WIP Wednesday

Since I've upped my walking and exercise for Woman's Challenge the last 2 weeks, I haven't gotten a lot of quilting done. I did finish my Virginia Tech quilt block and have been working on my May 12 x 12, but don't have anything to show yet.

What I have been doing and will continue doing for the summer, is working in my garden. Today I pulled tons of weeds from the herb garden and the paths around the raised veggie beds, transplanted to the herb garden a hyssop that had volunteered in my veggie garden path, and actually began spading the soil in my new flower garden by the back door. I had to quit after I did half because it began raining and I had to go to Curves and shopping. When the soil is turned over I will fill the raised beds beds with top soil and compost. I plan to plant lavender and xeric orange, yellow and white flowers to set off the lavender. I will then lay pavers between the garden and the house to make a small patio just outside the sun porch where I can sit and smell the lavender.

This whole area was dug up and the yucky dirt and debris for the sun porch and carport were dumped here so this is going to be a major improvement. Since most people come to our back door and that is where we go in and out, it will be nice to have an attractive area there. Last summer I tried to make it look a smidgeon better by placing a few potted plants in the area and spreading bark mulch over the ugly dirt, but it just didn't make it.





Before: This was Joe doing the initial trenching in the area. See why I need to do raised beds with added soil and compost. In the wall of the trench you can see the clinkers and burned brick remnants from the old refinery I wrote about yesterday.


That mass of greenery in the back is the Tarragon I planted from seed before I discovered that French Tarragon has to be reproduced from cuttings. The seeds that are sold as Tarragon are really Mexican Tarragon, which is prolific but not as fragrant or good tasting as French Tarragon.


My dream garden, thanks to
High Country Gardens: Plants for the Western Garden and Beyond. Tune in next summer, or the next to see if the dream comes true, on a smaller basis.

WIP Wednesday

Spring gave us a preview of summer today with a temperature in the high 80s, which cooled off fast in the late afternoon when a thunderstorm rained on us. As soon as these first hot days show up our business phone rings constantly with requests for air conditioning work and refrigeration repair. From now on Joe will be running pretty fast to keep up with the calls.

I am proud of myself for getting my Lilliputian Prairie Pond cleaned, refilled, and the new fountain pump installed yesterday. You can't believe how smelly and ugly the bottom of a pond becomes. I used a wet vac to suck up some of the yucky water, but it couldn't get all the sludge in the sand and stones of the bottom, so I jet sprayed the bottom with my watering wand on the hose and use a 5 gallon bucket to dip the worst out, then I just let the water run over until the trash and gunk on the top was gone and left the pond filled with clean, clear water, which I treated with anti-algae chemicals and then added the beneficial bacteria treatment. [While doing all of this I ended up with 2 more ant bites on the backs of my thights; ants must have a thing for cellulite. I have declared war on these critters.] It is so clear I can see the pretty river pebbles on the bottom. This pond fountain is a popular place for the local cats and birds to get a drink, as well as a meditation place for me. Now I have to unwrap, clean and set up my small patio fountain.

As you can see in the photo, some of my prairie plants are already growing and the prairie grass is starting to green up at the roots. This is a hot weather grass so it doesn't get green as early as the blue grass, it also requires only a fourth of the water and only has to be mowed about once a month.

Quiltwise, I am working on some more of my Women of the Bible blocks and I received my piece of Virginia Tech fabric and bought a fat quarter of maroon so I'm ready to make my memorial block.

I am getting ready to attend the Denver International Quilt Festival this weekend; I'll stay with my oldest daughter in Wheatridge and plan to get together with Debra Spincic and Samantha. How exciting to meet some of my virtual playmates! I am also working on a small thank you surprise for Debra and a birthday present for my daughter, but can't

show them here, or they won't be surprises.

A sad postscript to a couple of my past posts about Colorado weather. After all this time another of the women who was injured in the Holly Tornado has passed away from her injuries. Also, on the news tonight, it was announced that the little baby on oxygen, in one of the homes without electricity due to the blizzard, passed away from the congenital heart defect he suffered. Please pray for these bereaved families.

On a brighter note, the state of Colorado brought in mobile homes for the families who lost their homes to live in while they make arrangements to find or build new homes.

