Tu-Na Quilts: Now, We Have an Elephant Parade

With the sudden and speedy delivery of the baby elephant, Lily Rose, last week, I can now officially say we have an elephant parade.

The happy new family is snuggly stitched together.

Notice that Lily Rose has her mommy’s nose. I am making this quilt for the baby of my best friend’s daughter.

When my friend called to tell me that the baby had arrived she said, “And she has her mommy’s nose.” Sounds like a good name for this quilt.

I’ve even sewed some of the blocks into rows.

I will be adding side pieces onto the elephant row. And where are the missing rows?

I’ve still got three rows to sew.

They are sitting beside my machine to remind me to sew them first before other things.

I sure am glad I took good care of those blocks while traveling. It’s making sewing and laying out the rows so much easier. I’ve had to do some playing around with my sewing machine and moving the needle to make sure the scant 1/4″ seam allowance matched the ones made on my sewing machine at my other house.

If you missed all the excitement of her arrival last week. catch up here with

Tu-Na Quilts: Let’s Make Elephants (Here I describe how my pieces traveled from one house to the other).

Tu-Na Quilts: We Have an Elephant Parade (The happy couple is expecting)

Tu-Na Quilts: ’s Arrived!!! ( Tu-Na, DOQ {Doctor of Quilting}, helped with the delivery of this wee one)

However, much of my time and writing this month is being used up over on the Bee Inspired Blog where I’m sharing some of my adventures and misadventures of my trip to Paris as well as some construction tips and trials as I sew another poodle block for myself using this pattern from The Objects of Design.

You are welcome to stop by:

Tu-Na Quilts: All Aboard. Fasten Your Seatbelts. We’re Taking Off for…

Tu-Na Travels: Day One in Paris

Tu-Na Travels: Day Two in Paris and Poodle Block Cutting Tips

Tu-Na Travels: Day Three in Paris and Prepping Those Furry Pieces You will never guess who we meet today.

and do check back on Bee Inspired all month as I’ve got more funny and interesting Parisian stories to tell and see some gorgeous French Poodles heading my way.

What I Learned Today:

There’s been way more writing happening than sewing in my house lately.
The poodle block is actually quite easy when separated into steps.
I do miss being in Paris.
Beth, over at Cooking Up Quilts, mentions my coneflower double star block that now belongs to Cathy, on today’s Main Crush Monday post. I miss that stunning block but I have those fabrics safely tucked in their own bin for a quilt using that same block pattern for me. I stop to admire and pet them every now and then. Anyway, Thanks Beth!! I’m honored!!!
I “pet” fabrics? Hmmm, this household is going to the dogs.

Question: Where have your travels taken you? I’ve been to London. I’ve been to France, and Germany, and traveled the U.S. extensively. But we honeymooned in Canada.

Linking to Monday Making, Main Crush Monday, Moving It Forward, Design Wall Monday, Let’s Bee Social and Midweek Makers, Jo’s Country Junction, Mama Spark’s World, Katie Mae Quilts, Silly Mama Quilts WIPs, Wednesday Wait Loss

Tu-Na Quilts: She’s Arrived!!!

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The proud parents and Dr. Tu-Na are pleased to announce the arrival of Lily Rose at 2:41pm Central Time today. She measures at 7.5″ x 8.5.”

Here she is on the delivery table (ironing board) shortly after birth. I notice I still need to cut the cords (thread) yet.

Mom and baby are doing fine. Delivery went faster than expected.

Dad is snorting to all that Cha Cha (grandma) says that Lily has her mother’s nose.

The doctor, however, is tired and may go take a nap.

(The free pattern for this adorable small elephant can be found here on the Sew Fresh Blog. Thanks, Lorna! See my previously written post here (Tu-Na Quilts: We Have an Elephant Parade) for more info about this new mom and dad.)

What I Learned Today:

Being creative is tiring!
So is writing two blog posts in one day!

Question: A baby elephant is called a calf. A baby rabbit is called a kit —short for kitten. Who knew? What are other babies called?

Thanks for stopping by,

Karen A.k.a. Tu-Na, DOQ (Doctor of Quilting)

Linking to Wednesday Wait Loss, Sew Fresh Quilts, Silly Mama Quilts WIPs, and Midweek Makers.

