After a day of mowing grass and binding a quilt Friday I was just too tired to do much of anything yesterday. I sewed borders on this little 20" x 24" playtime patchwork. I think I started it about 2 years ago. Now trying to decide if I'll add another wider piano key type border or is it done.
I did go out and cut down a bunch of volunteer trees. I knitted while I watched the news and went to bed early. I'll work on my monthly recap post today.
I have several diagonal stripe fabrics in my stash so I decided to look for one that would look good with the chicken print backing. Anything would go with the multicolor front of the quilt.
I think it looks pretty good.
It ended up 59" x 74", a nice large throw quilt.
Just one fabric on the back of this one.
I mowed the grass and filled the bird feeders. Then I snipped 2 peonies for a little bouquet. They are back lit here so the dark one isn't that deep of a tone.
These 2 Dianthus plants are in a little front flower bed. I forgot they were there because they didn't do much last year. It has turned cooler with low humidity for a few days. Good outside working weather and good windows open sleeping weather.
I had an end of roll piece of batting 127" long so I decided to find 2 quilts that would fit on it. This was the first one I cut off a piece for. The other one that fit was the African 16 patch which probably won't get quilted any time soon.
I quilted this one in loops. It took me over an hour to figure out a problem with bobbin tension so just because I own a longarm it doesn't mean it is fast magic to get one quilted (but I wish it was!).
This is the fabric on the back. I decided since it was a fun quilt it should have a fun backing.
My very pale pink Weigela is blooming. My bright pink one bloomed last week and is drying up now.
The red one is still mostly buds. I like the fact they bloom one after the other instead of all at the same time.
All it took was a string of overly warm and humid days for the first peonies to open.
These aren't the prettiest of my many varieties but are always guaranteed to be the first to open.
The Korean lilacs are later bloomers than most and these are right outside of my bedroom window, so fragrant. Even though they look white they are a very pale grayed lavender.
My Bleeding Hearts are at that end of the backyard and the plant is in full bloom now.
There were only a few flowers on this stem.
These are on the lot line and I'm not sure if the guy next door planted them or not. I know I didn't plant them.
Walking back toward the garage I pass the Dianthus (3 colors now) and a Columbine. I don't have a back door on my house. I have to go out the front door or side garage door to get to my backyard.
I couldn't see if this was in focus outside because the sun was so bright. Now I see the camera focused on the back flowers instead of the front one. This is my other color of Columbine. I did some mindless sewing yesterday too but nothing to take a photo of yet.
This quilt top was finished in April 2014 and now it is quilted and bound, a real finish. It is 74" x 95".
It is a Kathy Doughty design which she called Soul Searching. I think it looks like party lanterns so that is what I will call mine.
This is the book from C&T Publishing that the quilt and directions are in. I added crosswise rows at both ends to make it more rectangular and it fits a twin/single bed.
I had two 3 yard pieces of black and white prints that I used on the back.
In 2015 I made a miniature of the quilt using 1.5" strips. It is about 40" square compared to the 74" x 95" quilt above.
In 2014 a couple friends and I made another version we saw on the internet. This one was quilted in Nov. 2014 and is 67" x 74", a large throw quilt.
Since it was hot and humid I decided to work in the cool basement. First I finished this 16 patch quilt top and pressed it and did the staystitching around the perimeter. It is 56" x 71.5", all batik fabrics.
Then I chose a binding fabric for the one I just quilted and got the strips cut and sewn end to end.
I was on a roll so why not finish it too. I think the binding fabric looks great with both the front and back.
I finished it about 10 p.m. but decided to wait until today to de-lint the design wall and hang it up for its photo shoot.
I'm always happy to see the Dianthus back each year. Creeping Charlie is trying to take over so I need to get out there and do some weeding.
This quilt was loaded on the longarm for a whole week before I finally got down there and quilted it. I thought the straight lines were appropriate for this one. I have 2 fabrics on the back. You can see one on the roller above the quilt and the other at the bottom edge. I think binding will be a black and white print and will be done all by machine.
