Knitting With Wool Yarn In 87 Degree Weather!

I started this scarf almost 5 years ago. It was my project I took on every flight in case there were delays.
It went with me when I was having work done on my car and had to wait.
Anytime I anticipated I might have to wait it was my companion.

I guess I was quite fortunate that I only finished less than half of it in waiting time in those 5 years. That means I didn't have a lot of delays.

I have now decided if I want it finished before 10 years from the starting date I should give it my full attention. That is what I am doing. Only 3 1/2 more sections of colors to go.

And for the second day in a row - a PUZZLE!

Tessellation In Progress On Design Wall

When I posted the tessellation tutorial I didn't have a photo of this one at this stage.
I took this photo and you can see what I have done with the shapes I cut in this layout.
You also see the base is larger than I needed, but that is much better than it not being big enough.
I am still not sure this will be the final layout. I will study it some more and possibly will add or change a few things before I finish it.



This closeup allows you to see the design section better.


And because you asked -- A PUZZLE!

Are Quilts Only For Hanging On Walls?

My five year old grandson came to visit the other night.



I was sitting in a chair below this quilt. He looked at the quilt and said "I like that quilt."
I asked him if he could see any other quilts.


He turned around and said "Yes that is a quilt too."



The door to the bedroom was open and this quilt was on the bed. I asked him if he could see any more quilts. He said he didn't.
I asked him if he saw any quilts in the bedroom.
He went in there and looked around and came out and said he didn't see any quilts.

I then told him to look at the bed. He still didn't see any quilts.

I then explained to him that that was a quilt on the bed and that quilts can be on beds.
He now knows quilts are not just to hang on the wall.

A Perfect Cloudy Day For Stain Glass!

Today was a perfect day to photograph this gorgeous stain glass window we hung in the dining room.
When the sun shines it looks wonderful, but it doesn't photograph well so this is first chance I've had to take a good photo.

I love this window that I purchased years ago at an auction. It was originally in the home of one of the Milwaukee beer barons, but I can't remember which one.

It has taken all this time to find the perfect place to hang it, to have it refinished and to find the perfect chains and hooks to hang it.



In this photo you see the accessories I've chosen to coordinate with the window. My accessories generally come from somewhere else in my house.
I don't have to shop at thrift stores or even other stores.
Many of my things get stored away for months to years to reappear again in a new vignette! Most of them have either been gifts to me or things purchased for very little money. It's not what you spend - it's how you put it together.

Honey, I'm Home!

This is only the second time I have seen our Crepe Myrtle tree bloom in Florida.
I could swear that the blossoms last year were white. I absolutely LOVE the color of these and hated to leave them.

Several days were spent getting the house ready to the house sitters. We are so fortunate to have these great people taking care of the house for us.

We left the house at 9 a.m. and got to the airport and found out our flight was delayed. The delay was no big deal. Got home about 3:15 to foggy rainy COLD weather.


But when I opened the blinds and looked at the yard I could not believe what I saw.
Everything was so lush and green. The shrubs were almost double the size they normally are. We had 2 1/2 large trees taken down last summer and now there is sunlight for the rest of the things to grow.

We also have a bumper crop of dandelions gone to seed in the shrub beds.

I am putting my feet up and just enjoying the green green grass of home!

I am trying to forget about all of the unpacking yet to do!

Contemplating How To Quilt This WOW Quilt

I always spend a lot of time studying each quilt before I quilt it.

This WOW quilt, which does not have it's own name yet, is the one I am studying right now.

I think if I do some quilting from corner to corner on the diamond shapes I can get the effect of gently curving lines.

I like to print the quilt and lay tracing paper on top of the photo to see if I like my ideas.

I can do several different tracings to see which I prefer.

Postcards for Friends

These 3 cards are a story. The "hunk" was leftover from the Red Hat Ladies postcard night. They didn't know what to do with partial "hunk" photos!
I did and the series was delivered to a friend on 3 consecutive days!



The big one that didn't get away!



This is from the fairy tale about the black bear who fell head first in a tub of bleach and came out brown.



This "Honest Injun" vouches for everything I say!

I know my friends shake their heads and laugh when I send these cards.

Fiber Postcards

All of these postcards were ones I made and sent to my youngest grandson. I hope he is enjoying receiving them.


Of course I have to send a flamingo from Florida.


I asked him if the robins are back in Wisconsin yet.



And I also asked him if there are cardinals in his yard.



His favorite color is green so when I found this fish fabric with a green background I had to make a card with it.



One of his favorite Christmas presents was his Gator Golf game so that is why I made this one to send him.



What boy doesn't like Superman?

It is so much fun to make these. I have acquired quite a collection of novelty fabrics while on this journey. Since these are for a child I have made them quite simple with little other than the novelty fabrics. Occasionally I fuse something else onto them.

I also do ones that are slightly more complex for older children and adults. They can be an inside joke, or the idea can come from something someone may say.

Tessellation Tutorial - Preparing Border Fabric - Lesson 10

1. Choose a fabric for your border.
This should be a fabric that sets off the fabrics you have used for your tessellated shapes. Generally it should be a fabric that is not busy and doesn't have too many colors.(This is the fabric I chose.)



2. Cut this the same size as your fleece base.
3. Fuse Wonder Under to the entire back of this fabric.



4. Place border fabric paper side up on a flat surface.

5. Place tesselated shape/fleece piece fleece side up on top of it.

6. Fold back fleece on each side to expose the tesssellated shapes that still have the backing attached to them.



7. Trace around each shape on both sides of the composition.



8. Fold top and bottom to expose those shapes and trace them as you did the ones on the sides.



9. Remove the fleece with the tesselated shapes and this is what the paper on the back of your border fabric will look like. (Of course your tessellated shape will be different than mine so yours will not be an exact replica of mine.)

