starting on a new quilt

I have my next quilt all cut out and ready to sew.

These are the colors, and the basket to the side contains a bunch of small light gray cuts.

Normally I don't cut all my fabric completely before beginning a quilt.  I usually cut a little and sew a little...to make sure that I like the way things are going.

This one is different. I will be making the blocks in an assembly line  manner rather than completeing each block one by one.

It's a pattern I bought with someone in mind...so I can't show you how it will look and I won't be showing any photos of it until it's finished and given to the recipient.

However, I do like to work on more than one thing at a time and I have vowed to completely finish a bunch of projects that are started on and just laying around taking up space...beginning with this 9 patch that I started last year....

Since this photo was taken, I've gotten a lot more done on it so it shouldn't take long to complete.

first day of spring

First day of spring and....what?   Snow, and lots of it!  Pretty to look at.

There was a bit on the ground this morning and it kept falling. Big heavy flakes.

You can see how much has accumulated by looking at how high it is on the patio furniture in the photo below.

By afternoon it was already beginning to melt.
Just Mother Nature showing us that she will doas she pleases no matter what our calendars say!

crib quilt finished

I finished up this crib quilt for baby Drew. He was born last month to a very nice couple on my husband's side of the family. Big sister, Faith, was excited about her new little brother.

His Dad is a huge baseball fan so I searched the internet for baseball theme fabric.

I found this panel of 8 different ball player poses...

...and some cute yardage from the same line of fabrics...

Next came a lot of sketching and math and head scratching - trying to figure out a design using what I'd bought.  

I decided not to cut up the blue fabric with the baseball players on it, since that would create pieces with a bunch of random legs and heads on each. I thought it would be better to keep that fabric for the back.

So that left me with only the 8 squares cut from the panel to work with.   After even more sketching and forehead wrinkling (maybe some hand wringing too) I said to myself...

Baseball = Diamonds!

And I hunted through my fabric stash and found some fabrics that looked pretty good with the panel squares, and bought a bit of orangy red to brighten things up.

I put some thought into the lay out. I didn't want any of the ball players to be facing off the side of the quilt without any of the others ready to pitch and catch with.

I machine quilted it with my same old meandering design.  I knew the top was a smidge bigger than the back and I had planned to trim them to the same size after quilting...but with the top being sort of long and narrow any way - I didn't want to lose any width.  

So I made the binding extra wide to make up the difference. 

That worked out fine and I kind of like the wide binding. I had to hand stitch it though, because of the size.

I am happy with the results. I would have preferred the solid blue for binding but didn't have nearly enough left over.

Now off to the post office to get this mailed out for Drew.

Hope he likes it!

signs of spring

Spring must be on it's way...


Daffodils are blooming.

My Contorted Filbert is loaded with catkins.

Birds are looking for nesting spots.  This starling came down the chimney in our bedroom. Of course we didn't realize he was up there until he had managed to shoot crap on every window and the comforter as well.  

He had wore himself out flailing around so he wasn't too hard to catch, but he seemed fine when I released him outside,  

A lone turkey made a visit to see what had been dropped under the bird feeder.  The grass is starting to look green again!

Wmart had a new display of seeds and bare root plants. I couldn't resist. 

 Zinnia and Sunflower seeds and root stock of Coneflower and Hollyhocks.

I haven't grown Hollyhocks since my first mother-in-law gave me a start of them in the early 1980's.

Seeing these made me think about her.

I opened the packages to make sure the roots looked healthy. 

They do, but one of them was a little puny.

I've never bought bare root perennials like this before. I guess I need to wait until the ground warms up before I plant them.

Maybe I'll go ahead and put them in a  flower pot indoors and let them start waking up a little.

Spring can't be too far away.

flooding in our town

We had so much rain that the Salt River flooded our little downtown area in Shepherdsville.

On Sunday, the Sasquatch and I drove down to the flea market.  The outdoor area was all under water.

I guess this is normally an area where concrete statues are for sale.  Most are under water but it was sort of funny to see this Easter Island statue looking like he was popping his head out to take a look at the situation.

These two Bigfoot statues and a deer (with white antlers) look like they are trudging through the flood waters looking for higher ground.

 We started home on the road through town, but the Salt River bridge was barricaded.
We walked across the bridge. Usually you would have to crane your neck to see down to the river. Not today!

There's the downtown area...

The next day Lonnie and I drove down to take another look. 

Business owners had brought in trucks and trailers and were loading up their equipment and merchandise since the water was still rising.

The building in the photo below is our public library. Look how close the water is!

At home we had a little water getting into our basement, which happens from time to time.

This time it was leaking in through the opening in the wall where our electric panel is mounted.

Scary, but it has happened in the past. Nothing shorted out and we stayed away from the whole mess until it dried out.

So many people with worse problems than that to deal with.