Distractions

I am supposed to be back to my UFOs, after my 2 month obsession with minis to get ready for the trunk show. But what's a quilter to do when 2 of her favorite designers are running SALs at the same time? Join in, of course!

First up is Lisa Bongean's Primitive Gatherings 10th Anniversary SAL. She is doing a "pieced only" version, and a version with "piecing and wool applique". I have been trying to convince myself that I only need to make one version. Making multiples has been my downfall in the past, so I have chosen to do the pieced/wool applique version, and ONLY that version--so far. And, so far, I LOVE it!

Then Pam Buda has been running one of her Pocket Patchwork SALs. This one is called Market Day, and she offered the regular version, and a mini version. Which one do you think I did? : ) 

It is such a cute little patriotic quilt--just 16". Pam bordered hers in red and bound it in blue. I tried every red I had in my patriotic drawer, and my CW repros and I didn't feel like any of them clicked as a border. Then I moved to the blues. This was the only one I felt did anything for it, but I'm still not sure if I will leave it on. I tucked the little red dotted strips behind it to see how it would look bound in red. What do you think?

Recently I was a poll worker for a primary election. I knew turnout would be low and I needed a handwork project I wouldn't finish in the first few hours of the day. This project has captured my eye on Gayle's and Kathy's blogs. (It is from the Spring 2013 issue of Primitive Quilts and Projects.) Okay ladies, I caved!

I can't believe I actually started another hexie project. The one I already have going is 17 years old, at least. But I like this, where my old one is made in fabrics I had purchased decades ago when I started quilting and I don't care for them anymore.
This will definitely be a long term project. You can see I didn't make a ton of progress, but it is a start.

During my mini obsession in the past few months I haven't spent much time with Gidget. So this past week I found a few minutes here and there to brush up on a couple of favorite designs.

It was fun to play, but I can't believe how rusty I have become in what seemed such a short time. I need a few more practice sessions before I sit down to quilt an actual quilt.

On Independence Day DH and I drove an hour up a nearby canyon to a favorite lake. It is just a small lake and the trail that circles it is a little over a mile, and is peppered with a variety of wildflowers. We had just received our Fitbits in the mail the day before and thought it would be a good inauguration to walk the trail. It was a gorgeous day at Tony Grove.

Forget-me-nots

That was the only boat on the lake and I wished I had been in it.

Violets

There was such a variety of wildflowers, but two particularly caught my eye. We usually go up later in the summer and I don't recall seeing these two before, and they are two of my favorites. Click on the right photo to see the butterfly.

Until next time,
Janet O.

A Labor Day respite

DH and I are usually quite the stick-in-the-muds when it comes to 4-day  weekends. We don't go anywhere or have fun plans--just hang around home and water the garden, mow lawn, do dishes--you get the idea. 

This year we deviated from the norm and drove up the neighboring canyon for an hour to a beautiful little lake nestled up in the mountains (locals will recognize this as Tony Grove).

In the cool morning air we walked the loop around the lake (about 40 minutes IF you don't take pictures--DH said next time he won't remind me to bring the camera!).

The lake was glassy--sometimes it was hard to tell what was real and what was reflection. Can you pick out the far shoreline in the photo above? From the other side of the lake the morning sun made these yellow flowers glow.

 The photo below is kind of fuzzy, but it has a story. As we walked in the stillness all we could usually hear was the buzz of the bees in the profuse wildflowers. Suddenly we heard a whooshing sound overhead and looked up to see this hawk swooping down on its prey. It missed its mark, circled a couple of times and flew up to this dead tree limb to scope out a new victim.

Here are some of the bees about their labors on Labor Day. Believe me when I say that this is only a fraction of the wildflower pictures I snapped. DH will confirm that.

On the road to and from the lake I worked on stitching hexagons to papers--I will conquer that project yet! At home we watched some of the U.S. Open and I pulled out the t-shirt quilt which came back from the quilter a couple of weeks ago and got the edges trimmed and ready for binding. I've only bound one other king size quilt and that was over 10 years ago. I have no idea how long this will take, but knowing my speed, don't expect a post of a finished quilt anytime soon.

Our morning jaunt was just a three hour excursion, but it was very refreshing and set the tone for a good day! How did you spend your Labor Day?

Until next time, from the little mountain valley where the sagebrush grows,

Janet O.