Fawns, flowers, and fish

The sky cleared and the art museum's Downtown at Dusk event went smoothly. We were at least under the canopy and had a nice cool breeze. People where saying it was hot out in the parking lot where they were sitting.

I thought I would catch up on the goings on around Casa Patty. Remember the canna I planted three weeks ago and how yellow they were?

Well here they are this morning. They are now purple and green. Gosh, I need to weed!

Here are the twins chillin' in the backyard this morning. Notice they are both facing the camera looking at me with their ears perked up wondering if I was a threat. The picture is a bit dark, but at the distance I was from them the flash would have done no good.

My coneflowers are now blooming. Now I planted white swan coneflower seeds and this is what I have:

Not white, but pretty. Seems as if the seeds got mixed up a bit when they were packaged. It will be interesting to see what else blooms.

I have my sewing machine all threaded and ready for quilting tonight as soon as I get home from work.

Look what I have for meals this weekend - freshly caught salmon! A friend of mine when fishing for the first time with her man friend and his son. She caught a 22 pound salmon in Lake Michigan. I have it in the refrigerator thawing out so I should be ready to cook when I get home. Yum!

Have a great weekend!

MQG meeting

Eva and Nancy hosted the group last evening and the topic of discussion was our influences. The 10 of us had a lively discussion! Eva and Nancy brought a big pile of books with subjects ranging from tile to design and of course quilts.

Here is what was shared for show and tell

Stephanie brought her Nancy Drew fabric, the quilt she had come over to my place and pin basted last month, and a top ready to quilt

Joanna brought a table runner. She had leftover circles from another project and used them to make this lovely runner.

I am so bad at remembering names, but this lovely lady made this quilt top for her son and then used the leftover solids to make a Patty inspired back. She used the technique I had demonstrated a couple months ago of improv slicing layers. I felt so honored and she gave me a high five! My high five back was for the great job she had done!

Here is another lovely top by another member. It is a baby quilt - one very large baby quilt - and she made it without anyone in mind. But low and behold someone in her family is having a baby boy and this quilt will be perfect!

I brought my June finishes - the pink pinwheel, both yellow and gray quilts, and the scrap Halloween quilt.

So next is the family xmas quilt. Here it is sitting next to the sewing machine ready for me to start quilting it. I won't be able to start tonight since I will be working at the art museum selling beverages.

6th finish of 2013

Finally the yellow and gray quilt is done! I don't know why it seemed to take so long to get this one done. It finished at 80" x 96". I used warm & natural for the batting and cotton quilting thread from a variety of manufacturers. I didn't have time to hang it to take a proper picture. I don't like quilt photos in perspective. I will try and get a better shot of it. Here it is on the office conference table.

Tonight is the Modern Quilt Guild meeting so no sewing tonight, but Thursday I will start quilting on the family xmas quilt.

A cool vintage quilt, the dentist, the quilt binding, and the long gone pot hole

I spotted a vintage quilt over at the resale shop across from where I work so I just had to go over and look closer. It is a drunker's path, but it has a pie shape cut out of both sides so when the blocks are put together there are all these great circles and secondary patterns. The quilt was not in the best shape - there are some places where the fabric is worn and the batting is showing. The size seems to be around a small twin size. They had a price of $75.00 minus 10% on it. I really like this quilt so I thought I would share.

Here are the measurements without seam allowances.

My dentist thinks I have an infection so he hooked me up with an antibiotic. We are trying this first and see if that solves the problem. He also gave me a prescription for some pain killers just in case. Modern drugs - its a good thing. All I could think about last week is Tom Hanks in Castaway and knocking out his tooth with a rock! I guess when a person is desperate ...

Once I back from my trip to the dentist - an hour each way - I stopped at the drug store got my prescriptions filled and then dropped off the books at the library which is right by the drug store. I decided I could at least get part of the binding on the yellow and gray quilt. I am making the binding to coordinate with where the gray and yellow blocks are on the quilt. Here you can see where the division was on one side. I managed to get the binding on three sides and so I can at least start the hand stitching at lunchtime today.

Oh, you may ask why on earth do I drive an hour to see my dentist? Well, he has been my dentist forever and I like him and he knows my mouth.

The city came by yesterday and filled my flower pot hole. Now when I pull into my driveway it is much smoother! You can still see the chalk a little.

This morning I was greeted by five poppy flowers! They don't seem to last but one or two days so I have to get out there and enjoy them! Oh, I woke up at 11:30 last night and saw a doe and her twins romping around in the backyard. Mom was rooting around in my flower bed looking for a snack. I don't know what she would eat since most of the bed is full of Lenten roses.

The quilting is done!

Yeah the quilting is finally done on the yellow and gray quilt! That was a total of 1,536 square inches which puts my total for the month at 11,002. I have the binding cut out and will start attaching it tonight after I get back into town from the dentist. My teeth hurt a lot less than they did the past week. They are still a bit tender, but at least I might not jump out of the chair when the dentist goes to look around.

I managed to pin baste the family xmas quilt and I will start quilting that once I get the binding on the yellow and gray quilt.

I had planted some white poppy seeds and white coneflowers. The first poppy bloomed Saturday. It was windy when I took this picture.

I took this picture of another one that bloomed this morning. I will have to try and save the seeds and spread them around the bed so I get more plants next year.

