Here’s the poppy progress at the end of working on Sunday,

and here it is finished on Monday afternoon.

I did make some changes, especially in the background.  After auditioning  several other choices, it seemed best to stick with that original polka dot. I still may change that one under the stem that might be better darker. What do you think? This poppy decided to be darker than the original with a lavender center. As I worked on it I thought it might be fun to make one with a white poppy. I just got a catalog with poppies and there is a white one with red in the center. But for now I think I am poppied out!

We are into some gorgeous fall weather right now and I sat out on the deck to remove all of the freezer paper from the back late yesterday afternoon. The perfection was shattered by the arrival of a visiting dog next door and so my dogs had to  defend their territory much to my dismay because of my new plantings on the fence line.  I didn’t have the heart to investigate the damage yesterday, but on checking in this morning I was pleasantly surprised to see that for the most part it came through unscathed.

I think I will take a few days off from sewing and attend to some of the more mundane  things. I must get the Poppy pattern off to the printer and “Bittersweet Memories” off to the La Connor Museum show in WA.  And I suppose a little house cleaning ought to be on the agenda, along with catching up on the books!

When I left you last, I was thinking I’d dig some more on the new border, but by the time I finished the indoor chores and made a trip to the post office it was nearly 3pm and starting to rain. I decided to at least plant the part that was ready as the weather is just perfect for transplanting stuff!  So the new border now contains several kinds of sunflowers, day lilies, Russian sage, phlox, lantana,  and daisies plus a trumpet vine for the fence. Yesterday I remembered that I had a small tree that needed moving and this spell of rainy weather would be a great time to move it. So I found a raincoat and did the deed. I doubt it will even notice that it has moved, though whenever this rain ends, it will appreciate being in a sunnier spot I think. So far we have gotten about 3 inches of rain and the farm pond which was nearly empty is now near overflowing.

It was yesterday afternoon before I found the time to get back to sewing. With CNN coverage of Hurricane Ike in the background, I played around with different choices for backgrounds – still open to change- and sewed most of sections A through E. The most time consuming aspect is choosing the fabrics and, still, nothing is final.  I may unsew and make changes yet.

Perhaps I will have a more productive day today as I continue to watch the hurricane news.  In about 6 weeks I plan to BE in Houston, so I hope that my hotel is still there and I am not even going to worry about the 4 quilts that are there already as I am confident that they are as safe as humanly possible with IQA.

The POPPY pattern is ready to be pasted up and taken to the printer. But first I plan to make another POPPY! quilt just from these directions for a final check.  Besides I will need a second sample.

I got quite a bit of weeding done since Friday and my fingernails are much the worse for it.  Why don’t I wear gloves when I do that!  The Sweet Autumn Clematis is a riot of blooms and everything has perked up since the rain.  The weather is decidedly cooler, rainy and very Fall-like. I think the hummingbirds have left for warmer places.

I tried to enjoy the hammock Sunday afternoon, but it was a bit chilly and I decided to come inside to finish up Duma Key.  It was good – now I can finish The Birdhouse Chronicles that I was  reading before Stephen King interrupted me!

Friday I spent the day at the county 4-H fair. They had asked to have a few of my quilts for display only. Since I don’t live in that county I am not eligible to compete there, not that I would want to. So I took them “Lazy Afternoon”, “Lady Godiva” and “Bittersweet Memories”. I think the quilts were well received and showed a different aspect of quilting from what a lot of the people expected.

The 4-H Dog Show was Friday so I spent most of the day watching the kids work their dogs in Showmanship and Obedience. You could really tell who had put in the hours and who had left it all til the last minute!

It was fun to look at all of the exhibits and the animals. When my kids were in 4-H years ago, I was the leader for Leatherwork and Dairy Goats; now apparently they don’t do leatherwork but the goats are still there! This cutie wants to be in a quilt!

While waiting for the close of the show, I finished the hand work on the binding of Poppies.

Here’s a close up showing some of the quilting.

The color is not the greatest; I will have to retake the photos for the pattern cover. Oranges and reds are hard to work with in photos – at least for me!