wondering where I've been?

LOL, I've been wondering the same thing--just what have I been doing with my time in the last 10 days since I posted?  It has rushed on by, somehow.

I'm still committed to walking though this week I had to take two days off due to quilting functions.  ( I'll tell you about that later. ) I've been alternating  6 or 7 laps though one day recently I did 8 rounds for 2.2 miles.  My watch battery died and I had forgotten to click off a lap.  LOL,  I lived.  I come home and walk Oscar in spite of how many laps I've gone.  The watch just verifies that I am keeping up the pace of 0.28 miles per lap in 5 minutes or less.

It has been quite warm and up in the mid 90's for a week with high 60's-low 70's for overnight "lows".   Next week they say high 90's and up to 100 is possible.  Oh, boy!  In years past I used to get out there around 6 a.m. and try to beat the sun.  Not possible now.  You see, when I cannot get to sleep until after 1, 2 (and like last night 3 a.m---ugh!),  there is no way I can get out there any earlier than 7:30, 8 in the morning.   It doesn't help that some of the sun break is gone with the Public Works Dept. taking so many of the trees down but this is a good thing for the residents in the long run.   Turns out they are building a new community center that I assume will replace the old house that is used as the Senior Center.   I see workers out there quite often and will watch this progress.

This past Monday Jane, Aline and I went to the guild sew-in.  The city workers that displaced us the entire month of May from the place we meet are STILL working on the building, tearing up the restrooms apparently.  The President tracked down another venue but they must have events scheduled in the later part of the week so it went on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday instead.  They had a lively bunch of line dancers when we got there but it only lasted an hour.  I sorta missed the music when it stopped, LOL.  We just planned on going the one day as I had a list of mile long of things to do on Tuesday--errands and things at home.

I took my little Hexagon Merry Go Round project and got a little bit of it done but have not touched it since returning home other than to un-pack my stuff a couple days later.   Some of the girls were working on pillowcases as there is a community service project to provid them for the girls at Big Oak Ranch.  Sarah also had kits for cute little Fold-up Fabric Needle Holders from Crafty Lady Lindsay's blog.   I didn't get too far with THAT either and want to replace the felt part with another darker color that I know I have here at home.  Actually, Sarah used two layers so it formed another smaller pocket, I think anyway.  The one she had done was really cute!

So what's been happening?

• I shot most of a Thursday afternoon a week ago at the gastroenterologist's office.  Enough time as elapsed that I get to have a repeat colonscopy.  I think they forgot about me as I was the absolute last patient to leave the place and the appt was for 1:45.
• Tuesday I was busy checking little jobs off the list.  
• Wednesday was the play in the kitchen day and I had to overcome a moment of madness and talk myself out of making zucchini muffins or bread and just put the gratings in the freezer for a cooler day.  My neighbors have a garden this year and I know those zukes are going nuts as I've seen the vines.  I will have to help out with the bounty, LOL.  Some home grown tomatoes were most appreciated too.
• Thursday turned into update the computer day.  That danged desktop is such a pain compared to the tablet I use.  Takes forever for the stuff in the background to finish up whatever it is doing and open a page, email, program.  Drives me nuts!  
• Friday, laundry and a little house straightening and a few more errands.  I've got to re-do the casing on  a pair of shorts and kept forgetting to pick up the elastic I needed for the jobs.  That and watch batteries.  Well, not anymore, LOL.  Now to fix the pants so I can wear them.  Kinda fun getting back into my old clothes or some I've not been able to wear but hung on to "just in case". 

Today Jane's husband Hugh had offered to drive us over to the Birmingham Quiltfest 2015 show.  It had started on Friday but today was better for their schedules.  I'll write up another post or two tomorrow to share some pictures with you.  Lord knows, I am not personally getting any sewing done.  I am such a slug though a more space organized one lately, LOL.

This is what we saw when we arrived though Jane and I did hop out of the car to take the pictures as we were leaving.   Rather than let this be a totally picture-less post I hope you enjoy seeing their quilt covered mobile!  I think I've got the photos all uploaded from camera and the phone camera and edited to share.  Silly me did not think about replacing the battery with the recharged one before I grabbed it so I had to finish taking the last row of quilt favorites with the backup method.  

