It may seem silly to mourn a tree, but this poor old gal was our oldest and last pear tree. She weathered 3 tornados (yes, NY gets tornados), several floods, Irene - BUT two days of heavy rains, winds, and extreme lightening finally toppled this old gal.
Another tree with lightening strike.
A Cherry tree lossed - and two new ones crushed by her fall. We had a few trees fall along the old logging lane, but some of those are leaning and I didn't feel safe to venture that direction on a breazy day for photos.
And I totally forgot to take photos of the long lane - my poor brother has had to re-grade our drive three times from the heavy rain run-off damage.
Being a former timber farm, fruit farm, x-mas tree farm - we love our trees and mourn their untimely loss - now for a long clean up process, but we are in for more storms the next few days - hopefully we don't lose more trees.
And my poor fur babies - relaxing after some scarey moments. Bella spent most of her time either clinging to my neck or on top of the frig and Moe hung out in the bathtub.
I hope everyone who was in the wake of these storm cells are safe,
Sewingly Yours,
Sharon
I hope you are being encouraged to dust off those books, magazines, patterns, and net downloads. We have that long list of 'I want to make' and then let it sit - or add to it. Me list had a dog mini for my Vet on it so I pulled out this book and wanted to use the cover quilt - modified.
I went to my scrap basket and pulled 'doggy' items and fun prints - we want our pets to have fun at the Vet's office right? Luckily mine only take their annual trek and that is always a fun trip! (shhh - Moe cries like a baby the whole time) See, I had to take those Santa hats off - a minor adjustment to the pattern.
Here's the finished quilt. I wanted it fun and fresh. I tried beads and buttons and other embellishments for the dog's faces, but in the end I decided to stay with just the plain setting. The day I delivered it, she was in surgery, but she called later to thank me. Have you ever made a little something to thank someone who supplies you with a service?
July's Barn Pin and Charm (jewel box)
Now it's your turn to link up - linky open until next Aug. 4th (10pm EST)
Sewingly Yours,
Sharon
As most of you know, my SIL shares my sewing space. I have to brag on her for a bit as she has really grown as a quilter. This was a free pattern she found HERE. She used 'Audra's Iris Garden' by Brannock & Patek for Moda. It was funny as I was playing with some mini charms of this line at the same time. And the little pinwheel dolly quilt I sent to Get Your Mrs Clause On - yup, the cut-offs from this quilt.
And this was a kit she picked up on a great sale at Connecting Threads. Yes, a rail fence is considered an easy block, but this one had 7 rails at 1.5" (1" finished) - so some real challenges in the 1/4" seam accuracy. Tips I gave her - lay a bed of tape to hold that seam line and LOTS of starch when pressing (don't man handle). I just loved the fabrics in this one.
Both were quilted by one of our local longarmers - they collaberated on the motif design used on both and he named it for her - Jeri's Popcorn Flower.
She's now working on a project out of my Scrap Basket Quilts book and can't wait to share the finish photos.
Hope you all had a safe and lovely weekend,
Sewingly Yours,
Sharon
This was suppose to be a year of small projects. Somehow that got out of alignment. I was shocked to see my piecing thread down so low. Now that cone was started June 6th (had a blog post on that) - and I have a full cone there so you can see just how much I have used. And yes, there has been other threads used for quilting.
That's where I have been hanging - trying to get that pile of 'to be quilted' into a controlled state. Also, some secret sewing and dead-line projects ticked off the list. Yeah, I got that cool new lime green (Black & Decker) iron just for fun. Well, sometimes my SIL and I battle for the iron, so a second ironing board and iron entered the room. I, also, noticed that my two favorite rulers are horribly worn - my 6.5" square and 6.5" x 13" (which I actually cut off a corner the other day). I like to use the same maker rulers so all my cuts are the same thru my work. So 90 percent of my rulers are Easy Rule by Sharon Hultgren (and made in the USA) - rulers and some other supplies/notions are ordered.
Today I needed a break so did some purging. I went thru my drawer carts that are suppose to hold those less than a yard but bigger than a FQ - HA! So FQ size got moved down into the FQ totes, and strips/scrap size got moved down into that basket that I was so trying to empty. See - it's never ending. But the drawers are all nice a neat, FQ totes refreshed, and I have a nice variety of scraps to play with for block making.
A few more blocks added - those mini eclair plastic boxes hold those 6" blocks perfectly. One is full and I am working on filling the second one. And the lids are in the back there - holding some other cuts for leader/ender projects going.
One of those leader/enders is the lazenge blocks (Bonnie Hunter). I needed just a dozen more of the lite corner ones so I whipped those off and was able to clean up those 2" squares into their respective barrel. I need to count my black corner lazenges to see what is left for a finish - maybe there is just a dozen or so there and I'll just whip them off, too. Then they will become a leader/ender of sewing twosies.
I haven't had too many kitty photo opportunities - or just too buried in projects - so I'll catch Moe taking a nap tonight while I am typing this up. Moe is in the dog house - he has lost 6 new flea collars in 6 days. Yes, he takes them off (break-a-way collars) himself. Like some people have electic dog fences around their property - I think we have Moe flea collars around our property. Maybe he figures if he places them around the perimeter it will keep the fleas out and he won't have to wear one.
I have a little more secret sewing to finish tomorrow and then handsewing bindings/hanging sleeves to do for the weekend. I'm hoping the weather cooperates, too, as I have to take a lot of photos of projects - then I can breath the last few days of the month. You probably won't hear from me until Tuesday's post for the link-up for 'Let's Book It' - so have a lovely weekend.
Sewingly Yours,
Sharon
