New Blog Address

This blog seems to have a mind of its own.  I am moving to a "new" blog--

 https://dakotacityquilterii.blogspot.com/

Hopefully this blog will work better.  Please let me know if you have any problems.  Thanks!

~Lori in Nebraska~

Look What I Found

Painted rocks are the newest fad on Facebook.  I found one outside the VC in the bushes by the flagpole--

A Minion!!  The bottom side says "You Are Joy".  I will find a place to hide him for the next person.  

No sewing except for a little binding the last few days.  Its HOT and HUMID and I've caught a summer cold.  After volunteering I am making a cold tablet run.  😷 

~Lori in Nebraska~

Tally of the Week

There was sewing this weekend at the camper.  First I worked on Hoytyville--

This is 32 blocks, there are enough blocks for two quilts of 99 blocks each.  The editing of the picture is not very good, rather faded out BUT its the best I could do using my RV site for a design wall.  I was worried the darker colored strips would be too dark but I can see they will be fine!  I also finished the four patches for a Bricks and Stepping Stones quilt--

Pressing the four patches and Hoytyville blocks was time consuming.  Now they are all neatly stacked in their tote.  I can sew more Hoytyville blocks into pairs this week.  The nest with seven babies is empty--

They were there a few days ago but the nest was empty last night  Bird house #2 has baby wrens in it--

There were four eggs but I'm not sure if there are four babies.  Momma wren was busy cussing me and I hung the nest up ASAP.  

Moustache is still staying with me--

I'm not a "cat" person but Moustache has decided I'm OK.  

Its going to be a hot week.  Good weather to stay inside and keep cool.  I have more of this planned--

Fresh squeezed Mojitos! 

My  blog is giving me fits.  Sorry about that, I'm not very "techie".  

~LORI in Nebraska~

RSC July -- BLUE

Blue is not my favorite color.  But--its the favorite color for lots of other people!  Ken brought me lots of stash to work with, but first I pulled all the possible blue bits from the scrap basket.  Last night I made 10 Pentland Cracker blocks--

 and ONE green block--

There was only a small strip of green, enough for this one block.  It begged to come out of the scrap basket and play! Please see what everyone else is working with at SoScrappy.

Its going to be very hot this weekend.  Good weather to stay inside and sew.  Or read.  Or NAP!! 

~LORI in HOT Nebraska~
 

Motivation Friday

What did I do this week?  Not a lot!  Ken brought me plenty of fabric for the RSC--July's color is BLUE.  

The left basket has "yardage".  I sorted the blues out of my scrap basket--

Last night I pressed the blue scraps and cut them into strips for my RSC projects.  I hope by tomorrow I have some blocks to show.

~LORI in Nebraska~

Weekend in Review

Most of the weekend was mundane chores.  Vacuuming.  Defrosting the fridge.  Spray the weeds.  But I snuck in a little sewing/cutting time.  Sunday morning Ken was sleeping in the recliner so I took my cutting mat outside.

It was shady and cool, the awning was out and the umbrella up.  One of the things I worked on was 4 patches for a Bricks and Stepping Stones quilt.

Its a continuous project, I must have made at least ten by now.  I've used all sorts of colors for the four patches--red, black, brown, blue, purple.  Sometimes a scrap isn't big enough for a 5" charm, but I can get a 3.5"x6.5" brick from it.  

Nature is everywhere if you look.  Cecely was watering the flowers and found this--

Cecely has good eyes to spot him in the flowers--

He looks like another stem unless you are looking for him.

I have two birdhouses hanging by the camper.  The bluebirds raised a brood and now the Wrens are nesting in them.  The one by my camper had six eggs and one baby chick last week, they were just hatching.  Now there is a pile of babies in there--

Not sure if there are seven chicks in there--just a big pile of babies.  The other birdhouse has eggs--four of them.  The mother scolded me as I photographed them.  

I love to watch the birds out my windows.  The sewing nook has a great view of most the feeders, and if I turn the sprinkler on the birds are VERY happy!

No goals as far as quilting this week.  Hoytyville is progressing, I hope to finish the blocks for TWO quilts by next week.  No binding, I really need to buckle down and work on finishing a top.  

