LISTEN .... to that voice in your head

So, I'm paper piecing my numbers for the ABC123 quilt. i do 1 and 2 .... hang them on the wall....admire them...and say 'that is good'.

Then i make 3 and 4 .... hang them on the wall....admire them....hhmmmm......not sure i like that. well, it will be ok.

Make 5 and 6 ..... hang them on the wall.... admire them.....shoot!!.....i don't like those at all. damn it!!

So, instead of listening to that voice in my head and only having to re-do numbers 3 and 4......i now have to re-do numbers 3, 4, 5 and 6.  sheesh!    experience teaches me nothing. i think i am untrainable.

So, i have redone numbers 3 and 4, ..... hung them on the wall....admired them....and said 'that is good'. 

But, now i am done for the night. 5 and 6 can wait till tomorrow. 

Why does it take me so long to listen to the voice in my head?  it must be the rebel in me.

I gotta do better.

Raggedy Hearts

This is my sister's quilt....and she has waited patiently for me to get this simple top done....weeks. LOL  it wasn't that it was so hard....it's that the garden and mower called me louder. thanks for being patient, sis.

She's been piecing a lot of red, white and blue lately. this one is adorable. i stitched the hearts across and down....following the white lines. then went around it a couple times.

Used my Quiltazoid spiral for the rail fence blocks. 

The whole time i was quilting it....i kept thinking....what will i do in the border. i got no magic answer....so when brain cells don't cooperate.....feather.   it's a conglomeration of feather playing.  oh, and the blue and white inner border got lines down the white....like piano keys.

The quilting shows up much better on the back.

When you freehand lines around the hearts...you get crooked lines. hahahahahaha   we'll call it Folk Art. hahaha

At least Quiltazoid makes you quilt somewhat straighter.

Here you can see the lines in the inner border, too.

And for grins....there is a feathered heart in the border. the purple will fade away. 

I still have another quilt of hers to do.....someday. it actually is out of the cabinet and waiting for me. but i'm gonna do a quick one of mine next. then, i'll do your other one, sis....promise. 

Unless the mower and garden talks to me again......in fact, i hear it calling my name now.  vroom..vroom

Hahahahahahaha

Album of Memories

I have subscribed to a lot of quilting magazines over the years. there was a time when i had about a dozen coming every month. but after a while......they all started to look the same. so i stopped them all. but every once in a while....i find something that i really like and want to make.

This quilt is from an old McCalls Quilting magazine ....2001. It is designed by Robert Callaham and is called Album of Memories.  it is just gorgeous.

I have the center finished.  I am STILL using up the rest of that wool felt.....so i used that for the applique in the center. but the applique in the rest of the blocks will be with regular cotton fabrics. it is hard to fuse wool felt....it takes a while to heat through. once i get it to stick well enough, i turn the piece over and press from the back side, too. that seems to help heat the fusible and stick it down well.

There were 80 of those tiny round berries. cutting those out was not my favorite part.

This pineapple shaped piece was woven in the original pattern. i really liked it that way...but i figured there was no way that wool felt would fuse down satisfactorily if it was woven. so it will get special quilting treatment.

Lots of rail fence blocks....84 of them so far.   many more to come.

I'm just using fabrics in my stash to make this. matching colors where possible.

And this is the first of 12 blocks that go around the center. it is called the Hamstel Road Memories Block. kind of cool. perhaps the windows could have been lighter. the stems are bias cut and sewn down with invisible thread. the leaves are fused down. the house is pieced. background is small 2" blocks.

It seems Mr. Callaham had a run of designing quilts for McCall's in years past. i have found 2 others from years past that i like also and am going to do. they speak to me for some reason.

So, this project is added to my current list of dozen things i'm working on. but eventually, they all get done.

Gonna go cut out the next block .... sort of a feathered star.  many, many small pieces.

Pray for me. LOL

Oh....the ABC123 quilt top is almost finished. i just lack the pics for I, J, K and X.  am working on the numbers now.  progress!!

Agendas

Yesterday's agenda...

....get up early....go to garden....pull weeds and grass from around plants

....mow grass....use grass clippings to mulch around plants



Today's agenda...

Ditto

The state of the garden

I try to get out in the garden early in the mornings to pull grass and weeds. and then again in the evening. i am not keeping up too well at this point. sigh!!

We have 3 1/2 rows with tomatoes, bell peppers, banana peppers and hot peppers. ... about 70 plants. since i took this pic yesterday i have cleaned out the rest of that grass between the rows and mulched it with grass clippings.

You'll notice there is an 8 foot tall deer fence.

I have 2 purple bell peppers so far. in the past, my pepper plants have gotten as tall as tomatoes. these are staying low to the ground. i got the plants from the local high school greenhouse so don't know what type plants they are. apparantly short ones. hahahahaha

Several plants have banana peppers

I believe this is a hot pepper.

Several tomato plants have babies.

Four rows of corn....200 kernels planted...probably 80% grew. still have to clean grass from the left side row.

