What's in my garden?

Daughter Tessa took these pix and posted them on Facebook, so I simply copied them off.  Too lazy to get my camera and take my own, and too cheap no, stupid  thrifty to get a smart phone.

For the first time in my life, I have flowering crab apple trees in my yard!  They are in full bloom right now and we have chairs set up underneath the branches which are dripping with beautiful and fragrant flowers.  We have three dark pink trees and one pale pink or white tree.  And of course, a few bees. I wish it was a lot of bees but I've only seen a few.  Hope the bee population can come back soon. We needs our bees!









I also have lily of the valley growing EVERYWHERE  in the garden!  Way more than any one patch of ground should have!  This weekend I hope to get out my spade and begin digging up all the wildness and get some order in place. But I do love their fragrance.  "White coral bells, upon a slender stalk. Lily of the Valley deck my garden walk. Oh, don't you wish that you could hear them ring? That will happen only when the fairies sing."  We sang this little song when I was in Girl Scouts--in rounds even--and it was so pretty. Anyone else remember singing this?



As for quilting, not so much these days.  Getting the veggies planted at the community garden--we have 2 20x25 foot plots and Don thinks he may get a third one to fill with sweet corn but he better make a decision pretty soon if he wants to harvest before first frost.  Also helped a couple of days with Tessa's garage sale, which was successful, and I've planted nearly all the big flower pots and hanging baskets. With luck I'll finish the last of the pots today.

I also picked up a couple of disability cases--what am I thinking?  I'm supposed to be retired!  But when people call and ask me to help out, how can I say no?  Plus, I need to finance a new mid-arm sewing machine. LOL

Had a visit with a neurologist/sleep specialist to see if I have apnea, and he sent me home with an "oximeter" kit to measure my O2 levels while I sleep. Last night I got the thing set up and went to bed around 11:30. Could I fall asleep in 5 minutes as I usually do?  Not a chance.  Around 2:30 I finally drifted off! And Lily woke me at 7 to get going.  Thank goodness I began drinking coffee a few weeks ago or I'd be really dragging this morning!

Whatever you do today, enjoy and savor it. Life is sweet!

Finished!

The green wedding quilt is finished! And my fingers are numb and sore at the same time from power stitching the binding!  i started at 5 am and finished at noon, making breakfast, packing a lunch, taking Lily to school and having a chat with the hubster as well.  

As you may or may not recall, in early April, my friend Judy asked me to make a green quilt that she could give at an upcoming wedding, and I agreed to do it. I've noted the progress of this project over these past 2 months and I'm so pleased to say that it's finished as I speak type.  I just have to pop it in the washer in order to get out all the markings and any other smudges which may have inadvertently got on the quilt. Before I do that I have to run to the store to get a new box of color catchers to protect from any bleeding of the dyes as it's washed.  When it's dried, I'll pack it up and take it to Judy in the Madison area tomorrow.  I hope she's as pleased with it as I am but moreover, I hope her niece and her new husband like it too.

As always, I struggled with how to quilt the borders.  The first one--multi-colored--was easy because I had a stencil that fit perfectly.  The third border is the diamonds and they were easy--just shallow arcs inside each side of the diamond.  The second and fourth borders are narrow strips of white flanking the diamonds and in those, I stitched a row of circles which I call pearls.  But the fifth border--the widest and again multi-colored--was the stumper.  I didn't have a stencil that would fit and I didn't want to futz around with Golden Threads paper because I was working on a deadline. So I browsed through a few of my quilting books and it suddenly occurred to me to resort to my favorite design--a simple medium sized meander--but to add a few leaves as I went since I  think a green quilt should have either leaves or shamrocks--or maybe frogs included. :-)

I'm happy with how it all turned out. Last night was my guild meeting and I took the green quilt for show and tell as well as the Jared quilt which is below.  I can't believe I finished both quilts in these past 2 months!  I'd had the Jared quilt pinned and I needed to get it quilted so I could take the pins out and use them to make the quilt sandwich of the green quilt.  Could I have simply gone out and bought additional pins? Of course, but that would have been easy so I didn't and now I have 2 finished quilts instead of just 1!

