I hope everyone had a great 4th of July. We went to Uncle Bob's house like we do every year. The 4th of July just wouldn't be the same without the annual tank battle. This must be a guy thing because the girls just don't seem to care much, but every year they get together and show the little ones how to juice up the tanks. Then they blow each other up.
Cousin Krystal has a new baby boy so in a couple of years I'm sure he will be right in the thick of it learning how to load up the tanks.
Here's something a little different... an applique on a quilted sweatshirt jacket. This one is made from the Quilted Fleece Jacket Pattern and was sewn by Jennie herself!
Jennie Sharpe and I have decided to cross promote each other and add my appliques to her jackets. I think they are a great fit.
This one was made for my daughter, Claire. Now when she tags along with me to the quilt shows, she can have this wonderful jacket to wear and talk about.
So far I just have the one bunny on the front but I may add another one to the back. I am also working on some new butterflies, which will be included in this new bunny book that I am working on so I may add a few butterflies to the jacket too.
Hopefully, I will have this book finished and ready to sell this Fall. I have lots of work yet to do but it's coming along.
This may sound crazy to those of you who are not quilters, but yesterday Brenda, her sister Marcia, and I went on the Road to Oklahoma Shop Hop.
We left Brenda's house at 7:00 a.m. and drove for two hours, arriving at the Quilter's Depot in Waynoka when they opened the doors at 9:00 a.m.
I bought fabric for the outer border of my white rabbits quilt here in Waynoka. I'm going to try to get that quilt finished up today so I can mark it off my "to do" list.
From there we drove out to Alva, Oklahoma and shopped at Fabrics and More. I found some really great cowboy fabric here in brown and turquoise. I'm thinking of a western theme bunny quilt. I'm not sure how this will pan out but I'll post pictures later if it works.
After leaving Alva, we drove to Enid and had Chinese buffet for lunch. From there it was just a small hop over to the Prairie Quilt in Hennessey.
After Hennessey, we drove out to Perkins to The Quilting Post. Brenda found just the right fabrics to finish off my pastel bunny quilt. I'm really looking forward to getting that one sewn up, it's really going to look good.
The last shop we were able to squeeze in was Sooner Quilts in Guthrie. Michelle (the owner) has the best selection of 1930s fabrics around. I'm not quite ready to buy fabric for my pie eyed bunny quilt, but I will be back in Guthrie when I'm ready.
I made it back home for dinner and we were just ahead of these monster thunderheads:
It was a good day. We will have to do this again. Gas prices are so high, it seemed like a big expense but I have not really gone anywhere all summer and it was not too bad splitting the tab between the three of us.
This Thursday, July 3rd, I will be in Shawnee Oklahoma where I will give a presentation to the Spinning Spools Quilt Guild. On July 11, which is the following Friday, I am teaching an all day workshop in McAlester Oklahoma at Quilting by Vonnie.
We won't have a photo quest for the next three weeks, we all needed a break, but I decided to challenge myself and attempt to photograph some insects in mid-air. I still need to practice but here are some of my results.
These butterfly pictures didn't come out as well as I had hoped, but if you look very close, you can see his mouth unrolling as he approaches the flower (is he salivating?). I know it's blurry, but I have actually drawn this into a pattern and stitched it up. I will post a picture of it soon. I want to wait until after it is quilted because I want to add some quilting textures and fusible crystals to it before I call it done.
This last photo is just a Hollyhock, it has circular shaped hunks missing out of it were something thought it was tasty. I missed the bumble bee that was buzzing around, but it still made a pretty picture.
Last night Brenda and I went to see Karen McTavish give a presentation at Rose State College. It was a wonderful presentation. If you ever get a chance to see Karen speak or take one of her classes, go for it. She's a very funny lady and her quilts are very impressive. I was not able to take the workshop, I was busy with the kids plus I had a large book order to send off to Brazil, but Brenda went and I am hoping she will use some of her newly discovered techniques on some of my quilts :-)
I didn't take my camera so I don't have any quilt pictures to share. But I can't just post comments without pictures so here are some shots from my garden this morning. The poor insects are trying to find some sunshine to dry out in.
We had some major storms brew up last night. I awoke this morning at 8:30 thinking it was before dawn because it was so dark. The boys are off at Camp George Thomas and won't be home for a couple of days. I hope they don't get washed away. I took these photographs last night as the clouds were forming. They are very pretty but a little frightening at the same time. I'm wondering if I could print one of these photos onto fabric and applique some flying birds over it.
Now that we really will be moving, I am feeling the need to finish up a bunch of old projects. I added the final borders to my Family Album quilt this morning. It only took me 11 years, but here it is:
It is just a top but that is better than loose blocks. It was too wide to hang straight on my wall -- it lays flat and square on the ground, it just looks crooked in this picture. The top left block with the American flag is Claire's birth block. She was born on the 4th of July. The center one is my original design and is our wedding block. The one in the bottom right corner is Christopher's birth block. Now that the quilt is in this stage, I really will finish it. I plan to put a sleeve on the back and hang it on the wall.
And here is another picture of our new house. This is the inside room over the garage which will be my new work space. We had the realtor meet us at the house last night so we could look it over one more time and measure. I need to contemplate this space and decide what I want to do with it. I am thinking it might be large enough to hold classes here if I wanted to.
I have been pre-occupied this week. We are buying a house and that seems to take a lot of brain power. I did learn some new things about my camera, thanks to this quest. I did not know it had a black and white setting. It also has a sepia setting. These pictures are just quick shots from my yard and one from my neighbors flower pot.
This is my cat Sockit. She follows me around while I take pictures but I have very few of her because it is hard to take her picture while she is wrapped around my leg! I shot this one in "raw" format. Check out the close-up version and see all the detail that was captured in the raw format. I'm very excited about this feature. I can see future uses for it and plan to explore it farther.
My Groups
-
Wildlife Photographers & Artists Updated: 57 minutes ago
-
Flower Photography Updated: 1 hour ago
-
Macro Photography Updated: 2 hours ago
Neighborhood
Explore friends, family, friends & family, or entire neighborhood.
Recent Comments
-
Darcy Ashton said:
Busy here too. I need to get the new house set up for a birthday party tomorrow then the kids... read more
on 4th of July at Uncle Bob's -
Pat said:
Alright Uncle Bob is cool!Looks like ya all had fun!(get back to ya on your message...it's a busy sat!) read more
on 4th of July at Uncle Bob's -
Persimmon Quilts said:
Who wouldn't love it!! The way kids grow, you might have to add to the cuffs! lol! This should be... read more
on A Just Jennifer Jacket -
Darcy Ashton said:
I took this jacket with me to Shawnee last night. I spoke to their guild. Anyway, the ladies loved it... read more
on A Just Jennifer Jacket
Yaaaay Mom!! read more
on 4th of July at Uncle Bob's