Eye Candy

. .Yes, I have some eye candy today.

First remember me showing you where I planted all those Naked Lady bulbs?

Well much to my surprise the first one up was right at the bottom of my back steps along the carport wall.
Today about 4 of the blossoms are out and lots more are poking their noses out of the ground along the drive in the back. They are a little early. Usually its the first of Aug when they show their faces.
Then here's one of those projects that has been sitting around unfinished. Well the blocks were our Friendship blocks for this year and when I finally got them, sewn together and decided on this border, I had that Orange Crush on the wall and I couldn't hang this to measure for the borders. So it laid on the sewing machine for a couple months. So that is done. It's square and a nice size for a throw and I will machine quilt it when I get around to it.

These are the little blocks on the wall, not sewn together but waiting. I did get it almost all sewn up today. It's the Schnibbles "Novantique" pattern that Kim sent me. It still has a narrow border and then a piano keys border from the rest of the charms. This took two charms. that I got for my birthday.

Then with my wall finally empty I decided to put these blocks back up to get me to finish the rest of them. They've been sitting on my sewing machine for a couple months. Lots of plaids and I love this setting. All I have to do with the rest of them is put on that outside border. But that requires sewing a lot of those tiny squares on ,to make the square in square cornerstones.
Then the best eye candy here. This is Dan my Daughter's youngest. He let his Dad take him to a regular barber shop to cut off most of his hair. It was down to his shoulders and over his eyes so that you couldn't see those cute eyes. It is so curly. They were up yesterday. with his sister who will be going back to Pensacola to college in a couple weeks. Everyone was asleep in the living room except Dan. He was in the basement where he can watch what he wants on TV. I went down with the camera and said I'm going to take your picture. I tried to get him to smile and think this is pretty good.

I'm really proud of him. He was a slow starter in school in fact he didn't start to talk for a long time. Just did average in elementary but then when he went to Middle School he really started to shine. Now going into High School he goes into all Honors classes. Sooner than his sisters did. He lets them know it also. He's a sweety.

Orange Crush

. Finally I got this quilt sewn together. Made the outside border of the split four patches like Bonnie did but did not put another outer plain border on. This is big enough.
Here it is on Hubbies bed. You can see the blue inner border and then the outer. I really like the way this went together.

Here it is on the design wall. Not quite big enough to show it all but you can see the bottom. See how the corners went together on this end?

In this one you can see how the corners of one end came together. The other end had the dark triangles. Sort of neat.
Have no idea how I'll end up quilting this. Might get a friend who also has done this quilt and has a long arm to quilt it after she does hers.

No hurry as this isn't for anyone particular. DD really like it which surprised me.

Enough for now. At least this is another project finished for now.

Rejeuvenation

.I'm really surprised to see how the aftermath of this storm has rejuvenated the trees. See in this picture, taken out my porch window, the leaves growing out of this old tree trunk?
This is where a limb broke off when the top fell down from the other tree. The red leaves you can see on the limb are new ones also. Oak trees normally do not get new leaves in the summer time.
This one is of the Tulip Poplar that the top came out of. There is an old limb right at the viewing area from my husbands chair in the living room. He watches the squirrels and birds on this limb and this new growth of a limb that goes up and hitting another limb has grown a good 5 feet since the storm. That's how fast these trees grow. In the springtime they have big yellow flowers. Hence the name Tulip Poplar.
This is the first two blocks I've started making out of the two packets of charms which were a birthday gift from Kim. She also sent me the patterns to three of Schnibbles.
I wanted to do Little Red but these packets didn't have enough lights so am doing Novantique. These are 6 in. blocks in Sho-Fly using opposite colors. Think it will be neat. I still have to get some yardage in this line Wildflower Serenade but it hadn't come in yet. But am working on these blocks when I get a chance to sit and sew a bit.

So more on that later. Thanks for stopping by.

Happy Birthday , KIM

I know I am late in getting this written but today was a very busy day for me but to my dear friend in California, Kim, It's her birthday and if you haven't stopped by her blog, Kim's Great Quilting Adventure you must visit and tell her a Happy Birthday.

She is one special gal, I would like to say my second daughter. We have so much in common except our ages ,but whats a few years. She is so Witty and can tell a tall tale as you all know.

Loves to read and I bet is one heck of a Legal Secretary. She was responsible for me starting this blog almost a year ago and helps with putting in the pictures.

I just can not say enough about her. Being that she is a fellow Californian makes it much more special.

So, again Kim I say thank you for all you have done for me and for being a great friend.
Hope you have many, many more wonderful birthdays.

Sincerely, Eileen

Our Pets

The other afternoon before my brother got here, I started outside to see how hot it was and out in this side yard were two fawns. I hurried in to get the camera but couldn't get a good enough picture. Then the next day here were two larger deer looking for all the goodies in the yard.

The second one got behind a tree. Why can't they stay and pose for me?

