I Like Thursday: Creatures in the Yard

Didn't get out much in the last week.  Well, not entirely true.  I did get out to see my mother and sister on Saturday.  Perfect weather.  Uncrowded outdoor venues.  I remembered to tie my mask instead of using the ear loops (much more comfortable).  Mom brought me these lovely calla lilies for my birthday (earlier this month).  Have the perfect spot for them (between the kale and rosemary... lol).

And that was the last productive thing that happened.

I Like Thursday: Frogs, Flora and Figurines

Continuing to enjoy what I can this summer.  

This pickerel frog was hanging out by the hose as I was filling my watering can.  I love the stripes on his legs.  Aren't those cool?!?  The colors are beautiful, too.

Ripples and Waves

Quilting has been challenging, mostly for unexpected reasons.  Problem #1 is expected - the quilt isn't telling me how it wants to be quilted.  I doodled a lot and shot down lots of ideas.  I ended up with very simple waves, following some of the pieced bits.  I'm not entirely convinced it's the right way to go - I find myself wondering if I should have just done an all-over pattern.  

Regardless, that's not the sticking point.  The quilt is literally sticky.  All this humidity.  I've cleaned and waxed the surfaces like I usually do, but the quilt does not want to glide under my sewing machine.  I've not had that happen before.  This is a small quilt, too.  Second trial - I hit the blue and white fabric and I'm skipping stitches all over.  I vaguely recall that the screen printed fabric required a big needle.  I'm quilting with a 16 needle.  Ridiculous.  But it worked.  I swapped out the needle once I hit back into normal fabric. 

I had simply pinned the sandwich because it was so small.  I managed to stab myself so many times quilting this small section I went back and basted the whole thing.  So we'll see where today goes....  As long as it doesn't require me to rip out everything, I'll be happy.  I'm still not convinced this is going to look right when I'm done quilting.

I Like Thursday: Finally, Some Traction

My first and biggest like: a working smartphone.  I can't even tell you how happy I am.  See this photo?  I took this while jumping up and down, texting my my sister just after I got the phone connected.  It sent.  Immediately. 

Why is that exciting? 

Because since we moved, I'd be lucky if a two-word text came or went from home (and only if the phone was next to the front door).  Sometimes it was days between a text being sent and being received (which caused a few confused conversations).  Photos or phone calls?  LOL  Dream on.  Ah... life in a dead zone.

The fix required a new phone <sigh> and new carrier.  Luckily the new phone is very much like the old one.  Added bonus - monthly bill is slashed in half.  The new phone will pay for itself in less than a year.  YES!

August OMG: Wavy Quilting

After July's ambitious goal, I'm going for something a little easier (hopefully) to attain in August.  My wavy quilt is all pieced together and even sandwiched.  Woo-hoo!  It needs to be quilted and bound.  It has been draped across a chair in the living room as a constant reminder.  It's next!

I thought about how to quilt it while working on the bias tape dress. I have ideas about following the connected waves.  Will need to pick thread, too.  So yeah, still a lot of work to do.  But I can't wait to see this up on my wall.

Thingamabob

We have a new foster guinea pig in the house.  She's a cute, tiny teddy named Thingamabob.

Thingamabob had been left at the shelter in poor condition and underweight.  We're taking care of her for two weeks in an effort to put some fat on her and lavish her with love and attention.

Thingamabob spent a good chunk of time checking out the cage when we brought her home.  I showed her the different levels and the cozy and the tunnel.  All those comfortable places to be and what does she do?  Perches on the hay rack.  Which, I must say, is impressive.  What is it about guinea pigs and being on top of hay racks?  She looks like Bertie all over again.

OMG Dress Finished

Huzzah!  I made it.  I may not look happy in this photo, but I am!  (I'm just a little dizzy... see photos below.)

My OMG was to update this dancing dress.  I like the dress, but it needed some pizazz.  It has been sitting in my closet for years because I couldn't figure out what to do with it.  When I "fixed" my tank top earlier this year I decided to tackle the dress, too. 

This project turned out to be a lot more challenging than I had anticipated.  Plus I kept getting distracted... and interrupted.

What did happen:  lots of pinning and unpinning.  Started the design on the front, didn't like it; moved to the back - and hit upon a pattern I liked.  The upper front had several false starts before I got the hang of what I liked.  I was going to have the loopiness zig-zag across the front, and that didn't look right.  Instead I kept the ribbons swirling in one direction around the whole dress.  Working around boobs and butt added to the complexity.  LOL  There was a lot of fittings, being very careful not to stick myself with pins.  Ouch!

Once I pinned it where I liked it, I basted it - I didn't want to try sewing it with all those pins.  Stitching it took hours.  I've quilted quilts in less time than it took to stitch down this bias tape.  The humidity unfurled chunks of the tape.  I could re-iron that before it was pinned in place, but afterwards, it was a lot of work to keep the raw edges tucked underneath. 

I Like Thursday: A Week of Interruptions

Things have gone right, things have gone very wrong.  Very little has gone to plan.  So let's highlight some of the good stuff.

Having coped, we hung the second picture railing hung on Friday (two days later than I intended).  I am so happy!  I now have something other than a blank wall behind me when I zoom.  I'd show you the coped corner, but it's nothing interesting.  Came out pretty good!