Another busy day.....................

I had a nice visit yesterday morning with a cousin.  I had offered her some fabric and she is going to teach a 2 week sewing camp for young people.  The students are bringing fabric for their main project and she will supply the fabric for some fun extra projects. 

After she left I baked a batch of cookies with dough I had made the night before.  They are going with family that is travelling out of state. I delivered the cookies to them and then did grocery shopping on the way home.

This Peony is  behind a tomato plant in a pot, and is nested under the leaves of a volunteer Redbud tree.  I cut a bouquet which I leave in a vase in my garage overnight.  It shouldn't have any ants on it by the time I bring it in today.

Late in the afternoon I was in the basement doing laundry and while down there I went through about 2/3 of my Philip Jacobs florals and pulled some more for the multi-size blocks.  I still have 2 stacks to go through.

I checked on this Columbine in the back garden about a week ago and thought  maybe it had been nipped by frost.  It is looking good now though.  I forgot to check on my Bleeding Heart plant so I need to do that today.

It was supposed to go down to 45 last night and I think it will be close to 50 tonight.  We will be back in the 80s next week and the tomato plants will love that.

 

Comparison.............................

I showed the original squares a few days ago, on the left, the 10" squares from a layer cake stack.  Then I cut a few more squares and showed the photo in the center.  Now I have added some more squares in the photo on the right.  I haven't looked for any fabrics yet to cut 12.5" squares from.  I may decide I'm happy with just the 3", 6", and 9" finished squares.

I started planting the pots for the porch.  I might get more planted today or tomorrow.

I'm trying a new type of pot this year, ones with a reservoir in the bottom with a fat cord that threads down into that part.  They say they will water from the bottom.  There is a little window on the side of the bottom part that shows the water level.

I can fit 2 or 3 more pots on the bottom shelf with plants that don't need direct sun.  The large geranium might end up on the porch in front of the table because I have one more pot to plant in that set of 4 sizes. 

A great day................

My grandson came for a late Mother's Day visit and brought me lunch and this beautiful bouquet.

While he was here he assembled this new porch table for me.  It was pretty simple assembly but took muscles to get the long screws into the wood with an allen wrench.  Now I need to get the rest of the flowers planted and get the pots on the table.  That's my goal for today.

We got an inch of rain yesterday morning with quite gusty wind.  The tomato plants made it through the storm OK.  This plant was in a tiny 4 pack and I replanted them into larger pots about 3 weeks ago.  They grew  nicely in my garage that has lots of windows.  I set them out on some of the nicer days to get them ready for planting.

This plant is just as tall but is blending into the 2 Peonies behind it.  I gave one of the Peonies to a friend a few years ago but didn't get the whole root and now it is a big plant again.  I will need to tie it up so the blooms don't lean on the big pot.

When I was filling the bird feeders, I saw more Peony blooms.  This is the first medium rose bloom, and there is another on a different plant too.

I had forgotten there was another plant with the burgundy color blooms behind the one with the single flowers.  I think this one is prettier with more petals but the plant isn't as large.  After those 80 degree days and then 1" of rain, I'm sure more buds will be popping open this week.  We have a couple cool days coming in the middle of the week but I don't think that will slow them down.

My youngest grandchild turned 30 yesterday.  It has been watching the grandchildren become responsible adults.

My cable provider notified me that internet would be down most of the day yesterday while they upgrade the system.  I thought it would be a one day event, but late in the afternoon they said it would be down today too.

Cutting started..............

Finally I found my 9.5" square to add to the 6.5" and 3.5" squares.  Since I'm beginning my cutting from 10" squares, I won't need the 12.5" square yet.

I'm just placing them on the design wall as I cut them and there are duplicates of some of them.  I'm realizing I could just come up with my own layout instead of following one in a Kaffe book.  I'll start looking through the pieces in the Kaffe large scrap box next.  Lastly I'll go to yardage to find more.

There are lots of scraps from the 10" squares.  I'll probably cut them down into usable shapes later.

When I was planting the tomato plants on Saturday, there weren't any Peony blooms yet.  When I got up yesterday morning, this is what I saw from the kitchen window.

I was outside in the afternoon to get a closer look at the blooms.

The lilacs have been scenting the backyard for the past week.  I think they are starting to dry up now and the Garden Heliotrope will take over as the new scent...which is quite a bit like a lilac scent.

 

Planting day........................

It was in the 80s with sunshine yesterday so it was a perfect day to start planting my tomato plants.  I had 2 bags of Miracle Grow vegetable and herb garden soil to mix in with the soil in the raised bed and pots.  I planted 3 in the raised bed in different locations than last year.  This is a Sun Sugar in the back with the 5' tall cage and Early Girl in the front with a shorter cage.  I usually get Sun Gold but decided to try the Sun Sugar this year.

