5 inchers arrived and quilt top almost complete

First I'd like to welcome a new follower!  Thanks for coming along Lizard Breath!

A while ago I sent in 20 - 5" I Spy squares for an exchange at  Lollyquiltz- which I forgot to photograph!  Natch! but I did take pics of the ones that arrived from the exchange. (It just occured to me that I should have blogged about the exchange.  I'm sorry I left you out of the loop. It is over now.) Here's the pics

I hope you can see them all. You can click on the picture for a closer look.

This one is my favorite....

 And the XXXs and OOOs is in the machine now.  This is the second to last row. I will have the top completed by this evening.  See the pink fabric hanging behind the sewing machine?  That is my granddaughter, Em's first attempt at sewing.  She gave it to me! I've always loved that piece.  It was so generous of her to give it to me.

Next time I'll show off the piece to the left of it.... a bit of mystery.

Thanks for stopping by.

Hugs,

Terri

Shocker! A second post in the same day!

Are you shocked?  Don't be... I posted my quilt separately so I could show it on A Creative Princess. She is having a linky party today.  You can click on the blue print to go there. I'm #82, I think.

So while I was taking pictures I took one of the bird nest that we never even saw the birds build.  Here is the picture. See the nice neat nest right above our patio light?  There are 2 little blue Thrush eggs in there... and we never saw them building the nest. I've been out there working on the little plants a few times this week!

This is a rose I started from cut flowers we bought years ago from Costco.  Look at your cut roses, sometimes there is a sprout on the stem...right where a leaf comes out from the stem... that's a sure sign that your stem wants to become a new rose bush in your garden!  I cut off at the bottom - up about an inch, dip  the cut end into Rooting Hormone (the secret to my success!) and then get it  into a pot of soil and water it.  (Don't try this in the spring or summer. It must be too hot here during those seasons to do this.  And if you try it during the winter -  a cool winter that is wet like in CA - keep your plant under  a covered patio. I've lost some in the garden to heavy frost.

My lily is blooming again, too.

 These next few pictures are of the pineapple guava blooms. It was a little plant that was in our yard when we moved here. My hobby wanted to kill it.  (What is it with men?) I liked it even before we saw it bloom - the foliage is so pretty. The leaves are lighter underneath, and in the wind it is lovely. But then it gets these blooms! Aren't they fascinating?  It also fruits late in the fall. Fruit isn't that great... probably not the right climate here for this fruit. I do love the flowers though.

And these are visitors from our neighbors. They bought the plant, water it, and it grows over the fence and blooms in my yard! Gotta love a neighbor like that!  These are Passionflower! (I guess they were named for that cross in the center - for the Passion of Jesus on the Cross.) Aren't they gorgeous?  They grow really fast, too.  The first couple of years they were pollinated by butterflies that are not native to CA.!We actually had Julia butterflies here... they are only found in TX and FL!!!! I think they were attached to the plant.  I think they have died out now, but maybe it is just too cold for them to come out this year.  Our son and family in Anchorage are having weather that is similar to ours here in CA!  We are way below our average temp of 85 for this time of year.

So I hope you've enjoyed the current flowers in our bloomin' yard. And if I don't post tomorrow, have a wonderful weekend. (Well, even if I do post tomorrow, have a WW.)

Hugs,

Terri

XXXs and OOOs so far!

Hello Dear Friends,
So I've been sewing and sewing and what started out as one ox...

Then progressed to lots of oxen...

Is now looking like this.  I'm wondering what you think.  Should I make another O or X for the corners, or should I use a plain navy blue square. I'm leaning towards continuing the Os and Xs. What do you think? 

Here's the disclaimer: All are still on their paper foundations, and not yet sewed together - that's why some look so far away from the next block, and some aren't straight. It's that late night pinning onto the design wall. (Center os and xes are all red - the dark ones too, just a darker red.)

(Edit: Come over and see me over on a linky party at Confessions of a Fabric Addict and A Creative Princess - you might have to page down to the party... I don't know how to get there otherwise... still new at this techno stuff.)

Leave me a comment and let me know what you think.

Tune in next time to see the flowers blooming in my yard this week.

Hugs,

Terri

Here is the Jelly Roll top!

Okay, it took me longer than the 35 minutes  the races winner did it in, but I did it in 3 sittings - interrupted by life.  I am very pleased with the results.... Here's the picture....
Pretty, huh.  It reminds me of the Dutch fields of tulips. (I haven't ironed it yet, either, and it still looks this good.)  Thank you again, Sheila. (Click on her name to see her blog.) You picked some really good fabrics.  Page down to see the other pictures I took during the sewing.
(I linked this up to A Creative Princess at a later date!)

This is the start, just after rearranging the Jelly roll. ( To see the excellent Jelly Roll that Sheila sent me go to #70)  Sew the strips together like you would for binding. I did this in a quick way by taking the end not yet sewn and facing it up then adding the next strip over the top and sewing with right sides together.  I only had to rip out one seam!  I messed up and sewed the wrong side to the right side.  After all these years of sewing!!!

 Here's the pile after the first long seam. You'll want to keep track of the two ends!!!

Here I'm coming up on one of those pesky places where the seam allowance is going to bunch up when sewn over.  Anyway, I used my invention.  See the next picture.

