About Time

Guess it is about time to catch up on this ole' blog.  The days and weeks tend to slip past so quickly.  I need to look at my photos to see what I've done.  Life, itself, has been busy so there has not been a lot of sewing going on around here.

With our thirtieth grandbaby arriving in a few short weeks, I have been working on the quilt.  We do not know the sex so I have decided to do Lorna's Giraffe Quilt.  I love this pattern and it has been such fun to stitch.

I was struggling with my greens as nothing I had seemed to do the trick.  Fortunate as it was, I was a recent winner of Wendy's box of scraps.  Inside I found the perfect green for it!

My Temperature Quilt is coming along too.  We had some lovely warm days this week so it was fun to stitch those colors into it.  Just look at this week.  I even got to insert that lovely red when the high hit 97* on Monday.

Adding it to the first few months of the year, it looks like this.  I'm glad to get the greens behind me.  I am enjoying watching my sister's quilt progress at IG @alaskanquilter.  Her Alaskan colors are so different from mine and they are gorgeous.

This month's Block Lotto block is call NoonLight.  I made two blocks for it and may do more as the month progresses.  We will see.  I was one of the winners of last months Savannah blocks and I am having so much fun seeing blocks arrive in the mail.  

Another Mystery quilt that I will be working on over the next few months is called So Dearly QAL.  It is hosted by Gosia at Quilts My Way.  This is an interesting paper pieced QAL and I have no idea what it will become.

 Life is busy and good.

Midweek Roundup

It has been a crazy week here, but I am determined to try and get a post off before the week is completely gone.  We've actually been home for dinner only one night in the last 9 days! 

Needless to say, there has not been much sewing time either, but I did manage to get my mini pineapple quilt done for the Minis and More monthly project.  I love making this block.  Eventually I would like to make a quilt full of them, but this month we just made a mini. 

I also was able to sew up three Spoke blocks for Block Lotto for this month.  I hope to do more, but time will tell.

I am part of a small group called Sewing With Friends.  Last year we did a row by row robin and my returned quilt has been languishing in my UFO pile.  I finally dug it out to work on it.  I wanted to add one more row to make it a nice sized throw.  I will add borders and finish it up, but this is where I am with it at the moment.  The end row of stars is the row that I just added.  LOVE the colors of it. 

While gardening this past weekend, we came across this little surprise in the geraniums.  The baby bunny did not stand much of a chance.

Since there is not much sewing going on here, I'll share some of the blooms in the garden. 

Happy Memorial Day weekend to all those in the United States.  It is a time to remember all of those families who have sacrificed so much for our freedoms.  I am humbled and thankful.

A New Year

Best laid plans of being a better blogger have gone out the window as quickly as the first two weeks of the new year have passed.  I just keep telling myself that it is living life rather than documenting life.  Sounds good.....right? 

There has been very little sewing going on around here, but I did manage to get a whole day of sewing in on Saturday - a stormy day at the beach.  I started assembling my En Provence quilt top.  There are lots of little pieces, but I am loving the way it is looking.

We've been having such wonderful storms rolling through and delivering us the much needed water that we have missed for the last few years.  One thing about storms is the amazing sunrises or sunsets they provide.  Sometimes you'll get both on the same day.  This was a recent sunset - a photo taken at our daughter's house.

After a stormy day at the beach on Saturday, we woke up to this beautiful sunrise on Sunday morning.

As I have stitched my En Provence, I have been sewing strips together to create blocks for this month's Block Lotto blocks.  There is still plenty of time to create a few if you want to join in on the fun.  I was one of the winners of last month's string blocks so it has been fun receiving the "squishy" envelopes each day.

I'm off to clean house as I've had little ones the last few days.  Stay safe from the nasty weather out there.

e,i,e,i,o........

This week brought us the rest of our vowels for the Repeat QAL.  We added the a, i and u to all of our e's.  I think there is a game show where one has to pay for their vowels....no??????

I'm looking forward to moving away from the vowels.

I worked on some of the Bullseye blocks for the Block Lotto this month.  This was a new to me technique, but kind of fun to create.

I also made good progress on a mini quilt for the ALQS10.  I have been a participant in this swap for a number of years now and absolutely love the way Kate runs it.  There is still time to join in if you are interested.  This year our mini quilt is only 10" square.  You can submit up to two quilts.  I have received the nicest quilts in return over the years.

I promised photos of our growing baby cockatiel.  It is still very vulture-ish looking, but improving as more and more feathers appear.  It is now starting to eat seeds on its own and the parents are encouraging fledging.  Dad is the only one still feeding it as mom has moved on to better things.  The baby loves being held and is starting to chirp a bit.

Last week.....

 This week......  starting to venture out on its own.

We had a wonderful weekend of celebrating all of the fathers in the family but I have no photos to share of it.  We were way to busy having fun together.

......but......we enjoyed our first BLTs of the year with our first fresh tomato from the garden.  This week the peaches are ripening. Although smaller than normal with the lack of water, they make up for it in quantity.   I know what my week ahead has in store for me.

I'll be back when the canning is done.

