Speed Records

It was a beautiful day in Music City and Applejack and I decided to go for an afternoon walk at Radnor Lake.  I call these trees, the fat man squeeze.

The black eyes Susan's are just beginning to bloom

Oh, the joys of summer

Is that what I think it is?  We are outta here!  

Hemerocallis

The name Hemerocallis comes from the Greek words meaning day and beautiful.  The name implies the flowers typically last no more than 24 hours.  Most flowers open in the early morning and wither during the night or next day.

Red Volunteer

Maybe it was the mild winter, the mild feeding, a gentle rain, warm sunshine or blessings from the Master Gardener, but the day lilies have been especially pretty this year.

Liberty Hill Stitcher's Station

Look what came in the mail today!  It arrived all the way from the Silver Needle in Oklahoma (in excellent condition).  I have been anxiously awaiting its arrival.  It has been a long exhausting day and I will write more about the Stitcher's Station and other Liberty Hill goodies in future posts.

Wash Day

Grandmother Bessie was a creature of habit.  Monday was always wash day for her.  In the course of her lifetime wash day became evolutionary.

In her early days of doing laundry, it began here:  she would build a fire under this large iron kettle and heat water until it was boiling. 



                          She would scrub the clothes on a wash board

 And then there was the ironing

Can you image how the quality of her life must have improved when she started doing her laundry on an electric washing machine?

Mrs. Brock was Grandmother Bessie's next door neighbor.  They were very competitive with each other.  Mrs. Brock was an early riser and would always have her laundry hanging on the clothesline to dry before Grandmother Bessie.  One Sunday, Grandmother decided she was tired of seeing Mrs. Brock's laundry hanging on the clothesline before hers.  Grandmother Bessie washed her clothes on Sunday evening, got up really early on Monday morning and had her clothes drying on the line before Mrs. Brock.  Grandmother always took great pleasure in sharing this story. 

My Grandfather did not share Grandmother's enthusiasm about wash day.  Grandfather Isaac felt Grandmother washed more than necessary and would hide his overalls from her.

 

Sarah Hook Tombstone Angel

Between cat naps and snacks, I have been working on the Chartmakers Tombstone Angel, Sarah Hook.  She is nearly finished, just a few more swirls and she will be complete.  I am not stitching the words, just the angel.  Am hoping to add other tombstone angels to use in the fall for Halloween.

Since I am nearing the finish of Sarah Hook, I have started thinking ahead to my next project.  There are so many walls of Adam and Eve samplers, I have decided to jump on the band wagon.  This will be my third Adam and Eve sampler called In the Garden by La D Da.  Famous last words "looks pretty simple." That evil snake has wrapped himself around Eve's torso.  With my fear of snakes, this should be interesting to stitch.

Choosing Linen

One of my favorite parts about starting a new project is choosing the linen and fibers.  Nothing is more satisfying than when design, linen, fiber, framing and finishing all work together, compliment each other and come together to give the needleworker than ahhh moment.

When needleworkers choose linen and fibers it is an interesting process.  There are stitchers who strictly follow the designers guidelines choosing the linen and fibers used by the designer on the model.    There are stitchers who will change the count of the linen making the completed design either larger or smaller than the model.  Some stitchers will change cotton fibers to silk or over dyed.

Then. . . there are those stitchers who change many things:  the linen, the fibers, sometimes even parts of the design.  I know a stitcher who refuses to stitch on any linen which has been over dyed, she says it is not color fast.  Absolutely nothing wrong with this choice.  A shop owner once told me "I do not carry over dyed linen because the molting looks like someone has mopped their kitchen floor with a perfectly good piece of linen."  Nothing wrong with this either.  For myself, I love over dyed linens, I love the linens which look I have mopped the kitchen floor.  I am a primitive girl and the linens don't get molted enough for me.  There is a black walnut tree near our property line and I fight the squirrels each fall for the black walnuts.  I dry the walnuts and use them to "age" my linens.  My neighbors find it amusing when they see me laying linens in the yard to sun dry.     My fibers are like the Crayola box of crayons.  Why settle for a 8 pack box of crayons where the 64 pack box offers such a vast array of color?

I have linens drying in the hot sun which have been "aged" with black walnuts.  I'm off to collect them before the squirrels take revenge and hold the linens hostage!

Yes, I am in the process of selecting a new project!

Jo Morton Raspberry Swirl

It's a rainy day at Thistle Manor with overcast skies and showers.  The rain is very needed to help the gardens prepare themselves for the hot dry months of July and August.  The rain is non discriminating.  Translation:  there will be many weeds to pull next week and flowers to deadhead.

Miss Callie Mae has been taking advantage of this rainy day by catching up on her sleep.

At Thistle Manor, AppleJack says we have inside chores and outside chores.  With the rain showers, today is an inside kind of chore day.  I started working on my Jo Morton Raspberry Swirl June homework assignment.  Here is the progress:

I am using Jo Morton and French General fabrics.  A completed square is 5."  There will be nine total squares in the quilt plus the sashings and borders.  So far so good, I have not had any melt downs and there is a long way to go.  I do not like waiting until the last minute to start my homework, I think Grandmother Bessie taught me this.

Here is what Jo Morton writes about Raspberry Swirl:  "I think these Goose tracks blocks are adorable especially in the 5" size used in this quilt.  I'm going to use mine during the Holidays, it is just perfect for our home.  It is fun to have a new quilt each year.  Red and cream equals classic, timeless, traditional,  I never get tired of it."  I think this quilt could also be used at Valentines.  Since there is so much red used on the front of the quilt with the goose tracks (or raspberry swirls), sashings, and border, I am thinking of using a shirting for the backing.  Any thoughts?

"Hello Cat Mother, I'm here to help with quality control and color selection."