Trees-BOW

 

Block 4

I've held this block until last because it's the most time intensive one.

 I've used a snippet of a basket weave fabric, fabric with multiple leaves, along with several shades of gray fabrics. Varied other small pieces were used with the tree bark fabric being the largest piece.

I added a partial red wheelbarrow to make my block stand out at bit. 

I auditioned many fabrics on this one so you might want to do the same in order to get the scales and depth in your block.

DWM-BOW

It's Design Wall Monday!! Make sure to pop over to Judy's and check out what others are up to.

 

#8 (Mudpuppy) better known as catfish is next in my Gone Fishin series.

Enjoy!!

 

Here's a view of the bottom dwelling catfish.

 

Look at what's made a second appearance this summer.....

Grandma's day lilies!!

My grandma planted the bulbs back in the late 1940s. Isn't that amazing that they still bloom each year!!

 

The heat and dry weather wilted the first round but cool rainy weather has had a great effect on this round.

 

Reminder!!

 

There's still plenty of time to get in on the THURSDAY mug rug give-away.

This strutting rooster is up for grabs.

Just click

 HERE

and leave a comment to be counted. I'll announce the winner August 2nd.

I know, I know

 this will be a day later

 but

 I'll be posting the

Ho Ho Ho Christmas Blog Hop on August 1st.

 

 

So Sad

You may remember little Buzzard Bait (AKA: BB)  (AKA: Sugar & Cream).....well, she's a big girl now and was very happy the other day when I visited her frolicking in the pasture. She even stopped and posed for the camera

but..............

 

today, she's not so happy. She is being weaned from her mommy and has a long face as she looks at me from the trailer. Her mommy is very happy that BB is going away for awhile. She didn't even notice when BB was loaded into the trailer. Mom's face was buried in some range cubes, as usual.

I'm saying goodbye to BB for a few weeks but don't worry, she'll be back before we know it.

A Mess

A mess.......

that's a Texas saying for enough to eat with a meal or enough to put up in the freezer or in my case, enough for canning.

I couldn't wait to get busy preparing this babies.

I have 28 cucumbers here. I will cut the ends off before slicing. 

Once I gave them a couple of good rinsings it was time to slice them up. I don't know where I purchased the gadget in this photo but it's one of the best items I have in my kitchen. I was able to slice 28 cucumbers with in 20 minutes.

Once the cucumbers were sliced, I placed them in a pickling lime/water bath for the next 24 hours or so. Phase two happens roughly twenty-four later which will include rinsing the lime off then placing the cucumbers in ice for about three hours which cools them down from the cooking chemicals of the lime. Then it's into a wonderful brine.

The brine is made with one half gallon apple cider vinegar; 4 lbs. sugar; 2 Tbsp. salt (on iodine); 2 Tbsp. Pickling spices (that's what's in the little bag). These ingredients will dissolve over a 3 hour period (stir occasionally) while cucumbers are cooling on ice.  

Drain ice from cucumbers then pour brine over cucumbers. Allow to sit for at least 12 hours.

 

I will start the actual canning tomorrow.

 

Mug Rug Thursday

The winner of the Watermelon mug rug is..............

Bonnie P.

 

Congratulations to you, Bonnie P. Leave a comment so that we can communicate via email.

 

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I decided to try my hand with round mug rugs....what an experience that has been and don't ask.....LOL

 

Cock-a-doodle-Do is this weeks' give away.

Just leave a comment for a chance.

I'll announce the winner August 1st.

Variation

My friend Guilitta made this beautiful blue tone quilt for a friend. She has given me permission to post about it. I love the
colors and I think her border is great. So often we think that borders should be the traditional one color type but more and more we quilters are branching out and getting creative.
Thank you Guilitta for allowing me to post and show off the quilt you made as a gift.

 

This is a top you've seen in a couple of my posts of the "Fractured Diamond" pattern which is very similar to Guilitta's blue beauty.

Playing around with designs can result in many happy surprises. So jump in and create!!

Mother Knows Best

Last year mom had heart surgery and came through it amazingly, phrase God! Her doctors and ICU nurses were amazing and very kind. You can never thank them enough but I tried verbally and with some of my canned pickles.
I said all that just to get to this next part.......Erma Bombeck!   

Some of you may remember her, a columnist, humorist and mom. I reread her book (Forever, Erma) when my mom was in the hospital back then. It got me though a couple of tough moments.  I ran across the book last night and thought I need to share it with my blogging friends. You just might get a chuckle from the excerpts her son wrote as an assignment in 1975.

"Things My Mother Taught Me"

• Logic:  "if you fall off that swing and break your neck, you are not going to the store with me."
• Optimism:  "You are going to enjoy yourself at that birthday party or I am going to break every bone in your body."
• ESP:  "Put on the sweater! Don't you think I know when you are cold"
• Science:  "You put your hand out the car window and it will blow off."
• Finance:  "I told you the tooth fairy is writing checks because computerized billing is easier for the IRS."
• Challenge:  "Where is your sister and don't talk with food in your mouth. Answer me!"
• Ethics:  "If you are too busy to take out the garbage, you are too busy to need an allowance."
• Genealogy:  "Shut the door. Were you born in a barn?"
• Suspense:  "Can you guess what I found under your bed today?"
• Humor:  "Stop monkeying around because when that lawn mower cuts off your toes, don't come running to me." 

