Now We Know

how all the bunny gang can get to the Olympics this summer. Looks like they will be using the Magic Closet! And really, that's a much better idea than a rowboat. If you didn't catch the link in the comments to my last post, check this out.

We have quite an active Creature Gang. Do you think we could sell the movie rights to their stories? Or maybe television. Yeah, that's it. It would be a long running series, I'm sure.

Contemplating A Tuba

The tuba came home from college a week ago or so. If I had thumbs,

I would so be annoying the neighbors rocking out with this thing right now.

Anyone got any thumbs you can loan me? I'll only use them to play the tuba. And to crack open my own beer this weekend while Mom's away. I promise that I'll get them right back to you on Monday.

Anyone?

Working On UFO's

Last week at quilt guild, I got to show off the past month's UFO, all finished.This one was from a commercial pattern that I was helping a friend with, and I don't remember the name of the designer. It is pieced, not appliqued, which is probably how I would do it if left to my own devices. 

I really like how the sky turned out. It looks like the weather is getting ready for some action.

 
Unfortunately, the feather design that I quilted into the border didn't work out so well. I should probably have used a different color thread, so it would show up better.

 This was a very small quilt, so it was easy to finish up. Actually, I had been hoping to get that one in November or December, when life gets busy. Oh, well. For this coming month, they picked UFO number 9, which is much larger. It's a round robin quilt, a guild project from several years back. I made the center block, friends added the borders.

My Mom and I are going to a quilt retreat this weekend, so I'm going to take this along to quilt. Should make some good headway on it, while Weasley and his Dad are home having a bachelor weekend. We'll have chocolate and fabric, they will have beer and sports. I think we will have more fun.

The View From The Compost Pile

The compost pile, where I have spent most of the last two days. We use a three bin system, with each bin about three feet on a side.  I needed to empty one bin of finished compost, and transfer what was in the other two to the next bin down the line. This made more room for clearing old stuff out of the various gardens.  I really wanted it done before it (finally) rains this weekend, and gets heavier.

Something I was wondering about while shoveling. How is it possible to get to the bottom of a well-digested pile of compost, and find perfectly preserved carrots? Is it a sign from a Higher Power? Maybe some obscure Bunny God that I am not aware of (but should be) is saying plant more carrots for Weasley? Or maybe bunnies don't bother with a Higher Power (after all, what could be higher?), and it's Ginny sending me a sign to plant more carrots for him? Maybe I should just stop thinking so much, and plant the darn carrots!

Turning the compost is not my favorite garden job, but at least I had a nice view while I was doing this job. The fruit trees and shrubs in the backyard are in blossom.

Way in the back of this picture, behind the patio and fire-pit, but in front of the flowering beach plum shrubs is a rock garden, that is in serious need of renovations. It is watched over by St. Francis.

I'm not overly into the saints, but you've got to love a guy who looks out for the animals. This resin statue was originally in our bunny graveyard, under the lilac. He got moved here when The Husband got a concrete one for the cemetery that he thought was better. I kept this guy, because I like him better. He has bunnies. Enough said, right?

Hoppy weekend, everybun!

Fun With Fabric Paint

It's school vacation week here, so some of us who volunteer at the Leominster Art Center have been running art classes. Yesterday I had a small fabric painting class, where we decorated bandannas. During the class, I was busy and forgot to take pictures.But afterward, I photographed my bandannas so that I could show you what we did.

First, we used Dye-Na-Flow paints, which are very liquid, on wet bandannas to create a sort of tie-dyed/marbleized look.

 Next, we drew on another bandanna with fabric markers. With brushes, we painted our drawings. We also made foam stamps, and stamped on the bandannas with the stamps we made, as well as with commercial stamps. We also used stencils and sequin waste for more interest. Kids always seem to like using the sequin waste. Maybe because it's sparkly? Or maybe because you can splosh on a lot of paint without worrying about it, and still get a really cool effect?

