Design Wall Monday

Twenty six blocks for the Eleanor Burns Summer Porch quilt, which I mistakenly called Front Porch last week. The pattern is in her Quilts Through the Seasons: A Quilt for Each Month of the Year book. The size I am making will require a total of forty two blocks.

Above, twenty six scrappy little red houses for the Domiciles quilt, a total of 99 are required. My design wall tells me I need to use more darker tans and less beige and very dark browns for the backgrounds, and I am considering adding brown and maybe pink for some of the houses. What do you think?

There is no magic in the number twenty six, just a co-incidence.

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Spring

With record breaking temperatures these last weeks Spring is definitely here in South Dakota.

Lori keeps telling me, "we may have a blizzard next week" but meanwhile I am driving everybody crazy asking questions about things they take for granted and (mostly) don't even think about.

Example, what to rabbits do in the winter?

Spring is a novelty for me after living for so many years without real seasonal change and I am enjoying it.

The pink tree above is the view from Lori's north facing sewing room window, I believe it is a flowering crab apple tree. It is loaded with blossom and just breathtakingly beautiful.

Just down the street from my house is this spectacular white flowering tree which I think might be a flowering pear.



The variety of shades of green in the new leaves on trees around town amazes me.

This tree on the left is a Chinese Poplar, fast growing, brittle, short lived and most think of it as a trash tree which in many ways it is, but right now it is is lovely.

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Dishwasher Safe? Really?

Lori had an appointment in Sioux Falls yesterday so I "went with".

Going to the big city is always a marathon, not necessarily much shopping but a lot of looking, and it is so much more fun going with a girl friend than with a husband.

Imagine! No whining.
No "Are we about done in here?" or "Why do you want to go to . . . . ?"

We went to the most wonderful nursery greenhouse with the healthiest plants I have seen in a long time, healthiest prices too averaging $4.99 per bedding plant. Very clever merchandising, instead of selling bedding plants in tiny six packs for a couple of dollars they re-pot them into 4" pots and price at about a 750% markup.

I bought a second large hanging basket for my front porch for $9.99 at Menards, and some reasonably priced plants.

As we were leaving I spotted some interesting looking rubber flip flops. Whipping off my shoe and sock I tried one on, they passed the test and came home with me. Maybe I can wear them after the snow predicted for next week melts.

While removing the label this morning I agreed with most of the claims, they are indeed joyfully comfortable. I am glad they are 100% recyclable, vegan friendly and slip resistant. Anti-microbial is good also. Dishwasher safe? Eeeuuwwww!

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A Garden Visitor

I use the word garden loosely. It is a back yard with some scraggly grass, many dandelions and seedlings from the too fertile tree . . .

There is a strategically positioned and delightfully funky home made birdbath. Yesterday was the first time I have noticed birds using it. What a handsome fellow my visitor is!

Click image to enlarge.


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Design Wall Monday

What is on my design wall today?

On the right, the first few blocks of my Domiciles little houses quilt, the pattern is by Aardvark Quilts. I loved the quilt on the pattern cover so mine will be scrappy reds too. They are simple little blocks (Lori thinks they look like little red barns) and the pattern instructions are great. I have been making these as leaders and enders.

On the left the first five blocks of an Eleanor Burns quilt called "Front Porch". It will be my first Eleanor Burns quilt and I have to say what everyone else in the world probably already knows - her instructions are incredibly clear, and detailed. Wow!

This will be the second quilt called Front Porch I have made, the first was a Miss Rosie pattern back in 2002. My mood for this one is faded, soft, pastel, tranquil florals. Sound familiar?

In the background is Double X Effect, it is sulking. I don't have the energy to deal with it right now.

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Goals For The Week

Easter Sunday morning and town is strangely quiet!

My quilting goals are:

• Add sashing and outer borders to my Swoon quilt (which I started last year)
• One more diagonal row on red and tan Double X Effect
• Make 4 test blocks for a possible joint project with Lori
• Make 10 cottage blocks for Domiciles, a little houses project I can't interest Lori in at all, which will be made with red scraps from her stash and neutral scraps from mine.
  

Non quilting goals:

• Mow the lawn
• Fill the birdbath and dig the flower bed around it
• List Lori's very large box of surplus books on Bonanza and Amazon (different ones on the different sites)
• Continue weeding the front and side flower beds
• Plant my hanging basket for the front porch
  

It is doubtful I will achieve all of them but they are only targets and I am going to enjoy them, not stress over them.

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Where Did the Week Go?

I feel like I haven't accomplished a thing this week, but it really isn't so.

The brown Urban Cabin quilt, which will be a Quilt of Valor donation is pieced and now waiting its turn on the longarm.

I pieced a Swoon baby quilt in blues for my grandson who will be born this summer, it is quilted, trimmed, bias binding made. You can see a picture of it on the longarm here. It is a single 24" block with a 6" border which of course finishes to 36" square. Quick, easy, pretty and inexpensive new baby gift, perfectly sized for the baby car seat and small enough it may become the drag around comfort object later. Surely every Grandma's goal?

Thanks to Camille Roskelley (designer of the Swoon pattern) for the idea! I can't find the post but always enjoy reading about her family on her personal blog.

I have been weeding, it is a losing battle which I do not intend to lose. I am going to plant Morning Glories to climb up the bird bath post which will make my daily View From My Kitchen Window weather blog posts a bit more interesting. I should probably put water in the bird bath and the grass needs to be cut today!

We are going to have some night freezes in the coming week but my house is cozy and I will survive. I really can't complain, the weather has been beautiful and I am thoroughly enjoying Spring.
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