These 2 quilts represent the best and the worst quilting I've ever done.  I will be picking out the Jared quilting over the summer, block by block, and replacing it with better work as I go along.  With luck it'll be ready to go on a bed before winter strikes.  I was in such a hurry to get it finished that I did really sloppy work and every time I look at it, I just cringe!  When I've re-quilted it, I'll be able to look at it with as much pride as I feel when I look at the green quilt.

In addition to show and tell at guild, we had our first ever guest night and I think we must have had about 60 or so people there. (Usually we have about 25 members at a regular meeting, so this larger group was nice.)  We invited Debbie Fields, creator of Granola Girl designs, and this is her website if you want to take a look:  http://granolagirldesigns.com/index.cfm.  Debbie lives about 50 miles north of Menomonie and she's designed patterns and fabrics for many years, always using natural and "up North" themes like fishing, at the cabin, on the lake, snowshoeing, etc. Many of her patterns are appliqued and she does the most exquisite machine applique! If you want to make a quilt with an "up North" theme, I would encourage you to check out her site.  Debbie gave us a terrific trunk show and she had a lot of her items available for us to purchase so I indulged but just a little.  I'll sit down and go through the book I bought as I eat my lunch.

All in all, I think the guest night was a great success and maybe we'll do it again in the future.  That's all for now--gotta go and get color catchers!  And lunch!

Working like a dog!

I've been really pushing myself to get the quilting done on the green wedding quilt since I plan on delivering it on Thursday the 8th. I also want to take it to show and tell at guild on the 6th.

So far I've finished the quilting in the center of the quilt. I used a stencil to do the design in each of the 50+ colored blocks, and I used another stencil to do the curvy design in the white sashing. I used my Pounce in the colored blocks and used a marking pencil in the white since my blue washable marker seems to be dried up.

In the first border--the multi-colored one shown here--I used the Pounce and another stencil but had some difficulty seeing the white chalk on the busy fabric.  But I got the job done. I used a kind of Celtic rope design for this border.

Next I did some freehand stitching in the diamonds in the third border. And then I began doing pearls or circles in the second border, again, freehand. I'll continue the circles in the fourth border as well so the diamonds will be flanked by a row of pearls on each side.

Then I have the final border which is the multi-colored fabric again and is 6 inches wide, finished. I don't have a stencil that would work in that border but I'm thinking of doing a simple grid of some sort to contrast with the more elaborate designs in the body of the quilt.  I learned for real what I've read about and been told, that elaborate quilting designs don't show up well on "busy" fabric as in the first border on this quilt. So I'm pretty sure it'll be a simple design.  It's also easier and faster to do a straight line design and I'm under the gun to get this one finished!

I'm using two colors of variegated thread by King Tut for the colored blocks and multi-colored areas, and a plain white thread on the sashing and white borders.  Since the backing is a pale blue with some green splashes, I'm using a blue thread in the bobbin.  I spent a bit of time getting the tension set up correctly before I began any quilting and I'm quite pleased with the results so far.  I admit, I've had to do some un-sewing in areas where the bobbin tension was off--mainly as I stitched large curves--but not too much.

The main problem I'm having with this quilting is skipping stitches. I think my sewing machine has hiccups.  I'll be stitching along and suddenly the machine stops but I keep moving the quilt.  Most irritating!  I have rethreaded a hundred times, rewound bobbins equally as many times, and changed needles several times, using different sizes, but no luck.  If I didn't have to get this quilt finished I'd quit and take the machine in to be looked at but that will have to wait until I finish. If anyone has any ideas, please let me know.  Even though I'm near the end of this project, I'll try any suggestions to get the stitching better.  Thanks.

So, woof, woof, this dog is going back to work on stitching pearls in the white borders.  

Miles and Miles in the Ditch

I began quilting on the green wedding quilt yesterday by working on the straight line stitching along each side of the white sashing. And I finished all the straight line stitching today!  I feel as though I've stitched about 27.5 miles of ditch!  

