Design Wall Monday

Or in my case it's design bed Monday!  For the link up at Judy's Patchwork Times.  My first time.  Here are my Pink blocks or half of them anyway.  I still need to make the alternate blocks.  I'm sort of loosely using the Happily Scrappy Irish pattern from Bonnie Hunter's book Adventures with Leaders and Enders.  I had cut many many scraps into 2 1/2 inch squares before I discovered that they should have been 2 inches!  No way was I doing that over!  I'll have enough blocks for a throw and a twin quilt, I think.  ( Plus uncounted four patches I didn't use in these!)

It's really hard to get a good photo at this stage, sigh.  Simba, the dog wanna be, can't wait for me to finish the quilt before he lays on it, silly cat.  I should get at least some of the alternate blocks done this week (cutting white tonight) but it won't be a finished top until I get back from vacation.

Still hot, still dry, still hate it.

Hot, dry and smoke!

It continues to be very hot (in the triple digits most days) and very dry (no rain yet).  Add a strong wind and you have fire weather alerts to go along with the excessive heat warnings.  It should not have come as a surprise when a friend of Tanya's called to say they saw smoke from our neck of the woods.  She and I went to investigate (wish we'd taken the truck-hot out there).  There was quite a bit of smoke and the definite smell of wood burning the further we walked down the street.  Almost chocking at one point before we wised up and looked at the news on our cell phones!  News report is that there are at least three homes on fire in the subdivision across the road from us-I can hear the new helicopter over head now.  The many of the houses over there have wood roofs and when they go they really go! The fire department has called for extra crews so I'm sure they will have it under control soon.  I feel for the families though, it's tough getting over a fire.

HOT!

We are back into the triple digits here and there is no end in sight.  Added to that we have had very little rain (probably not even an inch) for two (maybe three) months.  All the rain in the world will not resurrect my grass.  It crackles under foot, even the parts that haven't turned totally straw colored.   The trees are shedding leaves and the undergrowth in the park is dying (We could not without so much understory but it's odd.)  The creek is dry upstream and that dryness is moving down everyday.   The news folks report that we are in 2 of the four kinds of drought and that it is the worst since the dust bowl years of the 1930's.  I am watering my gardens but will surely lose a plant or two.  I moved the planters and most of the pots off the deck and under it-where it is shady at least.  I don't know it they will perk up or not.  For the moment the big pots in the front are looking good, but they get more shade, and my basil and other herbs are good, that shade thing again!  Quinn won't set foot on the deck after the sun hits it full and won't walk on anything but grass when we walk to the park.  Those walks are in the morning at 6:15am-before I've even opened my eyes!  We try about 8:30pm but if it's too hot we stay home, last night it was still over 100F so we stayed home.  She doesn't like it but she also sports a long double fur coat so the heat is worse for her.  (Tomorrow she's going to camp so she won't care if she misses a walk or two!)  Summer is my least favorite season, always has been, even though I love to swim I just do not enjoy anything when it's hot.  Oddly enough since there's been relatively no rain, this summer has been the worst for the allergy/asthma thing!

On tap for today; laundry, sewing and a nap!

Scrap Happy Saturday in Blues

I have two sets of blue blocks this week!  Blue is my favorite color, have to force myself to buy other colors.  If I don't everything in my house and my closet would be blue!  So one set of darker blue.  Then because great minds run in the same direction I had already decided to add blocks in turquoise before our leader suggested it!

And finally, all the blocks put together:

I have a set of lime green blocks prepped to add as well, making up for some of the colors I won't want to add.

I've been working on a leader and ender project as well and have reached assembly of the blocks.  A lot harder then I imagined!  I thinks I shall name it "It's Pink!"

On other fronts:  Our family is one larger this week!  Yesterday Baby E joined my daughter's family from Foster care.  He's 7 months old and weighs 12 lbs having been born 2 months early.  I've never seen a 7 month old that still wore newborn clothes!  All mine were so big when they were born that they wore 3 mo sizes home from the hospital (and then only for about two weeks!)  He's a happy little guy and very strong.  Rolling over and trying to get up on his knees.  We really didn't think this day was going to come, thought he'd go back to his birth mom-and he may yet.  That would break our hearts.  I'm so glad to finally get to hold him and love him!

What's the deal with cats?

Quinn has a big wire crate.  She doesn't spend much time in it any more, just when I'm leaving home as she sleeps loose in my room at night.  Why is it that most every day I go in my room and see this?

Added to that, I keep a big bowl of water in the kitchen for all the pets, where do these cats drink?  From the small bowl I keep for Quinn in her crate.  I will never figure them out.

4th of July

Happy Independence Day!


(Even if the Declaration wasn't ratified by the whole Continental Congress on July 4th!)


Have fun, play safely with the fireworks and if you live in one of the plains states, keep the hose handy!


Blessed Be.

Tanya's Bags

Today I finished my first UFO for July!  Well really seven to be exact.  Seven little bags I made for Tanya out of fabric that came from her Mom.

I showed them to her yesterday--she loved them!  I hope she uses them.