Finally after days and days of rain all month – I think I heard someone say we have had 25 days of rain in the month of October. The sun was shinning today and believe it or not we are to have a whole week of sunshine and in the 60’s — keep your fingers crossed. I do not know how some of you cope with rain in so much of your daily life – like the Seattle area for example and other places too I know but Seattle pops in my head for having a lot of rain. Maybe I think of Seattle because my blogging friend Crispy is there right now! I find it depressing to have rain all the time.
We took advantage of the sunny day to get out of the house. A park that we love is Petit Jean State Park about 40 miles from our house. We have been hiking the trail called “Cedar Falls” for close to 30 years. It is a 2 mile round trip trail. One mile down – one mile up – you really feel it on the way up believe me. Normally there is not very much water coming over the falls except in the spring. The water in the river was higher than we remember ever seeing it. The amount of water coming over the falls was spectacular! I do not remember ever seeing that much water coming over the falls – of course I’m sure there have been times after heavy rains that we just had not gone to the park. Here are a series of photos of the Trail. (One the link that I placed above there is a series of rotating photos advertising the park – they have one of Cedar Falls Trail which shows the normal small amount of water – the difference is amazing).
the river on the way to the falls - normally this water is fairly still, not rushing like it is now. There was water in places on the trail also - not deep but you had to walk through a bit of it here and there in places that are normally dry.
the high water under the bridge
Mike taking a photo of me taking a photo of him 
Cedar Falls -- this is normally a trickle of water coming over the falls at this time of year. Sometimes in the spring it looks like this but I do believe the water in the pool was deeper than I had ever seen it.
more of the river by the bridge
the trail head over looking the canyon the falls are in
the sign at the trail head
A lot of people felt the same way we did today I think – the park was packed. In fact Mike ran into 3 people he knows from work taking advantage of the sunshine also.
This evening I have gotten started cutting my bias binding – I haven’t gotten much done but I did do a little while I was waiting for the photo’s to load on the computer. I will work on more of that tomorrow.
(Melanie I know you are excited that I am done with the quilting on “Insanity” – but remember I said I was going to enjoy it for awhile first before handing it off to you!! I never said how long that was going to be LOL)
I can’t believe it – 4 years and 8 months after I started this quilt the quilting is finished. Now on to the binding!! It sure took a lot less time to hand quilt it then it did to piece it!! I will tally up the numbers and do a blog post on it when I get the binding done, wash it and have it presentable for a photo of the finished quilt.
The last corner is quilted
I am going to take my time with putting the binding on as I want to do it well. I have off white fabric left over from the top and I need to start cutting it in bias strips for making binding. My original intention was to do blue binding matching the backing fabric but I don’t have enough for bias strips – I have enough for straight edge but not the bias which the curves really do need. I have the scallops basted in place so tonight I am going to lay it out on the floor and trim the edges. Next week I will start to work on the binding.
Now that the frame is once again empty – a rare sight as I put a new quilt top on the frame usually within days of taking a quilt off as I always have several quilt tops waiting in line – I will sew the backing fabric for the Christmas quilt and get that one on the frame. I’m not sure how I will mark it for quilting so most likely this weekend I will get busy getting the backing ready – see what I have in the basket in the way of batting – the only package that I have unopened is only 60 by 60 but I might just go ahead and baste some pieces to use. I have no place local that sells the Quilters Dream batting that I use (as there is no local quilt shop) and I don’t want to wait to put it on the frame. I have so many pieces here in a large basket that it won’t be that hard to baste it together – I use the sewing machine to do that.
Finally the rain is past us, we have not had rain since 9 this morning. The next 6 days at least are supposed to be sunshine and around 60 degrees at least – I am taking a wait and see approach to that! The weathermen have not been very good on predictions lately. At least we had rain and not snow. One of my many sister’s -in-law lives in Nebraska and they have snow to deal with today-lot’s of it!!
