Two Tips and A Finish

Probably you already know about using your ironing board to help you hold a quilt when you are sewing the binding on, but just in case you didn't, that's tip number one.

Tip number two is the great usefulness of an ice cream bucket (or any other similarly sized container).  I've found that I can just put my binding in the bucket and it doesn't wander all around the floor while I'm trying to attach it to my quilt.  You know, helps it to behave.  LOL

And yes, I'm one of those.  I always sew my bindings on with the sewing machine.  I really plan for these to be used and washed and loved, so I want them to be sturdy.  (Plus, I'm just not there for all that sewing by hand.)

And here is the finished project, "Burnt Orange".  It's a lot prettier in person.  I couldn't somehow get the colors to look the same in a photo.

Here, up close and personal you can get a little better idea of the true colors.

And the back.  I made this one for a long-time friend of ours.  He and a partner own a mechanic shop that takes care of our vehicles.  He is that rare breed - one that you can trust to tell you the truth and be fair with you.  He has had a lot of health problems over the past few years and has beaten a fair number of them.  Right now he's going through dialysis.  Mr. Sweetie's and my hope is that he will feel our love and the love of the Lord when he's covered with this gift.

Out in the back yard, we still have a lot that's pretty to see, even in the midst of this drought.  (By the way, I'm so happy that our Governor Perry called today as a day of prayer and fasting for our country.  According to reports, there was a huge crowd gathered at Reliant Stadium here in Houston to pray.  I watched a lot of it streamed live.  And I prayed a lot, too.)

This view is from inside the chicken yard looking toward my sewing room.  If you look very closely, you can see Claude right in the center.

And this is the area Mr. Muddling and I fixed up for our nesting chickens.  We set it all up the other day.  My sweet husband got out in the heat and put up another fence small enough that a chick could not escape through it.  Then we moved the eggs and the two hens who had been sitting on them.  They would have nothing to do with the eggs, the little house we made for them or anything else.  Matter of fact, they kicked up such a fuss that I finally let them out and let them go back into the chicken yard with the other chickens.  I'm think I'm through with efforts to raise baby chicks.  I like the idea of it, but the cold, hard facts have proven to be something else entirely!

I do hope you are having a wonderful weekend, and that you are having success in your endeavors.  It's always such a good feeling when things go right, isn't it!

Hugs and kisses,