Then I moved on to the intricate, free motion pattern I chose for each of the colored squares and got 3 done before I had to come upstairs and get dinner started.  Only 51 left to go along with the half blocks along the sides.  (Groan) I bought a stencil and am using my Pounce and so far, I'm satisfied with this technique.

In the white sashing, I plan on doing a free hand vine and leaf design with a flower in each intersection. The first border will be a Celtic knot design and the diamonds in the second border will have a curved design in each one with something along the white sides of that border--maybe a line of circles to look like pearls.  I haven't decided what to do in the last border but I'm thinking of a feather pattern.

I need to have this quilt finished and delivered in the next 2 weeks.  Anyone want to make bets on that? Since it's raining out, I'm going to lie down on the couch and try to recover from my stitch in the ditch marathon.  

Easter Sunday with my Peeps

I hope that you all have had a marvelous Easter day. with nice weather, a few flowers (or buds) in the garden, family and/or friends, great food and most of all, serenity knowing that however you celebrate this Spring holiday is the "right" way.

This is the first holiday we've celebrated in our new home. We did the traditional things with the usual suspects family members but in a new setting. It's been an awesome day!

For Easter dinner, I made what my kids have always called "Good Lasagna" ( as compared to "Everyday Lasagna"!)  Forgive me, Easter traditionalists, that I don't do the usual baked ham, etc. but we've had lasagna for Easter for over 20 years now.  I use the recipe in the Better Homes and Gardens cookbook that I received as a wedding shower gift in 1971. Every layer is made from scratch and it takes over 2 hours to prepare, assemble and bake, but it is sooo worth it!  I only make it for Easter and when someone requests it for a special celebration.  

After our Easter lunch was finished, we got ready for the Second Annual Peeps Olympics!  Daughter Tessa started this last year and it was so much fun that we repeated it again this year.   Last fall, we were at the Mall of America in MN and visited the Peeps store there. We got this giant stuffed Peeps bean bag to be the traveling trophy. Her she is sitting on her nest of Cadbury chocolate eggs (one of my personal favorite Easter candies, the other favorite one being the Lifesaver fruit-flavored jelly beans. Don't tell anyone but I have an extra bag stashed away for the future LOL), surrounded by all the participating Olympic teams.  As you can see, I am the yellow team--Nana.  Bear with me as I show you pix of the Olympic events and the overall champion of the day and winner of the traveling trophy.  

The first event is the sprint. You have to blow your Peeps the length of the dining room table and here daughter Jo, also known as Auntie Jo, competes with granddaughter Lily.  Lily won that round.

Next came the Peep-apult.  We had to catapult our peeps off a wooden spoon into the pot on the floor. We each had 3 tries and needless to say, none of us got a Peep into the pot.  So we decided that whoever was closest to the pot was the winner of that event.

The third event was the swimming race.  We had to blow our peeps across a large basin of water and whoever came in first was the winner. I was so excited watching the races and cheering on the Peeps that I forgot to take any pictures!

Now we have Peep Jousting.  Here you see two competing Peeps with their toothpicks jousting sticks on the plate, waiting to go into the microwave.

Before the microwave

After the microwave

 We set the microwave to no more than 30 seconds--no one was brave enough to see what would happen if we zapped them longer--no one wanted to have to clean up the mess if they exploded in there.  : p)

We also turned off the turntable so the Peeps couldn't move while they were in the oven.






As they were zapped, they began puffing up to enormous size!  I've never seen anything like it! The winner is the one whose jousting stick touches the other Peep first. The "after" pix gives you an idea how huge these things can get.








Each person got a score for each event and then we added up the scores to get the "grand Champion."  Tessa and I were tied for first place so we had to do an additional event that we called "Peep in the Pot."  Here Tessa is trying to get her green Peep in the pot behind her but she missed. I didn't miss so I'm the Grand Champion!

And here I am with my traveling Peeps trophy!  And I see that Don is "peeping" around the corner.  Could he be a little jealous over my amazing victory? ? ? 

And, lastly,  I have to include a picture of the Peeps cheerleaders in a Peeps pyramid!

