Star Bouquet quilt, Pineapple Quilt, Beach Day pics

Star Bouquet quilt. Pretty and old fashioned.

I quilted this with clamshells in the body, and a feather border.

 

Pineapple quilt - this was paper pieced. I thank the Lord it wasn't me who had to remove all the paper.

This was quilted with a combination of s.i.d., straight lines, and curls.

Beach Day.  Hmm - is that vodka I see???

We seem to have switched over to wine.  C.A. is wondering what happened to the top of her head.

We really DID make it to the beach.  It was so windy the camera was blowing around, which is why we are a bit off center.  Every year, this is the fastest two days of the year.

Today is our 27th wedding anniversary.  DH and I celebrated the way all long-married people do.  We went to the movies which lets us not talk to each other.  Afterwards we went out for supper where we could talk to the waitress.  I'm being very tongue-in-cheek here, we actually DO talk to each other.  But sometimes the conversation is pretty thin.  My mom used to have neighbours who were in their 80s and they never seemed to STOP talking.  What the hell did they still have to discuss after all those years together?  It remained a mystery because they were Dutch and I couldn't eavesdrop.

One Block Wonder and Summer Quilt

Here is the completed One Block Wonder.  It turned out pretty nice considering it is my first (and probably my ONLY).

This is a great summer quilt - I love the white with the cool blue.

We had our last family dinner for the next long while on Saturday.  My niece is heading back to Singapore on Monday and her parents are moving to Calgary at the end of the month.  I think I drank enough wine to make up for the next 5 dinners we won't be having.  Ooo - my poor little head this morning!~  When will I learn???

On Monday I am heading off for an overnight Beach Day with the girls.  Tonight I did my baking.  I'm thinking that my icing technique could use a bit of work, but the cookies certainly get the point across.

DH is back in my good books.  The bathroom taps are installed and the new light fixture is up.  Nice, nice, nice.

ZUCCHINI REPORT

Picked  11

Eaten  3

Given Away  5

In Fridge  3

Frozen  0

Compost  0

Total YTD  24

Renewed Garden, Zucchini, and "MEN!!"

I've had some complaints that I haven't posted photos of the renewed flower bed out front.  The plants have been in for a few days now, and DH finished up today with topsoil and mulch.
This is where I do the
"MEN - LOVE THEM OR KILL THEM?"  report.

This is definitely a LOVE THEM. A yard of topsoil and three yards of mulch, all  laid down by DH in the freshly planted garden.  Sure doesn't look like two hundred bucks in shrubs, does it?  It cost that much for the top dressings, too.

This is in the KILL THEM category.  Self explanatory.

I realize that most quilters who do a weekly report are keeping track of their fabric stash, which in theory will diminish over time. Being both a quilter AND a gardener, I find that in the summer I do waaay more picking of zucchini than cutting and sewing of fabric. So in deference to Mother Nature, I bring you....

The Zucchini Report

Z. eaten this week:  3
Z. frozen this week: 0
Z. given away this week: 9
Z. in the fridge right now:  1
Z. y.t.d.:                           13

At the height of the season this may get to be a bit much to keep track of.  We will have to see how it goes.  There are days when I could pick eight or ten zucchinis and give some away every day.  I'm not sure I'm ready to keep a real accounting on paper so my numbers could be a bit dodgy.  I may also have to add a new column for "Z. pitched into the field because they ended up to be the size of a fence post".  Hmm, come to think of it, I may also add a subcategory for "number of complaints received from DH about zucchini on the menu".  It will be fun to see how this turns out.

quilt work in progress

I've never made a One Block Wonder.  Sometimes the best part of my job is being able to work on interesting things that someone else has started.  Those little cube blocks are very fiddly to make.

Check the UFO page for my progress on the July challenge.

DH and I have very different philosophies when it comes to spending our hard earned cash.  He bought a lovely new sprinkler for the veggie garden at a jaw-dropping cost of $30.00.  I realize it is only me with a dropping jaw - I'm sure that is a normal price for a sprinkler.  However, since our well water clogs up all outdoor water equipment I buy the cheapest stuff I can find and throw it out every two years.  When I need to water the front gardens I get out my trusty cement squirrel and prop up one of my hose end nozzles.  It works great.

The current quilt, June stash report

Border done with a curly vine design.

This block is stitch in the ditch with diagonals.

This block is s.i.d. with diagonals and line dancing.

All I've been doing is digging in the front flower bed.  I go out in the mornings until around noon, when it's too  hot to work outside.  Around 11:30 or 12:00 I come in, have a shower, have lunch (not necessarily in that order) and then get to quilting.  I am lucky to be able to schedule my days this way, and MOST days I am grateful.  There is the odd time I get all whiney and think maybe I'd like a real job... but then I remember that I'd have to be there at a regularly scheduled time which would probably involve getting up EARLY in the morning.  So I go back to being grateful for my life - just the way it is.  Working until 9 pm a couple times a week seems to keep me (mostly) up to date.

June Stash Report

Used this month 11.5 m
Used YTD 48.45 m
Added this month  0 m
Added YTD 19 m
Net 2011 (- 29.45 m)


House update:  I got a new bathroom counter and sink on Thursday.  Yippee!!!  The old one was 25 years of well water, if ya know what I mean.  Now I'm waiting for DH to install the new taps and the new light fixture.  (insert impatient foot tapping)

Friday was Mom's 91st birthday.  My sis and I went and had lunch with her, but that was pretty much the extent of her energy.  The 'home' has a beautiful rose garden with plenty of tables & chairs so we enjoyed the scenery for a while.

Garden Progress

Once again - MAN TO THE RESCUE. I have to admit, sometimes power tools are great.

Him:  "Oops."
Me:  "Oh, fer cryin' out loud.  Put that back!!!  The yuccas are supposed to stay where they are."

Shrubs are gone.  Now to get rid of the ivy and finish digging around the brick edging.

First casualty.  Notice the swelling & redness on the hand & wrist on the right?  Bad spider, bad!!

WIP and Garden Progress

 HAPPY CANADA DAY.





If you're interested, check the UFO page for my progress and the July project.

Here is the quilt I'm working on at the moment.  It's already overdue by at least a week, so I really need to get my butt in gear.

This is the garden which is being renovated.

DH made these wonderful stakes for me so I could mark the location of the fall crocus.  When the leaves disappear in the summer it's nice to know where NOT to dig.  It's handy being married to a welder.

Here are the crocus bulbs all dug up.  A few met their maker, unfortunately, but I got most of them.

Here is 2 hours of digging.  This could take a while.  :-/  The brick edging had sunk completely in to the lawn.  With the lawn growing in to the garden the way it has I was grateful that I actually FOUND the bricks.