The weather has been so nice this past week. Even my kitties went outside - to find some shade to sit in. It was that HOT. That kind of weather is so nice to have, but can also be frustrating because it puts me in a dilemma. It's too nice out to stay indoors, but when I go out there, it's too hot be out there. So I'd go back in the house, and feel guilty for not being outside. What to do? Pray for rain?
Anyhoo, we finally started getting some rain yesterday, which was a good thing because all the trees were looking unhappy. Now they look happy again. And the nice thing is that it gave me a break from having to water everything in my garden beds. BTW, my peas are sprouting!!! YAY! The only thing I'm waiting to see yet is my carrot sprouts. Also, Chuck was pointing out that we still had three more blue Lowe's buckets that weren't being used, so we planted more cucumber seeds in them. If they don't produce anything, it won't be a big deal. He just hated seeing those buckets sitting around when we could be using them to plant something, so the important thing is - the buckets are being used.
The forecast says that the temps are supposed to get cooler with and on/off showers now for the next few days, which I am very thankful for because we are gonna be leaving for Wisconsin tonight, and a little bit of rain and cool temps will help my kids out a little bit, since I am leaving my garden under their care. Now that I have my garden well established and growing, I will be very hard to live with if they kill everything that I've worked so hard for.
So, what have I been working on? Whenever I go "home", I always want to bring something for my mom, so I made her these little jars:
I've been saving all my glass spice jars as I empty them because they are too nice to throw away. So I converted these into treat jars. I have them filled with chocolate covered plums, and chocolate covered cranberries.
I also made this placemat for her. These colors always remind me of her for some reason, so I thought it would be perfect for her.
I know it's a little bit skewed, but she knows that I'm still a beginner quilter, and I know she will like it. I also made this Halloween one to give to one of my sisters:
I used the same pattern for both of them, which I copied from this:
It's one of those "Quilt Block of the Month" patterns that you can find at JoAnn's. I've been collecting them because I like the block patterns. I know it's supposed to be used for making a whole quilt, but I just use them individually to make place mats. Maybe I will actually make a quilt out of them some day.
Another project that I just started yesterday is sorting and cutting down all my fabric scraps. I've had this bin of scraps sitting in my closet for YEARS, and now that I'm just starting to get "into" quilting, I've been digging through them, trying to find what I can use up.
I know my collection of fabric scraps is pretty small compared to most quilters, but I want to "nip it in the bud" while it's still feasible and not too overwhelming. These are my bigger pieces that I don't want to cut down just yet. But my smaller pieces, I have been cutting down:
I'm about half way through this stack. I found some ideas on the internet what other people do with their scraps so I'm using some of their ideas. I am cutting them into different sizes of squares and different widths of strips, depending on how big the fabric piece is. Eventually I will have enough to make a scrap quilt.
Right now I am just putting them in plastic sandwich bags, but I'm sure I will eventually have to use a different system, using bins or something. But as of right now, the plastic bags are working, just to help me get started. I was hoping to get through the rest of that stack before we leave for our trip, but I don't know if that will be possible, with the laundry and the packing and the cleaning yet that I have to do. I'm actually surprised I'm using up my time writing this post, but I wanted to say "goodbye" before I left. Hopefully, when I get back, I'll have some interesting pictures and stories to share.
'til then!
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