A SWEET VISIT!

There was fishing....

and then more fishing!

And late night swims!

A lesson with Grandma at the lathe!

Lots of eating!

Even some welding!

I finished a sweater!

And we napped in the pool!

What a blessing to be together.

Hppy last day of May!

 

ALOHA

This cluster of Plumeria is not only beautiful, it is large and the perfume is intense!!!!  

 

CLEANING AND QUILTING

I still didn't get to the binding for this QOV yet 

but the urge is coming soon!  In the meantime, Lena is letting me know I have infringed on her area of the sewing table!

I did load the next quilt on the frame--I have been enjoying doing the quilting but I think looking back on my history--I queue up on tops and then have a quilting marathon!

The lifesavor cactus is blooming again!  

It t has a few more buds so I will get to enjoy this for quite a while! 

But mostly I will be enjoying a visit with my Georgia peaches!

FLOWERS ON FRIDAY

The tall tiger lilies are beginning to bloom! 

 I am waiting for the orange ones to open up!

The orange drawf Calla lily is blooming, too! 

 It does love the rain and sunshine combination that is what our weather is for the next several months!

The Heliopsis is blooming now with lots of buds promising of future flowers!  This one came from a root from my Dad's many stalks!  I have it growing in a tomato cage to support it!

The Thunbergia vines are full of flowers-they look similar to a pansy with the yellow centers.

But if you see them from the side view, you can see that it is more like a petunia than a pansy!  

The Hibiscus are giving large beauties every day-

-what a joyful plant!

I didn't feel like doing the binding on the QOV quilt so

 I loaded up this top and quilted it 

and then made the binding for this one, too.

So, today will be binding day! 

 I do still have another quilt top to load, too, though!

 

BACK TO FULL STEAM

The new handles work beautifully--they are cushioned and it makes holding them much more comfortable!  I managed to get 3/4 of the quilt done before I ran out of steam!  I will be finishing it today--and maybe even getting the binding on it, too!  

I am using this allover pattern for the quilting;  It uses just a bit less than one whole bobbin to do a row!  It's worth it though, it is looking so classic--so traditional which is just what makes me happiest!

Unlike this churn dash--it is a traditional block but I am using colors that are less than traditional! lol

I only have four more blocks to make and then I can figure out what color I will use for sashing!

Oh, and I finished the shallow bowl yesterday;  it is full of character;  like it has been used for a century already! 

The summer pattern of rain every afternoon has started a bit early for us;  we have had several inches in the last few days which is perfect for all of the new plants!  Unfortunately, some of the blossoms get knocked off-I couldn't resist scooping up the Plumeria to bring in their beautiful perfume! 

 

DONATION TIME

Today at quilting group, we filled 10 bags with lap quilts, a book and a new teddy!  These bags go into our local police cars to have on hand for any emergency involving a child.  (5 for boys and 5 for a girl)  We will doing another installment next month. 

I worked on the other half of the  last project's log and made a shallow bowl!  It just needs some finish to be applied and I will be calling it done!  (Hickory, 11' across)

And the new rock tumbler is up and running and WOW, is it quieter!  The other one sounded like a bunch of rocks in a metal garbage can!  This one is a quilt swish sound--we are impressed! 

 

TUMBLER TUESDAY

 The new rock tumbler came and I am very pleased with the way it is built!  I will be loading up the two loads which were put on hold when the old one died!  Bill says he will work on the old one and see if he can get it going again--have at it!  Now I know why most people who get into tumbling have more than one tumbler--we have way more ideas than patientce!

*I took the picture of this while I was in bed-it was one of those days yesterday. 

WARM UP YOUR ENGINES!

After an hour and a half of fiddling with wires in tight places, the new handles are installed and they work!!!!  Now to tackle that pile of tops that have added up!

 And the churn dashes finished out smaller than I remembered (only 8" not 12"). Even with sashing, it willl still be too small so I need to make some more-8 more, in fact! 

 Plenty to keep me busy!

A SUNDAY SWEATER START!

Another top-down sweater has been keeping me happy with knitting!  This is similar to the sweater I finished a few weeks ago but this time, it is in worsted weight mercerized cotton yarn (Modern Cotton by Berroco) not Dk yarn. I used a varigated yarn for the rows of colorwork.  I will make this one with longer sleeves then the pattern states-a 4-5" sleeve looks better on me!  The pattern is Gioia by Berroco Yarns.  The knitting is going well and there was only one glitch when I jumped ahead to the wrong increase!  

 

A TALE OF TWO CREATIONS!

Remember a month ago I ordered some alcohol inks and some clear school glue? 

 Well, yesterday I pulled it out and started my idea!

I had already used the Gallery Glass  liquid lead to make the outlines of the picture underneath the glass of the pictureless frame.

See the paper pattern underneath?  This serves as guidelines and color assistance.

Not to self-put a tissue over the ink bottle when you poke a pin into the tip to open it!  Well, the poking went fine, it was the pulling out of the pin that gave a bit of a volcano and permantently stained these two fingernails. 

 I am NOT a green fingernail polish kinda girl! lol

But, I learned how to open the bottles and was able to complet the 11" x 14" picture frame! I changed the colors a bit to reflect our State Flower-orange blossom and our State Bird-the Mockingbird!

I removed the old handles from the quilting machine .

But Bill ran out of steam by the time the mail finally arrived with the new handles! It requires some tricky re-wiring which is above my skill-set!  Sigh.

It didn't stop me from cutting out some more Churn Dashes and I pieced 6 of them, too!  I am going to use sashing between the blocks on this one-but I will have to wait for the final layout to pick which color!  I can't say how much I have enjoyed being home 5 days in a row!  I do have to go out today for half a day but will return to piece some more blocks later, I hope!

WORN OUT!

There has been a trend this week-of breaking equipment!  The on/off switch on the quilting machine stopped working-I had to order replacements for the front and back handles. They are supposed to arrive today-if it comes early enough, I hope Bill will be willing to help me install them!

The rock tumbler has died--I have ordered a replacement for this which will be here Monday--I have the 2 barrels of WA rocks that are not finished yet!

And  woke up to naughty footprints all over the newly loaded quilt!  It's a good thing I hadn't started any quilting yet!

Outside, things were progressing much better!  

I worked hard and after an hour or so, 

 all of the new flowers were planted!

I even planted this passionfruit from a friend--this is the fruit!

It is set at the base of the freshly painted trellis arch--the new plant is 5' high!  I can't wait for it to perk up and begin to climb! 

After a swim to cool off--it was 96* outside today--I sewed the borders to the last top.

I wanted to start a new project so I pawed through the Shop Hop haul and found these fat quarters!

I am playing around with some Churn Dash blocks I cut out on the Accuquilt!

THE END OF THE MULCH MARATHON!

The last 15' of the front garden was weeded and mulch added.  

I couldn't celebrate too long because there is also the back of the house!

This isn't as long nor as wide and the weeding was done yesterday!  I had it done in no time! Ha!  It was in the 90's and I felt like a hot dog on the grill when I finished! It is looking a bit bare-the frost killed almost all of the plants but don't worry, I have a carload of flowers to plant today, also!

In the back of the garage, the Tree Crinum is blooming again!  It is a tall plant-taller than I am and the bloom is about 14" across!  It has a beautiful tropical perfume!

Speaking of perfume, the Plumeria is in bloom and look at all of those buds!!! I do love and apprciate flowers that are beautiful to both the eye and the nose!

Some stitching was accomplished at quilting group the other day--two quilts bound!  I still have the borders to sew to the bottom quilt--I will remedy that today!