Heat!

(Wow - changes with Blogger - I'm getting tired of learning new things! -- I've edited it 6 times, and that's enough - still not like I wanted it. Wah, wah, wahhhh - Tooooo hot!)

Quilts for Kids (below) - finished and mailed off! 

Quilt show this weekend - wouldn't you know, it's hot as hxxx, and the quilt show location, unfortunately, has no air conditioning.  For years, we've tried to rectify this situation, to no avail. Each of the guild members are required to work for some time - this year for the first time, I've had to say I can only work at the Reception Table where not much effort expended-- It's just too hot. The Show is held in conjunction with Oregon Trails Day, a big event in the Nebraska Panhandle, with many events happening as well. We'll be in the upper 90s.  Think of us hot gals while you are inside your Air Conditioning. 

I am airing my quilts before delivery to the Quilt Show -- I'm not expecting any accolades but DO want to show these quilts. You never know when someone will be inspired. The small center item is a Challenge quilt by Jody (Goddess) who is unable to attend.

I spent a day with my friend Chell of creativequiltingwithlove.blogspot.com/ (can't figure how to do the link thing any more!),

and started another Kaleodoscope. The "ring" on the block is made by sewing it in the center of the strata, and the strata must have an odd number of strips, all of the center strips must be of equal size. My top, and bottom strip are wider.

Look at all the projects Chell has on that table!

On the Other Side of the Studio

DH and I share a small "Studio." If we both pull our chairs back at the same time, we bump. He gets threads in his boats, I get wood shavings in my quilts. We get over it.

This is one of the latest boats my DH builds. This style of boat is called a "Pink" -- don't remember why, but one unusual characteristic is that the bow looks a lot like the stern. (The stern is on the left in the photo.) We didn't include sails on this one - kinda glad as that ends up my job. He puts several hundred hours building each boat. They are as close to accurate as he can fathom, and I know he's IN that boat, running around, checking to see that all is shipshape. Many of the decking parts are removable so one can see down inside the hull, which he's also designed as accurately  as he knows.

This is my favorite detail on the boat, below. See that round hole on the stern, over the rudder? Just guess what that is for! Whew - what a ride that could be!!! So much for privacy!

Trails West (not End!), and a Rainbow

(OK, July 3, I edited my title, from Trails End (where did that come from?) to Trails West, the name of this newest quilt.)

This lovely view was a few days ago, after our usual late afternoon "heavy storms with hail and possible tornado" warnings, but nothing serious happened - just this lovely rainbow.

Tonight I finished the binding on my plaid "Trail's West". My husband loves it, I love it, but I have no idea what to do with it. It's about 64 x 76 inches. In my hurry to get it quilted, one corner still has some paper in it -- I heard it crinkling. LOL That's me! 8-)))

No more Nest Watching

Dang it - we watched that dove nest for weeks only to find a neighbor's cat hovering over the empty nest.

What are these things?

These things were given to me by a woman who may have used a treadle machine. She was over 95 a few years ago. The first item says 9-S. (My photo skills are D+.)

Can anyone tell me what they are? Are they usable for an old sewing machine? The two wood cylindrical boxes both say $2.75, and "Boyle". I also have several more containers with sewing machine needles in them - (flat on one side.)

Buckeye Beauty, Masculine Quilting

Despite having more pressing issues, I couldn't resist quilting this scrappy Buckeye Beauty.  My thread is a quiet beige/tan, and this design is called Innies and Outies, from http://www.patsythompsondesigns.com/.  If you want to learn some techniques for quilting on your domestic sewing machine, her DVDs are THE ticket!  I spent some time on YouTube today and she also has 3-4 free sample videos, each one over 6-7 minutes long.  Try it, you might like it. 

This pattern tends to look good on guy quilts - like a topographic maps.  This is similar to Dwirling, but smaller in scale, as I don't have a lot of room for hand movement on my machine.  It DOES use a lot of thread. 

The fabrics are from many shirts I've made over the past 20 years, current shirts for husband, shirts from brothers, maybe even my Dad who passed away in the '70s, and some Mission Shirts, ala Bonnie Hunter/quiltville.com. 

We are under yet another severe storm warning.  Usually every time it rains/storms, we get hail with it, and gardens take a beating!  I only have hostas, that have made it intact, so far anyway.  The floods are not affecting us in our town, but are a problem farther east and south of us near the Platte River.