Trees-BOW

Today's my mom's 80th birthday.

 Happy Birthday Mom!!

 

Here's a photo of mom when she was about 8 years old with her dog, Booth

who was named after a dog in World War I.





 

 

Block 3

is a palm scene. I found, in my stash, a fabric with leaves and veins so that's what I used but any shade of green works well and if you're into hand embroidery, after pressing your design into place, hand stitch the veins in.

I also found a great blueish ocean wave fabric but shades of blue or green works great for the ocean.

 

DWM-BOW

Before I get to the fist BOW

here's what I was working on yesterday. I hope to finish it today.

"I Need A Cool Drink, Too" Mug Rug

 

 

#7 for Gone Fishin is here. This is a great one to use pieces of dad's old shirts.

Here's a different look. Use Attic Window blocks as a quilt idea. I've just used two scenes to show but this has many possibilities. Each fish block could show off different settings.

 

 

Make sure to pop over to Judy's to see what others are up to.

I Need Your Vote!

I've gone and done it again.....entered a project at Quilting Gallery. And I need your help, your vote, please.

Just click on this LINK, scroll slowly down to Vote Now, Scrappy Quilts, click on that link

then find my lovely quilt name

"Black and White and Red All Over"  to place your vote. 

I really appreciate your support and friendship.

Double Wedding Ring Challenge

I just had to post about this one because at first it frightened me just thinking about the DWR but when I read the details, I thought to myself, I could actually do that.

Click

Here

to see for yourself!!

 

If I could do this, the person who is afraid of curves when stitching quilt tops, you can too. Join in the fun!

December 1, 2013 is the entry date, so there's plenty of time.

Plus, there are some great sponsors and prizes.

Sunset On The Beach

The other day I posted a snippet of a project and asked what did everyone think it was. I got some great guesses such as a frog plus a couple of other critters. Later the commenters and I laughed via email, as well, as to what I was up to.

 

Without further ado........

 

I used most of the fabrics shown here. I knew I'd definitely use the leopard fabric as the bathing suit and tied it in with the hat band.

"Sunset On The Beach"

measures 7 1/2 by 7 inches

I was playing with small to tiny scraps while laughing at her expression.....must have been something in the drink she's swilling.......hehehehe

 

Another mug rug I whipped up last night, I've named

"Lazy Saturday Morning"

it measures 8 1/2 by 8 1/2 inches. I added the checkerboard fabric for the coffee as a zinger and I really like the overall effect.

 

Both of these mug rugs will appear in future Thursday Mug Rug Give Aways so watch out for them.

I should make a rug celebrating the rain we've received, around 2 1/2 inches this week. My cousins are dancing a jig because this lends at least two more hay cuttings and baling. The guys were out fertilizing up a storm just before an afternoon of thunderstorms.

 

How to Fold a T-Shirt | Martha Stewart

I love this short video on how to fold a T-shirt. Sure wish I'd known this when I was growing up. My job at the time was folding dad's under-shirts, as they were called then.

Mug Rug Thursday

The winner of "On The Fly" is............................

Sally

Congratulations to you, Sally!! Leave a comment so that we can get together via email.

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Are you feeling the heat? Well this mug rug is just waiting for a cold glass of iced tea or iced coffee or lemonade. Think of the possibilities but don't allow those pesky ant to run off with your drink.

Leave a comment to have a chance at this cute Watermelon mug rug. 

I'll announce the winner on July 25th.

Rain, Come Down

Wow! We are really enjoying this rain/thunderstorm. So far .9 of an inch.
Our hay fields are in heaven. We could possibly get two more balings from this wonderful rain.

 

I did manage to get in some sewing today as well. Here's a sneak peek...

Tiny pieces..........wait and see what I've been up to.

Trees-BOW

Block 2

is a mixture of several greens from the old stash with a brown trunk.

No hand embroidery in this block at this time. I might add a bird in flight somewhere.

 

 

 

There's still time to get in on "On The Fly" mug rug give-away. Just leave a comment

HERE

 to be counted. I'll announce a winner July 18th.

 

 

DWM-BOW

#6 of Gone Fishin is here.

My favorite fabric is the underbelly geometric scrap. I only had a little bit of it so I don't

know the designer.

 

 

 Next, another finish. You remember this little quilt "In These Shoes"

Well I was very busy sewing and binding all weekend.
I used Gene's method of basting: hairspray!!
It worked like a charm. Thank you Gene for that fantastic suggestion. It worked like a charm!
 

Here are a few close-ups. I did tiny meandering throughout the quilt.

I bound the quilt in black.

 

Judy is our hostess for DWM so pop over and say Howdy!!