It was trimming time for the quilt made with Terrie Mangat fabrics.

Then I grabbed the pile of her fabrics to look for a binding.

I was pretty sure I would use the stripe and it looks good with both front and back.

This was the next area for the basement workbench cleaning and organizing.  I had piles in front of this area.  The fabric is on my worktable to go through later.  I have a helper coming Tuesday so I (we) will so some brainstorming and decide what goes in the 3 bottom bins then.  The little stack of metal containers with handles were used as little table top wastebaskets when I had a group sewing here.  The metal bar is a fringe maker and I think I got it back in the 70s when I had a Viking sewing machine.  The white PVC thing is a little hand quilting frame.

I had to show a close up of the workbench top.  It was a working workbench for my son, with paint and putty marks on it.  We moved to this house when he was 11 (he's 65 now).  I have no intentions of refinishing the top; it has too many good memories attached to it.

This group of small size magazines was in this section of the workbench.  They are from 1990-92.  Most of them were opened to pages of work by Shirley Nilsson.

At the time of these publications I was teaching classes on thread sketching.  Even though I didn't use the same technique as Shirley, I was always inspired by her work.  Now I'll look through each of these magazines and then probably put them in recycling.  It's too hard to locate people who want vintage magazines with articles about people they have never heard of.  Since I was in the quilting community teaching (since 1976) I met a lot of the people who were popular and active in the 1990s so the articles interest me.

There was also a pile of photos I need to look through.  They were taken at QSDS in Columbus OH and the venues we visited that had art quilting exhibits.  I was there as a student 1991-1995 and 2002.  On the odd years we also were bused to Quilt National which was a real treat.

A little more................

I misjudged how many day in a row I could stand on the basement floor so I only cleaned 8" more on the workbench surface.  This wood thread holder had a thick layer of dust on it so that was the first job, cleaning it.  When I worked at Quilting Books Unlimited, a man visited our store and showed us these racks that he handmade.  We ordered some and this is the one I bought.  I think the only place I might use it now is near my embroidery machine, and I use that so seldom that this would just become a dust collector again.  It goes into the maybe sell container.

This was next to the thread rack.  It is from my childhood, 1950s, and I think my mother is the one who wanted it.

I remember enjoying listening to the records, 4 of them, 2 sided, so 8 sides to play.  I have a record player but I'm not sure if I have the center thing for these 45s.  Now you can see that it isn't only sewing things on the workbench top.

I didn't take yesterday's 12 squares off the design wall yet, but instead added 5 more that I cut yesterday.

Even though the steroid shots to my SI joints has given me some relief, I'm not pain free, so I continue to work at the pace that I'm able to do.  Good days, lots of progress, other days, a little progress and I always keep moving.

We got over an inch of rain yesterday morning and the severe storms mostly went south of us in the evening.  

 

5" blooms, more organizing..........................

From the 6" strips I showed on Monday I got 12 fussy cut blooms.  These are cut 5" to finish at 4.5", 2 to match up with the 9" blocks.  There is lots more cutting to do so these will go in the box with the others previously cut.

Back to the basement for more cleaning and organizing.  The next thing in line on the workbench was the box of Christmas fabric.  I will be going through this and pulling out the few pieces I might need for future Christmas stockings or other small projects.  I will sell the rest.

A little farther down the line I found a bag of scraps of Christmas fabric so it got added to the box.

On top of the box were *9* Christmas stocking patterns.  Two were paper which were immediately added to the recycle pile and there are some duplicates which I'll eliminate too.  All of the rest are cardboard or template plastic.

Do you remember when this brand of potato chips came in bags inside a cardboard box?  Also every August there was a 'back to school' pencil in the box.  I'll have to keep this pattern for nostalgic reasons.

Now I have the first 9' of a 15' 9" workbench cleaned.  I have one more of the green boxes that will go in the empty slot on the right.

In the lower 2 shelves are: top shelf - long strips leftover from backings, all labeled with size and sorted by regular prints, Kaffe, and batik, and bottom shelf - heavier weight fabrics for tote bags, etc.

The crate and the green canvas box on top of it are going to be removed, and when I have a helper, this box will be emptied and hoisted into that slot, and then refilled with my long cutting dies.

The Christmas fabrics that I'm keeping will go into the top right green box, which is empty right now, and the bin they are in will join my other empty bins.

I have a goal of trying to match all of the extra lids with their boxes as I find them.  Right now I have 5 extra lids and one box that I can't find the matching lid.

After my visit to my tomato plants, I came around to the front of my house for another photo of my new table and pots.  The geranium has a bunch of new buds so there will be some bright color in a few days.

 

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.