Wednesday, June 19, 2013

Fractured Medallion Quilt & Front Yard update

One of the ladies I quilt for likes to scare challenge me.  I am always SO impressed when I get quilts like this.  If I live to be 100, I will never tackle anything so complicated.  It is definitely flattering that she trusts me enough to work on it.

I was grateful that when she brought the quilt to me she came armed with some quilting ideas.  These large corner bands of blue that make up the background have been quilted with a flowing, ferny design.

The outer border has filled swags that are finished with piano keys.

Lots of straight lines and pebbles, with motifs in the solid triangle blocks.

The back.  The batting is Hobbs Wool.  It gives such a lovely poof to the quilting.

If you have been following me for a while, you may remember that last summer we had to dig up the front yard and have the nice concrete people install a cistern for our water.  I've been living with a very unattractive front yard since September.  Here is a link to that day.

This past weekend 'we' finally got motivated.  I was out helping, digging a trench around all the areas that needed sod.  I have a lovely sunburn on my back as evidence.  DH surprised me when he actually agreed to me helping.  Generally, we don't work well together because we are both a little, um, bossy.  As I get older and hopefully wiser, I am trying to shut up and do as I'm asked but honestly?... it's a struggle. Saturday was the rototill-and-add-topsoil day.  About a third of the sod was laid, then we went out for a swanky dinner with friends.

Sunday morning and the work continues.  In the crummy, rainy weather.  I stayed in the house and took a girly bath while the hard labour happened outside.  That might make me a bad wife.  But it is what it is.

Aah, complete.  Well, mostly.  We're about 3 strips of sod short (is that like being one sandwich shy of a picnic? ha ha ha) so there is still a bit of patching to be done.  Honey, I am very grateful!!

When I got through with the girly bath I got busy in the kitchen and spent the whole afternoon in there.  First I made a banana cake, then I made two loaves of Honey-Oat bread, and then I took my first foray into homemade noodles.  Yum - they were delicious. In an interesting twist, I got the Kitchenaid pasta parts from the same gal who gave me the basil.  Funny or spooky?

Here is a little observation on human nature.  We went out for a swanky dinner on Saturday and all four of us got a really GOOD meal.  We loved our food.  Well prepared and a nice presentation.  But when did our eyes light up?  When the waiter brought over the huge glass jar of candy at the end.  At the sight of a zillion jelly beans, jujubes, and wrapped candies, and no mommy hovering to make us stop eating, our eyes lit up like little kids at Christmas.  That goes to show that you don't have to spend a lot of money to make people happy.

1 comment:

  1. Helen did a magnificent quilting job on my quilt. Her quilting makes that quilt sing. Thank you Helen for a beautiful job.

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