A Rainy Afternoon....

I adore sewing when it's raining outside - so cozy inside!  Here's today's block:  puppy dogs and woodgrain.  Click the picture to see bigger.  Neither is ooo-gly, but the color scheme is rather 70's.

Here's something interesting (though sad!) going on in my town today.  Can you see the tree in the center of the picture above?  Click on the picture to get a better view.  That is one of Auburn's iconic oaks on Toomer's Corner.  There is another oak to the right.  Normally at this time of year the two trees would be huge and green and healthy.  But someone poisoned the trees and they are dying a sad, slow death.  It is customary for fans to roll the trees with toilet paper after a football win - this has been going on for generations!  Yesterday the trees were drastically trimmed to prevent dead limbs from falling on pedestrians, so now they look so sad and bare.  They are mere skeletons.  I feel sure the trees will have to be removed completely in the near future; I have a feeling they'll let them be for one more football season.  Read more about the story here.

This is the drug store diagonally across from the trees - this is how the corner got it's name - Toomer's Corner.  The drugstore is famous for it's DELICIOUS fresh squeezed lemonade.  They squeeze the lemons for each glass when it is ordered - so good!

And a rainy shot from my sewing room window....still raining now.  Glad I'm dry inside with no plans to go anywhere.

Anything interesting going on in your town today?

Owls and Pea Green

The zigzag from yesterday:  owls and pea green.  Okay, neither of these are ooo-gly fabrics.  But I could tell I needed some green and blue to balance the colors I've already used.  Works for me!

Are you thinking this is a beautiful quilt?  Nope.  It's a box of Kleenex tissues.  Kleenex has really come out with some nice designs and patterns on their boxes lately.  Did you know that one of the quilts in the new book is based ENTIRELY on a Kleenex box?  Not this one.  But I would like to make a quilt similar to this.  Someday....

Haven't done this in quite awhile.  Rooting an avocado pit.  I'm carefully watching every day, waiting for a root to pop out of the bottom.  Waiting for a stem to pop out of the top.  Simple pleasures are the best!

On today's agenda:
1.  Another zigzag block
2.  A bit of progress on the design wall quilt (can't show it yet....)
3.  Drop off donations to the local Goodwill
4.  Pick up case of homemade fig jam that I ordered from a local grower (yum!)
5.  Battle my allergies (sniff, sniff....)

Making Pretty

The zigzag block of the day:  little girls with kitties and lime green dots.  Neither is really ugly (or ooo-gly, I as call it), but I wouldn't ordinarily put the two together.

I'm trying to "pretty up" my studio a bit.  It's stark and white now - fine by me, but I do want to add a bit of color here and there.  And I want to make the storage units look a bit better.

I had some scrapbook paper on hand, so I figured out what shape to cut it.  Then I traced it nine times.  Then I stuck it in the plastic drawers.

 

Oh yes, that will do very nicely.  Easy peasy and cheap.

I had a very productive day.  My new, evolving schedule seems to be unpacking/organizing/housework/hanging pictures in the morning.  The afternoons are for sewing.  In the evenings, I do handwork (Sue Spargo BOM, hexies, or unsewing) while TV watching.

We have a few things that are MIA - things that haven't turned up in all the unpacking.
1.  My bicycle helmet - hubby's was found
2.  My antique Singer sewing machine - the table that goes with it was found.
3.  Some blue upholstery fabric I was going to use to cover a cushion.

I still have hope one or more of these things will turn up - there are a few boxes in the garage that I can't get to - hubby will have to help me dig.  If I don't find them, I'll file a claim with the relocation company.

Look What I Found!

I found this old UFO when sorting through some recently unpacked quilts.  I'd forgotten all about it!  I remember making it and I'd even named it, though I don't remember what.  Seems like it reminded me of the constantly shifting line of scrimmage in a football game, so it had a football-ish name.  I hand dyed all the fabrics.  Hmmm....

Apparently I'd just started quilting it, and now I see why I put it aside.  I was shooting for straight line quilting and the lines are definitely NOT straight.    I think I'll unsew all this quilting and try for a different effect.

Here's today's zigzag block.  Yes, some UGLY fabric!  But this is the perfect quilt for ugly fabric, don't you think?  I'm actually on a mission to put my UGLIEST old pieces in this.  In the end I think all the uglies will play well together and become beautiful.

The clouds were lovely outside my studio window this afternoon.  Yes, that's a dead tree on the left - got to do something about that...

I bought myself some new walking shoes (with a touch of NEON!) and a new pedometer today - time to get moving!  But first I think I'll have a piece of peach pie.  :)

Good luck to Daughter 2 (Elizabeth) for your first day of Pharmacy School tomorrow!  You go, girl!

Pie Anyone?

I've been absolutely CRAVING peach pie this summer.  Just HAD to make one!  Yesterday was the day.  Daughter 1 dropped by for a bit and I put her to work, helping me peel peaches.  Isn't it a beauty?

It turned out a bit soupy, but that didn't affect the taste!  Yummy!  Want a piece?  Come on over!

Oh my.  I have a problem....  I started yet another quilt!  Ridiculous, I know.  I have too many works in progress already.  But I've been eyeing these adorable, scrappy zigzags all over the web and I had to start one.  If I do one block per day, it should be done in no time, don't ya' think?

When I loaded the pie pictures along with this block, I was amazed at how well they matched.

Patriotic Hexies

Yes, back on the hexie bandwagon!  With the Olympic in full swing, I had to get my red, white, and blue on.  Nice, mindless work while I watch the amazing athletes (from my recliner).  At least I'm productive while I'm a couch potato!

Yesterday we had a wonderful shower.  Here's my view (that's right, from the recliner!)  Now look closer:

This is the first house we've owned that doesn't have gutters, so the rain just pours right off the roof.  As you can see, the eaves are very deep so we don't need gutters.  Yippee - no cleaning out rotten leaves from gutters!

In unpacking news, I had 8 boxes left to unpack upstairs.  Thursday I unpacked 3.  Friday I unpacked 3.  Then I counted what was left.  Should have been 2, right?  Nope.  FIVE left!  Must have miscounted last week (or else they multiply when I'm not looking).

Today we're getting an early start on some big stuff.  We're going to haul a load of garbage to the dump.  And we're going to haul a large piece of furniture to our storage unit.  Then we'll load my car with some donation items so I can take them to Goodwill in a few days.

Happy Saturday, everyone!

There's Something on my Design Wall!

Yesterday I did ATTACK boxes.  I unpacked and unpacked and..... well, you get the idea.  In the afternoon, I decided I deserved to sit down at the sewing machine.  So I did!

Remember those triangles I cut out last week?  I cut more and played with them on the wall until they became this.  Yes, I still have the Hexie Fever - do you see the big hexie in the middle?  Woo hoo!

I sewed one of these sections together and I'm part way through another one.  More to come today.

This morning I unpacked two more boxes, then counted how many are left.  There are 8 boxes to go in the upstairs!  I'm going to shoot for 3 per day.  There are several more boxes in the garage that need attention, too.

For those of you who want to know exactly what the thing-a-ma-jig is that I'm using to organize my Accuquilt dies, this is it.  My daughter uses one to store her Pyrex baking dishes.  The nice thing about it is that it is easily adjustable for different widths of objects.  And it's very sturdy.  No, I'm not sponsored by Ikea; I just love so many things they have.

Have a quilty day!