Yellow Mystery House & Brandi

For those of you who ventured a guess as to what the yellow house was that we saw on our Garden Walk, I think butterfly house is the correct answer. Jim thought it was a bat house, but so many people guessed otherwise. I finally did a Google Images search and this shows houses similar to what we saw.

The second picture shows Brandi with the Kittens for Brandi quilt that I finished just in time for her graduation party. It was started when she was about five years old.

Making progress

Progress has been made on the border for my Dear Jane quilt. All of the pieced, appliqued and plain triangles, plus the four corner blocks are now sewn together into four long strips. The triangles and corners were all hand pieced or appliqued except for one. I made freezer paper templates and used YLI Heirloom cotton thread. The stitching went very quickly and was much easier to keep the seams and points accurate. It's a bit daunting as I realize the next step will have me attaching these borders to my center squares section. I hope they will line up properly.

Garden Walk

Today was a gorgeous weather day! It also happened to be the date chosen for the Bay City Garden Walk. This year four of the six featured homes were near our house, so Jim bought tickets for us. It's like going to a quilt show and getting inspired to make more quilts. Seeing the beautiful gardens of plants and flowers made me want to do better in my yard. We were allowed to take pictures, so I'm sharing a few of my favorites from today. I took many. The last photo which shows a little yellow house was a mystery for me, but Jim knew what it was. Do you?

Father's Day

We celebrated Father's Day twice today. My sister, Judy, invited everyone over to watch the Detroit Tigers. We had a very nice lunch, after which my dad opened his gifts. We settled in to watch the ballgame. A bit earlier, Jim received a call on his cell that his sister was being released from the hospital She had been in for a few days and was in need of a ride home. About halfway through the game, I left for our house with Mike and Simone to celebrate Jim's special day. We enjoyed BBQ chicken, baked potatoes, salad and watermelon for an early evening meal. Lots of good food today.

I was doing some blog reading tonight and came across Gail's post where she talks about taking her nine year granddaughter to her first quilt shop. It reminded me of when I took my granddaughter, Abigail, to a quilt shop in her hometown a few years ago. I told her to look at all of the fabrics very carefully, and some of them would speak to her. After being inside the shop for just a few minutes, I heard, "Grandma, this one is speaking to me" and "so is this one." It was so cute.

Here is Abby with the fabrics she chose for the first quilt she made. The second photo is Abby with the quilt that I made her for Christmas in 2002. The quilt looks blue, but is really purple.

Finished! Done! Next!

It seems like a couple months of Tuesdays since I've been able to use those words relating to any of my projects. I've been steadily working on the kitty quilt for my niece, Brandi, whose graduation party is next week-end. This top was made way back in the early 90s and then set aside to await just the right time for it to be quilted. Cotton fabrics were not as plentiful then as they are now and the mauve/blue color combination was very popular. I machine quilted oval eyes and whiskers, then in the ditch forthe rest of it. The mice around the kitties have embroidered tails and french knot eyes. I doubt she will remember the quilt, but I hope she is happy with it. I'm elated to have it crossed off of my UFO list.

I'm still sewing Dear Jane triangles into rows, too. It's good to have projects for both hand stitching and machine work. You never know what you'll feel like doing on any given day. With my list of UFO's, I believe I have every possible mood covered.

Win a JoAnn's Gift Card

Have you been over to The Wooden Porch lately? Every now and then a blogger will have a drawing and send a prize, like for their 100th post. Well, this time you have a chance to win a $25.00 Gift Card just for leaving a comment on her blog. How neat is that! Last time I looked, there were ONLY 229 other hopefuls, so the odds keep diminishing. But, someone will win and it could be you (or me).

NO HITTER IN MOTOWN

YES, I'M SHOUTING! Justin Verlander, is only 24 years old, but he threw a masterpiece last night against the Milwaukee Brewers at Comerica Park that inked his name into the record books. He was aided by some spectacular defense, most notably, the sliding catch by Ordonez in right field and the double play by Perez, Polanco and Casey. What a night for Justin, his fans and the Detroit Tigers!

Friday

Not much new here since my last post. I have been machine quilting the kitty quilt for my niece, Brandi and am making decent progress. One more good session at my Bernina should have it ready for the binding.

In the meantime, my friend, Judy, sent me this link today. I got a kick out of it and am sharing it with you tonight.

And since I don't like to post without a picture, here is one of my buttercups and another of the cute power line pole around Orlando.

Chilly Tuesday

Temps are only in the sixties today, but will return to the eighties by Thursday. It's a good day to catch up on things inside the house.

I took the finished triangles for my Dear Jane quilt along to Florida hoping to get them stitched into rows. There was some time for sewing on the plane, in the airport, in the hotel room and in the gyms. The triangles are all hand stitched and I'm joining them by hand, also. My third row of triangles is almost together now. The photo shows it on the back of the couch by the tiger that DS, Mike bought for me. I have one final row to assemble and then the four border rows are ready to be sewn to the center squares. I've been working on this quilt on and off (a lot off) since 1998. It may be that the time is right for me to finish it.

We arrived in Orlando, FL last Wednesday and stopped in Lakeland to see Joker Marchant Stadium and the Patchwork Pig on our way to St. Petersburg. My purchases were two new books at the quilt shop, Quilts of Virginia and Unraveling the History of Quilts & Slavery by BarbarA Brackman. This shop had loads of Jo Morton fabrics, which I love, but I didn't get any.













Our next stop was St. Petersburg where we proudly wore our orange, Detroit Tigers t-shirts to the Tampa Bay/Detroit ballgame at Tropicana Field that evening. Sadly, we didn't win, but we were seated with so many other Tiger fans that we really had a fun evening.

Thursday morning we drove to Clearwater and Dunedin to visit Country Quilts 'n Bears and Rainbows End. The latter is the largest quilt shop in Florida. My time was limited there, but it was an amazing shop. In Clearwater, I bought a few Japanese fabrics, a Jo Morton red, and a spool of King Tut quilting thread. All three shops were full of tempting bolts and patterns, etc. I had to remember that we were flying home and space was limited in the suitcase. And besides, I'm supposed to be using up my fabrics! Jim is always very patient while I check out the shops. He comes prepared with his laptop and often finds a coffee shop to sit down and wait.






Sunday's alarm clock rudely rang at 5:00a.m. after which our day was spent in Orlando International, Dulles, and finally O'Hare airports before arriving at MBS and thankfully home around 8:00p.m. This was only the second time I have been to Florida, but I hope to go back. There was so much history in St. Augustine. I did visit the Fountain of Youth and am still waiting...

Home Again

We returned home last night after spending four days in Florida and one in various airports. It was wonderful to see new places, including three quilt shops and to reunite with familiar faces. The weather was hot, but not so humid that it was uncomfortable. The goalball tournament went smoothly, in spite of tornado warnings on Saturday. However, when we were leaving very early Sunday morning, Jim learned that one of the Pennsylvania athletes had been killed during the night by a hit and run driver. That tragedy has put a huge cloud over anything I wanted to say about our trip. If you pray, please include the family and friends of Darryl Green. He was only 24 years old.