a wool applique ?

judy asked about wool shrinking during washing of finished quilt....yes, that is why i outline all my wool applique pieces with the product Fray Check before washing and it works through more than one or two washes....now i do know a few ladies that outline the edges of their wool applique pieces before stitching to quilt, i don't care for the hard edge (which does wash out) so i do  them all after stitching....now i think i've used a bizillion of these bottles on every color wool and background fabric, never ever had a color bleed....do use this product with windows open, has an oder that after the bizillion bottles has made me a little crazy "okay alot"
i purchase mine at Joanne's, as many as i can find when it's 50% off notions....
bottle doesn't go real far, will probably use at least 6 on Folkart Gathering which by the way has only one more side to sew on, then pictures and instructions  WHoo Hoo!!!

folkart gathering....

have been watching movies & stitching all day on the last appliques for finishing Folkart Gathering, now to sew all the sections together....
done soon....

no photo available....

yesterday i attended a neighborhood wedding, weather here is hot, humid, sticky....when it came time to use the ladies's room, i found it difficult to pull down my underpants, as they had become glued to my body, finally ready to sit and to my surprise a soft, squishy toliet seat, which then my sweaty bottom stuck too!!!
just had to sit there and laugh....
who knows probably left with toliet paper stuck to me too!!!
it was a beautiful, fun wedding and will always "stick" in my mind....
cheri

from bare walls to this....

my favorite wall....greyish white walls are such a change for me, it's like getting used to a new haircut....i was ready for the change but every time i walk into the room it's like "whoa this is white!"
and i'm going to let the grandkids draw pictures and such in pencil, too fun or crazy, i'll find out soon....

from bare walls to this....

love redecorating.....

from bare walls to this....

now moving on to kitchen....

finished painting...

just finished touching up on my painting job, walls now done and furnishings starting to go back in place....
ended up using Martha Stewart Potter's Clay looks like old plastered walls, left old holes and dings, may do a little sanding here and there...
want to put this room back together before i start the kitchen, hopefully by weekend...now off to feed the animals their dinner then sit back, stitching and catching up on Project Runway....

august primitive quilt winner is....

kelley "with hook & needle" is receiving august's little primitive quilt to sit next to her "lonely girl rug"....
enjoy, cheri

know what this picture means....

the dreaded ironing, a whole big pile of it....hubby has to be gone for awhile on business and i'll have awhile to sew, stitch, design, quilt, get the picture....
will miss him but will definetly find ways to keep myself busy till my honey returns home...
off to IRoN and design quilts....

pumpkins growing....

i planted some seeds a few days ago and then i considered, envisioned, fancied, imagined, sensed and visualized....low and behold pumpkins are beginning to grow in my sewing room, a whole patch!

sliced eggs....

took my mom out for lunch and shopping last week for her birthday....she loves kitchen stores and as we were looking i metioned i had been thinking about getting an egg slicer, did she have one and use it?
" do i have one, yes cheri for years and love it, so she picked out the perfect one for me"
OH MY GOSh!!! how have i been cooking all these years without one, look at these perfect slices!
mothers always know BeSt!!!

folkart gathering....

the end is beginning....

cheddar & black....

i'm stitching on a bewitching project....

my tea-dying stuff....

i fill this large pot full of water add the whole bottle of instant tea & about 1/2 cup instant coffee....heat on stove till tea & coffee melt, doesn't need to boil, stir with a spoon....
then if staining fabric unfold and stuff into pot using your spoon or gloved hands....i fit in as many pieces as i have room for let sit for 30mins. or so then squeeze tea out of fabric back into pot and let dry outside in a loose crumpled ball....or if staining a finished quilt pour tea into spray bottle and lay quilt flat, top up and spray till wet, the wetter the darker it will dry....not permanent (unless it gets on your favorite clothes!) don't like it throw it back in washer.....
have fun....

august quilt sharing....

just finished drying in the sun from it's tea spraying is august's primitive quilt, pretty little but it's mighty hot to be binding a quilt much larger than this....of course you can make lots & lots of these little blocks if you like....
puss in the corner block...
from light cut four 1" squares and one 1&1/2" square
from print cut four 1"x 1&1/2"
alternate squares cut 2&1/2"
for setting side triangles cut square 4&1/8", cut diagonally twice
corners are 2&1/4" square, cut diagonally once
border is cut 1&1/2" on sides and 2&1/2" on top and bottom
enjoy sewing your little quilt....

august's primitive giveaway....

this little primitive quilt in shades of blues, gold & gray is the month of august's giveaway just let me know if it belongs with you....

hibernate or not?

this is Nefertiti our tortoise munching happily on breakfast, that is her happy face!
years ago we had a desert tortoise, tiny baby one wander into our yard, kept her and did research on feeding & hibernating....followed all instructions but sometime during hibernation she died, i was of devasated figuring i had done something wrong & killed her....i once let one of our baby ducks spend the night with Tootsie, they looked so cute sleeping together, you can imagine how that turned out when Tootsie rolled over not a cute picture anymore...
so needless to say i tend to worry about my being responsible for sleeping/hibernating of pets....
so then greg came home with Nefertiti, hibernation issues....over the years i have been told "they shouldn't hibernate till they're 8 yrs old" to "if they don't hibernate i'll have a crazy tortoise"
so she hasn't hibernated since she was a baby, she comes in the house over that period & i keep waking her up everyday or other day, she may be "crazy" by now but it's hard to tell, she hasn't started screaming & running around the house yelling "just let me sleep!"
this morning started dicussions of hibernation this year or not?
well i guess greg had purchased a book for dummies on tortoises, never read it yet "what a dummy" not all tortoises hibernate and Nefertiti happens to be one of those!  she's a Sulcata Tortoise and i haven't made her crazy!!!
now she is going to grow huge someday 200 lbs. but i'll deal with that later....

baby quilt...

first baby quilt all sewn together and ready for quilting....mommy wants lots of color so for me she got it, i like the old fashioned patchwork look and cute chicken, bunny, doggy, kitty, baby, teddy bear, pig and grammy appliques...

back at my machine....

and it feels good....today i've pieced together a patchwork quilt, sewing strips together for grandbaby's other quilt, made more four patches for greg's quilt and cut for August's primitive quilt....oh and layed out Folkart Gathering for block 7....
will keep you posted as all progress....
off to Home Depot to pick out paint colors, bummed no more Ralph Lauren, my personal favorite, will have to try something new...change can be fun, don't worry though even though working with cheery fabrics for baby quilts mine will still be dark and dirty!

instead of cleaning....

instead of sweeping, mopping and dusting i'm going to paint and redecorate my dining room, kitchen and hopefully bedroom i've decided....it's been several years since it's been done, i'm not getting younger so will probably take me twice as long to get up & down the ladder....ready for a change, don't know what color & such yet but it will come to me as i take all this down....
what are the "in" colors now?
may try a funky Anthropologie look, like leaving holes, kids drawings on the walls with pencil, who knows so many possibilites....

a fabric pick me up....

starting cleaning today not only is it Hot&Humid but first day in a month with no grandkids running around....boo hoo...dropped all cleaning supplies, threw on clean clothes and headed to the quilt shops for a "fabric pick me up"....
got a couple to add to baby's quilt, some for a patchwork baby quilt and a few just for me...
start cleaning tomorrow or i may be just be tea dying and cutting for new quilts, the later definitely sounds more appealing!