Small wonder on Wednesday

 As I sort through my parents house I found this game. I remember playing it at my Grandma's house. See the patent date and the gitcha-to-buy-it tagline "child improvement games"

 I remember my kids playing it at grandma's too.  My uncle's initials are on the edge of some of the boards. I guess he liked fruit and field flowers, they didn't call them weeds.

The vegetable board shows the most wear, the boys must have fought over it or maybe it was "here you take it this round". All the little plugs are the same size so Grandma put some pencil marks to match the blossom to the right plant.

I think the colored pencil drawings are just delightful. What is really amazing is all the little plugs are there.  In 101 years none have been lost. I'm saving it to play with my grandkids someday. They will say didn't they have electronic games when you were little and are you really that old!? by the date on the game. haha --Ann--

out of the cupboard

  My second son stopped over the other day and saw this quilt from his childhood and asked if he could take it. I said yes I could use a little more space in my closets but I wanted to take a couple photos first. I have photos and notes in an album but not digital. It is a block that doesn't really have a name, a big triangle, a square and two small triangles that can be put together in so many ways. I saw a quilt with this block in a magazine years ago and the maker called it angle irons. That name stuck with me because it is a simple block, it is a strong block and it is a useful block like angle iron. It can be put together in many ways and works good with other blocks like angle iron. I did the barn raising configuration. I looked in my quilt album and I did name this quilt Angle Irons and I made it in 1997.  D2S (darling second son) picked the colors red, blue and green, I chose the fabrics. I remember finding the truck fabric for the backing but it was a bit pricey at the time so I stretched it by adding roads between.  Son had so much fun playing with his little trucks and cars on the back of this quilt he became a civil engineer. Do children's playthings shape them for life!??! I see I didn't make a label for this quilt. I should before he takes it even if I just write in a road the important information. This was my earliest machine quilting...just stippling with my Elna, it got the job done. --Ann--
 

the moon in the sky

  Did you see the moon last night? It was orange like a harvest moon in July it is called the Buck Moon for the deer growing their antlers. I hope this doesn't mean an early fall.

 

Can you see the wee beastie on my poppy? Is it naturally that yellow or yellow from the pollen or does it change color to its host?  So many questions today.....if I go outside with my reading glasses on then put them on top of my head is my hair going start on fire? --Ann--

Design Wall Monday

 Last week I began work on quilt number 3 for my country school classmate. This one is to have more blue in it. The log cabin blocks are sewn. I do love the barn raising configuration of log cabin blocks. I like to put blocks up on the wall as I work to see what colors I need more or less of. Sometimes a little bit of one color or print goes a long way and others just blend in anywhere they are placed.

 On to the fan blocks I need thirty-two of them also. Five 18 degree wedges for each block.

Here are all the parts except the black quarter circle of the fan point. I think I have them arranged with colors and prints distributed evenly across the quilt top. There might be a few changes. The red plaid, the medium blue with the red flower, and the navy floral are three of the fabrics that stand out for me and I feel like they are scattered evenly. The purples and golden browns are pretty even too. Next I sew all those curves and squaring up, then sew the rows and on to the borders. Check out what is happening at Judy's Design Wall Monday.--Ann--

On the needles

I have made progress on the camouflage socks for oldest son. Someone thought I was knitting a bra with my first post of these socks so I separated and flipped one to avoid confusion.  I am continually loosing my loop on the end because they are so big as I increase for the gusset. And he doesn't even have big feet for a man. What is it like to knit really big socks!?! I knit a couple rows of the striping yarn by Trekking every time I sit down and knit to the next color change. scroll down to yesterdays post to see the little go bag. I have gone through 4 of the 9 skeins of yarn for my sweater. I really need to thread a ribbon through the bottom to see how it will fit. It looks huge for me. Yes put a ribbon through and try it on before I go any farther. Linking to Judy's on the needles. --Ann--

New little go bag

 I needed a new little go bag for knitting. It has a pocket on the inside and two pockets on the outside. I love the coil wrapped baskets for when I am knitting at home but for the car it is nice to zip it shut so when I am hurrying my balls of yarn don't roll out the door and down the road. I used a batik and a light weight denim. I made a pink bag just like it and gave it to daughter for her knitting but didn't get a picture. My oldest niece was here over the weekend and wanted to learn to knit socks.  She made a pair of short little socks that she put on her shih tzu when she got home. Poor dog step, shake, step, shake, shake. She learned the basics and got a good start on the toe with a sport weight yarn. These are my demo socks for teaching her, I love the way it is striping and wonder how far I will knit before the stripes repeat.--Ann--

Grooms Quilt

The grooms quilt was finished and given away weeks ago. I should have named it "the bear goes over the mountain quilt".  I started the quilt on a Friday finished on Wednesday and gave it to them on Saturday. The fastest I have ever made a quilt and quilted it with my usual concentric teardrops. --Ann--Linking to Free Motion Friday