Wednesday, May 26, 2021

Sunshine at the End of the Tunnel

 Hello Everyone,

Those of you who have been following my blog know that I change the quilts on my front porch often.  This is my Heartfire design that has been on the porch for a couple of months.


I change the quilts with the seasons, and just about all of the quilts have been on display at sometime in their life. Every Fall, October Magic is on display.

I also put unfinished quilts outside just to see how they look.  This is Leaf Peepers.  I love to have the quilts outside to greet our guests as they arrive.  It makes for a warm welcome to the cabin.


This is Heartfire now......
This is beyond repair.

This is the Chickaree that ate my quilt!  Now I won't know for sure if this is the culprit until the results of the dental records are confirmed.  No, no, no I wouldn't hurt a hair on his little pointed head, but I am mad at him.  I buy special feed for the Chickaree's, and enjoy watching their antics.  In the fall, I have been known to put out scraps of wool batting for them to make their nests more comfortable during the long winter months.  Perhaps they now have an appetite for wool batting, so it's my own fault.


So the question is.....what do I do now?  I may hang a little sachet of moth balls by the quilt on display.  We put them around the cabin to discourage skunks and it works.  If I put them on the front porch, our guests will think they are entering my Grandmother's closet!

I'll keep you posted as to what I'm going to do.  

Now to get you current on what I've been up to over the past two weeks.  I've been machine quilting the BOM quilt for Marcus Fabrics.  Sixty hours of custom machine quilting to be exact.  My friend Anne stopped by the other day and I showed her the quilt on the longarm.  I said there was a light at the end of the tunnel.  She said a light at the end of the tunnel just might be a freight train bearing down at a rapid clip!  Now that the quilt is off the longarm, and the binding is almost finished, I'm feeling that there is sunshine at the end of the tunnel.  The train has left the station and is gone!  I'm breathing a sigh of relief.

Next week, I've been given the go ahead to show you little sneak peeks of the quilt, and the gorgeous fabrics. By July, I've been given clearance to show you the full Monty!  

The other morning when I was working at the computer on the BOM, this bear stopped by to see me and get a peak at the design. I was inside watching from the dining room table. Luckily, my phone was right by the computer and I had the presence of mind to get a picture.  My heart was doing the Indianapolis 500 in my chest, and I was surprised this was in focus.  Quite often during nice weather, I will take my computer out on the deck and work.  I'll make sure to have my trusty bear-sniffing dog at my side every minute to warn me, and scare it away.


This is the last week of peace and quiet in the mountains.  The Summer People will descend upon us this Memorial Day weekend..  The shelves at the grocery store will be emptied, and the two gas stations will run out of gas.  The solitude of the mountains will not return until September. Sigh.......

Soon, 
Lynn

14 comments:

  1. Lynn, So good to hear from you...
    Sorry to see the wildlife "enjoying" your quilt on that personal level... I guess we can be thankful it was the Chickaree and not his larger furry friend on the porch. I dare say the bear would not have stopped at a little "fluff".
    Looking forward to your BOM reveal, July cannot arrive soon enough. In fact, let's just skip straight through to fall.
    Take care, Sharon McD

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    1. It's so hard to believe that June will be here next week....Fall will be here before we know it!

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  2. I know what you mean about the "summer people". We already have a lot of second home folks up here but starting this weekend the vacationers will be here. We stay off the roads as much as possible during holiday weekends and away from the grocery store. That is one healthy looking bear!

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    1. We gassed up yesterday, and I'll do the grocery shopping on Thursday. We won't go near the store until next week. By Monday, there won't be a loaf of bread in the entire market. We tend to stay off of the roads in the Winter. The visitors aren't used to driving in the snow, and will stop in the worst possible place to "chain up".

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  3. Oh Lynn.... What a lovely/"oh my gosh"/crying/"trying not to laugh"/inspiring/terrifying/ exciting post!!! Hopefully the stores are prepared - promises to be a beautiful weekend!!

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    1. Such is my life in the mountains....lovely, inspiring, terrifying and exciting all rolled together in the span of 24 hours!

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  4. ha, ha, we have the opposite problem here in Florida. We have the winter people (snow birds) that come down from November til Easter. Traffic is often at a stand still and the stores are crowded. We usually do okay with groceries, but since Covid the stores have a hard time keeping and have been more bare.

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    1. Our stores are finally getting back to normal since Covid. Now we will face shortages again.

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  5. Oh, no!!! Oh, that naughty, naughty, NAUGHTY cutie!!! (I never knew our squirrels were called Chickarees, so thank you for that.) Can't wait to see the BOM you quilted!

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    1. We have regular grey squirrels and the little chickarees. They are also called Douglas Squirrels. I like the sound of the work Chickaree.

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  6. Lynn, for years we were among the ‘summer people’ at our cabin in Colorado. It was heaven for us, probably an invasion for the few year round residents. I do appreciate your thought about it. The peace and quiet must be lovely. We did experience a bit of it the winters we went there for a couple of weeks. Now we have that cabin up for sale and our summers are spent mostly indoors in our Texas home. Those cool mountain summers are memories....bears included! Carol in Texas

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    1. We were part of the "summer and weekender group" for years. Since we drove here, we could bring our own food, knowing the grocery store would run out. Good luck on the sale of your cabin. I'll bet you made a lot of wonderful memories there.

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  7. Do you have any scraps from the Heartfelt quilt? You might be able to applique a repair piece over the damaged section. Squirrels and other critters do a lot of damage on fabric including patio furniture, etc. We know.

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  8. Glad to hear from you again but I am sorry about your quilt. Little dickens! Looking forward to those peeks of your next creation. Bring it on! Haha!

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