It's finally happening... the backlog of projects I managed to accumulate is dwindling! I am currently finishing up a challenge quilt for our Quilters' Guild... can't post the picture until after our August meeting, so stay tuned for that. Last weekend, I finished 3 quilted Journal covers of hand-dyed fabrics:
As these were my first attempts, I decided to keep them simple in design. I quilted the fabrics, bound the edges with grosgrain ribbon, and inserted a loop of covered elastic to secure the covers when not in use. The hardest part was creating the eyelet hole to pass the elastic through! But I am satisfied with this first batch.
Slowly but surely, I'm working my way down to a commission quilt for a friend, that is for her soon-to-be-born granddaughter, but the quilt is to be a Christmas gift, so I have time to finalize the design and set to work on it.
Last weekend, I planted 4 small trees and a shrub in the front of the house. That makes 16 trees we have now, although I have planted and lost at least 10 or 11 others in the 5 years we have lived here. We live in an area that gets pretty stiff winds from time to time, and it's pretty hard on the vegetation. I'm learning to try and plant hardy, lower growing shrubs, and I baby my trees as much as possible to try and get them established. We also have visits from Elk, who love to snack on leaves and bark, and we have a pretty large colony of prairie dogs... I'm sure they're nibbling roots when they aren't keeping our vegetation cropped topside! Ah, but it sure beats living in 'civilization'! I don't miss the big city one bit!
