a lovely day

I found these folks hanging around on my patio this morning--my stalkers! My mom and dad are visiting from Iowa, and Dan just left for his return to CA. Because Dan's time here is in short supply, and my parents don't travel across the country as readily as they used to, we had them all here at the same time. It is so lush and green here right now, everything is growing like gangbusters. The woods around our house become so dense with the underbrush, vines, weeds, etc., that we really feel isolated because we don't see much of the neighbors' houses. Kind of feels like being on our own little island! Today is sort of hot and steamy, so the A/C is feeling good.

Not much sewing or quilting going on around here, but I will be back at it soon. I have several things in the queue.

This was my souvenir of the Twins' game--an empty root beer bottle! I know, some people buy all kinds of fabulous team gear and baseball stuff. I just collect the free stuff! When we used to camp a lot, nearly all our cups and glasses were from the ballpark! Actually, I thought it was pretty neat and will be good for holding a stem or two of flowers. And it was very tasty root beer, too!

a rainy day at home

Today is my work-at-home day, starting out with some quilting on a t-shirt quilt for a customer. These are very popular for graduates to showcase their collected shirts. It turns into a personal history, and even though I don't know this recipient, I can see that there is some TLC going into putting this all together for her.



I have been on what I call a 'fabric diet' here lately, following my sewing room clean-up and reorganization. I self-diagnosed a fabric collecting disorder, and went through a period of purging before I settled down into a healthier fabric lifestyle of controlled accumulation. Only bringing home the necessities to complete what I had already committed to. Ignoring those Joann's coupons. Resisting temptation each time I went into Bear Patch. This has been going on 4 months now, and I am pleased that my shelves have stayed neat and orderly and still have a few empty spaces. But there is one group of fabric that I have been lusting for and I capitulated last week. I brought home this:


A neat, tidy bundle of Denyse Schmidt's Hope Valley fabric! No immediate plans for it, other than relishing in the look and feel. I'm halfway glad that I held off on buying these prints, because sometimes the restraint makes the end game more sweet, don't you think?

Speaking of end game, let's talk sports! Not my strong suit, but I have been enjoying Bob's participation in a Family Fantasy Baseball League. Dads, sons, cousins, uncles, etc., have been reviewing stats, trading players, and pouring over every baseball game result. Bob used to do this back in the stone age, before the dawning of the world of personal home computers. The weekly results were actually typed or written on paper and circulated by the group leader! Imagine that! Now they all log onto the internet and statistics, points, rankings, details, etc. are all automatically tabulated. The first couple weeks Bob has been struggling to gain some ground amidst some stiff competition. Garnering a point here and there for some player's good performance. Not one to quietly slip into the night, I wanted to stand by my man and get him into the World Series. So I have developed a new points category that supersedes all those RBI, HR, DH, and PBR statistics. (That's Pabst Blue Ribbon, for all you non-baseball people!) Two of Bob's players are Morneau and Mauer. Because they have more vowels than consonants in their names, I am petitioning The League for bonus points for Bob. Sounds reasonable to me!

While I am waiting to hear back from the Commissioner, I have started this book:

I have not been successful in finding much reading time lately, although I do listen to books every time I am driving, so that counts for something.

I did find time to start a new quilt just for my own purposes. We badly need a makeover of our bedroom, and this is the start. I am going for something totally different with this quirky, fun, colorful hedgehog fabric--

I'm calling it the Not So Nermal quilt (named after Dan's pet hedgehog). I put together a bundle of coordinating fabric, using prints, solids, stripes and dots. This is a small sample of what I hope to do:

I'm wondering if that dark brown sashing is too stark, I may have to audition something else. Walls will need to be repainted, I am thinking grey. Window coverings are also needed, no decision on that yet. I don't think Bob knows what he is in for! Well, he's usually a very good sport about my home dec projects so I'm not too worried.

I better wrap this up, I need to check on our birdfeeder in the backyard. We are having squirrel wars. Amazingly, the squirrel barrier that has worked for about 10 years to keep the little critters at bay has been surmounted by a rogue squirrel. I have spotted him twice on top of the pole, helping himself to seed from the 3 feeders suspended there. Do you think this is an example of evolution of the species?