4 blocks..................

I got 4 blocks sewn last night.  They are 18" square so this is 36" square.  I have to figure out what kind of layout I will be able to do with such big blocks.

I looked for binding fabric for the Kaffe zipper quilt and this is one that I think will work.  (larger photo farther down this post).

This is the second one and it's hard to see what the print looks like here, but look at the next photo.  I like both of these and haven't made a decision yet.

I was totally shocked that the wild print looks as good as it does.  I figured the colors and values were right and that is why I tried it.  As a narrow strip it looks good.

Yesterday was in the low 70s and 100% sunshine so I was able to pick a lot more tomatoes than I have in the last week.  I only have a few ripe enough to eat so next week looks like more salads.

 

Busy day...................

Grocery shopping and bill paying was the morning yesterday.  In the afternoon I went out to clean up the tomato plants.  There were lots of dead leaves to trim to give more air flow to the living parts of the plants.  Now I'm waiting for these to ripen.  This is the last 4 days pickings.

I finished hand stitching the binding on this table runner.  It is 12.25" x 35.5".

I sewed 6 of these blocks together for a long table runner for my daughter-in-law.  She wants it as long as her table.  I'll be looking for batting and backing today but I won't finish it this month.

I checked out my boxes of cut pieces of flannel.  There are 3", 4" and 6" tumbler shapes with the most being 4".  I'll start pressing my flannel scraps and do more cutting this week.

 

Breakfast first.............

It was cold enough in the house yesterday morning to bake something for breakfast.  Yes, I ate two of them before I thought about taking a photo.

The box mix was dated September last year but I knew it would still be good.  There were several ways to mix these and I chose the one with heavy cream.  Yum!!

I was clearing off a table in the basement and found this table runner top and backing already cut, ready to find a piece of batting.  I got it layered and quilted last night.  Trimming is next and then finding a binding.

I used 10" squares when die cutting the pieces for the blocks, but I had a larger piece of one of the prints.  It was actually a cut off strip from a previous quilt backing.

Today is a special day.  It is a granddaughter's 33rd birthday, a grandson's first wedding anniversary, and my 2nd pacemaker's second birthday.

 

New book..............

 The newest Kaffe Fassett book came in the mail a couple days ago and I finally had time to look through it.  I had seen a few kits for quilts in the book advertised at quilt shops that carry a lot of his fabric.

Here is a snippet of one of the quilts that I liked.  I like green quilts and that border fabric is one that I really like.  I have been thinking about making another quilt with lots of triangles in it.

It made me think about 2 quilts I made in 2022 and 2023.  I just made a lot of blocks, thinking they would all go in one large quilt.  In the end I decided I liked the darker blocks separate from the lighter blocks.  The lighter one is my favorite and I think I might need to make another one, maybe not in Kaffe fabric next time or a mix of Kaffe collective fabrics and other fabrics together.

I was pretty much pain free yesterday so I did some outside work.  I watered all of the pots on the porch and the ones in front of the garage.  There aren't many blooms on them but they are all still green plants so I have hope for a few more blooms.  Then I watered the tomato and cucumber plants.  They really needed it sooner but I just didn't get it done before I had the shot to my SI joint.  Then I had to take a day off so finally it happened yesterday.  We might have rain a few days this week.  This was yesterday's bounty, a little less than the day before.  Maybe the watering will encourage more to ripen.

Taking it easy..........

I had another steroid shot to my SI joint yesterday morning and they said to take it easy for one day and then resume normal activity.  I decided to sort the extra strips one more time by dark and light.  I could make 'the other 16 patch' with them if I cut a few more light strips.  I could also make 9 patches and do a layout with an alternate plain block (Single Irish Chain).  I could just put them away and do nothing with them but they would make a good sharing quilt to put into my inventory.

This was yesterday's bounty.  I'm staying ahead of the squirrels and the birds.  I shared 3 boxes of tomatoes with neighbors and a friend yesterday.

All kinds of plants have migrated from the back garden into this front garden.  Just right of center is some Goldenrod.  I pull it out all growing season in the back garden and didn't notice this one in front.  That's probably because there were so many Black-eyed Susans in here.  You can see they are all dead now.  I have a crew coming Sunday morning to clean out some of it for me.

Working on a quilt top.................

This is the first quilt top I needed to work on.  I cut enough sashing strips to sew one to each of the 40 blocks.  I'm not sure how many blocks I'm going to use in a quilt but any left over will be made into a small project.

I haven't decided if there will be cornerstones or if I will cut the sashing strips for the tops of the blocks longer.  I hope I know what my decision is this morning so I can get to it.

My granddaughter was craving some Chex Mix so I told her if she would pick up the cereal I would make it for her.  The 2 little great-grands came along to deliver the cereal to me.  Then they were on their way to play at a park.  It was another beautiful day so I made the Chex Mix right away.  Next week is predicted to be hot and very humid so we need to enjoy every minute of this nice weather before the A/C will be running again.

One more day needed......................

There are four corners finished in this photo.  I have 52" left to stitch on the 4th side.  I worked on it 4 different times yesterday.

I also baked the chocolate chip cookies and shopped for groceries at two stores.

The humidity was up a little but still tolerable with the windows open.

When I could see I wasn't going to be able to finish the binding I picked up my knitting.  I was thinking about which quilt top I might be able to finish before the end of the month while I knitted.  Some years August is a big month for finishes.  This year, not so much.

 

Still hand stitching.........

A couple more days will be needed to finish the hand stitching on this binding.

This is the pile on the sewing cabinet as I stitch.  I get to enjoy all of the fabrics....for hours.

