TGIF

Thank goodness it's finally Friday!!  My pink hydrangea was one of the bright spots in my week.  You can see a fading bloom on the left, which was the only one that survived wildlife nibbling this summer. But then suddenly we got a nice new bloom popping out - in September - and there are 3 more tiny blossoms trying to grow.  My big white/lime green hydrangeas have never bloomed again in the fall, so this is exciting to see. Maybe it's just a fluke because of the heavy rain and heat we've had in the last 2 weeks. 

Some weeks are just not as productive as a person would want.  I have wasted so much of my week fighting with my computer, which is trying to die a slow death.  All day Tuesday was spent trying to get it to reboot properly and actually allow me to open programs. What a waste of time!!  I finally just went down to my sewing room and put on that binding on the OBW quilt. That was a good stress reliever, but I haven't gotten very far in hand stitching it down. Next week the IT guru will have my new laptop ready for me - hopefully.  And in the meantime, I'm slowly figuring out "work arounds" to some of my work tasks - and NOT getting any more sewing done.  

More binding to do

I was very excited to get a call this morning to say my One Block Wonder was quilted and ready to pick up.  Before noon I had picked it up and by supper time I had the orange binding attached. Now for some hand stitching.

Saturday Sampler blocks

My September blocks for Saturday Sampler are done. These were very fast to make.  And again the light difference just baffles me. The background is the same in both blocks, but the color is more accurate in the second photo. And the crazy thing is I took them about 2 minutes apart in the same location from the same angle.  How is that possible? 

Design Wall Monday - Cutting up a charm pack

Lots of sewing time on Sunday.   I was looking through a small container and found several charm packs that have been languishing for who knows how long.  There were 4 of them in there that I can't remember any specific project they may have been purchased for.  So I pulled this one out to use for Ritzy Cracker blocks because there were 2 of every charm and they are all bright and happy colors and prints. 

I cut the whole charm pack into the needed parts - one is cut in half diagonally and the other is cut in half vertically.  I sewed a few and the others will be Leader and Ender pieces.  I'll keep going through my stash of white backgrounds and pull out pieces big enough to use for these.  Having blocks ready to sew into a quilt is much better than just having the charm pack in a drawer or bin. And these make good "mindless" sewing when I only have a little bit of time. 

Check out Design Wall Monday - https://smallquiltsanddollquilts.blogspot.com/

Farm Girl Vintage 2

The sequel to Farm Girl Vintage has come out, and our Sew Vintage group is going to play with the fun designs.  Our challenge for October was the Pumpkin block. I’ve been playing.

This n That

I had planned to post this picture early this morning to show that my binding is all done on the Christmas quilt.  But - we have had crazy weather the past 2 nights and evidently it had a huge impact on our Internet service in this area.  Access was finally restored this afternoon in my neighborhood although it's still really slow. 

In the past 48 hours we've had about 11 inches of rain. 7.5" fell last night and this whole region is suffering from major flooding.  Main Street literally had a river running down it last night and the nearest river is a couple of miles from town so it was just from the heavy rain.  I'm personally lucky as I had only a little seepage in the basement and right now my sump pump is keeping up - barely. Lots of homes and businesses have feet of water in them.  The interstate is closed west of town due to water over the road and several other area highways have the same.  

The night before we had about 4" of rain and wind - and that storm moved east very rapidly. Three tornadoes hit the city of Sioux Falls from that storm.  My daughters' families were all safe with just a little tree damage thankfully.  

This has been a crazy wet summer already, so we didn't need half a year's worth of rain in 48 hours on top of saturated soil.  But that is what Mother Nature has given us. I just hope we have some dry weather in the forecast. 

US map pillow

I love a finish!! Even when it's a small item, it's so satisfying.  My 22" pillow has a grey print envelope back and a "binding" around the outside edges.  You can zoom in to find your home state. Each state name is unique. 

Update: This panel is called Metropolis and is by Moda.  I bought it at Heart and Hand in Sioux City but was able to find it online by Googling it.  It also comes with a black background.  And there is a Canadian version.