Continue reading about Finished Quilting Dear Jane – “Insanity”
I can’t believe I am almost done with this quilt that I have been working on for 4 years and 8 months! I have one last corner piece to quilt and then on to cutting the scallops and doing the binding. My “Insanity” is almost complete!!! I could have actually finished it last week I think but yet I have been dragging the work out almost like I don’t want to let go of it. I really should finish the quilting tonight – but I just might wait until tomorrow
The last of the triangles!!!!
the scarf - see how it grows
Today I had a session with the Physical Therapist – isn’t it amazing how hurting can feel good if you know what I mean. I was getting massaged, manipulated and pulled this way and that and my neck hurt but yet it felt good at the same time — back for more “torture” tomorrow. I was told they hadn’t seen a neck as tight as mine in awhile – isn’t it nice to be special
Rain and rain and more rain. So far the worse of it today has been south of us. I hope all of my internet friends in south Arkansas and Louisiana are doing ok. I hope we don’t get the heavy downpours tonight and that we miss out on most of it this time. One more day of it is what they say and then maybe 5 days of dry weather – we will wait and see on that – I don’t believe the forecaster anymore!!
This wet fall weather is not helping my allergies! I have year round allergies to a lot of things, like pollen, mold, grasses, weeds – you name it outside and it bothers my allergies. I wish it would dry out already! Rain yesterday when I drove to Little Rock for my doctor appointment. Nice today – but more rain coming for the next two days – give us a break already. My nose is runny and my eyes are itching – I will be glad to get over this little allergy spell.
I had a good visit with my daughter after my doctor appointment was over. It turned out it was her day off so we got to spend some time together. I can’t really say we did all that much other than having lunch. Neither of us are that much on shopping just to shop. We did go to a kitchen store so I could look for a few items for my kitchen and I found a few small things. We did spend a little time at Barnes & Noble just talking over a coffee and shared cheesecake yum
I have to start physical therapy this week for my neck pain. Turned out I twisted the muscles somewhat while I was painting that ceiling! My appointment with my rheumatologist was just a routine check but as soon as I mentioned pain in my neck he was feeling those muscles and having me turn my head this way and that and before you know it I was having a full series of x-rays for neck and leaving with an order for Physical Therapy 3 times a week for 4 weeks and a muscle relaxer for 10 days! Glad to know that everything else was ok though! First session of PT is tomorrow afternoon.
Don’t forget to stop by Jackie’s blog “Canton Village Quilt Works” for her give away. She really has some nice items to give she is being so generous – I would want to keep it all for myself
I got a little more quilted last night on “Insanity”
One more pieced triangle to go - 1 corner - and one more plain !
I took a walk today at the lake – it was so nice after all the rainy weather we have had. I brought my camera along and got a couple fall photos.
Maples
birds on the lake - fall trees in background - I know what these birds are but the name escapes me at the moment
these are a type of cypress tree - I'm not sure how many varieties there are. These are small ones as you can see, the water is very close to them so I'm sure they get plenty of water. In the fall here the leaves are kind of brown
more fall color - you can see where this tree lost one of it's branches earlier in the year in one of the many storms we had.
Well I better get back to work on “Insanity” it is almost done!!
Jackie at Canton Village Quilt Works recently went to Houston for the quilt market held there each year. She is having a terrific give away. So generous! She is giving away fabric and a book – 5 winners if I read the entry right. Jackie has a long arm quilting business and from what I have seen of her work on her blog she does it wonderfully. I once told her that if I ever decide I need to get one of my quilts machine quilted (I’m a hand quilter) I’m sending it to her.
It looks like all of the new fabric lines that are coming out are going to be so great. I’ve seen quite a few blogs lately telling about what they saw at Houston and photos that have been posted. The designs and patterns are great.
