A rambley post...

More rain today means I may not finish my mosaic by this weekend as planned. But it also means I had time to finish my May UFO....(loud thundering applause please....) Unfortunately it is so large I cannot get a photo of it indoors so its photo shoot will have to wait for clear skies.

Funny, I planned on finishing the king size log cabin made from repro fabrics. There I was digging through the bags in the back of the closet and a bag fell on my head from the shelf above. I tossed the bag back up onto the shelf and continued digging...wham. It hit me again (lucky I am a quilter and not a potter not!) So I open the bag and there was my Vale of Evesham trip around the world. This project was also on my list to finish this year and since it was elbowing its way to the front of the line I figured I should finish it before it got really aggressive!

So my TAW now has borders and is ready for quilting. I still may try and dig in the back of the closet and find that shy log cabin. There is no rule that I can't finish two in a month...just doesn't happen often (or ever?)As I was looking at some of the photos of the crazy quilts it hit me...the base of the crazy quilt is the same process as making a crumb block. The quilt above is a vintage "crazy" pieced quilt with no embroidery...basically a large crumb block! Sort of like the mosaic I am working on...it is all coming together!Thought I should include another of Dee's ornaments (can't believe I left a cat out of my post!)

Today I have to focus on getting the block finished for my guild's donation quilt. It is a piece of cake applique design which I like but we using batiks which I do not like. I have bent three needles already and am only halfway through the block! So I switched to stronger needles but now I am unhappy with the stitches...I just have to remind myself someone is going to win this quilt for $1...just finish it. I am so volunteering for the design committee for the next quilt.

Playing on the porch

Woohoo, found a 5 foot snake in the tall ground cover yesterday while walking the yard with the gardener...he jumped and screamed like a teenage girl! Macbeth came to the rescue and stood between us and the snake. The snake was smart and retreated to the other side of the fence. Macbeth was smart enough not to chase him. All good. Now I don't mind snakes but it did give me reason to spend more time on the porch! Maybe that is why the little guy in the photo hangs out here has well....(he is the perfect color for my porch!)The porch - the real reason for today's post. We gave away our deck/porch furniture when we went overseas. I have been shopping around for the past few months and haven't found what I want. What I want is my porch that doesn't look like everyone else's in the neighborhood. I also don't want to spend a fortune...seems like those two plans were at odds.

So I took a page from that home show that only uses stuff you already have (except I allowed myself a $100 to buy paint and repair stuff since we couldn't ship that and so have zilch in the garage....) This has been a lot of fun! I'm using colors I love (I know I do because when I was emptying a box of stuff in the garage I found color chips from 6 years ago that match what I am using now!) And it is color...I am so tired of brown, black and beige I could scream!So what have I done so far...I painted some old wicker chairs lilac (before and after shot above.) I painted a discarded iron table bottom a textured black. I primed a 3 foot by 3 foot piece of wood and broke up lots and lots of chipped china to make a mosaic table top. I found a small canvas "rug" I painted years ago and some tin folk art for the side of the house. Fun no? So far I have spent about $40...couldn't even get a decent chair for that!

I am debating with myself on the china...I definitely want to go with the smaller pieces but do I only want to use the china? It was starting to look a bit girl-y...so I tried tossing in some beer caps and buttons and beach glass....definitely shook it up a bit....I'm going to wait a day before gluing it down to make up my mind. Besides I have to smash some more china (very therapeutic I may add....) Also there are a few pieces that I have to use the nippers on to make sure I don't lose the pattern like on this china mark....Still lots to do but it is way more fun than shopping (who would have ever thought I'd say that!)

The basket quilt came out of it's bath in good shape. There are still a few stains but I'm going to wait and decide how much they bother me. It may do more damage to try and get them out. At least it is clean and smells good! Important in a quilt! Photos later...still a bit damp in spots and is doing its final drying in the dining room....oh and here is a Brownie photo for Dianne....I suspect Brownie was out there hunting the little lizard...oh, dear. Both cats like to hang out around the lavender plant...wonder what it smell like to them?