HSTeria II

The red and white HSTeria is now a top. i love, love it.  about 72 x 90"  20 blocks

This is the original block that i pieced.

This is the secondary design that comes out.  love it

This is so cool....i might have to do it again. i really like it.  did i say i like it?  hahahaha

Thank you, Vicki...you are making me almost like HSTs.

Guess what colors III will be?  it is all cut out and ready to start sewing.

Green Selvage Square Rounds

Don't you love my original titles of my quilts?  hahaha

The green selvages were once again overflowing their box and about to overflow a second box. i must like green.

Someone showed me the pic of this quilt ..... although the pic was all different colors....so it was a kind of quicky top.  it is about 72" square.

And since it has a foundation....it has a bit of heft to it.

The green rounds are 5" wide.  i alternated the black rounds with 3" and 2".  the middle black square is 12". the final black border is 5".

I just started on one side and went around..clockwise. might be my favorite way to add rows around a quilt.

Can't decide if i should embroider something in that middle block or just leave it. what say you?

More veggies in the garden

I received my Beauregard Sweet Potatoes from Henry Fields the other day. so i planted 16 slips in the garden. i hope they do well. 

And also planted 12 more tomato plants. 

Everything was mulched with grass. 

Gardening is labor intensive....so i was asleep by 10pm last night....pretty early for me.

But now...here i am at 3 in the morning....wide awake.  arthritis pain keeps me from sleep for very long...have to get up and move around. so, i'll go and sew for a while. there will be a nap in my day, i believe.

About half of the garden area is now planted. but i'm still picking up rocks, too. Missouri is not known for fertile gardening soil.....but rocks are plentiful.

HSTeria week 5

I was out of town most of the week, but managed to get 26 squares sewn.

And decided on the pattern i wanted to use....and made 4 blocks. 

I thought these would need some sort of sashing between the blocks but after taking the picture i see it is fine just as it is. in fact, i like it a lot. 

Not sure how large this one will become. it takes 16 squares for each block and i have just a bit over 200 squares so far.  but more HSTs to sew together. so, i guess i'll just go as far as i can and then call it a day......or a quilt top. LOL

A little Duck work

I spent a few days at the Duck....but not much work got done.

Most of my time was spent alphabetizing my sister's huge library....over 4000 books now. we have done through H.  after the Ks, i will be half done.  such a job.

I did manage to finish the 3rd wall of barn wood in the dining room. and part of the 4th wall in the corner.

It's going to be a trick trimming those out. not all boards are exact same thickness. i'll be happy when this job is finished. when i go back i have to put up the luan on the last wall and paint it black. then put up the rest of the barn wood and paint it orange. then the trim...then finished.  i need to ramp up my game. hahahaha

It is so dark in that room, i was thinking of painting the trim a bright white. we'll see

Garden planting

Last week....before all the rain for days.....i had planted red potatoes and bell peppers.

Today i planted 6 tomato plants, 2 bushel gourds, 2 watermelon, and a yard long pole bean plant....i have more beans....that is the only one that sprouted out of my seeds. got more seeds.  and a row of beets and a row of carrots.

There is still lots more to go. but it will have to wait for a few days until i get back home.

That bare line of dirt down the grass is beets and carrots. to the left of them is bell peppers...to the right is tomatoes.

I started with potatoes on the left. i have learned to plant of row of stuff that doesn't spread out.....like beets and carrots.....then a row of spreaders....like peppers and tomatoes. so i can walk down the rows without getting tangled in things.i am spreading out a bit more this year.

I ran out of grass to mulch, so the gourds and watermelons only got a ring of grass around them.

We have plowed up a spot 80' x 100'. i hope to plant all of it this year. there is going to be a lot of veggies come summer....hopefully.  i will be selling produce....pick your own....50 cents a pound.

I mowed most of yesterday and about 2 hours today. i catch all the grass and put it on the garden. I didn't finish mowing the back of the studio....so when i get back in a few days i'll have to mow that part. that should fill up the space between the rings of grass and the rest of it.

But there is still a lot of bare ground to go. i have only planted about a third of it. and i am picking up rocks as i go....lots and lots of rocks. and...i still need to put up the bunny proof fence on the bottom. i better do that soon before they eat all my plants.

Now i just need some warm days.

Selvage Dots

The next time someone says.....hey, look at this quilt. i saw this and thought of you....i need to just turn my head.

And this wasn't even the one they were showing me.....it just happened to be on the same page when i printed it out. 

I'm a sucker for selvage quilts. this one uses only the dots. it's a 6" finished block....but, this one is 4 blocks together in a 4 patch...  i was noticing that a lot of the blocks have empty space on one end. i wondered if i put them together with the blank spaces toward the middle....would it make some kind of design...i was thinking "starish".  nope....didn't happen

Perhaps if i turned it on point....nope...didn't help.but's that's ok. i still like them. and that's how they will eventually all go together....one way and then the other way....so sewing these 4 together didn't hurt anything. 

