Quilts are made from Blocks....

My quilt blocks are coming together.  Hopefully, if I'm not too tired, I'll piece twelve more tonight. 

Summer weather is holding on, I sew from the porch, Our days are long.  My Dad always says it's God's way of giving us some form of a growing season...

Ripley is fitting in well. He loves water...He's damp here because we helped water flowers this evening....

We just gotta get that sleeping thing figured out.  It'll happen....

Snowballs in July......

Here are my snowball blocks for the project I'm working on this weekend. The weather has been beautiful, so I moved the sewing machine up stairs where Ripley and Bruno can hang out on the porch.

I cooked my first batch of beans from my garden. Grilled chicken, sliced tomatoes and fresh corn  from the farmers market in town finished the menu.

We're not sleeping alot at our house.  Puppies don't do that-- therefore we don't either.  I remember when I had babies, my Mom always said, "Losing sleep burns calories...think how thin you're getting..."  I laugh and think of this very time Ripley wakes me up.

Back to the sewing machine.... have a good week....

Ripley---- As in Believe it or Not.....

The conversation went something like this--

"Mom, it's the only way to stop crying...."

"Chelsey-- Dad said just look at the pup..."

"Mom, She said take it or leave it....so I took it...."

So she is standing on the front steps with this....

So filling the huge hole in my heart is Mr. Ripley---

Joining  our family.....

He's going to be a big boy.... He's a Lab Mix... And he loves Bruno.  He has funny qwerks like Ransom had.. Sometimes Don & I just look at each other....I think he would have liked him....

Life goes on... When I get sad about Ransom I just tuck it away...and squeeze Ripley.... Time heals all wounds....

Have a good weekend.....

Ransom - 6/1/2001 6/26/2012

Hunter, Defender, Workout Trainer (for those days running in the woods), And most of all Friend....I'm really going to miss you.....

Weekend Wrap Up

Dinner with friends was fun. The weather cooperated and at the end of the night---long after everyone was gone, I laid in bed and laughed.... The house inside and out was clean(that thing you do when company is coming!!!) The yard freshly cut and flowers watered(another check in box). And the Fridge was filled with leftovers for the week's meals after work (Check! Check!). Maybe I'm horrible, but I still had Sunday to play...

I'm playing with more nine patches. They're so much fun to make. I purchased the creme print and never used it. I'm glad I waited.

This one is my favorite. I'm combining them with snowball blocks. We'll keep you posted.. This week temperatures are supposed to go back into the nineties. My dad goes back to the surgeons on Wednesday-- keep him in your prayers. I took a break from my Sunday School class this summer. It's been nice, but I find myself really missing it. There aren't enough kids to make a class in the fall-- but I'm hoping there's a door out there to be opened. Regardless for your faith, I believe kids need to hear right from wrong from as many adults as they can. It's a tough world out there.

This Weekend...I Hope for...

Chances to play with flowers... My new perennial spot..

Dinner for 8 with Friends... We're Christening the Screening of the Porch.

Time  to play with my next project...

Using the Porch to the fullest....

Play in my garden....

Willingness to share it with friends--- See the Robin...

Add to the list...
Run my pups..
Read a Magazine in the Hammock..
 and a Chance to slow down long enough to paint my fingernails....

Make the Most of Summer... It's so short....

Letters from Home....

I've spoken before about my folks-- they are in their 80's.  They've never owned a computer nor have any desire to.  Though I pretty much talk to my Mom  daily-- especially with my Dad not feeling well, there is no email. We write each other letters weekly. One of the best parts of her letters are the newspaper clippings she puts in the envelopes.   My kids laugh when the obituaries are pulled out but that's just my mom.  I can remember as a kid playing with my grandmothe'rs bible in church and there were always old obits saved between the book chapters. My Mom always says--,'When you hang up the phone the call is over--- but a letter you can read over and over again.'

This clipping was in Saturday's letter.

Here is the completed Heart and Home block for July. I love working with the lighter colors of woool.  Something new for me.  The Valdani threads are beautiful.

