#1

#2

#1 or #2??

I feel like I'm at the optomotrist's.  #1 or #2?  1 or 2.  And honestly, I can't tell the difference between one and two.  Of course, here I can tell the difference in how they look, I just can't tell the difference in my preference for Jacob and Mary's quilt.. If I make #2, I need to make another large leaf- which is no biggee as it only takes about ten minutes to make one. So that's not a consideration.  #1 has cleaner lines, but #2 looks a little more interesting... The leaves stand out as leaves more in #1...  The leaves look more like they're tumbling in #2... But #1 looks like the leaves are falling...They're both ok. And I'm sure they'll like either.  They're both easy to please.  I'm leaning towards #1... I think.  ugh.   

20 gallons of peaches- aren't they lovely.  They've been frozen, eaten and shared

 Everything's Peachy!

What happened to my summer?  It flew by. I think it's technically still summer, but you would never know it from the weather.  I've been wearing socks, long sleeve shirts and sipping hot tea. And that's a shame because I like hot weather.  And cool weather comes soon enough in the midwest.  Maybe we'll have a warm autumn.  The crickets and the birds already think it's Fall, too.  The crickets are loud and the birds are quiet.

About 60 new postcards made

 I've been making some postcards to replenish my supply.  I've been trying to get postcards out to the sick from church and also for the birthdays.  I use up postcards pretty fast that way.  It's been an unexpected pleasure- people that I rarely have a chance to speak with will make a point of finding me and thanking me for the card.  Not that I'm seeking the thanks, but it's wonderful to connect and fun to see how much a silly postcard meant to them.  And there's the novelty factor- a nice surprise for them.  Wish I'd thought of doing this more regularly, earlier. But with using so many postcards, I'm having to make them more en masse- which isn't quite as much fun as doing each one differently.  But much more time efficient.
 

happiness is... doesn't take much

Come on. Tell me all you quilters out there didn't feel your heart go pitty-pat and a tingle zip down you spine at the sight of all those wound bobbins.  It makes me feel so secure.  Of course, I'd rather have a box full of cream colored bobbins, but you know how we are, any thread will do when we are chugging along.  I like to get my sewing thread from "Thread Art" as their prices can't be beat.  But I guess a whole lot of other quilters like to do the same and the cream, beige, tan, gray threads are always on back order.    



Love this for their fall wedding

Jacob and Mary's wedding is quickly approaching.  I'm working pretty diligently on their quilt. The wedding is two months away, but the shower is much closer.  (Bekah said I shouldn't post a picture of the quilt in progress as she's seen Jacob visit here.  Who knew?)  But I'm still gonna- 'cause we all know that things look different in person than they do in a picture.  Plus, I'm pretty pleased with how it's turning out. There are 21 of the 12" leaf blocks and 42 of the 6" leaves.  This picture is just a few of the larger ones.  And the cool thing is, that I didn't have to buy a single fabric especially for this quilt- they were already in the stash. Making scrappy quilts, almost exclusively, has it's perks! Someone asked me the other day how I choose colors for a scrappy quilt that works.  How do you know they all go together?  I've given it some thought and here is a short list of my process:

1. It has to make me smile.  I start pulling colors and if I smile when I lay it with the other colors, then it's a keeper.  Sometimes it'll get booted off the team because another color will make me smile even more and I move in another direction.
2. I think of colors as members of a family.  Every family member is unique, but have some kind of similarity.  And I've noticed that in families there is always that oddball who everyone thinks must have been adopted.  But without the oddball, it wouldn't be a real family.  So a color that seems unrelated has to be there- just try not to make the family so dysfunctional that all of them are oddballs!
3. Never include seasonal (Christmas, Halloween, Easter) fabrics.  Never ever.  Nothing will hi-jack your quilt back to 1973 faster.
4. Try to keep your neutrals in the same tone and shade.  This isn't a hard and fast rule, but it will help the design pop. Sometimes, I use different shades to accent different elements in a quilt and that works well if you have a limited amount of neutrals.
5. Relax.  Don't over think it.  Do you think great grandma dithered over which fabric to use in her scrappy quilts?  I doubt it. I've seen ladies spend two hours choosing the "perfect" fabric for binding.  Really?  I can usually choose the fabric for an entire quilt in less than 30 minutes.  Am I that good?  No way.  I just relax and have fun. That's why we quilt, right? To have fun.

