This month's task...............

I got two quilts back from my longarm friend Robin.  That means I have 2 bindings to do.  The Churn Dash/Hole in the Barn Door top was made in August 2020 so it's time to be finished.  The Kaffe red squares quilt top was made in November last year.

I'm always saying the Tiger Lilies bloom around the 4th of July, so right on cue the first few blooms appeared.  They are about 5' tall.

I have to thank the bird that brought the first seeds to my front garden, and the lilies mysteriously appeared one spring.  I transplanted most of them to the back garden over a period of 3 years.

I still haven't dug out and transplanted the renegade outside my dining room window.  In fact there are 2 plants there this year.  This whole little garden needs to be dug out and re-done but it will have to wait 'til fall.

It wasn't extremely hot yesterday but it was so humid.  I went out around 7 to take pictures and water the tomato plants that are in pots.  I also had to tie up a couple of them.  I have all of them staked and have been moving the ties up toward the top.  I picked 2 more of the 4th of July variety that were half red/half orange.

 

Happy Blog birthday to me......................

 I started this blog on July 4, 2007....let's see, that is 17 years ago.  I was a shy child; now you can't shut me up.  I have shown several hundred quilts and quilt tops in those 17 years.  I have posted 6429 times and have had over 81K comments.  I'll drink a cherry Dr. Pepper to celebrate!

I found a box yesterday with half rectangle triangles in it.  I had forgotten I had so many pieces left over when I made a quilt with them last year in May.

There was one leftover block and some sewn rectangles also in the box.  I think I'll transfer these to a project box for the future.  I don't have much interest working with them right now.

Taking photos of fabric is tricky.  The camera wants to emphasize the blue in this one but it isn't as prominent in person.  I'm taking photos for my destash blog.  I did well this week with all but one item sold (that is in the week 3 post) .SOLD  I have to decide what category is next.  This piece is one I will never use. SOLD

Outside work yesterday was trimming the pale pink Wegeila bush.  As I trimmed I realized it has a Maple tree and a Redbud tree growing in it.  I trimmed the 2 darker pink bushes a few days ago.  One more to go, the red one.

Happy 4th of July - Independence Day to my US readers.  The fireworks in the neighborhood started a few nights ago.

Garden walk........................

 Ah, summertime!  I know summer is really here when the Purple Coneflowers are 4' tall and the trees have filled out between me and my backyard neighbor.

This shot surprised me when I got it to the computer.  A shaft of light was on the Coneflower with deep shadows all around it.

I never got around to trimming the Annabelle Hydrangea in the garden by the back of the house.  We haven't had hard downpours this year (yet) so the bush is still mostly upright.  After a storm it will usually droop down and never recovers because the new stems with blooms are so fragile.  This is really 2 bushes and I need to dig out the back one this fall.

The Blackberry Lily is still blooming.  I have a couple of the common orange ditch lilies that I didn't dig out this spring so they are going to bloom soon and then I will dig them out.

This is round 2 for the Stella d'oro lily.  I know there were 2 plants originally so maybe this is the other plant.

One of my Rutgers tomato plants has a few good size tomatoes on it.  I have 3 of them and the one right next to this one only has 2 small tomatoes and the third plant has none so far.  This is why I overbuy on tomato plants.  There is no guarantee that every plant will have a big yield.

Today I need to make a backing  or two.  I already have batting cut to match several tops so the one seam and lots of pressing is what I need to do.

June 2024 Monthly Recap.....................

 

There were 3 finishes in June.  From left to right:  Baby quilt started in 1996 and I still love the fabrics in it.  It is 35" x 41".  Kaffe X quilt made with yarn dyed woven stripes and Kaffe prints is 58.5" x 78.5".  The top was made in 2022.  16 patch made with African fabrics and mottled batiks with an accent batik print as alternate squares scattered through the quilt.  It is 62.5" x 78.5".  The top was made in October last year.  The 2 large ones were quilted by my longarm friend Robin.

I only made one new quilt top, all Kaffe Fassett collective fabrics.  It is 40" x 60".

The good news is that in the first 6 months of the year I have made 20 quilt tops and finished 20 quilts.  The bad news, I still have 39 tops waiting to be quilted; no progress on that front.

This collage shows all of the quilt tops made in the first 6 months of this year.  Some of them have been finished this year.

This collage is the finished quilts in the first 6 months.  The collage maker decides the size of each quilt so they aren't to scale.

I have added a few things to my destash on the Wandaful Quilts blog.  A few are re-runs from previous weeks.  I'm slowly working my way through my re-organizing of my stash.

#3 finish for June 2024

It was a beautiful day yesterday with 73 degrees and a 50 dewpoint.  There was even a nice breeze.  Even thought the grass hasn't totally recovered from the dry spell, I mowed it because my neighbors had mowed theirs. 

 

I spent the rest of the day cutting the binding, sewing it on, and hand stitching to finish.  This is the one that was started in 1996.  I pulled it out several times thinking I would finish it but it didn't happen until this year.  This post explains the day I started it.  The method of designing it was in Baker's Dozen Doubled by Mary Ellen Hopkins.

The backing fabric is one of my favorites that is in the quilt top.  I decided it should be the binding too.  It is small, 35" x 41" and after washing it will go in my stack of baby quilts to be gifted.

I'll do my monthly recap tomorrow and also will have some more fabrics in my de-stash sale.  I was too tired last night to write that blog post.