Pillow cases and seeds

I finally got around to making 2 pillowcases for the bed upstairs.  I love doing these pillowcases and the kids really love them too.  They are quick and all the seams are finished so they look really professionally made.  It takes about 30 minutes to make them from start to finish.  The sheets are cream and I just wanted something to coordinate with the sheets and look nice with the room.  The colors are a bit brighter than the picture shows.

I will be so happy when I can cut accurately.  For small cuts, I can do it...makes the shoulder sore but I can hold the ruler down hard enough to be fairly accurate.  For anything over about 10" inches, the ruler slips as I get toward the end.  I have issues keeping that ruler in place even when my shoulder is not sore.  Don't know why this surprises me.  I am ready to start putting stripping on the 15 minutes of play blocks.  I sewed a few more this week to add to the pile.  I think I need either 42 or 56  I will have to wait for the stripping to besure I am making it big enough to be useful.  I don't want the quilt to be square.  I will probably work on this one and the spiderweb when I go to my Dad's.  I will want something to work on at night while everyone is watching TV.  Below are the last blocks I made.  They sort of look plain and ugly.  Some of them make me want to puke they are so ugly...others I really like.  When they all go together, I like them all.  I figure I will spend three days rearranging prior to sewing the blocks together.  I also cannot decide if I want to use bright yellow or black for the stripping.  More later on that.

The other thing I have been working on is getting rid of some of my smaller strings (scraps).  You can see a few of them in the little blocks above the scrappy blocks.  When they are sewed together, the blocks that make up the square will actually be 1/2 inch big.  Miniature quilts are amazing and I think the people who make them are on some real good drugs.  The one below my squares is an example.  The quilt is 20X20 but the squares within the quilt finish at 4X4.  Can you imagine all those pieces in a 4" square.  Some that I have seen were even smaller.  Don't think I will ever be doing anything like this in this lifetime.  I don't have much hair left and this could make me pull the rest of my hair out.  I could not believe how tiny the actual stars were in the quilt.

I noticed yesterday that some of the seeds I planted last week are poking their heads out.  I believe it might be the cucumbers.  They are about 1.5 inches tall.  I can see the tiniest green in one of the other trays but I have no idea what it is.  I always say to myself...mark the tray, but somehow never do so it is always a surprise when it surfaces.  I had planted tomato, cucumbers, bell peppers and basil seeds.  I will be so tickled if I can baby those little seeds into plants and FOOD!  I usually just buy tomato plants and go from there.  Some years they do good and other years, not much of anything.  I also stuck some marigold seeds, coleus seeds and morning glories in trays this week.  I have something blooming in the yard that is way down the hill.  I thought it was a daffodil but I went down and looked at it today and it is not quite a daffodil.  It is similar to the daffodil but much larger.  Might be a mutant because the blades look like daffodils.  The bloom is very full almost like a rose.  It is really pretty.  I am going to take my shovel and camera downhill tomorrow and take a picture and then dig it up and bring it closer to the house.  So look for the picture soon.  Until we meet again....