We saw friends from here in Calhoun County from various other groups and from Friendship Quilters too but they are in a nearby county so expected that.  Good show and good selection of vendors.  I got a couple of dark blue fat quarters and some white on white yardage for the Disappearing 4 patch I want to do with pals Norma and Cher, long distance sew-in next weekend.  Oh, and a small Kaleido-Ruler from Marti Michell that a vendor from Vicksburg, MS had.  She said Marti will be teaching a class at their quiltfest event.  We had lunch in Pelham at Applebee's before coming home.  Oscar was stuck in the house in his crate as it had looked like rain/storms which freaks him out.  I felt guilty about it but figured better safe than sorry.  Of course, any rain that might have come evaporated in the heat, no doubt.

It being Father's Day tomorrow let me pass on greetings to my dad.  I love and appreciate you so much.    I barely got to say "hi" last Sunday when Mom picked up so will try to call.

I'm going to get on my jammies and hope that sleep does not elude me again tonight.  I'm tired-------

Meeting day

Another 2nd Tuesday rolled around and that means it is time for Bama Belles to meet.   Shawnee dropped by and introduced us to a friend named Linda from the next county north of us.  However, she had to take off as they were doing Vacation Bible School at the church catty corner to where we meet.  Off to tie dye t-shirts she said.  Linda has been making some gorgeous crazy patch stockings for her family members and working on one for her new son-in-law.   It was good to have her come visit with us for the day!

Lois and Aline each had a quilt to pin so the pinning table was hopping with Jane's help.  Bev and Beverly were each doing hand work.  I finally got that little Merry-Go-Round Hexie table topper cut out since cutting was NOT happening at home!

Lois had several quilts ready to turn in.  Some we know the names, some we don't---as usual.  She stumps me!  What can I say?


This one I DO know as a disappearing something or other from Missouri Star Quilt Company.  I had to look to verify which one as there are several on their you tube tutorial pages.  Disappearing Hourglass #1 as I see there is now a 2nd variation.  I think that this is probably my favorite version of the Disappearing blocks.  Well, other than Disappearing 4 patch.  I will do this one some day.

Next, a Twin Sisters from Eleanor Burns' Quilts Through the Seasons.   You get two blocks with reversed color ways with this method so I always thought it might be a fun matching game for a child to do with their quilt.

She got me with this one and maybe she will come up with the real name.  I think it sort of looks like 4 T's. Though the green does chain through the block, normally you don't see an hour glass type deal in the center.

Lois thought this might be a Jacob's Ladder variation possibly something from Bonnie Hunter.   I know she has done others that she spotted in her column Addicted to Scraps in "Quiltmaker" magazine. Could be!

This one is called "Rolling Fields" designed by Legacy Patterns.  I know that this is one that Bev, Teresa and Lois teamed up to do at the last sewing day.  I see bits of stuff in there from my 2 1/2 inch strip stash.  We were pooling our resources so not surprising.

This one is "Fiddlesticks" from Teacher's Pet, one of her fat quarter quickie patterns.  Lois did one up in pretty blues.

This bright and fun quilt is one that Aline made.    The quilting stitch adds some texture to the blocks too. I hope that shows up in the picture.

We went to Cracker Barrel for lunch.  I got back home a little after one, I think.   Oscar probably thought "not a minute too soon."  I gave him a choice of inside (meaning IN his crate) or outside (meaning in the fenced back yard).  He would not budge out of his bed so I thought he decided "in".  I hate keeping him confined like that but he cannot be roaming around the house if I am not home.  The gates won't stop him if he knocks it over.

I had to laugh at him yesterday afternoon.  I had gone outside and inadverently locked myself out.  No big deal as DJ had put an action plan in place should this happen.  I was outside and Oscar knew it but was not coming back in as soon as he thought I should.  When I finally opened the door, out he comes, flopping down on the carport for tummy rubs.  Then he runs over to the car thinking we are going for a ride.  Flops again.  All the while I am "Oscar Lee, get back here" and having visions that he is going to continue to run down the drive and the lane without his leash.  I walk, I do NOT run!  Third flop and roll was his undoing as I caught him and could pick him to carry him back in the house.

