Can You Believe It - Another Finish!

This is probably the fifth 3-D Bowtie quilt I have finished.  I love making these blocks, and they use up lots and lots of scraps.  I used a cheddar dot on white for the background of all the blocks.  I couldn't decide what fabric to use for binding so I used the little bit of background fabric I had left.  I think it made a beautiful binding.  This quilt has been sitting and waiting for binding for probably a year.  I finally decided to get it done!  I bound this quilt and the last quilt, the Cheese and Crackers quilt, at the same time.  I think I have all my quilted quilt tops bound at this time.  I have at least three quilt tops waiting to be basted to batting and backing.  Two of those are lap-sized quilts and I will do them myself.  But one is king-sized and although I had wanted to quilt it myself in three sections I think I will have Vonda Cochran do it for me.  I have not yet chosen the backing fabric for that one, although it is done except for borders. 

Finally - Another Finish

 This quilt is called Cheese and Crackers - where it got the name I don't know.  It is from Atkinson Designs.  Any time you want a simple but striking quilt Atkinson Designs is the designer you want.  I used scraps from my small scrap bin (small scraps, not small bin) but the tone-on-tone white I used for the background came from the back room at WV Quilts, my favorite quilt shop.  The bottom picture shows the back of the quilt.  The fabric I chose for the backing was a little short so I made more bricks like the front of the quilt and pieced down one side.  It's the first time I've done that and I will undoubtably do it again.  I really like the way it looks.  This quilt is lap-sized.  The kitty cat in two of the pictures is my kitty Sascha.  Every time I lay out a quilt I get a kitty on it.  Usually it is Rosie but she must have been asleep.

Adam and I visited the farmer's market this morning and I got green beans, new potatoes, corn on the cob, cucumbers, bell peppers, and some peaches.  We had a wonderful fresh vegetable dinner!  I also fried some squash (I ate it all!) and baked cornbread.  Richard and I really enjoyed it.  I also have a cantaloupe that I am going to get into in just a few minutes.  We have been overrun with tomatoes.  I only have six tomato plants out back but they are producing a lot of tomatoes.  One of them is growing way too many grape tomatoes.  Richard has been taking them to work to share and I shared some with neighbors.  I only eat tomatoes out of my garden because I hate the gassed things that pass for tomatoes in the restaurants.  I also have a green pepper plant growing but it is not producing very well.

Storm Clouds

I was sitting on the porch the other evening when these storm clouds started closing in.  They were coming from the east, usually they come from the west.  I already had the first picture on my computer, but quickly took the others to show what it looked like.  I sat there until it was raining hard and I started getting wet.  Usually I can sit there during a storm and maybe get my feet wet but that time the whole porch got wet.

Notice, also, the roof on the house across the street.  My neighbor put a new metal roof on his house.  He must have liked our new roof because he got the same people to do his.  He had a tin roof (very old!) and when they took the sheets of metal off there was nothing under it except for some studs.  They put sheathing on, then a layer of rolled felt, then another layer of sheathing, then the metal roof.  I'll bet it makes a huge difference in his energy bills!

My brother lives in the house directly across the street with the big yard.  The yellow fence encloses his above-ground pool.  I call it the yellow monstrosity.  They tie a big dog out there daily by the deck and then let the grandkids play there.  One of them does her gymnastics there.