Sunshine quilt

And the quilt is Buddy approved!

I received this quilt (shown above) from my quilting buddies. (We're loosely called the Girl Gang as we used to do Jan Patek's Girl Gang quilts each year). I must say I was completely surprised that they were so thoughtful, and very quick, as the quilt was started and finished in less than 3 weeks! They were trying to help me feel better as I go thru a rollercoaster of treatments the next few months.

And this bit of sunshine is an orchid on my co-worker's desk. It's funny that when people at work are given plants for gifts, they bring them to me to babysit (I have luck keeping them alive). And people bring their orchids from home, too (we have a great window with indirect west light).  We now have 5 orchids in our care. I always thought orchids were tricky to grow, but all I do is water them once a week and make sure they're not standing in water.

Backyard View -- Fall 2012

I don't have to go very far to see some gorgeous color. This is view from my back yard -- a neighbor's dock on our tiny lake (the lake is so small, no motors are allowed). Lots of maples make for lots of yellow and an occasional red (my favorite). In a couple weeks the branches will be mostly bare.

It's amazing what you can find while looking for something else. I was hoping to find my Halloween wall hangings, and happened upon a UFO (UnFinished Object for you non-quilters).

These New York Beauty blocks were pieced on printed muslin (I think a Sharon Hultgren pattern). My friend Debbie and I finished the blocks a few years back.  The original idea was to set the 12 blocks 3 by 4, with the rays facing the same way. Now I'm doing a new layout just for fun.

I am not sure why it didn't get finished right away, but it could have to do with my worries that the muslin piecing wouldn't be as accurate as paper piecing and worries that the blocks wouldn't fit together very well. I'm over those worries and just want it done!

Scaredy cat Buddy says "Let me in! I hear noises".

16-Patch progress and Fuchsia adventures

Buddy approves! He immediately claimed the partly sewn quilt top.

I put it on the bed to see if I had the size right before adding the inner border (red). Nope, I need one more row. After the inner border is added, I will add two more rows of 16-patches all the way around (the top may get three or four rows to allow for pillow tucking).

See how nice my over-wintered fuchsia has turned out? The variety is "Spider Red". I have both pots in almost total shade, so it hasn't hurt from the heat. But when I took the photos I spied nasty Japanese beetles all over one of my plants, so I had to do something drastic.

I put a little cooking oil in a container and knocked those beetles in. They don't survive long in the oil. I collected at least 40 of them over the afternoon. I may not win the war on beetles, but at least there are fewer chewing on my plants!