Daniel is coming home for a short visit.  I'm beyond excited.  His birthday is tomorrow and we're celebrating, tonight.  I'm frying chicken, mashing potatoes, making gravy and yeast biscuits. And there's corn on the cob from the garden. And because it's Daniel, apple pie and ice cream. 

Hope everyone has a blessed day!         

Asher

New members of the family!

Joshua

Two sweet boys were born into the family, this month.  I've two new, very handsome, great-nephews and I'm just pleased as punch- like I had anything remotely to do with it!  

Joshua looks so much like his daddy and grand daddy it's amazing!  I have yet to meet him as he lives in Florida.  My nieces(his aunties) are visiting next week... maybe I could talk them into a little kidnapping scheme... ya think his momma and daddy would notice?  Yeah, you're probably right.  But what's a great auntie to do?

My great-nephew, Asher, was born yesterday.  Isn't he just the juiciest thing?  We are keeping his two older brothers while mommy and daddy cuddle the new one.  I have to say that I am enjoying myself, intensely!  Bill says, "You're so good with children... maybe we shouldn't have stopped!"  Whoa cowboy!  Let's not get carried away!  And kinda funny the near surprise in his voice that I could hold my own with little ones- I did have a few of my own, ya know! But it's sweet to have little ones around the house, again.  Children, what a blessing!

Woohoo!  Finally!

Saturday, Already?

How did that happen?  The way of things, I suppose.  I had a good week. Got the pool set up, finally.  Will, my hero.  He worked so hard. The water was delivered, yesterday.  Of course the two youngest had to jump right in.  It was inexpressibly cold, but that didn't stop them from having a wonderful time. I put my feet in and between the cold water and the hot sunshine, it was very pleasant. As you can see, the pool sits on our back lot and is in the middle of pretty much nowhere. Just the breeze rustling in the corn to keep you campany.  And now the shouts and squeals of excited kids.  It's all good. I guess they stayed in almost two hours before the shivering and the chattering teeth sent them into the house. Funny how not having air conditioning isn't a big deal...

"that's what I'm talkin' about!"

The breakfast of champions... Bacon and freshly ground and brewed coffee.  Jacob is old-school.  He has an antique coffee grinder and insists it makes the best coffee.  And the bacon he got at work, where, who knows?  He might have been acquainted with the pig while it still stood on four feet. That guy loves his bacon. 

smile!

Lilly has a pool her own size.  Abe got her a pot of water to pour on the sand to make it easier to play in... it was no time at all before she dove into the pot.  And look how pleased she is with herself!  She is the older daughter of Jason and Lindsay B. and they came for dinner the other night.  We hadn't done that in a long time. So, you guys make the effort look up some old friends and have them over.  It's not as hard as you think and it's well worth the effort.

Isn't that a silly and fun quilt?  I have no idea of the name or designer.  I quilted it for Glenda J. and she did a wonderful job of sewing it up.  Can I just say, that is way, way too much applique for a simple girl like me.  To each her own.  I have a "Grandmother's Flower Garden" on the frame, now, and the red snappers made that a much easier job as the edges of that quilt has that uneven design of hexagons.

I'll hopefully, be quilting, wading, babysitting and sewing, today, with some cleaning and gardening thrown in there, somewhere.  Have a great weekend! 

Morning Folks!

Absolutely no sewing this past week.  Well, not absolutely no sewing.... I did piece a backing for a client... but I really don't think that should count. It ranks right up there with sewing curtains in my book- boring! Oh, and I mended a shirt for my nephew- a two inch tear.  Again, hardly noteworthy.  I have a more open week than usual and hope that the sewing machine will not be such a stranger. (Though, "open" is a comparative term.)  Nothing specific in mind, but I'm pretty sure something will come to mind, dontcha think?

