Out of the loop, for just a bit....

I haven't felt like blogging because I am down with a bad case of sciatica in my left leg. I finally gave up on my home remedies and went to the Dr. this morning and he put me on Prednasone. He said I was doing the right things....Ibuprofen and heating pad plus rest but the nerve is too irritated and it needs something stronger to kick this from my system.
It hurts if I sit too long so I don't like being at the computer and it hurts if I stand and the pain has awakened me when I sleep. So, I am doing as the doctor said and will try to stretch as little as possible so I don't strain the nerve anymore, get some rest (I've already taken more naps in the past three days than I have all year!), take my meds, and he says that within a couple days, I should see some improvement. Boy, I sure hope so! I haven't had pain like this since I had a kidney infection almost 40 years ago. I gave birth to two kids and it didn't hurt this much! I am going to have to miss our Crazy Quilting gathering tomorrow and I'm the one who planned it. Boo hoo! Okay, I will quit feeling sorry for myself as I am just glad I have a doctor I can go to and a good bed to rest in. Others are in worse shape all over the world.
I will be back in a few days then and show you pictures of Pandora's garden quilt show. My daughter and grandson are to be here this weekend so I need to be rested for their arrival. It's Sauerkraut Days here in Henderson this weekend, so I need to be able to walk (and right now that is really difficult) to our favorite spot where we will watch the parade. Back soon......
Sandi

Common interests = New friends!

As mentioned in my previous post, I met two friends from a Yahoo group for lunch this past Friday. The group is called "Crazy About PinCushions". It's a nice friendly group for those who enjoy making pincushions. In the picture below you would think that we had all been friends for years but we had never met "in person". We decided to meet, though, when we discovered that we were all from Minnesota and lived within easy driving distance of each other. Our meeting place was downtown Henderson at 11:00 a.m. and here we are.............

That's Tammy in the center and she lives east of me. Marilyn is on the right and she lives west of me. I'm on the left and we met here because it was a "meet in the middle" sort of thing. Quite honestly, the three of us "clicked" within minutes. We enjoyed a good lunch at the Hogwild Eatery (those are "pigtails" on our plates, also known as "curly fries" in some places) and then just as we were finishing our lunch..............

well, we had seen these guys walking back and forth and assessing the doorway and pretty soon we found out why.........when they began moving this big refrigerator into the restaurant. We decided rather quickly that we should move since they were coming our way........and as I did so, I accidently snapped this picture of Marilyn. Yep, they were coming our way and fast and we needed to move!! I still can't believe they got that thing in the door and around the corner right next to our table! It was time to move on!

Our plan was to go to my house and visit some more and then make a pincushion. Tammy had brought some "Show 'n Tell"...........she makes miniature quilts. And then in her basket were some pincushions she has made.

Then it was time...

We took a little tour of my sewing room and then gathered up the supplies - fabric, stuffing, beads, scissors, etc. - for a little project I had planned. I found these cupcake-looking containers at the Dollar General Store and thought they would make cute pincushions. We cut circles of fabric, did a gathering stitch around the edge and pulled it up, then stuffed the thing. I men

tioned to them that I had looked in my buttons for something that would look like a cherry for the top but hadn't found anything. Just then Tammy picked up my bag of beads and said "oh, like this one" and there it was a

round red cherry button - and one for each of us! We stitched the button in the center of the puffy cupcake and then glued it in the container.

Tammy is checking out various rick-rack colors for the icing around her cupcake.

And Marilyn wasn't sure if she'd add rick rack or leave it just as is. I glued large white rick rack on mine and I just realized I forgot to take a photo of the one I made. I will post it later. It was nearing 4:00 p.m. so we called it a day but just before Tammy and Marilyn left they took a peek in a couple of "thrift shop" bags I put together for them.

Tammy is smiling because there are birds on that egg cup that could become a pincushion. I think it was about a quarter. So was the candleholder and the tea cup. The little box with the tin lid was just 50 cents. It will be fun to see them become pincushions. We are looking forward to getting together again. Next time Tammy and I will head west to visit Marilyn so there will be more fun to come. :-)

And remember all those letters I mailed off for our family reunion last week? Well, I am thrilled because so far only two letters have been returned "undeliverable" out of about 90 letters sent. Now if even half those relatives come to the reunion, I will be thrilled!! I will be busy with details for the reunion in the next few weeks, so if I don't post, you can just know that I am working on family photo albums and history stuff for the reunion!