Once i saw this you know what i did....i dug through all my boxes of selvages and cut off all the dots. then cut out some foundation pieces. these finish at 6". i have 18 of them made. now i am out of dots. 

So, my friends, i need more selvage dots. got any you want to send me? you don't want me to be deprived, do you?  you DO?.....shame on you.  i would send you selvage dots if you needed some. 

While i await the good fairy to send me more selvage dots....i will go and work on another selvage quilt idea. i am full of ideas.....and perhaps other stuff, too.   hahahahahaha

Later

Tell it To The Stars - May

For some reason, the block this month kicked my butt.  i just finished the second one today.

We made 2 of them.  

I think that yellow is my problem...stripes.  this one has all the stripes going the same direction....the other one has 2 opposite corners going the wrong way. but i am done with this month and not fixing it. 

And stripes on flying geese.....oy......i hope i remember not to use striped fabric on the next mystery quilt.

Next month is the halfway point....so it's all downhill from there. i'm gonna make it....i think i can....i think i can.....i think i can.      LOL

HSTeria I

This is the first quilt top that is put together from Vicki Welsh's HSTeria challenge. for a person who doesn't like to sew HSTs.....i seem to have jumped into this with both feet.  

This top is 80 x 100"......that is a LOT of HSTs. that used up a lot of smaller pieces of fabrics in my stash. 

Once i found this pattern i knew it would work with my light green HSTs.  and i think it does.

Although i ran out of the light green that i started with, i just added a few more different greens..... but the 4 greens in the middle and at the corners are all the same.....and they match the border. and that fabric is all gone...just a couple little strips in the scrap box.

I don't know if you can tell...but the border and middle fabric design is a spool with thread and a needle. 

Isn't it funny that you normally would shy away from doing something.....like HSTs.....but issue a challenge....and i'm all over it. hahahahaha     pitiful.   

Thanks, Vicki, for forcing me out of my box.

I am working on those red and white ones now.....sewing more HSTs.   i found a block i want to use and am going to try one tonight and see if i like it. i don't think it will be quite as large as this one though.

How is your HSTeria challenge going?

Robert is not dead......nor forgotten

I haven't worked on any of the Robert Callahem blocks in quite a while but got this one finished up a few days ago. 

It's a pineapple plant. i think i have 3 or 4 more blocks to make yet.

This is appliqued in wool felt. the flower part is woven. then i turned under the very edge when i sewed it down. man, was that a hard job. it was really thick and my fingers were crying by the time i was finished.

This is the last quilt pattern i have from Robert Callaham. 

I hope i can get it finished by the end of the year. summer is rough on sewing jobs....outside calls me. 

Starting the garden

The garden spot has been covered in cut grass and plowed and tilled and tilled again...numerous times. this year we expanded a bit to 80' x 100'.  might be a bit much....we'll see. but watermelons and cantalopes and gourds take up a lot of space.

Yesterday i set out at least 30 red potato plants. should have counted but didn't think about it till i was done. 

From the far end...by the blue barrel....is where i started. i planted Pontiac Red Potatoes. have never heard of them....got them from Henry Fields. they were most of the plants. then i put in some regular red potatoes that came from the grocery store that were starting to sprout. i ended where the tan paper feed sacks end. i have Beuregard Sweet Potatoes coming from Henry Fields also and they will fill out that row. 

I am putting the feed sacks down to hopefully keep the grass and weeds down. as i mow the grass i dump the cuttings in the garden to mulch the plants.

Inside that green bucket is a blueberry bush. i am trying to protect it from the rabbits until i get my rabbit fencing down around the bottom of the fence. hopefully it will be ok in there and get enough sunshine. i'll check on it tomorrow. it came from Henry Fields, too. 

I also got brussel sprout seeds from Henry. i have to start those inside first.  i've never planted those but like to eat them so hopefully they will work out. i read on the package they are more a fall/winter crop but i will try some in the summer, too. and i'm planting spinach for the first time this year, too. let's get all Farmer Fanny. hahahahaha

I do have some bell pepper plants that are ready to go out....perhaps tomorrow. and some tomato plants getting close to ready. 

I hope to fill this whole garden area this year. hopefully my body will cooperate and let me do that. last year i shared with friends and neighbors when i got tired of picking and canning. this year i plan on selling the excess. might as well make a few dollars for all my work. my thoughts are 50 cents a pound....you pick what you want. 

I bought a scale that i am going to have out there to weigh the produce. 

Gardens are a lot of work....but also a lot of fun.  wish me luck

HSTeria week 3

I ramped it up a bit this week. i made 242 light green HST squares ..... and have a couple hundred more HSTs cut out and ready to piece together.

And i have finally decided on a design that i like for these. here is the pattern that i found.

And here is my version...in green.   the light greens will be 3 or 4 different colors since i didn't have enough of one fabric once i decided on what i wanted to do. but that is ok....i like large quilts. 

That is 10 blocks so far. i really like how it is looking. but i won't sew them together till i get all the blocks done since there are different light greens and i'll have to switch some around. 

