APPLIQUE PAINTBOX-I LOVE APPLIQUE

 A DAY BY THE SEASHORE

This is the first real weekend of the summer.  A three day week end to spend having fun and playing in the sun.  We owned a houseboat once upon a time.  It was a 45 foot old bucket but she was "seaworthy" and we loved her.  We had her moored at a corp of engineers lake which means no one could build houses near or on the shore.  We could moor the boat in a private cove when we went out.  This was a huge lake with lots of room for everyone.  The lake was primarily a flood control lake.  One year we had a terrible flood.  The dam held water back so it would not flow into the Mississippi.  The water was so high in the lake that all the coves were flooded and we had to moor the boat to the treetops.  So for 2 weeks we lived among the treetops.  We could dive off the houseboat and climb into a tree.  It was like living in a tree-house (one for my bucket list).  The downside was that the flood waterlogged the trees and killed them.

The square above is my latest block for stonefields. I had a hard time making the color accurate in the photo-it still is not right.  I hope my new birthday camera will have better color resolution. 

 I am making some blocks now which display some of my favorite things like the seashore or honeybees.  Isn't this nice fabric?  I am going to make a honeybee skip for the center of the block, applique some of the bees around it, and use the bee fabric for the border.

Aren't these great bees?  I kept bees at one time when we lived on our farm years ago.  We had almost 4 hives but that's another story.

Also I am beginning the embroidery on my house block.  Since the block was small with no room for a hoop, I put some sticky fabri-solvy to stabilize the fabric when I work on it.  I hope to have it completed by next post.

I only managed to visit only one quilt shop on our trip to Kansas City.  I had never been there and was a bit disappointed.  Her fabric was not the first-class fabric-house fabric quilters are used to.  Her shop was very nice though and I sympathize with how hard it must be make such a business profitable.  I did go to Joann's to buy a Clover mini iron II, an essential tool for me, but it broke this morning and now wiggles like a loose tooth!  grrrraah!

For lunch we had barbecue.  Kansas City is famous for both bbq and blues.  This place, Lawnside BBQ, combines both blues and delicious BBQ.  The place is funky with old blues posters and memorabilia and on weekend nights they have live blues which I think must about rock the place into the stratosphere.  

The downside with going to the "big" city ("they've gone as far as they can go in Kansas City" )  is that it takes at least one day to recover.  I will be 69 on my next birthday in July.  Here we are, people my age, filled inside like a 25 year old with ideas, fun, curiosity, excitement while we drag around this body that belongs to an old grandmother. Oh well, life is good!

Happy quilting and happy, fun Memorial Day!