Quilt # 239 - From the Archives

Exquisite Star

The blocks are 9" and it is 72 x 81".  Looking back at this picture, I notice that I have one block turned wrong (maybe I planned it that way - Not!).


Pieced back

 I didn't have enough of the cowboy fabric so I made some 12" blocks for the back to make it work. 

I gave this to grandson Benjamin on his 6th birthday.  He recently turned 9.  He entered this world a preemie at 1#12 ounces.  God was shining down on him.  While not quite as big as most 9 year olds, he is healthy and his passion at the moment is baseball and taekwondo.

Food-Fun-Friends-Farewells!



This pig was as good as it looks!

  With the thermometer reading over 100 the guys who cooked the pig deserve a lot of credit.  It was awesome! And we had all kinds of accompanying side dishes and desserts.


Great trio



Lots of great music.  Dickie, our host, set the time back to 6PM and it had cooled down enough to be tolerable.  



Friends from the Path and their friends too!


A good time to catch up with folks along Pigeon Path.



Pat, Nellie & GL

Our friends and next door neighbors, Nellie and GL, sold their place at the lake 3 weeks ago.  They are the best neighbors and sweetest friends anyone could have.  We will miss them so much.  I know we will still see them occasionally but it will take some time to get used to not seeing them next door. 

The nice thing about all this is that the new owners are our neighbors across the road.  We're looking forward to having Donna and Steve next door.

Tomorrow is Table of Grace at Wendell United Methodist Church.  We will welcome our new pastor, Trip Lowery, to our TOG ministry.  Stop in if you can, we serve dinner at 6PM.

Fractured - Whole

 My deck wasn't quite high enough to keep this quilt from dragging on the ground. It is 91 x 104"  I used a medium grey thread, Bottom Line by Superior Threads, on this quilt. It blends well over all the various colors on this quilt.  The back is flannel and I used the block pieces that I had sewn backwards on the back.  It was easy to get confused.  I had the green stripe binding fabric in my stash.

I had lots of fun making this quilt, using up some strange fabrics, but I'm glad it's finished. 

We will be at the lake when this posts - our neighbor is having a barbecue for the whole neighborhood this weekend and  I hope to spend some time working on my lake sewing projects.
 Happy Weekend!

Arrow Star Again



Arrow Star



This is the Arrow Star Quilt that I finished  a couple of weeks ago. The background fabric is an assortment of white and cream colored fabrics so I used an ecru Aurifil thread to quilt the center.  I used red thread over the red and blue borders.  It measures 80 x 92".



 

Quilt # 135 from The Archives

Very Wild Rose


I appliqued the blocks for this quilt in 2000 while staying with John in the hospital.  I set the blocks together and quilted it in 2001.  It is a very easy applique pattern that I got from a friend, Bonnie P., at Three Rivers Quilt Guild when we lived near Albemarle, NC.

It is quilted with Sulky polyester clear thread which was what I used a lot at that time.  It is 84" square. 
I have been using it as a tablecloth on a round table for a couple of years.

detail - Very Wild Rose

Back



Pricey Pickles????

Well last night I finally made pickles  - Yes, that's right two whole pints!

 Ever since I picked the first little Kirby cucumber from our mini- garden last month I've been wanting to make Bread and Butter Pickles.  Monday when I went out to water I picked 4 very nice cucumbers and I already had two in the kitchen.  A good start.  I  figured I'd go over to Wake Forest to buy enough  more to make one recipe.  I picked up my grand daughter, Emily, and we stopped at the vegetable stands that Shelly recommended.  Neither had really fresh cucumbers.  We shopped and then went out for lunch.  I picked up some new jars, mustard seed, pickling salt and turmeric.  I had everything I needed but the cucumbers.

Tuesday morning, near noon when I got off.  I decided I go to the State Farmer's Market in Raleigh for them.  I sliced up the 6 cucumbers I had to see how many more I  needed to buy.  I had 1 quart, I only need 18 more.   Okay!  I bought tomatoes for John, a basket of really nice peaches and $7. of cucumbers.  Then 3 ears of corn for John and I was on my way home.   Of course I stopped at the quilt shop  and the grocery store for a couple of things too.

Came home and  unloaded the car  - guess what No Cucumbers!  I guess I has set them down when I paid for the corn and left them.  RATS!!!!!!  Well I complained for a bit then I drove to Wrenn's Produce in Zebulon but they sell only the burpless variety.  Last resort -  maybe Walmart grocery had some.  They did  - but they looked liked they had been picked last month!

I didn't want my fresh cucumbers to go to waste so I made a 1/4 recipe.  I spent 2 days and drove about 120 miles but John and I tried them tonight and they are wonderful.

My new plan is to pull up the summer squash in the garden and plant some more seeds.  Maybe by  September I can make a whole batch.

John's Workshop

John has been spending a lot of time out in his workshop for the past two weeks.  Friday he was ready for me to see his project.  He has been making a stand for our TV up at the lake.

  In April we bought a larger HD set for home and we took the old one up to the lake.  It was too big to fit in the cabinet. 

I love that he used the natural edge of the board to make the design of the bottom of the stand.  The cedar is from some trees that we had cut a few years back.  John had a guy with a portable sawmill come to cut the trees into lumber.  This is the last of the cedar.

Now for the polyurethane finish.  Cool. Maybe we'll be rearranging the furniture a little this weekend.