Tu-Na Quilts: We Have an Elephant Parade

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Maybe two elephants don’t really make a parade yet but this elephant couple is expecting their first baby and it’s coming soon. Well, actually, an elephant baby is called a calf and then this could be a parade.

The free pattern can be found on the Sew Fresh Quilts blog by Lorna.

Did you know that the gestation period of an elephant is 617-645 days— almost 2 years? Elephants have the longest gestation period for mammals. I wonder if there is any living thing that is longer? And I thought 9 months was a long time to be pregnant.

It’s a good thing that this baby quilt has not been in the works for 2 years. I better get working on it to get it finished. Besides that, this little one (elephant) will be making his or her appearance soon–maybe even this afternoon. Will it be a boy or girl?

I first posted about this quilt here (Tu-Na Quilts: Let’s Make Elephants). The pattern for this large (8.5″ x 11.5″) elephant can be found here on the Sew Fresh Blog.

Update: The baby elephant has arrived!! Read all about it on this post if you missed all the excitement (Tu-Na Quilts: _____’s Arrived!!!)

What I Learned Today:

Thinking about a project takes more energy and time than just sitting down and doing it. Those elephants were rather easy to sew.
Work more and procrastinate less.
I’ve learned a lot of group names from you. It’s been fun and interesting to read your responses. If you think of more, go back to here (Tu-Na Quilts: A French Poodle for Moi) and comment. It will help me gear up for our Trivia night when I go back to AZ.

Question: Pick an animal/bird/insect/reptile/etc. What is its gestation period? Here’s one to get you started. Rabbits spend about 31 days in “the oven.” And that explains why we have so many rabbits running around our yard and in the garden this year.

Linking to Wednesday Wait Loss, Sew Fresh Quilts, Can I Get a Whoop Whoop?, Finished or Not Friday, Sew Can She.

Tu-Na Quilts: A French Poodle for Moi

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June is my month in the Bee Inspired Group to be the Queen Bee or the Hive Mama or the Bee Boss or whatever we call ourselves when it’s our month to ask our Bee mates to sew a block for us. I gave them all a heads up last month to check their quilty passports because we would be heading to a destination far away. This is so exciting!

I got my inspiration for a block from several sources, one of which is this lovely piece of fabric I happened upon while my mom and I were fabric looking (not shopping since I never intended to buy anything) early this winter.

I could also title this post “How a Free Fat Quarter cost me $68.00” because this was not the only piece I found.

We each had coupons for a free fat quarter (no purchase needed) which is why we happened to be in that quilt shop in the first place. Well once I spied this piece on the clearance shelf I just had to have it as it was perfect for my Parisian themed guest room. At the time of purchase, I had no idea how I would use it. But you all know that’s just how it is sometimes…a lot of times.

I remembered seeing a poodle pattern on the blog The Objects of Design. If you haven’t had a chance to check out her blog, you are definitely missing some real talent and some other fun free block patterns.

Isn’t she cute!! I want to make a few more.

I posted the links to this free pattern and tutorial, some construction tips, some pics of the room where the quilt is intended, and the inspiration behind this block on the Bee Inspired Blog. You can find it here.

There will be a pack of proud French poodles posting my way soon. I’ll be sure to take some pics of them when they arrive.

What I Learned Today:

A group of dogs is called a pack or kennel.
A group of crows is called a murder—I actually learned that last month from Velda and her crows so I guess I learned today that I still remember that little piece of trivia.
I only have to mail out two blocks for the other two Bee groups to which I belong.
June will go very fast anyway.

Question: Let’s have a little fun with groups. Pick out an animal or a group of people or group of something and tell us what a group of them is called. Here’s another one to get you started: A group of elephants is called a parade or herd. Speaking of elephants, I better get busy sewing a little parade of elephants on that baby quilt soon as that baby is not getting any younger or smaller!

Linking to Monday Making, Moving It Forward, Main Crush Monday, Sew Fresh Quilts, and Midweek Makers, Katie Mae Quilts BOMS Away,

Thanks for stopping by. I appreciate and read all your comments, suggestions, and questions. I reply by email and often here on the blog as well as time permits. But sometimes, no matter how hard I try, I get behind. Just know that I value your taking the time to comment. Until next time, keep that needle flying!

