I did do some sewing but no progress to show on any quilt. We had all of the hype about lots of rain coming from the tropical storm and up until 6:30 p.m. we only had a little over a tenth of an inch of rain. On the 6 p.m. news they had shown flooding in the streets in towns 10-25 miles from here where they had gotten 2" or more. We finally got some more rain, altogether a little under a half inch. I'm wondering if the other side of my little town had more rain than I had.
My Dianthus are very showy this year.
There are lots of little tomatoes that I hope turn into larger red ones. The tomato plants don't like extreme heat so after today we should be back into weather they like for at least a week.
Some more of my hostas have gotten really big in the last 2 years. I might split some of them in the fall.
I have many different varieties which make for an interesting garden.
I decided on this orientation for the colorwash. The bunny is at the bottom now and lying on his back. He is going to stay that way.
I dug up a huge hosta in the evening yesterday. It pulled apart easily into 8 parts. I planted one back in my garden. A friend wants one and my granddaughter is going to take the rest back home with her 2 states away this weekend.
In its place I planted a tiny hosta. Since it is so close to the tree it was tricky to dig the big one out with all of the tree roots. The one next to it really should be split this year too and maybe I'll tackle that after our rainy day today.
The red Weigela is just starting to bloom.
This is the whole bush. It used to be an odd shape like the other 2 but I gave it just the right trim last year and it is a great shape this year.
I sewed the cross seams of the colorwash and now just have to decide which way it hangs. This is the way I designed it.
Now making quarter turns to the right.
This direction puts a couple bunnies upside down. That is sometimes a problem with prints, a one way design.
This is the 4th direction, bunnies sideways (hint: they are on the top edge here in the green fabrics).
My first radish was big enough to pick. This is my first year to plant them.
I have never had baskets with such a variety of plants before. Some of them aren't too happy in this heat. One more hot day and then rain from the tropical storm and cooler on Wednesday. Hot again Thursday and then a cool down over the weekend. The plants need some time to recover. Even the leaves on the redbud tree were looking wilted in the heat.
After changing pieces for 2 1/2 hours yesterday I finally said Enough! I did lots of changes to the top left corner and some in the purple section.
This collage photo should enlarge if you click on it. It shows the final layout left and the previous 2 days on the right.
I have all of the vertical seams sewn and it is now waiting for a press job. It was 97 degrees yesterday so I wasn't in a rush to turn on the iron at the end of the day. I'll do that this morning.
I picked my first peony bouquet. There are 2 more plants that should bloom today for more variety and a larger bouquet. High 90s predicted again today.
I have all of the pieces filled in as well as quite a few changes since yesterday. I have one piece I still want to replace but haven't found the right piece yet.
Here is the photo from yesterday for comparison. I changed at least a dozen pieces, maybe more. I might try to do a collage of the 2 side by side to make it easier to compare.
Here is a better photo of the earliest peonies.
I have about 30 peony plants and only about 6 or 7 are blooming right now.
When I moved here there were 43 plants with only one repeat, so 42 different ones. I have dug up and moved some, gave some away.
I was surprised that there were 4 with the dark flowers on them. I didn't remember that they were all the early ones. I have one with white flowers that is always the last to bloom.
My two friends came over yesterday to sew and I got two of the five TAW stratas sewn. I haven't pressed them yet and will probably wait until I have all 5 sewn to do that.
The colorwash is almost all filled in but I'm sure I'll change a lot of pieces at the tweaking stage.
I found a surprise bloom when I went out to check my air conditioner for any leaves or branches in the slots. I think it is a Japanese Iris, very small and really slender leaves. A friend gave it to me about 6 or 7 years ago and it has only bloomed once before.
One of my friends brought a strawberry rhubarb pie to bake so we had yummy dessert!
It was hot yesterday but it cooled off down to 78 degrees around 4. After I ate supper I decided to mow the grass because it is supposed to be in the 90s the next 3 days. While I was out there I noticed my early peonies were blooming. I took this shot from the kitchen window after I came in. I didn't want to change back into my gardening shoes to walk through the cut grass. It was getting dark so the greens look a little dull. I'll try to get a better shot today. I have lots of buds on other plants but I think it will be a few days before any of them bloom. Peonies are late this year like most everything else since we had such a cold spring.