So run on over to Jackie’s blog and see what she has –
Is coming along nicely. Thank goodness – I’m getting tired of working on it. I still have all of my bottom cabinets to go through and organize and clean out. I made good progress though this morning before I quit for the day to run into town and go get some other kind of exercise – i.e. treadmill, stair stepper ect
I didn't have any good before photos but this is what it looks like now in the kitchen. The paint still doesn't show up quite in the right color - it is more of a medium beige than the white it appears. I use to have a lot of small appliances on the counter top and I rearranged that so that I have lot's of space for cooking. It was just too crowded with the appliances on it. I like having this space available now.
the other side of the room. I have a wide galley kitchen I guess you could say - it is very long but only about 8 feet wide, with cabinets and appliances on both walls so that leaves about 50 inches of space for a walkway. The items on this wall - the wood rack holding the spoons ect was made by my father for their house years ago and I inherited it. He also carved and painted the plaque above it.
this is on the far end of the kitchen and is a pantry/laundry room with stack-able washer/dryer. I have never gotten around to staining the bottom cabinet to match - and totally forgot about it until I saw this picture - I guess that is one more thing I should fix!
I don’t know if it is my camera or the lightening in the kitchen that makes it so the paint job doesn’t show up to the true color – but that is ok – the main thing is that it is clean!! I still might sometime in the future paint at least one wall a darker color – but not before the holidays for sure. I will put another photo of our dining area on when it arrives. They did say it might be two weeks.
"Insanity Revisited" block 7 row 8 this quilt is starting to show some progress once again.
More triangles on "Insanity" almost done! just a few more to do and then the corner.
My plaid fabric arrived today that I had ordered for my “Baltimore Bliss” quilt – I must say it was totally different than the photo was on the site I ordered it from! That has not happened to me before for ordering fabric on line. Even though it is different than what I wanted I am still pleased with it. It is very nice fabric and a nice color. I had already been thinking of making two quilts with the 12 blocks that go with the BOM and that is what I will do. I have enough of the old plaid to do the first 6 blocks and then I will use the new plaid in the other 6 blocks. This will give me two good size little girl quilts as I plan to put the blocks on point with plain blocks in between for some good areas for hand quilting. I believe it was the last Baltimore Bliss block I am not pleased with. After laying the blocks all out it just really stands out as different – not different good – I am going to pick out a little of the applique and see if I have enough of the old plaid or other colors to stick in it and still have some plaid left for one more block. I used a lighter blue green in it and I’m not pleased with that color. Live and learn!
I have been busy with all kinds of projects lately. Yesterday we went shopping though and I didn’t do any quilting until evening. I got a new computer! It is a Toshiba Satellite. It is a lot smaller machine that I had for the past 3 years. A lot lighter too. It will take a little getting use to but it sure works great compared to the one that has given me such headaches the last year. It is faster and has more memory and a bigger hard drive. Now if you ask me what I am talking about I will be LOL and say all I can do is type (fast too) Mike set it all up for me. I am computer illiterate.
The old laptop next to the small new laptop. The smaller size is better for me when we are traveling. Our motor home is small and the table that I use for my sewing and computer use is not big. The old laptop took up the whole space. Also I wanted something smaller and easy to move room to room if I want to at home. I also found when flying to my daughter's house last month that something smaller sure would be easier for carting on planes - not that I fly that often but if I do it will be nice.
We had actually went shopping for a new table and chairs for the dining area if you remember me mentioning that the other day and we did find one – a little bigger than I wanted but I could find nothing the size I wanted in the right wood. It is on back order but we should get it in about 2 weeks or less. I have no photo’s but I will take a photo of my dining area when we get it set up. I have to get everything hung back up on my kitchen walls and plan to get that done today.
I worked on one of my “Insanity Revisited” blocks last night and finished that block. I have to try to spend more time working on that quilt and now that I am almost finished with “Insanity” I am sure I will. On average each of these little blocks takes anywhere from 1 hour to 4 hours to make for me doing hand piecing and/or needle turn applique/reverse applique. That is including the preparation time of getting the fabric cut and marked for sewing.
Row 8 Block 6 I reversed appliqued all of the curves. I use a glue stick and glue the two fabrics in place so I don't have any pins in my way with these small pieces. Then I applique and when I am finished I cut away the excess fabric from the back.
