Design Wall Monday - July 30, 2018

My design wall today is the floor in the front hallway:

I am looking at progress on the redwork quilt.  The four borders around the outside are slowly getting finished.  The last time I looked at progress on them was a year ago in (this) post:

Border #1  10 flowers  - finished
Border #2    8 flowers  - 2 to go
Border #3    5 flowers  - 5 to go
Border #4    2 flowers  - 8 to go

I am guessing that there will be 40 flowers in all, 10 per side, and the count is now:

Border #1  10 flowers  - finished
Border #2    9 flowers  - 1 to go
Border #3    6 flowers  - 4 to go
Border #4    3 flowers  - 7 to go

So last July, there were 15 flowers to go, and now there are 12.  At this rate of three flowers a year, it will be four more years before the borders are complete.  But if not very fast, I am at least persistent!  It will get finished, and as was said in one of the opinions on a recent post:  Each quilt has a time to be born, and will be finished when the time is right for it to be finished.

There are 64 inner redwork blocks, and 58 are complete, with 6 to go.  I am getting there!

What is on your design wall today?  It is so enjoyable for me to sit down with a cup of coffee, and browse through the posts to see what you all are doing.  Thank you for participating!  As you know, to participate, please refer to this particular blog post somewhere within your design wall blog post.  

An InLinkz Link-up

Design Wall Monday - July 23, 2018

This week I added a striped binding to this doll quilt, in preparation for entering it in the Churn Dashers group showing at the Mid-Atlantic Quilt Show next Spring.   I like the added interest of a striped binding, and prefer it to any other binding.  This binding is cut 1.25 inches wide, and is single fold.  Next I must add hanging sleeves on all the doll quilts that will be part of this exhibit.  The quilt is 22 in. by 26 in. with hsts finishing at 1 inch.

I blogged about this quilt  (Here) and (Here) and (Here)  On one of these posts, Karen named it "about a gazillion little triangles".  I counted them, because I'm one of those people who count things, and there are 352 hsts in the quilt.  My granddaughter Sophie was here this week, and she named the quilt "Polly".  I am entering it in the quilt show as "Patriotic Polly".

A close-up of the binding:

Indian Pipes (sometimes called "Ghost Plant") are now in our forest at the cabin:

Info about these plants from the Internet:

Unlike most plants, It is white and does not contain chlorophyll.  Instead of generating energy from sunlight, it is parasitic, more specifically a mycoheterotroph.  Its hosts are certain fungi that are mycorrhizal with trees, meaning it ultimately gets its energy from photosynthetic trees.

A closer picture:

They appear suddenly, often after a rainstorm, and are so lovely.  I am often the only one who sees them.......which is why I am so happy to share their beauty with you today!  Indian Pipes is said to have been the favorite wildflower of the poet Emily Dickinson.

Looking forward to seeing your design wall today!  The link up rules are simple - just refer back to this particular blog post within your design wall blog post somewhere.  Thanks!

An InLinkz Link-up

Design Wall Monday - July 16, 2018

First, a picture of our Granddaughter, Jenna, holding Penny.....or I should say Jenna is trying to hold Penny while Penny tries to lick her!  Penny loves the grandchildren and wiggles all over when they pay attention to her.  Jenna just graduated from high school, and we are at her graduation party, celebrating with family.  We are very proud of her.

Pondering this morning on why I have so many unfinished quilting projects.   I read somewhere on the Internet..... (don't know where or when....but I did save these thoughts and authors)....and can relate to most of them:

"My theory is that quilts know their own birthday and for various reasons sometimes you start something and it's just not the right time.  They let you know when they are ready to be completed :=)."  Zelda Lawrence-Curran

"I sometimes put projects away in frustration when I make mistakes.  That was the case with 2 of the UFOs I finished last year.  Once I got back to them, fixing the mistakes wasn't bad.  Frustration had evaporated while they sat around."  Kelly Rosenleaf

"I have 'Oooooh, Shiney!' coupled with 'Look!  A Squirrel!!'.  Bad combination.  I've got to do a major sort, and then I'm planning to line them up like Dave Ramsey debt balances---finish the one with the least to do first, and then the next one, and so on.  We'll see how many I get done!"  Annette Mark Christensen

"3 reasons.  1.  I got bored with it.  2.  I need to make a decision and cannot decide what I want.  3.  I don't like how it's coming out and need to think of a way to salvage it."  Annette Fallucca