I just hold a piece of paper over the seam allowance and sew.  Rip off the paper, and you have a really smooth seam crossing.  Nothing that's going to save the world, but it will save you some frustration.

Here I'm showing that I rip it right away, so I have the paper for the next seam crossing. Try it for yourself. 

The big news today is that I am back on Blogger.  This morning I tried to read blogs, and couldn't get onto my dashboard. I read blogs off the list on the blog, and that worked, but it would have kept me from writing any new posts.  Luckily it corrected itself about lunchtime.  And I'm sorry to say I took off the "Views of Butterflies" and the "Mother Theresa quotes" because they kept putting ads on with them ~ just didn't like that.  If I could choose the ads - maybe.

Sew that is the news for today.  Thanks for stopping by.

Terri

a card and little plant progress and links to the Jelly Roll Races!

Hi Friends,
I took a picture of a card - again - I know...   So lets go right to the pictures, shall we.

This is the lower left on the envelope... I know he's a grown man, but he likes Harry Potter, too, and shouldn't the joy of childhood continue into adulthood?  Lets allow ourselves some fun.

Here's the card.  I figured anybody could use a little Felix Felicis, even if they are lucky enough to be having another birthday.  This is the block I showed on yesterday's post. Dolls up nicely... You wouldn't believe how long it took me to put it all together.

 Now to the plants!  These two tiny sprouts will be massive Elm trees some day. Our trip to Colousa was wonderfully productive. There are two others, too, that sprouted.  We will have to make that trip again next year.

This is one of the nicer Catalpa trees  I started last year for the trick or treaters.  Most of them were not chosen because by the time Halloween comes around they've dropped their leaves, and it looks like the batty old witch is trying to give away dead plants.  I want one in my yard, but the hobby doesn't want to mow around it.  Guess I'll just get it a bigger pot.

I promised another blogger that I would help them find the Jelly Roll Quilt directions on line, so I'll do that and come back with that info.... Just talk amongst yourselves.

And here it is a link to the site with a You Tube video of the races on it.

http://blog.heirloomcreations.net/?p=1897

This should show you how to make a quicky jelly roll quilt, and if you buy the right colored JR you can have your gift done in no time.

"Well, I'm off" - as my hobby sez every time he leaves the house.  He's good at giving me all the straight lines I can handle.   I'm going to do some laundry now... ho, hum.  Then I'll hit the sewing room for some excitement.  Maybe I'll work on my jelly roll from Sheila's Pay It Forward. It's been calling to me.

              

                                          Come back to see how it works out.

Terri

Good Luck

Hi Friends,
Today I finished the Felix Felicis block today, and a lucky thing, too.  I have a belated birthday card to send to my brother in law.  (For those of you who don't know the Harry Potter reference, Felix Felicis is the good luck potion.) Here's a picture of it with the Howler I had made and just found the other day.  I guess I could send a card with the Howler, but that's usually for a berating type letter... not right in this case.  So here's the picture.

I like to leave them shaggy if I'm putting them into a card. They get matted, so the more outer edge the better the hold onto the mat.  If you want to make some Harry Potter paper pieced patterns, you can find them on this site  and on this site . Remember they are copyrighted patterns.
    Sew enjoy your day, and I'll try to remember to take a picture of the card... if it turns out well, and show it tomorrow.
Hugs,
Terri

Garden Color

A quick line today to show you this striking color combo I saw in my yard this afternoon...

 Isn't the lime green and the reddish purple gorgeous together?

And here I'm showing you the little seeds ripening on the Japanese Maple. (There's one in the high center of the picture - going brown!)  I'm watching that tree like a hawk!  I want some seeds to start some little trees for Halloween.  They are very desirable trees around here.  Some people downtown were robbed of theirs.  Someone just dug the tree right out of their front yard!!  They are quite expensive, and I don't know why. Some of them have red leaves year round, and those must be the more desirable.  Ours is green until very late in the fall and then for a week or so the leaves are a gorgeous red and then they all fall off pretty much at one time... like the Whomping Willow in Harry Potter. 

My hobby came with to the Open House at the Project Linus coordinator's house this afternoon.  He was more diligent than I was at looking at all the quilts and afghans.  It was a much nicer show this year because we made more pastel quilts.  Otherwise so many make everything brown.... what kid wants a brown blankie?  We got a cute little notebook for stopping in... every spot along the roads in the neighborhood were parked full of cars. It was a very successful show.

Then I went to Michael's with the very generous gift card I got from my son and daughter  who live in AK.  (She works at the Michael's there, so I had a hunch that's what I might get for my birthday and Mom's Day.)  Anyway, this time I got a truck load of things I've been needing, new pins, spray adhesive for fabric, sewing machine needles, some fabric - I really needed that, sure,  but it was pretty pinks and light reds - oooo lots of stuff.  It was fun to shop for a change. Thank you Michelle and Scot!!!!

I had a lot of fun yesterday getting my quilt onto the Blogger's Quilt Festival.  I'm new enough to blogging that it was a new experience linking up to another's blog.  I may try that again....

As always, thank you for stopping here.  Please leave a comment.
Hugs to you all,
Terri