Its hard to believe the summer is half over.  I want it to be April again.  

~LORI in Nebraska~

Weekend Review

Hope you had a fun and safe 4th of July.  There are numerous quotes about how America celebrates their independence, I like this one--

Erma Bombeck

"You have to love a nation that celebrates its independence every July 4, not with a parade of guns, tanks, and soldiers who file by the White House in a show of strength and muscle, but with family picnics where kids throw Frisbees, the potato salad gets iffy, and the flies die from happiness.

You may think you have overeaten, but it is patriotism."

We had company over the 4th--

The weather was beautiful, we played in the park and fed the ducks at the small lake.  

We have lots of wildlife close--closer than most people realize--

 Here's a closer look--

 Five baby bunnies in here--

In the flower pot five foot from the front door where people walk by all day!  While the boys were here we checked the birdhouse on my campsite.  I had seen a male wren singing to the female so I was pretty sure they had a nest inside--

Seven eggs, one was newly hatched.  I'll check them again in a week.  The other birdhouse also has wrens nesting in it, only three eggs so far.  The mother wren scolded me continually while I was near the nest!

Someone else appreciates the bird outside--

The sprinklers was running right below the window and lots of birds were bathing.  He especially loved the hummingbirds who completely IGNORED him while at the feeder!  Strips for Hoytyville are underneath Moustache.  

You can see he was lots of "help" when I was sewing.  I worried he would get his paw caught in the needle or his tail in the belt.   

No sewing, busy at the Visitor Center this week.

~LORI in Nebraska~ 

RSC Yellow

YELLOW!  Lovely cheerful yellow!  Yellow is a favorite color, I try to add plenty to every scrap quilt I make.  Yellow fabrics fly out of my stash as fast as they come in.  My yellow stash is very small.  But I found enough for some yellow blocks--

Pentland Crackers and Ritzy Cracker blocks in golds/yellows.  

Yellow Spool blocks and a random blue one.  Sometimes a scrap just BEGS to be used.  Please see what everyone has made at SoScrappy.

~LORI in Nebraska~ 

OMG for July

This month I'd like to finish binding a R/W/B QOV.  

Just the hand sewing of binding left on it.  I'm linking up to Elm Street Quilts OMG.  

~LORI in Nebraska~

Design Wall Monday

This week I worked on Weedwacker parts.  One complete block is done--

No design wall, I have design grass!  Not much sewing this weekend, but my sewing nook is ready to go--

My sewing is left ready to go!  No need to put it away, its ready for a "JOT" moment.  (Just One Thing)   

Last year I promised my mailbox a makeover.  This weekend it happened--

I think its the best looking mailbox in the row--

Its has a lovely lime green bucket of concrete for a base.  Many mailboxes here are done this way.  If a snowplow hits it in the winter it falls over or moves out of the way.  The green bucket helps with visibility in snow.  And--I love green!  Thank you DH Ken for helping with the new mailbox.  He thought it was so nice he wanted to take it home to replace our mailbox there--the one he wired to the arm!  Yes, a snowplow hit it this winter.  Probably another mailbox project in the future.  

The weather has been ABSOLUTELY BEAUTIFUL!!  65-72F during the day and in the 40's at night.  Perfect camping weather!  

~LORI in Nebraska~

RSC Saturday--still green for me!

I caught up on my Spool blocks--

The light blocks are a lemony green.  I am all caught up on my green blocks--just a few yellow to make yet.  Please see everyone's posts at SoScrappy.

~LORI--in Nebraska~

The Week in Review

Its been a busy week.  The grandsons and their parents were camping near us.  On Saturday it rained just in time for supper so there were four adults, three little boys, and a kitten in our camper.  Three little boys covered up in our bed to watch a movie.  I forgot to check their feet, Max still had his shoes on.  Oh, what's a little mud!  When Ken and I pulled the sheets to wash them we found an Oreo.  