There's thunder out there. Sure hope we get rain!

Sandi

P.S. My next post will be photos from "Quilts in Bloom" and pics of some of my Tuesday Crazies friends.

Party Time!

I have been partying since I last posted. First, I met two new friends who are in the "Crazy About Pincushions" Yahoo group and we had great fun together. Pictures coming soon........
Then it was a birthday party for our son-in-law.........and then it was an afternoon of great quilty fun at the "Quilts in Bloom" show. Lots of pictures of that to post. I was busy with family things and never got to picking out which pics to post. I'll be back by Sunday evening with lots of photos and cool things to see. In the meantime, Sunday is the first day of Summer here in the U.S. so get out there and enjoy the day. Plus, it's also Father's Day so there are plenty of reasons to get away from the computer and go have some fun! Enjoy the day wherever you are!
Sandi

Quilts in Bloom!

My friend Pandora is hosting an outdoor quilt event in her backyard this Saturday. If you are anywhere near the Twin Cities and need something to do, this is the thing to do. Her gardens are beautiful and so are the quilts she gathers to share.

Many of the quilts are made by Pandora but others share their quilts and needlework items, too, and then they are hung from clotheslines and along the fence and all around her yard! I shared some penny rugs and when our friend, Sue, was here for my birthday, she showed us a couple of quilts that she will be sharing.

I love this scrappy quilt and it is even prettier when you see it in person! I think it is a Darlene Zimmerman pattern.

Then there is this gorgeous quilt that is a combination of wool and cotton. The blocks are black wool and the flowers are also wool. The green patchwork is cotton. I believe it's called Midnight Garden and I will have to check and find out for sure because I know some of you are going to want to know!

Some of you have asked about the quilt in the new photo in my blog header. It is another unfinished quilt top that was purchased at auction by my dad and mother. Based on the fabrics in the quilt top, I believe it could be anywhere from 1930 to 1950. Lovely, isn't it?

Time to relax and do some reading before I go to sleep........

Sandi

"Grace and a Prayer" Quilt

This is the first posting about making blocks so that I can create my own red, white and blue quilt like the one that came together for Emma's Hope. I'm calling my quilt "Grace and a Prayer" but you might want to give your own name to the quilt that you make. It might be called "My First Quilt" if you are a beginner or "My Lazy Daisy" quilt if you already know how to quilt but you are looking for a slow, relaxing project. I guess you could also call it "The Slowpoke Quilt" as the pace I am planning for this project will take us through to next spring! I chose my name because it was "Grace and a Prayer" - actually lots of prayers that got me through the past few years during lots of family health issues. I thought about giving it the name "Dei Gratia" which is Latin for "by the grace of God", but I am going to use that name on another project that I'll do in wool when the weather cools down.

When I was first approached to do the quilt for the Emma's Hope fundraiser, I had many concerns, but when you see the end result of the quilt one doesn't know that. The nice thing is that the finished quilt is with Emma and her family. Those who made blocks sent many prayers and good wishes. To follow Emma's progress, you can go to HopeForSweetEmma .

I had a plan from the beginning and so, I asked you all to make 6-1/2" square blocks and/or 12-1/2" square blocks. I knew that I could make a quilt "happen" with these sizes and it would look great. One of the first bloggers to respond that she would make blocks was Pat of A*LittleOfThisAnd*A*LittleOfPat blog. Pat sent nineteen 6-1/2" squares that she and two friends, Kaye and Sherry, had made. Some were used as 6-1/2" squares and some were sewn into 12-1/2" squares. So here, now, are the simple directions for making four-patch blocks.

You will need an assortment of fabrics, your rotary cutter, ruler and mat. I will assume you know how to use these. :-) All sewn seams are a quarter inch!

To make one 6-1/2" square block, you will need two contrasting fabrics. I have chosen a red and white polka dot to go with a white with red dotties. ;-) From the red, cut two 3-1/2" squares, then cut two 3-1/2" squares from the white. In the picture above, you can see that one set has been sewn together. Sew two sets as shown in the bottom section. Press the light colored seam to the dark fabric.

Next, pin your two sets together, then stitch and press so that you end up with a block like the one in the photo above. You can make lots of these blocks in a variety of colors combinations. Or.......

Make four identical 6-1/2" square blocks and then when sewn together, you will have a 12-1/2" square block. By simply turning the blocks in different directions you can end up with a whole new block design. Shown below are a few more variations.

