started a little quilt

I know, I pledged to finish all the projects I have partly completed, before starting anything new.

But, I have started going back to my small evening quilt group and I needed to take along something to sew.

I didn't want to take along my main "secret project quilt", so I was digging around trying to locate something else I could just pick up and start sewing.

That's when I broke the rules.  I found this....

I bought it at the last quilt show I went to.  In the vendor area there was a booth selling fabric - a yard each of three different fabrics - rolled up and tied, and a variety of quilt patterns that could be made from just three yards of fabric.

It was a good deal...buy the fabric and choose any one quilt pattern for free.

(In fact, I might have bought a couple of them at the time!)

Anyway, I checked the pattern and quickly cut the shapes from the fabrics, except for the borders and I got quite a bit done at quilt group that evening.

Back at home, when I carried my stuff in, I just left it setting near the back door because I was planning to finish up the piecing, by sewing out on the screen porch a couple of days later. 

I was using my little Singer Featherweight machine.  I hadn't used it in two years and it's not good for them to sit without being used.

I got the center part of the quilt top all put together. Now it needs a good pressing and the borders added.

I like this little pattern.  It is simple and cute and goes together quickly.

Just a few minutes before I finished, my husband came over and started pacing around because he was getting hungry.

Surprise! You are doing the cooking!  Hee hee hee!

I had bought some Hatch Chili Peppers at the grocery and planned for him to grill them with onions and sausages.   It was the first time we have tried these peppers.  They are good but very mild.

 I packed away my sewing things and brought out some sliced tomatoes and a small green salad just as he was finishing with the grill.

Our summer daylight is getting noticeably shorter each day.  I am glad for the milder weather that comes with this time of year though.

book review

I had a nice surprise when sorting out my kitchen junk drawer.

Well, it's not exactly a junk drawer but it does tend to accumulate stuff.

Anyway, I found a Books-a-Million gift card that had only partially been used.  I was going to be near the store the next day anyway so the timing was perfect.

I didn't know it, but they now sell used books too.  I was able to buy two books and still had 86 cents left on the card.

I picked this one partly because of the name "Bettyville" (like my blog "Darlaville"...which I copied from my favorite quilting blog..."Quiltville").

It also seemed appealing because it was a funny memoir.

The book is written by a man who took time off from his career to move back to his home state to live with his elderly mother "Betty", who was beginning to suffer with dementia.

He writes with kindness and love for his mother, but is able to relay what a strange experience it is to care for someone who is losing touch with reality, and he is able to see the humor in spite of the sadness.

The author also shares memories from his childhood of his mother and father. Some funny. some poignant...as it turns out he is gay, but was never able to discuss it with his parents, even though he was sure they knew.

I would say the book is just "okay".  The writing is good and it's quick and easy to read but I would have liked to read more about the real "Betty".
 I think her son didn't really know her that well...he filled more pages with details about himself and his own life.

I donated this one to the library when I finished it.

Now, I have to worry about that 86 cents left on the card.  Maybe if I'm near there again I will just hand it to someone who is going in the store.


PS - that weird stuff in the upper left of the photo is a bowl of rocks featuring a "horn coral" fossil.
I was just trying to make the picture more interesting.

a day trip

My husband and I decided that being stuck inside to escape the heat is nearly as bad as being stuck inside by snowy bad weather.  Either way, it can make us a little stir crazy and tired of looking at the same old walls.

So one morning we pulled out our Kentucky map and figured out a nice scenic drive for the day.
We headed east, taking the back roads, thinking we might end up in Lexington...but right outside of Versailles  (in Lawrenceburg) we encountered this...

The Wild Turkey distillery.

There was a sign for the visitors center so we pulled in and signed up for the next tour.  They charge for their tours... $11 for both of us.

Sorry about this weird picture...I didn't bother to edit. That is the is the wrinkly inside of my hand blocking half the camera lens when I took the photo.

 

While we waited for the tour to begin we looked at some exhibits and information with the history of the distillery and the brand.

Then, we got on a bus to tour the building where the "cooking"  goes on.  Unfortunately, because of the heat, they had shut down the process, because heat kills the yeast action that is needed.

The guide told us there is a shut down every summer and they usually start back up in September.

We also went in one of the rick-houses where the barrels of bourbon are stored.

Our tour guide was a retired military seargent so he had a big voice that was easy to hear.  He also had a good sense of humor and gave us a lot of good information. 

I think this is a tour anyone would enjoy.

At the end we had a tasting that included four different products made by Wild Turkey.

I bought Lonnie a little something at the gift shop. It's a bottle of their honey liquer with a hint of ghost pepper.  I'm saving it for his birthday.

The guide had also told us the history of these two bridges that we crossed after leaving the distillery.
Both are notable, the railroad bridge is used for bungee jumping, and the concrete automobile bridge
is unusual because it's an "S" shaped bridge...and a very high bridge.

Gosh I have to apologize for the bad photos today. I have gotten out of the habit of taking pics everywhere, but these are really sloppy.

