A "No" Kind of Day

Hubby is going to the ranch today.  So, since I have the house to myself and no other pressing commitments, I have declared it a no driving, no spending and no wearing makeup kind of day.  

Instead, I will plug into my current audio book and continue working on emptying and organizing scrap bags.  It seems, every time I take a workshop, I come home with both a UFO and another container of scraps.  The scraps have reached critical mass and I am running out of project containers.  You can see Maddie is totally untroubled by my dilemma.

 I’m using my die cutter to create usable strips in widths of 1, 1 ½ and 2 inches.  I chose these widths because my bow tie blocks require 1 and 1 ½ inch squares.  What I don't sub-cut will be stored and ready for future projects.  I’m hoping that by the time hubby returns tomorrow, I will have made considerable progress.

Most wildflowers have now faded here, but the cacti are still in bloom.  

Also, the extra moisture we have received this year has kept the landscaping around the golf course in bloom.

Tomorrow and Friday will be very busy days with a doctor’s appointment and four other gatherings I want to be a part of; so I better take maximum advantage of my time today.

Getting Ready for Guild Day

I had hoped to finish this project from April’s Karen Eckmeier “Happy Villages” workshop before the Guild meeting Wednesday, but it’s not going to happen.  At least I’m closing in on it and should be able to wind it up shortly.  Fortunately, this month’s workshop should not result in new a project. 

I also completed 10 anti-ouch pouches this month bringing my total to 64 for 2016. 

A Finish

The first project from my workshops with Karen Eckmeier is finished.  This was her Accidental Landscapes class.  It finished at 12 X 15 inches and was a lot of fun to put together.  The technique is way outside my usual projects and I’m so glad I had the exposure, even though it may not be one I pursue again anytime soon.

This was the first project I finished using a facing.  I used a “Super-Duper Easy To Face a Quilt” tutorial which can be found at The Silly BooDilly.  I intend to use this technique again and have bookmarked the site for future reference.

Our unusually cool weather this week has made walking delightful.  I especially love watching the birds.  The Kildees I posted about earlier are out of the nest and running in all different directions.  They are so cute, but far too difficult to photograph now.  My favorite birds are the water fowl we get to see around our neighborhood ponds.  This fellow stood very still for me.  He looks kind of scraggly, I hope that’s just normal molting.

A Sew-full Day

Tuesdays are my Sit ‘N Sew day with friends, a time I treasure and try to protect.  Yesterday was a pretty productive one.

Two anti-ouch pouches.  I really like this butterfly fabric that came in the kits.

Several triangle units for my Sue Garman Good Golly project.

And during the evening, I worked on a little landscape piece from one of the Karen Eckmeier workshops I attended in April.  I'll have to post a picture at a later date because I forgot to take one.

I regularly pass this Kildee’s nest on my walks.  The focus is not great because I was keeping my distance when taking this photo.  Even so Mama and Papa Kildee were putting on quite a “chase me, I have a broken wing” show.

I had hoped to indulge in Quilt-Cam last night; but, sadly, modern technology failed me.  After several page crashes on two different devices, I gave it up.  Had I been thinking clearly, I might have tried one of the archived sessions.

Quuilty 365

Where did April 2016 go?  I’m not sure what happened, but life certainly got in the way of making circle blocks…. only 15 in April bringing me to a total of 103. 

Most of these blocks use gifted fabrics including the five I received in the mail from Debbie and dumpster diving finds at the Club House.  It’s always so much fun using other people’s fabric choices and it adds happy memories to the piece.  

I begged this little fellow from a Tuesday friend who was making a pillowcase for a grandchild.

I’m linking up with others who are participating in Quilty 365 at Quilty Folk.

We woke up to a temperature of 47 degrees this morning, not quite the record low of 41 degrees. 

I’ll be heading out shortly to join my Tuesday sewing friends at the Club House.