20 Years

 

Economie Zoologie Top

I bought this kit on clearance from Craftsy - they had some great deals back in the day - in September 2016 (blogs are great for keeping track of everything) and last year I decided it had lived in a bin long enough:

I'm not a big fan of kits, but I've caved on occasion. Pulling fabrics together for projects is one of my favorite parts of the quilting journey and kits remove that aspect so I'm thinking that may be why I'm not drawn to them more often. But the fabrics in this little quilt were too fun to resist:

Once everything was cut, the blocks came together quickly:

I pieced this in February 2020 and soon I had a completed top. Once Jackie worked her magic, I stitched on the binding:

She used a fun alphabet quilting design 

and I backed it with these happy dots:

It's bright and cheerful and at 66" x 84" it'll be the perfect size for all sorts of grandbaby adventures:

Pinwheel Polka Quilt Top

I know, I am posting a lot of quilt finishes lately. I didn't finish anything the first half of the year and now they are all coming together at once, but most of them have been on the assembly line for a few years. I have 2 more here that need binding and I'm picking one up from Jackie on Monday - that one needs to be finished first. Sometimes I feel like I'm spinning my wheels and not finishing anything so this feels pretty good.

This little quilt began in June 2019 with some cute charm squares:

And a simple plan. I like simple and I'm a pretty simple girl.

Make some pinwheels and alternate with a charm square.

Wait.
Let's put it on point.
Sashing might be good.
Oh, let's add cornerstones.
Sigh.
I'm sure a pattern exists somewhere for a quilt like this, 

but I took the road less traveled and made it up along the way.

And let Jackie work her magic

I had enough of that pretty blue print for the border and I used a blue Kona for the binding:

And at 60"x60", I really like the end result, but next time, I hope I can keep things simple and put the pinwheels and charm squares in the right spots.  I never even noticed that I mixed a few up until just before I hit the button to publish this post. Funny how this last photo camouflages my 'well fiddlesticks' mistake. Now I really will need to make it again - just to prove I can make it right, but since there is no pattern, we'll just say it IS right and that the mixed up blocks just add character. 😉

To Bee...or Not to Bee...

 That really IS the question around here lately. DH has been toying with  the idea of diving into beekeeping. I laughed and told him I liked being his only queen bee. 😂 

A few years ago he bought this book and he recently pulled it out again:

I have been reading a financial planning book at night and he has been reading his bee book. I laughed and told him we had odd bedtime reading selections. 

So last Thursday we drove into town at 7:30 in the morning to spend some time at the tire shop to have some ranch tires repaired :

And to stop in at the local Seed store:

To pick John's brain about bees:

We had no idea there was such a robust bee community in the area, but I think we're swarming (LOL) around the idea of taking part:

DH has seen bees set up around the ranch through the years and they have always peeked his interest. He saw this ball of bees in a mesquite bush the other day when he was spraying Cockleburrs:

So we drove up to North Adobe after dinner and attempted to capture them into our newly acquired hive:

DH scooted the box under the tree 

                                                                                       

Cut the branch

And the bees just fell into the box

                                        

After sliding the lid on                                 

                                          

He loaded them up

                                          

DH wears a lot of hats around here - looks like he's added one more:                                      

                                          

and we drove them back to headquarters, setting them up with some sugar water for 2 days before opening the hive back up and hoping they'd settle and stay. We shall see. I figured he'd tie into this when we slowed down and semi-retired, but if this is something that interests him, then beekeeping it is. I'll admit that I'm a little fascinated as well:

P.S. John siphoned that jar of honey directly from the extractor on Thursday and made us promise not to tell his wife that he gave us the first jar from this year's crop. 😉I have to say, it was the best honey I've ever tasted. I think my initial question of to bee...or not to bee...has been answered.