Rainy Day Projects...

I am plugging away at quilting The Appliqué Group charity quilt. Today it's been hot and rainy so I am working on lots of little projects inside. The pebble quilting you see above makes my hands tired so I am only working on it in small spurts of time!

 

When my hands are resting from quilting, I am working in little bits on other projects. This is a new punchneedle design I have started. It will be another mini quilt with punchneedle in the center. I can't wait to get going with more colors!

Have a nice relaxing afternoon!

Mmmm Fresh Salad Please!

We moved to Iowa about 8 years ago from a 2 acre lot to a standard cookie cutter sized lot. We had a big garden in Ohio...squash, strawberries, tomatoes, peas, etc. Here, I have learned to mix the veggies in with my flower pots on the porch..it makes for a small garden, but it works! This year I only have tomatoes and lettus, but it will be enough for a few fresh salads now and then!

The big pots of light purple petunias all came back naturally from last year! We thought they were weeds, but then noticed they were petunias. It was nice to have those pots ready to go at planting time

Spinach is in the three tiered planter...can't hardly see it since I just cut it! More leaves will be grown in a few days though! On the right is my new Stawberries 'n Cream Hydrangia ...the blooms are only yellow so I need to figure out what nutrients it needs to get the pink color to come!

The back porch flower garden...helps us feel a little less closed in and gives us something nice to look at besides the neighbors! LOL. You can see the lettus bowl on the railing next to the three tiered pot where the lettus is growing. My tomato plant is just off view of the camera to the left and has some nice tomatoes ripening. When the lettus is done we will put out more seed for the next round. Lettus grows quickly so it works well!

And since this is a blog about quilts...here is an old quilt I made in the early nineties during the mauve and blue phase of my life. It is called Cottage Flowers. I haven't had it out for a while, so it's nice for me to see it again! Have a great weekend!

 

 

A new quilting project...

Here is a quick pic of a new quilt on my To Do list. It is a Lori Smith Pattern called Mary Katherine's Pride. It was made by our local TAG ( The Appliqué Group) for the Des Moine Area Quilt Guild's charity auction in August. Many ladies in TAG made the blocks and several others put the top together. I will quilt it and someone else will put on the binding. A great group effort for a great cause. Our guild has a huge charity auction each year. We auction off baskets of goodies and beautiful quilts, along with a "Mall in the Hall" to sell smaller items, all donated by our many members. When someone purchases an item or wins the auction, she may choose from several local charities. It's a great cause and a fun way to raise money! Check out the Des Moines Area Quilt Guild at www.dmaqg.org. It is a great guild!

 

While I was in Kansas City last weekend I went to the International Machine Quilters Showcase. I saw some really beautiful quilts there and of course found a few new toys! Pictured above is the pounce chalk marking tool I have had for a while now. My new toy is the stencil from the same company that makes the Perfect Pounce Pad. These stencils are very flexible and are basically a screen print to use with the Pounce Pad. Worked pretty well as you can see! Now I can quilt it easily and use free motion quilting on the flower blocks and borders. Can't wait to get started, but must finish my current quilt before I start another...won't take long!