Cold Snap and Scrap Attack, and Some New Free Motion Designs of My Own!

Like everyone else, I've been glued to my TV watching the aftermath of the horrible storm in Oklahoma that happened this week.  My mom's side of the family are all originally from Oklahoma, but none of them, thankfully, were affected.

State of Oklahoma

One of the best things about quilting your own quilt is that you can stitch anything you want into it.  I love stitching little "hidden messages" into my quilts.  I've been trying to finish up my "Scrap Attack Quilt this week, and decided to stitch the state of Oklahoma into one of the blocks.  It's hard to see, but it's there.

Topo Map

Cells

Protozoa

Spirochetes

I decided that since this is a scrappy sampler quilt, that the quilting should be as well.  It was also a great excuse to practice some of the designs I have wanted to try but didn't want to commit to a whole quilt. Here are some of my favorite designs.  A few are from Leah Day's website, but I'm trying more and more to create my own.  I made up some "cells", "spirochetes", and "protozoa".  I love Leah's "topo map" design, and will for sure be doing this again, as well as my very own new ones  I also attempted a "stream bed", and tried again to learn to like pivoting designs, but alas, I'm afraid I really don't like them.  Hate to admit it, but I really don't like traditional feathers either... not even enough to attempt them, but maybe my next design will be real feathers :-).

I also decided that I'd try to use a thread that doesn't "match" the sashing, and like how that turned out too!  I'm hoping to finish up the border and binding today or tomorrow.

Finally, here's a shot of our garden that I took last night as the sun was going down.  We had a record cold snap last night, and got a good freeze, but luckily our efforts to protect everything worked.  A few weeks ago we had record high temperatures.  I can't help wondering if the massive tornadoes and our record temperature extremes are related to global climate change.  I believe that they are.  We as a family have taken many steps to try to minimize our impact, but I sure wish governments would step up to the plate and address this most important issue.

WIP / Weedless Wed

This is the time of year, that my WIP's become edible LOL!  I still have most of these on my kitchen counter, waiting to be cut up and frozen!  I love how fresh and cheap produce is this time of year, and take full advantage of its abundance!  I've also been busy here:

and here:

We also lost a friend, neighbor, and co-worker's wife this past week, which has left us all in a sad mood, and kept us busy with the visitation, funeral, condolences, and preparations for these.  This friend was 50 years old, and left behind a husband and 3 children, so it's particularly difficult.  It's left me very reflective and once again, reminds me how each day is a real treasure.

I did manage to get a quilt back all sewn up for my now oldest WIP/UFO.  Here's the front, but you'll have to wait to see the back, because I decided to splurge, and send it off to my friend Marlene to do on her long arm!

I have another back almost finished for my next-oldest WIP/UFO.  Here's the top:

This is going to be a real "manly" quilt ;-).  With temperatures hovering around 100 here, I've decided to wait until the fall to quilt.  For now, my goal is to get backs made for all the rest of my WIP's, which now is only a half dozen or less!!!

As usual, I'm linking up with Lee at Freshly Pieced WIP Wed.  Come see what others are working on!

WIP and Weedless Wednesday: Triangles and Okra

I spent the last day or 2 FINALLY finishing putting the binding onto my oldest WIP/UFO!!!  I had the binding corners from both it and my "Purple Haze" quilt sitting next to my sewing machine, and they looked so good, that I had to sew them all together.  I have a few strips of binding left over from both as well, so I've been having fun playing around with them!

By the way, my Purple Haze Quilt did not win any prizes at the festival, but the winners were much-deserved, so I'm still very happy.  On other news, my Med Tech Quilt also came back from its trip to the national ASCLS convention in Los Angeles!  I'm still so thrilled that I had the opportunity to share this with other med techs!!

I did the same thing with triangles from my Olympic Inspired quilt which still isn't finished.  I have been having WAY too much fun watching the Olympics on TV each night!  How about those women's gymnasts last night?!  Yea!!!

Here's my (unnamed) UFO finish:

I started this quilt 2 1/2 years ago with a friend.  We took her stash and both made the pattern in one long afternoon.  We both ended up with a big quilt top, but after I got it home, it sat untouched for 2 years.  I think I spent far too much time talking with my girlfriend than matching up colors LOL.  I finally dug it out a few months ago, and first quilted it, then finally got the binding on this week.  The colors just aren't "me" at all, although the back is all my stash fabric, and that's as close as I possibly could match it.  Since my friend and I both have husbands who fight wildfires, I decided that this will be donated to the Phoenix Quilt Project, which is trying to gather enough quilts to donate to each family who lost a home during this year's wildfire season.

When it comes to the garden, today is a very much celebrated day for me!!  The first okra blossom has appeared!  Yea!!

We also have cucumbers starting to roll in, and more red starting to appear here and there!  I just love this time of year!

If you're still with me, thanks for reading, and go check out what others have been working on over at Freshly Pieced WIP Wed.

The Monday Garden Post

As usual, we (meaning mostly my husband, with my assistance) got a lot done in our garden and yard over the week-end.  We finished up our yard garden patch, amending the soil, hooking up irrigation (we only average 12 inches of rain here), and planting some peppers and some local Walla Walla onion starts, next to the new strawberry bed.  My husband also dug up 3 sorry Hydrangeas that had been planted in full shade by a former house owner, and we have a few ornamental ready to plant in their place: Columbine, Bleeding Heart, and a new one to us, Helleborus.  It's become a tradition to buy me a few plants each year for Mother's Day!  I love it!  I also got my bird feeder which is all set up and starting to attract birds!  YEA!!

I'm glad we waited to plant the peppers this week, as we got a really hard frost this past week that did a lot of serious damage to many plants and trees in the area, including some of our trees.  Looks like once again, our fruit trees will be non-productive this year.  I guess there's a reason that there we have to drive a good hour to see any orchards in this part of Oregon/Washington.  Thankfully, we have a great farmer's market!!  Luckily, our "Wall O' Water" season extenders kept our tomato plants nice and safe!

This isn't the best pictures, but we also ate our first veggies from the garden over the week-end.  I just love the first spring lettuce and radishes!  So incredibly fresh and yummy!

I hope all of you had a great Mother's Day week-end, and hope that you'll grow an edible plant or 2 (or more) this summer!  I always love to hear what's growing in your garden too!!