Topping the top chart

When I was a pre-teen & young teenager, the local AM station (WHB, the World's Happiest Broadcasters, dial Seventy One-derful on the dial) put out a weekly list of the top 40 singles. 45 rpm singles, do you remember them? I used to get mine from a rack at the drug store that was next to the TG&Y that was next to the grocery store my family went to. They kept a pretty good selection of singles & there on the counter near the record rack would be that week's WHB Top 40 -- a list of songs with that week's ranking & where they had been the previous week. On the back would be the lyrics to one of the songs. And because you can find anything on the internet, this is what they looked like:

Anyway, what was my point? Oh! The tops I've been sewing up made me think of WHB's Top 40. (My mind works in mysterious ways.) Not quite 40, but my stack is growing.
And not just tops, backs too!

More rain

Crafturday dawned dark & dreary -- 100% chance of rain, flash flood warning, blah, blah, blah.

But it was a fine day to spend stitching.
I had the urge to add borders to the loud, medallion-y thing I started a while ago. The floral fabric is a satin weave & was starting to fray, so I wanted to get it sealed in a seam. Nothing really new here, I just sewed on some borders I had auditioned earlier.

I've got about 24 hummingbird stars made. I am following Missouri Star Quilt Company instructions for this block. It is like quite a few patterns & how-tos you see these days -- that is, it is unconcerned with having the fabric's bias on the edge of the block. I have to tell you, this is hard for me to do, goes against my grain, if you will. I think many who do this use lots of starch. I am reluctant to do this because starch is made of corn & bugs like corn. I have a constant battle with silverfish & I don't want to actually entice them with food. Anyway, you can see a bit of ruffling on the edge of the blocks, but I think (I hope) that will not be noticeable when I quilt it.

And in a jiff, half of this quilt is quilted. Not my best work, but fairly consistent overall.

It turned out that the weekend's weather was not as bad as it had been forecasted to be. I even got out both days for a walk.
But -- wait for it -- now we have our eyes on the Gulf because Tropical Storm Bill is out there.

Pandora's closet

Actually, not Pandora's closet, just my closet.
It doesn't contain the ills of the world, but it does contain a LOT.

In the corner of my sewing room there is a piece of furniture that was formerly used as a chair. It is now the base of a mountain of fabric, quilt tops & backs, basted quilt sandwiches & more fabric. I was rather hoping to return it to its original function, so I began tidying. I gathered things I was not going to get to any time soon; I pushed towards completion several things that were teetering on the brink of being done. It is very subtle, the uninitiated eye might not see the difference, but I think there is a slight decrease in amount of chaos in the room. (Though the chair is still not a chair.)

When I was rearranging things in the closet, I pulled out a summer, battling-less & backless, quilt that my Mom bought for me many years ago. Sadly, I don't well remember the details of when or where she got it. I have a vague recollection that she found it at a neighborhood garage sale, sometime since Shug & I have been married. I also vaguely remember not being all that pleased with it -- the appliquéd ladies were not my style &, at the time, I was not fond of the fabrics. But I love it now & wish I could thank my Mother for getting it for me.
Thanks, Mom, I love it! And I love you!

Rain, rain, go away

Thank you for your very kind emails about Shug's & my safety.
Yes, we are safe & dry -- unlike others in our area -- property lost &, much worse, lives lost.

Regarding the weather, Enough!!!

Shug & I grew up in Tornado Alley, saw our share of brutal weather: blistering heat, softball-sized hail, towering clouds with that sickly greenish light, blizzards, ice storms, sub-zero temperatures, etc, etc, etc. But I had never seen rain like it rains down here on the Gulf Coast. It doesn't seem physically possible to rain as hard as it does here. They say that at one point on the night of the News-making Rains, it was coming down at a rate of 1 inch in 5 minutes (2.5 cm/5 minutes). They say that this May was the wettest month for Texas since they've been keeping records -- for our county alone, official measurements from 10 to 20 inches. They say that approximately 35 trillion gallons fell on the state this month.
And -- now is the beginning of the 2015 hurricane season. {sigh} Please wish us good luck.

Thank you again for your kind questions & comments. I see I've not just made virtual friends with my little blog, but really real friends.
Thanks & hugs to you!