Laughing at John...

The counter top people did a crappy job on the silicone caulk around the sink... the poor quality caulk didn't ever harden and it wasn't applied very well.  So John had to do it over.  It was out of commission for 24 hours and then he did this for another several hours to let it cure without getting wet.  I laughed at him for the blue tape special.

His caulk job IS much improved over what they did.

Summer Garden

This is cosmos Diablo I grew from seed.  I used to grow them every year when I had a larger garden.  It's nice to see their beautiful flowers again.  It was harder to find the seed than it used to be.  Aren't they beautiful?

Thanks to these Casa Blanca lilies, it smells wonderful on the front porch.  They smell even more divine than they look.

Along the front stairs...

The bees and hummingbirds love the bee balm best of all

Rudbeckia Nitida Herbstonne.  I fell in love with it last year and so happy to have it this year.

The weather has been great lately.... highs around 80 or so.  Perfect days for walking to run errands, hanging out on the porch, and doing the necessary garden maintenance.   In the last few days I moved some pots around to make everything look better.  I love that about pots.  They can be rearranged like furniture.

John helps a neighbor

Our neighbor wanted a little help with his railing.  This is his house (before all the paint was stripped).  You can see the fancy railing peeking out from the shrubbery.

 And here they are working on repairing the railing.

Working on my quilt

Yes, I am still working on it.  My friend Margot asked me some questions about how I am putting it together.  Here are some general directions.

Ozy helping

1. Figure out finished size.  I am planning on about 90-100 inches.
2. I am constructing this quilt in columns because I hate working with huge pieces.  Each column is half the width of the approximately 42 inch backing.  I cut the backing fabric in half widthwise by the length of the quilt (90 inches).
3. Lay the backing fabric strip wrong side up and use blue tape to tape it in place (enough to keep it from moving when you lay the batting on top).
4. Cut a batting strip (such as Warm and Natural) to match the size of the backing strip and lay it on top of the backing.
5. Cut your front fabrics into rectangles.  I am using a cut size of 13.5 inches by 7 inches wide.  I am using about 10 different fabrics.  Some strips a little wider.
6. Turn under (finger press) one long edge of the rectangles.
7. Lay the rectangles out on your batting, varying the colors and how the edges line overlap and pin them.  You will have about three-four strips per column.
8. Sew the strip  lengthwise, as in photo above.  The finished edge is on top.  This sewing both joins the strips and quilts at the same time.  Only sew strips that overlap.  The edge strips will be sewn down when the columns are joined.
9. Cut an accent fabric (I am using red) into 2.5 inch strips.
10. Cut strips to length to cover where the short side of rectangles meet each other.   Pin the strips on and then sew both the long sides (turn under the short sides but do not sew them).

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From another time

Phillips Brothers steam powered mill.

John made another table

John made another little outdoor table using a granite scrap for the top.  He is fast at these.  I am still less than halfway done with my quilt in the time he made two tables.

Ozymandius, King of Kings

Ozymandius is our cat, whose name comes from the poem of the same name.  We call him Ozy.  We got him when he was four (maybe) from the humane society.  He is a big, wonderful kingly cat.  He is also quite fierce.... he bit us and drew blood before we even brought him home from the humane society.

I did not realize that his fierceness would make visits to the vet very difficult.  Nor did I know that he would have a lot of health problems.  He had a bad reaction to a rabies shot and developed an auto immune problem.  They treated it with prednisalone for a long time and that caused him to get pancreatitis.   They wouldn't examine him without sedating him.  It's been hard.

Now the pancreatitis has caused diabetes, which was diagnosed recently.  So, we are struggling to control his glucose (lots of blood tests and insulin).   It's been a roller coaster.  When he feels good I feel happy and hopeful.  When he feels bad, I feel bad, too.  It's so hard to know what to do.  That is the hardest part.

Tracking Ozy's glucose

Lace Cap Hydrangea

I love how sparkly the center is.

Window apron installed

John installed the window apron and it looks good, though I can't seem to get a photo that shows it very well.  My camera does not do well with the window light....

Pat and Mary's Garden

Tile back splash finished

The tile back splash is done and looking good.  John is making an apron for under the window starting today.

Projects on the 4th of July

John finished his table. I worked on my quilt section. I got the first section together and started to add the red strips.

putting on the finish

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granite scrap table top

                                           

My Quilt Part 2

My fabric came.  I found some backing fabric in my stash.  I washed all my fabrics and cut out some of the rectangles for the quilt.  I got my batting today.  I plan to construct the quilt in five lengthwise strips and then put the strips together.

I put down the backing with the batting on top and then laid out the first strip.  It looks like this... aren't the fabrics nice?  The orange one isn't quite what I expected but I think it still works

The strip is a little less than 20 inches wide and about 90 inches long.  One long edge of each rectangle is finished.  Not all rectangles are the same width.  I laid them out sort of like shingles with the long finished edge on top.  The short edges will be covered by red strips.

Next I plan to quilt straight lines paralel to the long strip.  I have not decided how I will keep the pieces in place while I do this.  I might baste them or pin them or even use blue tape.

Pippin loves to help.

GeoGuessr... Street View location guessing game

I saw this on BoingBoing...

GeoGuessr, a fun game where you have to guess at the location of Google Maps Street View images.   It was fun to try.
Come on, Dave and Nancy, you should be good at this one.

Tile backsplash installation

Our backsplash installation started today... the first two rows are in.

Tomorrow the pencil liner row and the top row.  Jason is doing a great job.