Thursday, July 14, 2011

Grandma Time at the Ranch

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I spent a few days with my granddaughters this last week while their parents went on a little trip.  We had a good time and I got to see them work with their 4-H lambs and them teaching the lambs to lead and practicing showing as the fair is coming up soon.  The sheep are pretty tame and are getting the idea of what they need to do when the girls practice with them now.  They will get a bath and be sheared off soon and will look so much better than they do right now.  Love this first picture of D. leading her lamb with the parade following her.  She has Maggie the dog supervising and the two black ducks, Quackers and Olivia, that the girls got at Easter time bringing up the rear of the parade.  Those ducks are so funny as they follow the girls everywhere, quacking as they go.

IMG_3356I am sure the sheep are wondering why they have to walk round and round then stand just so, over and over each day.  They don’t know yet they will get to show off at the fair with how much they know about standing and walking beside their girl in the show ring.  Don’t you love the bright pink boots S. is wearing?  That is a requirement from their parents…they must have boots on when ever they are away from the lawn around the house as there are rattlesnakes around where they live and some have been found on occasion close to the barn and the garage.  The boots won’t protect them 100% but at least it is better than flip flops!  A sheep stepping on your foot with flip flops on is not fun either so another good reason to wear boots.

Until Later,
Lynn

Sunday, July 10, 2011

Blue On Blue Borders

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The pile of extra blocks are ready to be lined up for the borders.
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The blocks all laid out for the borders on the quilt.
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Whoops, I have one extra block.  I thought I had made 296 but must have miscounted.
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Border blocks all stitched but now I need to buy some fabric for the 5” spacer strip and an outside border.  What color should I look for?  Actually this beige carpet doesn’t look too bad does it?  I think if I go with another blue it could look pretty muddy.  Let me know what you think?  What color, what value?

Until later,
Lynn

Saturday, July 9, 2011

Second Half Just Like The First

The second half of the center section of my Blue On Blue quilt went together just fine.  The seams matched up and I kept the blocks in order thank goodness.  Now I hope that I don’t find two identical fabrics close together after it is all done.  It seems like you can look and look at the blocks and then find some identical fabrics right next to each other after things are sewn together despite trying your best to look it over first.  How can the eyes miss things like that when you have studied it so often?
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Borders are next.
Lynn

Friday, July 8, 2011

Sewing, Sewing, Sewing Blocks Together

That design snafu got solved and it was time to start stitching the rest of the blocks together.  I am not a fast stitcher and take lots of breaks because sitting for long stretches makes my ankle get puffy and stiff and I pay for it the rest of the day.  I stop and walk around the house (should be cleaning but that doesn’t seem to happen.)  I do my ankle exercises fairly often as that helps plus I have been wearing the ever lovely TED stockings to help with the swelling.  You should see me…Oh no, you should not see me in my white TED hose, shorts and a T-shirt.  I am a vision of fashion. 

(For those that don’t know what TED hose are this is what Wikipedia says…Compression stockings and socks are specialized hosiery items designed to increase blood circulation. Their main theraputic purpose is to provide graduated pressure on the lower leg and foot and, in some cases, the thigh, to alleviate circulatory problems such as edema, phlebitis and thrombosis. Unlike traditional dress or athletic stockings and socks, compression stockings use stronger elastics to create significant pressure on the legs, ankles and feet. Compression stockings are tightest at the ankles, gradually become less constrictive towards the knees and thighs. By compressing the surface veins, arteries and muscles, the circulating blood is forced through narrower circulatory channels. As a result, the arterial pressure is increased which causes more blood to return to the heart and less blood to pool in the feet. )


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Actually they feel pretty good on but when I am outside in the summer time they are really, really hot so I don’t wear them much.  They also don’t look so good with crop pants or shorts.  I do have some black and tan ones that look good with long pants and wear them a lot of the time when it is cooler.    Enough of that…Back to the Blue On Blue quilt progress.

As you can see I got two sections done and ready to stitch together.  Remember I had to take the outside row on the right and put it on the left side to make the design come out so that is why the one section is so much bigger than the other.  I was not going to rip all those rows I had done out.  I paid close attention to the pressing of my seams so that they would all nest in opposite directions when I stitched the parts together.


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But what is that in the upper left side of the photo….two pair of shoes.  They are the same kind but one pair is much newer than the other and this type of shoe is very comfortable with my fatter ankle.  But why do you leave them sitting there you may ask?  At one time there were these two pair of white shoes plus a pair of flip flops all laying in the same area so there can me more shoes gathered in this same spot.  This is what happens….I have the shoes on my feet when I first start working on the quilt and come in to pick up more blocks and put the location pins in them.  I sit down on the floor and off come the shoes as I can’t sit on the floor with my shoes on as it bends my ankle too much.  I continue going back and forth from the floor to the sewing machine without my shoes until I need to do something else.  I am in another part of the house by then I end up putting on another pair and wearing them to do what ever I was going to do and when I come back to sew off they come.  I should remember where I put my shoes as I have them dropped in several parts of the house.  I think I am worse than a kid with shoes all over and periodically have to gather them all up and take them back to my closet.  Anybody else do that besides me?
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The top half of the center section is finished now so on to the bottom half.  Blue On Blue is definitely growing seam by seam.

Until later,
Lynn

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