Poodles and Quilts

Seems I haven't been very good at keeping up with weekly postings! July did not start out very well for me. Managed to get a bug that lasted for about a week and then took almost as long to feel really good again!  Of course the triple digit temperatures did not help. But the last few weeks have been more productive! I brought several scrap bins down and cut at the kitchen island. Have scraps cut into usable sizes now                        That is only a few of the stacks before going into their respective containers                       I also came across 16 partially finished string blocks that I had been working on before we tore apart the upstairs last year. They are now finished. I know I have some finished ones somewhere!                                  ...

The first 6 months of 2017 are over! Not sure where the time went but Dad always said the older we get the faster it seems to speed by. I am certainly finding that true! I was busy this month getting 420 2 1/2 HSTS in red and white ready for a swap later this summer. They will finish at 2 inches. Probably have about 520 done as I will need more for what project they will be used for. But I can say the ones for the swap and done and bagged. Made another 8 blocks for the Quilters Who Care group on Yahoo. They are also red/creams/whites and scrappy. These will go to one of the members in Canada. She will put the blocks together for the soldiers there.  These are the 12 I will mailing to Canada later this week. Val will be putting these together with a lot of others for the soldiers in Canada. If I remember correctly she will be adding red maple leaves in the big white/ cream areas. Started making churn dash blocks in brights for children's quilts. So far have 12 of those...

We had a couple very hot days in our part of Texas 100-102! Good days to be inside. Worked on our part of the landscaping project earlier in the week. But on the 100+ days I stayed inside, got a little sewing done.  Worked on my project for the class this past Saturday. However did not make it to class so am now trying to figure out getting the paws and claws together with the arc in between. This pattern     Will get it figured out to where I am happy with it! In the meantime I made more of the churn dash blocks using kid friendly prints and bright borders or at least different ones! They are really fun to make. Mother nature has been nice to us since the sod went in on Friday. We had showers on Sat., Sun and today! But I think we will be watering it soon until it gets established. If you want to see pretty much the finished product landscape project comes to a close! Am hoping to get more time in sewing this week but we still to do more planting. There's alway...

Thus past Friday the sod arrived along with the guys shortly after 7 AM. The guys got busy with the rototiller tilling up some of the hard clay we call soil! They finished about noon. Good thing as it also got to 102 degrees for the high! This is the area they were tilling in the earlier picture. Now fully sodded. They cut the sod and placed it around the new flagstone walk in the back We had them remove part of a limestone that was just under the surface when they were here earlier in the project. That spot is now grass as well.  Our job now besides getting some plants in the ground is keeping the new sod watered. Mother Nature  helped us out this morning by raining for about an hour. Hopefully we will get some more over the next few days.

I surprised myself and did actually get some sewing in the past 2 weeks-mostly last week! I worked on my class work for the Rocky Mountain Bear Paw Table runner class. All 16 paws and claws are finished for class! An online group I am a member of is doing a swap of red and white HSTS that finish at 2 inches. There are 14 of us and we are swapping 30 each. I finished those up, sorted and bagged them. They are ready for the mail out in August. I will continue to make more for me. We needed to use the papers for them and I had the Triangles on a roll here. Made it very easy. Since I had the fabrics out for the above swap I made a few more lotto blocks for the Quilters who care group. These will be going to a member in Canada who is making quilts for their military. It has been a busy 2 weeks here with workers redoing our landscaping and getting new walkways. That is just about done. Waiting on some sod but that is about it. When we moved here 18 years ago the ...

Friday morning the landscaping crew returned. They got all the rock raked over to the walks in the front Before lunch the trailer of mulch arrived for the back areas. After everything was down they went around and checked the sprinkler heads Now the mostly finished product We have sod coming to fill in some areas around the flagstone and a few other places in the yard Their job is almost done, ours just beginning. Deciding on placement of a few things and also plantings One more project and we are doing it this year instead of waiting until next year. Our driveway is badly cracked, Later this summer the people who did our walkways will be doing the drive!

Wednesday was the day to finish pouring the concrete for the walks. They got the rebar done in the morning and the truck arrived about 1 for the last of the pour. They used 6 yards on Tuesday and another 7 in this pour. A lot of concrete!                                       These were taken early morning before the guys arrived. Yes AC inside and humidity outside. Foggy lens They got everything prepared. While they were at lunch we also took off for a little while. By the time we got back they had the concrete poured around our deck and had already moved the truck to the other side to pour the remaining walk Yesterday they were pushing the wheelbarrow up hill, today down a little slope.  The forms had been removed from the Tuesday's work and Charlie started the cross cuts Thursday was clean up day. They removed the forms f...