Summer is here, hot and humid for several days. I could tell how humid it was when I came up the basement stairs. I never know whether to call these Columbines purple or blue. There used to be a pale pink plant next to it but I don't see it this year.
These Columbine blooms are a darker pink than that plant that disappeared. I saw a new plant of the burgundy color Columbine among my Hostas. The buds haven't opened yet but I bet they will soon with this hot and humid spell. I have just 2 seams left to sew on the jewel tone 16 patch quilt top.
We only got a couple very short rainy periods yesterday so I got out twice to pull or dig weeds. I did start sewing the jewel tone 16 patch together but spent more time reading than sewing. I'm at the end of a book and it is hard to put it down.
Another variety of hardy geranium is starting to bloom. A few star flowers are in there too.
The white flowers start out with bright green grassy areas and when the grass starts to die down the flowers bloom. As much of a spreading nuisance as it is I really enjoy the flowers.
I added some of the darkest yellows back in and sewed the new blocks (fabrics shown yesterday) so there was a little more orange. 7 x 9 is the layout I had planned, 56" x 72". I have enough leftover blocks to make it 7 x 10 but am not sure I will add them. I see I have one block turned sideways (top row, 4th from the left).
I did some weeding, filled the bird feeders and bird bath and then took some photos. I rarely find 2 Jack-in-the-Pulpit flowers so close to each other. They are surrounded by a zillion Lily of the Valley and Violet plants.
And then there are 2 cute tomatoes for a future salad.
I haven't pressed my jewel 16 patch blocks yet but decided to take one of each and put them on the design wall. Here they are loosely grouped by color.
Then while I was watching "who wants to be a millionaire" I added some of the duplicate blocks and mixed up the colors.
Then I removed the lighter yellows and added more duplicate blocks. The difference between this photo and what I see when I am in the room with this is all of the wonderful texture created by the designs in the fabrics. You lose that totally in a photo. It is a bunch of rich jewel toned texture in person.
I pulled some more strips to sew into blocks to replace the yellow ones.
One of my Columbines is blooming and I think that might be a Jack-in-the-Pulpit to the left of it. I took this photo with my telephoto lens from the kitchen window.
The Peonies are still tight buds. They usually bloom somewhere around Memorial day but with the holiday being early and spring being rather cold I think it will be the end of the month if not later for all but the one early plant.
The last batch of jewel tone 16 patch blocks are done. Now I need to press all 64 of them so I can start designing with them.
The purple blocks are buried in the piles but all jewel tone colors are included. I mowed the grass yesterday, 55 minutes. The grass was really tall so I had to set my blade higher. Then I went to the hardware store and got 3 more tomato cages and got them put in place. Prioritize...... a word that of course I had heard before but somehow it hit me that I was not prioritizing. Making lists yes, but important lists in the correct order? No. For May my priority isn't to quilt 3 quilts as I have done for the last 4 months. This month is to prioritize working outside on all of the pleasant days and sew what I can at night on any current project. Quilting will take place on a day too hot to be out, or rainy, or too cold to be comfortable working outside. That probably means the one quilt loaded on the frame may be the only one finished this month and that is OK.
18 new blocks add to the stack of jewel tone 16 patch blocks. There are 10 more to sew later today.
I know you think I sew on a pristine clean sewing cabinet. Here is the real truth, a notebook with my lists of quilts awaiting quilting, blocks finished the last 2 days, a tub of yellow, black and white batiks for more crazy pieced blocks, 2 Kaffe books for research, a couple new masks and a pile of pieces for more of them, a few yards of elastic. I can only dream of a totally clean surface. It doesn't happen very often.
What gets me through this new normal that we are in? Chocolate of course.
The pansies are doing well after all of the rain and now cooler weather. It will be getting hot over the weekend so I will snug them up against the house so they will be in the shade earlier. My porch faces east.
