Sunflowers, quilting, and more

Does anyone else find it hard to blog these days? Life goes on but we don't have much excitement - maybe that's good! 

Last week we went to a sunflower maze at Straddle Creek Gardens in Lanark, Illinois. This is Ray's picture of the entrance to the maze.

There were just a few people there, early on a gorgeous day. The 'maze' was really a walk through the sunflowers. 

Whenever there was a fork in the path, a question was posted. Depending on your answer, you went right or left. We pursued all wrong paths and all right paths. 

The wrong paths were very short, maybe 20-40' in length and worked great if a group was coming; they could pass without being near us.

I've been playing with some Magic Star blocks. Joy of The Joyful Quilter fame shared a tutorial last March. Using two 10" squares, I quickly and easily made these two 9" blocks.

I had a plain orange layer cake and decided to use it with white. I played with a variety of layouts and settled on this one. 

I think I'll add a small white border and put this top in the to-be-pinned pile.

I don't have any quilt finishes but I have other finishes. First, I'll share the first Jesse Masks for DS1 and his family. The picture was snapped before I added ear/around the head straps. School is coming and kids need masks. These are custom-made according to each person's face measurements. Measuring and fitting long distance has been interesting. We'll know this week if the masks fit.

I finished this cotton/silk sweater for me. It is extremely comfortable and feels nice even in hot weather.

I also knit this hat from some leftover yarn I had. I'm not sure who will end up with it; I need to keep my hands busy so I made it.

Hopefully I'll have a finished quilt to share in a few days. Have a great day! 

#StaySafe #WashYourHands #KeepYourDistance #WearYourMask 

No finishes but ...

All right everyone, 

line up alphabetically 

according to your height. 
           -Casey Stengel

Thanks for the emails asking about us - we are well; I'm just not posting as much since I haven't finished anything. I seem to have trouble staying focused, just another pandemic thing.

First, I'll show you a little of what I've been sewing. This quilt, Tiny Log Cabins, needs to be sandwiched and quilted.

I'm playing with these blocks. I don't have a real plan yet.

I pulled these out of the orphan block bin and am working on using some/all of them in a quilt.

I added some borders to this today and now it needs to be sandwiched and quilted.

I've been working on this scrappy I spy quilt. 

The other day, our two youngest grandsons were helping sew the scrappy borders for these blocks. Seam allowances don't have to be even for this project so we just let them sew. The 6-year-old sewed this seam which has now been trimmed and used. 

And now for the other excitement in our lives - Our three 'local' grandsons visited one day. We cooked, baked, sewed, and used the Cricut. They were only here for 5 hours on a very warm day and we stayed very busy.

The tall garden gnome in our backyard, Gnomey who holds Nipper, had to be taken down. Something was attacking it from the inside. 

Gnomey and Nipper were carved in 2012. A week ago, the carving came down.

In the next few weeks, this garden will be transformed. We are replacing the area where Gnomey and his friend Nipper stood with a patio and fire pit.

And one night recently we went to a tiny country cemetery on top of a hill to watch the sunset and the moonrise which were about 5 minutes apart. 

Of course, my favorite photographer was the reason for this short trip. His new camera is on the tripod with a long lens for the moonrise. He was using the 'old' camera with a different lens for the sunset. 

So that's our news. Although we aren't too interesting, we are well and doing fine. We did have Covid-19 tests and were both negative. We continue to stay close to home, avoid most people, wash our hands, and wear our masks. We are happy to be healthy.