Gratitudes:

Fresh Corn on the Cob

Cookouts at work-- No lunch packing

Pony Tails--- Entirely too hot to have my hair down....

Love..... Mamie

I put the border pieces together yesterday. Now we've got the dilemma of getting down in the basement and getting this baby quilted or tucking it away until a rainy day for quilting. Yeah - I'm the optimist that dreams of having it ready to cover a table for a dinner coming up next weekend with friends....

 I'm pretty proud of this one for a few reasons. I used up fabrics I've had for a while. The piecing isn't too shabby. I'm learning the hard way, that quilts don't have to be complicated to be beautiful. Carol at Brown Quilts gets ninety nine percent of the credit. It's her design. She's a neat lady.

 I knew this summer I wanted to work on square blocks. For some reason I have just been drawn to them. I'm the one that does quilt doodles in business meetings. I wasn't short on ideas or patterns. These are waiting in the wings....

They are all beautiful. Why did I choose Love...Mamie....first? I chose it because more than quilting itself, I wanted to talk (or type) with someone else about quilting. It's a lot more fun if you have someone to talk to. I'm supposed to talk about Nuclear Energy at work--- that's a far cry from quilting. Now onto the next great piece....

 OK-- I now know the reason I haven't had much quilt talk. Kind of figured I hadn't posted much,so 'out of sight---out of mind' But I now realize Blogger has been holding onto 50 comments that I did not know I had.... I am so sorry... I am emailing tonight.

Getting Closer----

This is the backing fabric for the Mamie Quilt.  I had a fat quarter that I used in the Nine patches and loved.  So I went on line and bought some for borders and backing for the project.  I've done real good with my fabric purchases.  I have the one BOM project, but I haven't purchased any quilt kits.   I'm concentrating on scrappy patchwork this year.  Borders and backings are my only "spends"--- and the occaisional theraputic fat quarter( for sanity sake only!!!)

I moved the sewing machine upstairs where the pups could hang close on the porch with me.  Ransoms hips are failing and stairs are not his friend.  But his tail still wags and he still bosses me around with his barking-- oh the men in my life!!!---so life is good in our house.

I'm about to go play in the garden and water flowers--- it just seems wrong to say"work" in the garden. I promised myself I would do that, then run errands and knock out the Saturday cleaning...This afternoon--after nap time-- I'll be behind my sewing to complete this baby.

Enjoy your weekend.

Before Work....

I should be getting ready for work...But I just had to see what it was going to look like.....

Nine Patches

Really over 150 of them in two sizes -- they're ready to get sewn together into my Mamie quilt. 

The light and dark fabrics were pulled from my stash.  I can't wait to lay them out and sort through what order they will be put together.  Summers are short, so most free time is spent in the garden, or watering flowers or running the pups in the woods. I try to keep things in perspective and tell myself that I won't always be able to tie up those tomato plants. The quilt blocks aren't going anywhere.

Here are a couple of my favorite combinations.

This is my favorite block....

This was the big project for the summer-- Don screened in our Covered Porch.  I now have three new screen doors....Here is the double set....

Gratitudes:

Stuffed Crab for Supper

Weekends

Sprinklers for the garden

Friday -- The Weekend is almost here

A friend gave me an old treadle sewing machine in pretty bad shape.

 But Don worked magic-- and built a box for the top.... Now this 1913 Montgomery Ward Windsor piece has a home in my sewing room.

I've got to get to work--- looking at the blocks on the kitchen table-- You know where my heart is....

Off to support my habits....

July 4th, 2012

Happy Independence Day-- Save some time to remember those things that matter in your life.

Summer Work Boots

Old workboots out on my garden table.  I love geraniums-- all colors of them.  Over 150 seams into my Mamie quilt project.  I have them cut into the first round of strips. I have brought the iron upstairs to the porch.  Who wants to be down in the basement on a sunny Summer day? Today's high should reach 86 degrees.

Gratitudes: 

Our Grill --We can cook outside

Cherry Muffins

Sleeping late-(6:15am for me)