WIP Wednesday

I'm working on my April 12 x 12 but don't want to show it until it's done and posted. Here is a teaser to whet your appetites. I've been wanting to make a star with a hexagon center like the one that was in the box of old family quilt blocks that my sister-in-law gave me and decided that it would make a great Evening Star for my April piece. It amazes me how many quilt patterns I can find made from hexagons. Now I understand why so many quilters make series of quilts. One is never enough!

I've also been preparing paper piecing patterns for more WOTB blocks. I've been printing my patterns onto tracing paper, which is a hassle because I have to cut it down to fit and then tape it with removeable double sided tape to a sheet of paper so it will feed through the printer. My new printer is more sensitive than the old one and won't feed it if it is the tiniest bit off so






yesterday at the Creative Cloth Closet shop in Canon City, I noticed and purchased a package of Carol Doak foundation paper to try. It should feed better and be less slippery to work with than the tracing paper. Hope I like it better; Denise (the LQS owner) tells me that she has good results using it.





After receiving my copy of the book "Sew One and You're Done" by Evelyn Sloppy, I decided to make one big star instead of lots of small ones. I've started cutting out the pieces for a large block quilt called Garden Magic, which goes well with the lovely fabrics sent to me by Debra S. The block will have to have a border added to make it big enough for the QOV standards. It will be a nice change to work with larger pieces after all the tiny pieces in some of the 6 inch WOTB blocks.




The wind has been terrible yesterday and today and the weatherman is warning us to be ready for a major blizzard on Friday. The weather is simply not cooperating with my Spring garden plans.



I got my hair cut yesterday, and once again, they scalped me! I want it short, but I also want to look like a female. With this wind the short hairs are spiked and I look more like a boy than a grandmother. Oh well, it grows fast. Maybe I should get some hair wax and purple and lime green hair dye. ROFL!

WIP Wednesday

I am starting on my April 12 x 12 and working on a couple of my WOTB blocks, but most of my energy this week is going toward working with Mandy on her quilt ideas. She brought some photos of friends from her church youth group and wants to do a photo transfer quilt with them. In February my fat quarters from Grandma's Attic were pink heart and valentine motifs, which I thought would be perfect for her memory quilt and she agreed. So I explained that the first step a quilter has to do is wash and press her fabrics in preparation for the cutting and sewing. So here she is spraying with Magic Sizing and pressing away. This is her first experience at ironing and she caught on fast. What a

lucky generation, when I was a kid we had to iron most of our clothing, now it's wash and wear. She tells me if her clothes are wrinkled she just runs them in the dryer a while.

I had also been saving the monthly 4 x 4 inch swatches for her and she has learned to chain stitch the squares and is now at the point of learning to put the strips together; I have to teach her how to nest the opposite pressed seams and pin them so that her seams all match. She is getting so good that I can leave the room and do other things while she sews on the machine. We are going to make her a quilted pillowcase with these squares.

Amber and her younger sister Mikayla are spending the night with Mandy and we're going out for pizza and a movie. Unfortunately, with the age difference and three girls, Mikayla is ending up being "odd man out." Too bad we didn't think to invite one of her friends to come along.

WIP Wednesday

I am so happy that I actually have work in progress now that Mom is cared for. I've been cleaning in the garden yesterday and today and here is the happy surprise that was waiting for me under some of last years dead growth; my miniature daffodils are actually blooming. I love daffodils for their brilliant yellow trumpets after a dark straw colored few months. The tiny blue scillas have also popped up through the dry grass at the corner of the house, but I didn't get photos of them.

Ditto, our small toothless lynx point Siamese mix cat, came out with me yesterday and discovered the new shoots of catnip under their metal cage. If I don't cage the catnip, all the neighborhood cats roll in it and eat it down to the ground. I figure that they are welcome to whatever shoots eventually stick out through the cage, but I refuse to allow them to kill it.

Here is a teaser of my March 12 x 12 which is my evening project. It is getting closer to completion and I don't want to ruin the surprise by showing more than this. I am pleased that it is beginning to come up to the image I've carried in my head since I found some words to a hymn in my Quilting the Psalms group. I'm studying the Psalms but not trying to do the blocks
yet. I'll do them when I finish the Women of the Bible. Our leader, Carol Honderich, is designing

a new applique pattern for each of the Psalms that we are studying and they are spectacular, I can't wait to start making them. Well, I guess I can wait, I can hardly keep up as it is at this time.

