Sewing again

I haven't been able to decide what to work on so I did a bunch of little strippy pieces last night. I used only the littlest scraps in my scrap bins, and all batiks.
Here are the bee photos I promised yesterday.

Don't you love that haircut?
I think he is drinking nectar too.
I got really close to this butterfly and it looks like he has a hairy body.
I know my perennials pretty well but I don't know the name of the weeds. What is this one called?
I have been hearing a lot of Crash, Thump, Crash in the back yard this past week. The walnuts from my neighbor's trees are dropping in my garden. I'm used to the noise after all of these years.

I saw the first fuzzy caterpillar in a parking lot yesterday. We used to predict how soon winter was coming by the timing of the caterpillars crossing the road. I forget now how that worked.

Good digging.

After getting about 4" of rain in a week, the ground was easy to dig in. I cleaned out a bunch of invasive plants in one flower bed and used a plant killer on the ones that were too close to the ones I wanted to keep. While out there I noticed the bees and butterflies were on my sedum flowers. I got my camera and got this close up of a painted lady butterfly. The thing that I thought was a beak is pointed up in the air and the probiscus (thanks Diane) is way below that. Now is the beak thing part of the mouth or is it more like antennae?There were yellow butterflies out there too, and the flowers have opened up and are very pink. The butterfly on the left is drinking nectar. I hope it shows when you click on the picture for a closer view.
There were lots of bees out there too. I will have their pictures ready to show tomorrow.
I got one more embroidery done for the quilt that will be made "someday".
I showed these blocks quite awhile ago and finally got around to trimming them.
The bunny (in yesterday's post) didn't give me any clues. Maybe when he hopped away he was saying follow me and I'll tell you. I guess I'll have to figure it out for myself.

What is vintage?

In 1994 I was teaching at Quilt America! in Indianapolis and some of the "big shots" there were talking about vintage fabrics. I mentioned some 1950's fabrics that I had and they laughed at me and said those aren't vintage. Fast forward 14 years and now I hear people calling them vintage. What is their status? This is one of the pieces I have. It is 36" wide and I have 4 yards of it. I have a spool near it so you can see the size of the roses. I saw this little bunny in the back yard and wanted to ask him how I can become as quick as a bunny again.
My computer class went really well yesterday. I teach it at a sewing machine store. Most of the embroidery machines require the use of a computer to put new designs in the machine to stitch out. Some of the ladies who purchased these machines had never seen a computer before. Others had used them at work but didn't experiment beyond what they did on the job. I try to help them learn about all of the functions of the computer while teaching them to download designs, unzip them in some cases, and then how to get the designs to the machine. We also go over anti-virus, spy protection and other things. It makes me feel good to share my knowledge and help them to have more fun.

View from the kitchen window

While I was eating breakfast I saw the sun shining through the trees and illuminating my 2 hanging baskets in the back yard. They are lush and full after all of that rain. We had 3" of rain last Thursday and then it rained all day yesterday. I am enjoying the hostas in their last good days. They are starting to turn yellow in a few places. I just transplanted the left one of the 3 closest ones. The one in the middle has the prettiest flowers of all of my varieties. Since the hostas are really known for their leaves, the flowers are almost an afterthought on most.
Here is another sample I made for the store about 5 years ago. It is a Deb Strain package of machine embroidery and I made all of it with batiks instead of the country type fabrics she is known for. There is Velcro on the top of the picture panel and the month name panels and the individual numbers.
Since I was there at the store on the first work day in Sept. I had to do the changing of the month.

I am off to teach my computer class this morning and then I can get back to some sewing.

Last day of the fair, Hurray!!

Yesterday was the last day of the fair. I was so exhausted by yesterday afternoon that I wondered if I would ever get my energy back. It's amazing what a good night of sleep with 50 degree air coming in the window can do.

Remember the quilt with the pointed edges? This was my intention of how it would be used at the fair.
The next 2 pictures are the grand prize winners in the quilt department. In the beginning there was just one grand prize winner and now there are grand prizes for lots of different categories.
The judging is done on the quality of work and there are catagories for quilts quilted by a person other than the maker of the top. Otherwise all work is supposed to be done by the exhibitor. The quilt judge is a quilter herself so she knows what to look for.
This is one of the displays I walked by on the way to the commercial building.
Now it is back to real life, sewing circle at church today, computer class tomorrow, Mother's chiropractor appointment on Wed., and by Thursday I think I have a day to relax.

Check out Vicki's blog to see the last of the QOV tops I sent her now quilted and ready to be delivered.

More county fair

I have to be to the fair early this morning so here are more pictures from Friday.
Photography competition is big here. This is one of many walls of entries.

BRRRR!!!!

Am I the same person who was complaining about the hottest day of the summer (last week)? It was in the low 50's this morning. It might have been colder overnight but I don't check until around 7 a.m. Really I am happy for the cooler weather for the fair. We had very poor attendance at the fair the first 2 days (because of rain) but there were 37,000 people buying tickets to get in yesterday. I was out there at 9 a.m. yesterday and it wasn't crowded yet so I was able to get pictures. Here are a few of the quilt entries. Click for a larger view. And a few more..... I'll post more tomorrow.
This is the youth division, 18 and younger. It looks like there is a trend back toward sewing and crafting for the younger generation again.
This is the youth division art entries.
And what would the fair be without the floral competition? Because it is cool the flowers are still pretty on the third day.
I was at the store in the afternoon finally getting started on that tote/purse. This is one of the new machines with the larger opening for quilters.

Look at the size of that foot control.
It's a 2 footer. It really helps your knees and hip joints to have both feet at the same level and "driving" with both feet on the foot control.
Did you ever wonder who makes all of the samples for the sewing machine stores? I did most of them for this store when I worked there and I still occasionally make things for them. The lady who took my place does the embroideries now and then I make them into little display items.
This redwork piece is one I made while I was still working there. (If any new readers are confused, I retired Dec. 31, 2005. I just fill in on emergency now).
I will be at the store again today and the fair tomorrow. My hip joints are screaming so I hope I make it through Sun. evening.