15 minute monthly blocks - May and June



I finally decided to make the block of the month for 15 Minute Play blog.  The above block is the one for May.  First you have to make enough fabric (about 9" X 15").  Then you cut it into the parts you need, cut your background, then piece it all together.  It is a really stunning block.  I wasn't going to make one, but every time someone finished one and posted it to the blog, I loved it.  I had a handful of batik scraps laying around that I have wanted to play with for a couple of weeks, but just haven't done anything with them so I thought to myself, okay, this quilt is going to be from batiks.  The background will be pastels/lights and the made fabric from scraps and bits and pieces of my batiks.  Now that I have a semi plan in my head, I wrote down what size blocks and a brief description of how to put this block together and started in last night.  I pulled a darker gray out of my stash for the background, but didn't like it as well - okay, it hadn't made it into the drawer yet, it was laying out waiting to go into the drawer and I saw it and picked it up.  There wasn't enough contrast so I knew it wouldn't work.  I opened the batik lights drawer and wow I have a lot of pale yellow batiks.  That is all I could see when I first opened the drawer.  I rooted around and found this gray.  I love it.  The star just jumps out from the background.  My camera was downstairs, so I knew I would wait to post it until today.  This morning I got on the blogs to just read through and noticed that June's block tutorial had already been posted.  How did I miss that?  I don't know, but I did.  Maybe I didn't think of it as being the June block and thought of it as just something another person posted.  I don't know.  Anyway, I copied down the directions for this one, gathered all the bits and pieces I didn't use from the May block, added some more fabric so I had just enough to cut out my squares for the made fabric section. 

The triangles of the background was simple, just squares cut in half diagonally.  I cut strips for the other ones and followed the directions, but the first pieces didn't turn out right.  I measured and measured and it still didn't turn out right.  So, with the second strip  I decided not to cut it first.  I would sew on the made fabric triangle and then trim the background at the right angle needed.  That worked great, except for two of my triangles I sewed them on the wrong way.  Thank goodness this batik doesn't have a definite right or wrong side.  I simply unsewed, flipped the background piece and sewed it back on the correct way.  That was a simple solution, but it took leaving the house and going to get a coke for my mind to think clearly enough to figure it out.  The frustration and the fact that I don't have cokes here at my house is what sent me out on a Sunday afternoon for a coke at my Dairy Queen.  I really don't like getting drinks on the weekend from there.  Don't get me wrong, it is my favorite place to get a drink - especially during happy hour which is one of the only times I go - but on the weekend is when all the new people start working and some of them don't have a clue!  I try and be patient and I know they probably don't like the people at the window telling them that what they are doing isn't correct, but come on!  I know how much my drink is at happy hour - I buy one almost every weekday.  So, don't tell me it's ____ when I know it's ____.  At least this one today after giving me the same price twice and I kept saying no, that's not right, had the decency to say, well, let me see.  She finally figured out what was wrong - her helper that took the order didn't put the discount in the computer.  Poor thing, she even had to re-make my drink because she didn't do it right the first time.  That happens all the time with the new people.  They don't listen to you tell them what you want.  They just hear part of it and then move on to making what they thought they heard.   Okay, climbing off my soap box and getting back to my quilt blocks.  This second one, the pinwheel hasn't been squared and trimmed.  Below is both blocks next to each other on my wall.  Looking good.  This will be an outstanding quilt when all the blocks are made.  

Cherry Cream Coke!!

Another two weeks have gone by without a post from me. I have got to get better. I come up here - my computer is on the second floor - with the intentions of blogging and then get sucked in by the games! OOOOHHHHHH the games!!!! Tonight, I can't play the games until I blog. (my rule tonight) so, here is today's blog posting.

