August challenge

Tilde is a wonderful quilter from Denmark who issues challenges on the WIProducers list at Yahoo. For August, we were told to find our ogre, a quilt that's been hanging around unfinished for some time (UFO in other words) and needs to move forward. Although I dislike associating the word ogre with this quilt, I had to choose the wedding quilt for Kari and Craig. They are celebrating their 14th wedding anniversary today. It's had several setbacks and I could list a ton of excuses. Today I removed the rows from the drawer that housed them and created a top. It next needs an inner border of off white fabric (which I ran out of) and then a final border consisting of 68 log cabin blocks (which I had begun sewing, but later discovered I had used white instead of off white background pieces). I bought the floral material as my focus fabric fifteen years ago at a quilt show in Marshall. It is still one of my favorites. That's a plus because often the fabrics we were once so thrilled with become not so great when we finally get around to using them.

Happy Anniversary, Kari and Craig.

Book Recommendation

This one had me laughing out loud. It's a great read!

July 30th - You can read the first two chapters of this book online at her website.

Jasper and Annie

Thank goodness for kitty pictures when I don't have any pictural progress of my quilting projects. Never a day passes that opportunities don't present themselves for the cutest photos of Jasper and Annie. Now remember Jasper is still pouting since he is grounded for life. You can often find him staring mindlessly out of the kitchen window. Jim found a tunnel at a garage sale yesterday that has temporarily taken both of their minds off of the outside. Annie sleeps right inside the middle of it, while Jasper is a bit leery and stays on the edges. They both chase each other through it and that is hilarious to watch. Pretty soon there will be more cat furniture in the living room than people stuff.

Happy Dozen

A dozen! Yes, my darling granddaughter, Abigail, is now a dozen! Today is Abby's 12th birthday. It seems like just yesterday she was a little baby with lots of dark curls on her head. Today she is a beautiful preteen with blonde hair. Happy birthday, Abby.


















We had a CAT-astrophe here last week. Our tiger cat, Jasper, took off for the corn fields after lunch and was lost until the wee hours of the morning. I had to go to bed without him snuggled up to my ankle, although I couldn't sleep. Jim and I took turns checking the kitchen window for signs that he was back. Finally, Jim saw him under the cherry tree in the back yard. I ran out to get him and told him he was grounded for life. He ran right to the food dish. Jasper and Annie only go out when we are outside to watch them, and they both come when called. Not this time. So now we are listening to the whining again since they are indoor cats again. Don't they look sweet and innocent sleeping here on their cat condo?


I'm still working on the string blocks, applique kit, DJ borders and some nine patches. My string block count for the challenge is up to 20 now. This little quilt top was made from half-square triangle units left from the siggie swap on Jo Morton's yahoo list. I haven't done anything with the siggie blocks yet, but I felt the urge to sew up these pieces.

Sleepy Sunday

My Tigers have been playing out in Seattle, WA the last three nights which means the ballgames don't begin here until a little after ten. I can't sleep knowing they are playing, so I stay up to watch. Win or lose, I'm too wound up to go right to sleep afterwards, so by this morning, I'm really dragging. Church at nine with an outdoor service in the pavillion and all that fresh air had me begging for a nap early today.

If you've been wondering about the surprise mentioned on Nadine's blog for the last few weeks, the secret has been revealed. Click on over to Finn's blog to see what it was all about. I'm sure Nadine is anxious to read how her idea played out, but poor gal, is still vacationing in Italy.


I succumbed to a fabric and book buy from Four Seasons Quilt Shop in Plymouth, MN. As a member of the JoMorton Stitchers list on Yahoo, I had been following the discussion of Jo's new book, Remembrances and her Coventry fabric line. My order arrived yesterday. The book and fabrics are wonderful!

On Heartstrings, a challenge was issued by Mary to make 365 Heartstrings string blocks in the next year inspired by new member Tresica Watts, who sent in the most remarkable photo. It's really difficult for me to resist such a challenge, expecially when I have so many strips already cut and way too much in my fabric stash. Yesterday I had planned on sewing a block, but ended up with seven. Perhaps I should sew a week's worth at each sitting. That may be a better plan for me as it's tough to sew just one string block at a time. I have lots of two inch purple strips for my middles. Wonder how many I'll get from that chunk of fabric.

No More Stalling

Yvonne asked me today if I was still stalled with my triangle borders. I was happy to reply to her that the first one was ready to stitch tonight. I can now report one down, and three to go. It wasn't nearly as bad as I had anticipated. It seldom is. I make such mountains out of every little mole hole. It's that ole perfection thing. As long as the next step is only in my mind, it is still perfect. In reality, it will never be perfect, but I keep repeating this behavior.

Our garden is full of sunflower volunteers. They are beginning to bloom in bunches. I don't like to pull them out even though some are invading the tomato plants. There's alwys too many tomatoes anyway.

InkLingo

Today I tried out my InkLingo Shape Collection 2 and printed out teeny little quarter square triangles. Linda Franz, author of Quilted Diamonds and Quilted Diamonds 2, is the creative genius behind this innovative idea of printing your stitching lines directly onto your fabric using your computer printer. The shapes are then ready to sew either by hand or machine. I wanted to use my sewing machine today and the results were pretty good for my first try.

Saturday, Jim and I went to Oakville, Ontario. He spent Saturday chasing down bargains at area garage sales while I visited with quilters from around Canada and two from Maryland at Ginny's Quilt Shop (formerly Jillybeans). The date was 7/7/07 and this was the seventh reunion at that location of quilters who were making baby Jane quilts from the book Dear Jane by Brenda Papadakis. The reunion included some InkLingo veterans who had wonderful quilts to share with everyone. Linda brought so many gorgeous samples from her next book and cd that it made my head spin. The possibilities are endless. It is fast and precise and fun. Has anyone else tried it?

Stalling

While I'm stalling on attaching my Dear Jane borders, I have been quilting a kit that has been on my UFO list for ages. (Aren't they all) This is a kit I bought from Judie Rothermel back when she was a vendor at the Rotary in Paducah, KY. The kit suggests quilting the background before appliqueing the leaves and yo-yo flowers. At first I wasn't going to do that, so I stitched the vase. Then I changed my mind and quilted the background. I have the yo-yos made and the leaves are ready for applique.


The neighbors are beginning their holiday fireworks as darkness nears. They've been practicing for the last three nights. Bay City has their big display tonight and it is always a terrific show. We didn't go this year as the Tigers are playing. The skies will be lit up again tomorrow as Saginaw does their annual show. So far the weather is cooperating, too.
I hope everyone has a wonderful 4th of July whatever you chose to do.