Cleaning up, designs from the past, nature............................

Do you remember the Reader's Digest Condensed novels, 4 to a book?  I always intended to read them.

I have another use for them though.  I am starting to clean off the workbench at the far end of my basement.  It has been several years since I have gone through everything there.  I made it all the way to 3' in from the left end.  Back to my use of the books.  I don't like this window uncovered at night.

I use the books to prop up a 30" x 40" foam core board to cover the window.  Now the part where I got sidetracked and didn't make it past the first 3'.  There were several notebooks piled there (which I removed so I could clean the top of the table) and I decided to look through them.  2 hours later I decided I was done down there, but what did I find?

There were about 15 page protectors with all kinds of photos and notes about Kaleidoscope quilts and blocks.  Some of it was pages of colored in designs that use the blocks.  These are each made with 9 blocks.

I used to sit for hours and color in designs.  Now I want to cut more pieces and make something.

I tried to not get a glare on the plastic sleeves but wasn't totally successful.

Have you fallen asleep yet?  You probably won't want to see what else I find as I work myself down this workbench that is about 14' long.  I'm going to be spending about 3 hours a day down there trying to organize, clean, and move some things to recycling or trash.  I need to organize more than I need to be making another quilt right now.

I have another color of Gloriosa Daisy blooming 3' away from the others; nice Coral Bell flowers as a backdrop to it.

Here is the group of orange blooms.  These plants are growing in the crack between 2 pavers.

One of the tomatoes on the half price plant (that had 10 tomatoes already growing on it) is starting to change color.  Since it is nestled down in the plant I think it is safe from the squirrels, but I'll probably pick it in a few days.

We had another beautiful day yesterday with a nice breeze coming in the windows.  It sounds like possible rain today and very likely rain tomorrow.

 

Taking it easy.................

Finally a beautiful low humidity day in the high 60s, windows open, time to be lazy.

I started going through the 6" strips of Kaffe collective fabrics looking for the ones I'll cut into 5" squares for my fussy cut floral quilt.  I forgot to bring my 5" square up from the basement so cutting might take place today.

Other than that I filled the bird feeders and checked on my tomatoes, then a trip to the grocery store 7 blocks from my house for a few items.  Oh, and many games of Spider Solitaire.

Wandering around...............

First I wandered around the basement.  While attempting to clean off the die cutting table, I found this big stack of 2" x 3.5" (1.5" x 3" finished size) batik rectangles.  They need to be sorted and placed on trays with the previously cut pieces.  I left them on the ironing table.

I have had this top and backing on the cutting table many times and yesterday I finally sewed the 2 pieces of backing together.  Now I just have to find a piece of batting the right size.  It will likely be 2 pieces joined to make the right size.  In fact I have a stack of pieces that need to be joined.  Not yesterday though.

I looked through several project boxes to familiarize myself with what was in them.  I can get  back to fussy cutting the flower blocks now too.  I think I will add 4.5"  finished blocks (5" cut) to the mix because I have a lot of 6" strips of Kaffe fabric.  The largest blocks are 9" so 2 of this new size will work with the 9".  The other sizes ae 3" and 6".

I checked out more growing things.  The buds are forming on the Zinfin Doll Hydrangea.

Next to that was more of the Gloriosa Daisy blooms.  This all started with a free plant from the garden center, one that she said might survive over the winter, maybe not.  I had it in a pot the first year and planted it in the ground in the fall of 2023.  I'm sure the new plants are coming up from seed, not the original plant.  There are several this year.

The Wild Strawberry plants are taking over in another section.  They send out runners, just like real strawberries and root wherever they touch the ground.

In the back more lilies are blooming, along with the Evening Primrose.

The two hanging plants in the back garden are doing well.  This pot has one weak section where the hanging thing hooks on.  I'll have to keep an eye on it.  If a squirrel jumps up on it, it will start tipping again.

I was out talking to my tomato plants again and tucking leaves into the cages that surround them.  I'm trying to keep up with them this year and not let so many leaf stems jump out of the their barrier.  They are all taller than the round cages now.  The ones with the 5' square cages around them are about 3' tall now.  I'm looking forward to today being a cooler day, maybe high 60s.  It got humid again yesterday and rain was predicted overnight, but most storms on radar were breaking up and dissipating before they reached us.

Out in the garden................

The two cucumber plants have blossoms on them so I hope the bees have been doing their job.

I planted cucumber seeds in 2 other pots.  It says 3 plants per pot but I put 6 seeds in just in case the squirrels would be digging in the pots.

The other pot has 4 cuke plants for sure and maybe the 5th one is a weed.  I should know soon.

There are some tiny starts on the 4th of July plants.  These are usually about golf ball size when ripe.

The Rutgers variety are filling in nicely.  There are lots of blooms but no tomatoes yet.

I have my first Coneflower bloom.  I didn't realize the camera had focused on the Evening Primrose until it was getting dark and too late to retake the photo.

A little farther over, the Annabelle Hydrangea blooms are big and white.  They will turn lime green later.

I pulled out lots of the Creeping Bellflower, but left these that are growing amongst the Peony stems.  They are the first to bloom and will get pulled out soon.

We got another inch of rain on Thursday for a total this week of 4.85".  That is 3 times the amount of rain we got for the whole month of May.

 

First finish in June 2026...................

It didn't take long to finish the binding (by machine) yesterday.  We had some hefty storms again so my machine was unplugged most of the afternoon. There were tornadoes north and south of me.  This was one time I was happy the storm split and didn't touch us. 

 The rain didn't finish until 8 p.m. so I don't know the total for yesterday.  The dew point started dropping (from 73) after 8 and was down to 60 by bedtime.  Now we will have some cooler and drier weather for a while.

This quilt finished at 45" x 62.5".  All of it is Marcia Derse fabric, including the back and binding.  A friend who realized she wasn't going to use this backing fabric, sent it to me and it was the right amount for this quilt.

I die cut all of the pieces for the quilt top.

Now it is time to figure out what is next.  I'm waffling on the border fabric for the William Morris TAW quilt, wondering if it should be a lighter color than the red I already have.  I can always use it on the back.

 

Binding started................

I didn't get started on anything early in the day and my machine was unplugged for a few hours in the afternoon while storms rolled through.  Another .9" of rain.  A second round came through in the evening so the machine was unplugged again.  Finally later in the evening there was just light rain so I got busy on this binding.  Since the binding is black and the background of the backing is black, I decided it was best to do it all by machine.  I should be able to finish it today.

I'm glad I got a photo of the mounds of Cranesbill a few days ago because they are laying down after the rain.  More storms are predicted for today and then the high humidity should leave tomorrow.

Trimming and choosing binding................

Monday I got two quilts back from my longarmer and the one made with Marcia Derse fabric was trimmed yesterday. 

I chose one of Marcia Derse's Marble Run fabrics for the binding.  It is cut and ready to sew onto the quilt.

I had company most of the day yesterday and we went through a lot of old photographs.  We were joined by more family for pizza in the evening.

It was 88 yesterday with a dew point of 73 which is considered tropical humidity.  Hopefully a front coming through with some rain late today and into tomorrow will drop the humidity for the rest of the week.

The error is fixed on the Wm. Morris TAW so now I need to decide how wide the border should be.