The Wood Pile and the Fabric Pile

SO, In finally had a nice enough day, with no wind, to get the burn pile going in the backyard! It's been getting bigger and bigger for over 6 years! Nobody ever want to come do it, so , as usual, I did it myself.  Bean came over and they helped me keep it going so I was very pleased and thankful for that!

And I got another  quilt finished. I have no plan sometimes when I buy fabric. Somtimes, during a shop hop especially, I'll be overwhelmed and just buy something to get it over with. Because I REALLY want everything, but my budget won't be having that!
 

So that's how I came to have this motorcycle fabric. I had enough to make this pattern from Villa Rosa Patterns-they're the ones that look like little postcards with short instructions. It's called Foxfire. Here's a link Villa Rosa Foxfire

It looks pretty good from a distance!

I like the word print fabric on the outer border. 

But a closer look reveals the issues I had quilting this little thing! It's about 65"X70".

I don't mind backing that is scrappy and kind of awkwardly wonky. And that's the case with this one. 

But here's one of the obvious issues....I ran a tiny bit short on the backing, I had measured and knew it would be close, but as the quilting got nearer the end, it was clear I was going to run into the bit of extra fabric I had sewn on to the end to attach to the leaders. Oh well, it will still be cozy. 

If you look a little closer, you'll see there's more. See how the top row of quilting is pretty level? Even with the border fabric, ok. I high lighted it in yellow.

Now look at the bottom....see the purple highlighter? Not even close to being even with the border. Well, what's done is done with this one! I won't use this design again, it's way too hard to make it line up nicely because it doesn't nest at all. 

And the burn pile is down to here now! I just need one more nice day to finish it off!!

Courtside With Clark part 2

 So, I'm on my continuing quest to use up my fabric-or at least move to a manageable level. SO Here's the last of the Courtside With Clark fabric that I got awhile back. You may remember, that I have made one with this fabric before. Here.

I used a loopy quilting design and it went along really well!

Here's the porch pictures. As always lately, it was windy!

This was a 3yard quilt pattern, doubled to make it twin size. Here's a link to the Fabric Cafe Book.

And the back side used up every bit of the Caitlyn fabric as well as the solid yellow and the word print.

I had just enough of the stripe to do the binding.

You have to look at the other print fabric. I just love the grey print of crowds of people!

Isn't it cool! It's a Moda Line of fabric called Flea Market Moxie. 

And in really big news.....

I gave away the last few diapers!! Dilly is pretty reliably potty trained!!

He snuggled with grampa, 

And we've had such nice weather we went to the park and played!

Annual Chicago Visit

 So as part of the PPMI ppmi  Parkinson's Progression markers Initiative research program, I go to Northwestern University in Chicago for monitoring each year. I don't have Parkinson's. but I have a brain that they are interested in for research. So lucky for me, I got some time before the testing begins, so I went to the Institute of Art!

Bumpy flight coming in, but all went well.

The Art Institute has big lions out front.

It's just a block or so from the Millinium Park, where the Bean is. 

I had a few minutes to wait for public access opening time, so up the street I walked.

I love the tall buildings....this was a school of some sort in days gone by, and it has an owl on top!

Anyways onto the museum.

Paris Street, Rainy Day by Gustave Coillebotta, an amazing painting.....

Cluade Monet- Arrival of the normandy train....they had a lot of his works, they are amazing!

This one OH MY! It's a beautiful painting, and huge-almost life size, Georges Seurat, Sunday Afternoon.

A Real live Augusta Rodin, so beautiful!

Another Monet

Edvard Munch-The Girl by the Window-he's the guy who painted The Scream....very well known!

Some Paul Cezanne. Such iconic works and they have quite a ew of them!

Paul Gauguin, He's famous for his Tahaitin works.

AND LOOK!!! Just look!!!! Vincent Van Gogh!!!!!!

Edgar Degas-Pink Dancer....there were a lot of his work too!

A nice Jackson Pollock

And for me, the reason to buy a ticket!  Nighthawks---Edward Hopper.

What an amazing painting. Worth it!

Thomas Hart Benton-The Cotton pickers, He's an amazing artist.

Archibald John Motley-Blues. 

I can't believe I got such a crappy photo of the Norman Rockwell painting-The Dugout. It's a really large painting and I was trying to take a selfie with it, but there were a lot of people around so it was hard!

And look! The real deal! American Gothic-Grant Wood our Iowa claim to fame!

This guy was just in the right place---looks like the painting!!

Mary Cassatt The Child's Bath, what an iconic work! I loved it!

And  a real Remington!

And they had a LOT of Renissance art and a LOT of Asian art.

Anyways it was a pretty wonderful trip to the museum! I was just in awe of all the great art!

I had time the next day so I walked out to Navy Pier. 

And took the boat architectual tour. 

It was a nice way to spend some time and see all the buildings on the river.

And I walked downtown to the Nordstroms, 

so FANCY! and EXPENSIVE.

You had to go around the rope to shop in the Gucci area!

This cute bag was $1325. 

And I don't understand it but Jellycats are little stuffed toys that are all the rage now. The little ones are $80....I didn't buy anything in Nordstroms or Macy's either!

And I was glad to get home again!