"Confession:  I am lazy.  Any excuse after that is a justification, trying to justify why I won't do what I know I should be doing.  This is why I have a lot of grand plans, but never have any follow-through.  I don't like to think of myself as stubborn and rebellious, but what else do you call what I do?  God forgive me for wasting time playing when I should be working!"  Mary Seaman

"I have UFOs because I don't believe in 'making myself' do a hobby.  There are too many unpleasant things in life that you just 'suck it up and do' because they have to be done.  Hobbies are not one of those things for me.  If I'm curious about something, I'll experiment.  Sometimes it takes the entire project to find an answer I'm happy with, sometimes it only takes one block or half a quilt before I get an answer and am no longer curious."  Meg Taylor

Can you relate to any of these?  

This week I am thinking on and deciding what doll quilts I want to enter into the Mid-Atlantic Quilt Show next spring, as part of the Churn Dashers exhibit.  When I decide, I will then write the 'details' page for each quilt (size, name of quilt, etc.) as the Churn Dasher's group leaders need my information before August 1st so they can plan the exhibit.

What is on your design wall this week?  I really enjoy seeing all of your projects, and your progress toward completion.  Thanks for participating.  All I ask is that you please reference back to this particular blog post somewhere within your blog post.  

Happy Design Wall Monday!

An InLinkz Link-up

Design Wall Monday - July 9, 2018

This week I went to a small quilt show in a little town near our cabin.  There were some interesting quilts, but also there were some old quilts wrapped around the bottom of the wood structures holding the quilts (so people wouldn't trip over the wood bases).  Two of these old quilts were ones I would have liked to see hanging in the show - and they were used as a device to keep people from tripping!  My taste in quilts is different than theirs!

Here are pictures of the two:

Pink hexies and thirties fabric - it is adorable!

Thirties stars and a lively sashing - I love it!  I felt sorry for both of them that they were on the floor.

There was one old redwork quilt that interested me, and I enjoyed looking at the squares.  Here's one I liked of a little girl and her doll:

We had a friend visit us yesterday, and he brought his 10 week old golden retriever, Summer, with him.  Here is a picture of Penny (with green collar) and Summer:

They were sure cute together!

I hope you are getting more quilting done that I am, but my excuse this week is that the weather was just perfect, and also we hung the hammock up.  I was outside more than inside, and thoroughly enjoyed being in the hammock, thinking about how beautiful the trees look from there - lying on my back, looking up at the sunshine through all the tall oak tree leaves.  Penny liked the hammock too.  

I welcome your comments, and am trying to respond in spite of Blogger's glitch.  I am sure they will fix it soon, if they haven't already.  

Please join in the show, and post a picture of what's on your Design Wall.  All I ask is that you please refer back to this particular post somewhere within your blog.  Thanks!

An InLinkz Link-up

Design Wall Monday - July 2, 2018

July 4th is Wednesday, and we are at the cabin, where our peaceful sleep is interrupted by firecrackers going off - probably for all this week.  As I get older, I enjoy fireworks less and less.  But I am happy to celebrate our independence as a country.

Here is a peaceful picture of sunset over Lake Michigan:

Maybe the noise will subside and things will be peaceful around here in another week or so.  Puppy Penny Lane, hasn't reacted to the noise, which is great.

Quilting?  Sadly, not anything this week, but I intend to work on the second square of redwork chickens.  Thanks for all of your input!  I agree with those who said you can never have enough chickens.  Also the idea of little children looking for the two squares that are identical will be a fun game to play when the quilt is finished.

So nothing to show this week, as I was working on other things.  Penny Lane has settled into what is expected of her around here, and has reluctantly agreed not to chew on my hands.  Unless she forgets....

She was eating so quickly that some of you suggested a special bowl to help slow her down.  I searched on the internet, and found a tip that just turning her bowl upside down and putting the food in the indented circle around the outside works.  She has to work to get the food out of the indentation, and while it takes her longer to eat, I think she actually chews some of it!  I give her 1/4 cup of food, wait until that is gone and then repeat again for two more times.  Here's a picture off the internet of the concept of the upside down bowl, except Penny's bowl has a narrower space for the food - makes her work even harder to get it quickly.

She is 20 pounds now, and her growth is amazing.  But I could talk about Penny all day - you can see why I haven't been productive in the quilting department.

Happy 4th of July to all the American bloggers out there.  I hope you get more done that I have this week.  Thanks for linking with Design Wall Monday!

Please include a link back to this particular post somewhere within your current post.  I appreciate it so much.

An InLinkz Link-up