Happy Thanksgiving or Gnome for the Holidays

"Rest and be thankful." William Wordsworth

I'm making gnome pillowcases in between cooking today. :-)

Tie Dye Lace Results

These are the results of my tie dye lace experiment. As I mentioned, my youngest daughter and her friend had left over dye so I soaked the lace in soda ash water then randomly added dye to the lace (I didn't tie it).
I look for damaged pillowcases with lace edges at yard sales and thrift shops. I carefully remove the lace and toss the case (did I just rhyme?). Anyway, it was fun to play with the lace and the dye. We bought the tie dye kit at Michael's . Kits usually don't provide such bold colors. We'll buy this brand/kit again.

Here We Go!

Our fence, deck and gate are now repaired after last week's windstorm. I worked on some Christmas gifts today but will have to wait until after Christmas to post the photos because some of the recipients read my blog. ;-) But I will share a photo of string blocks I started late last night.
The tie dye lace turned out great. I'll share photos tomorrow.

Change of Pace

I made some vintage/retro string blocks last night while my family watched major league soccer. I spent the day cutting pieces of this fabric for quilts and couldn't toss the remaining strips...so yes...one more string quilt. :-)
I also thought you might enjoy this beautiful essay by Philip Gulley.

Twenty Four Hours and Counting!

My youngest daughter and her friend enjoyed an afternoon of tie-dye. They had some leftover dye, so I dyed some cotton lace. They dyed some lace for me as well. Now everything needs to cure for 24 hours. Our dining room table is covered with tie-dye pieces...covered! :-)

P.S. I buy plastic holiday tablecloths during after-holiday sales just for days like this. This was a New Year's table cloth I bought in February...actually, I bought several. I think I spent ten cents a piece for these. These were made so well I should be able to reuse them several times. :-)

This photo was on the front page of our paper today. We experienced quite a windstorm yesterday. We personally lost a section of fence and a gate. Our barbeque also found itself on the other side of the yard and a stray lawn umbrella found its way into our yard. A tree limb crashed to the ground about 10 feet in front of me while driving (I was in a 15 mph zone so I was able to stop in time) and I was nearly hit by a rogue milk crate flying across the street. The weather is calm and beautiful today.

'Tis a Gift to be Simple...

I've added some more colorful borders to this quilt top. I just discovered a small scrap of fabric in the top right corner of the quilt which contains the definition of the word "simple"...too funny!

“To find the universal elements enough; to find the air and the water exhilarating; to be refreshed by a morning walk or an evening saunter … to be thrilled by the stars at night; to be elated over a bird’s nest or a wildflower in spring—these are some of the rewards of the simple life.” -John Burroughs

I thought this was beautiful.

Playing with Solids and Shapes

I'm working on a sort of a square within a square with this one. This will be the center medallion. More to come. :-)

Our oldest daughter's county honor choir performance took place last night. This man was the guest director and he was INCREDIBLE. They performed his song Take Me to the Water (if you enter the site you can listen...it's track #3).

Update: OH! I actually found a video on youtube of last night's performance (one of the five arrangements)!!!

I "Heart" String Quilts

I made eight blocks with red centers this morning so that I might add a heart to the center of this string quilt. Please check out the Heart Strings Quilt Project site while you are here.
P.S. I read CJ Stitching and Bloom's post and now I can't wait to make Dorset buttons!

Mauna Kea

This set of blocks is reminding me of the 360 degree sunset we witnessed on Mauna Kea a few years ago.

Rainbow Fish

I decided to separate my scraps into colors and make blocks from each color. This photo actually reminds me more of a school of colorful fish...which reminds me of the book, The Rainbow Fish, which was a favorite of both daughters when they were younger.

Merry and Bright

I found this great How To Video...hmmm, maybe that's next!

My friend, Lynne, sent this site my way. I thought the videos on this site were so interesting.

NICU Quilts

I opened my front door and found a big bag of precut bindings. Thank you, Judi S (does the middle binding look familiar?). I bound five more NICU quilts for our guild over the weekend.
:-)

String Border

I just keep playing with these string blocks. Can't get enough color. :-)