Wonky flowers...sigh.

I hate flowers.

Oh not that kind! I LOVE real flowers! I'm just having the world's worst time figuring out how to applique the darned things on a quilt. I've gotten past the "What am I doing wrong?" hand-wringing stage. I breezed right by the "Flowers aren't perfect in nature either"  justification. I briefly consoled myself with "I'm just learning" before moving on to my current philosophy of "I really don't care any more. I just want to get the darn things done."

There, I've had my little tantrum, and I'm feeling better for it.  

Aaugh! Can a flower look any wonkier than this poor thing with the mangled petals and the lopsided center?I may have to tear out those top two petals and try them again. Maybe.

This flower isn't as wonky as the pink one (as long as I ignore the totally irregular placement of the petals in relation to the center), but I don't like the color as well as I thought I would. My goodness, I'm just not satisfied with anything, am I? Maybe tomorrow's flowers will be better, right?

Meanwhile, I've been binding on my Tonga Batik quilt. I like the binding fabric. I tried many of the fabrics that I used in the quilt, but this is the only one I liked for binding.



At least I can make a nice corner. And although I did not think to take a picture of it, the back corner is just as perfect. Maybe I should give up applique and just concentrate on binding...

Why do I have a photo of my odometer reading on my blog? My little Saturn is getting ready for its 100,000 birthday! I was expecting to see the odometer reading turn before I reached school this morning, but this is what it was at when I parked it. So close! One mile away from being over the hill! Well, there's still the drive home...

Busy Bees quilt club meeting tonight. I'm anticipating a lovely, restful evening of quilting with some of my favorite friends. They forgive me all my flaws. Although I'm not sure about wonky flowers... I could be on my own there. Maybe I'll stick to finishing my binding.

'Til later,

Deb

Introducing... Bandit!

Well, not much to report in the way of quilting for the last couple of weeks. I finally posted the grades for my spring semester on Tuesday of last week. That gave me three days off (plus the weekend) before my next semester started today. I got a little bit done on my owl quilt, finished sewing the binding to the front of my Tonga Batik quilt, finished the binding on my Red Sea quilt, and took care of some home cleaning necessities. One cleaning chore was my sewing room. I vacuumed, rearranged, and consolidated wherever I could. I actually (gasp!) threw some things away! Then I was too tired to sew!

I finished one flower on my owl quilt and am working on a second. Please remember that this wall hanging is only my second attempt at applique! I'm still learning. Remember the samplers that children made when they were learning to hand sew? That's pretty much what this is. I keep telling myself I'll get better with practice...

Here is another little consideration I had to work around during my three days off. His name is Bandit. Someone dumped this one-eyed, 2-3 year-old tom kitty out in the country, and he made his way to us. He's been around for about three weeks, and we finally resolved our trust issues enough for me to take him to the vet. He's no longer a tom kitty, so we might have trust issues starting all over again! I had him tested for all of the major kitty diseases, and he's perfectly healthy other than being blind in one eye. He's not extremely fond of being petted yet, but we're working on him. Gosh, that brings our kitty total to six! Wow, no wonder we spend so much on pet food every month!

Speaking of new pets, we had a half-dozen new chicks hatch out on Mother's Day. What timing, huh?

That's me caught up. I hope all of you are quilting, cleaning, adopting new pets, or doing whatever you do to make you happy!

'Til later,

Debbi

Rounded Points and Pointed Rounds

Well, it's  a good thing I'm viewing this owl wall hanging as a practice piece to learn how to applique. I mean, how many of you can draw a perfect circle? If none of us can draw a perfect circle, then it's okay if I can't sew one, right?

My applique teacher has already pointed out how unpointy my leaf points are (although I'm getting better, I swear). I hate to show her how uncircular my circles are. The circles, by the way are the centers for the flowers I'm almost ready to start petaling.

These cute little footprints are some of the flower petals that will soon be making their way onto my wall hanging. They will probably be neither pointy nor round. Oh dear.

Since I just turned in the spring semester grades yesterday, I am woefully lacking in progress to show you on any of my projects, so here are some more flowers from my yard.

  A Nike clematis growing in my gingko tree.

 A Nelly Moser clematis growing in the same gingko tree.

 More of the the Nike clematis climbing higher...

and higher...

More progress to come on my owl quilt, I promise! Until then...

Debbi

Still grading papers. I should be finished Monday of next week. So, for your viewing pleasure, I've posted some more photos. The first is what little I've gotten done on the binding of my Red Sea quilt so far. The rest are more photos of flowers, ending with my lovely Sinbad looking very festive in his new ribbon (a cast off fabric trimming). I'll try to get some photos soon of my owl wall-hanging. I've finished the leaves and need to start on my flowers. AFTER I get done with my grading.

 Red Sea quilt binding. One corner done!

 Campanulas from Mom's garden.

 Pink peony from Mom's garden.

White peony from Mom's garden. Ignore my  freckled and liver spotted hand underneath.