Little Bits

Spring is finally here although I really cannot complain about our mild winters.  It is always nice to see the new life coming to the gardens as well as blooms bursting forth on fabrics.

The Block Lotto blocks for this month called for posies in blues, purples, pinks and reds.  This was a really fun pattern and will make a great quilt.

A walk around the garden awakens the sights and smells at this time of the year.

The kumquats get the canning season off to a productive start.  Yummy marmalade awaits.

I've been sewing as well, but not a lot to show for the time spent.  I've been working on a Round Robin and thoroughly enjoying it.  Since it is a surprise, I cannot show it yet.

March has brought lot of fun blocks to my mailbox from our Spelling Bee.  Can you guess the theme of my requested words?  The used fabrics are just as exciting as the words.....such clever participants!

I am one of those people who have always loved batik fabrics and I was fortunate enough to recently win a giveaway of some of the Island Batiks from Jocelyn's giveaway at Happy Cottage Quilter.  These batiks are so soft and unlike many other batiks.  They will be fun to sew.

Linda is this month's Mid Century Modern Bee queen this month and requested some mini Churn Dash blocks.  I popped mine in the mail and completely forgot to photograph them before I sent them on their way.  This is going to make an amazing finish.  You can check out her blocks HERE on Flickr.

Our youngest son and his family will be home later this week for Easter.  The computer time will be limited while we enjoy their visit so I wish all of you who celebrate a very Happy Easter.

Spring Into Summer

It appears that we have skipped spring and jumped right into summer here.  The last two weeks have been so warm and so unusual for us.  They keep making promises of rain, but Mother Nature is having a field day with those predictions.  I am considering doing a few rain dances on the rooftop.  ;-)  I was out working in a flower bed today, but once the temp hit 92* I felt that was enough gardening.

The pear trees have burst out for a quick bloom and are already filling in with the green leaves.  I had to grab a picture from my mom's neighborhood when I was visiting this week.

As well...right by her front door a little hummingbird has made a nest and laid two of the tiniest eggs.  It will be so much fun to watch.  I can't wait to see how small the babies will be.

The weekend was so delightful that we decided to head to the beach.  Our daughter and her children came up and joined us on Saturday.  Although the water was chilly, it did not stop the little ones from venturing out into it.  The surf was huge and the surfers were loving it.

Sunrise walk

Monday was a day off of school for the grandaughters.  They have an upcoming event at their school and needed to make some costumes for it.  We had so much fun and a lot of giggles too.  They did a great job and even left wearing their outfits.

Block Lotto this month is the Snails Trail block so I pulled some of the brown fabrics out and stitched a few.  Seven of the blocks will stay here for my Old MacDonald quilt.

I'll be linking up with Midweek Makers this week.

Is anyone going to Quilt Con in Pasadena this week?  I am heading down and meeting up with several fellow bloggers while I am there.  I have not attended one before so I am looking forward to the event.

Lighting

As I mentioned in my last post, my blogging buddy, Soma, is doing a monthly series on photography.  If you have ever viewed her photos you would know how much I love seeing her posts.  This month her challenge was about lighting.  I decided to give it a try with my sewing projects this week.

First off is my word for the Spelling Bee that I have joined this year.  I am the bee queen for March and the words I am going for are sewing related.  First off is my "scissors" photographed in a bright, but shady area.

The next one is the same shot, but taken in bright sunlight at about 2 p.m.  The colors are much truer in the second photo.

Next up are a couple of mug rugs that I made for some friends who joined me for some sewing yesterday.  Both of the photos were taken in the morning light - one in bright sunshine...

....and the other in the filtered light from a patio cover.  The colors in the second one are much truer, but the quilting shows up better in the bright light.

Lastly, it is that time of the year for the kid's school auction.  As I have done for many years, I made a school uniform.  This photo was taken in filtered light....

....and this one was taken inside with a flash.  The detail is much better with the flash as are the colors.

Of course, I am using a point and shoot camera.  I am sure that the results would be much better with a better camera.  Then again....I am so grateful to have a camera where the results can be seen immediately.  Does anyone else remember when we used to have to wait a week for our film to be developed?

I am thoroughly looking forward to the year ahead with all of Soma's great hints.

In other happenings this week... I made a batch of my favorite OATMEAL cookies for the Super Bowl party.  They would have been great had I remembered to put the oatmeal in them!!!  Talk about a big mess.  Trying to clean that cookie sheet was a nightmare.  Would one not think if you were making oatmeal cookies you would remember to add the oatmeal??  Sometimes I worry about myself.

January's Block Lotto block was Birds in the Air and guess who was one of the winners.  These are the blocks that have arrived so far and I cannot tell you how beautifully made these have been.  I think I am going to have to become a BLUE person.  This month the block is Snail's Trail with browns - a color more in my comfort zone.

We've been enjoying summer here for the last week and forecast for another 4-5 days.  Of course I am loving the temps in the upper 80s each day, but it would be so nice to get some of that El Nino rain that they promised us this year.  Now they are saying that they will come in March.  After being told they would be here in January, then February I am beginning to wonder.