Karen

Tu-Na Quilts: The May Bee Blocks Were on Their Way Before Month’s End

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May’s Bee blocks were so much fun to make and again were hard to send away as I wanted to keep them for myself. I thought by doing these Bees I would be able to narrow down all the quilts I want to make but instead I’ve lengthened my list.

I may not have made much progress with the elephant quilt this last week as I was busy with cleaning the sewing room and organizing the stash but the May Bee blocks are done and gone. I’ve also made my own block to request from my Bee mates which I will reveal on another post.

This 16″ faux nine patch in a nine patch block went to Irene in North Carolina.

Irene, who is a member of the Bee Inspired Group wanted pale grays or soft gray and white fabrics with no other colors. Yes, that itty bitty 9 patch almost in the center has pieces that finish at 1/2.” The slightly larger 9 patch in the center of the block has pieces that finish at 1.5.” I find it amazing how big 1.5 inch pieces are after working with 1 inch pieces. You can read Irene’s story and get the pattern tutorial here if you’d like to make some for yourself. She’s making this quilt for herself and I also included a little reading material within that block just in case she can’t sleep.

Since it was quite large, I carefully folded it and put it in a small manila envelope. It mailed for 70 cents.

The next block I tackled actually took longer to pick out the fabrics than to sew it. I had pulled so many different fabrics but finally settled on this.

These cats went to Jan in California.

Each cat block is 9 1/2 inches so she asked for two sewn together. I’m glad she did as they look so cute next to each other. Jan’s post and simple tutorial can be found here. The pattern comes from the Missouri Star Quilt Company. If you’d like to make a batch for yourself, you can watch Jenny demonstrate these Pins and Paws Blocks here. Jenny is fun to watch and she makes sewing anything seem so easy.

I put these cats in a legal size envelope but they were overweight so it cost 70 cents to mail with a word of caution from the postal worker that fabric gets caught in their machines. So I’m hoping these little beauties make it safely to California.

Finally, the last block for the month was completed and I had a really hard time sending it off. Luckily for me, I have at least a yard of each of the fabrics and they have been set aside so I can make a stunning star quilt for myself.

Cathy in Montana is the recipient of this beauty.

The pattern and tutorial for this 12 1/2″ unfinished Double Star block can be found here. While it looks complicated and I dreaded doing it for a long time, actually almost all month, it really went together well. I learned a new way to make those flying geese that didn’t waste fabric. I was really leery about that method on the tutorial but it worked really well. I followed Cathy’s advice to increase the 2 7/8″ pieces that are used for the half-square triangles (the teal dot and navy on my block) to 3″ and trim after sewing.

Cathy asked us to choose a fabric to fussy cut for the center and then match another fabric for the accent points. She’s hoping for a rainbow of colors. To round out the quilt and to provide some color consistency to it, she asked for navy, white, and gray fabrics and told us where to locate them in the block. I can’t wait to see her quilt as I think it will be stunning. It mailed for 49 cents.

I must admit that when I first pulled that coneflower fabric off the shelf, I thought it to be rather ugly but I needed something that could be fussy cut. So I looked at what I had for the accent and settled on the teal dot. Wow! Now I want to make a whole quilt of teal coneflowers.

Oh, and I have ugly yellow coneflowers with a green background and ugly pink coneflowers with a brownish background. I wonder what I could pair them up with?

What I Learned Today:

There’s always more than one way to solve a problem or make flying geese blocks.
Joining three Bees might have been a mistake as it was supposed to help me narrow down the list of quilts I want to make but has instead increased the list.
Sometimes the things or projects I dread the most actually end up being the best.
I need to be sewing in my sleep or hire someone to sew for me so that I can start and finish making all the quilts I want.
My quilting life is so full of choices, decisions, and endless possibilities.

Question: Have you ever had any difficulty mailing fabric or hearing that it got caught in the postal machines?

Linking to Sew Can She, Monday Making, Em’s Scrapbag, Main Crush Monday and Sew Fresh Quilts. Katie Mae Quilts BOMS Away

Tu-Na Quilts: Velda’s Crows

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I had a lot of fun sewing the crow blocks for Velda last month. She blogs over at Granny Can Quilt. Those crows took on a personality by themselves. By the time I was done, fabric had flown all over and a huge mess was everywhere.