STOP NOW and wait for Lesson 11.

Doing My Job - Ladies Who Lunch

Today I met another long time friend, Jean to have lunch. For those of you new to this blog, you may not know that it is our "job" as ladies in Florida to lunch.


She suggested we go here. I ordered the ribs although I didn't expect them to be as good as my favorite rib place - Oakwood.
They were excellent, as were the sweet potato fries we each ordered.



Our table outside was within a few feet of the water. Yes, it was another perfect weather day in Paradise! We could see the boat carrying passengers for a ride around the lake.



This sign reminds us NOT to feed the alligators. We didn't see one while we were there.
We did see other "wild life". There were a lot of birds on the railing and the sidewalk. There were pails of peanuts on the tables. Every so often a bird would swoop in and take off with a peanut in his mouth. I tried to get a photo but it almost seemed like they knew what I was doing and didn't want to be caught in the act.


These were some of the flowers in the landscape as we made our way to the car when we finished lunch.



I had to take a photo of this '57 Chevy golf cart that was in the parking lot.
Golf carts are a major method of transportation in The Villages.


I made it home and plopped down in my chair and turned on the TV. Before I knew it I had napped away a big slice of my afternoon!

Tomorrow I'll be working at my job again - out for lunch with another long time friend!

Only 7 more days of work and then I'll join my snowbird friends and family "Up North"!

Slice Quilt - To Market, To Market

This is a slice quilt I participated in.
It was organized and sewn together by my friend Tommy Fitzsimmons.
It was great to see how this all came together.
The variety of techniques and approaches make this a very interesting quilt.



This is the section I made for the quilt, along with the photo I was replicating.
My section is basically a fused piece with additional shading with my Prismacolor Pencils.
The quilting is one of my current favorite designs - wavy lines.

To see more details about this quilt go to Tommy's blog post at:
http://http://tommythematerialgirl.blogspot.com/2011/05/eat-your-vegetables.html

Tessellation Tutorial - Lesson 9

Once you have ALL your tessellated pieces arranged on the fleece it is time to fuse them down.

STOP*****
Read and study these photos before you fuse them to the fleece as the shapes along the edge will be handled differently than the ones in the middle.


You will only remove the Wonder Under's paper backing in the area bound by the black square.



Draw lines from the corner to corner on the back of the shapes that are on the edge of the tessellated design section.

I have turned back some of the edge pieces so you can see where I drew the lines.
For a larger picture just click on this picture.



You can now fuse all the center tessellated shapes to the fleece. Those that still have the paper on the back will not stick to the fleece.

Leave the paper on the back of those until I tell you to remove it.

A Beautiful Day In The Neighborhood

Today was the first day we had relief from the temperatures in the mid 90's.

My friend Jane called and asked if I wanted to go to The Villages for dinner.
It was an absolutely perfect evening to eat outdoors at Margarita Republic on Spanish Springs Square and listen to the music.



This was the view from the restaurant.



After dinner we decided to go to Kilwins with our Buy 1, Get 1 50% off coupon.



My two favorites on waffle cones - Butter Pecan and Peach Ice Cream - single dips!



We decided to walk around the square. The Crepe Mrytle are in full bloom and absolutely gorgeous.



Everyone was in great spirits whether they were listening to the music or out there dancing.



As we walked back to the car, I took this photo of the flowers on a corner. There are many corners with equally lovely floral displays.

Are we lucky or what, to live near this adult Disneyland?

Fragments - My Week In Pieces

I'm taking a break today from the Tessellation Tutorial series to share a few things from the week.

It's been a good week - and I've accomplished a lot - and so have some other people!



You do remember me talking about the BIG Potato Chip quilt my friend Kay Webb was making, don't you?

She has made great progress on it. It will be a bed sized quilt.

This is what she had to say about it this morning:

The quilt currently is 102 in x 55 in. It’s not there yet. I like it because it resembles what I think a grandmother would do, back in the day. That is just add strips of whatever, whenever there was time.
It is not the right size yet, and it’s at a point where I can hear one of my professor saying, ok, push it…………….so I am going to push it, to get it THERE………..LOL more pictures will come.

She is a very busy lady, and yet she is accomplishing great things. I can't wait to see more.

Thursday I met my long time friend Sally for lunch one more time before I head north.
We met at B D Beans, one of my favorite places for lunch, but also convenient for each of us as almost a half way point between where we each live.


Guess this must be a friend of Sally's!


This is what the temperature on my car thermometer registered when we left B D Beans!

It has been in the mid 90's everyday recently. Yesterday it rained, something we always need. It cooled down and I was able to enjoy breakfast on the lanai.

I've also been making more postcards. I am having so much fun.

I forgot to take photos of most of them I have already sent. If I show some I haven't sent yet, it could spoil the fun for the recipients.



I sent this one after the Kentucky Derby.

Often friends will make a comment which gives me an idea for a card I will make and send to them.

These cards are not Art Cards. They are Fiber Cards made from quilting cottons. I had some in my fabric collection that started me down this trail. We are fortunate to have a wonderful quilt shop about 3 miles from here. They have a broad array of fabrics. They also have a fantastic collection of novelty fabrics and it necessitated a trip there this week to add to my collection.

I think I've make close to 50 already. And to think, this started when I invited the Red Hat group to my home to make post cards. Who'd a thought!