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.

Ooops!!!...............

I didn't see my mistake until I sat down at 5:15 to watch the weather report last night.  I was staring at the quilt and I saw a light square where it shouldn't have been.  I finally figured out I sewed in the bottom half strip wrong end up.  I didn't notice it in the photo yesterday.

Here is yesterday's photo and the mistake is at the bottom right, 3rd strip in.  I wasn't in any hurry to get the unpicking done, so maybe it will happen today.

I have 2 rain gauges, one on the east side of my house which I check most often.  The other is on the west side and most storms come in from the west.  I had 1.6" in the front gauge from Sunday plus another quarter inch yesterday morning for 1.85",  and 2.5" in the back gauge, which I think is more accurate.  That's the most rain we've had in 2 days for a long, long time.  We only had 1.6" of rain for the whole month of May.

Top sewn, waiting for border.................

The vertical seams are all sewn now and it needs its final pressing.  I fingernail pressed seams to the left in each of the 4 vertical sections as I was constructing this William Morris fabric Trip Around the World.

I started the day by walking to the end of the driveway to pick up the newspaper.  On my way back to the house I saw something was starting to bloom so I got my camera and came back outside.  I think we decided this variation of Rudbeckia is Gloriosa Daisy.  Several plants have come up from seed this year.

I think this might be the first Black-eyed Susan blooms.  

The birthday party for my 5 year old neighbor girl got started late Saturday night so I came home before they served the cake.  The girls brought me a piece last evening.  I added some ice cream after I took this photo.

I was out trimming low branches off the tomato plants yesterday afternoon and I noticed how dry they were.  Rain was predicted but we got so little from the Fri. and Sat. storms that I wasn't sure we would get any.  I decided to wait and water late in the afternoon.  Well, l didn't need to....we got a heavy rain mid-afternoon, 1.3" and then some more storms rolled through before 7:30 and there was a grand total of 1.6".  I won't need to water for a week.  The grass was starting to have brown spots so this rain should green things up again.  High humidity predicted for the whole week so we might get some more rain.