4/24/13

Wonderful Weather Wednesday

It was a perfect day today.  There wasn't a cloud in the sky.  It wasn't too hot, and it wasn't too cold.  Mike and I had dinner out on our deck, and it was perfect.  Sometimes a breeze comes up in the evening, and it makes it a little chilly to sit out--especially in April.  Tonight, it couldn't have been lovelier.

I had a good day.  I didn't do any more work in the yard.  The last two days I've been busy running around and working outside, and so I decided to spend the morning sewing.  I left around noon to get my monthly pedicure, then picked up some more bird seed for the birds.  Honestly, I'd hate to tally up what we spend on bird seed during a summer.  We were completely out of the black oil sunflower seeds, and when I got home, I realized we were nearly out of suet and scratch grains.  Next trip into town, I'll need to get some of each.  I do enjoy the birds, and so it's worth the expense.  And since we started feeding them, I feel downright guilty when their feeders are empty.

First this morning, I got started on the last of the Vintage Miniature Sewing Machines blocks.


I'm off to a good start, but I have about a hundred miles to go.

Yesterday, I fused the cat to the January Folk Art Cat block.


Then, this morning, I did most of the top-stitching.  I still need to do the tip of the tail and the tips of the legs and then the green pieces at the collar and the hills in the background.  


I'm sort of tempted to do some stitching around the hind leg and the foreleg just to give them some contrast.  Oh yes, and there are also the whiskers and the mouth to embroider on.  I'll do that with my sewing machine.  

I placed the hot fix nail heads where the eyes are just so you could see them, but they aren't glued down yet.  When I went to the last quilt show, I finally sprung for a tool to use when affixing hot fix crystals and nail heads to a surface.  I've melted and scorched my fabric for the last time doing that with my craft iron.  (And after that, the craft iron will be completely worthless.)

So once the top-stitching is done, there are two borders, a very narrow solid one, and then a checkerboard one.  This being in the upper left corner of the quilt, I'll need to do all four borders and the little mini quilt blocks for each cornerstone.  I expect there are still a couple more days of work before this one is finished.

Tomorrow, I'm going to the Mid-Valley Quilt Guild Quilt Show in Rickreall (pronounced RICK-ree-all).  The show happens every two years.  I went two years ago and enjoyed it very much.  Quilting Babcia and I are going together, and so I need to light out of here bright and early to meet up with her in McMinnville.  Then we will ride to the show together.  I'm looking forward to attending the show with another quilter.  Usually, I go by myself since the only other quilters I've known up until now have been via blogging.  Friday, I walk with my friend Sue, and we will also be walking an hour earlier than usual.  I think Friday afternoon, I will spend some time planting my annuals.

It was a lovely day here.  How was your day today?

12 comments:

Vroomans' Quilts said...

Sounds like you had a wonderful day. My SIL came to sew along and then we enjoyed a lovely walk around the property - we actaully hit 70!

Denise :) said...

It was a rainy, grey day here. I finished up our guild's newsletter and got it sent to the printer EARLY! It's due Sunday and since I'll be all day in Paducah on Saturday, I wanted it out of the way and off my plate. I also did a lot of mending and alterations today -- clearing up that pile left me with a nice tidy space. Which is good. Now I'll have room for the haul I bring back from Paducah!! :)

Lee said...

You had a nicer day than here. Barely mid-60s and overcast with a bit of drizzle - it's the time of year when the weather vacillates between clear/hot and gloomy/cold. I don't mind - summer heat stays way too long. Is the quilt show just one day (Thursday) or multiple days? Rickreall isn't very big. Enjoy your time at the show :)

Junebug613 said...

It was a pretty nice day here as well. We weren't in the office the whole day, so that's also a nice thing. It's always more fun to have someone else to "ooh an ahh" with, especially when they can appreciate the details and time put into the art. It is also good for the shopping when you can help each other find stuff. On that note it's also a little dangerous for the bank account, since we crafters tend to enable each other!

StasaLynn said...

Your applique cat is DARLING!

Diane Wild said...

McMinnville? That name sounds like it should be a small town in Minnesota and possibly a title for a novel. Love it. I got caught up on some small projects today. Yay.

Mommarock said...

Oh my goodness! What wonderful tiny stitches you take. I am VERY impressed with your work. Having the needle in the picture really shows just how teeny they really are. WOWZA! I am looking to do some crazy quilting, and tried to do some prep work yesterday on a "creative" base block. Then I decided I didn't like the block at all. So I decided to clean instead. Productive day either way. I will try again today.

Chris said...

Hi Barbara,
You do such lovely work. May I ask where you found the blocks patterns for the vintage sewing machines?

quiltzyx said...

I just lurve those folk art cats! Not enough to make them for myself, my you, but I do enjoy seeing yours!

Yay, you're at a quilt show right now, while I'm answering the phones at work!! I do have a show & tell quilt here - it's the President's Quilt for last year's guild president. I want to surprise her that we finally finished it, so can't post any pictures until after our next meeting on 5/9.

Brown Family said...

The cat block is cute! I have been working on my Crayon quilt and getting back into embroidery

Nan

Lynne said...

We are having lovely autumn weather this week after last week's cold and rain! Perfect for a day out on Sydney's beautiful harbour yesterday (blog post later).

You'd better not ever move away -- what would the birds do without you? LOL

Kate said...

Fun cat block!

Enjoy the quilt show.