A FINISH AND A FLOP

Sleeping is no mean art: for its sake one must stay awake all day.
~Friedrich Nietzsche

Have you ever had one of those days when you suddenly feel like you've hit that proverbial wall?  That happened to me yesterday right after lunch.  I came home from a great lunch with two of my friends and just felt exhausted.  I wanted to curl up and take a nap.  The problem with my taking a nap is that I know I won't sleep when I'm supposed to, you know, at NIGHT.  So I trudged through the rest of the day with heavy eyes and no desire to do a darn thing.  I did some blog reading and little sewing which I should haven't done as you will see below.  I fixed a simple dinner and even worked on some stitchery after dinner.  If I hadn't stitched I would have been asleep immediately in front of the television.  But today is another day and I'm ready to go, go, go!!!

==============================

PHOTO FACT OF THE DAY

Buck Moon

Tonight there is a full moon.  This moon is called the Buck Moon.  According the Farmer's Almanac full moon names date back to Native Americans. The tribes kept track of the seasons by giving distinctive names to each recurring full moon. Their names were applied to the entire month in which each occurred. There was some variation in the moon names, but in general, the same ones were current throughout the Algonquin tribes from New England to Lake Superior.

European settlers followed that custom and created some of their own names. Since the lunar month is only 29 days long on the average, the full Moon dates shift from year to year.

Since July is normally the month when the new antlers of buck deer push out of their foreheads in coatings of velvety fur, the full moon of this moon is called the full Buck Moon.
Sometimes this moon was also often called the Full Thunder Moon, because thunderstorms are most frequent during this time. Another name for this month’s Moon was the Full Hay Moon.

==============================

QUILT TOP FINISHED

Yesterday morning I finished the quilt top.

As I said before, this is a variation of the quilt pattern, Dora, from the book, 3 Times the Charm!  Their pattern called for 1 charm pack - I used 2.  They did not have the inner border nor did their outer border match their sashing.  Theirs measured 30 1/2" square and mine ends up measuring 59" square.  So I'm changing the name of my quilt to Colors Thru The Window.  Now I'm debating about the binding.  I can't decide whether to stay with solid black or do a scrappy binding in the bright colors.  I have set up a poll on the left hand sidebar for you to make your voices heard on which binding I should use.  What do you think?

=================================

FMQ - DAY 3

Yesterday was rather a flop in my fmq lesson......

I was to practice making Sashiko Shells.  Leah said they stack like bricks and should be even in size.  I just couldn't get the hang of it.  I tried to make the shells in all four corners of the block.  I gave up and wrote "Shashiko Shells not my thing" - I misspelled Sashiko but you get what I meant.  I also had a cross out of shells just to the right there - lol!  So, I decided to practice something else.....

I did some meandering.  This seemed to flow fairly smoothly and most of my stitches were fairly uniform in length.  I only made one or two sharp turns and had just a couple of cross overs.  Maybe this is something I could actually do on a small quilt :)  Now on to day 4!

==========================

AMERICANA

Yesterday afternoon I finally made another block for my UFO/WIP, Americana Sampler quilt.

This is why you should never sew when you are tired!  When I was pressing this block, I kept looking at it and thinking "I really am not fond of this block".  Still pressing away for what I thought was the final press it suddenly dawned on me - You sewed it together WRONG, dummy!!!!  So once again Mr. Ripper and I became well acquainted as I ripped out three seams.  It couldn't have been the outside edge block - oh no - it had to be one of the inside block assemblies.......

This looks much better!  All angles heading in the right direction.  This block is called Next Door Neighbor.  I might as well confess this little tidbit too......I miscut the red squares for the corner triangles and had to search through my scrap stash for a similar color red to use.  3/8" off of a square is a big mistake and, of course, I didn't have enough from the kit to use the same fabric.  Oh well, in the end I don't think it will be noticed.

============================

TODAY'S GOAL

Today I am going to play with a new toy/tool I received a little while back :D

==============================

GIVEAWAYS

Amy's Creative Side is having a sponsored giveaway.  You could win a bundle of Wild Garden Collection, by Dan Bennett for Westminster.  This giveaway ends Monday, July 18.

Frugal Ideas from the Parsonage is having a giveaway.  Sophia is giving away a vintage fat quarter.  This giveaway ends Wednesday, July 20, at midnight.

Pink Chalk Studio is having their weekly giveaway.  This week you could win a Paris Apartment Fat Quarter set in the winner’s choice of colorway.  This giveaway ends Monday, July 18.

Jolly Jabber is having their weekly giveaway, too.  This week you could win one of Julie Herman's Blogger’s Choice Fat Quarter Bundles.  This giveaway ends Tuesday, July 19.

Sew Take A Hike is having a giveaway.  You could win  a tea towel (your choice of color), and a tea kettle pattern Amy designed herself.  This giveaway ends Sunday, July 17.

==============================

FINAL THOUGHT
The desktop computer has been repaired and DH will pick it up today!!  I'm so glad.  Working on the laptop is better than not having a computer at all but it is a struggle for me.  The keyboard does not always work as I think it should - the keys are quite stiff.  I really give the delete and backup buttons a workout.  I'm not sure where all of the different keys are and have to stop to hunt and peck.  I sometimes hit the CAPS LOCK key by miSTake and suddenly everything is capitalized.  Then I go to hit that key to unlock the caps and hit another key that sends me back to the top of the page - I still haven't figured out what key that is and how it sends me to the top.  One day I'm afraid it will send me over the top and down the hill - lol!  All will be well and back to normal this evening when I start up the desktop computer and hear its whir and then put my fingers on my favorite keyboard.  Back to something I understand. 
Have a wonderful weekend!

Happiness often sneaks in through a door you didn't know you left open.
~John Barrymore