31..........which one?.........

I have 31 quilt tops hanging on this rack.  The last 2 tops I finished aren't here yet, so 33 to choose from.  I'm still waiting for one to jump out and say "finish me next".  It isn't for lack of backings or batting that I haven't finished them.  I will probably take the easy way out and choose one that will take the least quilting and a machine finished binding.

The weather has been so gorgeous, low humidity and in the 70s for several days.  I got some more weed pulling and planting done yesterday afternoon.  Now storms are coming off and on over 2 days so I should be able to get something quilted.

Busy, busy day............

My surprise June Amaryllis turned out to be a red one.  There are 2 huge blooms and maybe another small bud.  The stalk is about 24" tall and is leaning over so I had to hold it up to take the photo.

Yesterday morning I did some more sewing on the tote bags for the church service project, then went to sewing circle at church.  When I came home I mowed the lawn and then dug up a Hosta which was 3 little plants now.  I found places to plant the 3 little sections.  I noticed Japanese Beetles on a Coral Bell leaf so I got my container of soapy water and dumped about 15 of the beetles into it.  When I came inside I did some cutting for a friend.  I feel like it has been a long time since I sewed but actually I just finished the Friendship Star quilt top on Friday last week.  Now as the end of the month is almost here I think I need to finish something.

Nature..........

I have bunches of these purple flowers all over the back garden.  They are about 30" tall so they stand above most other plants.

The only sewing I did yesterday was on tote bags for a service project for my church.  I transplanted one Hosta and pulled some more weeds.

The Cannas are coming up.  There are 5 groups of them making a half circle around a peony bush.  The pipe is a marker at the center of my yard for the lot line.  Three of the Cannas are planted on my neighbor's side of the lot line.  They guy they have mowing for them never mows that area so I cleaned it up and did the planting.

I love my Hostas!!  This is the newest spot that I planted last fall.

Today I have church sewing circle and maybe I'll mow the grass.  Then I need to get some borders cut for my Kaffe fabric quilt.

Sorting fabrics........

I decided I needed to sort the light batiks that were on two shelves in the main floor studio.

I pulled out everything that was a quarter yard or less and then sorted into color groups.  I put all of the lavender on the purple shelf and all of the green with the rest of the greens.  Now all 151 fabrics fit on one shelf.  The other shelf will be used for the quarter yard or less pieces.

As the sun was setting I noticed that some of the purple coneflowers are blooming.  Bindweed has wrapped itself around them so I unwound as much as I could.  I will go back out with scissors today and snip it in several places so I can remove the rest.

While I was in the backyard I took a few more photos.  This is the other Annabelle Hydrangea in a bed with Cranesbill, Heuchera, and Hosta.

This Hosta is over to the left in the same bed.  I think it is about my favorite of the Hostas but I really like all of them.

I have Pulmonaria (spotted leaf plant) coming up everywhere.  I may have to dig some out.  If anyone locally wants some of it let me know.

The tomato plants are doing well.  You can even see a couple of the small tomatoes on the plant on the left.

We are having some wonderful cooler weather for a few days.

Friendship Star quilt top...........

I sewed the last three horizontal seams on this quilt top and then had the job of pressing it.  It measures 44.5" x 63".  Maybe I'll use one of my 60" wide fabrics for the backing, or I could use several of the long strips that were cutaways from other backings sewn side by side.  That will be a decision for another day. 

Here are some of the Begonias that I wintered over in my kitchen.  They seem to like it outside.  I spent about 2 hours trying to clear an area in the front garden and using a lot of weed killer.  I have a long way to go but at least it is started.  Then I squirted several dandelions and other weeds with weed killer.  I ended up by pulling weeds out in my new Hosta bed.  

About a third of my commenters are NO REPLY people.  Thanks for your comments (I really enjoy them) but if you don't get an answer back from me you know you are a NO REPLY.   

Some miscellany: Site Meter which counts how many visitors I have is shutting down permanently on July 1.  I will really miss it.  I remember when my 1,000,000th visitor came while I was in NC 5 years ago.  Now I am approaching my 3,000,000th visitor.  My 10th anniversary as a blogger is coming up on July 4th too.  Lots of numbers: I have lived in this house 45 years, my birthday will be a double number this fall, 77.  I have always been the stats person in my family, fascinated by numbers.  More than you wanted to know no doubt.

Three more seams.............

I got nine more horizontal seams sewn on the Friendship Star quilt top, three more to go.  

My granddaughter cooked a beef roast in the crockpot yesterday and invited her mom and dad and me over for a meal and the movie Beauty and the Beast.  Everyone had been telling me how great the movie was and I have to agree with them.

The Annabelle Hydrangeas are doing well.   This one is right next to my front porch.  I have another smaller one by the back of the house.

The first Balloon flower has bloomed.  I read that they don't like to be transplanted but I'm going to try anyway.

There is a whole row of them near the sidewalk.  I'm going to try to remove the ones closest to the sidewalk and transplant them in the backyard garden. 

It was really hot yesterday so I only spent a small amount of time outside deadheading the last of the peonies and cutting some volunteer trees.

Horizontal seams.......

I got the last 9 vertical seams sewn yesterday afternoon and last night sewed 8 horizontal seams.  All of the rest of the rows are webbed to the sewn section.

My granddaughter brought the 2 great-grandsons to my house and we walked to the closest city park.  It was a beautiful day to be outside.  I planted another Shasta Daisy before they got here and went out and pulled tons of Creeping Charlie after they left.

I noticed some black raspberries had ripened and was surprised when I started picking them how many there were. I had them over ice cream last night.  I noticed a Japanese Beetle on the bush.  I sure hope we won't have a lot of them this year.