Socks and Shorty and Quilts

Fridays are typical days for a trip into San Antonio.  Quite often one of our stops is at JoAnn's.  You never know what you  might find on sale, or how many coupons you can use.  I'm always on the lookout for a new gadget, or maybe some yarn.  There are lots of options to help organize my sewing space... and my most favorite item to find is a new pair of socks..  There are always lots of  socks to choose from... usually specific to the closest holiday.  They didn't have any Christmas ones left today, but I bought a couple with hearts on them.  This pair, bought a few weeks ago, isn't really holiday specific... I just liked the colors... I guess these aren't that colorful, but I liked the design.  Anyone who is around me very much is aware that they can count on my socks being quite colorful or crazy... or both.

I wasn't looking to take any pictures tonight, but I glanced over and found Shorty in a new spot.  The sewing box/stand has not really found a new permanent spot in our newly changed around living room, but Shorty found it inviting.  She is always looking for new places to claim as her spot, and this one was quite unique.  The handle around her middle is stationery on the stand, and she just slid in and made herself comfortable.

This photo op with Shorty prompted me to go out on the porch and take the picture I thought I should have taken earlier today... our esperanza still has blossoms on it... and it is January.  I don't remember blossoms hanging on quite this long before.  Even the seed pods have not started to dry yet.

 Recently I bought a new quilting ruler... or do you call it a tool.  Anyhow it is intended to make a quilt called a Twister.  I have a friend who recently finished a twister table topper and I thought it looked like a fun quilt to make.  I wanted to start off and make a practice piece, so I grabbed a few pieces of fabric and started cutting. I sewed them together in a way I thought might work.  I knew what I was looking for... a pinwheel.  Well, when it was done I showed it to my husband and he said it was really hard to pick out the pinwheels.  I have to agree now that I back up and look at it from a different perspective.  The best part of making a practice piece is you can learn what not to do when you start your "real" quilt.

Last, but certainly not least... this is the quilt that has been waiting to be quilted for 3 years.  I have been reluctant to put it on the frame because I put so much time in all the piecing and its intricate detail, that it intimidates me.  I have not been able to decide how I will quilt it.  I determined the problem... I would not think about it if it was folded away in a drawer... out of sight.   I have now taken it out and hung it over my sewing room door.  I put a folded batting strip across the top of the door to protect the quilt, but it is in my face every day now... so I am confident that I will get it done... in the near future.  It is quite an awesome quilt. Once I get the quilting done, I may consider putting prairie points on with the binding.  It may be too much, but I have that to think about for a while.

Beautiful cooler mornings

I had a great idea a couple weeks ago, I thought it would be neat to have our breakfast out on the deck, seeing that the temperature has come down a little.  The mornings have been really beautiful.    Although the 100 degree days seem to be pretty much gone, it still can get pretty warm in the afternoon.

Even the cats think it is pretty nice out there. They really know how to make themselves comfortable.

 The colors on the bushes across the front of the deck are still in full bloom.  The Esperanza is native to this area and we have several bushes that stay full of blooms way into November. 

 

As for the quilting front, one of the projects I have been working on is a Mystery Quilt.  Friday was when Step 3 was released.  These are my finished strips.  Now it will be almost a whole week before I know what comes next.

Quilt, cactus & Esperanza

I made an announcement at my quilt group that I was taking a hiatus from doing quilts for anyone else until September.  Well it seems that one lady had a grandson getting married and another one had a grandson graduating and another said she wasn't in a hurry, so if I didn't get hers done until September it was OK... oh yes, there is the two quilts my sister sent to me and of course the lap quilt for Beth.  Well, I finished quilting one of my sister's quilts a couple weeks ago, and the wedding quilt needed to be done last Friday, so I got that one done on Tuesday... she needed to have time to put the binding on.  The graduation quilt needs to be done before June 7th, so I figured I had time to squeeze in the one that I have had for about 3 months.

I had decided how I was going to quilt the blocks that are set on point back when I first received the quilt... which was 3 months ago.  I had it all figured for a continuous line.  Well I loaded the quilt on my frame the other day and when I looked at the block I knew I had to go to my drawing board to figure out how I did it with a continuous line.  It took some doing, but I got it done.  I meandered on the rest of the quilt, but this is the block (and 29 more) that I was able to get done with a continuous line.  I was able to finish this quilt on Saturday and I was very pleased with the results.  When I called the lady to tell her the quilt was done, she was really surprised.

A couple days ago when we were heading out, I noticed that the cactus I had put beside the driveway maybe three years ago has finally decided to show some blossoms.  Wow, are they pretty.

The cactus I planted back three years ago was just a couple paddles (not sure what the proper name is), but all you have to do is stick it in the ground and you would not believe how they proliferated.  Cactus is one thing I have no problem growing here, which is more than I can say for my garden.  My garden is doing OK, but as each day goes by I am convinced that I started too late and it is getting too hot already. The other plant (bush) I have been very successful with is a native plant called an Esperanza.  I thought I might have lost my big established Esperanza with the hard freeze we had this winter, but it is coming back and actually has started blossoming already.  It blossoms profusely with brilliant yellow trumpet blooms, right up until it freezes in November or December.

I may not be able to grow veggies yet, but I can sure enjoy the cactus and the Esperanza.

Hope you are enjoying the weekend.