Speaking of walking.  it might be paying off a bit.  The girls, independently of each other, kept telling me "you have really lost some weight".  They just saw me two weeks ago, some of them.  The scale isn't barely moving at this point, gain and lose the same two lbs. repeatedly but maybe it is toning up a bit??  I've been gradually losing since Feb. 2014 too.  I've been alternating 6 laps (1.68 miles) one day, 7 (1.96 miles) the next and still going 6 days out of 7.   Oscar walks add another mile to the day's totals.   He is starting to whine at the door so I best get my walking shoes on and take him for a spin.

Till next time-------

this and that

I think I know what I may piece next--this little quilt kit from Connecting Threads that using their Hampton Hues line though I bought more of the chevron piece to be sure to have plenty of binding, the width I want it to be.  The pattern "Merry-Go-Round" included in the kit is by Terry Atkinson, one of my favorite designers.  Should be fun to try.  My fellow Atkinson Designs nut, Norma already made her version for a guild challenge and beat me done!  I have not been rewarded yet if it remains a kit after purchase last fall.

I am not sure why I am so fascinated by hexagons lately!  It might be because I have my version of Thimble Blossoms "Juggle" sitting on the loveseat and I look at it often and think about making another one but bigger.  It might be because I have Marti Michell's Six is for Hexagon sitting on my coffee table.  Inner City catches my eye but so does Millwheel and I still cannot find my Texas Trellis mega pattern either!  She has a neat way of doing Seven Sisters too---where you use a larger and smaller 60 degree equilateral triangle rather than a traditional method.  I hope this shows up on the borrowed image below from this link  https://www.pinterest.com/pin/268527196504370198/       I might get brave and try it, LOL---someday.  Hexagons, the bigger the better IMHO.

 

I was still digging for treasure yesterday.  I dug out the hiding dark blues from the bins on the sewing room shelving.  I tried to combine it with the container that houses Massachusetts Cross and Crown, a Marsha McCloskey design from her book On to Square Two.  (It is the cover quilt actually).   With two pieces of larger yardage, I could not get the thing closed.  Some went back where I found it but I am hoping that some cutting for the proposed Blue and Light Disappearing 4 Patch (D4P) will make some room in there!!

I think I told you about this being a pass around quilt with one of my small quilt groups in central IL.  It was like a trip back in time digging around in the box!  16 friends participated in this round.  Some are no longer with us.  The year was 1993 into 1994.  Yes, this is an ancient UFO but I have others that are older!  This was the section that I completed and sent around with my travel box.

You see the little notes on the blocks.  Those and the directions I sent to the group suggested several different ways one might do the half square triangles (HST) and quarter square triangles (QST) including the Fons and Porter directions for QST's.  I had templates made, sent along an EZ angle ruler for the HSTs which I used a lot at that time.  The static thing on there was when I used it for my beloved Road to Oklahoma quilt, another pass around project that remains a top.   I had totally forgotten about that speed grid marker thing but I may give that some attention.

 It is a similar type thing to that recent demonstration at the JOY guild  by the gals at P. S. Goin' Sewin'.  (Shannon had developed a template for making the squares and HSTs required to make a 6 inch finished Jewel Box block or any other combo.  You could use two layer cake sections to get started.)   Somewhere around here I have some block making templates that I picked up in Paducah during the AQS show years ago.   I think with all my foundation piecing stuff along with some foundation stamps that Boline's at Indian Creek used to sell (B-N area vendor).  I'm going to have to go treasure hunting----again!  I think I know where it might be but getting at it is the problem.  Who makes a closet with one itty bitty door instead of bi-folds, for Pete's sake?   Just try to get at anything in the way back of the closet--I dare ya!

It looks like I have 74 or 75 blocks done.  These are nine inch blocks.  The sashing bits are two inch finished.  I think I know what it is those bags but didn't want to dig through them---ugh!  Part of the reason why the container wouldn't close, those things.

As I was looking through the blocks and counting, several had "Mom" written on the back in the seam allowances.  I counted 5 and had asked for 3 or 4.  That blue fabric is sort of a joke between Mom and I.  It was once a sundress I had made to wear.  Loosely fitting, my mom got to looking at it for the yardage as the print went so well with something she had been making.  She got the dress!

