Five Small Memory Quilts

I quilted five memory quilts for my friend that I sit by in church.  I put them all on the frame together and used the same backing.

I butted them together and just kept quilting with Circle Lord Swirls.

 A lady at church asked me to quilt her Bethlehem Star quilt.  She has worked so hard for a few years to piece this quilt for her daughter.

Here it is in front of my husband's pepper "garden".  (He has six pepper plants that he grows in buckets.)

She requested that I quilt this one with Circle Lord Swirls Giant Template Board.  

The yellow thread that I had on hand just sunk right in to this quilt and did not take away from the beautiful design.

I sit by this friend in church most weeks.  We always talk about how God brought us together one evening at a church dinner.  We just happened to be placed at the same table because of how many people were in our group.  The other couple at the table knew that I was a quilter and mentioned something that she saw me post on instagram.  That was the start of it all.  We then couldn't stop talking about quilts and flowers.  She is amazing at growing flowers!  She loves to save seeds and share them with friends.  

Below is a picture of my poppy plant from earlier this year.  She gave me this plant start.  I carefully planted it in the "protected area" of my chicken yard.  I don't want the chickens to destroy these plants, but the dirt in this area is so rich that I don't want to give it up to the chickens.  I do let little chicks in the area because they don't seem to do the damage that the big flock does.  But isn't this poppy stunning?

I decided to move the ornamental grass out of the protected area after the poppy finished blooming.  I have plenty of it on the property.  I'm making room for more beautiful poppies next spring.

Quilting Complete for a Friend

 I finished the quilting on the quilt that belongs to my 94-year old friend.

I quilted it with using the Circle Lord Giant Swirls.  Oh I miss the designs of Circle Lord since they are no longer in business.  Their boards are longer and more sturdy quality that other brands.  This is one of the favorites among the people that I longarm quilt for.  I love that my friend put extra borders on this one.  She has come so far in the last six or seven years with her quilting skills.  Though her arthritus continues and her eyesight isn't what it used to be, her work is still beautiful.  She is "old school" and cuts each square by tracing a template and using scissors.

Hope you are having a great holiday weekend!

On the Frame

 I have some quilting/sewing to do.  I've decided to interrupt my busy schedule to post about them.  

This quilt belongs to my friend that is 94.  I have quilted so many quilts for her.  I've had it to quilt for her since the beginning of July.  She's in no rush for it, but it's time to finish it and get it back to her.  Her eyesight isn't as good as it once was, but her mind is sharp as a tack.  You can see the big seams on the back of the quilt.  But look how beautifully the squares match up and the multiple borders she has learned in the past six or seven years that I have been quilting for her.  She still cuts each square with scissors.  For this quilt her son made her a square template out of the side of a milk carton.  She has learned that the cardboard square that she was using was getting smaller as she used it as she carefully traced around it with a pencil on the back of the fabric.  That is what caused previous quilts to be wider and the beginning and more narrow as she sewed.  She doesn't cut all her squares at once.  She cuts them as she needs them and then sews the row together!  Some days she only sews a few blocks together, some days she does two rows.  I know she still loves to go through the scrap bags!

Bob Ross Paint Night #3

 This week at our local library I painted this painting.

I love the snow texture on the "happy little trees".  

How it works... library patrons sign up on the first day of the month for the Monday night class.  They gather in a corner of the library.  Tables are already set up with a paper towel and the paints/paint colors named on them. Tools are set like a table setting, water glass, napkins, and all.  There's a large tv screen that plays a Bob Ross video.  We paint along and rewind when necessary.  When the hour is up we look at each other's paintings and are amazed that each one turned out uniquely cool.  We say our goodbyes and hope to see each other the following month.  :). It's such an awesome FREE program!

Bob Ross Painting #2

Last week at the library I attended my second Bob Ross night event.  It was sooooo relaxing.  I love how this painting came out.  The "happy little trees" really do make me happy.

Fall Plant Updates

 This weekend I worked on moving and caring for some of my outdoor plants.  Let's start with the poppy plant that a friend gave me early in the summer.  It finally bloomed THIS WEEKEND!!!

It survived the freeze, frosts, and one snowfall.  I touched the above bloom and it popped open.  Hopefully seeds will fall.  I will wait a little longer since this is literally a late bloomer this year to trim it back and mulch it.  I planted some seeds nearby it of a fluffy pink variety.  Can't wait to see what spring will bring.

Foxglove (free seeds from the library) really produced plants, but they did not bloom this year.  I transplanted them EVERYWHERE.  Here they are in the orchard to see if the deer are going to eat them.

Underneath all this wonderful compost dirt from the woods are daylilies.  A friend from church gave them to me.  I can't wait to see what color they are.  (She forgot.) She has AMAZING flower gardens!  Two little lily plants that she gave me are from an earlier time this year.

The 92-year old lady that I longarm quilt a lot for gave me purple Bellflower plants.  I have been wanting these for over 20 years!  Here's a whole bed of them planted this week.  I dug them from her house on Tuesday.  I planted them on Friday morning...in the light rain... in my pajamas.  I got them in just before the big rain.  God watered them in for me.

The same friend also gave me a bag of blue Forget-Me-Nots.  They were a handful of dried up plants that she grabbed from her flowerbed thrown into a McDonald's paper bag.  She told me to plant half of them then (in September) and half of them in the spring after the frost.  They are a biennial.  The first group of plants are doing great.  I haven't trimmed back my snaps in the old kettle yet.  On the warm Ohio days a bloom pops out now and then still.

These next plants are ones I'm super excited about (from my 92-year old friend as well).  They are called Red Hot Pokers.   They get 36" to 48" tall.  I can't wait to see the bright colors against the old berry barn as a backdrop.  It sits out of the way (not used anymore) in one of the fields.  I mow this area.  I can't wait to be driving on the mower and seeing this surprise.

Along the back side of the old berry barn are more blue Bellflowers.

Here's a tiny plant of Beebalm (Monad).  I think this is the light maroon version.  I'm not sure.  I remember seeing it blooming in her flowerbed and asked her if she had enough of that if she would give me some.  

Below are more Red Hot Pokers planted next to $1 clearanced mums from our local Tractor Supply store.  There is are also some lams ear in this row.  I'm sure as things progress that I will have to move something as they grow.  The chickens and cats LOVE to go under this coop.  It's were the good dirt is perfect for the chickens to take a dust bath and the cats to hide and look for mice.  I have to put hardy things here because the chickens like to root them out if I don't carefully watch them.

I also planted over 300 daffodil bulbs that I dug out of my big flowerbed that was too much in the shade for daffodils.  I moved them out to the ditch by the road, along the driveway, and on the sunny edge of the woods.  I can't see what produces flowers in the spring.  I've owned and moved these bulbs for over 30 years from the house I had before I was married to here.  It was time to break them up anyways.  I know there will still be a ton of bulbs that come up in the flowerbed where I got them.  I'll try to get them out of there when I start weeding in the spring.  

That's all for now.  Hopefully I will get more things moved and ready for winter with a few days off for Thanksgiving break.