Getting there

So in spite of being somewhat handicapped by my right hand I managed to dig out that forsythia bush. Here it is so you can get an idea of its size.

The house we live in used to be owned by my great uncle. It was built in 1910 and he moved in sometime in the 1940s. When I was a kid we used to come over to visit Uncle Ted and Aunt Lydia frequently from our home about 50 miles away. They were much like grandparents to us. We were spoiled with a candy dish that our parents had no control over, Eskimo Pies, milkshakes and Schnapps (glasses of 7-Up!). The house is out in the country so there were gardens, room to run and cows. There were also two small cement ponds with goldfish back then. Later, they were just home to pollywogs that we would catch and release each week to see how they were developing. The ponds were next to trees and not surprisingly, as the trees grew the roots caused the ponds to crack so shortly after we moved into the house I filled in the ponds with dirt and planted flowers, etc.

One of those ponds was where I have been digging and I used a sledge hammer to break up the edge a bit and that is the pile in the foreground of this picture. Back under the tree are the rocks that were around the edge of the pond.

My plan for this area is to take out the grass between the chairs and the house and put in a patio of some sort and extend that under the chairs. Then our picnic table can go in the area which is shaded nicely in the evenings.

I have been diligently working on the quilting on the wedding quilt and no other sewing so still no quilty type pictures. This week I will have the grandkids again so I probably won't get much sewing of any kind done but you never know what might happen during nap time.

Just when you think things will calm down, they don't! Last week went by so quickly with going to work 4 of the 5 days. Saturday I did manage to get the wedding quilt basted, in spite of not having good supports for the frame. I also got some work done in the yard, starting to prepare for the two Sky Chairs that will be delivered on Thursday by Oli, our UPS guy. Here you can see where they will hang from the flowering cherry tree.
Since this picture was taken I have whacked back the forsythia bush there in the middle but I still need to dig it out. I might try transplanting it elsewhere but we shall see! The large clump of day lilies on the right will be dug up in the next couple of days by some friends for their yard.

My husband is continuing work on the garage roof and on Sunday we took a trip to the dump with the final load of roofing and the 5 cans of junk I didn't want out of the greenhouse. We got rid of a total of 1320 pounds! On the way home we stopped at Home Depot for plywood for the roof since we had the trailer anyway. Once we were home I got busy outside and mowed some grass and took care of whacking back that forsythia and then I cleaned out the flower bed around our little wishing well. I dug everything out so I could get rid of the weeds and just put back the peonies. It looked pretty sad so I ran into town and got some pansies and violas to fill in.

Yesterday I had an appointment at the doctor to get some warts removed that have been driving me nuts on my right hand. He froze off all 13 of them and boy did my hand hurt yesterday afternoon and evening! Even though I am left-handed, it is amazing how much I use my right hand! Today it is doing better as long as I don't touch any of the spots. I am hoping I can do some hand quilting while I watch TV today! Unfortunately it is cooler out today so it would be a great day to dig out that forsythia!

No Breather Yet!

So I got home at about 8 on Sunday, went to bed at about 10, got up a little before 7 and out of the house by 8 to drive for my husband, home about 4, worked on watering the yard, went grocery shopping, did a little hand quilting, in bed about 10 again.

Up a little before 7, out the door by 8, worked until 4 or so, made dinner, made chocolate fondue for craft night, gorged at our fondue night, in bed by 10.

Up before 7, out of the house about 9:30 to take the dog to the groomer and start the hunt for backing fabric for the wedding quilt. Got it and another larger piece for another project, came home and got some sewing done on some small projects, picked up the dog, had dinner, a little more sewing then a little TV and bed.

Today I am on the road again with Larry by 8 for another long day. There is always a week or two in July that is just crazy busy!

I hope to post pictures of the two little projects in the next day or so. I am hoping Saturday to get the quilt basted and ready for quilting.

OMG!

What a whirlwind weekend! My niece and I had a good drive to my sister's on Wednesday and bright and early on Thursday we started deciding on fabrics (the bride and groom chose brown and robin's egg blues/teals for the color scheme) and then cutting. Everything was cut (as we thought) by 11 or so and we got started with the piecing. At one point we had three sewing machines going with one designated presser! We had all the blocks finished on Thursday evening and Friday morning we started getting it together. I was hoping to have the border on by lunch but I miscalculated a little on one piece and put one side on backwards so it was delayed a little. A couple of quilting friends stopped by for lunch and to see the quilt and about that time my oldest daughter and her two kids arrived and things really got crazy!

On Saturday, the bride and groom and one of my sister's sons arrived for the day. Some biking, walking, shopping and yard work got done amid the visiting and relaxing.

Katie and I headed for home a little before 11 on Sunday after coffee and pastries in the back yard. Unfortunately there was a good bit of traffic so our 6-7 hour trip took closer to 9 hours!

I can't show any pictures of the quilt until October so make sure you come back. I will be spending a good bit of time until then working on the quilting and finishing once I get the backing!