I should also tell you that this is a case of history repeating itself.  This Young Man's Fancy was made by my great-grandmom and passed on to me by my materal grandmother.  The family story is that Great-Grandmom had always wanted to make this quilt and years later she made it in two colors, a soft blue and a print.  It has faded a good bit so it almost looks like a whole cloth quilt but the picture below might show it a bit better as it is used in the borders.
Well, apparently she ran out of that print fabric and word is, my grandmother had to give up her dress that was made from that same print in order for it to be completed.  You know how full skirted those used to be.   It was hand quilted by a local church group in Nebraska.

This was something else that I discovered stuck up on the shelves.  I sort of remember putting it there but the origin is a little fuzzy.  Lois will have to help me remember BUT I think 6 or 7 of the BOM packets came from Linda C in a box she mailed to Lois.  I took them as I knew I had a packet here at home from the Friendship Guild sew-in packets or library or some such thing.  It is the 2004 Hancock's Quilter's Sampler Party.   I had put my packet in one of my notebooks the other day so dug it out and dug through the bag these were in to organize the rest in its own notebook.  Turns out there are 3 blocks completed and another that just needs the sections joined.   I found the missing ones on ebay.  No way will I find the fabrics they used for framing the blocks and doing the borders but eventually this can be finished in some manner.  I like the green and peach even though it is probably a little dated.  Think a kid will care?

It's time to think about lunch and I have an errand to run.  Oscar is outside at the present while Skyler already had his second "treat" bite and settled back on his kitchen chair.   I will hate to see how much white belly fur is covering the chair pad!

That's it for today's note---thx for stopping by to see me!

busy day

It has been a busy Monday!

• I took the day off from lap walking as I had agreed to follow the neighbor to drop off the car and bring Robert home.  However, Glynda had an unexpected cancellation in the shop schedule.  I was up and dressed anyway but depending on when they get the call, I may run him to pick it up. 
•  I received the articles I needed to complete the guild newsletter, finished that up, emailed it off and posted it on our website.  
• I'm on the 2nd load of wash now.
• Got my hair cut.  Glynda did a bit more layering so we'll see how that goes.   It is fine if it takes some of the heaviness out especially around my face.   I just know that curly/wavy headed might be the way to go as once my head gets sweaty, it turns into a version of it anyway, LOL.
• Walked Oscar twice with one or two more runs scheduled.
• Got groceries, concentrating on more fruits and veggies
• Got busy in the kitchen prepping veggies and made another pot of iced tea.  Drink a lot of that when it is this warm and humid, decaf though

I am trying to get more fit.  That's why the walking laps.  Since the 14th of June walking 6 days out of 7 I walked just shy of 30 miles.  Add in the dog trips in the lane average of 3 times a day--sometimes 4 or 5--add another 20 miles.  WOW!  No wonder my joints are wondering "what's up?"  The weight has stabilized, I guess.  I am not losing as much as staying in a holding pattern but hopefully that will move the needle the correct direction soon so I don't get discouraged.

I keep a raw veggie tray at the ready for the afternoon hunger fade. There are some cukes sliced in vinegar in the fridge too.  I don't like broccoli raw so much so that gets a teeny taste of some Feta Dill dressing when I do eat it.  I love those halo oranges--seedless, easily peeled.  Kiwis and apples are good too.  I got a mango at the store and think I need a lesson on cubing those or what to look for when you buy them as it was a mushy mess!  They had advertised cantaloupes for a good price but there were none available today.  I still want one though.  They had berries but still a little high, I thought.

I also nuked a couple ears of sweet corn, snapped and steamed some green beans and made a bowl of guacamole.  Avocados are good for you but those tortilla chips not so much, LOL.  I like it on wraps though.  I'll try to behave.   Fish tacos would have been good!  Too bad I didn't think of that sooner.  There is a good recipe for those on Taste of Home Fish Tacos with Avocado Sauce though I left out the hot stuff.  DJ even liked them.

 The critters are staying to stay cool though Skyler has since moved to the front door.  There is a good bit of cloud cover and we won't see much sun till it gets below the tree line.  I think he is waiting for the neighborhood cat to come strolling by.

Oscar is up and down, in and out.  I could do without doggie backside on my arm and leg but yes, I love you too.

The view as I came back up the hall.  What sillies!  Four eyes checking out my every move, LOL.