We've been working, sweatily, on getting a pool set up.  Is "sweatily" a word?  Well, it certainly is accurate in this case.  Sandy gave us a pool and we have been trying to get it set up.  Three times we had to set the walls up.  I was beginning to feel some resentment towards Sandy as our laboring seemed to be in vain.  But we are finally reaching the end of the battle and I sure hope it'll be worth it!  The little children are extremely excited.  I think the big guys will be too, once it is set up.  Presently, they are traumatized by the amount of excruciating suffering involved. Truly an ordeal.

I walked into the house the other day and these two pairs of shoes just made me smile.  Mary Ann wears her boots just about everywhere and there they were plopped right next to Jacob's shoes.  I just thought the comparison was funny.  Jacob wears combat-styled boots most often, but for comfort, he says these can't be beat.  I don't think I want something between my toes, but everyone I've spoken with that owns a pair similar to these, agrees that they are extremely comfortable.

Well, the rooster is crowing and that garden won't hoe itself. Have a great day!  I'm plannin' on it!

Happy Thursday!

My favorite day of the week.  Maybe I start my weekends early... I've had a stellar week.  Been very busy, but in a "things I wanna do" way instead of a "things I have to do" way. 
Sweet William teaches a Bible class at the prison and about twice a year, I make cookies for them.  So, Monday and Tuesday I baked.  I made chocolate chip, oatmeal raisin, chocolate w/white chips and macadamia nuts, peanutbutter and gingersnaps.  I also made oreo balls and peanutbutter smoothie treats.  I doubled, tripled, and quadrupled the recipes and the oreo balls, I made six batches.  All in all, two banana boxes full. That was a lot of baking.  How is it, that the oven does all the work, yet, I'm tired?  So for a break, I stained my swing.  It looks very fresh and pretty. One of my favorite places to be. Two days in a row of not going anywhere.  It was intensely pleasurable. 

I made a jumper for each of the girls- just something loose and comfy for wearing around the house and playing in. So I got to sew.  Score!  They were so surprised and thrilled.  I love seeing that in my children. Unfortunately, Eva has been a little under the weather.  She has some swollen lymph nodes, a sore throat and fluid in her ears, but the doctor thinks her own immunities will thrash it out.  She did nearly pass out on Monday evening.  Not fun for any of us.  She simply said, "Dad, I'm not feeling so good." and we all turned to look at her and the boys are like, "Whoa!" and Will and I both yelled, "Lay down!" She was positively gray.  I think she was just trying to do more then she was really up to.  After a huge jar of ice water and a shower, she seemed fine and she's doing better every day, now. 

I know it's not Friday, but I want to talk about one of my favorites.  Twilight watering.  I absolutely LOVE to water my garden and flowers when the sun has set and the air is cooler.  The lightening bugs are started to gently drift up from the corn fields.  Just lovely.  So quiet and peaceful.  The sound of the water splashing and feeling the coolness of it on my feet.  Like I'm a a plant in the garden, soaking it up.  You can even hear the plants and  flowers sigh.  You go ahead and try it- but ya gotta be barefoot.  Ya gotta be.
    

The weather is a trial.  It hasn't rained in a month, the grass is all brown and crunchy.  The varmints are more bothersome than usual- I lost count of the chipmunks, mice and shrews we've caught.  John could tell you as he gets paid 50 cents for each one.  Will shot 7 groundhogs. Moles are everywhere.  It's a nuisance to us, but I can't help feeling sorry for them as they have no water on tap. Below is a bird bath we set out.  A country birdbath and hardly picturesque, but the birds don't seem to be picky. I dump it on the flowers in the evening and refill it with fresh.  The seeds I planted are slow growing. But growing, all the same.  The garden is a dust bowl, but we water each little plant in the evenings and mornings and I'm quite proud of them for doing so well.  Of course, I avert my eyes from others' gardens that have ready access to water. (It's funny how people laugh and say, "Oh, we've already had two pots of beans from our garden." And, again, they laugh.  Is that nice?  I don't think so. I find it very anti-amusing.) Ours is watered one bucket at a time.  30 lbs per bucket. I need to have John devise me some sort of yoke as it's a fair walk to the garden and while my arms are getting a workout, my shins are taking a banging.
 

