Irises

Just the other day,  Monday in fact...I had just one iris bloom...I walked out there today and there were all of these.

Since it was overcast, I could see my screen.  I think there is one bloom I did not get in the photo above.  Since it was overcast, I could see my screen.

I quickly focused on one bloom and snapped.  These are with my phone, as was the one the other day.

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I am still working on leaves...or going to work more.  Yesterday I pressed all the ones I have made, and trimmed them to size.  Today I put them all back up on the design wall.  First thinking I was just going to use what I have made and that be it.  But I need four more to make it square.  So, I am going to make four more and I really think that will be all I make.  By the time they  are stitched together it will be a very small quilt.
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I know this video will not be everyone's cup of tea, but the first part where the kids are in the chicken house cracks me up.   I

I can show you the finished project.....

This was finished and washed and found its way to its new home this week...all the way to Texas.  It is definitely in paler colors than I normally work with.  And was made with a line of fabrics...not just stuff pulled from here and there that was in my stash already.

My daughter designed the layout.  And we worked together on it one day.  And had plans to work more together but things interfered with our plans, and I finally finished the top on my own.  Thankfully, she had printed out the layout.  Then I did the layering and quilting.

This is the back...I regret that I did not get it on there straight, but I was doing everything by myself  and doing it on the table...so could not move layers easily.    So crooked it is.  (You can tell it is crooked by the fabric at the top and bottom of the part with all the white.  I did not plan for that to be in the center...I always like back art to be off center at least....and if I had  had enough fabric, it would have all been off-kilter on purpose.  But I was scrounging to have enough to do the backing.

This shows a bit of the free-motion quilting I did on my Juki TL98Q.  It was 58 inches square before it was washed and dried, but then got in such a hurry to get it to the post office I did not measure it after I got it out of the dryer.

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I have made four different types of masks.  The first was a group of 7 that I sent to nurse.  They had the loop of elastic that went around the ear.  I showed them when I made them.    Then I made another kind that I did not take a photo of....

Today I made a sample of two others.

This is basically like two others I have made, but instead of using elastic or a strip of folded cotton for the ties, it uses strips of an old cotton t-shirt.  It is fairly comfortable.

Then I tried this style...the video I watched said 22 inches of elastic should be plenty.  Of course that was quarter inch elastic...and all I had was 3/8's....I cut mine 22½ inches,  and first pinned the overlap and tried it on and it was too tight.  So I butted the ends together and wrapped them with fabric and sewed them in and it is still a bit on the tight side.

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I hope this finds you safe and well.  This week is almost over and done in the blink of an eye for me.  The time has flown.

Projects

Well, one project is finished, but I won't show it for a few days...in the meantime I will continue to make a few of these along:

I have a 3 or 4 more I have not put up...but I must have miscounted...I would have sworn I counted 50. and I have made a few more since then.  I will have to look and see if I have misplaced some.  One thing, this has really shown me hat I like polka-dots.  Or maybe I should say dots.  I cannot think how many different dots are in this.  And some are not exactly dot but are flowers in a circle.  (Scroll on down to see another pic...I found the other blocks)

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You have ever right/reason to be afraid of this.  It is a Brown Recluse.  Expand the view to see it better. Lorelei's mom was moving a computer tower at work.  Had moved it, and was going to bend over and grab the cables and saw this just in time!  I did not ask her what she did with it.  She normally carries spiders outside if she finds one at her house.  I know she wouldn't carry this in her hand, but she might have put it in a cup or something and taken it out.

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It has been raining a bit tonight...I don't think it is going to rain too much.   I hope it is done by tomorrow.  I need to go pick up a few groceries.  I always go earlier in the day when there are only a few people out.  

Everyone take care....

Edited to add:

I went back in there and found my other squares laying on the step stool.  So had to take  a pic and show you!

Binding...

I got the binding sewn to the quilt....all that is left is to flip it to the back and hand stitch it down.  I would actually be pretty easy to stitch it by machine. but I will enjoy the hand stitching.

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We actually went for a drive this afternoon...headed up to one of my favorite places...what we call the swampy area.  There were Wood Ducks and Canada Geese, and I saw a Great Blue Heron in the distance.

When we first got there, there were half a dozen of the Wood Ducks right beside the road.  But the minute I slowed down and rolled down my window, they flew away.  This guy was too far away to hold steady on.  But you can at least see that he is a Wood Duck.

I saw three pairs of Canada Geese and heard more....

It was so nice to be out and see a some nature.  I did not see a single turtle...I don't know when I will start seeing them again.  I saw 5 or 6 hawks...one of them I seen on our way there, and I think I saw the same one on the way home.

And I spotted two more Bald Eagle nests...the one I could not see anything on, but this one had one on the nest.  Both nests today are where I have room to pull off the road and look.  The only thing with this one, I didn't have much room to look without a bunch of bushes obstructing my view.  And it was so far away, I could not really tell that that stem is in front of it till I downloaded the pics.  There will be a slightly better view later on my other blog later tonight.   I also saw two Bald Eagles in flight.

