It's HOT!!  Want to see proof? 

106 degrees in the shade according to the weather site!  
And calm! 
These poor things were lined up on the fence and fluttering their wings to create a breeze.   There were three more on the other side of the tree but I wanted a closeup and I couldn't get them all in one pic.  
I wasn't about to go outside just to click a picture... so these were all taken through the kitchen window.  Screen and all...so the quality isn't the greatest.   Yep!  I'm a wimp!
 

And this was the reason I grabbed my camera in the first place.   We had a mottled Crescent Dove stop at the feeder today.  See the different colors.   We've never seen one like this before.  Hummm??  Wonder what it's crossed with.


And then there's the baby Cardinal. 
He's staying in the shade too.   I waited and waited for him to move out in the light....but he was having nothing to do with it.  So I had to settle for this one.  

I'm sure glad they're out there and I'm in here.     

I went out to the garden the other day to get some closeups of some of the flowers this year.
One of the plants I wanted to capture was this Butterfly Weed that has gotten pretty good sized this year and very pretty.
The sun was shining and from the door of the house... it looked like the plant was glowing.  So pretty!

  As I was walking toward the plant adjusting my camera....out of the corner of my eye I spotted movement.
So I stopped where I was.... and as I looked toward the movement this is what I saw.
One of two baby Morning Doves.  The other one scurried into the foliage so I couldn't get a pic of it....but this one just squatted and watched me watch it.
I'm so glad the pic turned out.  And I just had to share.

Well this isn't Monday but it is still what's on my Design Wall.
......Again. 
I'll be working on this in my spare time this week now that I have the Christmas Diamond top finished. 

This morning I was searching through my little book of '1000 Great Quilting Designs' and I've found what I think I want to use on it when I quilt it.  It will need to be pre-marked and won't be able to do it on my frame....but that's ok.  I'm ready to do some more sit down quilting for a change.  I'll show you what I've chosen later.

Yesterday I made #8 Country Star block from Shannon's blog.  This is the first time I've had to re-do one of these blocks...but I just wasn't paying attention.    I know! I know!  She told us to be careful...but the brain wanders at times.  I had turned the two top 4-patches (in the 9-patch) and they weren't radiating the right way.   And so.... I had to fix it this morning.  But it was such an easy fix since these fabrics are a dream to work with.

Now if you haven't already....run on over to Judy's blog and see what other quiltiers have been working on.

 

OK now... I finally have a picture of the finished top. 
This was very enjoyable to set together and I'm very pleased with my final design.  I don't have a 'design wall' large enough to show the whole quilt so my quilting frame will just have to do.


As you can tell I made a small dark stop border to frame the center...  and then decided to add two small borders on both sides of the border diamonds.  I wanted them to seem to float along the border and I think I've achieved that effect.
I can sure see this pattern made in many different color arrangements.  And I may just do that one day.



For now I'll leave you with a Lilly that is growing by my front porch.
 

Last night we had a bit of exciting weather for awhile.  Around 10:00pm the siren went off.  I had been watching the radar so was aware we had storms moving in so we headed to the basement just in case.  When it was all said and done it turns out a tornado did touch down about 8 miles North of town.  And boy oh boy did the storms dump LOTS of water.  News reported between 5 to 7 inches.  We didn't get that much here in town....but the creek that runs through our City Park was the fullest I've ever seen since we moved here 40 years ago.  We've seen it out of it's banks before but never by this much.  It's going to take awhile to get the field and playground dried out that's for sure.    Oh the skeeters will be thick!!  Yuck!!

I've been slowly sewing a little on the border blocks for the Christmas Diamonds after I squared them all up.  I did have to go back through the side blocks and trim just a tad bit more off the ends (the green side opposite the red) so the borders would fit right.  They are all on and now I just have to get a scrappy outer border added.  Then on to the frame to be quilted.  

My Design Wall today.......
This afternoon I spent a bit of time making more border blocks.  I only have a few left to do (but I have to cut more fabric) but.... before I do that I needed to stop and change positions because my back was screaming just a little to loud.  So I'll get back to them tomorrow, finish sewing them together .... then I can square them all up.

My EQ7 update arrived today.  (Thanks Judy for the fast shipping!!)  I've installed and quickly skimmed it to check out what's new...but I need to get into it a bit more to see how it really works.  Maybe I'll play tonight since there's nothing on TV worth watching.      
 Yesterday we met Don's sisters for lunch buffet at a little cafe in Holdrege we all like.  Good home cooking!   Then today we drove back to Holdrege again for our checkups and bloodwork.   Everything looks good and we don't go back till the Fall.   I did stop in at Quilters Delight to pick up some batting.  And I was able to buy three different colors of chalk lead refills for my Bohn marking pen. 

And since we were on the road so much these last two days I was able to start and finish the book Jess left me.  Dear John by Nicholas Sparks.  It was very good Jess!  I liked it.