Moon

My husband called to me to go see the moon the other night.

A little fingernail's worth of moon over the lake. And a tiny bit of sunset pinks. Lovely night to be out moon gazing.

Thanks, honey, for telling me about it.

Thanks,
Lin

Bee Blocks

I am caught up! I sent off my bee blocks yesterday. The September block (churn dash) is not technically late, since it's not yet October. The October block (maple leaf) is EARLY!! Isn't that amazing???

I sent a picture to Debbie of the farthest right two blocks, but she said the ballerina was not suitable for her theme. So I re-did it to the other pink block. Surprisingly, the "solid" fabric is the same in both pinks. I like the contrast in the ballerina block better than my second pink block.

Debbie had requested a "medium color range, not too light but not primary." I think I managed that.

Kate requested maple leaves for her bee blocks. We could either make 2-12" blocks, or 1-18" block. I chose the 18" block. A gray background, leaves to be any fall leaf color, with the stem a different color. I think I managed that one too.

I hope my bee partners like them. I had forgotten to take pictures of them before I packaged them up, so had to take them out of their envelopes for the pics. Hence the fold lines.

With my Supernova blocks done until we decide how much more we will do, and October's block done here, I can work on my other backlog items.

Thanks,

Lin

Super Nova

My partner, Pam, will be happy to know that her blocks are DONE! They will be in the mail tomorrow! YAY!!

I have one block sitting on top of some others, because I have 10 and they don't fit on my design board. When we are done we will each have 12. We decided to go a little longer than the swap was planned for because we thought 10 was an awkward number. Pam made the hot colors, and I made the cool ones. I guess you know why I got the cool ones. I guess you can guess why she got the hot ones...

The block sitting on top has the cool wavy green print at the edges.

My golfing buddy was just here and she thought these were pretty cool looking blocks.

Now on to making my bee blocks.

So nice to be catching up.

Thanks,
Lin

Tree

My tree is looking quite pretty. I think it looks like those people who have a bit of hair color on their bangs. Stunning, you know? And I'm sure they're all quite natural--even the ones with blue hair.

It does look cool, doesn't it? You can see our tree swing too. The grands like that whenever they're here. Not often enough for me.

Thanks,
Lin

Back to Sewing.

Now that I have Celtic Solstice done, I am back to sewing. I'm behind in things. I didn't get my Supernova block to Pam in August, and now I'm late for September's too. I have August done, ready to start on Sept tonight.  I haven't done my blocks for the New Quilt Blogger's Bee. That's due by end of month, so I'm not late yet! Other things on the NEED to do list.

My daughter is not a blogger, and was reading mine. She said, you state you will respond to every comment, but there are none showing. I understand her confusion, I thought the same thing in the beginning. So I have changed my heading to comments. Now I'm stating I will reply by email.

I was asked for some pictures of the quilting on Celtic Solstice.

I used Glide thread in Military Gold. I love the way that turned out, and I love the texture on the quilt.
I've decided not to use Warm and Natural for quilts anymore. I will save that for little things I do, and use the Hobbs 80/20 and Hobbs wool battings for a while. They are on sale at Connecting Threads right now! Sales are good, right??

Thanks,
Lin

Cool Weather

In spite of the cool weather, I have new flowers blooming!

They said these balloon flowers take a while to come back from winter, but this is ridiculous!

Black-eyed susans

This guy was in my grass.

What kind of a caterpillar is he? I remember you're supposed to be able to forecast what kind of winter you'll have based on how brown/black he is. Anyone remember how that goes?

We saw lots of different kinds of toad stools while we were camping. So many colors. I don't think I've ever seen so many kinds in one day. I'm afraid of them, would never pick any.

Thanks,
Lin

September Finish!

I finished! I finished!

Celtic Solstice is quilted, and partly bound. I have had it on the bed.

You can even see some of my resident quilt holder! And a lovely job he did holding it. I had to wait a few days to take this picture outside because we had several rainy/overcast days. It's still cold here--highs just 60, lows in 40s. Friday is supposed to have a high in the 70s. Ahhh. I'm not willing to admit it might be fall yet. 

Went to Quilt Club today, wearing a short sleeve shirt. I showed my quilt for show-and-tel, and they oohed and aahed. I didn't even have to prompt them.

