July approaches

The garden is lovely but the air is so humid that inside--we have fans running in addition to our central air.  I don't do much in the garden in July.  The weather is too hot and it is not healthy to move plants in high heat.  It's good to take time to just enjoy nature!

July is the month I have to always set aside to sew and refold the quilts in my collection.  This year, I am also reviewing what I have to see if there are any pieces I can pass on or sell.  I have a relatively healthy collection of quilts and use them for my trunk shows.  In January and July, I check and refold them.  The refolding is important as I have had quilts where the wear is evident (from being folded for a good long time).  My friend and often business partner, Beth Bacher has just uploaded her first video on you tube that deals with this subject.  You can see it here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PH_KbpEGcsQ
PS--By the way, that is one of my quilts in the background when Beth first comes on (it has fold line wear).

News from the Home Front!

I'm finally off for a few weeks this summer!  That isn't a complaint, I love giving lectures and spring and fall are my busiest months.  Unfortunately, I've also had another bout of vertigo. Never a fun time but we are coping.

The dog days of summer are here and I'm back to sewing in the afternoons.  We have central air but still...Seamus isn't that enamored with the heat.  He spends a lot of time here:

The garden is lovely and when it is cool, we spend time outside.  My brother and I are both descendants of upcyclers.  Before it was "cool" my grandfather repurposed things.  Jim and I  inherited this gene.  This trellis (behind the table) is Jim's contribution to the garden this year. He was given a rusty trellis by an old man (who knew he liked junk)--and Jim cleaned, sanded and painted it for my garden.  It is serving as a little screen for privacy.

Yesterday I got a little vine for it:

More photos of the garden to come!  Enjoy the first full day of summer!

Grateful for Rain

We have finally gotten some good rain here!  Last week the local weather folks said we were as much as 5 inches behind on precipitation this year.  Here are some photos from the garden this year:

Sew-cation Results

I always get more done when I allot a few days to just sewing.  This Sew-cation did get me some good results.  Today I do have to clean-up, run errands, etc.  But here is what I accomplished:

The binding is applied to Peter and Jessica's picnic quilt.  You might remember some of these fabrics from Peter and Jessica's party here.  I'm giving it to them for their second anniversary on June 29.  The first anniversary is supposed to be paper (we gave them a gift certificate); the second anniversary is supposed to be cotton.  So I'll use that to justify why it took so long to get this done.  This quilt is HEAVY.  I really need to find a light weight batting that I can maneuver better.  It took almost a whole day to apply the binding to the quilt because it was so dang heavy.  If you can recommend a lightweight batting, I would sure appreciate any suggestions!

Check this one off my list as well.  This is for the Civil War program.  I've applied the binding and began hand sewing it on the back last night.  I love to sew at night but I can't see well enough to embroider in the evening (despite a variety of lights including an ott light).  Binding is easier on my eyes and I now have a stack of quilts to bind which makes me sooooo happy :)

Got this quilted and applied binding as well.  I'm going to be pretty busy at night!  Two other projects that went astray:

Didn't get these done the way I wanted because I didn't like something with the embroidery. So I ripped and am restitching some things.  

Every morning I am watering some part of the garden with my soaker hoses.  Thank goodness for the soakers!  We haven't had rain since April 21st.  I can live without grass (indeed I have no grass in my backyard) but I so love my flowers and foliage.  Hopefully we will get some rain Wednesday AND Thursday but we will see.

Have a wonderful day!

Sew-cation 2015

I've been working in the garden a lot this week.  Getting the garden ready for visitors and the summer season is always a lot of work but so worth it once the weather is truly warm (the temp was in the 40s this morning).  

The hubs is working, the kids aren't coming home for the weekend and I actually fell asleep at 8 p.m. last night, I was so tired from working outdoors.  I feel as if I need a sew-cation.  What sounds better than a relaxing weekend of sewing?

I don't have a ton of projects on my list.  I just want to:  1-- get the binding applied to Peter and Jessica's quilt, 2-- quilt and apply binding to a mini quilt for our Civil War program, 3 and 4-- put together two mini quilts tops for my embroidery program.  I think these projects are do-able for one weekend and won't make me feel like I'm juggling too much.

I'll be posting photos as I can because I need to be accountable to get these things done this weekend.  I hope you have a wonderful weekend!  Remember those who have fallen and say some prayers for their families.

Dog TV

Greta visited yesterday and was so excited when she looked over the wall and saw a REAL LIVE CAT!  George (the cat) was out lounging on the back porch of my neighbor's home. 

Our first poodle, Paddie, used to enjoy looking over the wall at the world and that is when we originally called this region "dog tv".  She could stand for hours looking over the wall.  The wall was shorter then, built up for a variety of reasons (including Teddy our dog who could be neurotic when he saw the cat or anything else).  Anyway, this was truly exciting for Greta!  I was so proud of her because she didn't bark once at him, she was just thrilled to see a cat--so close and one that actually moved!!!

Seamus was less than thrilled.  He loves George and even visits him but losing Greta as a playmate was NOT what he called a good visit.  SO HE barked at George--an unusual behavior for Seamus.

Fortunately the two poodles made up later on and ended up lounging indoors once the heat got too high to be outsides.  

Hope the weather is tolerable for you!  We are expecting cooler temps later this week.  Have a great week everyone!! 

8 pointed star

I live in a neighborhood that is going through a transition.  Because many of the residents are elderly, we are seeing more houses go on sale and more estate sales.  I like to attend the sales on the off chance that I might find an old quilt.  It's surprising how often I do.  Here is a bad photograph of what I picked up on Saturday.  Many apologies for the lack of quality but it is tough to get a good photo right now in my house:

This is from the first half of the 19th century and is in really good shape although the fold creases look to be decades old.  I can't wait to show my appraiser and quilt study group it!

Hope the stars are all aligned in a positive place for you today!  We are fortunate.  Even if we haven't had rain (for weeks), we at least have cooler temperatures today.  Have a wonderful day!

Busy, busy, busy!

Life is busy these days!  April, May and June are usually three of my busiest months for lectures and this year is no different.  Fortunately, my husband has been home while I've been traveling so Seamus has had company while I've been away.  When I have been home, I've been working in the garden.  

This was not an easy task because I have seasonal allergies in the spring.  This year I just bit the bullet and got it done this week.  I was tired of the winter mess.  I'll post more photos of the garden after Tuesday.  

This weekend my son came home and helped me mulch the front yard.  We had a great time and my husband cooked dinner for Mom and I on Saturday.  It was a sweet weekend and I hope you all had a great time as well!  Happy Belated Mother's Day!

2 more for the collection...

It was inevitable.  I can't possibly go to a flea market and not look around.   No, I don't need anymore quilts for my collection but sometimes you get such a great deal.  This quilt is perfect for my embroidery program and another one I am working on so it was a no-brainer as far as picking it up.  It is chock full of 1940s-50s prints:

And it is bordered with this fun fabric...the color scheme which modern quilters would love:

 This one I just couldn't pass up because it was such a good deal.  Very inexpensive.  And it is a comfort--and inside there is another quilt.  I am not sure I want to pull the top off yet but I'm having fun admiring it.  The colors are off because I took this with my cell phone but it is from the 1890s.

I'll be sewing this week and hope to have some new photos posted sooner or later.  If I could just get tops done, it would be very helpful.  Hope your weather is better than ours.  At least it's not snowing here.  Have a great day!