Good News!

My sister had a PET scan this week, and her cancer is in complete remission! According to my BIL:

She will visit the Dr again in August, and he will start to do scans at 6 month intervals. Those scans will continue for the next ~2 years and then move to 9 month scans. This particular form of lymphoma has the highest chance of recurrence during the first 2-5 years, and typically earlier rather than later. The good news is there are no remaining signs, and hopefully it will stay that way.

p.s. To celebrate we’ll be taking a trip to the Grand Canyon and surrounding area in July.

p.s.s. Angie’s hair is growing back pretty well right now. Since she is losing her ‘hair sympathy’, she has gone ahead and gotten a stress fracture in her left foot and has to wear a boot for the next few weeks. Hopefully nothing too serious.

Four Blocks Short of a Quilt

I intended to finish a spider web quilt top this quarter, but I got sewing it together and realized I need more blocks.  I have 8 of these:

Each of these big blocks is made of 8 triangles.  This is what is looks like now.

I could chose the easy way out and just do one more big block (8 triangles).  If I do it that way, I will have a square quilt, about 60 inches on each side.  But that really isn't big enough for a bed, so I  should make 4 more big blocks (32 triangles), and have it be about 60 x80.  I like piecing the individual triangles.  I hate putting them together in blocks.  But I've got the gray fabric and plenty of scraps, so I'm going  to work on making triangles in June, and not worry about getting it all put together this month.  It feels good to have a plan for this quilt. 

 I'm not loving it like I did my last spider web quilt.  I don't think I'm a 'modern' quilter. They seem to use lots of gray.  This gray fabric isn't doing it for me.  I started with the gray because my nephew will be going off to college in a few years, and I thought gray would be a good dirt-hiding color for dorm life. 

Lots of Porch Progress

The guys decided they wanted to work on Memorial Day.  Other clients didn't want them at their houses today, so we had a double crew.  They started framing the porch and also worked in the utility room tearing out the old wall.

Here is the old utility 'room', really a hallway between the kitchen and garage.

This is what it looks like now.

This is a different orientation from the before picture because the before pic was taken from the door  to the kitchen, which is  is now taped shut.  The open doorway goes to the garage.  That door had to come down today to move out the washer and dryer.  You can tell where the addition begins (where there is no sheet rock). Here is another view of the new room.

Debbie's Flowers

My next door neighbor has a son who works in the local nursery, a husband who likes to garden and an incredible green thumb.  Here is a picture of Debbie's daylilies from my back yard.

She has 4 clumps of these orange daylilies in full bloom.  I have  a total of 4 orange daylilies.  Hers have been blooming all week.  Mine just started today.

There has been some progress on the construction here. The porch floor is done.

Framing for the utility room is starting to go up, and the pile of dirt and rocks was moved out today.

It has been raining almost every day since construction began, and our grass is a mess!

Five Days Behind Schedule

The porch is now five days behind schedule due to rain.  They've started doing the floor and some of the framing for the utility room walls.

Here are the wall sections.  They are good about covering up the wood with plastic when they leave because we are expecting rain all week.

It seems like construction is a lot like quilting.  Lots of measuring and cutting.  Look at the mitered corner.

This week some white irises started to bloom.  These are some that the prior homeowner planted.

The butterfly weed that I started from seed is also blooming now.

Dwood's Quilt Done!

I finally got the borders on my BIL's quilt.  I'm not sure why it took me a whole week to do the borders, but I don't think they wouldn't have even gotten on if I didn't want to have some stash numbers to report.

Used this week: 4.5 yards

Used Year to Date: 43  yards

Added this week:0

Added year to date:18.25 yards

Net Used: 24.75 yard

This is a Swirly Girls Design called 'Inner Piece', found in Australian Patchwork & Quilting magazine (vol.19 no 4). 'Inner Piece' reminds me of their 'Grand Central' pattern, only Inner Piece uses nine patches, and Grand Central uses pinwheels. This is my 4th Swirly Girl quilt. Their patterns are very easy to follow, and simple enough that they don't take forever to get done. They are also good for novelty or big prints.

My Favorite Quilt

My favorite quilt was made from a Karie Patch Designs pattern called Jack and Jill. I don't usually make anything smaller than lap sized, but I loved this pattern.

One of the best things about this quilt is I only had to buy white fabric for it.  The reds and blues are all from my scraps, so when I look at this quilt, I remember other quilts I've made. It also makes me think of my friend Holly who gifted me with some fabrics I used.  Red, white and blue is a favorite color combination of mine.

I learned a lot  while making this quilt.  I used the Prairie Pointer tool for the first time in its construction. It was  the first time I used rick-rack on a quilt.  I think the rick-rack really enhances the design.  It was the first time I attempted machine applique without using a fusible web.

  It was the first time I actually basted color catches over the red pieces in a quilt to catch the excess dye before washing it.  The color catchers came out bright pink  and grayish-purple, but the white stayed white.  (What a relief!) I recommend this technique if you live dangerously and don't pre-wash your fabric. 