About a dozen cushaw squash plants. i planted an abundance in  hopes of getting a half dozen cushaw. if they all make cushaw...i might be in trouble. LOL   more grass to clean out around these, too.

My row of okra is pretty sad. they have been this size for a month. i need to clean a little more around them and mulch better. i need a clone.

I managed to get a row and a few of popcorn in the ground. yes, it needs some cleaning up, too. first time i tried popcorn. never did get any more planted. i guess if these do well, i'll plant more next year. i sort of planted around 3 sides of the garden area instead of all together. don't ask me why. i need to plant things together more so i can turn the sprinkler on them.....think, Shirley, think.

We have 5 apple trees....2 of them are loaded with apples this year.

I tried to thin them out so i would get larger apples but that job is tedious...and hot....and tedious....and boring. so, i'll get what i get. LOL  they need some serious pruning for next year.

Also have a new peach tree with 10 peaches on it. hope we actually get some of those and the squirrels don't find them. we started out with 12.....so there is hope.  2 yellow plums on the new plum tree. all other fruit trees too new to give fruit this year. perhaps next year.

I never did get the carrots planted. i planted green beans and sugar snap peas. overnight the rabbits ate them all.  planted more....same result.  they did leave me stalks of 2 green beans....and those have grown more leaves and i might get a few beans.  unless they come back for them, too.

I saw a rabbit in the driveway when i was pulling grass yesterday. he was looking at the garden....i could see the wheels turning....did he want corn for supper....maybe okra?  i threw a rock at him and he ignored it. threw another rock, closer...he ignored that too.  i threw a THIRD rock....he looked at it and walked away. apparently we have fearless rabbits. wonder if buckshot scares them. hahahahaha

Gotta clean out more grass and weeds so i have room for more mulch. between pulling grass and cutting grass, i stay busy all day long. my hands and back can attest to that, too.

But if i get tomatoes to can and corn to eat....it will all be worth it.  might even get a rabbit in the pot.

Auction find

We go to the neighborhood auction nearly every Monday night and i USUALLY .... almost always...bring something home with me. i have started to just go with $20 in my pocket. keeps me under control. LOL

This last Monday's scores were bags of walnuts for $2 each...i got 8 bags. in the store those are about $6 or more each. I store them in the freezer.

And .... this lamp...  it's about 15" tall

It's pretty unusual...i've never seen one before. but i think it will fit into the Duck's atmosphere just right.

Pretty nifty...don't you think?

I need more money for auctions. LOL

OH...there is a large auction this Saturday.....i might be in trouble.

ABC 123

I am working on an alphabet quilt. the letters are 3" paper pieced...then i added the blue border to make them 6 inches. the pics are whatever i had that would fit the bill. I am still looking for pics for I, J, K, X and Y.  my sis suggested a piece of yellow fabric for the Y...and i think i'll go with that.

A is for airplane
B is for basketball...or just ball
E is for elephants
F is for football

C is for cats
D is for dinosaur
G is for giraffe
H is for horses

M is for money
N is for numbers
Q is for quilt...naturally...LOL
R is for rooster
U is for umbrella
V is for vegetables

O is for owls
P is for peanuts
S is for seashells
T is for tree

V is for vegetables
W is for witch
Z is for zebra

Now to find those other letter pictures and do the numbers. i already have an idea or 2 for another alphabet quilt.

This one was lots of fun. the hunt for the pictures is key. LOL

June Git 'Er Done Challenge completed

If you are playing along with JudyL at www.patchworktimes.com   then you know what this is all about. my Git 'Er Done Challenge list for June was:

1.  Piece the red and white 4 patch top...DONE

It's bigger than it looks...queen size...just hanging over the rack.  Hope to quilt it in the next week or so...i have a plan.....kind of.

2.  Finish piecing Garden Flowers strip blocks....DONE

3.  Quilt alphabet quilt for my sis ....  DONE

4.  Quilt wall hanging made from candy paper wrappers ....  DONE

This is about 18x24" .  i hung it on the wall at the studio. you can't quilt over paper much...i had to put a bit of Elmers in a couple places.

Can you see where it says Reeses on it?  a lot of candy was consumed for this quilt. LOL

The July Challenge list is:

1.  Quilt that red and white 4 patch top.

I have a plan to just quilt Xs over the squares. can't make up my mind if i want to quilt it all one color...either red or white thread ....or put red thread on the red blocks and white thread on the white blocks.  Or...red thread on the white blocks  and white thread on the red blocks.  now that i think on it....i'm guessing i probably need to do all white thread....so i can travel back and forth across the rows without stopping. that's a plan!

2.  I have started an alphabet quilt .... and with numbers, too. so far i have done 5 blocks...H L M W and Z.  i want to paper piece all the rest of the letters and the numbers. and then see how many more pics i can find for the letters.

3.  Sew all red, white and blue strip blocks for the flag quilt. i have 12 done....i need 80.

I've had this pile of red, white and blue sitting for a while....time to use them up.

