Visitors Arrived at 7 a.m.

Thankfully, I had already taken our little dog out this morning.  As I was sitting having my breakfast and looking out the window, a little fawn came out of the woods for a taste of our salt block.  In just a few minutes, Mama came out to watch for strangers.  I so wished I had my camera, but since I hadn't seen any deer in months, my camera was in another room.  I knew if I made a move, they'd be gone.  As I watched, two more fawns came out and another Mama.  There were (5) in all.  What a blessing to see so many!

There is new construction all around this area, so their stomping ground has been disappearing quite rapidly.
I was able to get one picture of 3 deer this morning after 2 of them left.

Deer came to visit 09102016

Labor Day 2016

As I created my Quilty Circle for today, I decided to look on-line for a simple explanation about Labor Day.
During my work career of 40 years, I "usually" got Labor Day off.  I'm sure there were a couple of jobs, where I had to work on Labor Day.

So, here's the simple explanation:   Labor Day honors the workers--
8 hours of work
8 hours of play
8 hours of rest

It's a great concept; however, your 1 hour lunch and 2 hours commute must come from play or rest.
I must admit that retirement is wonderful.  

365 Quilty Circles & Design Wall Monday

I've been working on my 365 Quilty Circles all afternoon to try and get them caught up for Aug. and Sept.  Just now, I have accomplished my goal.  On Sat., Aug. 27th, I wondered what to write, so I checked the web and discovered that Aug. 27th was day #240 of this year, with 126 days to go until Dec. 31st, 2016.  Now, for a picture of the 365 Quilty Circles for the 2nd half of 2016.  One huge quilt would have been too cumbersome.
So, I chose to make:
Quilt top#1 :  Complete:  01-01-2016 through 06-28-2016

Quilt top#2:   06-29-2016 through 12-31-2016

 

Quilty Circles Top#2    06/29/2016 to 09/04/2016

Link up with Quilty Folk to see how other quilters are keeping up with this year long project.

Be sure to link up with Judy at Patchwork Times.com
to see the designs of other quilters this week. 

Design Wall Monday

DWM 08292016

The last Quilty Circle I completed was dated August 6, so now I'm almost one month behind.  I do have several HST made, so just need to cut and applique the circles down with a comment of what I did that day.
I've tried to keep up with writing a few words on the calendar but I haven't been too good at keeping up with that commitment either.

This afternoon, I have cut and pressed the backing for the Rainbow Blocks quilt.  I've got the binding made.
Since it's almost dinner time, I doubt that I will get the quilt pinned this evening; maybe tomorrow.  The quilt needs to be completed before next Tuesday, the 6th, since I'm donating it to an auction.

Check out the Design Walls of other quilters by hopping over to: Patchwork Times.com 

   

Design Wall Monday

At this point, I can only show you some of the fabrics I have chosen for the "Crayon Challenge", which is due the middle of September.  I have known about this challenge for quite a few months but I was debating on the pattern and the size.  I was going to plan it and design it in EQ7 but it was just too frustrating for me to draw the whole thing out and then still have to cut the fabrics and make it.
During one of my computer sessions, I did actually get my photo placed on the quilt and at one time, I was able to enlarge the photo but by the next day with a few clicks, I was back to square one. 

Crayon Challenge due in mid Sept.

Click over to Judy's Blog at Patchwork Times.com
to see what other quilters have designed this week.

Design Wall Monday

This afternoon, I finished my "Rainbow Blocks" quilt top.  When I worked on this quilt last week, I had it tilted on the Design Wall, which I thought was quite striking.  However, I would have had to cut 4 huge triangles to add to the corners using white muslin.  It would have needed more color in the corners to blend in with the rest of the top.  Since I plan to give this quilt away, I'm happy with this layout.  I debated on adding a border but I may just leave it, as is, at 48" square. I haven't machine quilted in quite some time, so I may need to do some practicing on a couple of quilts, before I tackle a couple of gift quilts.

Rainbow Blocks

 Stop by Judy's Blog at:   Patchwork Times.com
to see what other quilters have been doing this week.

State Wide Assembly Day 2016

It was a busy week-end.  Our state-wide, Tennessee Valley Quilters Assoc. (TVQA) had their annual Assembly Day on Sat., Aug. 13th.  Courthouse Quilters Guild hosted in Charlotte, TN.  There were over 400 quilters in attendance and ten vendors, so lots of fabric, patterns, quilting tools, etc.  Our Guest Speakers were Kaye England and Kelly Young.

I remember Kaye England coming to our Guild in July 2000, and taught a class from her book, "Voices of the Past", which is a history of Women's Lives in Patchwork.  The quilt pattern Kaye chose to teach was "Mrs. Taft's Choice".  At that time, I also purchased Kaye's book, "Voices of the Past", Volume II.
You can check out Kaye's Blog at:  Kaye England.com

Kaye's talk on Saturday, Aug. 13th was so interesting.  She brought her collection of quilts that related to these two books and talked about the history surrounding these quilts and the women's lives and their stories. 

After lunch, Kelly Young told us about the quilts she had made as she showed each one.  Kelly had many stories to tell about each of her quilts.  Her quilts have a modern flair with bright colors.  Kelly  has a blog, so you can check out her designs and patterns on-line.
 My Quilt Infatuation.blogspot.com