Thanks to Vicki and this challenge i am really cutting up some scraps. 

Window installation at the Duck

I got 7 more windows installed over the weekend. it was supposed to be a simple job....but, NONE of the 7 windows were accurate. some too wide....some too narrow....some too tall.  it was a nightmare. but, my guy figured it all out and in the end.....7 windows were installed and all the old aluminum storm windows pulled off. but i will never order from the Superior Windows place in Centralia again. I'll go back to the Home Center Store....where i never have a problem. 

This is the front dressing room/closet area that faces the street. the 2x4s that were originally between the windows had to be removed to get the new windows in. and then a lot of caulk was involved.

These are the other 2 in the same room....on another wall. they weren't too bad....but a lot of caulk involved here, too. i believe we used 10 or 12 tubes of caulk on 7 windows.

These are the 2 in the kitchen. they will be over the sink.....when i even get a sink. LOL  don't you love my little pots hanging there? i found them in a thrift store. i'm thinking i will plant little herbs in there. that is the south side so should be fine for growing. 

Yes, the walls still need to be finished. and ignore that ugly cabinet in the corner for the moment. it needs some stripping and sanding and painting.....some day.

I did get a ceiling fan installed in the dining room. i got tired of it being so dark in there. as you can see...the barn wood on the walls is not finished yet, either. sigh!!!

I have 2 large, old, heavy pocket doors that were in the garage. i thought they should be in the house before they got messed up....but they were too heavy for me to manage by myself. so, i had Rick and his helper carry them in. they are simply sitting in the pocket door holes....not hooked up yet. but they are now out of the way in the garage and a bit closer to becoming pretty pocket doors. 

And these 2 slabs of solid wood are doors that i scored at a yard sale for $5 each. i plan on making at least one of them....possibly both......desks in the office. so, i had the guys carry them in, too. better than laying around in the garage. 

So, a few things got done but there wasn't a lot of progress from me. i have to go and find more ceiling fans and buy more of the aluminum stuff that he wraps the windows with. i have 5 more windows to be wrapped on the outside. seems like this window project will never end. there are still a few more.

But, the weather is nicer now and i anticipate going down and working more. i don't think i made it down there at all in January and February...it was too dang cold....and i don't have heat there yet. it's on the list, too. 

Anyone have a few thousand dollars they don't need that they want to give me so i can get further along faster on this house?  thank you very much.

Alphabetizing the library

My sister's library is so cool. she has gorgeous shelves that she built herself. and a nice wood floor....that she laid herself. and 4000 books that i helped her collect.  and, yes, we will read them all.....we have a good start on it already. this is before the alphabetizing started. 

While i was at the Duck for the last few days, we got to talking about her library. i have always wanted to alphabetize the books....i'm just strange like that. hahaha   so, she said it was my job. so.....i got started Friday afternoon.

For a day and a half....i pulled all the books that the authors last name started with A, B, or C.  there were about 90 A's....a couple hundred Bs......and about 350 Cs.  there are books everywhere....on the shelves in the library.....on bookcases and end tables in the living room....in the bathroom....on the main stairs....on the back stairs...upstairs in my room.....upstairs in my sis's bedroom.....in the bedroom closet....in the sun room.  i looked at every single book in that house and pulled all the A's, B's and C's.

These are the Cs. when my sis went home on saturday to check on the dogs, i got these all in order that evening. so, when she came back the next day we got them checked in the list and on the shelves. then i pulled the D's.

Then came the project of putting them in order. that took another day. my ass was dragging by time that was done. sore all over. as i got them in order, we checked them against the list and marked whether they were a paperback or not....cause we want to replace the paperbacks with hardbacks if possible. and somewhere there are about 30 missing. so, either i missed them in the search....or there are more books hidden somewhere.

But, after 3 days, i have 993 books alphabetized......that covers A through D.  and fills up one whole wall and part of a bookcase on the next wall. the next time i go down there i will work a couple more letters. i may be done by the end of the year. LOL

These are the As and the Bs

As i went through i added bunnies and left a few spaces for more books. this bunny is Anne...she is in the As

This bunny is Betty. she likes the Sandra Brown books

And this is Bonnie. She likes living among the Bs

I didn't get the picture of the whole wall full through the Ds.  i think i was sick of books by then. Es for the next trip...there are a lot of Evanovich ..... sis better built more shelves faster. hahahaha

We have one cool library.

Hobbit Hole Quilt

My sister's library has a hobbit hole....with books in there....and a bunny on a chair.  so, it needed a quilt.

This is what she got. she really liked it and it is now hanging in the Hobbit Hole on the wall. 

I used dark colored scraps for the books

Different widths and heights

She gave me titles and authors to embroider on the books

Brown for the shelves and outside border...the bookcase.

There is even a couple of leaning books....those are harder than they look. LOL

And, of course...there had to be a bunny on a shelve.....

Because there are bunnies on the shelves in the big library.

While at the Duck this last week, i started alphabetizing the books (4000 of them) in the library. that's another story. hahaha