Rain, rain go away

Remember last week? I talked about the wonderful weather we were having -- how fast things can change! It has been nothing but rain since. The equipment has been repaired, greased, oiled and fueled up, but there is no place to go. Laurence is getting just a little antsy. We have been farming a long time and we have been here before, but the waiting never gets any easier. And the forecast is not looking much better.

 

Here at home, things are about the same. Laurence's mom is still in the hospital. She fell again, but she only had a few bruises. Right now she is doing well and some changes have to be made. We try and visit her each day and keep her spirits up.

 

Next week I will be in Buckhorn, where I will be giving a trunk show and a workshop.  We will be doing some crazy quilting. For that workshop I like to have a sample handy. A few weeks ago I showed you the beginning of a new block (see the top picture). Since then I have been adding some ribbons and laces. I guess if you wanted to be really "crazy" you would work at it more randomly, but I like to have some control. That's why I add the ribbons and laces later. I sew them on with some big stitches, since later on I will follow with embroidery or beads. For the lace ends I will open the seam allowance and tuck them under that or I will double the ends, whatever works.

 

Finally I have used all the lace pieces I got from my friend Janet in England. Thanks Janet, I loved to work with them. I was very stingy, but the box is empty. For the next round I will start with the beading and the embroidery. This I will do from the center out. That way it will get less wrinkly. The final round will have all the little extras like buttons, pins and whatever else I can find. Remember this was only a sample piece! Well while working on this you have lots of time to think and wouldn't it be nice to continue with a border with embroidered flowers, next a crazy quilted border and then a border to pull it all together. Have to give it some more thought!