I used Warm and Natural batting in this quilt. Not happy with it. There is extensive quilting in it, and it feels like a board. I thought I would use up the Warm and Natural I have stock piled (2 more), but I'm so unhappy, I believe I will take apart the Christmas quilt I have spray basted and replace it with Hobbs 80/20. Connecting Thread has a sale, 40% off their batting. There is some winging its way to me. I also ordered some Hobbs wool batting. Anxious to try that. 

I think I might like to make Celtic Solstice again, but with a planned fabric motif. Not scrappy.

This is a Bonnie Hunter Mystery Quilt from last October. So she will be launching a new one soon. Do I want to get into that??? I guess we shall see.

Linked to Sew Fresh Quilts

Thanks,

Lin

Camping

We went camping for the week end. It was cold and wet!!! We got there on Friday, and had rain all night. Listened to the rain on the roof of the camper all night. Fell asleep counting the raindrops. I counted very very high!

Our daughter, her husband and kids were supposed to join us, but he got sick. She did join us for a few hours on Saturday with the girls. Little Miss 8 and Little Miss 6. I melt when I'm in the presence of my grand daughters.

We were in northern Michigan, near Houghton Lake. It was in the low 40s at night. There was supposed to be sun spot activity, so we had hopes of seeing the Northern Lights. We went out at midnight, and my husband got up at 5:30 to check again. Had to drive to the lake to be able to see the sky. Too many trees in the camping area. Boy is it dark up there too! Needed a flashlight just to walk around to the other side of the truck.

I was just glad we weren't in a tent!

This picture is from when we were in Florida. We don't grow Spanish Moss up here.



Glad this is not us

Thanks,
Lin

50th Anniversary

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        This is my brother and his wife 50 years ago! How can this be???  I am in the picture too. I'm sure that is why their kids had this picture on all the tables. I'm on the left holding my bride's maid flowers.
We all look impossibly young.

I was dating Mr. LQ at that time, and I asked if I could invite him to the wedding. My brother responded that if I was still dating the same boy at the time of the wedding, then something was seriously wrong. He didn't think I should get serious so young. I was only 15. Guess I showed my brother, huh? We will hit 50 years in 4 more.

Thanks,
Lin                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        

New Quilt Bloggers Bee- August Queen

I was the New Quilt Bloggers August Queen for our Bee. I chose a simple nine-patch block, asking it be in bright colors and white/cream.

I have been the happy recipient of little packages all thru August. How much fun is that??? Getting packages that I didn't have to purchase! I like getting fabric that I ordered, but it is tempered with the knowledge that I paid for that. These packages I only have to pay for in kind. Each month we send blocks to our new queen.

Debby is our September Queen. She insisted I give up my crown. I sent it to her, but only after I let the dog lick it. (heh heh.) Now I'm waiting to be thrown in the Tower of London to await my execution. I want to live!

Here are the blocks I have received. There is still one person who has not sent in her blocks.

They're not in any order yet. I'm loving the assortment of bright colors! I'm thinking I will join another bee and ask for the same block, to be able to make a bigger quilt.

Thanks,
Lin

Here are some pics as I'm working on Celtic Solstice.

I'm working on the final, green border. So why, you may ask am I not working on it? Beats me! But I sure am delaying it.

Thanks,
Lin

I'M STILL HERE!

I am still alive and kicking. I know, I know. I haven't been very faithful to my blog. I'm a bad, bad girl. But sometimes that's good. heh heh

I'm taking my sweet old time quilting Celtic Solstice. I just don't know why I'm not jumping to it. Maybe something about not wanting to finish it because I don't have my binding fabric?? Or, when I finish, I have to start another quilting job. I really think it's something psychological. Just plain something weird.

Here is a crewel work I did many years ago.

It was on the cover of Better Homes and Gardens, I think. I got it in 977, while I was pregnant with my youngest. What a dumb time to start a project this size. It's 36" x 24". I finished it in 1982! You can see the date I stitched on it. Four + years! When I took it to the frame shop, a woman walked in with the same piece! When does something like that happen? It took her 9 months to finish! I just think that's a funny (and true) story.

Thanks,
Lin