Well, folks, that's all the news that's fit to print.  In a manner of speaking. I'm having another day at home here.  Woohoo.  Who knows, I may be able to squeeze another day home this week.  Doesn't that sound deliscious?

A lizard named Abraham

Apologies...

Guys, I am so sorry!!  I didn't mean to be away for so long. Sometimes that's just how it goes, I guess. Again, I am sorry.

We've been up to quite a bit, lately.  Summer things.  We got the garden planted.  You'd be so proud of me, I only planted 25-30 tomatoes and the corn and green beans I reduced by about a third.  Rather glad I did as we are in the middle of a drought.  When we hoe- 'cause weeds aren't as affected by dry weather- plumes of dust raise off the garden.  So sad.  There is just no way to water that much garden, effectively. I feel like I'm on one of those survival shows, rationing out water. A cup here, a cup there. Choosing which plant lives and which might die.  Sure could use some rain.  God's will, though.  Abe was "helping" me weed around the flowers.  I thought he looked rather like a lizard on that rock. It was a lovely morning and a good time to lay around in the sun.

paper pieced zipper bag

Did I mention my sissies came for a visit?  We had such a good time, as always.  It is a real joy to have them come. Just sitting around talking, eating out and talking some more. I made this little zipper bag while they were here.  (And I, vaguely, remember sewing something else... I just can't remember what...)  This little bag is only about 2 1/2"x4" and is for the dreaded glucose meter.  But it makes me smile when I get it out, so it's all good.

Jacob and Mary

Jacob, son #3, became engaged, this week.  Now that's big news, isn't it? Mary is a lovely young lady and we welcome her gladly into our family. One thing I have to say, is that our sons have impressed me thus far in their choice of important people in their lives.  It gives me peace and helps me feel like we didn't mess up, too bad.  Jacob just got a new job as a meat cutter at a local butcher shop.  He gets to work with sharp knives, so I think he's gonna like it! They are planning a October wedding.

Melanie and Daniel

And while I'm showing off my sons' good taste in women, I love this picture of Daniel, son #2, with his sweetheart, Melanie.  And she is a real sweetheart.  Such a dear, gentle spirit. Daniel has plans to move to Boston in the Fall and so, coincidentally, he'll be nearer to her and her family who live in New Jersey. In the mean time, he's putting a whole lot of miles on that car of his.
 

Red Snappers

In quilty world... Lookee what I got for my birthday!  You know my sweet William.  He heard me mention these really cool "Red Snappers" that I saw in a local quilt shop a few weeks ago.  He did some investigating and scheming with Sandy and bought them for me.  He took me out to lunch and before we go in, he pulls a gun case out of the back of the van.  He's looking all sheepish and says, "How am I gonna sell this?  But this one is just for you." And I'm thinking, "That man will use any excuse to buy a gun!" Of course, when I open it... I was greatly surprised and not a little relieved. For all those long armers out there, I have a feeling you might like these, too.  They are plastic tubes that slide into a casing at the end of your leaders and then there's these split tubes that snap over them and hold the quilt in place while you quilt.  No more pinning!  (You get a few shorter split tubes to hold it all in place until you snap the longer ones on).  Way cool.  I thought Sarah over at www.alwayswantstobequilting.blogspot.com would especially like them as she absolutely hates to pin quilts on.  I don't think it's such a bad job, but it is time consuming and eats into quilting time. But then, I actually like to bind quilts so there's no accounting for the things we like and dislike.  Sandy got me a new ruler.  She visits and sews with me from time to time and she's been appalled at the condition of my old ruler.  But, hey, I've had that ruler for 12 years and maybe I was emotionally attached.  Maybe.  All the markings were rubbed off but I could still tell where to cut, mostly.   

Speaking of things quilty... I might get out there and actually sew. Its been a couple weeks.  Do you think I remember how?