Tuesday, August 28, 2012

Wonky house quilt coming together...

Another "ufo" is finally back on the sewing table. Started piecing these "wonky" blocks back in December, 2010 and January, 2011 with my bff, Vicki. As fun as it was to make these blocks, the thought on how to put them together was overwhelming at first. Maybe that is why they stayed on the design wall for so long. I finally gave myself permission to "play" and add other strips and pieces of fabric to make the blocks fit together in different panels. Wow, I was amazed how a little trimming here and adding fabric there worked. Now I have a fun and playful community of blocks that is about 36" by 45". Now, on to adding strips of borders and pieced pinwheels to make it large enough for a good sized lap quilt. Oh, what dreams I will have taking a nap under this little fellow.

"We have had cloning in the South for years, it's called cousins."

Saturday, August 25, 2012

It's all in the bag...

I have a Saturday job at a local quilt store and was asked to share a "how to" project for the shop's blog. Part of this assignment was to select 6 or 7 fabrics that inspired you and tell why, I decided to use the same fabrics in my project:
On a side note, I love fabric and am blessed to work around so many lovely bolts, oh, and the people are nice TOO! 

"There is no blue without yellow and without orange," Vincent Van Gogh

Sunday, August 19, 2012

New banner...

Have been cleaning, re-organizing and playing around with my fabric stash and decided to change the banner at the top of my blog page....not sure how that is related, if at all....just seemed like a thing to do. Actually I have wanted to re-design my banner for a while, let me what you think?

While rearranging, I came across these wonderful old photos from my great-aunt Marian's high school home economics class in Kingfisher, Oklahoma (circa 1940s). Can't think of any reason for the photos other than maybe document various class projects. Anyhow, I love these photos from back when the world was black and white....the hair dos, the clothes, the furnishings. I feel like an invisible voyager when I stumble across vintage photos like this....I wonder about the people, what they were like, are they still alive and just what were they thinking at the time the shutter was snapped...

"Commander, set a new course. There's coffee in that nebula."

Sunday, August 12, 2012

Saturday nite, bath nite...

We are 99% done with the master bath remodel.... just need to do some touch-up painting and fill nail holes. I think every bathroom needs some art, esp. this one since this remodel has taken MONTHS....so in honor of the remodel, I created this art quilt for one of the walls this past week.
Close-up showing the awesome acrylic buttons I found at a local quilt store.
Ignore the blue painter's tape you see reflected in the mirror (which still needs to be hung)....the ceiling in the shower needs to be painted yet....somehow that got over looked. I am so loving the job the hubby did with building the corner cupboard out of two upper-kitchen cabinets. It turned out to be the least expensive way to deal with storage for a small space.
Somewhere along the way during this remodel, I talked the hubby into making this jewelry rack using random knobs I found on sale at Anthropologie. The weathered board is a "floating panel" from a door we took off the old milk shed at the farm in Indiana. Love having this piece of history on my wall.

"We were Christians after all, or so we told ourselves every Sunday from 10 o’clock til noon."
Roxanna Slade, Reynolds Price

Friday, August 10, 2012

To the moon, Alice...

One plant that seems to be thriving in our extreme heat is my Moonflower (Datura). In "googling" moonflower for more information for this posting, I discovered how poisonous this plant is....YIKES....I never knew. Thankfully, we have no small children about nor do we have any intention to digest this plant, we are just enjoying the size of the plant and the multitude of blooms. 
"For example,Datura have the property of being able to change size of plant, size of leaf, and size of flowers, 
all depending on location. The same species, when growing in a half-shady damp location can 
develop into a flowering bush half as tall as a person, but when growing in a very dry location will 
only grow into a thin little plant just higher than the ankles, with tiny flowers and a few miniature leaves."  Wikipedia

My plant is in the upper part of the garden and gets all the sun has to offer from about 11 a.m. on and I really haven't been watering it as much as my other plants.....yet it seems to be thriving. Actually I think this may be two or three Daturas that have banded together as one.

A close-up of one of the lovely trumpet-shaped flower.....love the delicate ruffle around the edge.
Before blooming, the bud is a lovely creamy butter color.
The seed|fruit pod on the Datura....the spines on this pod are very prickly especially when it's dried. (Thank you Wikipedia for this pod photo.)
Mr. Dragonfly seems to enjoy his perch on a piece of glass in my flower bed.

“What good is the warmth of summer, without the cold of winter to give it sweetness.” ―John Steinbeck

Sunday, August 5, 2012

July flowers and butterflies....

We are enduring another summer of triple digit heat here in northeastern Oklahoma. I was hoping that last summer's heat wave was only a novelty, but it seems we aren't going to escape another dry hot summer. I did manage to pick a few bouquets of zinnias, tiger lilies and wild flowers earlier in July before the thermometer began hitting a 100°+ each day. Right now, we are using the sand point well to keep some of the garden going and the grass a reasonable shade of green. 
When we lived in Indianapolis, I had a devil of a time trying to grow sunflowers.....how hard could that be you are probably thinking.....well, when you live in a neighborhood with an overly healthy population of chipmunks, sunflowers seeds were most likely eaten before they even hit the ground. Am thrilled some of the sunflower seeds I planted here in Oklahoma actually had a chance to grow and bloom.....not sure of this variety, but it was a lovely, short plant with several blooms. 
Here's the collaborative butterfly and moth wall quilt I have been working on since 2010. Check out earlier posts to see some of the process. Happy to report it's finished!
And here's my quilt (on the right) along with my bff Vicki's quilt. We have entered them in the Norman Area Quilters Guild Quilt Show for this August 17-18th. Looking forward to seeing them hanging side-by-side for the first time! The hubby is looking forward to my quilt coming home.....he says there is a bare spot on the wall in our bedroom, guess he got use to it hanging there!

I've been away from the blogging world for a while, so I appreciate your checking in every once in a while!

"Friends and good manners will carry you where money won't go."