Now, to make a really simple 12-1/2" block you can cut four 6-1/2" squares and sew them together as you did for the 6-1/2" blocks. This works great for large print fabrics that might have flags, flowers or other designs that would be lost if cut up for the small blocks.

That's it, the first block session for my "Grace and a Prayer" quilt. I will make a few of these and then post another block design sometime next week. I'm going to make an assortment of blocks as I want to do a couple small wall quilts, one for the Care Center in Dayton, Iowa and one for the Senior Citizen Center in Lehigh, Iowa. And when I've completed those, then I'll make a big quilt for us.

Lights out for tonight!

Sandi

We interrupt this blog ............

to bring you the following broadcast from Minnesota Country Mouse Radio............just click on the link below...........

CountryMouseEpisode7*SibleyCountyMuseumAndQuiltingGoesGlobal

This is the interview that I mentioned a few days ago. Beth of Country Mouse Blog has the most relaxing voice to listen to! She is a wonderful interviewer and kept the conversation going! I was a bit nervous at first but then you can hear it in my voice as I began to relax. What a treat this was!! I have thanked Beth profusely for her visit has left me with a really big smile!! I hope you'll take a listen to the interview. It was really, really enjoyable to do this! And Beth is gonna get Chocolate Chip Cookies for life for this!!!

Smilin' Sandi

Mail comes in and the mail goes out.....

The mail comes in.............. On Saturday after the Country Mouse had returned to the Cities, I went out to my mailbox expecting to find just the usual Saturday newspaper ads.........but there was a package from Denny who is in my Wooly Buddies Yahoo group! I could see through the purple tissue paper and could see that everything was going to have a "Wooly" theme. Sure enough......Denny had sewn the Wooly Buddies logo to a little zippered bag and then found these cute "Woolies" to tuck in the bag. I'll never be able to use them because they are too cute! Thanks, Denny, "sew" much!!!

The mail goes out..............For several weeks, I have been thinking about a letter I needed to write for our 80th Linn Family Reunion. I do the mailings for the annual event and this being a major milestone year, I wanted to make it special. I just wasn't gettin' that creative vibe..........and then last week, it clicked for me and I knew what I would do. This past Sunday, I typed my letter and asked all the family members that since I make the arrangements and send the cards for the reunion, I asked them to send me a card in return. And I wanted a recipe in the card and any memories they can share and photos. I am determined to write a little book of family memories but have had a hard time getting folks to write those memories down. We do food really well at our annual potluck picnic so I am hoping that by sharing a recipe they will also share a memory or photographs, too. When I finished the letter, I was ready to hit "print" but then I decided to "sleep on it" in case I wanted to make changes. Wise move, as I realized I forgot to mention a couple of things. Made my changes and as you can see in the photo below, the letters are printed!

I stuffed the envelopes and put on the labels and the stamps. I loved those Bob Hope stamps!!! And then I took them off to the post office and they are winging their way to towns in Iowa, Minnesota, Illinois and to the east and west. Every year someone comes to the reunion that hasn't come in years and I just love watching them reconnect with family. Now I will wait for the mail to come in...............

Packages also went out to three of the giveaway winners and then more will go out in a couple of days. Now if you left a comment during the time of my blog anniversary celebration, you can go here and leave your name for one last prize offered up with help from Brown Bear! Just don't tell Mary Grace I sent you. Hee hee! (Mary Grace has followed my blog for quite some time and she was one of my first giveaway winners. She is trying really hard to win again!)

We got lovely rain here all afternoon and evening. It has been dry, dry and so now things should green up quite well! That's all for now.........

Sandi

Part 2 of the Quibble™ Quilt has been added and you will find it here .

Snuggling down with a Quibble™......Part 1

It's summer and here I am preparing to tell you how I made a fleece and flannel baby "quilt"!! Who wants to be warm when it's hot outside???!!!!! Ah, but there is air-conditioning so it's cold inside and sometimes one needs to "snuggle down" or............ if you live in parts of the world where it's not summer right now, well, it's the right time to make something to keep you or baby warm!!

Inspiration for this project came about in the winter of 2008 because I needed to be warmer when I was in my sewing room. There was a time when we had an insulation issue and before they figured that out and fixed it, I was often mighty cold in my sewing room. I belonged to a Yahoo quilting group that was having a challenge project and I decided I would use up some scraps of flannel that I liked and a piece of soft ivory colored fleece.........all of it was just remants bought at JoAnn's. I love making things with remnants. It'a challenge to me. :-) The picture on the right is the end result of that challenge. I cut rectangles 7-1/2" x 9-1/2" and just randomly pieced the rows, sewed them together, backed it with fleece, added a fleece binding and "blind-tied" the blocks at each corner. I made up the term "blind-tie" to describe my method of "tieing". I'll show you that in the final post on this project.

