Life is good.

What a wonderful day so far.  We got some rain and the temps have dropped.  We may just be getting more rain later on as well.  So June was a busy month for me, house sitting for several people. I used that time away from home, working on designing some small quilt patterns. I am on the schedule to teach 6 small quilt classes.  They meet once a month at One Quilt Place in Fredericksburg and during that month they finish a new little quilt.  Can't do that with a full size quilt.  I ran the classes, when it was Pocketful Of Poseys, for 2 years. Those classes were not my own designs but someone else's.  Now the class is mine and I can do what I want.  It is exciting to look for patterns and work on them so that they are a 2" or 4" or 6" block.  I have two done and writing the directions is a challenge.  Not only that, what you thought was a correct measurement wasn't quite so when you work up the pattern in fabric.  It may look good on paper but you don't know if it's right until you make the first block. It is truly a challenge and something I am enjoying.

 Here is my first pattern.

              Can you tell if it is a small quilt or a full size one? 

 If not then good. 

                                                                               


                                                                                   

                                             

Besides working on my small quilt patterns I
am working on some other projects that are regular size quilt designs.  I am taking two workshops through the Veriens Quilt Guild.  This month we are doing a Christmas Quilt.  It can be a couch quilt or tree skirt.  I'm doing it as a couch quilt.  Next month a national teacher is coming and she is from Kansas Troubles.  It too is a winter quilt and I want to do mine in flannel.  Now that I want to do flannel I can't find what I want.  I do have some in my stash so I am hoping I can find what I need to fill in.  Now for the big project.  I have decided to do this fantastic quilt that will take 18 months to get all the pattern.  Now does that mean I get it done in 18 months Noooooooooooooo! but it will take that long to get all the parts.  It is a quilt that was made in the 1790's.  What is different is that most quilts of the 1700's where whole cloth, but this one is all applique. Therefore the 18 monhs.  I was happy to uncover a box of fabric that someone sent me years ago as part of a secret friend. The fabric is very reminiscent of the 1700's and there is a lot of it as well.  From what I have gathered it was a scrappy quilt which is perfect.  The original was done on linen but I will be using cotton. I haven't purchased my fabric but my plan is to get a subtle marble in an unbleached muslin color.





Here is part of what I am doing.                                              







 This is what I have done so far.          

 I have one more quilt I plan to work on this summer and it is such a simple design. I wish I could have had this for the 4th of July but I will have it done for next year.  The fabric is a Jelly Roll from one of my favorite online quilt shops.  She also has some great fabric for my reenacting wardrobe.  5 Bucks A Yard and she is a Texas shop so I am shopping locally.
I am thinking how wonderful this might be in Holiday colors.  My mind is spinning.

I finally got my Bailey quilting machine working and I have done two queen size quilts on it.  Each one is getting better.  My first one was for my brother and sister in law but the photos I took are MIA.  The second one was a graduation quilt for Miss Margaret Nabors. By the time it was delivered she had been out of high school for two years. Now I have some quilt tops that date back some 30 years but they aren't gifts.  I should never let things go like that.  My brother's quilt was a Christmas gift but it was only a year and a few months over due.  

. 

So here is Margaret's quilt.  I love the colors and the design is close to Burgoyne's Surrenderd 

Here is a close up of the quilting.
I did swirls because the fabrics had swirl patterns
in them.

I am feeling really good about all the good things that have been going on this past month. I hope to have some more progress to report soon.  

Oh I Am so Happy!

I just put the last of the panels on the greenhouse today.  Yesterday was way to warm to get all that we needed to do to finish it all. I think it was 80 and being in the corner of two buildings it was really warm.
I am now ready to move in my few house plants that struggle all winter in the house.  Way to much darkness.       The lemon tree for one which is new to me needs more light than what I can give it.  I think if the heat keeps up I will need to put the shade cloth on soon.
So I am going to plant my seeds this week.  I will move in the tables and shelves tomorrow and then start planting.  I need to locate the seed starting pellets some where around here.  I did not start seeds last year so who knows where everything is now. At least I know where my heat mat is. That is the best gardening item  ever.  My friend Pat gave that to me a few years ago and it has made such a big difference in starting seeds.  I will be posting photos as the seeds grow up.  It is such a joy to see those little plants popping up out of the soil and then growing into big and tall plants producing food for our table.
A little progress on the planting situation, I did plant all my onions so they will be taking off soon.  With the rain predicted tonight and tomorrow that will be oh so good. They have plenty of alpaca poop to enrich to soil as well.
This warm weather is causing the pomegranates to leaf out and even the dewberries are starting to leaf out.  I am happy to see that since I wasn't sure if they made it this past summer.  Not sure about one mulberry but the other one is sending out leaves as well.  The two peach trees and two cherry trees are planted and are just siting there. That is ok they need to put on roots more than anything else.  The two cherry trees are nothing but sticks with leaf buds on them.  Time will tell. They have low chill hrs which is good I guess.  I know it will be a few years before we see any fruit but it will be fun to see how they do and if they will produce cherries.
Lastly since we are to get rain tomorrow I planted some spinach seeds. I really hope they make it. Not sure how old the seed is.  I plan to plant more and I also plan to get some romaine and hot season lettuce in. I know I have seed for that just need to locate it.  I hate the fact I put things in a safe place and then realize it is so safe I can't find it.  LOL
Photos of the newly finish greenhouse will be posted next posting.

So Where Did Winter Go?

I always look forward to time after Christmas to do some of those jobs I could not finish before the heat of summer hit.  So January was cold and I do mean cold and windy and darn right nasty.  And now we are looking at recorder breaking temps.   Good grief.

We started working on the greenhouse I had been wanting to years.  I guess it was a good thing it took us so long, since what I was going to use for my frame work was the top section to the horse/cattle trailer.  If we had then we would have been in a really bad spot.  We are looking at getting miniature horses and carts to use with them.  The old horse trailer will be perfect for the storing and carrying of the carts and tack and the little horses.

Well a friend had a saying that once you throw your hat over the fence you have to go get it.  By that she meant that once you make a commitment to something you have to finish it.  A dear friend who is moving to SC gave me her lemon tree.  My house is just not set up to grow a lemon tree in the winter.  Not enough space or light.  So she throw my hat over the fence which finally go us building my long awaited greenhouse.  We started putting up the frame work right after New Years but then it got nasty cold and then windy. I had to did a trench to level the cement pads and get it down a little below ground so I could get the siding down below the bottom of the sill plate and then cover up with rock.   The two outside walls got put up but it was just not a good time to put up the roof rafters.  That got done this past Monday.  I had to put that job on hold because I was away for a few weeks working and I just didn't want Bob up there when no one was home.

Today I put the siding up and it is taking shape.  Tomorrow Bob may get the extra strips up on the roof so we have some places in between the rafters to screw the roof panels too.  We are using a semi clear fiber glass.  It is light weight but should hold up well for many years.  So here are a few photos of what we have done so far.  I think the next project will be trying to make the doors so they open as wide as I can get them and also make them as air tight as possible.  I have hopes of this job being done by Sat afternoon.  Then on to other things which will include starting seeds for my vegetable garden.

 

Check bag in a little while and with any luck there will be photos of a completed greenhouse with some plants inside.