Friday Funny

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Pinktober

(affiliate links to my designs)

One of my little neighbors has a new baby sister. I knew she was coming; I saw mama walking in the neighborhood a couple of months ago, and it was pretty obvious. But I didn't know it would be this soon. Time to get quilting yet again. Late, as usual, these days!

Big sister got a quilt from one of my digital Spoonflower panels, and her mother absolutely loved it. She always compliments my garden when she walks by. I thought it would be fitting for baby sister to receive a quilt from one of my own floral cheater panel designs.

Except I didn't have any pink or floral cheater panels left in my Spoonflower stash!!! How could that possibly be?!? Especially in October!

I did find some butterfly fabric of my own design, but I'm planning to make a dress for me from that.

I know, I know, last thing I need is yet one more new quilt project. But I couldn't resist. I created a new panel, and I'm hoping to have it in hand one day next week so I can begin sewing. I think this one will be SO much fun!

On my phone, I had created a really fun cosmos collage with flowers in my garden the second (I think) year of the pandemic. I thought I'd created a cheater quilt panel from that image, but I guess not. The original image was too small, and I had not played with the idea to create a proper-size image. I certainly meant to. I guess this is just another case of proving how tangled life got during the last few years.

All it took was the motivation of finding out the new little one has arrived. I have so many other things I need to do, including mending a coat for a very elderly neighbor who will need the coat before the weather cools off, assuming it might one day...

Yes, I made a card, too. How could I not???

I probably could have finished the coat in the time it took me to design a new Spoonflower cheater panel for the new baby quilt, but one more day on the coat won't matter, right?!? I promise, that's my next project!!!

In the meantime, I created a few more pink floral Spoonflower panels, and I ordered a few of them, too. Now I'll be ready next time I need to quilt pink!

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Wordless Wednesday

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Dahl's Life

Once upon a time, I worked for a small village newspaper. The other three reporters on our staff each wrote a monthly column. I asked my editor if I could write a column, too. He was shocked by my request; I didn't know the other reporters had to be bribed. I was the first to volunteer. My editor named my column "A Dahl's Life" because that incoporated part of my then last name, because I liked dahlias, and because I was making a lot of dolls back then. My editor thought it was an extremely cute title. I ended up writing only about six columns before I finally became an adoptive parent (and yes, I wrote a column about that!!!) and had to change jobs and home address. My Dahl's Life came to an unexpected end.

Now I think my Dahlia Life has gone beyond life expectancy. My cheap tubers are never the color on the $1.29 box, and I've been lucky to get one or two flowers each year.

This year I tried something different. I bought actual dahlia plants. already growing, in plastic containers. I bought twelve plants in eight different colors. They weren't even on sale. That's huge for me.

Two already had blooms. The flowers eventually opened. They were beautiful. All the other buds on all the other plants withered in our summer heat. Grasshoppers shaved two of the plants. Only stalks remain. The raccoon tipped over and broke one of the terracotta pots in which I'd transplanted one of the dahlias. Since mid-July, I've been patiently waiting for new buds to appear on any of the plants.

New blossoms are finally beginning to form now, but only on three of the remaining eleven plants. Now that's summer's over (although we are still in the heat dome), less than half of my dahlias have finally decided it's okay to do what dahlias are supposed to do. It's kind of a good thing we haven't had an overnight freeze yet because that would have been the end of the dahlias for this year. And possibly forever for me.

I think I'm coming to the conclusion I am not a dahlia addict anymore. There are many more flowers tried and true, especially in my garden. Nothing beats a dinnerplate dahlia (mine have never gotten that big), but that's it. I'm done. Too expensive, too much work, too many repeatedly crashed high hopes. I'm deadheading my red sunflowers and pink cosmos and spreading the seeds everywhere. Quite frankly, I think I'd rather make dolls! Doll, yeah!

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No Flake Monday

The pattern for today's snowflake isn't finished yet, and I sincerely apologize. I tried my best. Just couldn't get it done in time. The flake is awesome, so it will be worth the wait. In the meantime, I hope you enjoy a few real snowflakes from last year.

I got a few shots I think might be outstanding last February or so, but life's been so crazy, I've downloaded the camera and backed up the images, but I have not edited. I know there are good flakes in there, but I haven't looked at them.

There have been a couple of snowstorms in the mountains, but I haven't been able to get up there for photography or hiking.

We normally have our first flakes of the year by now, but we're still in the heat dome with no relief in the ten-day forecast. So these images are making me super homesick for real snowflakes!

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Fat Bear Week

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Jelly Rolling

How did it get to be Thursday again so quick?!? The only thing I have to show for myself the past couple of weeks is a few more rows of the dress I hope to wear to church one day. I'm doing my best; days just don't seem long enough!

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