Hello Sunshine!

I have been working on a quilt I call "Hello Sunshine!" for a few months... more like a year, but that is a few months, right?

I LOVE the colors I am working with.  Soon I will have to get out of my "bright and beautiful" themes and start working outside of my comfort zone, but for now, 'bright and beautiful' is my happy place.

Here is "Hello Sunshine!" 

I even made cornerstones for it.  If you look real close, you can see them.  The seams matched perfectly - and for me that was no easy feat.


Here is a closer look at the colors in "Hello Sunshine!"

I know, not ironed, but I have tossed this baby aside so many times from aggravation that I gave up on keeping it gorgeous.  I had sooo many goofs in making this blanket!  I am so new to quilting that I didn't know many of the 'rules' and I probably broke them all making this quilt.

First of all, I didn't know your seams have to be EXACTLY 1/4".  So a little off here and a little off there doesn't matter... right?

Secondly, I don't know how I did it, but my squares did not end up being 6.5"x6.5".  It couldn't have been my 'little off here and little off there', could it?  

*tossed it aside*

So I trimmed them down to 6"x6".  No big deal right?  

Not until you realize all of your white strips between blocks were cut to 6.5"x2.5".  

*tossed it aside*

All of those had to be trimmed back to 6".  Once I did that, I was back on track!

I sewed my squares this way, flipped that way, sewed this way and looked.  I missed that this one was supposed to be that way, so I had three that way instead of one this way, one that way and one this way.  If you don't get it, you are not a quilter, but believe me, it was wrong.  

*tossed it aside*  - every stinking time I made that mistake!

I finally got that puppy done except the border.  I sewed the blue border on first.  All went well.

It must have taken me a month to think through (remember, my thinking is affected by my ICL) how to sew the corner stones on.  Finally figured that out and I sewed the entire white border on, laid it out and realized it was wavy on the sides.  Something wasn't right.  Those dang pieces were too long apparently.  

*tossed it aside*

Finally got up the nerve to rip the seams out and remeasured.  It was then that I realized I must have measured the outside of the quilt (you are supposed to measure the centers and work the outside border into or out to the center measurements).  I trimmed it and sewed it back on. 

After working so long and hard on the quilt, excitedly I put it on the bed to take a gander at how wonderful it was going to look.  

Imagine my surprise when

It was TOO SMALL!!

*SLUNG it aside!*


So yesterday, I finally pulled the sucker out again, got my quilting friends advice, put it all in thought, went shopping, ran it through some more quilting friends and decided this is what I am going to add to the *next* border:

I looks kinda busy, but I think it will be ok.  We shall see.  And yes, I am going to add more cornerstones.

Guess what I am NOT TOSSING aside today?

"Hello Sunshine!"

Quilts for Fun

Our quilt group in Tulsa makes quilts for wheel chair bound patients.  Usually, they save it all for an all night quilt retreat and make as many as possible.  Michele, our leader, saves scraps and we sew them together that night.  

I can't stay at an all night retreat, but I stayed as long as I could and sewed.  Obviously, I didn't finish them, but I brought my quilts home and finished them.  A friend bound one for me - I have so much pain and numbness in my left hand I can't control small stitching, and my right hand isn't much better.  I tried to bind two, but it was such a shabby job, I just let Claudia do the last one.  You can tell which I did, believe me.  Shabby job.

Anyhoo, here are the three I took to Michele last week:

I promised Michele that I would do one a month.  I bet I have enough scraps around here that I can do that easily!  They are really quick and fun to make.  Most of the fabric you see here was donated.  The only one that wasn't entirely donated fabric was the lavender one.  I bought some of that fabric.  Amazingly, I thought I would hate the strawberry quilt, but I don't!  I think they all three came out pretty stinkin' cute, don't you think?

Quilting is so relaxing to me... and now I have found something to do with my scraps.  

Still looking for that money tree.  Have you seen it?  I want to buy more fabric!

Seriously, Girls?

Daddy built you a total of 8 nesting boxes and we have 20 additional acres here - but the only place to lay an egg is where Susie is?  Yes, I know, Clara has been hogging her box on the left for a week.  I even moved Clara for you... you know she was in 'your' favorite box and all.  Clara is nesting on an empty box even, because me - mommy - keeps taking her eggs.  I don't want any more roosters and we have found out with a hatch comes more than 50% roosters.  So Clara is not allowed to hatch any eggs... and she has been moved - demoted - to a box no one likes.

But you three hens, MUST have Susie's box to lay your eggs.  You growl, whine, holler, cackle, grabble... you stomp, cry, fight for first dibs and yap for hours because Miss Susie is using the ONLY BOX you want to lay your eggs in!  Miss Susie is USING the box because she made it to it first!  Let her lay her egg in peace!


I had to try to film you - granted, you didn't put on the show you do for me, but we can still see you pacing and chattering...

Poor Susie.  Talk about stressful!


Even Clyde and Belle have had enough!

They are glaring at the chicken coop. Can't you see they are tired of your bickering as well?


You are noisy.

You are on my last nerve.

You have to be exhausted.