This one on the other side of the bed is a 4th of July variety with a 5' tall cage.  At first I thought it was another Early Girl but they aren't this tall yet.  That is a Redbud tree growing back by the house.  I need to cut that down.

In the 3 big pots I have Rutgers variety in the 2 end pots and 4th of July in the center.  I had to mix the soil in the pots too, lots of hard work and hot sun.  I have the pots placed farther apart than last year so I hope I will have an easier time picking the tomatoes.  Last year all 3 plants in the pots were intertwined.

I was so tired after being in the sun for so long and never got into the studio. 

Wishes and dreams.....................

Wishes:  I wish I still had the energy and stamina I had 10 years ago.

Dreams:  I can dream about what I will make with my stash.

This is all of the 10" squares that had big blooms, some bigger than others.

There is a Kaffe quilt called "Bloomers" that has a layout that uses 3", 6", 9" and 12" finished squares.  I'll probably use the layout, but not the same fabrics as in the book.

Another dream:  I want to make a Trip Around the World with this assortment of Wm. Morris fabric.  I have been collecting  these for a few years, mostly ones I found on sale online.  I need to press the fabrics before I can cut the strips to make it.

I'm hoping to plant a couple of my tomatoes in pots today.  Rain was predicted overnight and maybe a little this morning.  I went out yesterday and pulled a lot of weeds around my little raised bed that is falling apart.  I'm not sure which year I bought the kit and put it together.  I searched blog posts and the farthest back I found it by searching for raised bed, was in 2016.  It already looked weathered in that photo, so it was before that.

Sorting fabric................

Some years I buy the 10" squares of Kaffe collective fabrics so I can see the whole line of fabric without having to buy yardage.  Last night I decided to go through the stack and pull out the ones that read one color or are a smaller print.  When I came to the one on the bottom left stack I realized I should also be pulling out the ones that have a single large flower on them.  I guess I get to go through the pile a second time today.

In the morning yesterday, after filling the bird feeders, I started planting pots.  These are for the back garden.

I can see them from my kitchen window.

I also got one pot of Coleus done for the front of the garage. There are 4 different colors in this pot.  The dark one in the middle doesn't show up well in this photo.  I always like to have a photo of these when they are first planted to compare with their large size later in the summer.

 

Everything else................

I had lots of everything else before I got to cutting backing pieces for this flannel quilt.  The fabric on the right will be the wide piece on the back and the one on the left is the narrow piece.

I started the day yesterday meeting with my longarm quilter and passing the parts for 2 quilts to her.  We also had to catch up on happenings in the last month since I hadn't seen her for several weeks.

About an hour after she left my 5th grade through high school friend called and we talked for over an hour.  A little later I was doing laundry.  The large table that I cut batting and backings on was empty so I am preparing the next 2 quilts to send out.  I use the table for sorting and cutting fabric so I need to do the large cutting before the table is cluttered again.

I didn't get to planting pots but put all of the plants out in the fresh air for a couple hours and also watered everything.  I hope to get back to sewing soon, hopefully later today.

Lots going on................

I started the day by calling the plumber for 2 problems, then went grocery shopping.  When I got home they called and said the plumber would be here in a half hour.  That's amazing...so soon!  He was done in an hour and a half and I have no more leaks.

When I went out to close the garage door, I had to take a photo of the Columbine in the corner of the sidewalk and driveway.

I spent part of the afternoon sewing the long seam in two backings and cutting batting.  The first one is this quilt made with Terrie Mangat fabric.

The second one is a top made with Marcia Derse fabric.  The backing fabric was sent to me by someone who decided she wasn't going to use it.  It was just the perfect amount for the back of this quilt.

This is the front garden and you can't even see the paver path here.  It is 2 pavers wide and there are Black-eyed Susan plants coming up between 2 pavers almost the whole length of the patch.  I know they re-seed, but I didn't expect this many of them.  In the back, the yellow plant is a Coral Bell.

Another Coral Bell is blooming with pretty red flowers.  There haven't been any Tiger Lilies in the front garden for 5 years but there are 3 of them in there now.  Also Violets. They all grow in the gardens behind the house so I'm not sure how they got here.

Meanwhile I have all of these plants in the garage (with lots of windows) waiting to go in the porch pots.  Hopefully I'll get started planting today. 

Nothing..................

We had a funeral last Tuesday and my daughter flew in to attend and stayed a week with me.  She left yesterday just before lunch and then I had company in the early afternoon.  Next a couple errands were taken care of.  I really have nothing to report but have to check in daily anyway.  I showed this photo a few days ago and felt it was worth repeating.  It might make it into its porch pot today. 

