FFF - Earthly Delights

Happy Friday!  Today I'm posting a few garden shots.  Overall it's been a tough year here in NJ with all the heat and drought.

Here are my front pots.  I went with a lime green and red scheme and for a foliage look instead of blooms.

This one is at the front door -

A pot of New Guinea Impatiens.  The impatiens I planted look horrible all leggy and sad - to much heat this year :(

Hydrangea bush seems happy -

Finally!  Here is the bird I watch for all summer.

I hung the humming bird feeder in May.  Nothing, zilch.  Then last Friday on a cloudy and rainy day, he came 8 times that I counted.  Yesterday he came again several times, it was also a cloudy, rainy day.

Thanks little hummingbird!  You have completed my summer bird feeding dreams!  Click here to see what a happened last year.

Have a fun filled weekend everyone.

Stars & Crowns

So, I didn't intend to make a commemorative Olympic quilt this time around......but I did.

Here is liberated Stars & Crowns -

The agony of the bleeding.  One of the blues ran :(
I have worked on it, but it is not coming out.  I had 2 color catchers in the wash, but it folded on itself before the spin cycle.

It started with an idea and a 5 minute sketch.  I had thought I'd make just little quilt.  I wanted to showcase the US and GB since we both have RW&B flags.  I bound it in gold which I thought looked great, which surprised me.

Here you can see how I visually worked out the 2, which I thought was the toughest shape.

Here is a close up of the liberated elements.  I machine quilted it in a diamond pattern.

Making these letters was easy and fun -

I rearranged the continents from a panel that I had to fit as many as I could.  My daughter called it "mom's Pangea".

Simple label -

I used YLI Kimono Silk Thread and a Microtex 70/10 needle with Hobbs 80/20 batting.   I'm still making fabric balls after trimming the edges.

This gives you an idea of size.  It's more like a banner.  In this photo you can see the blue bleed before the 2nd washing and oxi-clean, etc.

Happy Summer 2012 Olympics everyone - See you Rio!

Now what are we going to watch?

Fun For Friday - Pop Culture

Happy Friday.  This week I thought I'd post my summer pop culture review of fun.

Books:  Loving the "it" book of summer, almost finished.

Television:  Always fun to watch what happens.

Movies:  My summer favorite; Moonrise Kingdom.

Video Gaming:  It's a lot of exercise disguised as dancing and so fun!!

Music:  Cold Play is on tour and came to New Jersey.

Okay, so technically I didn't go to the concert, but Hanna and her special visitor from school said it was awesome.

I'll bet it's really fun to be 19 years old.  They will be reunited  on campus end of next week.  A special hello to my friend, Caroline, thanks for being such a blog fan! :)

Have a fun weekend everyone!

Patriotic Medallion Quilt

I'm sharing an older quilt today, as I've been watching the Olympics and hand quilting this past week.

This was a Garden State Quilters guild challenge in 2006 to celebrate our 25th Anniversary.

I designed this quilt to resemble the old political bandannas of the late 1800s.  The bandanna was custom made for our guild.

I inked all the black that you see.

Click Here to visit the website where these were made.

I "made" the Lincoln cameo by fusing it on the fabric and then over inking it.

It was fun to pick out the various shirtings and prints.  I used americana themes as much as possible.

This Mary Koval print was perfect for fussy cutting the corner.

What the?  Shame on me!  No Label?  I will correct this soon.

So, can you find where my math went astray and how I managed to save this quilt?

BLT - a classic and perfect for hot evening when you don't want to "cook".  Miracle Whip?  Yep, midwestern through and through.

Look at the size of the tomato slice.  crazy.

Happy HOT August.

FFF - Olympics!

Happy Friday!  I hope you have been enjoying the games in London.

I added some U.S. objects the London objects on the mantel and hung lights, our Olympic torches, he he.

And here is coco in the canine all-around olympic events:

Diving:  9.9 (for ear cuteness)

Sunbathing:  9.8

Staying up late for prime time coverage:  8.0

Watching daytime coverage:  8.5 (for use of pillows)

Finishing Kibble in record time:  10

Decorating her sleeping crate:  10+

coco's final overall combine score earns her Olympic Gold.                      Good Girl coco!

And for added fun this week, I got a patriotic pedicure.

Have a Great Weekend and Go Olympians - whatever the country or sport.