As if that wasn't enough excitement for this beautiful, sunny, warm day, we went for a 1.6 mile walk on the local trail. It was very refreshing and helped work off some of the thousands of lasagne calories I consumed at lunch!

All the Peeps shenanigans sound so silly but they're good fun and the entire family had a great time! And isn't that what holidays are for--to celebrate our families. I hope your day was as much fun as mine was. Tomorrow, I quilt.

Trimming and binding

Last May I was fortunate enough, along with my friend, to attend a workshop given by Bonnie Hunter in Ottawa IL. She was a wonderful teacher-- relaxed and unpretentious ( I wanted to take her home with me to be my newest BFF!)--and we began making Jared Takes a Wife.  I finished the top shortly after returning home to WI, and then it joined all the other finished tops on the shelf, patiently waiting to be quilted up.  Last Fall, I managed to sandwich it and get it pinned and then it sat again while we moved house and traveled through the winter.

When I got the top finished for the green wedding quilt for my friend, I realized that I didn't have any pins left to pin baste the quilt sandwich so I had 3 choices:  I could take the pins out and have to repin it again at a later date, I could do the machine quilting and thus free up the pins, or I could go out an buy a new supply of pins.  Never one to do things the easy way, I chose to do the quilting.  I now have it all finished but for the border and binding, and here it is:

I used all sorts of scraps helter skelter in this quilt and it is very chaotic and wild, in my opinion. Of course, when you look at it close up, it's even more wild than in the picture of the entire quilt.

Here's a close up of one of the blocks.  I think the apple green really sets it off and I plan on keeping this on a bed during the summer time. Not that we need a quilt here in humid WI in the summer, but it just looks like summer to me.

I'm not showing the quilting on this one because I'm not happy with it at all. I just wanted to get this done and one day, I'll begin picking out the quilting, block by block, and replacing it with something better.

So, my plan is to finish the border quilting today and then get the binding stitched on so I can do the hand sewing this evening.  Before I do the binding, I decided to check on the Internet about how to trim up the quilt for the binding.  One of the bloggers I follow mentioned once that she had trouble with trimming the quilt after the binding was machine stitched on. What?  I'd never heard of that--I'd been taught to square up and trim the quilt before stitching on the binding.  So, what's the "correct" way to do this?  Keep in mind, that I do mainly bed-sized quilts so maybe on smaller quilts one trims after stitching, I don't know.

I did find this great video of how to square up and trim the quilt before stitching on the binding and I thought I'd share it with anyone who's curious as I was.  http://www.overallquilter.com/blog/video-4-squaring-up-your-quilt/.  After watching this, I think I'll continue to trim up before I stitch on the binding.

The other thing the blogger mentioned was blocking the quilt. Again, I'd never heard of that, and I learned on another website that quilts meant to be wall hangings should be blocked--that is, wetted, laid flat and maneuvered into the shape and dimensions desired, then left to dry.  The website said that bed quilts which are at least occasionally washed don't need to be blocked. Whew!  That's good news for me!  I can't imagine wetting and pushing/pulling a queen or king sized quilt into shape and leaving it to dry on my floor, only to have to do it again every time I wash it!

So, how do you trim your quilts?  Before or after?  And do you block your quilts?  I'm curious to know.  

Warning! Proud Grandmother here!

This is a picture of my one and only grandchild, Lily, taken about 1 1/2 years ago, when she was 8 years old.  She turns 10 in a couple of weeks and while I've always been very proud of her and her accomplishments, she really outdid herself this weekend.

Lily started taking piano lessons in January, 2013, and on Thursday night she performed in her first recital. She hates performing in front of strangers but she put on her big girl panties and did it. She said her hands were shaking and she looked like she was on the verge of tears!  But she played her 2 pieces quite well.  On Saturday morning, her mother took her to UW-Eau Claire for a judged competition and she had to play her pieces before a judge as well as taking a theory test.  No shaking hands or teary eyes this time!  She played her pieces and took the test and got a perfect score on both!  In fact, the judge told her that next year she should be going to the state judging! 

I'm so proud!