I was going to have them go back to the first bandanna, and add more detail, but we got so into what we were doing on the second one that we ran out of time. Afterward, I used up all the leftover paint on this one.

Then, it was time to clean up. Underneath everything was a piece of muslin that we were using for a drop cloth. In the background you can see some of our stamps.Why do the drop cloths always end up being the most interesting piece?

I'm especially loving this section. It just might find it's way into a quilt sometime soon.

I only hope the kids had as much fun as I did!

I Don't See What Mom's Problem Is!

I don't see anything wrong with this picture, do you?

I mean, this is my rug, after all. So what if it's in the middle of the kitchen?

Just put it on the garden, Mom. Grow more parsley. The circle of life, and all that. There's really no reason here to be interrupting my dinner.

So, I'll just get back to it, OK?  Hoppy Wednesday, everybun!

Friday In The Garden

When I took a walk around the garden this morning, I saw that the Serviceberries were in bloom.  Their alternate name is June berry. No, it's not June yet.

I also saw plenty of last years arugula flowering, and getting ready to set seed.

 The violets sprinkled throughout the yard are starting to blossom, something that usually happens in May. These pop up in different places around the yard, because we don't believe in lawns that are a monoculture of grass. Much to the dismay of our neighbors.

Although, somebunny is pretty happy with that, because it provides him with lots of these.

With the early warm weather, a lot of things in the garden have had a head start on the growing season this year. Unfortunately, the fact that it has been bone dry has made a lot of these plants stall out. We didn't get much of the rain that came through New England yesterday, and today it is like it never happened. I don't remember ever having to water so early in the season.

The asparagus seems to be one of the plants that is affected by this. Last weekend I cut the first spear, the earliest ever. I thought I would be picking more through the week, but the other spears haven't grown one smidgen since the weekend.

 Someone else was checking out the asparagus bed when I was out there. She (or he, I don't know how to tell with robins), walked along the asparagus row, paralleling me.

Then it hopped up on the fence. At the bottom of the picture are the pea plants that have sprouted, and then, like the asparagus, done nothing.

Still following....

Finally, up onto the nearby trellis to scold me, before taking off.  See her /him on the little box on the post?

OK, I'm going to fly off now, too. There is a big pile of mulch calling to me. Have a great weekend, everybun!

I'd Rather Sit On It Than Sew It

After her last post, I was afraid that Mom was really going to make me do some sewing. I tried hiding. I'm pretty sure she can't see me in here. But to be honest, I really don't like it in this thing.

 Somehow, even though I tried to avoid it,  I ended up in with the sewing stuff.

 

Turns out quilts  make very comfy seats. But I'm still not doing the sewing!

Scrap Attack

Last week I started attacking the scrap box again. By this morning I had a bunch of small pieces layered, pinned, and ready to quilt. These will become covers for little notebooks. Quite a few little notebooks, in fact.

Which leaves me with two questions. First, why is the scrap box just as full as when I started?

 

And second, why is my assistant just lying around when there is so much work to be done?

"Mom! Stop fibbing! Tell them the real story."

Okay, okay. The real story is that he kept sitting on my foot that was on the foot pedal. It's not easy to control your speed for free motion quilting that way. I heated up his warmer (a corn-filled pillow), tucked it in a towel,  and he took a nice, long nap while I got a little quilting done. Maybe tomorrow I'll curl up on the towel, and he can sew....

Have You Seen This?

Found this while surfing today.





There should be more bunny shows on TV....
BCIS, anyone?

Helping Mom

I was trying to help Mom when she was basting a quilt today.

There were a lot of wrinkles in the batting that needed to be smoothed out.

So many wrinkles! Where do they all come from?

Finally, I got the batting straightened out, and then I had to start all over again with the quilt top!

It was really a lot of work.

 At last, the job was done. I asked Mom if she thought I did a good job.

She said she could probably get more done if she sent me off to college with my sisters! Can you believe it? I'm not going. I hear they stay awake all night. That's no place for a bunny. Next time, Mom, I'm biting the quilt.