So I wrote Velda a letter to introduce these feisty crows and included it when I mailed them to her.

You can read more about my April Bee Blocks here.

Here’s a peek at the letter I sent and then you can see if you can pick out who is who.

Hi, Velda!

I really don’t know what happened but I woke up this morning and a whole murder of crows were flitting about my sewing room. Unfortunately, they are not a quiet bunch. So I shut the window fearing anymore would fly in, opened the envelopes (there are two) and shoved them in. Such a ruckus they had so I am warning you as you open the envelopes that “all hell will break lose” in your house.

Let me introduce you to (you’ll have fun picking them out or at least I hope you do):

Charles: This is one sophisticated “he” crow. He’s dashing and debonair, and very stylish although his pants never seem to match his other attire. He tends to choose pants that make him appear taller than he actually is.
Sharlamane: She prefers going by Sharla and gets rather snippy if you address her formally. She’s a sister to Millie and one colorful bird—both with her attire and her language. But rumor has it that she’s got cold feet with the fellas.
Henrietta: This is one sassy old crow; probably stemming from the fact that she was raised by a bunch of chickens. She’s always poking her nose err beak into other’s business and turns green with envy. You can tell when she’s going to throw a fit as her beak starts to turn color first.
Millie: She’s an entomologist. Birds, bees, and other insects just seem to follow her everywhere. You can barely tell she’s Sharla’s sister as they never see eye to eye on anything but they do have some similarities.
Harry: Now he’s a navy man err crow. He’s always loved the sea. Some of the ladies think he’s rather a “stuck in the mud” kind of guy. Once he’s made up his mind about something there’s no changing it. Watch out for this one. Once he’s attached to you, there’s no way to get him to move on.
Roberto: This dashing dude crow thinks he’s hot stuff. The ladies really swoon over him. When he starts talking and flapping and doing his little crow dance, he gets everything and everyone stirred up around him. I think you’ll fall for him too. I had a hard time saying goodbye as I was smitten from first glance.
Gertrude: This sweet crow would do anything for anyone. Unless you call her Gertie. Then you’ve made her bad side. She’s always cleaning up around her. Her little beak is always so busy with tidying up that it often looks sore. Dust seems to follow her where ever she goes.
Harvey: This delightful crow is rather a noisy and nosey fella. He’s always poking his beak into other crow’s business so much it often looks like it’s sporting a bruise.
Abigail: She’s always running late and always in a hurry. She doesn’t seem to mind wearing two different socks. Don’t get in her way or she’ll run right over you.

And there you have these delightfully noisy crows to stay with you forever. Sorry, but I don’t sew quietly. I know you said you didn’t want more but I couldn’t help myself as this was such a fun project. Maybe you can use the extras on the back or just make your quilt larger. Thanks for helping me out.

Have fun, Karen

Now it’s your turn to have a little fun. Can you tell which crow is which? Click on Crow Quiz below to take you to my quiz to see if you can correctly identify the names of these feisty but oh so colorful, new, feathery friends of Velda’s. Thank you to my newly college graduated son for creating this quiz for me (I guess 4 years of college really paid off) He was able to graduate in 4 years with a degree in Computer Science AND another degree in Electrical Engineering. This is one proud mama!

Crow Quiz

What I Learned Today:

When the fabric speaks to you, just go with it.
My quilting is more a matter of enjoying the process and less about creating the finishes.
It’s always stress-relieving to include a little fun in the process.
When it comes to computer stuff, it’s so much easier to ask for help or in my case let a kid do it for me.

Question: What have you done for fun lately?

Linking with Sew Fresh Quilts, Wednesday Wait Loss, Midweek Makers, Can I Get a Whoop, Whoop?, Sew Can She, and Em’s Scrapbag.

Tu-Na Quilts: Let’s Make Elephants

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Here’s what my elephant quilt looked like when the project stalled in March.

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Here’s how it traveled to North Dakota with me so that it could be finished.

I labeled each block and each row and used lots of Clover clips to hold the labels in place. Then all the sewn rows and the ones needing sewing were put into a new gallon Ziploc bag.

