in this second shot, you can see through the pillowcase. 

 It's a new pillow, and I left the labeled plastic cover on it to remind me which one it was. 

 I didn't realize that you'd be able to read it through the case.......ha !

I'm moving as slowly as my computer.......

..........but, I'm feeling pretty contented.

Yesterday, bored with the too quiet, and really hot Fourth of July, I decided to drive out to Walmart and see what kind of flowers had been clearanced due to the drought/heat.  I was disappointed to find slim pickings, so I moseyed in to check out the paint department.  I like to look through the "oops" cans, to see what paint is there that someone rejected when it didn't mix up to the color that they were trying for.  I've had it in the back of my mind, ......slowing inching it's way forward, daily........that I wanted to repaint the front bedroom, and possibly the bathroom.

Blessedly, I found a rejected gallon that was a really nice shade of green.....just what I've had in mind.  At half-price, I decided to pick it up.  Well, let me tell you, these iron pills I'm on must be making the difference in my energy level, because exactly 24 hours later, I had a freshly painted bedroom in a beautiful shade of medium/light green......(and knees to match !)

So, I'm tired but happy.  That room is SO SMALL, but I think that it'll be cozier now with the green paint behind the antique white headboard of the little four-poster twin bed.  I'm waiting until tomorrow to reload the room, so pictures will have to wait also.

If you like the flowers in my header today, that is a HARDY Hibiscus that my neighbor, Rose, gave to me when it got broken in half during a storm last August.  It didn't bloom again last year, but this photo shows what I found on it yesterday morning,......... FOUR blooms, all around the top of the plant at once.  The Hibiscus that you buy at Walmart and most garden centers are only hardy down to 50 degrees Fahrenheit, then they freeze !  But this variety stays in the ground over the winter and comes back bigger and better each late Spring.  I just love this deep pink one.  She's given me two others, but this is their first year, and I don't know what color they are, as they haven't yet bloomed.

HAPPY 7TH WEDDING ANNIVERSARY to my daughter, Kelley, and my son-in-love, Tim !

May you have atleast 40 more !

Something quilty.........finally !

My camera was not working during the months that I didn't have internet access, but I did get a couple of quilt-tops pieced for my friend, JoAnn.

The first one was this red and white Ohio Star top.  As you can see, I worked the border in by adding pieced blocks of a different design.  I drafted these up in EQ4 today since I have no photographs, and I'm not sure how many blocks wide/long I made it, but as I recall, the top finished around 81 x 99 inches.

The second one was a blue and white quilt based on a block called the Lawyer's block.  Yes, it is another use of the traditional Delectable Mountains block, putting four together to make the Lawyer's block.  I went another step farther and put FOUR of those blocks together, 9 times, with a wide sashing and border.  This one finished around 88 x 88 inches.

No MALWARE hopefully

I'm no longer receiving the warning not to enter this space, so I hope that the problem is gone.  I apologize for anything that was/is beyond my computer savvy.

Today's flower-share is the basic Morning Glory, the true vining one.

This solid blue one is named "Heavenly Blue" quite appropriately, I think.  It is from a seed packet purchased at Dollar General Store.  The blooms are quite large, and gloriously beautiful.

This second variety is named "Flying Saucer", and Rose gave me the packet.  We're not quite sure we remember where she got them, but maybe ALSO Dollar General.

They took quite a long time to reach the blooming stage, but were well worth the wait.  No two blooms look alike, ranging from striped, to nearly all creamy, to paint-speckled-looking.  I have them growing up the lattice work of my deck and in my outer flower bed around a couple of dead hibiscus stalks, as well as here in this photo around the mailbox.

Speaking of the mailbox, it is one that I recently purchased at our second annual SummerFest, a craft fair that is situated around our Courthouse Square.  I saw it last year and loved it, but didn't own my own home, or even think that I ever WOULD.  When I saw the crafter this year, I mentioned the box, and she said that she still had it at home and that her husband would bring it to us if I liked............well, YEH !   That's beautiful purple Irises and a Mocking Bird on each side of the box.  I'm thrilled with it.

Meet Lottie Dah

Oh, and by the way.........here's the baby I've been waiting for for months and months and months !
It took so long to get my kitten that this one is from a second litter.  The first kitten reserved for me was named Opal, for the month of October in which she was born.  When my daughter didn't get to come visit while she was really small, she decided to keep her for her own family.  Then the mama kitty, Cleo, had another litter, and my daughter picked this one for me.  She was born in Lawton, Ok., so she's named "Lottie" (Lawtie), and I added "Dah" as her second name, just for the fun of it.  Imagine me out in our neighborhood if she wanders off, calling, "Lottie-dah !  Lottie-dah !"

Back to real life

We had the best visit we've ever had !
The kids are so healthy and bright and sweet.........and they pick at each other constantly as siblings will do.  Kelley and Tim seem really comfortable and happy together and doing well.  It was sad to see the hail dents in their nice hybrid car, but insurance is going to take care of that, and make lots of nice changes on their home as well, so the hail storm was actually a blessing in disguise, as often happens.  Thank you, LORD !

Moonflowers

I've decided to post a few pics of my flowers again.  Tonight I'm going to start with a plant for which  my favorite neighbor, Rose, gave me seed.  It's called Moonflower, and is supposed to be a member of the Morning Glory family, but is not a climbing plant.......it's a small/medium, bush-like plant.  This specific one I grew here, from her seed, by my mailbox last year, and part of the stem remained all Winter.  This Spring, it began to regrow.  The blooms open in the evening around sunset and go away when the new day's sun starts getting high and hot.  They put out a round, prickly seed pod that dries just full-to-bursting with seed.

I adjusted the light on this photo for clarity.

No sewing or quilting right now, as the guest room precludes use of the sewing paraphernalia.  But Kelley and I did spend time refreshing our minds on the beginning basics of crochet.  She wants to make an afghan for the couch at her home.

Oh, and I almost forgot to mention the best news.  Tim's deployment has been cancelled........WE THINK !

Please pray that it's true and not a fluke !

Talk-free Tuesday---GRANDBABY ENJOYMENT has begun !

Time waits for NO man.........

........and my grandbabies are no exception.

See how they've grown !

Zoe, now 8, informed me yesterday (or today).........I'm sortof senile lately,........ that it's only 14 more days before they arrive on my doorstep for their yearly nana and papa visit !  Hoorah !

I know, Zoe, I can hardly wait either !

Well, I'm back online at home again !

But, wow, this page for posting a new post looks really strange ! 
This could take some re-learning !
Anyway, just saying hi for now, as I'm being reminded what a time-sucker these  'puters are !~  I usually get quite a bit done during a day's time, but NOT TODAY !