Wordless Wednesday

Wordless Wednesday

LRR, Round 4 finished on 2 sides

The fourth step of the Liberated Round Robin [a "nested" round robin, which means it stays at home for the whole process] is "Strips or Strings".  I had a long band of red and white strips that were left over from an earlier project.  I had sewn the little pieces together as Leaders and Enders during that project, and the band was in my Orphan Box.  I added a ticking strip on each side.

Current size is 25" X 43".

The next step is already announced as "Curves", so I will make something for the two long sides.

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First of the tomatoes to start reddening!

Queen of the Prairie in bloom.

Sara

Gratitudes:

BLT for lunch with local tomato
Progress on SpoolSpinners' quilt idea for Guild raffle
Lots of people came to raise money for Sue Brown tonight

Wordless Wednesday

Sara

Wordless Wednesday

Increasing Lakes & Islands

18 blocks with Lakes

15 blocks with Islands

11 blocks of Fields

That's what have accumulated up to this last day of May.  I'm expecting a few more in the mail.  And then the arranging and rearranging will start in order to make a TOP out of them.  A good project for JUNE.

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Meanwhile the chives are blooming in the herb garden, and there are a few annuals to plant, alysium and impatiens.

The wild phlox are in full bloom on the hill down to the lake.

Sara

Gratitudes:

Vegetable garden bed being built

Picnic on our deck with new neighbors yesterday

Every where there is lush green, green, green

Liberated Round Robin start

I've joined the Liberated Round Robin and we need to be choosing/preparing our beginning block.
Once I looked in my Orphan Block Box and decided to use up some red/white/black blocks in this project, this block jumped out as a starting point:

Lovely Hershey kisses fabric, isn't it? A perfectly fine Shoo-Fly block. But a little SIMPLE since it was 12.5 inches square.  You can barely see that I began slicing it up.  I inserted black strips as if making an "asterisk" or "fireworks" block.

I decided to cut a little off-center, and one of the strips was created by ripping off a wedge to straighten a piece of fabric.  Oh well, just used the wedge.  And all this somehow made the block 12.25 inches square.  Hmm, rather odd.

 There, I've got the start of the Round Robin.  Next instruction in a week.  [We are not going to pass this around, but do all the borders/additions ourselves.  No mailing.]


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And in the Progress of Spring department, we have three Redbuds on the left side of the hill down to the lake.

And we have some new anemones:

And the first iris:

Sara

Gratitudes:

Lots of Scouts came to pull garlic mustard at Peace Park
Labyrinth mowed before last night's rain
Roasted parsnips & new potatoes

Lakes & Islands, coming in!

I have been getting some FUN fat envelopes in the mail - blocks for my Lakes & Islands quilt from the members of the SCRAP bee [15 Minutes of Play blog].

The three above from Glen, along with an extra Island.

These five from Beebee in Baton Rouge.

And these two from Victoria in NYC.


Meanwhile, spring is continuing to develop in western Michigan:
peonies sprouting next to the late daffodils,

Juneberry, also called serviceberry, blooming,

two kinds of trilium in the woods [the one in front has inconspicuous flowers],

and the saucer or tulip magnolia in full bloom.

Sara

Gratitudes:

Gardening helpers
UNeventful doctor visit
Re-reading favorite books

Springing Along

A little walk around the house when the temperature was around 55 showed me that spring is coming along.

Spent a day watching The Wedding yesterday.  Today I was simply lazy, reading while watching house fix-up TV shows.  Now we're off to see "The Barber of Seville", Rossini's version.

Sara

Gratitudes:

I won a Thank You prize from Margaret's Hope Chest!
Pepperoni pizza with double green olives
Frogs jumping in the pond when I walk by

Spring, maybe?

Looking out the kitchen window, I'm glad to see the mini-daffodils are making a show, the grass is green, and maybe the willows are even starting to turn yellow.  Still pretty "brown" around here.  The deciduous trees are bare.
Makes it VERY hopeful to see the daffodils!


I had a four day visit with my friend Sue in Richmond, Virginia, and spring is much further along there.  The azaleas were popping their bright pink in many yards.  And the DOGWOODS!  Wow, everywhere.

I'm behind on learning the music for Women's Chorus, and we are singing five songs at our rehearsal church this Sunday.  So I'll be busy with thtat this week.

Sara

Gratitudes:

Got good help at the rehearsal last night
Sun is shining today
Kindle travels well

Block Lotto winner!

My name was drawn as a winner in the December Block Lotto.  Everyone made a pair or more of these fun trees in black and jewel tones.  This past week I received these seven sets, and I'm to receive a total of 23 PAIRS.  WOWSER!  That's 46 in all!  These were from Andi, Deana, Ginny, Laura, and Wendy Lee.  Thanks so much ladies!   I'm trying to imagine how to set these together.

The sun this morning was another inspiration:

The temperature was down to 6 degrees F, so the frost was heavy, and then we have been having "lake effect" snow for the past  several days, making everything fresh and pure white.

Indoors I've had another delight:

Peter gave me this orchid plant last Mother's Day, and now it is blooming again.  That's not a whole year of waiting, but this second blooming is a great gift in the midst of January in Michigan.  We have it on the kitchen eating counter so we enjoy it many times a day.

Still slogging away at the Roll, Roll Cotton Boll piecing of blocks and trying to make them come out the right size.  About 20 blocks to go.

Sara

Gratitudes:

The Block Lotto!
The Sun!
The orchid blooming!

Busy weekend

I saw this back for a baby quilt lying on the sewing room bed. "Oh, yeah," sez I, "I was going to put that quilt together for Susan's 100 quilt project."

So I found a piece of batting barely big enough, and I layered it. And I quilted it. And I bound it with some more green old fabric.

Oh, yes, it was the one with the green sashing and the confetti blocks.

Then I went out and planted 12 Russian sage plants that were on sale at Meijers. I'm still working on that new garden bed which is to conceal the new well head.

Then we went over to Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp and were entertained by the two grandkids and friends displaying their "minors". They were both in the choir, one at each end of the back row.

Now we have had Peter and Lynne and their two dogs over for dinner and heard the tales of their trip to Barcelona and the Dordogne.

Next weekend: my 50th high school class reunion!

What shall I wear? Hmmm, the same stuff I usually wear.

Leaving for Minneapolis next Wednesday with the ferry across Lake Michigan to Milwaukee.

Sara

Gratitudes:

Grandkids' Dad is driving them home to St. Louis; last year we did it.

Zillah swimming out to Lynne in the lake

Yummy spaghetti and meatballs for dinner

Day Lily Season

Seems that almost all the flowers I have right now are day lilies. This is the closest to white.

A "blush" color that doesn't look like much next to the others, but is very nice on its own.

Around here these are called "Ditch Day Lilies" because they do proliferate in the ditches. Obviously they multiply easily, and hence I like them for filling in spaces!

The workmen did come today. They are currently putting in the porch door. They are also considering what might be wrong with the fan remote. Carpeting WILL be done tomorrow!

Hurray! After they leave I will be able to move one chair out there and read this afternoon. Ha, on all mosquitoes!

So I need to go to the library for new books, and to the Ford Museum to pick up my three patriotic quilts that have been on display with many others. Then I can sew a little and finally sit on the porch.

Sara

Gratitudes:

Greg Mortenson ("Three Cups of Tea" tells his story)

He's almost as big a challenge as Mother Theresa.

The other grandmother of our grandkids

Going out for breakfast

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