I enjoyed making the "quilt" so much and was so glad to finish a project that I named it my "Touchdown Quilt". And that's not because I used it when watching football........no, it's because I scored a sewing touchdown because I finished it. Hee hee!!

Sooooooooooooo, I needed a couple of "quilts" for two little fundraisers. One was for the Quilt Show held at the Lehigh Public Library (Iowa) and the other was for a Kid's Carnival event sponsored by the Scott County Historical Society (Minnesota). I got out all the remnants of baby/kid print flannels that I had in my stash and I cut lots of rectangles (same as above). The first "quilt top" (on the left) was the smallest and was for the Library Quilt Show. That's my daughter, Collette, doing the yarn ties on the quilt after we had set up for the quilt show. I had bound it first and had pinned it where I wanted the ties but didn't have time to get it tied before heading home for the quilt show. I knew Collette could help me out. The finished "quilt" was placed on the kiddie table and we raised only about $15 but it all went to the library. And I loved it when the winning name was drawn and it was my mom and dad's best friends, Dick and Pat Trueblood. And how perfect because they had a brand new baby granddaughter that they could send the quilt to!!

When I got home I jumped right in and stitched together two more "quilt tops" for the SCHS event. I made these larger as they were to be kid's lap quilts, one in pink for a girl, one in blue for a boy.

Here you can see the finished tops that have been placed on the fleece backing. I then used safety pins and pinned at the intersection of each block. I folded over the edge of the fleece backing to create the binding. I folded the corners in mitered fashion so that they looked neat and tidy. I machine stitched around this edge but added a few handstitches at the corners so that they were nice and secure.

Here are the two finished "quilts". Fewer kids and families attended the event than hoped, so only "quilt" was raffled and the other one will be given at another time.

As I was stitching these two quilts I gave them the name of "Cuddle Doon Quilts" because they were meant to be a quilt that a kid could curl up with and read a good book or be read to by mom and dad, etc. I love the poem "Cuddle Doon" and if you go here -

Cuddle*Doon*Bairnies - you will find it and perhaps enjoy it, too.

Now it's time to tell you how I made this most recent flannel/fleece "quilt" and also why I named it a Quibble™. You see, I think you all know that most folks wouldn't call these flannel/fleece projects "quilts" because they are "tied" and they don't have any batting. On the other hand, to a child or even an adult who is looking to "snuggle down", well, it's their "quilt" because Grandma or mom says so!! And so, I thought, please don't "quibble" with me over whether this is a "quilt" or a blanket or a "throw", because I think maybe the word "quilt" should mean "item made with love to keep you warm-can be hand or machine quilted, tied, etc. - glue is not recommended as item will need to be laundered frequently due to constant use!" And that's my story and I'm sticking to it! LOL!!

Here's how I made the Quibble™ for Pastor Brigit's little baby boy..........If you want to make one, too, gather up a bunch of flannel scraps and a coordinating color of fleece (1-1/2 yards) for the backing.

For this flannel/fleece project, I tried to "think outside the box" and I'm not sure I did so well. I had some coordinated flannels in a "little boys, snips, snails, puppy dog tails" prints and some solids that I cut into 5-1/2" wide strips. I cut most into 7-1/2" lengths but had odds and ends left so decided to sew random pieces together. I see other quilters/bloggers doing this and it looks great. Notice I said it looks great when others do it........

I like things to be neat and symetrical. This "random thing" was difficult for me. I persevered and laid the pieces out in random order, and sewed a strip together (the one the right). I wasn't sure I was liking this so I kept moving things around. However, the more I moved things the worse it got, so I finally gave up and pinned the pieces as you see above.

In the photo above all the pieces have been sewn into long rows. I zig-zagged every seam for added strength for this project.

And in this photo all the rows have been sewn together and placed on the fleece backing (I bought 1-1/2 yards fleece and had plenty for this project). Next, I cut two fleece strips that were 3-1/2" wide and the length of my strips (this will vary for your own project).

I sewed the side strips in place as you see above..........and in the photo below you can see that I have pinned the lower strip for stitching.

When the top and bottom strips are sewn in place, you will have a quilt top that looks like this..........

