What I've Been Up To....

Wow!  I didn't realize how long it's been since I've been here.  It's been busy with hubby making trips to Michigan for work and me tending the garden, quilting, and working.  So following are some pictures....

The stone wall is slowly making its way along the side of the house..zucchini, cucumber and banana peppers in the garden.  We've also been harvesting beet greens and radishes.

This weekend is extremely hot so I'm hiding inside quilting.  The guild's president has a challenge for the July meeting -- a Patriotic wallhanging or table runner.  As I've always wanted a wall hanging for the different holidays, I decided to pull my fabrics out.  I had made a patriotic string quilt using the pattern learned in the Craftsy's Block of the Month but wanted another block so I thought a Kansas Troubles block might be nice. 

So my question now is do I leave it with a red block and a blue block....  or do I go with the red/blue blocks.  Which to choose ... which to choose.  The strips around each square are just there to separate the blocks.

Viola!  This is what I decided on.  I will post the finished piece when it's done.  The guild meeting is 7/2 (this Monday) so this may not be done in time.  *grin*  However, I WILL have a wall hanging for next year's holiday.

It doesn't look as though I'll be getting back to the maple leaf/log cabin quilt anytime soon.  I have a wall hanging that I've been commissioned to do for a day care center's toddler room.  They'd like it for a December opening (they're building a new place and plan to be there by December).  I'm hoping to have it done by the end of October at the latest.  It's mainly applique with a little bit of adapting for their situation.

I am also hoping to have the other two graduation quilt tops completed by the fall.  They are lap size quilts so it does seem do-able if I am focused. Ideally, I'll have them machine quilted and ready for their owners by Christmas.  I'd love to hand them over and be done with this era of my quilting. 

Time to close.  Need to get back to my sewing machine. 

Happy 4th to everyone.  May you have a safe and fun holiday!

My Weekend

This weekend we began it by being outside. I did some gardening -- replaced a couple tomatoe plants that weren't doing well. Thinned the beets (yum! beet greens!) and carrots plus the squash plants and radishes.

Then worked on finishing the pink wall hanging -- machine quilted and bound. It just needs a sleeve on the back so it can be hung in the guest room.

 

Hubby also has his projects that keep him outside -- he is taking this (below):

 and turning it into this.

He is a man of many talents and quite handy to have around. *grin*

I am also working on the guild's President's Challenge for the July meeting. A Patriotic wall hanging or table runner. I'm make a wall hanging. I've always wanted one for the entry way and now I'll have one. Of course, I haven't made much headway on my to-do list that I posted a few blogs back.

I also picked up this, a swirling water sprayer for when my granddaughter comes to visit next month.  If it's a hot day, and July in Ohio is usually hot, she'll enjoy running in the sprinkler.

Hope your weekend was just as productive -- or relaxing -- as you needed.

Blessings,

Pat

Gardening and Quilting

Memorial Day Weekend was quite busy yet fun.  I worked in the garden, quilted a little and visited with family (always fun).

My garden is growing date is 5/27/12

A wall hanging marked up for quilting

Blocks for June's Guild meeting -- I made 9 to bring; maybe I'll win the lot of them.

Posie Gets Cozy's blog (http://rosylittlethings.typepad.com/posie_gets_cozy/) has some nice garden pictures.  I'm thinking of planting peonies in my flower bed (along the front of the house) and maybe some delphiniums.  I'd like to do a english cottage garden of sorts.  It will take time as I'm trying to see what flowers will fit with my neighborhood. 

Just wanted to update and say howdy!  Weekend is coming up soon.  So PTL!

Gardening

Poor DH (aka 'dear husband) was kept busy this weekend helping me get the raised beds up and planted.  We couldn't finish mother's day weekend due to rain on Sunday.

Top picture front bed has too much clay soil. We had amended the soil in a corner bed and thought we'd incorporate that into this bed...hopefully it will do fine with all the other good stuff we put in.  Planted squashes -- summer, zucchini, and winter along with cucumbers in this bed.

We ran out of mulch and were too exhausted to get more.  Planted tomatoes, herbs, peppers (green and hot and sweet banana), carrots, bush beans in this bed.  You might be able to see some green string separating the areas.  I've sort of following the Square Foot Gardening method but can't find my book ... it's in a box in the basement and I haven't had time to dig it out.