The trip took three days and I didn’t want any pieces getting lost or mixed up.

I also clipped each row together and included my hand-drawn pattern. I had bought a package of 100 Clover clips when I was in Bismarck last summer (using a 50% off coupon from JoAnns) and took half of them to Arizona in the fall. Now they’ve come back to my ND home. I sure hope I remember to take them back to AZ with me or I’ll be buying more down there.

This quilt is for my best friend’s granddaughter. That baby just turned 6 months old and I might have to make it larger if I dawdle any longer.

I’ve already got 7 rows sewn. See how I labeled these rows. for transport? I sewed the paper label with the row number on the end of each finished row using a large stitch length. It only took a couple of minutes to do this and it is better than using pins.

My goal for this week is to move this project forward by:

Finish sewing the chevron rows.
Deciding whether to make the quilt a tad wider. I have most of the blocks made already if I decide to do so. Currently it measures 40″ x 56″. By adding two more blocks to each row (which completes the next peak in the chevron), it would be 48″ x 56″. What would you do?
Sewing up those three elephants and their background strip.
Sewing the top together.
Sandwiching the layers.
Free-motion quilting it. I already have a plan.

This list may be a bit ambitious (realistically I may only get thru number 3) as I also have to sew up and mail the three May Bee blocks this week. In addition, I am Queen for one Bee next month so I need to sew up a couple of test blocks and prepare a post.

To motivate me and keep me going, I thought I’d link with Em’s Scrapbag for Moving It Forward (love the tag line for her blog—”When life falls to pieces, make a quilt”).

And in case any of you are transporting quilt blocks, I’ll link with Yvonne at Quilting Jetgirl for Tips and Tutorials Tuesday since I have some tips on keeping your blocks and rows organized. (Button is on the sidebar).

What I Learned Today:

I need something or someone to get me motivated.
Cold coffee tastes really good. I have a habit of pouring myself a cup and finding it three hours later.

Question: Would you make this quilt wider or not?

Other linky parties that I’m attending: Midweek Makers at Quilt Fabrication and Let’s Bee Social on Sew Fresh Quilts and Works in Progress at Silly Mama Quilts.

Tu-Na Quilts: April Bee Blocks are Done and Mailed

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My husband asked me, “Why do you participate in those Bees and then mail away your hard work?” So I thought I’d give you a list of the reasons why I choose to do so. Feel free to add other reasons in the comments sections why you participate, if you do so.

It gives me a good opportunity to try out block patterns to see which ones I’d eventually like to include in a future quilt. I can honestly say that most of the blocks I’ve sewn so far are ones that I probably would not have thought to use but now I see that many would make a beautiful quilt.
Sherry from Tennessee received this 16 1/2″ block. Those 40 little blue squares were not so little as they started out at 2 1/2″. She asked us to use any shade of blue including navy and turquoise but limit the use of pastels. I had to ask my mom for some of her blue fabrics to get a nice variety. Sherry’s daughter is getting married and these quilt squares will be part of her wedding quilt.

You can read more about this quilt here and get the pattern and tutorial here. This envelope cost me 70 cents to mail because it was overweight.
I learn new techniques (such as improv when I made Kate’s trees and gnomes block) that I probably would not have tried on my own. Yes, it puts me out of my comfort zone.
These Bee blocks allow me to use colors that I’d never put together on my own.
Lis from Nebraska asked for Tic Tac Toe using orange, pink and white. I probably would never have chosen to use those color combinations but it did look really nice when it was done. This block was 12 1/2″ unfinished.

If you are interested in making some of these Tic Tac Toe Blocks, you can find the pattern here. The postal attendant brought out the slot to check for its size and it didn’t go through. Thus it cost me 98 cents to mail. If you’ve read about my other blocks I’ve mailed each month, you probably agree that there appears to be no rhyme or reason behind the postal rates.
I get to “meet” other quilters from all over the world. I’ve shipped blocks to Canada, England, Australia as well as many states in the U.S.
Velda from Prince Edward Island in Canada asked for 4 crows for her block. She asked that we not sew them together so she could incorporate our crows along with hers in the quilt. Each little crow block was 6.5″ and really went together well. There were some improv parts such as the beaks. It was a good thing that I had already lifted the lid on my comfort zone box or these crows might have really been a stumbling block.