This quilt has no intended recipient.  I like it so much, I don't know if I can part with it.  Maybe someday one of my kids will have a baby boy.  Until then, it lives in my bedroom, folded up on top of a red pie safe.  I take it out and look at it every once in a while because it is my favorite quilt. 

I am participating in Amy's Creative Side Blogger's Quilt Festival. http://amyscreativeside.com/bloggers-quilt-festival/

Porch Progress

The foundation of the utility room and the piers for the porch went up today.

They are about 3 days behind schedule now due to weather, and more rain is expected Monday and Tuesday.  Tomorrow they do the back fill around the foundation, and Friday the termite guy comes to treat the site. 

This is a plant I bought several years ago at the backyard plant sale.  Someone told me it is a Mexican primrose, but I haven't verified it, so it could be something else.  The flowers are such a bright yellow that it is hard to get a good picture of them.  Look at the glare on the flowers.  It was cloudy when I took this picture, and I still got the glare. 

The only way I found to get rid of the glare was to photograph the flowers from behind.  But then you can't see the shape of the flower.  I think I am better at growing flowers than I am photographing them.

May Flowers

A few more of my plants have started to bloom.

I have a lot of these Stella d'oro daylillies. These grow in almost every yard in my neighborhood.  Some people had them blooming in mid April, but mine are always late.  Most of mine came from a neighbor who got them from her mom.  These need to be split before next year.

This is my underachiever.  This hydrangea has been in my yard for over 8 years.  I moved it after about 4 years because it never bloomed well.  Some years it had 2 flowers all season.  Some years it had none.  It is finally blooming this year, but the flowers aren't very impressive.  I think the location is the issue.  There is one spot in my yard that is full of underachievers: coral bells that never bloom, lily of the valley with just one leaf and no flowers, bleeding hearts that don't come up again.  This spot has also hosted butterfly bushes and hostas that died, daffodils that didn't come back, and spiderwort that fails every year.

I have 3 penstemon plants.  The flowers are itty bitty.The stems are a pretty purple color.  They are considered a 'short lived' perennial.  I am not sure what that means.  I expected them to last 3 years max, but they have been growing reliably for about 5 years.  They are not my favorites, but they are reliable, so they have a place in my yard.

I have 2 different kinds of salvia in my yard.  I like the tall dark purple one best.

About 3 years ago, we removed some holly bushes that were out of control and replaced them with dwarf gardenias.  The flowers aren't as pretty as regular gardenias, and the scent isn't as strong.  The good thing is that they haven't had to be trimmed yet, and they are still only about 2 feet tall.

Dwood's Quilt

I actually have been quilting this week but won't do a stash report since I haven't completed anything yet.  Here is the middle of my BIL's quilt. I still need to put the borders on this one.

This is a Swirly Girls Design called 'Inner Piece', found in Australian Patchwork & Quilting magazine (vol.19 no 4). 'Inner Piece' reminds me of their 'Grand Central' pattern, only Inner Piece uses nine patches, and Grand Central uses pinwheels. This is my 4th Swirly Girl quilt.  Their patterns are very easy to follow, and simple enough that they don't take forever to get done.  They are also good for novelty or big prints.

I'm feeling a little guilty for starting this project instead of working on the UFO's I want to get done before the end of June.  Half of my time is done, and I've only finished one of the 4 projects I had planned on.

Digging Footings

Deck Demolition

The contractor came today and tore off the old deck.  One guy did the whole thing in less than 3 hours.  Here's the before:

And here's the after:

Tomorrow they come to dig the footings.

I have foxglove blooming in my yard for the first time ever. I' ve tried growing them several times, but they before this year, they've always died.  I planted a couple last year, but they didn't bloom until this spring.  One is white, and one is purple.

Aidan's Army

I've decided to skip the stash reports unless I have some changes in it.  There are too many weeks where I don't buy and don't use anything.  This week, though, I did buy AND use fabric.

Used this week:  1  yard (made a pillowcase)
Used year to date:  39.5 yards
Added this week: 2.75 yards
Added year to date:  21 yards
Net used:18.5 yards

Today was the Race for Hope in Washington DC.  My family participates in honor of Aidan, my five-year-old  nephew, who has a brain tumor.  The day started out cloudy and sprinkling, but by the end of the race, the sun had come out.  My sister's team raised  over $11,000 this year.

Is This a Weed?

I have several plants in my flower beds that I can''t identify.  Is this a weed?

It has little white flowers, but it isn't a very pretty plant.  Maybe it is an herb?  I don't remember planting anything this ugly!

What about this thing?  It has pretty leaves.  I got it from the backyard plant sale, and it is growing in full sun.  It has never bloomed in my yard.  I have 3 of them, but I don't know what they are.

This is also an unidentified plant.  I had two. One I planted in the shade, and it died.  This one is in full sun, and it is bordering on invasive.  It gets small whitish pink flowers that are kind of spikey. Let me know if you know what it is. 

False Indigo has been blooming in my yard for about a week and a half.  I love this plant! 

The columbine is also still going strong.