I don't know how long before the coneflowers bloom, but a least I have flower heads.

Art museum and day 7 of the 365 project

Working at the museum last evening wasn't too bad. It wasn't hot and my mouth did not hurt. Here is the set up before the crowd came.

This is my beer, pop, water station. We kept busy enough, but were never overwhelmed.

This morning I feel terrible. I cannot close my teeth together they are so sensitive. Monday can't come soon enough! I am not sure I can even chew - I am afraid to try.

Today task for the 365 day project is to make a stencil and use it. Well, I cheated and used s stencil I had made awhile back - that was all the energy I could muster up this morning. I used the stencil more as a mask and then used a stamp pad to put marks on the celery stamped fabric.

I decided I needed to add something else so I got one of my round mini stamps and stamped dots.

I don't think I am done with the fabric yet. It needs something else. What? You'll have to check back to see!

Have a great weekend!

Good thing, bad thing

Glory, I don't know where to start. Yesterday was one of those crazy days.

I needed to trim and mow - look at this!

The good thing is my mower started on the first pull. The bad thing is the trimmer I bought this spring and only used four times is toast. I only got about half the yard trimmed, but at least the grass is mowed and it looks better.

My teeth still hurt, but the good thing is I tried cutting one of the Percocet pills in half and it did not upset my stomach. Good thing - I have a dentist appointment; bad thing - it is not until Monday. I did get some sleep last night - 1/2 of a Percocet, Excedrin, and a cold ice pack on my face, but I did get woken up with my face hurting this morning.

I did get caught up on my 365 days of creativity. Day 4 I took some liberties - I took a piece of chalk and made a pothole flower at the end of my driveway. I know it is hard to see, but when I would bend over to draw the pedals and leaves my face would throb. I called the city to come and patch this hole. Maybe my flower drawing will put a smile on their faces.

Day 5 was to make something out of an item you collect. Well, I collect rocks and since I had picked up some when I went to Lorain last weekend, I decided to use them. Here is what I made. I used Goop glue.

So today is day 6 and I am caught up. Since I am volunteering at the museum tonight slinging beer, I wanted to get today's project done - using a vegetable - before I left for work. I cut the end off the celery and used it for a stamp. I printed once on the right side of the fabric and then did a second print on the left. I think I like the second print better. It also might have looked better if the layers of celery were opened up a bit more.
First print

Second print

24th block done

Here is block 24 - only six more to quilt! I am now 80% done with the machine quilting on the yellow and gray quilt. I get to add another 256 square inches to my total which is now 9,466 for the Quilt your Quilts challenge.

I have also been trying to get caught up on the 365 make something everyday and change your life challenge which started June 15. Yesterday I had to make something inspired by my favorite animal. I really don't have a favorite animal, but I think narwhals are pretty cool. So I altered and printed a picture and made a bookmarker for my 365 book.

Then the next day's prompt was to make something out of paper without using glue, scissors, or draw on it. I made a cover for my 365 book by folding it like I use to cover my books when I was a kid. Then I stamped 365 on the cover. So here is my book with the bookmark.

I don't know how much fun stuff I can do tonight - I need to trim and mow the grass. The yard is looking a bit shabby and since it had dried out I better get out there and get to work.

5th finish of 2013

After I went home from work yesterday morning because my teeth hurt so bad and my stomach was upset from the pain pills I went and took a long nap. I felt better when I got up, fixed something to eat, and went down to the studio and machine quilted a bit. I ended up getting this baby quilt made from the Halloween scraps done. It is small - 33.25 x 40.5. That adds another 1,347 square inches to my total of 9,210 for the quilt your quilts challenge.

I decided to join Glen from quiltswissy.blogspot.com in the 365 day creativity project. It started June 15 and I just did my first project this morning so I am already behind! This teeth problem really put a crimp in my schedule. Oh, by the way, I feel much better today. I had bought some of that pain numbing gel for teeth and it helped a lot! My teeth on the left side are just a bit sore, but the pain is gone - YEAH! So now back to my project - make something that would fit in the palm of your hand from materials in your immediate surroundings.

I took a white carpenter's pencil and painted black stripes on it. I like how the lettering still shows on the one side.

3rd and 4th finishes of 2013

It is hard for me to even think today - I don't feel good at all. Remember last year when I told you how the nerve to my teeth on the left side of my face hurt? It went on for 3 or four months. Well it finally stopped until this weekend. I don't know what got that nerve all stirred up again, but does it ever hurt! I found some pain killers, but they make me so tired. I stopped at the grocery this morning and bought some oral jell to see if that would help with the thumping.

Peg came up Saturday and left Sunday morning. We had a great time! She worked on cutting up her late husband's t-shirt for quilts. She left me the scraps to use for caulking rags.

Next Peg worked on cutting up his Hawaiian shirts for quilts. I asked for the scraps.

I machine quilted the yellow and gray baby quilt and a pink pinwheel quilt. I still have one side of the binding to finish hand sewing on the pink quilt. So that adds 2,087 plus 1,424 square inches to the 4,352 square inches already done for a grand total of 7,863 square inches done in June for the quilt your quilts challenge.

Sunday afternoon I went to Lorain with my brother, sister-in-law and Michael. Michael sat in with another band. The lakefront was beautiful. I managed to come home with a pocket full of rocks.

I felt really bad by the time we got back. I went to be shortly after I got home.