This is their favorite thing in my yard and the neighbors. It did have lots of big leaves. Now just the stems. It is a Hoya. The first year I had it there on the side of the carport the blossoms were almost ready to burst and the next morning nothing , all gone. The leaves will come back but when will they ever get the chance to bloom again.

I have been doing some sewing this past weekend. Got busy and sewed the diagonal strips together on the Orange Crush. Then found this darker blue pin dot and it does the trick as the inner border.

So that is sewn on. I sewed all the leftover split four patches together like Bonnie did and put them up to see how I would like it.
Just enough for one long side and the top. Really like the affect of the dark triangles along the edge of the inner border. So I started to cut more triangles and squares. Did have strips already as Bonnie does so that went fast. Sewed them up yesterday and this morning, pressed and now am squaring them up. So did want to show a little that I've been doing. Got more going for later.

Now I want to get out and water some. After about 3 days of 90 degree weather even the little shower we had last night is not enough.

Thanks for stopping by.

Progress!

I've been closely watching the restoration of the hotel that burned in town. Remember I showed you all about this old Hotel when I first started this blog back in October of last year. If you are new to reading my blog, go back to the Oct.10 post called Nora Roberts new project.

There is a good picture of how the Hotel looked before the tragic fire this winter. There are pictures of that on Feb. 24, o8.

Anyway yesterday I had to go to the Library so took my camera along to get some update pictures.

This one I took while waiting for the red light to turn. See the lift up at the top window? He's working on the dormer and putting in the windows.

I went to the Library and then stopped on the way back and walked up the street to get more pictures

This shows it while walking up from the parking lot. This is the intersection of Alternate 40 and the road to Sharpsburg and the Antietam Battlefield.
The have all the lower windows in and the upper ones. Think they are getting read to put the roof on

A closer picture taken from right across the street. Notice the house on the left which also burned out. Still not had anything much done to it. I did notice they had taken some of it down in the back.

Remember there is a porch that goes on the front out over the walk.

I walked across the street then to get this side picture and the lift. This scuffling has been up before the fire as they were restoring the old brick. But now have replace most of it Also they pointed up all the stone work. Lots of preliminary work was done before they started on the real construction.

Here's a closer picture of the man working on that dormer window. The pigeons won't get in those windows.


This is the back In an earlier picture I had shown how they were restoring the old back. Now it is almost done back here except for the balcony's from these upper floors.
See the back of the house next door. Cleaned out some.

Here's from across the street looking towards the square.
I wanted to show you the progress. The next time maybe when they get the porch on.



Here's a final looking back from across the street. Sure looks a lot better than 6 months ago. They hope to have her open by the holidays, I think.

I really don't have anything quilty to talk about. Am getting close to finishing my secret Mini. By the end of the month I can show it and maybe what I receive.

I had a visit this afternoon from my brother and his wife from Ohio and their oldest daughter, Nancy and hubby Jeff from Indiana. They had taken their parents to Richmond last week to a church conference and were on their way home. Just had a couple hours visit but that's better than nothing. I had seen them in California in May for my Sister's memorial. We used to visit each other at least once a year. But with getting older and now hubby can't travel I have to depend on them coming to see me.

He's the one that took that picture of me in my about me, Quilting on his solarium. This is what gave me the idea of my quilting porch.

Thanks for visiting.

Let Them Eat Cake!

And we did, Our good friend Roben, called the evening of my birthday, Hubby had told her, and wanted to know what my favorite cake was. I had to think a bit as I only bake what hubby likes and after almost 60 years , what hubby likes , you like.

So Angel food was my choice with chocolate icing.

Here's what she walked in with. Not as high as the ones I've made but she is the COOK.

She has written two cook books on special things like Gluten- Free for those with Celiac Disease. She makes her own recipes but before the evening was over she agreed that she needs to improve this one.

As you can see it is not as holey as an angel food cake should be. Much more dense but good. In fact since hubby and I have both had a piece for lunch today it is half gone. Of course we had to try it out before she left. Even got her to eat a piece.

This is a very special lady. Younger than my daughter and has three children, with two going to Johns Hopkins next year. They used to live below us when we were in the other house. Then when this house became available she was thinking of buying it also for an investment, but when she knew we wanted it, they said they would buy out 20 acres of mountains and let us have this one.
This included letting us live in our old house for 6 months while we cleaned it out and remodeled this one.

She loves to stop in and talk with hubby, Sort of a replacement for her own father that she lost a couple years ago.

Here is her newest book. Just off the presses in June. It is wonderful. In fact she has a terrific recipe for Seafood Chowder which my hubby loves and I have made it for company this summer. Not sure where it's available but if anyone is interested let me know and I will find out. Maybe Amazon has it . It's published by DeCapro Press.

See my birthday just goes on and on. Thanks for stopping by.

July 15, 1930

. The date of my birth.

Yes, I am 78 years young today and proud of it.
Here's the card I got from my daughter. She was up here on Sat. and Sunday

Can you read what it says? Isn't that sweet? Made tears come to my eyes.

Then this afternoon my son who lives in Colorado called me during his lunch hour. I said you remembered? He always does. Sort of hard not to since his wife's birthday was yesterday and it was also the day they got married about 19 years ago.

