Sitting and Stitching

Good morning, my friends. We survived our grocery shopping trip yesterday, although we both needed naps by the time we got home. When we drove up our driveway, a doe was relaxing in the shade of one of our flowering plum trees. Sorry for the poor quality of this picture. I was far away (for a phone picture). I worried if I tried moving closer, I would scare her away.

After getting that shot, I did try moving closer, and sure enough. She turned tail and ran. She looks skinny, doesn't she?

I imagine she was dining on our rose bush, but I haven't looked to see if the flowers are still there yet.

After lunch and a nap, I started a couple of loads of laundry. From there, I settled into a comfy chair for an afternoon of stitching. By the time the first load was dry, I'd turned the third corner.

Another load was dry by the time I'd turned the fourth corner.

From there, it was just a little more stitching, and my quilt was finished. It ends up at 53 x 53 inches.

Here's how it looks from the back. All of the fabrics for this quilt were purchased at different quilt shops in New Mexico. 

The setting design for this quilt was my own idea. The embroidery designs were from J. Michelle Watts Designs. If I'm not mistaken, I believe she lives in New Mexico. Just looking up her page, I was tempted by some more of her patterns, but I held back. Honestly, I doubt I'll live long enough to finish all the quilt patterns I already have. I really love her southwest designs. Possibly, it comes from having lived in Arizona and New Mexico.

As I was stitching the binding, I came across this little oopsie. It wasn't visible from the quilt top, and I'm not sure what happened here. In any case, it was a quick fix, and I repaired it when I was finished stitching the binding. It took about ten minutes.

Okay, and then the quilt posed for its photos, and we called it a wrap.

Outside, I checked the annuals. They were still damp, and so I waited on the watering. For sure, I'll be doing that sometime today. In my wandering, I discovered the stargazer lily has bloomed. It's going to have a lot of flowers before it's finished.

More daylilies have bloomed.

And the calla lily is putting up another shoot. I'm hoping we get some flowers from it this year. It came up last year too, but it never bloomed.

There's not much on today's to-do list. For sure, I'll do some watering and fill the bird feeders. Also, I'll be reading through Lesson 5 (of 12) of my online class for the new version of Photoshop Elements. So far, I've learned nothing I didn't already know. I'm hoping we'll get to the new stuff soon.

Before I go this morning...a little housekeeping. Helen, I read your comment, and you're the first to speak up for the Barn Block Sampler blocks. You are no-reply, however, and so I can't contact you. If you still want the patterns, you'll need to email me with your info.

Eventually today, I'll spend some time in the sewing room. Next up on my white board is to make a little quilt top from the "Tiny Hearts" stitch-along. 

When the top is finished, it'll be the only small quilt top on my list of small quilts to quilt. So, it'll be assuming two spots on my white board. Possibly I'll have it finished by the end of the day.

There was no time for embroidery yesterday, and so I'll give myself a little extra time on that today. If you're looking for me in the next hour or so, that's where I'll be.