Also trying to get some quilting done.  There is a patriotic challenge at the quilt guild in July and I've started a wall hanging that I hope to have finished.  And there's also my log cabin/maple leaf quilt that I need to work on and get it done. 

Time to close.  ~~ more later.

Gardening, Quilting & Other Comforts of Life

Seems like this weekend was a very busy one.  If you know me, you know I like it when things are easy-going and calm. 

Thursday night, or more accurately Friday morning, hubby and youngest son when to the midnight launching of the AVENGERS.  They said it was great.  Friday evening I'm trying to get some quilting done while hubby recoups from his busy day.  We've cleared some brush and he rented a heavy-duty chipper to grind it up.  We had a lot of tough briarbushes out back.  So Friday he did a lot of sleeping while I got caught up on laundry, did some work on my Craftsy May BOM and chilled with a good movie.

Craftsy May BOM

Saturday we had to get up early to get to the town clerk.  He needs a passport for work so we decided I should get one too.  We've talked about taking an Alaskan cruise at some point and also perhaps traveling to Scotland and Ireland and perhaps England.  Maybe some points of Italy too.  So we wanted to get to there early and get it done.  Then we went to Costco as the freezer was just about empty and he wanted to replenish it.  He needed a new pair of sunglasses (has been doing a lot of traveling for work lately) so we hit Bass Pro Shop.  He lucked out there as they had a couple pair of shoes I can wear to the office so we didn't have to hit DSW's, Kohls or JCPenneys.  It seems we did a lot of running around. 

Today we picked up what we need to build a couple of raised beds for my veggie garden.  We've been talking about it for the past few years and have decided to just do it.  Granted we are not where we want to be for the rest of our lives and never imagined that we would be here for four years so we decided to do what we need to enjoy living in our home and this area while we are here.  Next weekend, Hubby and youngest son will build the beds and we will get them put in and veggies planted. 

I am at the stage of life where I am trying to align my desires with my life.  If you enter my home, you can tell I'm a quilter as my quilting room is currently in the former dining room.  *grin*  easy access and no climbing stairs.  There are other areas that I want to develop.... gardening is one.

Okay, I think I've written enough.  May your week be full of blessings and I'll see you back here next week.

Quilting Thoughts

Current projects:
-- the maple leaf/log cabin quilt that I'm currently working on as well as
-- the Craftsy' BOM. 
-- Mel's top is waiting to be machine quilted
-- quilting frame is waiting to be finished and put together
-- quilting room is waiting to be moved from 2nd floor to 1st floor (putting guest room on 2nd flr)

Then there are a number of quilting projects I'd like to do:
-- vest (for me)
-- a couple wall hangings (Christmas Wreath and Christmas Tree)
-- string quilt blocks -- a couple a month so in a year or so I'd have enough for a quilt
-- wall hanging for a children's day care center in NH
-- lap quilt for my nephew Matt
-- lap quilt for my nephew Mark

In between all of this I need to work a full-time job; clean my house (hubby's threatened to enroll me in a Molly Maid's course -- dusting is just not my thing); plan, prepare and plant a veggie garden; tend to my knock-out roses, and bushes; help hubby with some yard work; exercise, eat right, grocery shop, laundry, dishes, etc. and enjoy life.

Now that I've written down what I have to do.  I need to make a plan to get them done.

Oh yes, I also have to get my tush to the local church and join as I've been talking about doing this since we moved to Ohio in 2007!  There's a Nazarene church down the street from my house that looks inviting.  I also want to join the local quilt guild especially now that it's about 10 minutes from where I work (meets 1st Monday of the month).

Craftsy April B.O.M.

Working full-time and trying to keep up with all that I want to do isn't easy.  However, housework gets set aside for quilting.  I mean, a girl has to do what a girl has to do.

This month we were thrown a challenge. We could do anything we wanted with the hexagons instead of the sunrays. So the first one I did was, of course, the challenge.

A grandmother's flower garden which is appropriate because I am a grandmother who needs a flower garden. The next one is the hex stripe which was fairly easy to do. 

And then I decided to do the sunrays as well.  I have some red-orange fabrics left from a quilt I did long ago and thought they'd look nice as my sunrays. As you can see, I need to finish tacking down the rays.  It was late when I was working on this and I think I needed to re-do the bobbin thread.

Here you have all three of them together.