Someone on one of the quilt forums reminded me I needed to make one (thanks Kim:-)...and with the story behind this it does need one. This is not the greatest picture....I really need to make a place to hang quilts to take their picture. Just cannot come up with where that is going to be.

How do people decide what to make next in quilting...every time I finish something I have the most horrible time deciding what I want to start on next. I always think I am just going to go start cutting but the choices are so great that it is hard to do.

However, I did start cutting 2 1/2 inch squares tonight...out of some of my not so loved anymore stash. A lot of those are Joann Fabric materials, though some are not. Right now I am cutting a lot of blues and browns...more browns than anything.

My DH came up with the idea that I wanted to go to Arthur, IL today...and I never refuse that trip. (Arthur is an Amish community.) I go to two places over there: Miller's Dry Goods and Stitch and Sew. Miller's Dry Goods is out in the country which makes for a pleasant drive. They have all kinds of fabric including polyester from ages ago. They do not have electricity so I tend to get kind of frustrated looking at the material...you just cannot see with the gas lighting. They also have a lot of stuff the dime stores used to carry.

Stitch and Sew is my favorite shop over there...it is not huge, but has a pretty good selection. I did come home with some fabrics that could be classified as lights--I have the hardest time picking out lights. My stash is 90% medium to dark. I added yellow to the last two quilt tops I have worked on, no make that three--it is the only thing that kept them from being one big boring mess. If I ever get my desk fixed for my Juki, I will probably machine quilt them next.

I'm doing a happy dance here tonight--for more reasons than one. I went to the library today and joy of joys, there were unabridged audio versions of James Herriot's books! I am assuming they have them all, but all that was currently there was All Things Bright and Beautiful and All Things Wise and Wonderful. I have wished for unabridged versions of them for so long. I have probably read all these books at least 5 times, and I know I will read again. Why do I continue to re-read when there are so many others that I have never read? Does anyone else do this?

And tonight I finished my as yet unnamed quilt...too late to take pictures. I will try to take some tomorrow with my husband's point and shoot. Mistakes abound in this quilt...but I am still happy to have it done.

The past two days have been rather hectic for me. Friday about noon the surgeon's office called and ask if my husband could come in about 1:50 instead of tomorrow. We jumped at the chance to get that over with. He is still on restrictions of no lifting or straining, but he does start therapy next week. After a couple sessions, he can begin to drive again.


Then, we celebrated Father's Day both Friday night and yesterday evening....today we have just sat around and relaxed. Friday evening our youngest daughter, Sarah and her husband came. We cooked steaks on the grill, had a salad and baked potato. I fixed two jello/cool whip desserts:

1 small box of either strawberry or lime jello in at least 2 quart bowl

Add 2/3 c. boiling water and stir at least 2 minutes till it is well dissolved.

Next add 2 c. ice cubes and stir till the jello starts to set. Remove the remainder of the ice cubes.

Use 8 to 12 oz of cool whip and blend together real well with wire whip.

Pour this into a graham pie crust and refrigerate!

This is one simple, quick refreshing dessert.

Yesterday we went to our other daughter's house in the evening. I had to run all over to find pork spareribs for this. I ended up having to run to Terre Haute to Kroger's. Came home and my husband put them on to boil. I fixed our late breakfast/early lunch. Then watched the ribs, and made baked beans and made a dip for the vegetables my husband cut up.

I boil the ribs until they are tender, then coat them in barbecue sauce and cook on the grill a few minutes. After I got them on the grill, I washed our car while my husband tended the ribs. By the time I got that done, it was time to take a shower head down to our daughter's house...they fixed hamburgers on the grill, and her MIL made a dessert.

My daughter and her husband were leaving for an Alaskan cruise today--and she took my camera with her! I feel naked without it...I can use my husband's point and shoot but I cannot get close-ups with it. At least not the quality that I can with my digital SLR.

I did start on the binding on my string quilt--still trying to think of a name that says it all. Not having much luck. A friend on the Quilts Your Way forum suggested Little Shop of Horrors and that fits it the best so far. There is not much good that can be said about the quality of this quilt, other than it will soon be finished. And it is colorful. It has pieces from material some of my dresses were made when I wash in school.

I am doing the binding totally by machine. I trimmed the quilt, and sewed the binding on the first time from the back. I am turning the other to the front and using one of the fancy stitches on the Viking to sew it down. I am doing the binding in sections and not mitering the corners--I think mitering the corners are easy--this is the first time I have every sewed a binding on in sections. So it is kind of scary to me.