That's all for Part 1. I have photos loaded for Part 2 and will post that Tuesday evening. I will post Part 3 on Wednesday evening. Have a good day!

Sandi

Note: Thank goodness for good blogging friends.........Pat caught the fact that I said I'd begin posting blocks for "Grace and a Prayer" (based on Emma's Hope quilt) on Wednesday, June 18th. Make that Thursday, June 18th!!! I should put a calendar by my computer.

Snuggling down with a Quibble™......Part 2

You have made a quilt top in Part 1 and now it's time to give it a backing. First, though, double-click on the photo below and look at the seams......all are zig-zagged because this is a child's quilt and it needs to withstand a lot of wear and tear! You will also notice that most of the time I pressed the seams one way or the other and sometimes I goofed and had to sort of press them half one way and half the other. My quilts are not perfect. Nor are my penny rugs or other stitching projects. There is always some mistake I make and then I have to "fudge" a little and most of the time no one knows unless a I tell them. :-) So, just make sure the top is pressed nicely and don't worry too much how it looks on the back. Just make sure your seams are stitched really well.

Take your finished quilt top and place it right side down onto your piece of backing fleece. Position it as shown along one side and corner and after the top is pinned to the fleece, then you can trim away the excess.

In the photo above, I have trimmed all the way around the quilt top and if you look at the bottom edge you will see pins placed horizontally that will remind me not to stitch there as that will be my opening for turning the "quilt" inside out.

Notice in this photo that I am sewing a fairly wide seam - 6/8" to be exact. This is important to have when it is turned inside out. Trust me.

When you have stitched around the edge of the blanket, you will trim the corners as shown above.

Your "quilt" will look like this......stitched all the way around with an opening of about 10" at the bottom of the quilt.

To turn the "quilt" inside-out, reach in and grab a corner and start pulling it. This was a hard step to photograph as one cannot do this and also snap a picture and I couldn't remember how to do the auto thingy on my camera. After the "quilt" has been turned "inside-out", carefully adjust your corners and then hand-stitch the bottom opening closed. Does that make sense?

Lay the "quilt" on the floor and smooth it well, and then pin carefully all the way around the "quilt" edge. You are going to sew around the edge of the "quilt" with a 5/8" inch seam. After you have sewn around the edge, you will pin all around the edge of the blocks and you can "stitch-in-the-ditch" there or about a 1/4" in on the fleece border. Double-click on the photo below for an example of how to stitch the border.

And now you are almost finished, but not quite. We'll get to the final touches in Part 3 tomorrow night. Almost time to snuggle down with my own Quibble™. Well, maybe not. It's only 10:30 p.m. I've got at least three good hours to go!

Sandi

Snuggling down with a Quibble™......Part 3

At the end of Part 2, you have almost finished your "quilt". There are several ways to stitch this "quilt" together. The first would be to do a meandering machine quilt stitch on the "quilt". The second choice might be to "tie" the quilt with yarn or Perle cotton. You can add the ties in the center of the large rectangles or at intersections of the rectangles. When I tie with yarn, I use a soft cotton yarn or poly and my final choice usually has to do with getting the right color match. When I "tie" with Perle cotton, I make my ties only at the intersections of the pieces and I keep the Perle cotton long enough that I can insert the needle into the fabric and bring it up a couple of inches away, so that the thread is hidden in the seam of the flannel. I may have to take some photos for that to make sense.

The third option is to hand-stitch the "quilt". You can do it with regular quilting stitches or you can try the method in the photo above. My friend, Denise, introduced me to "chunky quilting" which is done with Perle cotton. She had done it on a beautiful Log Cabin quilt and I used it on a scrappy quilt I made. I like the look a lot!

Prior to stitching, I just took straight pins and marked out random curvy lines, five of them to be exact. And then I hand-stitched it in less than an hour!

In the photo above, you can see how it looks on the back.

To add a special touch, I added the baby's birthdate to one corner and in the upper corner I stitched his name. You probably can't see it, but I stitched my initials in blue on the small blue print in the lower corner.

And when it was all done, I took the quilt out to my "quilt-line" to take a picture. I loved the bright colors which colors and it just looks like a quilt a little boy can drag from room to room in search of a puppy or a favorite toy or mom and dad and a good book. :-)

So there you have it, you've made a Quibble™. Give this small one away and then make a big one for you. Even us grown-ups need to snuggle down with a good book!!

