"Seppy"

32 x 37

Once I quilted this I fell in love with it. Before it was quilted I felt a bit so-so about it.  I'm glad I took the extra time to quilt the feathers in the border.  I used a blue thread on that, it sorta blends but not completely.  I wonder if I'll ever get brave enough to quilt feathers with a high (higher) contrasting thread.  I hope so. :)

I just made the label and will sew it on with the binding, catching the bottom edge in the seam of the binding~so happy I remembered to do this; half the time I forget and then have to sew 4 sides of the label to the quilt back, which isn't hard to do just one more step that I like to avoid.  It also means that the label is on there really well!  If I remember (and can get to my fabrics) I should prep the hanging sleeve and catch the top side of it in the binding seam as well.  I'm thinking of putting 2 hanging sleeves on as I can't decide which way I'd like this to hang.

This morning I loaded Evening Stars, then the guys arrived and I covered the whole thing with plastic and they resealed the area off.  Sadly, I had also started laundry, but I will have to wait until they leave to finish it---ya I'm really crying over that!

72 x 86

This is one of my block-a-day tops and on my quilting goals for 2011 list.

I wanted it done in June but July is good too.

Well, they're hammering pretty hard down there and the water is off for a while so I think this is my cue to go shopping.  I'm getting real comfortable in Lowe's! This is probably not a good thing. *wink*

Henrietta Whiskers

Block Seven

The door to this cute little acorn house needs is knob, probably a button as pattern suggests. I chose not to put the word "HOME" in the cap.

Since I have the background blocks made already,  I just had to blanket stitch the appliques after I fused 'em.  I did this at the kitchen table. It's a workable situation; more and more of my supplies are migrating to the living room.  I don't think this is a good thing but as they say, "It is what it is."

They're making good progress on powder room, I'm guessing the walls will be framed in tomorrow as they started on laying it out this afternoon. 

I'm really excited about the big new closet we'll be gaining down there.  I can see it now that the layout has started.  I'm terrible at being able to visualize this kind of thing.

HQ and all my stuff is plastic-ed off but I snuck in there tonight after supper, it's nice and clean (yeah!) so I loaded 'Seppy'

 and am going to quilt it tonight. 

**GRIN**

"Seppy" the flimsy

edit: (32.5 x 38)

Yea!

This morning I pieced (and a dog story)

Debby's Beau  and Seppy

As I was sewing the rows on "Debby's Beau" together I reverted to using little fabric leftovers for leader/enders.

It was bothering me.  I don't want to start anything new (we all know I don't need another project) until I see how much the basement deconstruction  construction is going to go. They say that I will still be able to use part of the area, but I'm thinking perhaps I won't want to be so close to all that noise and stuff.

ANYWAY,  I had a light bulb moment and started using the sashing and squares for "Seppy" as leader/enders. 

So now I have Debby's Beau together with the stop border, which I really wanted on because of all that outside bias and Seppy is oh I'd call it 1/2 together. My goal is to get it all done today and off the wall. 

*******

Yesterday I finished the yard work projects for this summer....over the last 2 days I bought, lugged and spread 18 bags of mulch.  Silly me I thought 6 bags would do it! 

3 bags of the big pine nuggets went here

and 15 bags of cypress went here.

Can you see the wire fence along the brick edger? 

If you click on it and enlarge you will also see that I ran out of bricks, so I'm not actually completely done with this...

What a major pain in the duppa that was.

A few weeks ago my dad gave me 2 extra tomato plants he couldn't fit in his garden.  

When I first made this bed after the white fence was installed, I put that weed block fabric down and planted a few perennials, but I didn't know what else to put in there: shrubs, maybe a small ornamental tree, an herb garden....so I just mulched and thought I'd get around to it eventually.  Otis saw this spot right off the deck steps as the perfect "marking" area.  He was diligent in watering anything vertical.  I marvel that he's not in a constant state of dehydration!  The only bad thing about Otis's vigilance is his need to scrape his little back legs for emphasis that he is "dominant dog of the mulch bed" and before I realized what was happening, he had in a matter of a few days ripped to shreds the landscape fabric under the mulch.  I tried to keep him out but animal instinct was stronger than my will to run up and down those steps every 5 minutes.  The spot was his and it looked like hell.

Then the 2 tomato plants arrived.  The perfect spot would be right along that fence.  If they were going to go there a fence would be needed and if I was going to do a fence then it was time to fix the shredded fabric disaster. 

It turns out the fence I bought; although high enough to keep Annie from jumping in- 18 inches,

(well she could jump in if she wanted but she would rather sit under the apple tree all day and wait for the squirrel who lives in one to venture out--she's obsessed) not too high that I can't straddle it and get in, had openings 3 3/4" wide.  Apparently Otis is about 3 5/8" wide! 

Seriously, does this stuff happen to anybody else?

I put the fence up and started raking the remaining old mulch out of the way so I could put down new fabric and in 2 minutes; OK  I might be exaggerating it may have been 45 seconds. Otis is beside me!  I chased him around not knowing HOW THE HECK he got in there and he squirted right through the fence. 

Agggghhhhh!

After trying to scare him out of going in there, which one time got Annie's attention and she saw him squirt in and she tried to follow....SHE is not 3 5/8 inches wide at her narrowest!

And going back and forth on whether I should take it back, get something else, throw the tomato plants over the hill, I ended up buying the same fence again and double it with the openings being off centered so he can't get his little nose through.

I think that means I win....

I am one tired Shop Hopper!

We finished the Shop Hop yesterday afternoon, logging 227 miles! (just for Friday) I don't know how many miles we did on Wen. evening and all day Thursday--Libby drove and we forgot to check.  Regardless it was a lot of miles and ALOT of fun.  It took us to the final 1/2 hour of the ride home to finally be 'talked out'! 

I bought mostly fabric, fat quarters and yardage-got a good deal on fabric for backing (3.99/yd!)....you know how that goes:

 Walk up to the stack of bolts... see the sign...do a double take.... look closer at the bolts (holy-moley it's all quilt shop fabric: Moda, Thimbleberries etc)... your heart beats a little faster....you're eyes dart around to see if anyone else has spied this gold mine... And then you start really looking, counting the layers on the bolt (2 layers = 1 yard, good estimator) Yup, 6 yds at least...IT'S MINE! For practically a song....

...Yeah, you know what I'm talking about! ;)

*********

My sewing room is a mess.  Since I'm a prewasher that's what I did today, 'washed the loot'...but I'm dragging and not in the mood to press. So it's all neatly, was sorta neatly, piled on my sewing chair.  I'll get to it soon.

This morning I finished quilting The CW Medallion quilt. Woo-Hoo.  No picture until it's done cuz it's also in a pile (not nearly as neat as the fabrics) waiting to have the edges trimmed and  then; Oh man, Oh man have the binding wrestled sewed on.
Yuk.

Today I looked at my design wall at this.

 

and decided that I do not like it.

 

So I spent the next few hours, 3-4 hours is more like it.

But time flies when I'm having fun.

And I now have this

(not necessarily the final block arrangement)

Oh joy 2 more quilt tops have been born! 

I'm super happy with them both.  The one on the left is probably going to get a final dark blue border and the one on the right....hmmmm not sure yet it could be 2 borders but maybe just one. It has a name though "Seppy".  So I guess I could call the one on the left "Debby" and I'd have my 3 imaginary friends (Seppy, Debby and Juber) immortalized in my quilts. 

But it doesn't look like a Debby to me, more like a Frank, or maybe a "Jedediah" or "Josiah". 

"Bob" would have been easier, had to spell check the other two....

;)