WIP Wednesday

I am so far behind!!!! I can clean house, or quilt, or walk but I can't seem to do them all in the same time period. If I do one I can't find time or energy to do the others. In addition, trying to keep up with my friends blogs, struggle with changing e-mail addresses to the whole world (it doesn't seem like an exageration), and trying to figure out why my e-mail insists on going out on the old server when I send it through the new hi speed server is making me gaga! The more Joe fiddles with the settings the more messed up it all becomes. Where is my computer guru when I need him or her?!!! And I can't even soothe the savage beast by scarfing down chocolate! Aarrggggg!!!!!


Now that I've gotten that howl out of my system here is what is in progress. I finally finished the kids quilt top for the 40 Quilts Service Project; I'll press it and mail it to Deb G. for quilting tomorrow. Here is a photo of it spread out on top of the backing fabric to make sure that the backing is big enough. I really like the looks of this pattern with this fabric. Beth, thanks for sending me this cute striped fabric. There was even enough to make the entire backing in three pieces, and the piecing doesn't show much because of the stripes. This is the largest quilt top I've ever done; up till now I've only done crib size quilts and the small journal quilts.

In the background of this photo on the cutting table are pieces and parts for my March 12 x 12 which is due tomorrow but is most probably going to be revealed later this week. I picked up some yummy Razzle Dazzle thread from Ricky Timms at the Creative Cloth Closet in Canon City and owner, Denise, showed me how she embellishes her pieces by machine couching this thread with invisible thread. It will take me a while to practice this and then do it on the March piece.

The house cleaning I've been trying to do in the midst of all this is get the clutter out of the office, where Joe and I run our business and I do my internet surfing and blogging and photo printing on fabric, etc. We haven't been able to get to the closet at the back since January because the space is full of storage files in bankers boxes. Sunday Joe decided that we could get some plastic boxes for the storage files and then he can store them in an outside storage shed, safe from the mice that got into my Christmas decorations and other goodies. I don't know why I never thought of this myself since I use plastic storage boxes for my fabrics, paints, stamps and ink pads, beads, etc. We found some cheap boxes, just the right size, at Wal Mart and I am in the process of transferring the files from cardboard and file cabinet to plastic. Here is a photo of some of them in the hallway next to the kitty condo and toys.

The weather is so gorgeous, in the 70s for the last several days, and as I walked past the fallow garden on the way to my daily walk, it was all I could do to keep from stopping and cleaning up the old brown stalks and debris, but I had steps to go before I could garden. After getting my breathe when I got back I forced myself to go to the sewing machine and finish attaching those last borders and getting the backing ready so it could go out tomorrow. I've got to get some work done in the garden before St. Pat's because that is when the peas, potatoes, lettuces, spinach, and radishes need to be planted.

Then Mandy, Amber and I plan to drive to Salt Lake City to visit daughter, Shay and grandkids, Samantha, Rachel and Evan during Spring Break. We try to go to SLC every year over Spring Break, but usually daughter, Kat, goes with me, also, but this year she doesn't feel like riding in a car with an active 4 year old boy, Evan, for that many hours. So Amber will go to keep Mandy in line, heehee, and I plan to take the girls to visit the campus at Utah University so they can start to get an idea of what to expect when they get out of high school. Hopefully, I'll get to visit some quilt exhibits while there since Utah women are known for being great quilters.

Here's a great photo of Mandy's brothers, Evan (4) and Ben (17) on a walk along Bijou Creek near Byers that son, Greg sent yesterday. Ben is often known to hide his face from cameras, so this is a special occassion. They sure look alike, don't they? Notice that the grass and trees show no signs of Spring yet on the Colorado prairie.

WIP Wednesday_Late

Sorry, due to doctor appointments and lab visits I did not get to post on Wednesday. I am finishing the border on the Solar System Strippy Ninepatch kid quilt for the 40 Quilt Service Project on Quilt Studio. I will probably be able to post the finished quilt top photo tomorrow and get it off to Debra G. for quilting. I continue to work on my March 12 x 12 but won't post any more about it until the reveal the week of the 12th. I'm also expecting a package of stash fabrics from Debra S. to make another service quilt, this time it will be for a military woman who has been injured.

