Hollyhocks!

We have had Hollyhocks growing on the west and south sides of our house for a long time. But they were showing their age-weak colors and not very plentiful. Last year I found a bag of seed heads that had been saved and sprinkled them around. What a difference that has made this year. Must collect some seeds this summer to use again another year.

Judy

Fathers Day

Fathers Day was a big day here. We had both sons here to celebrate Fathers Day and also older son Ken's birthday. It is rare to have both boys here at the same time.

In addition, for a HUGE surprise for hubby Steve, I had pieced the Pansy Park quilt which he had purchased as an anniversary gift about eight years ago. For a long time I resisted making the blocks because I was afraid if I made any mistakes that there would not be enough fabric to make the quilt. Steve has asked somewhat regularly when I was going to make this quilt and I always replied that I will make it when I had more time. No, I don't have more time now than I had then, but at some point I decided to try to get the top made for our anniversary. (Which is July 5th). But then I upped the anty so to speak and decided Fathers Day would be a better time to do the unveiling. So while Steve toiled at his computer, I snuck in piecing blocks. If he emerged from his cave, I quickly threw something over the blocks until he returned. Actually, his cave is his office, but when he has lots of work requests ahead of him, I don't see much of him. By the week before Father's Day the top was nearly complete except for the last two borders. And I had a heck of a time getting those on because that week was the week he stayed up late almost every night either working or reading. Some nights I was sewing on a border at 1:00 AM.

I think he likes it. Now to get it quilted and on the bed!

Judy

Basket of Flowers

At long last, the time had come to replace the Snowman on my wire display rack with something a little more current. So again using a pattern from The Wooden Bear, Mom and I made these cute small quilts. Of course, I thought I needed to buy special fabrics for them instead of trying to use from my stash, but I thought they turned out really cute.

My two friends Carolyn and Connie have made one, too, but Connie was unable to be with us the day the picture was taken. Carolyn's Basket of Flowers was made totally from her stash. Doesn't the plaid make a world of difference?

Next on the list for the wire hanger is a 4th of July flower arrangement. Oh wait! Today is the 4th of July. Guess it will be on the hanger next year :( .

Judy

A New Day-A New Plan

I love to start new projects! Just can't wait to see what my ideas and fabrics will look like as I work with them. The trouble is, once I reach a point where I can see how it's working, or have grasped a new concept, I start to lose interest. Also, needing to put away the project(s) for a meeting or a holiday changes what is taking priority in my plans.

So to try and help keep focused on just a few things, I decided to try keeping a Project Notebook where I would put all the instructions for current in progress projects. Sounded like a good idea. Feels like a good idea. Soon became very apparent I have more in progress projects than will fit into a notebook. That goes to show that I do lose interest and move on to another project.

The good thing about this idea is that I am keeping instructions together and I like looking through the book. It is a reminder of what I am choosing as the most important projects to keep working on. The first two projects in the book are true ongoing projects as they are the instructions for two Block of the Month Quilt groups that I signed up for. Those may eventually move to another notebook as the number of instruction sheets grows. Other projects have been apron patterns for a challenge that my doll club has for this year. One member gave us three variations of a pattern and being a little bit OCD, I had to make all three in both sizes. Then I also decided to make another set with a sewing theme. By the time I got to the end of the last set, I was truly ready to get those instructions out of the project book. Here is one set-these turned out really cute. The picture does not really do them justice.

The dolls are called Rosette-the taller doll, and the smaller one is Bleuette. The names were what the French called them when they were first produced. Both of these are reproductions that I made. Since I am starting to make more clothing that will fit the taller doll, I need to make a couple more that size.

To get back to the subject of the project notebook, for the time being I am finding it very helpful. If you are like me and can lose things easily (or not remember where you left something) you might this idea. I'll keep you posted on how this continues to work out.

Judy

One More Down

A long term project-well-since last winter has been a quilted bag for my Mom. This should have been an easy one, but she wanted a zipper to close the bag and after I got that in, my enthusiasm waned. Last week I decided she had waited long enough and finished the bag. Just take a look at "Cool Mom". This falls into the "Why did I take so long" category!

Fresh Water Table Mat

The Table Runner from the last post now has a "matching" mat. The mat was made from the triangles that were left over from the shaping of the runner. Doesn't make much sense from this description, but I love how this turned out. With the sky on the outside it is much lighter and brighter. The mat now resides on my family room table although it moves out of the way with every meal. My husband does not want to put food of any kind anywhere near it. That's good I suppose since I don't want to be washing it every other day! A sand castle that belongs to my daughter Kim lives in the middle of the mat when it is on the table.

Judy