April finishes

I've been toodling around in the studio and decided to finish another vintage top I bought at the guild yard sale. I had the right fabrics for the job, so that's what I'm doing.Photos later...
I see where other bloggers post their monthly progress on quilts, so I thought I would, too! Aside from customer quilting, these are the quilts I finished in April.

Hugs and Kisses kit quilt

Another Hugs and Kisses Kit quilt

Charity quilt

Class sample and charity donation

Fun strippy quilt made one weekend

Charity quilt

Charity quilt

Magic block quilt

Heart to Heart quilt

split 9 patch charity quilt

another split 9 patch charity quilt

Heatr to Heart quilt

Fun HST charity quilt

vintage top I repaired, bordered and finished

Top from Guild yard sale. Bordered and finished

Heart to Heart kit quilt

Air mail pattern quilt from Missouri Star Quilt Company

Barn quilt is up, lone star quilt is finished, it's a happy Friday!

What a great day! First, I had a doctor's appointment where I was sure I would have to be scolded, but was surprised to see my blood pressure is down, my blood sugar is fine and I lost 3 pounds! And I didn't feel a thing. Hate to admit it, but the plant based diet seems to be working. Goody.
Work continued on the lone star quilt until Tim interrupted and said there was a big to-do going on at the bank with free hot dogs and tomato plants. Off we went and after a dog and plant stop at the bank, we managed to spend a wad at Home Depot on more lilacs (woo hoo!) , a tickseed plant, and some tomato cages. The garden is really shaping up!

Customer appreciation day at our bank. Free lunch and tomato plants!

Mike and Jason came today and put up the barn quilt on the house. Jason had no fear on the ladder scaffold, but Mike was a bit timid...and for good reason! I think they were about thirty feet up! Tim did the smart thing and supervised from the front porch. I fought off clouds of gnats and documented the occasion from the front yard. It looks terrific, and sets our house apart from the others.

No-Fear-Jason waving from the scaffold

Mike, Jason and Supervisor

Looking good from the street

Almost done...Mike even touched up the paint!

After the big event, I returned to the studio and finished the quilting, binding and sleeve on the second lone star quilt. I will do the hand sewing tonight and move on to the next project this weekend.

Fini !!

I think it is awesome

Setting triangles look like this

Diamonds look like this

And with the borders, it is a neat package!

As long as we were off the veggie wagon with the hot dog lunch, we celebrated the barn quilt with a trip to the Smokin' Que for some ribs, beans and slaw.
A full on wonderful North Georgia day!

Lone Star progress and barn quilt fun

I had a fruitful day putting on the borders and getting the Lone Star quilt on the machine for quilting. It should be very pretty when it is finished. The quilting is moving right along, but after several hours, my back was hurting and I had to quit for the day. Tomorrow, after my morning doctor visit (ugh) I should be able to get it done and the binding made and applied. Woo hoo!

Over half done!

It's hard to see, but the quilting is really nice.

Meanwhile, Mr Wazoo had business of his own to take care of today. The wreck he was in yesterday messed up the right front of his truck, and he had to go get an estimate for the other driver's insurance. It was her fault and an independent witness was there to corroborate what happened. Her car was really smashed and unable to be driven after the accident. Poor girl was crying and worried about what her father would say. It is his car. Oops!
I picked one of the roses from our new bush in the garden. Wow, is it ever fragrant! The blooms change color as they mature, which is really cool.

Swanky roses!

I cut one of these for in the studio.

Mike came by after his work day to assemble the frame for the barn quilt. He says he should be able to get it put up on the peak of the house tomorrow. That should be photo worthy! Tim helps by staying out of the way and chatting it up with the carpenter. He did paint the boards...a safe contribution to the project.

Mike even mitered the corners! I rarely do that on quilts...

This evening, I will get the binding sewn down on the blue quilt I finished a couple of days ago while watching TV. Yes, life is good!

For now, the studio is closed!

Routine day at Wazoo

Today started routinely, and then got better! We had put an offer on the lot next door, and it was accepted. This will make our property more private, because no one can build on that side. It is a good investment.

The mountain on the way home from town is finally green!

The homestead will grow by an acre next month!

We were supposed to get rain today, but that never happened. Mr Wazoo took the opportunity to put together the elliptical machine in the garage. He has been busy with outdoor projects and quilting, so the machine just lay in pieces there. When it didn't rain, he went outside and planted the roses he bought yesterday.
I quilted one little charity quilt and added the binding, and then worked the rest of the day measuring and adding the setting squares and triangles to the second lone star quilt. For this one, I added contrasting corners. It will have a small solid inner border and an  outer border to match the corners. Hopefully, I will be quilting it this weekend!

Little charity quilt from a kit, done and binding on.

Simple freehand flower quilting

Yippee! The second lone star is almost done!

Just before supper time, Tim remarked about how the view here changes all the time and how he loves the changes. I looked out, and the treetops were glowing where the setting sun was hitting them. All the trees are green now, but the sun kissed ones appeared golden. Really nice. You know I love it here...

The sun on the trees

Cool!

Visiting with friends and lots of quilting

Yesterday afternoon my friends Sandi and Donna arrived for a visit, while on their way home from Paducah . They are officially the first guests in the new house. We popped into the local quilt shop, and then went to Jim's Smokin' Que for a gut busting feast of ribs, slaw, beans and peanut butter pie. Yum! There were enough ribs left for Tim and I to have them for dinner tonight. Then it will be back to the plant based diet tomorrow.
We girls played a couple of games of Farkle and watched the movie, Oh Brother, Where Art Thou? before turning in for the night. This morning, they packed and went on their way to Florida. It was a short visit, but a fun one. Thanks, girls! Come back again!

Donna, me and Sandi

Tim started gardening as soon as the girls hit the road and was at it until 6 PM!

First, he sealed the back walk pavers

Tim planted the hosta and lilies we got at the plant sale yesterday

Almost all the planting is done. Unfortunately, he ran out of mulch.

I didn't garden...I quilted!
First, I fooled around with some kid print fat quarters and made giant half square triangles. The design wall got a workout while I moved them around until I decided on a zig-zag layout. I sewed them together, quilted big swirls, and added a great striped binding. Looks nice!
                                     

Swirly quilting

Dancing piggies on the back

After that, I went through the UFOs on the rack and chose to work on a vintage top I got somewhere in my travels. I don't recall where this one came from, but it lis a sweet nosegay pattern. I pressed it with Best Press for stability, trimmed it square, added two borders and quilted it with Baptist Fan motifs. It will have the same blue binding as the inner border, but I just ran out of steam to finish it today. At 6:15 I turned off the lights and retired to the living room to enjoy some TV while doing the hand sewing on the two small quilts.

The vintage quilt as a flimsy

Here it is all quilted

I got a phone call from my new quilting friend, Kay, who had just gotten home from the Paducah show. She won first prize for her art quilt that we went over before she sent it off to be judged. OMG!! I am so very happy for her. The quilt is beautiful and so is Kay. It couldn't happen to a nicer lady.

Kay with her quilt. Notice the wonderful ribbon with the handmade dogwood flower. 

It has been a stellar weekend!