 Seven Sisters rose from Mom's garden. Can you guess why it's called Seven Sisters?

 The same group of seven blossoms in one clump.

 More American Beauty rose buds from my husband's rose bush. They look almost black before they bloom.

 American Beauty blossoms. Theyre a deep, delicious red.

An arch of my Gertrude Jekyl. Just SMELL those blossoms. You'll never smell a sweeter, stronger rose, ever! Go ahead - stick your nose right up to the screen and sniff. You should be able to smell them from there.

Sinny wearing his new ribbon. Doesn't he look sweet?

'Til later,
Debbi

Excuse number 437...

I decided last night that I really MUST get the bindings put on the four (or is it five?) queen/king quilts that I have finished and waiting. That was my plan. I cut the 2" binding strips for my Red Sea Scrolls quilt. So far, so good. But then I decided that I needed to look at the quilt for just a moment before I started sewing my strips together. I don't even remember WHY I needed to look at it. Anyway, I flopped (yes, flopped is the technical quilting term for that maneuver) the quilt onto the cutting board for just ONE tiny moment, and... Yes. You guessed it. Tessie.

*Just TRY to make me move and see what happens.* Well, finally she did move. I then tried to move the quilt away from the table. Nope. It seemed to be caught on the bottom. So I looked under the raised flap of the cutting table. Yep. You guessed it again. Maxie.

This photo only worked because of the flash. It was actually pitch dark under the table, but this is what I found lodged in the quilt when I flashed the camera under the table. Finally, Maxie gave up and wandered in search of a dark place that would actually stay dark. So I reached for my strips to sew them together. Yep again. Callie.

Callie had built a nest with my cut strips. At that point I gave up. I had no idea where Sinbad was, but I was sure whatever he was up to would have stopped from sewing, so I decided not to take a chance. I went to bed. Sigh.

Just another pretty rose I've been enjoying in my garden.

'Til later, good luck in your own sewing room!

Debbi

I have a new pattern!

First a photo of the finished top of my tree. I ironed it last night, but the current wrinkles are compliments of Sinbad who can't seem to resist sleeping in/on the tree.

Now. Finally. My new pattern (I've been waiting oh, so patiently for a month now - ha!) just arrived in the mail yesterday. I won't tell you how many e-mails I sent to Hancock's of Paducah asking them where my pattern was. Okay, so it was only two, but I thought about sending one EVERY SINGLE DAY! Are you ready?

Ta-da! Its the Farmer's Market pattern from Laundry Basket Quilts 2011. Isn't it great?

 Top.

Bottom. Double click on the photos to enlarge them if you want to see the pattern better.

I'm trying to convince Mom that we need to do this quilt together. (Actually I'm a little intimidated by it as a project just for me, but don't tell Mom that.) Since there is so much coping going on in this pattern, it won't even matter if our sizing is different. We'll "cope." I think we ought to agree on a color scheme and draw from our scraps and stashes. We both have plenty. Mom hates half-square triangles, and I love them. Mom loves log cabin blocks, and I hate them. See? It's perfect! Five years or so from now we may actually see it completed (smile).

We're enjoying such a beautiful spring, that I thought I'd show you a few more flower shots.

I saw these white buttercups on the side of a stream while my husband, mother, and I were walking the dogs.

Above is my husband's beautiful American Beauty rose from California. This rose bush is covered with dozens of black/red, frilly blossoms. They're so large and heavy that the canes are bending to the ground.

I can't remember the name of this rose, but my sister bought it for us for my husband's and my anniversary about three years ago. Its scent is just as beautiful as its color, size, and shape. I love it. Thanks, Sis. 

My Gertrude Jeckyl rose isn't in full bloom yet, but give it a day or two. This is an old-fashioned rose and has lovely pink blossoms with a wonderful strong scent.

Another shot of my beautiful dark purple irises. These are three blossoms together.

Another rose whose name I've forgotten. This one does not have any scent, but it looks beautiful and blooms proficiently.

And one last shot of the bi-colored buttercups. These blossoms are both from the same plant. I must admit I prefer the yellow, but the white does have novelty on its side. : )

I'm shooting for some leaves on my tree tomorow. Well, actually, I'm "sewing" for some leaves on my tree...

'Til then,

Debbi

My tree is done!

Despite the four-day migraine, I managed to finish my tree this weekend. Yea! Now shy owl can hop out of his hole and onto a branch without fearing that the pins might give way and drop him right off of the fabric!

Anyway, I'm now trying to pick out the appropriate green fabrics for the leaves. I think I've chosen a winning combination of some of Mom's fabrics and some of mine. Mom sent home quite a few of her batiks so that I can steal borrow use any of them I want. Isn't that kind? She has had a beautiful variegated pastel batik that I think will do wonderfully for the flowers. Yep, it's mine now. ; ) Once I have some of the leaves and flowers sewn on, I can start adding some owls around them. I'm getting antsy just thinking about it. I wish I was retired!

'Til later,
Debbi