Their two children were here for a day a week ago and I forgot to take my camera when we went to the put-put. The oldest, Sara just graduated from High School and this past week they had orientation at college. It's in Greeley and she has her classes all set. Even taking Japanese and Theater. She was in the cast of CATS at school last year and had a blast.

Yesterday when I came home from town there was a package on my door step. From Fat Quarter Shoppe. Hmm.

This was inside. Isn't that neat. Such pretty paper and ribbon.
Of course I had to open it even if it was a day early.I knew who it was from. That favorite online friend I have who loves to shop on the Internet and at the thrift shops.

This is what was in it. Two charm packets of Wildflower Serenade by Kansas Troubles. Someone is trying to get me hooked on another kind of fabric. After all we belong to the Thimbleberries group but-- lots of them are also into Kansas Troubles and now I see why. There is 40 charms in each and such neat designs. Great polka dots in each colorway.

Then the envelope has a gift certificate so I can get some yardage when it comes in. I think she is getting me into making one of those Schnibbles patterns she's been making.

That isn't all. Last Sat. when my Daughter came up she cooked some soft shells for her Dad and a friend of his that likes them. Bill has a bad heart also and really was in worse condition at one time them DH. But after having two knee replacements and loosing some weight and getting in shape he's doing great.

When He was leaving he said he'd been thinking that he'd like to come and spend a day a week with Hubby and let me have a day out. He said to pick the day. WOW what an offer. So of course I said Wednesday's. That's my hair day and for shopping. So this will enable me to take my time, wander the mall if I want and know that DH has someone with him to empty his bag and do whatever else he wants done. They can sit and sleep or talk or whatever. They used to antique together.
Bill was with him at an auction in Ohio when he passed out and ended up in the ER and they finally found out what the problem was. He needed a pacemaker which they put in then and there..

What more could a caregiver need but a great friend to come spend a day. Think about that if you know someone that is a caregiver and might need a little relief once a week.

Someone left a comment yesterday wondering why I hadn't posted. Well, Really didn't have any new projects to show. Am working on something which is a surprise gift and after she has received it I shall show you.

The OC is still up on the board. Just not enough time to sit and sew on something that will take a while.

Just keep checking back like you have to on some other blogs. I haven't even read many blogs. But was sure glad to see that my friend Kairle in Happy Valley finally gave us the rest of the family week in Chicag

Winner!

Remember this quilt top I made about a month ago? It was a "Your Truly Round Robin". Otherwise we made it all instead of passing it around. Carol Doaks came up with this after they had some problems with the last round robin the group did. She gave the instruction for each round and we had a month to finish and post. At the end of June she made a random pick of those that had completed their tops and posted a picture on the group site.

Well, I was the winner.

When I came home the other day here was this big box. When I saw who it was from I knew what it was.

This neat walnut box. About 7x7. The lid comes up and the top is made so you can put your own block in there. Perfect for Jewelry or whatever.

Here I put a orphan 6 in. block in to show how it will look. Neat isn't it?

Now to get this quilt finished. It will go well in my bath room with the rose -pinks.

Hubby is improving every day. Now if he'd learn to sleep at night instead of dozing all day so I could get a good nights sleep.

HAPPY FOURTH OF JULY

. Hope all of my blogging friends have a fun and safe holiday.

This is as close to a Red White and Blue quilt that I have made.

I showed this top before. One of the Mini's that I pieced from left over corners, made into HST and put together for geese and pinwheels.

Those are our flags flying and the geese our airmen doing their job for us.

The other day my hubby made a comment about the sayings on the little pieces of paper from Hershey kisses. I said sure it says Hershey. Nope it doesn't

This is the jar that I keep Kisses in, sort of empty since the Colorado Grandson was here the other day. They always know where this jar sits.

After I do the dishes in the evening for my treat I take two kisses and go to the living room and lay back in my chair , eat my kisses and take a nap.

See those little flags like sticking out. You know if you are careful you can get a nice square of tinfoil from this wrapper and also a very nice saying.

Can you read them? One says "I like you"

Isn't that nice, Then there is a "Big Hug"

and 'Thanks'. Just had to have a couple extra today just because. Lets see what else they say. Oh, here's a good one "Guess Who"

Then I get the second "Big Hug" nice for this holiday isn't it.

Now I know how much Quilter's like their Chocolate so if you don't have any Kisses at home you better get some.

I still haven't gotten anything more done on my OC quilt top. But have been making a small mini for someone special in our Quilters Hollow. We are having a Christmas in July to get a head start on Christmas gifts. Way too early to think about that.

Sometime I will have another quilted piece to show.

Hubby has been keeping me pretty busy. He is coming a long much better but with his condition its good one day and not so good the next. But we do what we can. At least he is home and happy to be here.

Thanks for stopping by. I will be watching the fireworks tomorrow evening when they have them on the Antietam battlefield. Seems I'm just at the right elevation to see them.That's about 10 miles away.