Progress on Tina's Tablerunner, a Cat in the Sink, and Limes NO they're Lemons!

I guess this picture is a bit upside down, but you get the idea..I stitched in the ditch around the colored squares and on the ouside edge of the colorful strips...it is okay. I then pinned up the backing to handstitch closed which I still need to do. It is bigger than I thought it would be, but my favorite sister Tina should love it!
This strange cat Jade has a habit of climbing in the sink whenever we are on the toilet (we don't shut the doors unless others are here!) and she always wants a drink of fresh water from the tap. She is not happy that in the master bathroom we cannot reach the sink from the toilet as the toilet is in a separate room (about the size of an airplane bathroom and the door seriously really cannot be shut!). She then will curl up in hte sink since it is just her size and hang out...so today I ran out to grab the camera and take a picture of a leisurely Jade kitty in our sink!
We were so excited to find out we had five fruit trees in our backyard. When we arrived only one had fruit which appeared to be limes and we were told it was limes. Today I happened to notice there was a green fruit on another tree which previously had none...I then counted about eight blood oranges! This got me to checking out all the trees and the labels on them. We have a key lime, tangerine, grapefruit, blood orange and the one in the picture above...LEMON! Not ripe limes as we thought, but unripe lemons! I am thrilled to death with this find because I love lemons and this tree has a ton of fruit on it...of course I had picked all of the above (and a few more we already gave away as limes!) before I discovered the burried label (Meyer Lemon) and did the happy dance. So I didn't want to waste these lemons and put one in my diet coke (sorry in advance to my dentist) and Kathy made me a fresh squeezed glass of lemonade which was really good despite the unripeness of the fruit.
I haven't been doing much sewing...start work again on Friday which is coming fast! I just found out my mentor is the old ASL teacher who has transferred to teaching Photography. He interviewed me on the phone and seems awesome so I am really excited to have him for a mentor and I will meet him Friday!
I have been reading alot. Currently reading "Run" by Ann Patchett which is good.

My Favorite Sister Tina's Tablerunner!

Here is my favorite sister's tablerunner top complete as of moments ago! For those of you who are wondering, she is my only sister and for the past several years we have called each other "my favorite sister" and her son was my only nephew so he was "my favorite nephew" but now my brother has a one year old son so now they are "my other favorite nephews" lol. So inside joke, not hurting any other sister's feelings! She picked this pattern out in Trego, WI when we were visiting my dad last year together. She never goes to the quilt store with me as that is not her gig, but she said I will buy the pattern if you will make it so now finally I did! I need to get it all together so I can give it to her for her birthday Aug. 3rd. I am trying to keep it a secret from her, though occasionally she reads this blog so we shall see! I now live only an hour from her and it is so nice to be able to go visit and hang out with her and she has a pool!
This is the backing for her quilt...it is actually leftover backing from my stepdad's quilt and I still have a chunk left. I apparently either under or overestimate these things! It is nice to be checking UFO's of my list though....whoo hoo! This is the pattern too in case you are dying to make one, it is from Backyard Quilts and went together pretty easily and I enjoyed the handsewing too!
Well folks, I am off to get on the treadmill because I really need to get going on that again and it has been SO long! Then a shower and working on work stuff...we are FINALLY signing the closing papers on this house tonight and wiring money on Monday so it should be a done deal soon!

Stripping Day with the Girls!

No, no not that kind of stripping, strip quilting! Today the NewQuiltingClub gals were led by a fearless Monica in how to make a stripped log cabin quilt! It was really fun to do the virtual sew and motivates me to work, work, work. I used red, white, blue and a little, tan and brown to make this so I can donate it to quilts of valor (my first one!) though I am not sure through who yet. It went together pretty good and was fun. I may add another brown border with flags on it tomorrow. It will be backed in military bdu type fabric my ex DH obtained years ago and I have been moving all over the place..have made the boys clothes from it, drapes, etc. when they were into it and I still have a chunk left!
I worked on my sister's tablerunner handwork last night and today too. All five blocks are handstitched though only three pics here since I finished these last night as Kathy did her OC. We shipped the OC's to Steph (they are on the way lol) and my other two quilts back to Wisc to Jen today. Was a busy mail day let me tell ya!

I used leftover fabric for these blocks so Tina gets some fabric that is in our stepdad's quilt (his nickname is Pear) and our grandfather's tablerunner too...I think there is even some that was in my sister's horse quilt, my daughter's quilt and my psuedo princess daughter's quilt...good memories!

Some Flowers, a Sewing Bee Prize, and a Tablerunner Start!

Just for no reason the honey gave me flowers..aren't they gorgeous? The cat has had a good time attacking them and I have saved them from going over more than once but I love those sunflower looking ones!
Brenda from my Stashbuilders online group sent me this cool Thimbleberries Quilting Journal for the June sewing bee prize I won. Pretty exciting to get these random goodies in the mail. Our new mailbox is down the road (you need a key to get in it) which I don't like..I always watch for the mailwoman and burst out the door for the mail as soon as she passes...now I have to just wait til around noon and go--not nearly as exciting!
These two quilts are going in the mail tomorrow to MA. They are gifts for Kathy's brother and sister...we will miss them brightening up the living room, but they are both all set and we are going to put them in the mail with a wing and a prayer!
I have been working on syllabi and lesson plans for my ASL classes (I used to teach a 16 week semester college class and now will be teaching a 36 week-more hours per week-year long high school class so CHANGES ABOUND!) which is almost overwhelming! I finally am situated for ASL 2 (using the same books as I did for ASL 3 at my other job) and am a third of the way there for ASL 1....I will be putting in extra time all year getting this all switched around, but eventually this should get easier...lol I do love it though I am sure there will be one heck of a learning curve. Also made me smile today that I got a call from another school in the same district apparently interested in hiring me as well...but too late I signed my contract already.
Enough abourt that stuff..after working hard for two days I decided to reward myself with some sewing! I got out this tablerunner that my sister picked out for herself a year ago! It was mostly precut and just needed the black wool that I got in Chicago so I sewed the blocks and ironed the circles and stars on...now to handsew the circles and stars in place tonight! Her birthday is Aug. 3rd so I am trying to get this set to give her as part of her gift!