I am two weeks behind on my WOTB blocks but will get those done when the kid quilt is in the mail and before I start the woman's quilt. I've also organized fabrics and patterns to start making blocks for my son's airplane quilt. I figure if I only make a block every two weeks, at least I'll have it started. I am not good at just working on one project at a time or production quilting. I find if I look at a quilt as one block at a time and switch back and forth I can deal with it; trying to think about sitting down and doing a whole quilt just overwhelms me.

The major work in progress in my life right now is me. I am working at improving my health and fitness through diet, exercise, and spiritual discipline, with the help of my friends at the Quilter's Lounge. I used to be active in walking, mountain hiking and a little cross country skiing, but when my health went down hill and I had to retire in 1997, I wasn't able to do these activities any longer and let myself begin to think and act like a semi-invalid. All or nothing thinking; if I can't do it all, I can't do anything. In 2005 at the urging my my primary doctor, I started exercising at Curves and shed 35 pounds. Once again, a few health set backs led to me giving up and gaining back about 20 of those pounds.

This time I realize that I am in this for life, it can not be a temporary change in lifestyle. I am attempting to deal with the emotional and spiritual issues that caused to let myself get in such a sad state. I think this realization stems from getting involved with my quilting friends online and finding a whole new world of creativity opening up for me at a rather mature age. "Too soon old, too late smart!" But, luckily, we live in a universe that allows us second chances any time we choose to take them.

So, I am walking again, after all this time of thinking I couldn't because of arthritic feet and the need for oxygen 24/7. When I started using a pedometer to measure my steps about a month ago, I was only walking less than 1000 steps a day around the house. Due to snow, ice and cold, I began doing my walking at the Canon City WalMart, the closest thing we have to a mall. I was able to up my steps to around 3000 on the days I got there to walk. Now that the weather is nice and warm I am strapping Ursula Oxygen around my waist like a fanny pack, and walking around the neighborhood, using a walking stick to keep my balance.

Yesterday, it was so gorgeous that after my appointments and shopping, I went to Centennial Park, along the Arkansas River in Canon City, and walked around the perimeter of the park. I enjoyed the sounds of the river, watching lots of Little Leaguers practice, and admiring the ducks and geese at the pond being fed by some cute kids and their parents. After my pleasant walk, I got my camera and walked around some more taking photos. A photo from this park, taken a few weeks ago, is featured in my March 12 x 12.

I used to walk all over this town, but since moving here 4 years ago, I have only managed to walk around my block a few times, and hadn't walked downtown. I didn't think I could. This evening, I decided to see if I could make it, so I walked 9 blocks down Second Street to Santa Fe Avenue, south a block to Main Street, (the intersection where I used to live in an apartment over Joe's shop, overlooking the main downtown block of Main Street), and then walked 9 blocks home. I stopped a couple of times to admire certain views, and visited with a friend, and then halfway home, I stopped and sat a few minutes on a bench next to an ornamental pond in the yard of a historic home that is now a funeral home owned by some friends of ours. Too bad I didn't have the camera with me; I'll go back when the flowers are in bloom and get some good shots. By the time I got home I was staggering some and very happy to have the walking stick. But I felt so good to realize that I can walk around town again. Just because I have some stiffnes and a few aches and pains and an oxygen tether doesn't mean I have to be an invalid.

I wore my new microstretch Keds that were just delivered today, and my feet did hurt a little, but not enough to keep me down. I love these Keds. I had some a couple of years ago and wore them until they fell off but couldn't find anymore. I got on the internet the other day and found some and paid for quick delivery. These are the greatest shoes for people with sore feet! Next, I'm going to start walking again on the Riverwalk between Florence and Canon City where I used to walk every day 20 to 15 years ago. And guess what? I took 5154 steps today! Can 10,000 be that far away?

WIP Wednesday

It is a good day to make quilts, since it is cold and snowy outside. I just read that I-25 was closed at the Larkspur exit, north of Colorado Springs, due to a major multi-vehicle accident. I'm glad I don't have to drive that section of the road today. I will drive downtown, about 7 blocks, to Curves to exercise this afternoon. I'd rather stay in and be lazy, but...

I've gotten all but one row of ninepatches on the child's Solar System quilt I am making for the 40 Quilt Service Project. I would be done with the stipes and ready to put on the borders, except that, when I got ready to assemble the next panel of ninepatches, I discovered that I had ended up with 5 of one kind of block and only 1 of the other. I need 3 of each, so have to make 2 more of that type of ninepatch. Luckily, I overcut on the strips, so I have extra to put together to make those 2. In f act I have enough stips cut to make a lot of ninepatches for another quilt. Math was never my strong point.