Those of you that know me, know that I am a frequent visitor to Dairy Queen during their 1/2 price drink happy hour(s). I love - okay, that little bitty "love" just doesn't cut it. Let me try again I *****L O V E ***** (better) me some cherry lime diet coke. It took awhile before they could get it right every time I ordered, but after a couple of years, the oldies already know what I am going to order. Some days when the line outside is way to long, I will go inside to get my "fix" and the drive thru window girl will look up, see me come in the store, make my drink and have it ready for the counter girl before I even order. That is how dedicated - I mean addicted - to the DQ cherry lime diet cokes I am. Anyway, getting back to today, I left school and made my way to my favorite DQ (hello grandview DQ) and there is a tremendous line. I am car number 8 from the speaker and after sitting there for three minutes and not moving - I and 4 other cars (6, 7 and 9) are on the street - I decide that I will go to Target, get some stuff and head back later for my drink. Didn't happen. I spent so much time (and money) in Target that it was way after 5 and the drink specials are over. Even though I love my drink, I am not always willing to pay the big bucks to get it.

Okay, fine, I will go home, eat leftovers and drink water. It's better for me and I really need to start drinking more of it. I come out from Target heading home and realize I am close to Weinerschnitzel. Right then I decide that I had leftovers for lunch and I want a corndog. You know what goes well with corn dogs? Well done onion rings from Sonic. Still planning on drinking water I decide that if I am going to eat all this bad for me food, I might as well order a cherry coke - I don't like their cherry lime diet cokes - and the order taker asks if I want cream with that. WHAT!! I grew up drinking cherry cream cokes. When I first moved to Odessa, nobody - I mean NOBODY - even knew how to make a cherry cream coke. When I would order it, they would just say, "What?" Like they had never heard of them before. "What?" I got tired of hearing that so I would just order a cherry coke and a small ice cream cone and mix my own drink. (that was how Mr. Burger used to make them - with real ice cream, yum) I grew weary of having to mix my own,(plus if you don't drink down enough coke before adding just a bit of the ice cream, you will have a nice foamy mess in your car)so then I taught the people at Walter's how to make them for me. Those workers all quit or weren't at work when I would go by to get a drink and I was stuck either mixing my own or going without. I went without. UNTIL TODAY!! I am sitting here with my cherry cream coke, remembering the good old days of riding my bike to the Dairy Mart in Idalou, Texas on a hot summer day and drinking a delicious cherry cream coke.

Now if I could just make it upstairs with my camera next time so I can download pictures of my retreat and classes with Gwen Marston. Look for that in upcoming blog posts I will try to make it sooner than two weeks.

good morning!

Today I have been busy and it isn't even 11 o'clock. I woke up early - or at least early for the summer. It wasn't my school day wake-up call at 5:30 in the morning, but 6:30 is early enough on a great summer day. I had to go to the grocery store and I love going early in the morning. A lot fewer people and most of us there are on a mission to get our groceries and get out. Preferably without anyone noticing that we have on our ratty tatties, no make-up and our hair - well, who knows what our hair looks like since most of us haven't even looked in the mirror yet today.

I was backing out of the drive way at 7:05 heading to my local HEB. And yes, I had my contacts in my eyeballs (on my eyeballs), my usual limited amount of make-up and my summer go to hair style of a single pony tail. Having accomplished the selecting, purchasing and loading my car with my items. I was ready to take care of my coke craving. (coca-cola for those of you not from Texas where we call every soft drink "coke. " "Hey, you want to go get a coke?" "Sure, I'll have a Dr. Pepper!" We used to have "coke" dates in college. You would go out with a guy you just met for a non-alcoholic drink. It was a great way to meet lots of guys without the pressure of having to spend hours with someone you really didn't like after the first 20 minutes.)

I digress, now I am going to change the title to something else. Back to the original morning story: I headed back down the street to the nearest Stripes convenience store, because they have the best ice and I can re-fill my cup for a mere 86 cents. I love getting a bargain. That is probably my Scottish heritage coming out. Okay, since I rambled and you probably want to take a break about now, I will leave the rest for later. But, go to the new flickr button to see what else I have been doing this morning! Sin