Backing and binding chosen.................

 

I didn't even have this top on my list of ones to finish because I thought I was going to add a border.  I made the decision yesterday to just finish it as is.  I chose a gray leaf print for the back and there is a pebble or mosaic type fabric on the left edge that I'm thinking will be the binding.  I need to carefully ditch quilt this one because I don't want quilting all over the top.  This batik top was made 5 years ago using the Hattie's Choice die from Accuquilt.  I have another top that also wasn't on the list and have chosen backing for it too.  I have 4 now lined up to quilt on my Pfaff.  The total number of tops waiting to be quilted is 17 and I'll be sending 2 to my longarm quilter this week.

Thinking ahead......................

I am thinking about making some more of the little still life projects with the 1.5" squares.  I'm wondering if I want to add some triangle squares to add a few angles instead of all square pixels.  It's never a loss to have pieces cut because they can easily make a different project if I don't want them in this project.  Those little stacks are 4 alike of about 12 different fabrics times 6 stacks.  That should give me a good variety to work from.  Do any of you use a program to pixelate a photo?  I did a search and there were so many sites I have never heard of and I was hesitant to open them.

Yesterday morning was spent going through the brown, rust, beige and green batiks and pulling some that I will be cutting this week (squares, triangles and rectangles).  It takes a long time to prep for a project. 

Mother's Day is cooler this year.  Yesterday was very windy so low 70s didn't feel that warm.

More prep work...........................

I have been cutting more 1.5" batik squares since there wasn't a good variety left on the trays.

One of these trays was miscellaneous and the reds aren't spread out on the other tray. I can switch them over to the pink tray and just stack the miscellaneous pieces that rarely get used.

I cut 15 more stacks of 6 layers and each piece yields 4 squares so this pile will be 360 little squares when cut.

It was a beautiful day in the mid 60s yesterday.  My company and I went to my son's house for pizza and saw the 2 smallest great-grandchildren.  I wish I had their energy.

 

Subtle changes depending on lighting..........

 The photo on the left was taken at night with the overhead lighting in my studio with one extra light shining across the bottom of the quilt top.

The one on the right was taken in full daylight from the west and north windows in the morning.  At first glance they don't look a lot different but the one on the right is warmer tones and more like the top actually looks.  If you look at the beige vertical strip that is to the left of the 5 octagon blocks and compare it in both photos, you can see the difference.

The design wall in my main floor studio doesn't allow me enough distance to photograph large quilts so I take them to the basement to a double design wall where I have more room to work in.  It is overhead lighting there too with the extra light shining on the lower edge of the quilts.  Sometimes the color seems true, other times it has a blue (Canon camera) or green (Cellphone) cast which makes the colors look dull.  It's frustrating that I can't get a true representation of the colors with some of the combinations of color that I use.

First quilt top for May 2026

The stripe bottom border was removed and a replacement fabric sewn in.  Then the borders were added and it is finished.  I don't think it needs anything else.  It will be wall art rather than a cuddle quilt.  It is 48" wide and 53" tall.  The light fabrics aren't as bright of a contrast as they look in the photo.

I have company staying with me for a few days and we went plant shopping for my pots.  I didn't remember to get a photo of all of the plants so we brought this one in for a photo shoot.  There was a brisk breeze yesterday and lots of sunshine.

 

Creative play...................

I used a lot of the leftover 1.5" squares from the colorwash trays and tried a still life.  In the photo below you can see the scale.

I worked on the Kaffe medallion top yesterday.  I pinned up a border all around and have covered the purple stripe near the bottom with 2 options that I'll look at again this morning.

This is what it used to look like.

First finish for May 2026...........................

 

It didn't take long to finish the binding on this batik Double 4 Patch quilt yesterday.

It has Hobbs 80/20 batting in it and was longarm quilted by Robin Diaz.

I used a lot of 16 patch blocks from the orphan block box as the border around the center.

I used a full width of the turquoise/brown print and a strip of stripe fabric leftover from another backing for the back of this quilt.

It is 63" x 70".

Here is a closer look at the batik backing fabrics and the batik binding.

I hang it sideways on the double design wall for its photo and then rotate the photos for my blog.

I had company yesterday and they picked a bouquet of Lily of the Valley and a few Violets.  The Lily of the Valley is a touch beyond its prime but still fragrant and nice in this little vase.

Last evening just before sundown there was a brief shower and then this rainbow over my neighbor's house.  The sun was shining across the treetops and looked like the golden hour and the sky above the rainbow was dark, just as it appears here.

This end of the rainbow was so intense you could see each band of color clearly.  I couldn't capture the intensity with my cellphone camera.