A Couple of Blocks Done And Lots of Household Chores

   I've been busy doing household chores and getting things done in preparation for some of the family visiting the weekend of July 4th.  My two older brothers and their families are coming to town.  It seems that everything needed fixing or cleaning.  This month I had to replace the flushing mechanism in both toilets.  I finished the second one today.  It's nice to have those done.  

    My oldest brother and his wife will be staying here at the house and I'm giving them my master bedroom and bath.  I have to give those two rooms a really good cleaning, my brother is allergic to animals and the cats spend a lot of time in the bedroom.  I'm smart enough to keep the cats out of the bathroom, so I won't have to worry about too much cat fur in that room.

    I haven't done a  lot of sewing in the last few weeks.  I did get two disappearing hour glass blocks done and I figured out what my measuring problem was with the very first attempt.


 

    I bought myself a Janome Memory Craft 7700 to enhance my sewing room.  This machine has a 11" throat and it should be the only other machine I need for the rest of my life.  Her name is Magnolia (because she's pure white).  I covered her with my yard of Tula Pink's Elizabeth and it covers her nicely.

   I'm trying to get back in the sewing groove.  I figure once my family is gone I can get back on track and get the rest of these disappearing hour glass blocks done as well as learn how to use my new machine.

New Chapter, New Project

    My life has changed in the last couple of months.  I left my job of 27 years and I'm taking some time off before I look for work.  I've been thinking about what I want to do for the rest of my life and taking care of some things around the house.  It has been very nice.

      Last year I purchased a low end DSLR  camera and I've just gotten around to taking it out and trying it out.  I took pictures of some of the flowers in my yard.  I have lots of knock out rose plants, drift rose plants, and marigolds in pots. The last picture is of the yellow knock out rose and the fragrance on those yellow blooms is amazing.

    I have started a new quilt top.  I'm making a disappearing hourglass in black and white.  The black fabric is actually a polka dot which I love.  You can get a great video tutorial on the pattern from Missouri Star Quilt Company on youtube at this link.   I love the MSQC video tutorials, they are so much fun.  Here is a picture of my first wonky block.  My measuring and cutting needs some work to get this block to look nice.  I'll be more careful with the rest.

   The work on the quilt top is going slowly, but I'll have more to share soon.