I finally started cutting my Kaffe fabric Trip Around the World quilt. I got 8 fabrics cut so far out of 18.
I got another area filled in on the colorwash.
The lilacs are blooming right outside my bedroom window. They are just loaded with blooms.
This variety isn't very pretty and such a pale lavender but the overwhelming scent makes up for that. In past years not all 3 bushes had a lot of blooms on them but this year all three are loaded.
I dug up both of these hostas about 3 weeks ago and pulled a lot of new babies off them and then replanted the main part. They are filling in nicely already.. The purplish plant is Red Penstemon and it is forming buds already too.
Both of my Bleeding Heart plants are blooming and they are both white.
I spent some time on the floral colorwash while I was in the basement doing laundry. I needed to cut some more squares for some of the empty spots. I baked twice yesterday, once for my backyard neighbor who is adjusting to living alone. Her 87 year old husband died in March while they were in Arizona. The rest of the baking is for my granddaughter to take to her sister's house in Nebraska over the Memorial Day weekend. It was the last day that is going to be cool enough to bake since I don't have central A/C.
The two Columbines are just loaded with flowers this year.
Dianthus re-seeded and is blooming again this year.
I planted two pots to put in front of my garage. I usually do more but I'm cutting back this year. I like to have a photo when I first plant them and then compare as they fill in over the summer.
The tall red leafed plant is Iresine. They didn't have it at the nursery on my first visit and I asked if they were going to get any. The owner said she wasn't sure but it was there on my second visit.
I finally turned the iron on last night and pressed the 16 patch quilt. Some of the areas that look like a row of darker blocks are not as evident to the naked eye but sure show up in a photo. As usual it is much prettier in person.
This is a closer view of 24 of the 64 fabrics in the quilt. Click on the photos for a larger view.
I was able to mow the rest of the yard yesterday afternoon and then went back out for a photo shoot. This is the whole Weigela bush. They are rather odd shaped bushes but the beauty of the flowers makes up for that imperfection.
There are lots of buds on the red one that blooms later.
This tomato plant is called 4th of July and is supposed to have fruit before the Early Girl. The $2.25 plant had blooms on it when I bought it last week and now there are tomatoes starting.
This is the other 4th of July plant in the back garden and there is a cluster of 5 tomatoes on it. I have one other variety that has little tomatoes too but don't remember the name of it. We are expecting hot weather starting Thurs or Friday and going through the weekend so the tomato plants should have a growth spurt.
I finished sewing the rest of the crosswise seams on the 16 patch quilt top but it was late so I didn't get it pressed yet and ready for its photo.
We had 1.8" of rain starting in the very early morning hours yesterday so I didn't get outside to take any photos. I grabbed my camera late in the afternoon to try to get a photo from inside through a screen. There was a rabbit sitting in my raised tomato bed eating my radish leaves. He had moved out to the clover in the grass by the time I got back with the camera. Luckily he left most of the radishes for me.
I had an out of state visitor yesterday morning too. They moved away from Sandwich in the 1960s and they always stop to see me when they are in town. She was my first sewing friend when I moved here in 1959.
I sewed the last 2 blocks for the 16 patch quilt and started putting the second half of the blocks on the design wall. There are 2 more rows to go on the bottom at this point. I did that last night but didn't take a photo. I started sewing the rows and have all of the vertical seams done and 3 horizontal seams done.
I played a little more with the floral colorwash that I showed yesterday. I'm experimenting with using plainer prints with bolder color at the edges.
Here is a group of 5 plants that I planted last year in early August. I bought all of the plants on clearance. There are 4 coral bells, 2 of each color and a Veronica in the middle. There are little Redbud petals on everything since the trees are done blooming and are leafing out.
The Impatiens planted along the driveway are small but I hope they turn into big bushy plants soon.
