Well and Star Struck Jr. are finished

Friday saw a lot of well work accomplished.

First there was a lot of digging and moving the dirt to the wrong part of the meadow.

[No photos of that part.]

And then there were pipes to be shoved into the ground and connected to the previous piece of pipe.

And finally the trench was filled again, and the water turned ON.

So that finally we have this lovely addition to our front yard.

The well guy said, "Don't run into that with your lawn mower. Plant some flowers around it."

I finished the DSM quilting and binding of the Star Struck, Jr. yesterday.

It can go in the Guild show for the Small Quilt Auction since it ended at 28" square.

I quilted the sawtooth borders

with the point going off into the surrounding plain border, just to make more of a point about the Points.

And to fill up the big triangles of tropical blue, I quilted congruent triangles.

I had to diminish my usual 2.25" binding to 1.75" so that it turned to just a mere 1/4 inch. I hoped this would spare the points of those outer triangle, but it still shorted a few of them.

Oh well, just another wonky detail!

Sara

Gratitudes:

Not that hard to give Zeke insulin shots while C is gone

Leftover pizza for lunch

Crabapples in bloom

Yard/Garden work

All around town the crabapples are coming into bloom. Some are completely covered in white, and others are only partly open.

Here is one of the "Beverly" crabapples on the edge of our meadow, chosen because of two Beverlies in our extended family.

And next is a close-up of the blossoms.

As for the "work"? Well, here is one of the paid garden workers I hire from Bella Fiori garden services. She is improving the herb garden. And many other parts of the garden are being improved also . Yesterday three people worked for about four hours on clearing the hill to lake from garlic mustard plants. Ooof! Arthritis in my knees stops me from trying to do anything on that slope!

But the biggest event of the day was the drilling of a new well for our house. Every time we had a real gully-washer of a rainstorm, our old well pit would flood, the pump would short out, and we would be without water until it was removed, dried out and re-installed.

This morning the driller came and drilled and drilled. They found water at 110 feet, but the process took until after dinner time.

View out my sewing room window.

The equipment is still standing out there at 7:00 pm, but no men are around.

Tomorrow our usual well service man is expected to install the new pump with a water-proof casing, and connect it to the house.. And fill in the old well pit.

Just one of those "joys of home ownership" that we never imagined when we first signed mortgage papers.

Sara

Gratitudes:

We are able to pay for these services

Zeke is home from the vet with insulin and syringes

A woodsy walk at the new Burton Street Park

More spring

Can you tell that more of the little bluebells are in view? I know they're not very big. but I am thrilled nonetheless. I was really sure that some underground varmint had dug the bulbs and had them for dinner.

And there is our neighbor's Redbud on his side of the driveway, and our much smaller one, I think a volunteer child of his, on our side of the driveway.

Yesterday I got all four sawtooth borders on the "Son of Star Struck", and I think I am done. Since this will go in the Guild Small Quilt Auction, it can't be much bigger than the 29" square it is right now. Maybe a teensie border of white and then the blue binding.

Sara

Gratitudes:

Tho' I fell off the diet and exercise program for three days, I climbed back on.

Good dinner and conversation with Peter & Lynne

Won opera tickets for three performances next year

More Star Struck

I decided to set the Mini Star Struck "on point". This tropical blue print seemed to be the best thing I had in my stash for this purpose.

Now I am working on another row of HSTs outside those triangles as another sawtooth border. These HSTs were ALSO left over from a Bonnie Hunter project , the regular sized Star Struck.

Sara

Gratitudes:

An exciting modern violin and cello double concerto at GRSO last night

Books I've been waiting for arrived at the library [Louise Erdrich]

Hearing about the Writers of Faith conference from Charlie and Carol

Still lots of yellow

I can't remember when the forsythia has lasted this long! I love The Yellow Season.

And the daffodils are still blooming, both in the driveway circle, and on the far side as well.

The Juneberry/Serviceberry bush is about to burst into white blooms. So perhaps we are beginning to move on to the other colors of Spring.

No news to report in any quilting area.

But after six weeks of increased physical activity and careful logging of everything I eat, I have lost 10 pounds. Man, this is really hard work! My calves and thighs are creaky and sore all the time it seems. It has really taught me that it takes a lot of energy to get rid of previous errors in judgment. Anybody who is sloughing away at this same project sure has my empathy. I couldn't do this without my dear husband saying every day, "What time are we going to do our walk together?"

Sara

Gratitudes:

Wittenbach Forest Preserve where we walked for an hour

Sugar-free chocolates

Fun of talking about previous vacation trips

Star Struck, Jr.

I am still working on the mini-Star Struck.

First I figured out haw to stop the design so there were not any partial stars on the edges. This took a bit of hard thinking and then some errors!

But I finally accomplished it.

Then I added a narrow additional white border to set the stars further away from whatever was coming next.

Today I cut down to 1.5" about 50 of the "waste" or "bonus" triangles from Bonnie's projects, and made them into a sawtooth border.

So here is the 14" square I have on my sewing machine NOW.

Sara

Gratitudes:

New batch of bread dough and two loaves baked

Half pound weight loss this AM

Sunshine, though the temperatures are down

Smaller Star Struck

Suddenly I just had to try making a smaller copy of the Star Struck block. Left is the Star Struck block Bonnie taught us. Right is a smaller version made with 1.5" strips and squares instead of 2.5" strips and squares.

Perhaps I will put on a plain border of blue and then another border of a few of those hundreds of red and white waste/bonus HSTs I have left over from Bonnie's other projects. Then it can go into the Guild "Small Quilt Auction".

I found a stack of 10.5" backing squares that I'm not using lately, and got out a box to send them to Virginia of Bumble Beans for her homeless project. Then I spent some more time cutting up more 10.5" strips into blocks to fill up the box more fully. Then a quick trip to the Post Office, and they're GONE!

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Charlie suddenly is gone overnight. He went to Memphis with a friend from church who is moving there, and needed a companion driver. This is the kind of thing one can do once retired from regular employment!

Sara

Gratitudes:

Kathie's birthday party for dinner tonight

Tho' this is a "rest day", I got in 5000 steps

A little more space on my fabric shelves where the 10.5" squares were

The Yellow Season

Every year I purchase a few pots of miniature daffodils for the Easter table. When they are done blooming, I plant them in the herb garden around the birdbath. Now, you can see that they have added up to quite a number. And the forsythia is in full bloom also. I love the Yellow Season -- it means the winter is over!

Last fall I planted bluebell bulbs around a bur oak in hopes that over several years they would seed themselves into a "carpet" of bluebells. Can you see that a few of them are now up and starting to bloom? Maybe someday they will be as noticeable as the miniature daffodils.

Sara

Gratitudes:

I was able to move up to a more strenuous level of exercise

Fresh bread aroma

Tasty tilapia for dinner

Current Leaders/Enders project

I have decided that Bonnie's "Star Struck" pattern is going to be my leaders/Enders project for now. I was getting a little bored after making 25 blocks, so now I don't have to keep doing the same thing over and over. These blue and neutral units will get the red squares and the yellow or neutral square sewn across the corners while I am actually working on something ELSE. When a lot more have gotten to that state I will go back to working on the blocks full time.

Now to decide what that something else will be.

Time for another walk around the driveway circle to enjoy the daffodils.

Sara

Gratitudes:

Exercise class that is do-able yet challenging

The Yellow season is here: daffodils and forsythia!

Re-reading Stieg Larsson's first two books