On the quilting front, or rather "thinking about quilting" front yesterday:

• I got a "wrap 'em" sized Treasure Amidst the Bric a Brac drawn up in EQ but eliminated a couple pieces I don't think need to be in the periphery of the quilt.
• I spent entirely too much time going through my notebooks looking for something I have either loaned out or misplaced.  Donna Poster's Mega Pattern for Texas Trellis.   I wanted to compare that pattern with how Marti Michell does it in her Hexagon book. 

Still, looking through the notebooks locates other fun things that I have saved or patterns I have bought/downloaded/been gifted with by quilting friends.

• I wanted to show Bev the Terry Atkinson clipping of a yo-yo quilt since she is making them.  
• I found two cool star blocks that might go in my Farmer's Wife Inspired Sampler once resized or would make a good donation quilt idea.   I'll show those down the line as one has more than one name, this one for the fabric. I think. 
•  There is a printout for a cool intertwining squares and rectangles called "Movement in Squares".  That one is free if you want it.   
• There is a screen shot I printed out of my Kindle copy of Camille Roskelley's Simply Retro for her "Framed" pattern which uses layer cakes.  I have one that I got with Christmas money several years ago searching for the right pattern.  Maybe this would work?  
• I like one called "Sweet Life" too but that takes fat quarters.   
• The Big EZ pattern from Bloom Creek.  
• A section of Braid my mom sent me  using a technique in Fons and Porter Scrap Quilt Magazine, fall 2011 that uses half hexies.  Great!  I've got one of those which is why I was looking for that Texas Trellis.  
• Stitchery stuff that Maggie sent me recently, etc etc.   

It's all in its own notebook now---inspirations file.  I had planned on searching for and cutting any dark blue and white on white bits hiding in the sewing room today but so far that hasn't happened.  Laundry, errands, kitchen details have taken precedence.  Maybe tomorrow.  Maybe later tonight.  There is the timer for the dryer.

THX for stopping by------

this and that on a Saturday

......And the non-sewing drought continues though I have been studying and considering different aspects of a couple of different patterns. I went to a "one woman" quilt exhibit held at a nearby church yesterday which triggered some of that quilty curiosity.   More on that in a bit!

Also I reorganized a few of my fabric totes and made sure the containers were labeled as to what is housed in there. I want to do that blue and white Disappearing 4 patch (D4P) sometime next month so most of the shifting around was because of that. However, I know there is more hiding in my sewing room, depleted from several QOVs but I may be able to scrounge some 6 1/2 inch squares from those bits. If not, I am cutting them up for other uses. I've got an old UFO of Massachusetts Cross and Crown that also uses dark blues, for example.  I'll dig it out for you to see or you can read about it on the link above.

The Hancock's of Paducah catalog came a few days ago and I was finding myself intrigued by a quilt on the cover and on page 51 done up in the Gardenvale fabric line by Jen Kingswell.  The quilt is called "Gene Pool".  Well, it looks like Marti Michell's "Cubic Turtle" from Quilting for People Who Still Don't Have Time to Quilt to me.   This blogger refers to it and you can check the graphic she used.  I have had those pages flagged in my copy of the book forever.  Essentially it is a four color quilt and I just have not found the perfect fabric combo in sufficient quantity to try it.    Also stuck in the pages of the Cubic Turtle pattern:  printouts.  Sometimes, in the end, it is called Tile Quilt.   The block does not look like much until you join them together.  Scroll on down the page on the threadlove site I liked to and you will see a version of my friend Cher of Marathon Quilter made.

SO I am thinking, looking at a more scrappy version of this from Ms.  Kingswell, "how did she do a scrappy version?".  Boy, would you really have to watch your color placement!  Design wall a must.  Closer inspection shows that she didn't use larger plain squares and 4 patches but they are strips and squares.  Take a look at the version shown here in progress and you can see how it might go together.  Maybe it is made to be jelly roll friendly or some such thing.  She changed it up.

