Premarked Wholecloth

I am knee-deep into the job of quilting this premarked wholecloth quilt.  This pic is from a couple days ago - I am about a third of the way through now.  These are sooo pretty when they are complete.  If you have never quilted one before - keep the marked top away from heat (which will set the marks).  When complete, soak in cold water to remove the blue markings.  If the markings will not come out, as has happened to me in the past, go to the hardware store or pharmacy or fabric store - in the fabric dye section you can also purchase a colour remover.  Fill up the washing machine with that, and voila!!  No more blue.

On the home front:  I dug up the canna lilies on Saturday.  This year I am making another feeble attempt at keeping the tubers over the winter.  We'll see how that goes.  Sometimes I think for the amount of work involved in digging and storing, I would rather spend another $25 in the spring for new ones already potted up.  However, I must say that the tubers I dug are HUGE and I now have a ton of them from the original four little pots.  And the other benefit:  my butt muscles have been screaming ever since, so apparently I got a workout.

I am also getting around to finally putting the sealer on the kitchen grout.  The stupid bottle has this weird applicator setup with a rolling wheel, that you are supposed to run over the grout.  It's a kind of drip system where you squeeze the bottle and the goop runs on to the roller, which you are moving over the grout lines.  That may work for a floor, but on a wall?  Not so much.  I had goo running everywhere except where I wanted it.  I finally took the lid off and got a wee piece of sponge to apply the liquid.  Much better.  I'll do a second coat today.  I didn't have time last night - Desperate Housewives was on and I do my darndest not to miss that.  I am so sad the series will be ending this year.  sniff sniff.