Too Many Distractions

It's not that I don't like making curtains. There are just too many distractions in my sewing room.

Above are fabrics and ideas for new quilts. I wonder if I will actually start all of them. The fabrics on the right are for a baby quilt for a grandniece born this past May so that one will most definitely get done.

I just couldn't help myself and started this blended quilt for our bed. The fabric in the left foreground will be the strips in between the strips of flying geese. I've had this fabric for forever so I kinda feel good about starting this one. The flying geese will finish at 4" x 8" so this quilt will come together relatively quickly for a large queen size. Barb gave me the idea to make it extra large so no fighting over the covers! My inspiration photo came from this book-

This book was given to me by a friend and I love all the comments on sticky notes she included with it. 

Here is my inspiration photo. I'm not actually using the directions because that would just confuse me!

I also started my Dear Jane blocks. I couldn't fall asleep last night so I finished the applique block and got a start on this pieced block this morning. I'm keeping two things I learned from other bloggers in mind as I work on this. After actually viewing the Dear Jane quilt, Kathleen noted how many imperfections there were in the original and we can loose site of this as we work on one block at a time. I decided I'm going to enjoy the challenge of figuring out how to make each block and not worry about making each block perfect. Not that I could do that anyway. Another, was a tip from Janet and Raewyn about making small blocks. Sew big and cut down to size.

I took some photos as I walked our property this afternoon. On the left are old apple trees that desperately need trimming. The two paw paw trees are on the right. 

I was glad to see we had a serviceberry tree. We had planted a couple at our old house and I was sorry to leave them. They have pretty white flowers in early spring, berries in June and pretty color in the fall.

I spent some time today digging up the thistle. They have pretty flowers but they are an invasive here and I don't like their prickly leaves. 

Mint in the pasture. I picked some for tea. 

Caesar is always trying to get a bite of my clothing.

Looking over our fence to the neighbors property. 

The ducks like to peck at me, too. Must be dinner time. They love green beans fresh from the garden. 

I changed up the quilts on the railing for fall.

Hope you are enjoying your weekend. I plan to finish that Dear Jane block this evening.

Our First Duck Egg

We've been expecting our first duck egg and today was the day.

Look at that bright orange yolk and the white was very viscous as it should be.

My daughter ate it atop her leftover Thai lunch.

I've been taking a lot of photos recently so here is an update of what I've been up to-

I realized I needed to allow myself some quiet moments with a cup of tea to come up with some decorating ideas. I was running around too much and not thinking. I was staring at this corner of the dining room one day and remembered the old ladder we found in the basement. I folded up a few quilts - I didn't like how they looked hanging on the rungs- and put them on the ladder in the corner. You can see the curtains I made and I still need to hang the sheers I made. I am pleased with how it looks and like that I've used something that otherwise might end up at the landfill.

I had my second and last English Paper Piecing class with Cyndy. During the second class I showed her how to put the hexie path on her hexie flowers. She made all these flowers in between the two classes. I was very encourage by her progress. She is making a little table cloth for her daughters kitchen table and a small table topper for herself. We also went over finishing a hexie quilt. I thought I might do a blog post about that as well as some tips I have for EPP.

We are renovating our master bathroom. I don't know why this is wearing me out when the contractor and his help are doing all the work! They have been here several weeks - we are also turning a small bath into a small laundry room - and this week the roofers joined the fun. The dogs and cats are really mystified, excited and/or irked by all this activity.  When it is all done I'll show a before and after pick. I love how it is turning out.

We harvested over 200 lbs. of winter squash. Here is a look at some of the butternut. I hope this lasts for months in the basement as they say it will. I love roasted butternut and butternut squash soup.

Have you ever heard of pawpaws? 

We have two pawpaw trees and the fruit is now ripe. Lots of big seeds but the flesh is delicious - kind of a combination of banana and mango with a custard-like consistency.

We've been eating them out of hand and freezing some of the flesh. They are good in smoothies and I've been told it can be a substitute for banana in banana bread.

I hung a couple of quilts on the second story stair rail.  I made the one on the right several years ago. I found the one on the left at a yard sale a couple of months ago.

Please don't look at the walls - we are in the middle of removing the wall paper.

I love this little strip of pink gingham. It only goes about 12 inches of this one side. This corner is squared off and-

this corner is rounded.

Dave and I went to Octoberfest at the Frontier Culture Museum. This is the Irish homestead.

They had Tunis sheep at the American homestead. They are hard to find around here though they were once very common in the mid-Atlantic region. I'd like to have a small flock of Tunis some day. I love their coloring.

I had to snap a photo of the beds in the American home from the mid-1800's.

Tomorrow night I'm going to see the play Quilters at Mary Baldwin College with my cousin. Have you ever been to a performance or heard of it? It's new to me.