4.  Piece together the Disappearing 16 patch blocks. i have part of it done...needs sashing and borders and perhaps a few more blocks. it is all scrappy. one day i got out the AccuQuilt cutter and cut about 750  5" blocks. LOL  out of my scrap boxes.....i have enough cut for another quilt, too.

I think that should all be do-able for July. i will be gone a few days....but most of these projects are already started....so just need to Git 'Er Done.

Are you playing along? are you keeping up?   Just...

Git 'Er Done

Candy Paper quilt

You know that every once in a while i get a wild hair.....well, ok.....a lot.....we crazy people do weird things. i have a button that says "doing strange things in the name of art".  Well....that's what this is. LOL

Last year....or maybe the one before that.....i decided i needed to make a quilt out of shiny, colored candy papers. so, in the name of research, i went through various bags of candy to find the best kind of papers. Reese's Peanut Butter Cups won out. by the way, eating them frozen is the only way to go. hahahaha

Here's what i made. it's about 18" x 21".  12 little shiny stars.  i paper pieced the stars. found out you can't iron these....the shine comes off the papers.

Can you see where it says Reese's on it?

It turned out cute. since the stars are paper, they are coming up a bit where i stitched over them twice. i will put a bit of glue under there to seal them down.

I had this wild print that i thought worked well for the back and binding. took just a few minutes to quilt it up. it will sit out on a table somewhere....or perhaps get pinned up on a wall.

Just an experiment to see if i could do it and how it would turn out.

Let's see what wild notion i get next.

LOL

Books and Duck

I went to my sister's over the weekend. we did a little thrift store shopping....naturally. and went to a book sale in Greenville on Saturday. then i worked at the Duck for a couple days.

I had a whole truckload of yard sale and auction goodies to take down there.

I found a futon for the bedroom. i thought i would need something small in there....but there is surprisingly a lot of space. so this might wind up in the living room and i can put a full bed in there one day. yah, i know....i don't have walls yet.

I have a friend who gave me a box of ceramic tile bits and pieces. i bought a table base at an auction and cut a board to fit the top of it. i am playing with arranging the tiles into some semblance of 'something' that i can live with. my sister helped me with this design. it was the third try. i think i will use this design.

I drew some circles and laid some stuff out. i might get another round or two before i run out of things that match.

I have lots of broken up pieces, so i think i will put them all around the edges. and any of the other parts left over. i almost hate to put them all down on the table....i'll just have to take them off to lay the grout and do it all over again.

I got my luan walls in the dining room painted black. i really like the dark color and will be painting other rooms dark, too. although you won't see this...the barnwood will cover it. i just painted the black so that is what you will see behind the holes in the barn wood.

Black is really hard to photgraph.

Here is my start of putting the barnwood up. 4 sections. and that took me a while. LOL  i started on the other side and it wasn't working out for me....so i moved over here. i had to go and buy a large ruler that i could mark a 45 degree angle. the walls of the house are no longer square, plumb or straight. but baseboard will cover the bottom and trim will cover the top and corners.

Here is a closer shot. the white board is one that i had painted....to see how i liked the milk paint. they will all get painted over....i believe an orange....sort of a pumpkin.

When i looked at this in person...it looks ok. but when i look at the photo....i can see that top board is crooked where i pieced the second board. i already took it off once and re-did it. i will have to do it once again when i go back. that second little piece was narrower than the other board and left a gap that i filled with a piece of wood. i might have to take that off and redo it with a wider board. it's a slow process. and the next layer will deal with that electric plug, too.

I've never put barnwood on a wall.....and at an angle....so, it's a learning process. the boards are different widths....sometimes different thicknesses. have knots, holes and cracks. i like it....but it is really heavy.

And although i now have electric....i do not have air conditioning. i only have 2 fans. so, more fans are on the agenda when i go back. it is getting warm in there.

I picked up most of a large pile of mulch when i was there and brought it back to the farm for my flower beds. i worked on that for 2 mornings....4 buckets, 4 boxes, and 6 bags of mulch. and i STILL didn't get it all. but that is all that fit in my truck with the other things that i brought back. i hope to pick up the last of it the next time i go back.....in about 3 weeks.

July 6 is burn day so my sis and I are going to be fire bugs. she has branches and stuff to burn and so do i, so we will pull out the barrels and burn away. hopefully the fire department won't visit us like last time. hahahahaha

Oh, and i scored this little bench at an estate sale. and stuck it in the entryway for now. i don't believe it will live there forever, but for now it is ok. it might be a good bench to go at the end of a bed. that little sisal rug was an auction find for $5. that little table needs to be sanded and re-painted. many projects to do. and i need to get some tile on that floor, too. they are in the garage.

Some day i will actually have walls. new tires and truck repair took my wall money for now. sigh!!

Who knows.....i might be living in a houses with just insulation walls. LOL   shoot....we lived with an insulation ceiling in the kitchen in the farm for about 3 years before the ceiling finally went up last year....and i STILL have not painted that. i started it.....but that's it.

Some day.