There are many patterns open to interpretation that turn out looking much the same, from a distance anyway.  Like, I can stitch my blue and white D4P using those directions OR I can strip piece sections and use a pattern like this Block of the Month on azpatch and call it woven 9 patch.  (There was another site that had the same thing and called it Knots but no longer available.  Trust me, I looked!)   It isn't the size I want but hey, it is drawn up in EQ now and I could make them 11 inches or 13 inches or whatever trips my trigger if I go that route.  The Disappearing 4 patch way, mine came out 11 as I cut mine a little wider by accident---see HERE --but I liked my way better, LOL.  And will repeat that "error" on purpose.

What else has my attention?   I postponed my lap walking yesterday until AFTER I went to look at Fleeta's quilt exhibit.  I get pretty sweaty after walking almost 2 miles in the Alabama heat and humidity and then car's a/c does a number on my hair.  Good plan to wait!  Fleeta used to come to Bama Belles but then later settled in with the JOY Guild and more specifically with a small group within the guild.  I don't see her much anymore but many of the quilts were probably held up for guild show and tell.  A few pieces I remembered.  She also cross stitches beautifully so other items were there as well.  She walked around with me to tell me more about the quilts.  Many of them are going to family members if they haven't already been borrowed back for the exhibit.  I took a few pictures with my phone.

I forgot what she called this and she had another done up in blues that was very well done.  Obviously there are alternating blocks which complete the framing of green around the other Weather Vane-like block.  I told her I would look and see if I could come up with the name in BlockBase.

She had two made in this pattern and said it was "Treasures Amidst the Bric-a-Brac"  apparently taught in a guild class by a mother and daughter quiltshop owners team up on the Mountaintop.  Thing is, I know who/what she meant though I cannot come up with the name either though some of the Belles and I have been there on a field trip.

I have a photo of quilt just like it in my files but it did not print off with the blog name and I neglected to label it but it did intrigue me.  I can sort of see how the alternating block goes together but not what happens where the two chains intertwine.

Here it is in the alternate colorway.  

Mr. Google showed me that this is a mystery quilt from a book called amazingly, Mystery Quilts by Rita Fishel.  This link will open to a pdf file. There is a pattern for something called "legend of the spinning top" that looks like something fun for Belles to try.  I like the blocks shown in the pdf file even though I am not crazy about doing mystery quilts so I ordered a used copy from amazon.  I like to read mystery books but quilts is about the process to me.  "Here is a picture of my fabrics now visualize your own" and make the blocks to make it happen.  I like the one down near "meet the author" on the table of contents on the left.  Wonder what that looks like when combined with other blocks?  Guess I'll find out soon enough!

I am hoping that Oscar and I can settle into a bit of a routine so he can go outside for a few hours in the backyard once the sun is more in the front of the house.  Just a couple hours to sew or cut.  Or even quilt or that matter as I have several pinned and waiting.  Used wisely, I would not feel like such a slug.  I miss it.  I am due that reward project!!  Past due.

Well, speaking of Oscar we have done the "do you need to go out?" hokey pokey for about an hour.  I go to open the back door and he hops in his bed or just looks at me like " what?  are you nuts, lady?"  He did at one point head to the carport door but I was not ready to go and he ran back to the couch.  I was ignoring his "please walk" signal.  I finally made him go out the back but feel guilty---a little, LOL.  I'm tired and achy but will do it anyway.  Skyler, on the other hand, is practically Velcro'd to his chair in the kitchen.  It has been days and days since he got on either window perch.   He has taken to climbing on Oscar's spot on the couch however, mostly once Oscar is in bed.

Till next time------

checking in

I noticed a huge spike (like 500 people???)  in page views for some reason. Maybe some friends and/or family members are checking in to see if I have updated the blog. Or looking for the photos from yesterday's quilt meeting. (Lois had 5 quilts to turn in and 2 to pin---and they are beauties!) The reason doesn't matter, I'm just speculating, LOL.

There were only 4 of us at the meeting yesterday for various reasons.  It being so close to the Memorial Day weekend, I have in the past cancelled the meeting but we still had a good time together and left for lunch back in town since the three of us going live in the mid and northern end of the county.  Wouldn't you know we ran into Bev coming out of Wendy's and she had left a few minutes earlier than we had!  Terri joined us when Jane was able to get her on the cell.

