for crying out loud...

Last weekend, I was asked if I could paint (or something) a sign for the grand marshal in this year's parade.

I felt like doing something different.

I made her name in letters.

The bonus triangles from pineapple blossoms! My own and some from one of the quilters that had mailed me her left-overs along with the blocks. There was just the right amount.

Perfect.

So far so good.

Wonky hearts. Perfect.

Stamped with paint words.

Lovely.

Except....

I spelled marshal/marshall wrong. I have already started quilting this. I ran out of thread and had to stop. 

I was wondering what I would work on this morning. 

I will be thinking about how to fix the error.

Some kind of cover up is in order.

Zoe's quilt......

I wanted something "Japan" in this quilt. I found a fat quarter of Japanese character fabric. I made a bunch of hearts with it. They didn't seem right on the front......

They worked perfectly on the back, along with an "old sheet"...

this photo isn't rotated, but you get the idea...I went back and rotated the next one, so it is up right....

I know my cousin is back in the states for the summer....not sure when I will see him. It is just good to know this quilt is ready to go.

I laid the quilt on top of the cat. She crawled out and pounced on the top of the quilt, 

then the dog thought he found someone to play with.

There was a lot of hissing and barking going on when I snapped this picture. 

Before and after....I worked on this Saturday morning. Hard physical labor. After replacing the blocks to a certain point, I started pulling them out. There was bowl shape near the bottom. 

The whole thing could have been pulled and readjusted to be more level. Tractor joe took over and finished. The blocks were raised up.....but there is still a slight bowl at the bottom.

That will be a job for cooler, less humid weather, later this week.

"some day" is here......

The pad of concrete in front of the garage was short and cracked AND sinking. When it rained, the water would collect and take days to dry up. In the spring when the snow was melting, the puddle was even bigger. The water would go all the way across the driveway. Most cars, when parked, had the back wheels still in water. If someone was in the back seat, they had to step in water to get out.
We always thought "some day" we would fix this....and that day was yesterday.

The old pad was removed & a much bigger pad was poured. It is beautiful!

There is also a picture of the rose bush at it's finest and my braille homework. Tractor joe is out of town, so I needed to document everything for him to see when he gets back.

I also quilted and got the binding on the wonky baby Zoe quilt. No picture yet...I will go work on that.

crafts while camping......

We took over one of the screened in canopies while we were camping...it was create time at the lake. Jane wanted more gift tags, just like I had made her last spring. We made them together this time and had so much fun. A few postcards were made too. Most of what is pictured here is hers. She is so artsy fartsy.
While we were working, she would say..."this is disgusting".....which means.... "I hate the way this is turning out"
she was wrong. I loved the way her stuff turned out.
My other sister, Jen, did one postcard. She had Tiki, her little dog helping her. I don't think the dog really cared though.

pineapple blossoms are arriving......

Some of the pineapple blossoms I won at Block Lotto!

I love love love them!

camping weekend.....

The weather was wet and cool. My goal was to arrive and get the tents set up before the rain....
The tents were up and then the rain started. It rained and rained Thursday afternoon.
The firewood stayed in the pickup with an umbrella to keep it dry. Two northerns and a bass were caught. They were plenty big and made for a delicious fish fry.
We had an excellent time.

the latest batch......

I finished 28 more blocks. The pile of these blocks is getting rather big, so I didn't lay all of them out, just the newest. 

I had been throwing 2 1/2 inch strips into a pile, the ones not big enough for the 9 patch. I had no real plan for them. Then I remembered.....

I had seen this block....

 (click here)

and thought it was marvelous.

I cut the 2 1/2 inch strip pieces to 4 1/2 inches, then randomly sewed them together. I wish I had more variety, but it is just a "I need to try that" block.

can't decide......

Years ago, I made a quilt that had black cat silhouettes on it. When I was cleaning, I found one black cat. I didn't remember it. I think it might have been rejected because he is backwards. 

He was a fun find that I had totally forgotten about.

I wondered what he would look like on my current old sheet quilt.....

Maybe.

Would it work to make more 6 inch stars out of that same red fabric and have them sprinkled around the quilt?? A pop of dark color.

Or do I keep it the soft look and save the cat for something else??

I can't decide.

ooops.....

This is what happens when the fan gets turned on in the living room.

Every thing is picked up and for now I will just make more 9 patches.

20 more blocks...

Making these 9 patches goes pretty fast. 

The pile of them grew. There were 20 more to add to the pile.

Last summer I did a quilt-along with Blue is Bleu. One of the blocks was this 9 patch. I liked the way it went together. (click here!) to see how they are getting sewn. It seems like you are getting two for the price of one when making these. 

I am off to make more blocks.

old sheet blocks so far.....

I started cutting sheets this afternoon. This is what I have so far. The blocks will finish at 6 inches. So soft looking. I hope I get to make some more tomorrow!!

things I have been working on....

I found this....I am pretty sure that I had made it back in the 90's,

...it was done except for two sides that needed the binding put on. 

I don't know why I never finished it.

The bindings don't match, but are close enough. And look......

I had even hand quilted it. 

My slate and stylus arrived in the mail. I need it for the braille class I am taking on line. I had to play with it and made Mr. B a postcard! 

Lauren's picture came in the mail too. Her graduation card was finished and stuck in the mail.

I painted the downstairs wall a deep blue. Crispy picked this color because it is opposite of orange on the color wheel. We loved this color so much that......

Crispy room got a new coat of paint too.

I sewed these for block lotto this morning,

very simple block this month. 

I am going to donate all of my chances this month,

because....

I won the pineapple blossoms from May!! I couldn't believe I had won again.

(here) are the blossoms I made and will just keep now.

Karen and I are splitting up our old sheets. Both of us want to make quilts from them. 

Exactly what pattern I want to use is still up in the air. I keep changing my mind. Maybe I should just start making blocks and see what happens. There is enough fabric there for several quilts.

This could be fun!