All in all this has been a good day...I really needed some time out and seeing something different for a change.
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When we had been home a while, Lorelei sent me the above pic.  When she was around 2 and 3 yrs. old, this little Chick went everywhere with her!  And heaven forbid that it be forgotten.

I cannot see it/think of it without laughing.  It also went to bed with her.  She would come here to spend the night, and of course the chick went to bed with us.  Well, she would play with it, and sometimes actually hide it, other times she would lose it. And she would have me up at all hours looking for that Chick!  Sometimes it would get between the layers of the cover, other times she would have slid it down between the bed and the wall.    It is funny now, but it was not funny being woken at 3:00 a.m. with an upset toddler...and having to find this little thing.  It would fit on my hand...there were times I had to take the cover off to fine it.  Now it is just a fun memory.
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I hope your weekend is good...

This and that....

This is early...I did not even realize it had buds...it was so limp yesterday morn from the cold, I did not know if it was going to survive.  I looked out this morn and seen this color, and could not figure it out till I went out there and saw it was actual buds.

Edited to add:  Granny Marigold ask what plant this is.  I think it is my Fritillaria.  I had never heard of them till I seen the bulbs last fall, so I bought a package and planted  it/them?  I cannot remember if it was a single bulb or if it had two or three.

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This iron has been in use today....

I made this binding yesterday but did not fold in half and press till today.

Sorry about the shadows...but as I press it I fan-fold my binding.  Then when I sew it to the quilt, I have it down by my right side, usually in a drawer, and it unfolds without getting all tangled up and twisted.
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I tried making a mask a new way...well the making of them is not the problem.  It is the comfort.  And you should have seen Roger trying to get it on.  Of course, he adds to the comedy by.  He will put it on, )or his CPap mask at night), and say, "Hey Baby,, how about a date?"  or "Aren't I a handsome devil?"  Thank God for his humor.  FYI, he would never say either of those things and mean them...this is totally him being funny.

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I keep thinking we will go for a drive...but then I never follow through.  But I really could use some time out with nature.  I wish there were some good walking paths around here, but there isn't at all.  I hope everyone has a good weekend....

Look!

My daughter was out for her run and stopped to get a rock out of her shoe and found the first one...she did not look much but fount these!    They are morel mushrooms.   In Tennessee where I am from, they call them hickory chickens...but whatever you call them, I call them delicious.

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After much time spent trying to decide how to quilt this:

I finally settled on this.   A leafy vine winding around all over the quilt.   Deciding how to quilt a quilt is always my hardest decision.   I had a couple other things I would have liked to try but since I have not been quilting very much, I was afraid to attempt them.  Then once I started this, I felt it was perfect anyway.  My quilting is still not perfect, but once it is washed, the mistakes won't be noticed too much.

I would say in less that two hours work, I will have the quilting finished, but I have not made the binding yet. 

That is it for now...hope you are staying safe. 

Another day...

Call the Midwife has a new season.   We just watched the second one tonight.  I always look forward to the closing lines....

Not all of us will choose what we give up

the things we love are taken

or are never ours at all

Life is defined not by what we let go

but what we let in:

friendship and kind words

Frailty and hope

To be human is to be imperfect

And to accept that is to thrive

No path is always strewn with flowers

But therein lies the power of each fragile, tender bloom.

I am not sure why, but these really got to me.  Maybe because I know her character...not sure if the words would have the same effect if I just read them and did not associate them with her and the others. It is not that the camera is on her as she says them...she is speaking in the background as the camera shows glimpses of the lives of the midwives, etc.

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We have had two glorious days of sun...I have sat on the porch and read some both days.  I am currently reading:

Trials of the Earth:  The Story of a Pioneer Woman by Mary Hamilton.  I have really been enjoying it and dread to see it end.

I have this little quilt pinbasted and ready to quilt...and got my sewing table down in the basement cleared off.  It was full of stuff from when they guy worked on our furnace.  I had to move stuff out of his way and had not put it back in its place.
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The tornado warning was till 2:00 a.m. but that has been cancelled.  Maybe they have removed it.  I think we came about as close to having one as we could come without it actually being one.  Stuff was flying from everywhere...I seen someone's big umbrella go down the alley.  It started to take our grill.  I saw trash flying. There was a tiny bit of hail here, but not much. The wind was terrible.  It sounded like a train going over our house.

That's about it for this post...stay safe everyone.

A blast from the past...

Sarah and Jeremy brought Lorelei yesterday evening...I forget what made Sarah mention this Dot, but it made me look it up on this blog.  I did not remember the story that went with it.  This is from 2014...here you go.  I had never heard of Dot till Sarah showed me this...



 Lorelei's first Dot moment went something like this....

They were sitting at the dinner table having a meal.  Lorelei was kicking the leg of the table.  Jeremy told her to please stop.  So she paused a minute and then started kicking the other leg.  I don't recall what Jeremy started to say...or if he said anything...

Lorelei said, 'This leg is listening' as she pointed at her right leg...then she pointed at her left leg and said this one isn't.  Then she proceeded to bend down and look under the table yelling at her leg to stop it!  I think Sarah lost it and Jeremy could only shake his head!