Bev had been busy making yo-yo's while I was cutting diamond sections from the strip sets I had sewn last meeting.  Jane and Lois teamed up at the pinning table.  Below is one of the tops---Lois got her diamond quilt done while I'm still piddling around with strip sets, LOL.    This is "Maddie Bea's Quilt", designed by Phyllis Anderson using her Sweet 'N Sassy templates and featured in her book Diamond Quilts.  Love it in the fall tones.   Lois said she was not happy with the bias edges that resulted in the left and right hand sides cutting it as written.  I told her we should be able to figure out how to make a template that is on straight of grain.  She told me in essence "to go for it", LOL.  It will be awhile before I personally need it but I know she'll make another of these from our conversation.

Lois asked me if I had brought my camera when she came in as she had quilts to turn in.  I had but had almost forgotten it in my rush to get out the door.  I had not packed up the night before as the stuff I thought I might cut was still sitting on the kitchen table while the camera was elsewhere in the house.

 Knowing I would ask, this time she had a note attached to this quilt.   Funny!  The outside blocks are "Pinwheel Fancy" by Bonnie Hunter while the inside section are "Triangle Tango" by Jenny Doan of Missouri Star Quilt Company fame and featured in "Block" magazine.   There is a video tutorial for that but she calls it Falling Triangles and it uses layer cakes.  I'll have to see about doing it with charm packs for  special little lady in MY life.

This is a Bargello quilt and I am fairly sure it uses the Billie Lauder pattern as I have one similar to it playing off the butterfly fabric with a black background.

The picture does NOT do this one justice.  Emily's Wedding Quilt from Fons and Porter.  The quilt has taken the fancy of more than one area quilter and was first spotted at a retreat some went to in Attalla.

This is Anita Grossman Solomon Arrowhead. How about that monkey border fabric?  Too cute.  BTW, the pattern is still available for download.   I know a couple of online friends got into making these after I mentioned and linked to this a few months back, LOL.  Gene combined his with an Old Italian block alternating and it can be seen HERE with some of his amazing quilting.

This is Lois' version of Pioneer Sampler designed by Eleanor Burns.  The dogwood print is lovely but that yellow piece with the pink really pulls the whole quilt together.  Well done, Lois!

There you have it for today's quilt show, LOL.

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Today I have mainly done errands and walked.  I am continuing to walk 6 days out of 7 and usually 7 laps for 1.96 miles.  Then I come home and walk Oscar who is waiting (outside) for his breakfast but then so am I, come to think of it.    I am still more or less "thinking" about sewing but not actually getting to it.  Read quite a bit over the weekend doing the "Advocate Series" by Teresa Burrell.  4 books had been free on Book Bub or OHFB but I started the 5th one last night.  That's how they get you hooked, I guess but still good that the others were free.  Not complaining.

Around the neighborhood, they finally mowed the yard across the lane but they did not clean up any of the brush on this side of the fence in the easement.  If anything, they added to the sticks and branches as they got the lawn tractor stuck on the combination of sloping yard and tree "droppings".  Robert kind of mows what he can even though it is their yard.  The painting crew is still busy working almost daily though.  I still think they are going to flip this house but we'll see.

Next door, had a tree removal crew in but they basically just cut away all the volunteer trees and took down the tree that had split and landed on their fencing.  Good riddance for that thing as it still could have taken down our lines again had it fell the opposite direction.  The tree I thought they wanted down to put up the carport still remains UP.   Hmmm.

The house across the main road is still for sale.  Kids are done with school as graduation was this past Thursday.   Robert and Glynda are into gardening this summer so I see them out watering the various plantings a good bit.    We have had rain in the forecast every day since Sunday and clear up to next Monday but it has not really been anything much measurable at my house.

The only thing I see flowering in my yard is the angel trumpet lilies under the Rose of Sharon bush.  There are day lilies in that mess too but I don't see them yet.  Gardenias should be coming out sometime but that thing might still be recovering from the severe cutting back I did last year.  I have also managed to just about kill the house plant that DJ had nutured for 30 plus years.  Not even sure what it is but a common house plant that hangs down.  It was a plant that his son had gotten when he was in the hospital in the early 80's, DJ said.  We'll see if it manages to bounce back or if I should not be trusted with any growing thing besides my critters, that is.  The aloe vera plant survives in spite of me.

Guess that is it for this installment.  Hope you all had a safe holiday weekend.

