Quilt Block Challenge ... DONE!!

It's a beautiful day in the neighborhood, at least at 4:00 in the morning when it's a cool and breezy 79 degrees.  The cartoons about Arizona burning up with heat are true.  It's unrelenting, which is pretty much why I've been sticking close to my air conditioning.

If you've got anything to do, you do it in the morning before 10:00.  That's why I headed out to Lowes for those stepping stones first thing.  Once the blocks were unloaded, I was sweating like I stuck a roasted chicken on the barbecue.  Good grief!  It takes three showers just to get through the morning!  This job is going to take a while to finish!

At least it gave me a chance to complete this quilt block challenge.  I have to say it was fun to sew, but no fun at all picking out which fabrics would go where.  How can you possibly know what it's going to look like?

It definitely looks better in person.  The colors just don't show up in pictures for some reason.  My apologies to my guests, but it's going to be in YOUR room.  Once I purchase a bed, that is.

While checking out a consignment shop in Tubac last winter, I found this great southwest design quilt hangar.  I wish I had two more.  Once you have this much time and energy in a quilt, you definitely want to display it.  I checked online, but they are twice what I paid for this one.  You have to sew a little pocket on the back in order to hang it, which kept me busy yesterday.

Since the carrot cake disaster, I decided to whip up some Hawaiian banana bread.  This recipe I KNOW is good and always comes out perfect, making me feel a little better about my cooking skills.  It's Jonathan's favorite snack!!  And mine, come to think of it.

Remember the cactus that disappeared?  BOTH of them?  I was feeling bad that the critters had them for dinner, so I grabbed my trusty wheelbarrow and went out in search of a couple replacements.

I remembered a big spoon to dig them up, but completely forgot my gloves.  No problemo ... I'll just barely touch it with my fingertip on those long spikes to keep it from tipping over as I plop it in the pot.  That didn't work out so well.  It tipped over three times.

I barely ... just BARELY ... touched it for less than one second and BAM!!!  I had five teeny tiny spines in my finger.  Operation transplant came to a halt while I gingerly pulled them out.  I didn't even SEE any tiny stickers on it, only the big ones.  

It took a good ten minutes before I could get back to planting.  I picked up a big rock and used it to balance the baby until I stuck it in the pot.  YAY ... a new cactus for Patty to grow in her green house.  One more to go!

This morning I'll try to get at least four of my eight stepping stones installed before 8:00 and the heat rises.  Last night while watching TV, the lightning storms started up again.  These were very far away, so I used my tripod.  Not as exciting, because really, it was far away, but I got a few more cool images.  

Lucky for me, all of this rain has made mowing the lawn impossible.  I'm just so sad!!!  Maybe in December when it's cool and dry.