Last week's list

I didn't do very well on my list this week, but I did get a lot of other things accomplished. 
Last week's list:

 1. Make a practice block for Lynne's Hexalong.  I thought about it but didn't do it. Maybe next week!
2. Cut charm squares for the Rainbow Charm Square Swap.  My color was purple. Cut, packaged and shipped to Jennifer. Yeah! Here's what I sent.

 I accidentally ordered two separate yards of this one, so one for the swap and one for me! Yippee!

3. Work on Tutorial for Joanie's bag. Finished but not ready to post. It needs some editing.
4. Make 3 more blocks for Baby Carrot's quilt. I made 2

 Here are 12 blocks finished, any ideas for sashing and borders? Should I make 4 more squares to make it 4x4? The blocks are 12" finished. After seeing this photo I think it needs some rearranging and maybe another red block.

5. Make row 4 in Round Robin Quilt. Done

I think block 2 and 4 need to be swapped around. 

Here are the 4 rows all together.

6. Check to see if I already have the Swoon pattern, if not order it. Don't have it, so I ordered it. And I ordered this fabric to make it. The pattern calls for 18 fat quarters. Here's 13, Joel Dewberry's Heirloom in the Citrine colorway...any ideas what would go with it? I need 5 more fat quarters.

 7. Make a camera strap. This one goes to the bottom of the list again.Hopefully to be made soon.


I've been collecting text fabrics. Here's my latest additions to the stash.

the one on the left is white on white, the same print as the one on the right.  Both are  Annie's Farm Stand Seed Catalog
by Lakehouse Fabrics.

And I also ordered these lovelies from Purl Soho. All but the bicycles were 1/2 price! Yeah!

 I've been doing a lot of "secret sewing".  Be sure to come back to visit tomorrow. I start my month long Blogaversary celebration!

Thanks for stopping by,

"di"

I'm linking up to Quilt Story

and Our Creative Space

Crawfish Festival

Linking up to Hey Harriet's shadow shot Sunday.

This might just be my all time favorite quilt

I am such a fan of Lynne's and have been following her blog, Lily's Quilts, for some time now. She has been showing little tidbits of progress on the Block of the Month quilt that she has been working on for a long time. Today was the big reveal. She has yet to quilt it and you can read her story about the quilt here.
But can you just die? This is so delicious, creative, beautiful, inspiring...I don't have enough adjectives in my vocabulary to do it justice, so I will just say look for yourself...

Amitie BOM The Circle Game, a photo by Lynne @ Lilys Quilts on Flickr.


If only I had one little bit of her talent. I am not jealous, no not at all, she just gives me something to aspire to. Maybe in my next life...

Thanks for stopping by,

"di"

Today in my garden

Today I enjoyed some time working in the garden. I snapped these photos using the Hipstamatic app on my iphone. Look at these beautiful sunflowers...

 I wish the sky was really this blue.

 Today's harvest

 Another look at the 12 foot tall sunflower plants

 Green beans growing abundantly and cantaloupe trailing through the raised bed.

 Another view of the harvest

I picked 17 pounds of mostly beefsteak varieties of tomatoes, along with eggplant, peppers, green beans and basil. Those orangey-yellow ones are the Kentucky Beefsteaks.

 And they made a delicious lunch

Picnic Corn on the Cob

Have you ever wanted to take corn on the cob to a picnic or a beach party but didn't know how to keep it hot?
I have a great way to do this and a yummy way to serve the corn.
Shuck and clean all the corn.
Poke a popsicle stick or a small dowel into the end of each ear of corn. Boil as usual.
Then in the bottom of a clean cooler pour about 2 inches of boiling water. Add the corn and close the lid.
This will keep hot for 4-6 hours.
At the beach party or picnic have these things ready to flavor the corn:
squeeze or spray butter
mayonnaise
fresh lime wedges
parmesan cheese
chili powder
salt and pepper.
When ready to serve everyone grabs an ear of corn and adds their topping of choice.

I've entered this in the recipe section of Anne Marie's Summer Fair. What's your favorite summer recipe?

Thanks for stopping by,

"di"

Circle Me Back to Amsterdam

I have been working on this quilt for so long,  I don't remember when I started it. The original progress photos were among those that I lost a few months ago when I had a computer back up problem. But here it is and I am so pleased with the way it turned out.

I bought the chintz fabric in Amsterdam, shortly after I started quilting, in 2003. I used 3 colors of linen and 4 colors of Kona solids to complete this quilt. It is made up of 144-6" squares, 117-5" circles (thanks to the Go! Cutter, they were a breeze to cut). The quilt should have finished at 72" square. After laundering, it measures 66"x68". It really shrunk a lot!
I wanted to incorporate one of the selvages in the label since it says the store name/manufacturer on it and the city it was purchased in, "A*M*S*T*E*R*D*A*M". I just added my name and date to the selvage, with a permanent marker,  cut out some little circles of each fabric and a unique label was created. Curry, Cheddar, Palm and Windsor Kona cottons were used to make the binding.

it's really not sewn on this crooked!