Sandi

Emma's Quilt Update

I said it would be a couple hours and I'd be back but I called my mom because this would have been my Dad's 83rd birthday and then, also talked to my brother............but I'm here now. :-) I told my mom that I had posted the story about the flagpole to my blog and she said there had also been a nice little piece in the local paper. :-)

It's time for me to give you an update on the quilt made for Emma's Hope fundraiser. I have thanked everyone who made a block(s) for the Emma's Hope quilt and want you to know just how much your time and talents were appreciated!
The large quilt made $400 at Silent Auction. This was not nearly the amount one might have thought the quilt would make but the good news in this ............ the person who bought the quilt has presented it to Emma and her family.

As you know, I chose some blocks for a small quilt that would go to Emma and I did that for two reasons..........one, while I noted in my first post that this was to be a fundraiser quilt, some of you thought the quilt blocks were going to be used in a quilt for Emma. And two, I had a hard time making a quilt that was just for fund-raising and wanted something that would go to Emma so I laid out all the blocks and the ones that needed to be in the big quilt just fell into place and the more personal ones just worked in the smaller quilt. The large quilt was then handquilted and bound. The smaller quilt is being handquilted by Esther, the lady who organized the group for the larger quilt. Connie, Emma's grandma is going to back the quilt with the small lap quilt that was received in the block donations. When that one is finished, I'll post a picture. I also will post a picture and the names of each person who made each of the blocks. I think I will get to that later this week.

I loved the end result of the large quilt. The pictures make it look good but when you saw it in person, it was truly stunning. I don't say this just because I was involved in the process. I am hearing this from people who saw it at the post office or at the fundraiser. I want to make this same quilt and keep it for my family. As I noted earlier, I never really made a quilt for my father. I still haven't finished quilting that race quilt for my husband. The last quilt I made for my grandson was his baby quilt and that was ten years ago. I have a small wall quilt I want to make for my daughter and one for my son that will have a music theme. I think it's time to make quilts for my family. I've been involved in many fundraiser quilts and I have found that a lot of work is put into them and they don't bring that much in return. This doesn't mean I won't make quilts for other folks. Nope, because I have already set the dates for our Sew and Share event - Oct. 19 & 20 - where we will make quilts for local families in need and also Christmas stockings to fill. Plus, I have baby quilts to make for my niece and my son's friend. And I just finished one for our new Pastor's baby boy. There was a baby shower at church this morning and I haven't seen so many cute little boy things in years (as in ten years since my grandson was born). Here's Joe, the new papa, and Pastor Brigit, as they opened the gift I made. They got so many lovely gifts! It took several trips just to get them from the church to the parsonage!

I would post a picture of the baby but I didn't ask permission so I don't want to do it without asking.

Here is picture of the quilt that I took outside yesterday afternoon. It's all flannel pieces and then fleece border and backing. I took some detailed photos as I stitched it together and tomorrow I will do a post on it in case any of you want to try this. And then..............I am going to begin taking you through block designs so that I can make my own red, white and blue quilt and you can, too. I'm giving the quilt a new name..........."Grace and a Prayer" and on Wednesday, June 18th I'll present the first blocks and some variations of blocks so that we can make a nine block wall quilt or a lap quilt or a really large quilt. Gather up some red, white and blue fabrics (and I opted for some green and purple, too) and get ready to quilt along with me. And if red, white and blue aren't your colors, choose ones that you like but I do think that keeping the colors to three or four makes for a more attractive quilt. I'm going to make a nine block wall quilt first, so that I can finish it and take it to the Care Center in July and then I'll also be making blocks for the larger quilt for my family. I will be offering some block patterns and those will be posted in my SeasonsBOM Yahoo group. If you are not a member, you can click here to join. All block designs that I give instruction for are blocks that are in the Public Domain and/or my original designs. I have a cool design for a heart that used stripes so be sure and have some stripes in your fabrics.

So, now the day is almost over and I have just a couple more photos to share. I have never posted as much as I did today, but I had loads of stuff to share. I took a break and ate lunch out on the front porch. I took my "front porch basket project" (this Thimbleberries runner will get done by the end of the summer!) and stitched for a bit after I finished eating.

Here's what I would see when I would look up from my stitching. It was just an incredibly beautiful, warm summer day!!!

Even Kaiser, the wonder dog, was enjoying the scenery.

Yes, it was a fine day and it sounds like there will be more of this weather the rest of the week. There might be some thunderstorms but the rain is needed and so it will be welcome. That's all for now.

Sandi