Western Washington Quilt Shop Hop 2010

I have been working this last week on my blocks from the shop hop. I have most of them finished,

just three more that have more hand applique to go. Several of the above blocks will receive some embellishment after the quilting process (it is much easier to quilt before you add yo-yos). If you would like to see the individual blocks there are here.

As you can see there are 21 blocks so far and with the three more waiting for some hand applique I will have 24. We actually went to about 30 shops but several blocks got tossed because they were just plain ugly! I am not sure what the shop owners were thinking! I will use my leftover fabrics to make at least 6 more blocks probably to make a nice sized quilt. I hope to get that quilt finished this summer.

Today I am picking up my niece, Katie, for another road trip. This time over to my sister's in Idaho so the 4 of us (Karla -my sister- and her two daughters, Katie and Brita, and me) can get the wedding quilt top put together. We hope to get the top done tomorrow and Friday because on Friday my oldest daughter and my two grandkids and their dog will be arriving so little sewing will happen! Then on Saturday my second daughter and her fiance will arrive for the day bringing my sister's second son. It should be quite the party! We will then only be missing my husband, my sister's oldest son and my son, though they have been invited!.

Hot! Hot! Hot!

Western Washington finally has summer! It went from being in the 50s last week up into the 90s yesterday. Luckily my house stays pretty cool though with the windows closed the sewing room can be kind of stuffy. In spite of that I got the rest of my WIMM Round Robin blocks finished so I can bring them with me next week when I head to my sister's to make the wedding quilt. I can't show pictures of these because this is a secret round robin with the reveal later this fall probably.

After those blocks were done I grabbed the red/black/white top that I made from the leftovers of my granddaughter's quilt and added some borders. I decided to use a fluffier poly batting and just tie the quilt and it is so soft and fluffy. It will be a great baby quilt.


I made up three little broken dishes blocks from leftover triangles and got those put away and today I am going to make shop hop blocks.

Better late than never

June Tally

Doll/Wall Quilts - finished 1 from last month and made 7 more start to finish
Quilt Block Exchange Blocks - 4
LWR - 1 top
Baby quilts - finished one from last month and made 1 start to finish
Totes - 1
Pillows - 6
Quilts - 1 (Big Girl Quilt for my granddaughter)

Repairs - 1 baby quilt

I had a pretty good month considering everything else that was going on. This month is starting kind of slow because of yard work (please note the picture below of Princess Lucy sleeping on all the weeds I pulled the other day), but now it is pretty warm so I get to spend the day in the sewing room. I hope to have something to show for it tomorrow so stay tuned.

Where to begin...

It has been almost two weeks since my last post! And so much has been happening but not post writing! I did get the binding on the quilt finished and here it is:Here is a close-up of one of the cats on one end...

...and one of the dogs on the other end.
I positioned the cats and dogs so that they are right side up at the pillow and my niece, Katie, pointed out that if you are cuddled under the quilt you can look down and see the cats/dogs at the bottom of the quilt right side up too.

Katie and I had a good time on the Western Washington Quilt Shop Hop. We spent two full days going to shops from Vancouver to Anacortes and Ocean Shores to Duvall. We made it to over 20 shops in all. We planned our route after looking at the blocks on the poster and ruling out those that had ugly/stupid blocks. We still ended up with some duds but they were mostly almost directly on our way to another shop. Along the way we picked out many fabrics for the wedding quilt that we will be making later this month for my daughter. It isn't as much of a rush now since the wedding has been changed to mid to late October but summer is a good time to get it done.

Katie then rode with me across the mountains to pick up the grandkids for a week of mayhem and fun. It was everything we expected and more but didn't allow for much sewing or computer time! They are getting so big and they play very well together but still need lots of attention. Included in the week's events were haircuts for both of them. Layden got a buzz and Clara got a her bangs cut and the back and sides trimmed up a bit.

I did get a couple of hours to do some sewing on two separate days during naps. I made a pillowcase to match the big girl quilt which made a great gift bag and I got my 4 Quilt Block Exchange blocks done for June.

I got them all cut out and then, even with my grandson's help, I got them all sewn before the little one woke up!

On Friday Papa and I took the kids home and stayed with them for a day. We got to spend a little time with our son and his girlfriend also.

We drove home yesterday to avoid all the holiday traffic but took the long way so we could stop and see our other daughter and check out the probable wedding venue. We got home about 11 hours after we left our daughter's house which is only about 5.5 hours away!

This week I plan to get five blocks done for my WIMM QBRR 2010. Katie dropped off three to add to the two I already had! I think that once I get those done I will only have one more to do on that round robin. Other plans for this week include ripping more jeans for denim quilts - a great job for out on the deck in the afternoon so I don't make a mess in the house - cutting denim, making shop hop blocks and maybe making a few doll quilts. I also need to get work done outside - first up, mowing all the grass/weeds!