Velda’s got some crazy crows living close by that have been causing her such consternation as they create such a cacophony and conundrum around her house that she decided to embrace the chaos and celebrate them by making an incredible crow quilt. But these are not just your typical crows; they are a colorful bunch.

You can read Velda’s post here. Free downloadable patterns for birds or crows can be found here or here (this one is paper pieced but could be easily adapted to piecing).

Velda graciously volunteered to take my Bee month for April so I thought I’d send her some extra crows. I don’t know what happened as I cut out enough for 8 but as you can count there were 9 when I finished. But I didn’t stop there, I had some fun with these crazy crows and let their personality shine as I named each one and sent Velda a letter introducing them. I will share more about my unruly crows in my next post.

I put 4 crows in one envelope along with the letter and 5 in the other envelope. Evidently sending mail to Canada is expensive as each envelope was too thick to go through the 1/4″ slot (yes, they were checked), each was overweight (yes they were weighed), and each was leaving the country. Thereby, costing $2.50 to mail each envelope.
It allows me an opportunity to improve my sewing skills. I’ve become much better at matching seams and sewing an exact scant 1/4″ seam especially when it gets sent to someone else.
I get to participate in something bigger than just making a quilt for myself. I look forward to seeing those blocks I sent to others made into a quilt.
It’s fun!

What I Learned Today

I miss those crazy crows. I will have to make some for myself.
I need to sew up the May Bee Blocks early this week.
I will be Queen for one of the Bees next month which means I have to decide on a block pattern, sew one or two blocks, and write a post.
I do have a plan.

Question: What’s got you excited today?

Linking to:

Monday Making and Main Crush Monday. Buttons are on the sidebar, too.

I’m trying a new linky party this week. Show & Tell Monday with Bambi

Tu-Na Quilts: Catching up with the March Bee Blocks and the Continuing Postage Saga

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I got a bit behind. Actually, I got a lot behind with making my Bee blocks. I had a family emergency earlier this spring which took me away from quilting and blogging. In fact, I was supposed to be the April Queen Bee for two of the Bees but I didn’t want to take the time to sew up a block and write a blog post. I asked for a volunteer in each of those Bees to take over my month. My hive mates were gracious and understanding. Two hive mates jumped right in and volunteered to post for April and I was assigned a month later this year. By the end of April, I was caught up with all the March and April (coming under a separate post) blocks.

This block is called Checker. It went to Sherry in New Jersey.

Because it was already two weeks into April and this was supposed to have been mailed by the end of March, I decided to make two blocks. To save on postage, I used a suggestion from one of my readers and wrapped each block in Saran Wrap instead of using a Ziploc bag. I also decided to send each block in its own envelope. It must have worked as each envelope went for 49 cents.

Sherry chose orange and yellow half square triangles, gray rectangles with purple sashing. Yes these are purple. I think this block was 14.5″ square.

This was a fast block to sew. You can find the pattern for Checker here just in case you want to make some too.

This 14.5″ square block went to Shauna in Texas.

Next up were some star blocks. I made one in pink and the other in purple. Falling behind with making the Bee blocks was so easy to do. However, these star blocks were so fun to make that I made another one as payment for being late (more quilting interest). I packaged each in a separate envelope and they shipped for 49 cents each. Evidently they fit through a 1/4″ slot at the post office allowing them to ship at the regular first class rate.

Shauna asked that we use either a bright pink or a bright purple for the star. I think this quilt is going to look great!

You can find the patterns for these star blocks here or here. I bet you can’t stop with making just two.

The last blocks for March went to Kate in England. I have to admit I was a bit scared to tackle these improv blocks. When I bake, I follow recipes very closely. When I sew, I follow the pattern instructions closely. However, improv blocks allow for creativity and freely cutting without exact dimensions. Eek!! My brain doesn’t do improv.

Kate, who blogs at Smiles from Kate, started her tutorial post with this: “If you haven’t done any (improv blocks) before you don’t know what you have been missing and the great thing about a Bee is it takes you out of your comfort zone and you never know you may just find your perfect quilting technique.” It did take me out of my comfort zone. I think they came out very nice. I think this quilt is going to look smashing.