I mixed some chocolate chip cookie dough but it was too late to bake the cookies.  It will be cooler this morning so that worked out OK.  I put the dough in the refrigerator for the night.

It was another beautiful day so I took my clippers out and cut some trees that are popping up everywhere, and also cut down two peony plants.  A little every day will get it all done eventually.

 

Relaxing Sunday...............

My plan was to get at least one side hand stitched on the binding of the Wm. Morris Trip Around the World quilt.  I got one short side stitched and then went on to stitch 22" on a long side.  Then I took a break and went out to trim dead leaves off the tomato and cucumber plants and fill the bird feeders.

The only other thing planned was baking cookies.  I was going to make chocolate chip but changed my mind and baked shortbread instead.  I could swear my eyesight was clearer after eating 2 cookies.

Yesterday's weather was a 10,  You can't beat 75 degrees. low humidity, sunshine, and a light breeze.  I would like a whole month of that.

 

Keeping busy..................

While I was waiting for clothes in the dryer I took down all of the fabric on the top shelf and reorganized it.  I found a few more pieces in other places that belong on that shelf too.  It is a miscellaneous group.  The 2 lower shelves are mostly Philip Jacobs fabrics.  I started organizing it by color a few months ago and never finished.

We finally got some rain yesterday.  I checked it around 9 a.m. and there was 1.75" in the rain gauge.  It rained a little more after that so I'll check the gauge again this morning.  It stayed in the 60s most of the day so it was a perfect day to bake ginger cookies.

Last night I got started on the Kaffe zipper quilt.  I have the brown strip sewn on 7 of the 15 pieces so far.

  

 

Binding completed................

After I took this photo, I continued sewing the binding on the floral stars quilt.  I finished it at 10:30.

It's getting close to the end of the month so I'll have to see what else I can finish.

Yesterday morning I went out to check the tomatoes and this is what I found on the biggest tomato out there.  I had picked tomatoes the night before at 5 p.m. and this one had barely a tinge of orange on it so I left it to check on later.  The squirrels had their party and took 2 bites.  I'm going to leave it on the plant for a few days to shame them.  Ha ha, like that will do any good!

I have cut down or dug out all of the Rose of Sharon but this little one survived right next to a Redbud tree.

It was our last pleasant day with low humidity yesterday.  Today the A/C will get turned back on and will remain on for several days.  

I really enjoyed having the windows open for 3 days.  

 

Another project..........................

While cleaning off a table in the main level studio, I found a stack of batik 2.5" x 4.5" rectangles.  I carried them to the basement to join the others in one of the boxes in the basement.  As I tried to open the blanket box on the left I decided it was one of the "difficult to open" ones and I pulled some easy open ones from the storage area to exchange them.

The first day my helper came we put all three of the large bins with trays of cut pieces in one place, under the longarm.

I started looking with the first bin on the left.  In it I found 2 trays of 1.5" floral squares.  I think this will be another of my mindless sewing projects between planned projects.  I will make 9 patches with them.  It looks like 2 or 3 nights of TV watching to accomplish that.

But, how about the rest of the trays in that box.  I discovered that they are all 2" squares.  You can see by the tray at the bottom left that I was using these for colorwash.  But wait, there is more..........

There are at least 10 more trays of 2" squares in that box.  More 9 patches?  I made 2 quilts that I love with printed fabric 9 patches here and here.  I have made lots more but those 2 are my favorites.  When I clicked on my 9 patch label to go back and look for these, I was surprised how many 9 patch quilts I have made.

The large bin in the middle is all 2.5" floral type squares, and the box at the right has batik rectangles in at least 3 sizes.  So the stack I took to the basement is with its friends.

I took advantage of a day in the 70s to bake some cookies.  I didn't have any left in the freezer so now there are.

Later in the day I decided to bake shortbread cookies.  This should hold me over until the next cool spell.  It sounds like we're going back up to 90 over the weekend.

The great yellow takeover..............

Two years ago there were 2 Black-eyed Susan plants that somehow migrated from the back garden to the front.  This year they have multiplied and have taken over the front garden.  It's colorful, I will say that.

After an hour or so of playing with this group of fabric, this is the final batch.  I removed one purple and like that end much better.  Now I have to read the directions and decide if I will follow them or devise my own directions.  I know the directions are for fat quarters and I'm not sure I want to cut my half yards down the middle. I like full width fabrics and I would rather just cut a strip all the way across.

While I was waiting for the dryer to stop I trimmed the floral stars quilt.

I knew I wanted a fairly light binding on this one and I think the backing fabric looks great.  I have plenty of it.

Outside I filled the bird feeders and watered all of my plants.  Our rain on Monday was barely enough to wet the bottom of the rain gauge.  We have had about 1/10" measurable rain since July 4th.

I don't like to pick the tomatoes when they are just starting to turn orange, but the squirrels have already picked 5 and took 2 bites out of them.  The big one is a Rutgers and there are several more that large getting ready to turn color.  Most of the small ones are golf ball size (for comparison).

Snail's Trail progress..................

I ended up only moving one block from the layout on the design wall and then I sewed those 4 rows together.

Late in the afternoon I designed the bottom 3 rows.  I had to stop and use the dust mop before I could lay the final row on the floor.

Last evening I decided to start sewing the bottom 3 rows together and this is how far I got.  Just one more seam and pressing it and it can have its portrait taken. 

In the garden, finally some color.  They are still orange so they have a few days ripening in the house.  The largest are about golf ball size.  The 2 tiniest ones are the Sun Sugar variety.  We have another day of 90s and then they are promising 80s and finally by the end of next week, high 70s.  I think the tomato plants will be very happy.