My 'Gardens' Are Growing...

Time for the beginning of a week so I can relax! (Pysically, that is...) It was another weekend of hard grueling labor, and it was hotter than blazes yesterdday. Initially, I had thought we were going to finish the walls around the windows in my quilting studio this weekend, but DH had a different idea in mind. He got motivated to start some major landscaping, and has ideas for 3 entirely new flower beds or areas. He tackled the largest one first.





It may be a little hard to envision yet at this point, but there WILL be flowers once the retaining walls are filled with dirt, and the arborvitae will have mulch around them so I'm not constantly doing battle with the weeds and tall grasses that love all that watering. The other meandering bricks around the existing planted area will be gone. They were just thrown down there by me, 'temporarily', a year or two ago... :-] I gaurantee you, if DH had thrown them down, they would have been a heck of a lot straighter, temporary or not!


My young friend Makiah came over and we worked hard gardening in the front yard for a couple hours. Then we finished her pillowcase which she started before we both went on our vacations.


Notice the four 4-patches on the pillowcase cuff? She pieced those by hand.

Tomorrow she's accompanying me when we go to a senior independent/assisted living facility to conduct a quilting workshop. I'm also getting help with coaching the residents from two other guild members, one who is a also a member of my S.I.S. group (Jean).

When I posted pictures of the recent DJ blocks a couple of days ago, I forgot one, E-4, Buffalo Tree Hopper. Now how did I manage to do that?



I also finished another of the kites today. So that leaves just one more to do. I finished Goshen. The picture won't look like the others because I'm having gremlins all over the place, so I just took a digital picture of Goshen. NOBODY can be having this much bad PC luck. First my laptop was going, it would keep crashing spontaneously. Then the external hard drive bit the dust (probably from having dropped it one too many times), and now the desktop isn't even working properly. It won't recognize the internet modem. I'm ready to pull my hair out. And I don't have time to stop and fight with it right now, so I'll limp along for another week or two, then deal with it when things slow down a bit.




Oh, I also picked up a couple of very interesting relics at a rummage sale last week. They're in pretty tough shape, plus I haven't even wiped the thick dust off them yet! But I love the looks of them and if I do nothing but set them on a top shelf for decoration, it's worth what I paid for them, which was practically nothing....





And one last thing... for those of you who are interested in hand piecing, my good friend Crispy has added another blog to her repertoire, Hand Piecing With Crispy.

It is an absolutely EXCELLENT tutorial of how she does hand piecing. Check it out, it's well worth it. Even if you're already hand piecing, you'll probably be able to pick up a thing or two, she's the master!!!

We're Back...

I see it's been almost two weeks since I've posted, so I better get on the ball here. In all fairness, I was gone on vacation for better than half a week. We went to Denver over the Fourth to visit 3 out of 4 of our children, and 2 grandchildren. We even got in a little more geo-caching. What a great thing for something to do with any age or gender!

Before we left, I prepped several DJ blocks and two kites to work on while we were gone. I decided to go ahead and get all four kites done and out of the way. I did my signature kite, Sarah Jane (Rita Jane), but I'm holding off finishing the embroidery of the name and number of pieces until it goes into the finished top, so I can align the text along the seamline.



For those of you who are not familiar with Dear Jane, the text was replicated from the original Dear Jane quilt. Jane's quilt was done in 1863 during the Civil War, and thus her verbiage, "In War Time 1863".

On the way home, I was working on a block with many many pieces, and we hadn't been prepared for the strong wind when we stopped for gas and opened the car door. First I opened my door, and the zip lock bag (empty) went flying away FAST. Then before I could say anything, DH opened his door, and there went what looked like ALL the little white bits of fabric and paper. (I use the freezer paper template method.) Actually, I don't think it was as bad as it looked. Most of the little white pieces I saw blowing in the wind were apparently completed patches where I no longer needed the removed scraps of paper, because after scurrying around and retrieving what we could, I only know of one piece still missing and needing recut. One thing that was kind of funny was when I'd see a bit of white and go for it, I more often than not found it was a little white wildflower.






Anyway, I got several things done. The one I'm least proud of is the one and only one I was able to complete while AT our destination. Too many distractions I guess. The ones done in the car on the way to and from, and in the hotel, went much much better. :) Can you guess which one is my 'problem child'?

B-4 Chris's Soccer Field



A-13 Starlight Starbright


A-11 Pebble's Protest


A-9 Cabin Fever



And now today we had our wonderful S.I.S. group (a small sewing bee) get-together for a full day of sewing, and it was JUST what I needed! Forgot my camera though, darnit! We went to New Salem and met at Chris' country club, which is a GREAT place to meet. We have so much room, and nothing but wall-to-wall windows with natural daylight, looking out onto green golf course. Nothing better than this!!!

OH... I've gotten a few more signature blocks in the siggie swap. I'm loving it!!! Thanks ladies!



Isabella Belliard from Nantes, France, where we lived from 2001-2002, and thoroughly enjoyed the adventure!!!!


Milada Mikova from the Czech Republic



Irene Skalova, also from the Czech Republic. We also lived there for a year, from 2002-2003.

I was especially delighted to get the two from the Czech Republic and the one from Nantes, France, because of our close personal connection with these two countries.


Rosa Robchaud, from New Brunswick, Canda, someone I've enjoyed getting to know more through chat.


Lotte Klint from Denmark.

This is SUCH great fun!!!!!

Came home to beautiful new blooms all over the place, but will post some pictures of those a bit later.