Green things...

When I was thinking about the title of this post...I thought of the shirt they sell at turtle reef (SeaWorld) that says, "I was green before it was cool" with a picture of a green sea turtle...too cute. Too bad it's only in kid sizes :)

I have been wanting to post about my growing vegetables, but hadn't taken the time yet to take some pictures to show off my growing tomato, pepper (maybe) and zucchini plants! I was finally inspired by the random fact that I was going to use my roommates juicer for the first time to make a green lemonade juice. So Lisa has been on a juice fast this week and I've sampled a couple of the juices and decided I should try it...not for a whole week, but just one here and there in place of a meal or snack. Then perhaps for a couple of days and then if I really think it's worth forgoing solid foods maybe I'll try an entire week.

The green lemonade had 6 leaves of kale, 5 handfuls of spinach, a cucumber, green apple and one lemon. It only called for 1/2 a lemon, but I decided to throw in the entire thing in order to ensure it would taste like lemonade. And it does! It's actually delicious! I'm excited to have ventured into the juice world and look forward to experimenting with different recipes.

All those veggies and fruits made 1 cup of juice

pretty flower in our yard

the juicing machine!

Dr. Seuss Baby Quilt

I can't believe that my nephew could be here any day now! I am so excited for Luke, Kendra and Owen to meet their newest addition. While I'm sad to be away for all of the excitement, I'm looking forward to making him a bright and fun quilt for him to snuggle up in. I just love the Dr. Seuss prints...however, their boldness overwhelms me a bit. I'm going to try and tone the quilt down a bit, by using a lighter color sashing and backing. I found the following image through a Google search for Dr. Seuss quilts and love how modern this one looks. I plan on varying the sizes of the colored blocks to give it a little more variety. Now I just have to put my quilting experience and skills to the test to draw up my own pattern...yikes! Never done that before...can't wait to see the final product and meet the little boy who will call it his! 

Quilt image from the blog: Quilt Story

modern crosses quilt

As I was recently browsing the library database for sewing books, I came across, Modern Log Cabin Quilting by Susan Beal. This book is awesome! Not only does it have great design ideas, but also includes simple and straightforward instructions and tips on quilting. I may have to purchase my own copy once my 3 weeks on loan from the library is up!

Since I am on a mission to use up my fabric scraps and living on a tight budget. I thought I would start by making the modern crosses quilt, which requires 60 2" x 35" strips of fabric. I may not have 60 different types of fabric in my stash, but I think there is enough variety to make this patchwork quilt. One of my favorite parts of the quilt is that there's a button at the center of each cross. How fun is that! My button collection isn't quite as large as my fabric stash, so I'll most likely looking for fun and quirky finds at markets and thrift stores.

I made this first block this morning...only 59 more to go! I'm hoping to finish the quilt by the end of September. We'll see how that works out. I'm not always good at meeting my own deadlines...when it comes to deadlines made by others, I get it done, but my own...well that's another story.