Thursday check-in

This probably says it all---"I'd Rather Be Quilting".  (The T is a needle and thread and does not show up so well.)  Alabama does not require a front and back license plate so the front is open to showing off your team spirit, hobbies, your grandkids, whatever. Naturally I want mine to say something about quilting or sewing.  For years I had a heavy plastic type "license" that read "Quilter on the Move" that I had gotten at Quiltmaker's Workshop in Trussville buying it with some birthday money.   When I sold the 2nd car after DJ's passing, it was showing some cracks and I taped it up with packing tape and continued to use it on the Pontiac.  Well, last month when I was going to pick up Janet at the ATL airport, I noticed only a few pieces of the plastic remained.  The car looked naked!  I found this at Cafe Press , aluminum and sturdy.  Back in business, so to speak.

Mostly I have just been thinking about quilting.  Oh, I have had the machine sitting out since the Belles meeting 9 days ago but did not touch it till yesterday---and then it was only to swap out to the one I quilt with.   The grandmother had called to make arrangements for me to drop off the quilt on Tuesday.  She decided that I needed to put a couple quilting lines through her embroidered piece after all.  I drug it back home but also came back with a robe she needed hemmed up.  She knows I hate to do mending and/or alterations but this time I agreed to do it.  I set up the room to quilt which took longer than it did to actually do those two lines.  Then un-did the process, put on a walking foot, knit needle and fixed the robe.    I met her halfway and handed off the quilt on Wednesday morning as she was going to her daughter's in the ATL area for the day.  Tomorrow, I'll hand off the robe.

I did one other thing last evening on the machine when I put a buttonhole in the little bag I haul around with me when I walk to accomodate headphone jack.  The bag is just big enough to hold my cell phone, my drivers license, a small container of Purell,  lip balm, whatever.  I have also attached a lap counter (really a Clover knitting counter re-purposed)  to a decorative button hiding the Velcro closure, dangling by a piece of matching rat-tail trim.  My ipod shuffle just died and I don't know if they even make them anymore with the prolieration of cell phones with music apps.  I'm going to miss that thing!  Phone service is not so realiable for streaming, I am finding.

This chromebook is acting up too.  Keeps shutting itself off, the F key sticks but always has.  Last night the cursor got stuck in place and I couldn't power down.  I had to let the power run down completely and then this morning I was able to start anew while it recharged.  Isn't technology fun?  I see replacement coming its way at this rate.  I love this tablet's features and barely turn on the desktop anymore but do not love the aggravations!

Now that the park is no longer a muddy, puddly mess I decided I better get my behind out walking.   I've been at it for a little over a week going 6 or 7 laps each time out in addition to the 3-4 times out walking the lane with Oscar.  The park is a little over a quarter mile meaning I am going 1.68 or 1.96 miles.  The lane measures 0.36 round trip so add another mile to the daily totals.  I better be seeing that scale needle making some movement downward!!  Lately it is up a pound or two, then down, then up---aggravating.   I drag out of bed, feed Skyler, put Oscar outside till I get back, walk and feed him, hit the shower, eat breakfast, do laundry if needed.  A routine is established.

Monday was routine checkup day at the doctor's.  He congratulated me on the strides in the weight department,  "I knew there was something different about you today", he says. Then he was teasing me about getting ready to find some male companionship.  Mentally I am not ready for that!  Not even if I dropped another 30 lbs would I be ready for that physically.  Sheesh.   His long time nurse commented on the new hair-do.   I told the Doctor that the haircut might be part of the change in appearance.

Tuesday was binge cook day.  And laundry.  I re-set my phone, updated the desktop.  I'm keeping busy, just not sewing much.   I have been knitting a bit on this Mary's Blanket that Susan T suggested to me some time back.  Not sure which baby might get this as I know my sister Janet is apt to make her grandbaby one.  I just piddle with this anyway.   She made a beautiful feather and fan one that I think went to my nephew's baby girl.   I helped her figure out the pattern awhile ago and she ran with it!   Here is the POST where I showed and told about it.

Day is half over and I am still not sure what I want to do today.  I'll figure it out, LOL.  Read, sew?  No errands to run.  I've done the Dead Red series of books on Kindle by RP Dahlke recently on my friend Gene's recommendation.  THX for that!