*I* am exhausted listening to your bickering.


PSST!  Just USE ANOTHER LAYER BOX!

It is that simple.

Fishin' With Family

A couple of weeks ago, we went to Eufaula Lake and went fishing with the family.  Rod and mother met us at Uncle Weldon's for the weekend.  We went out in the boat, and though I couldn't fish, everyone else fished and caught fish!  That weekend was really bad for me - it was all I could do to walk - throwing a rod was not an option.  However, it was nice to go out in the boat and enjoy the scenery.  I even picked up my camera a few times!

Here are Uncle Weldon and Rod, chatting as we are heading out onto the lake:

Aunt Sandra is deeply engrossed in fishing - something she takes as seriously as Uncle Weldon.  In fact, Aunt Sandra won a Salmon fishing contest in Alaska recently!  She won another trip BACK to Alaska.  She went back for the winners trip the next year and won again!  

She didn't want to go back to prove she could do it three times in a row - but I think that is the coolest story!

When I first met Steve's mom, she HATED dogs.  She hated them so bad I thought she would never even touch one.  She really had an aversion to dogs... cats... all critters in fact. 

Guess what?  Her and Rod have a dog and she treats that dog better than she does most people!  Lol... she LOVES Ellis.  His really name is L.S.  because they called him Little Shi*.  When the vet asked his name, they consented to Ellis.  Lol... and then he became a Big Shi* anyway... and we all know what BS stands for!

Here is mother and her precious Ellis:

Yeah, he is their baby!  I just cannot quit humoring myself with the fact THEY HAVE A DOG!!

Here is a close-up pic of His Royal Highness Ellis... I think I like the name "LS" better  ;-)

And finally, the most special guy I know... my hubby.

Being on the lake was nice.  I wish I could enjoy it as much as I used to.  Going anywhere takes huge amounts of energy from me.  I just like hanging out at home these days... but the lake and family was nice.

I will keep looking for those 'spoons' - I know they are around here somewhere.  I have WAY too much life to live to be short of spoons this soon! 

July 10th is my next Dr appointment - I am holding my breath he can get me on the road to feeling better.  He said he cannot 'fix' me, but he can give me a shot at feeling better.  That is all I can hope for...

...and more spoons.

What in the World was I Thinking?

So everyone that knows me knows I love junking... garage sales, estate sales, junk stores... any place that has 'old' stuff.

Last week I went to an estate sale and they were selling at 50% off.  I came across some wonderful sewing machines; 1 for $30 and one for $40.  Take a look at them:


Machine 1 is an antique 'red eye' Singer, made in the 1920's.  $30:

Complete with cabinet: 

And serial number:

Machine #2 is a Singer, don't know anything about it except it sews like a charm and was $40.  

It was the original one I fell in love with:

Complete with 'new' old cabinet:

Love everything about this machine.  The sound of the motor with it running, the way it feels to sew on it and the look.

Originally, I thought I could put this machine in the red eye cabinet.  That is why I bought the other - loved its cabinet and the regular Singer machine.

What was I thinking?  The other is a treadle machine!

It. Won't. Work.


Now my questions:

Why did I buy them?  

Why did I love them so much?

What the heck am I going to do with them?

What the heck was I thinking? 


I am sure I wasn't.

Anyone want two machines?  I will sell them for what I bought them for.


But they sure are purty.

If You Haven't Figured It Out...

Someone removed my background on my blog.  It was not me that didn't pay Photobucket - it was the yoho I got that background from.  Sooo, I have been using Google backgrounds and I am not impressed.  

Dealing with it. 


Moving on... I made a baby quilt for an 'adopted' nephew, Keith, and his wife, Michelle, last week.  Keith was Carey and Jennifer's cousin.  We love Keith and are so proud of who he has become despite the crummy circumstances of his family.  I won't go into details, but he had a very difficult upbringing and is doing great despite everything he has been through.  This is just more proof that you can succeed in life no matter where you came from!


Here is the quilt I made for little Bristol, their daughter.  It is called a 'rag quit' and is very easy to make: 

I also made some burp cloths - super simple!  I took 3 pieces of flannel, cut them to shape, sewed an inch around the edge of the entire three then clipped the edges.  Once all were made, I tossed them in the washer and washed them.

Wha-la!  They are done!

Thanks so much to my friend, Sharon, for sharing this little trick with me!


Here is the final gift:

I love sewing.  I missed it for so long.  I am so glad I have found it again.  I am even happier that I found quilting.  

Now if I just found a 'money tree' to help me buy an unlimited supply of fabric... lol...

Someone Needs to Tell this 'Farmer'...

That the 'onions' she saw dying in the garden were actually garlic ready to be pulled.

*sigh*  

Still learnin' here... some great farmer I am going to be...

Guess I need to remember what I planted where, right?  Lol...



And I will will leave you with a smile:

Mr Clyde and Raelee were goofing around.  He is such a great horse - very sociable and so much fun.  We love messing with him and he loves entertaining us.  Raelee and Clyde were checking out each other's teeth...

They decided they both needed to go back and brush!  Lol...