Before heading home we drove on in to Lexington to eat at "Red State BBQ".

The place had good reviews online but we weren't impressed with it.  Service was good but food was nothing special.

I found a photo online ....

We enjoyed the trip and agreed we need to take a little day trip more often.

a crochet project for my "finish it up" list

Next, in my quest to get my half-done projects finished up, it this crochet afghan.
Several squares are completed, but it's been so many years ago that I started making it, I'm not sure what my plan was for the layout.
The squares measure about 10". I think I'll just keep making them until I run out of yarn and then figure out how to arrange them.

The pattern is called "Popcorn Hearts" and came from the book "Woman's Day Prize Winning Granny Squares".  Not a difficult pattern but you do have to count and pay attention to get the popcorn stitches in the right place.

I will give you an idea of how long it's been since I have worked on this.  The post card below was used as a bookmark for the page the pattern was on.

It's from my younger brother when he went to St Croix (Virgin Islands) on a work assignment.

Can you see the postmark?   

1999!

Okay, that's 19 years!  I have no idea even what baby I might have had in mind when I started it.

That kid is probably starting college now.

Surely I can finish before it hits the 20 year mark!

another Ikea cart

This little Ikea cart (Raskog) had been sitting in it's box for months...waiting for me to put it together.

I bought a turquoise one for my sewing room a couple of years ago. It's been so handy and they are just so cute...I couldn't resist buying another one.

Pretty easy to put together but I did make the same mistake as when I put the first one together - putting the side bars in upside down.  It could have been used that way but I took it apart and turned them or it would have been bugging me forever.

I really did have a need and a use for this one.  I had switched from using a computer desk to using an old antique family dining room table as my desk. (belonged to my great-grandparents) 

Of course there were no drawers...so no where to store anything.  This little cart is the perfect solution.  Bills to pay on the top shelf, receipts in the middle, and supplies in the bottom.

I can roll it close then just push it away when I'm finished.

Now I need a solution for another problem.  See that piece of poster board leaning against the wall under the table?   It's hiding a bunch of tangled, dangling cords.  I hate seeing them.

 I need to rig up something better to hide that mess but I can't seem to come up with any good ideas.

Maybe a stiffer board painted the same color as the wall? A fabric covered screen? Any ideas?

hexie quilt finished

I started making English paper pieced hexagon flowers a few years ago.  They are hand sewn so it was a good project to carry in my purse to work on in waiting rooms and on car trips or at quilt group days when I didn't want to lug my sewing machine around.

My idea was to use my least favorite fabrics to make the motifs...thinking it would be a good way to use them up.

Eventually I just got tired of working on it and was wishing I had been spending the time using fabrics that I liked.

I had enough finished to put together a smallish quilt so that's what I did.

After hand sewing all the flower shapes together, I pinned it to a piece of peach colored cotton chintz fabric (left over from a long ago home decor project). 

Then I machine stitched around the outside edge then trimmed away the peach fabric behind, so it wouldn't be so thick.

Next, a thin dark blue border plus pieced together peach fabric borders. Machine quilted.

The binding came from the "free stuff" table at one of my quilting groups...folded, ironed and ready to use. It was even the right size...with about 13" to spare.  A raspberry color with polkadots!

 I like how it came out...much better than I imagined. 

Someday I will make another one but I'll put more thought into the color scheme.

I had enough of the peach fabric for the back (pieced together too but you can hardly tell it).

I sewed the three leftover flower motifs back there too.

This one is the right size for a donation quilt...which is what I had in mind for it after I decided not to make any more of the hexie flowers.

This is the third project I have finished since I vowed to complete all my UFO's ( Un Finished Objects)!

what's growing around the yard

I have heard that if you have tomatoes getting ripe by 4th of July then your garden is doing good.
I had one cherry tomato with a blush of red on the 4th, but now a week later they are really starting to ripen.

I also have zucchini and cucumbers.  Actually I have two kinds of small tomatoes.  The ones in the photo below are called "black cherry" tomatoes and they are more of a purplish color than the photo shows. They are okay but I probably wouldn't buy them again.

I have one jalapeno plant...again the photo is a fooler...they are not that big, just closer to the camera.

And my favorite tomatoes..."sweet 100's cherry tomatoes.

Here's my Hens and Chicks.  I don't know if that big one is ready to bloom or just glad to see me!

My poor planter blew off the porch last fall and had cracked in half.  I slopped a generous amount of cement epoxy on each half and glued it back together.  It adds interest, I think.

This is a flower bed I thinned out last summer.  I like the new combination of zinnias, crocosmia, and gladiolas. 

Lonnie is not having much luck with his Better Boy tomatoes this summer.  The tomatoes keep disappearing just before they start to get ripe.  

I think it must be squirrels getting them because there are no half-eaten ones laying around.

Lonnie is so aggravated, he just gave up on the tomatoes and quit watering them. I felt sorry for the plants and have been giving them a drink.

Maybe the critters will get tired of green tomatoes and leave us a few.