Better late than never

I didn't quite get a post out for the 4th, but we did get our flags out. I just love this flag holder. I have 3 of them; 2 go on columns on the back patio, and this one at the front door. It came from the Martha catalog a bunch of years ago when she still had a catalog. I like how they fan out. I think I promised awhile back to show my patriotic display on my dining room table. I didn't get to it because I am not really sure it is finished. But this is how it has looked for a couple of weeks so I guess it is as finished as it is going to get. Thrifted items, of course. The coffee pot holding the flags has been around for ages. In fact, I just updated the foam in it as the old stuff was so worn out the flags wouldn't stand up straight any more! The HOME blocks and the fence display are recent acquisitions. I saw a similar fence display in a catalog for over $100 with a dried arrangement in it! This one had a dried arrangement in it too but it was way past sad so the only thing salvagable was the foam -- that's where the new piece for the coffee pot came from.

I have finished a few things too. This house has a tall door going to the back patio. I like it because it is NOT a sliding glass door. But it faces west and the sun shines right into the kitchen -- it's in your eyes when you are at the sink -- so it needed a shade. We bought this house new and I just couldn't bear to make holes in the door so we hang from the glass. The original shade I made was not a good thing. I made it to the exact measurements of the glass, and when I washed it you can guess what happened. Sun streamed in around the edges and the bottom looked like high water pants on a growing kid!

Also you could see all the seams because of the sun. I had been intending for the last few years to take it down and replace it with a whole cloth quilt. I thought I was so smart -- I made it REALLY oversized, quilted and washed it before trimming it to size. Trimmed it then bound it and hung it up over Decoration Day weekend. OMG, it was so wavy it looked like you could surf it! I took out the binding (and for some reason calculated it was over 10,000 machine stitched tiny black stitches on black). It was still a little wavy so I put a sleeve on the bottom and put a lead pipe in it. After a couple of weeks it straightened itself out so I rebound it, and, voila, a new shade. The black blocks lots more sun, and I love the cherries. Really really old Mary fabric, do you recognize it? It was originally purchased to make curtains in the last house we lived in and we have been here for 5 years! But it has finally all come together and looks great! Love it when a plan comes together...

While I was in the shade making business, Mr THQ wanted something on the french doors that go to his office. This is an Alexander Henry print that is only a year or so old. I used the same technique and was rewarded with no wavy edges. Yay. I think it came out okay too. Please ignore the glow of the flash.

And last but not least, I finally got this quilt quilted. I took a class from Billie Lauder several years ago called Sweet 16, and we made the center blocks. I put the top together and it has been waiting to be quilted for at least a year I am sure. But it was finally time. Not my usual colours. I found the cherry fabric at a shop I don't visit very often because they don't carry the kind of fabrics I like. I fell in love with the cherries and bought most of the other fabrics there as well. I like the sharp contrast with the black and white. It's good to branch out from time to time don't you think? Don't know where this one will go, but that's okay.

And my productivity is up at last. Two more quilts pinned, one of which is half quilted. And then 5 ready to pin, backs all ready to go. I am determined to get all my tops quilted before I make more. We'll see how I do with that.