I also got the torn section of my design wall/door replaced and have posted before and after photos. Eventually, I will do both doors entirely with the flannel stretched over the foam core. Oh how I could use a whole design wall so I could lay out all of the blocks for a quilt tops in one spot, besides the floor. I can't leave them on the floor for long while I cogitate about how they should be arranged, due to the need to walk around our small house, as well as the fact that the cats immediately lie down in the middle of any fabric they can find.

For proof, you can see here that Ditto approves of the Solar System quilt. All I have to do is turn my back and they are there. Oh well, it looks like that quilt was designed for the cat. I hope the child who gets it is not allergic to cats. Maybe the child would like a cat? But we all know that Granny Fran couldn't give away one of her babies.

WlP Wednesday

I picked up a blue fabric to use as the border on the Solar System Strippy Ninepatch that I am making for the Quilt Studio 40 Quilts Service Project. I had an idea in my mind of the blue that would look right and was so lucky to find the perfect fabric. Should be ready to send the top to the longarm quilter in a week. There is enough of the cute solar system striped fabric to use it as the backing also. I hope this quilt will help some kid through a rough time. (Those ninepatches don't really have curved seams, the quilt is not laying flat.) I got so carried away with cutting strips for the ninepatches that I'm going to have enough for another quilt.

Now that the WOTB4 is over and I finished my New Testament women's blocks, I have joined the new WOTB2 group and am starting at the beginning of the Old Testament to study and make blocks for the women I missed by joining WOTB4 late. I'm working on blocks for Sarah and Hagar.

I put together some materials to start doing the Take A Stitch Tuesdays Challenge that Sharon B is leading, but when I sat down to do some embroidery stitching, I realized that my arthritic hands simply cannot deal with the small needle used with embroidery floss. I've decided to try doing the stitching with wool yarn and a larger needle. I manage to do some needlepoint with the large tapestry needles and I have done a little wool on linen crewel, many years ago, so should be able to manage some stitching. Maybe I'll have to do wool crazy quilt blocks instead of silk. That's all right, I love vintage wool crazy quilts. But I love the silkies also. Maybe I should get a sewing machine that can do lots and lots of embroidery stitches and do my embellishment that way?

My other WIP projects are peripheral to my fabric arts; I bought another basic book shelf kit to add to the shelves that are in my bedroom/studio, because I've been collecting more quilting and embellishing books than fit what is there already. Now all I have to do is put the kit together, remove books from shelves, restack bookcases, and then put books back in the rearranged shelves. I long for the results, but dread going through the process. Part of removing the books will be getting rid of lots of dust, I'm afraid. I'll wear a dust mask because I don't want that dust in my impaired lungs.

The other project is reworking my design wall/doors. I just have diaper flannel tacked to the closet doors and ChoCho tried to climb on one and it is now torn and sagging, so I bought a piece of foam core and will stretch the flannel over the foam core and attach that to the door. Hopefully, this will keep him from pulling it down again. It's bad enough for cats to sleep on the quilts in the making, but climbing on the design wall?! It's a good thing I love my cats so much because at times they try my patience.

The weather has been so warm and lovely the last few days and I have been feeling quite a bit better and more ambitious, which is why all these WIPS are in progress. Just as I was basking in the joy of feeling well, I leaned over this evening to put some dry bread slices in the cat pan by the back door, for the raccoons, and couldn't stop leaning. I fell, bashing my temple on a vintage graniteware pan hanging on the post by my back door, skinning up my fingers and shredding several fingernails. (There are also several broken flower pots that I will clean up later.) Joe was watching TV in the living room and didn't hear the crash, so I called him on my cell phone (which is always in my pocket for this very reason) and came out and helped me up.

I reclined for a while with a sack of frozen peas on the huge lump on my head. When the headache let up a little I managed to fix some comforting potato soup for our supper, with help from Joe, and conferred by phone with my former RN DIL. Once the initial shock wore off, I was amazed that I was able to function at a slow level, so I'm posting my WIP Wednesday and then going to take a headache pill and go burrow under the covers. I fear that when I wake up I will hurt in places I hardly knew I had. But I will get that bookcase put up, God willing.