I really like the backing fabric. I thought it went well with the chintz. It is Essential 110" Cynthia Coulter for Wilmington Prints. I wouldn't call this a "modern quilt" but I still like it. It has special meaning because we purchased the fabric on vacation and also because it is the first quilt I ever did Quilt as You Go. 

I think it just might be a perfect size for a picnic quilt.

I entered this in the "summer fair" AnneMarie is hosting at Gen X Quilters. Hop on over to see all the other entries.

thanks for stopping by,

"di"

Dream

Kim Klassen's free texture this week is called Dream.
I used it to texturize this photo taken a few years ago in Hyannis Port, Massachusetts.
I used a soft light layer at 100% and a color burn layer at 100%
The foggy atmosphere already had a dream-like feel to it and the texture only added to the photo.

What are your dreams?

Thanks for stopping by

"di"

Make a List Monday

Following Confessions of a Fabric Addict's lead I have decided to make a list each Monday of the sewing projects I need to work on. I won't bore you with the other things on my list, like buy an anniversary card for B&M or silly things like that.
So here is my list for this week.
1. Make a practice block for Lynne's Hexalong.
2. Cut charm squares for the Rainbow Charm Square Swap
3. Work on Tutorial for Joanie's bag
4. Make 3 more blocks for Baby Carrot's quilt
5. Make row 4 in Round Robin Quilt
6. Check to see if I already have the Swoon pattern, if not order it.
7. Make a camera strap

I realize this is a very ambitious list and I know I won't get to all of it, but hopefully I will be able to cross several things off of this list by the end of the week.

Thanks for stopping by,

"di"

52 Lists, Week 8

This weeks guest blogger was Kate who asked us to list "Ways to be a Great Companion"
So here's my list. It's pretty simple, but when you have a wonderful husband like mine, he makes it easy!

Linking up with Kellie

Thanks for stopping by

"di"

Working my way through this week's list

Remember that list I made on Monday?

Here is my list for this week, I am sure it will change but this is wishful thinking:

1. Finish binding the CMB2A quilt Finished, photo to be posted on Monday

2. Make the next row in the Rockin' Robin Quilt Finished and already blogged

3. Finish the wallet for my swap partner in the Pretty {little} Pouch Swap on Flickr Done and I made a little coin purse to match.

4. Make 3 Merry-Go Round blocks for Baby Carrot's quilt  Made 5 instead of 3, blogged

5. Make 2 Farmer's Wife blocks Done

#3

#61

6. Start thinking about and planning my block for 2012 Partnership Quilts at Tokyo Quilt Festival. Done

The theme was triangles and squares. I made a little "Shady Hut" and used triangles for the leaves on the tree and the roof of the hut. There are a few more triangles and even a few rectangles in there too. This square will be sewn into a quilt and displayed at the Tokyo quilt show in January 2012. Then all the quilts will be sold and the money will go to Tsunami and earthquake relief for Japan. You can read more about it here on Ayumi's blog.

This list making really helps. I'm going to do it again on Monday.

Thanks for stopping by,

"di"

Fresh Garden Lunch

I like to work in the garden, after dinner, when the weather is cooler and the sun is going down. Last night I picked a bounty of delectable delights and enjoyed some of my harvest today for lunch. Caprese salad is one of my favorite summer treats.
So when you have fresh basil

more tomatoes than you know what to do with

fresh buffalo mozzarella cheese

I buy my cheese and olive oil at Trader Joe's

and olive oil
you get this!

The things that are doing well in the garden are really plentiful.

Eggplant

Green Beans

Tomatoes. We have 11 different varieties of tomatoes planted including those pictured and red pear, yellow pear, Japanese Black Trefele, Italian Heirloom, Aunt Ruby's Green German, Persimmon, and Pink Brandywine. The big beefsteak ones are still green and will be ripening in a few weeks. Some varieties we have more than one planted.

Peppers

The herbs are all doing well. What is not doing well are my cucumbers and squash. Normally I'm searching the internet for ways to use up all the zucchini, but this year we've only had one! Any idea why? I think it's because we had a cold spring.

I have a few tricks I use to keep the pesky bugs and animals from eating my garden. To protect the green bean seedlings from grasshoppers, I cover them with netting. 

The grasshoppers don't like the mature plants so I uncover them after they get a few leaves on them.

To protect the tomatoes from rats I wrap them in tin foil as they are starting to get their blush of color. I have been doing this for a few years and it works great!

Look at these sunflowers! That's a six foot wall that they are towering above.

Gardening...just one more thing that makes me very happy.

Thanks for stopping by,

"di"