These blocks were 15 1/2″ square.

You can find the pattern for these trees and gnomes on Kate’s blog post here or in the original post where she discovered them here.

Kate asked that we make any number of gnomes and trees as long as there were one of each for a total of 6 per block. She says all the bee members made the same number: 4 trees and 2 gnomes (except for my extra block). My original plan was to make one block with 1 gnome and 5 trees and make the other block with 5 gnomes and 1 tree. Well, something happened as I made 7 trees instead of 6. Not wanting to have an orphan block, I adjusted the number of gnomes I needed and came up with this layout. Only after viewing the pictures, did I notice that I had put the gnomes and trees in the same positions in each block leaving the plain blocks in the same location. Talk about my not being able to think outside the box.

I carefully packaged each block and put them in separate envelopes. My husband and I discussed that they might be too thick to fit through the 1/4″ slot if the post office attendant brought it out to test them. In an effort to flatten them, we put a pile of heavy books on top. In the morning, they seemed even thicker than the night before. Sure enough, the envelopes were too thick and it would cost $3.23 per envelope. Upon further questioning we found out that we could save money if they were bundled together. So my husband, who had taken tape along with him to the post office, whipped out the tape and taped the envelopes together. This package now cost $4.16 saving us $2.30.

What I Learned Today:

Sewing an improv block is hard for me to do. Now that I have tried it, I might make more.
The end of the month comes very quickly.
Going to the post office to mail the Bee blocks can be entertaining.
Sometimes, I can’t think outside of the box.

Question: What blocks would you like to try but haven’t yet?

Linking to Can I Get A Whoop Whoop? and Finished or Not Friday. Buttons are on the sidebar.

I’ll be back in a few days with pics and info about the April Bee blocks, You’ll agree that the post is really for the birds.

Karen

Tu-Na Quilts

Tu-Na Travels: The Annual Migration North

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We knew that it was time for us to head north because:

Our “baby” would be graduating soon from the university at the end of the week and it would be time to celebrate. He’s got a double degree: electrical engineering and computer science. I hope he’s found a job.
The outside temp on Friday of last week reached 109°F. I didn’t think it was so bad but my husband disagreed.
There was no more cold water coming from the tap (only warm or hot).
I needed to add ice cubes to the water to rinse my salad greens.

As we left for our trip northward, we had to stop and get one last look at this beauty a few houses up the street which had just opened more blossoms.

We would be driving through desert country and I was hoping for a glimpse at more Saguaro blooms. I was not disappointed.

Another amazing discovery along our route was finding the Wigwam Motel in Holbrook. Sometime we will have to stop here for the night.

Check out the license plate.

I just had to find out which came first: the movie or the motel.

We weren’t able to peek inside but were reassured that each 21 foot wide teepee was a fully equipped motel room. A regular motel in the back of the property contained rooms for those less adventurous spirits. The motel opened in 1950 and I suspect that someone from the first Cars movie stopped by here.

The highlight of my trip northward was veering slightly off course to visit a new friend. We first met in person at the Tucson Quilt Festival in February. She graciously invited us to stop and we had a short but wonderful visit. There were many miles still to drive and rainstorms threatening overhead.

Yes, that’s Melva who blogs at Melva Loves Scraps. She stopped her sewing and gave me a tour of her sewing room. I saw some really quilting goodness on her design wall and got an up-close look at her Quilter’s Laundry Day mini quilt. It truly is gorgeous. She explained that those mountains in her quilt could really be seen by driving to the top of the hill on the road beside their house. We did that after we left and agree that they are beautiful, as beautiful as they could be on a gloomy, rainy day. The only ray of sunshine on Tuesday was found in Melva’s sewing room. I suspect from her smile that the sun shines often in her house.

What I Learned Today:

Quilter’s make the best friends.
1,597 miles is a long time to sit.
It’s nice to be home again. Although I call my other place home too.
Once a baby, always a baby (or at least mine).
Don’t say it. Don’t even think it (pertaining to road construction). We saw a lot of it. Not at first but after I thought about it and then said, “I guess road construction season hasn’t started yet.”

Question: Do you like road trips or do you prefer to fly to places far away? I prefer road trips but I may be rethinking that come next year when we make our annual migration.