With the “Insanity” quilt I did get a little more quilting done last night and it is moving right along. I have 4 more pieced triangles to quilt, one cornerstone, and 4 plain triangles.
one pieced triangle and two plain triangles
the scarf is growing. I am done with one ball of yarn and started the second. I'm not sure how long I will have it. I don't really need to use the whole of the second ball of yarn but I might. I will take the wait and see approach and keep draping it around my neck to see what length I like.
Maggie at Patchmaker Quilts is having a give away for her 100th blog post. Go on over and see her blog.
Well after taking two days off or was it three from painting I felt like I could handle it today. I finished painting the ceiling of the whole room. The walls on the kitchen half still need to be painted and I will work on that tomorrow. I’m not going to over do it! Also I just got finishing painting the ceiling so it will stay damp for a while longer and I know I don’t want to start painting the rest of the walls at 7 this evening!
dining area before new paint job
This is the dining area with the fresh paint. I had wanted to go with something really different but then didn't like the darker paint that I had gotten so stuck with something neutral. Maybe I will change it next year to something darker. If I do it would be just the walls that I would be doing not the ceiling also. This time the ceiling had to be done as it had not been painted in about 20 years! I also got a new wall hanging hanger for my wall hanging on the wall. The lighting in the room hardly makes it look any different but believe me it is. If I had the lights turned off it was too dark to see it right. Go to the bottom of this blog post for a photo from a different angle to see what I mean.
I got done with some more triangles on “Insanity” last night and this morning. It is coming along. I have 5 more pieced triangles to quilt, 1 corner stone and 6 more plain triangles to do.
a close up of the wall hanging. After seeing the photo I think I need to have Mike move the wall hanging higher up on the wall, means I will have to do a tiny patchwork maybe on the holes, but it will be just a tiny patch and dab of paint to cover them.
the lighting in the photos makes it look like the color is hardly any different than it was to start with so I took this photo from another angle where it meets up with the next area to paint and you can see the difference in color better. I'm still not completely happy with it and just might end up painting again next year and go to a darker more modern look - I will wait and see. It would only be one can of paint that we are talking about so not a big expense.
I think it is anyway. We have a large tree in the middle of the front yard that is normally one of the last that we have to turn colors and leaves fall. It is not unusual for the leaves to wait until the end of November after Thanksgiving for the tree to loose it’s leaves. I happen to glance up at it today when I was backing out of the driveway and saw it had yellow leaves in places and October isn’t even over yet! Tomorrow we will have rain and if it is the least windy several of the trees in our yard will not have any leaves left anymore. I don’t know about you but fall is coming early to my neck of the woods. I will have to take photos of the yard later in the week when the rain clears to show.
I managed to get a little more of the quilting done on “Insanity” today.
A couple more triangles done - half done with the last border.
I should have gotten more quilting done seeing as I decided to take one more day off of painting the kitchen but instead I got started reading a new book last night and it carried on off and on throughout the day. Patricia Cornwell has a new book out - “The Scarpetta Factor”. This is a continuation of the Scarpetta series that she has been writing for almost 20 years now – I can’t believe some of the books are that old now.
My new book
Well I guess I better get back to work on quilting for at least a little while. One of my favorite shows is on in about 40 minutes and then I will do some knitting on the scarf. I watch very few tv shows but “Criminal Minds” is one of them. I don’t care for many of the shows out anymore and prefer to watch old reruns than reality and the comedy’s that are out now. I don’t even like many of the dramas anymore.
EDITED: this morning someone sent me a link to a site called quiltshops.com — they had the fabric I needed and I have sent off for some. Thank you everyone for looking through your stashes of fabric to see if you had it. This fabric is from the Timeless Treasure line called “Faded Memories” by 3 Sisters like it I thought it was.
I thought I would put a larger photo of the plaid fabric here for anyone to see that might have a piece of it available. I’m willing to make a trade or if you know of a sight that is selling it let me know please. Thanks