On Sunday we all had breakfast brunch together at a local restraurant and then everyone came back to our camper.  Great Grandpa Marvin entertained the boys with a story that started "when I was your age we lived in a house like this and we had two dogs....."  He was drawing pictures of the house and the dogs etc as he talked.

With movies, videos, and tv kids just don't see a person drawing on a piece of paper and telling a story.  So glad we got a photo of this.

Moustache the kitten found a quiet lap to sit on--

Hope your summer is going well. 

~LORI--in Nebraska~

RSC Yellow

June is yellow!  I love yellow.  I made a few yellow/gold/close to yellow blocks--

Curvy pieced blocks, Ritzy Crackers and Pentland Cracker blocks.  Please see everyone's yellow posts at SoScrappy.

I don't have a lot of yellow in my stash, mostly because I LOVE yellow and use it in everything.  Its one of my favorite colors.  Do you like/use yellow??

~Lori in Nebraska~

Bluebirds!

A couple years ago I made and hung PVC bluebird houses near my camper.  I've had wrens nest in it, bluebirds in 2016, and bluebirds this year.  

I changed the plans a little.  I used a screw on end cap for the top and drilled a hole to put an eye bolt through.  A piece of plywood for a roof--I just drilled a hole in that too.  I left it white to reflect heat.  I glued wooden clothespins inside to help the birds climb out when they fledge.  There are ventilation holes drilled near the top, and drainage holes at the bottom.  The hole is the recommended size for bluebirds.  When checking nests you can put your hand over the exit holes (to prevent premature fledging) and unscrew the top and look in.  No post required, its out of the reach of most predators (eye height on me) and hung from a tree branch.  Bluebirds like to be on the edge of the woods overlooking meadows and open areas.  Its a pretty maintenance free bird house. 

There are four bluebirds in this nest, I think two males and two females.  If you look very carefully the males are starting to get blue feathers.   This site has great pictures as to stage of development and whether they are male or female.  I think there are two males and two females.   

My campsite has lots of birds--bluebirds, cardinals, orioles, purple and goldfinches, blue jays, red head and downy/hairy woodpeckers, cowbirds, catbirds, and many many more.  Unfortunately I have lots of raccoons and may have to declare war on them.  

~Lori in Nebraska~

Wednesday Witterings

Although I haven't posted much I have been busy.  Thursday Lorri2Rs and I dropped off seven quilts with the Donation Quilt Coordinator for my guild.  

Four Tops were made by Liz in Houston--she sent them to me to quilt and bind.  She's a prolific quilter and loves to work with MAM or crumb blocks.  Her Art Quilt looks like broken pieces of film to me.  Thank you Liz!!
 

Three were made by me.  The Star Quilt has been waiting to find a home, and I finished the Bricks and Stepping Stones and Pieces of Eight recently.  These finishes used 37 yds of fabric.  All are about 75x90".  These quilts are going to McCrossan Boys Ranch--a group home for teenage boys.  When a boy completes and leaves the program, he is allowed to take "his" quilt with him.  I like that.  Thank you Don for holding the quilts for me.

Quilters are giving people.  When Stashbusters (Yahoo group) found out I was making boy quilts, several people sent me tops to quilt and/or sent backings!  Some even came with premade bindings.  Most of them are quilted and the bindings need hand sewing.  A few tops will have to wait until fall when I get back to quilting.  So--although I wasn't blogging I was hard at work.  I fell in love with these quilts and I hope some boy loves them as much as I did!  

~LORI in Nebraska~

Design Wall Monday and Weekly Goals

Over the weekend I did some sewing.  Mostly RSC blocks from previous months.

Purple for January--

 

Red for March--

Multi color and a few blue for April--

Green for May.

  

I need to count how many of each kind of block I have.  These were made using pieces from my scrap basket, sometimes simply because I had a scrap that screamed USE ME!!  Haven't you had scraps do that??

Weekly Goals-

A little binding.  I have lots of binding to do!

Spool blocks

Hoytyville

Quarter Log Cabin blocks

Hoytyville and Quarter Log Cabin are projects I have cut and packed in the camper.  

My sewing nook is up and running--

Its an east window, I can watch the birds at the feeders.  

~LORI in Nebraska~