Keeping cool...................

With a feel like temperature over 100 yesterday it was time to go to the basement and get serious about quilting this quilt.  The lines of quilting are about 1.25 - 1.5" apart.

I cut the binding, the same fabric as the border and backing, and sewed it all by machine.

The top thread is YLI gray cotton and the bobbin thread is Bottom Line in a medium brown.  The batting is Hobbs 80/20.

It is about 52" x 73" and is made with all Kaffe Fassett collective fabrics.  The pattern is Matrix by SpringLeaf Studios.  

Now I am down to 37 tops waiting to be quilted.....that doesn't bother me at all.  There are some I know that I will never quilt.  There are several small ones that I know I will quilt.  And then of course are the 4 tops in progress which might get finished this month.

A second larger block...........

I made a second block at the 1.5 ratio and since I still had a few blocks on my design wall I put the 2 larger blocks into the mix.  I needed to make 5 more little trees or cut some Charley Harper prints to fit into the half space.

I had a pile of fabrics on the ironing table that needed pressing so I took care of that.  I found this piece of fabric to use for a normal size Arboretum block and one small block.

Outside I spent just 15 minutes cutting down little volunteer trees and bushes.  Then back inside where it was cool.  They are predicting this will be the warmest weekend we have had all summer.

 

Loaded.............

 I was running out of clean clothes so yesterday became a laundry day.  Since I was already in the basement I sewed the one seam on a backing and loaded this quilt on the longarm frame.  I have chosen the thread and that is far as I got.

Last night I pieced a block 1.5 times the size of the original Arboretum blocks.  I haven't pressed it so it isn't trimmed.  I cut the background fabric oversized so the proportion will look a little different when trimmed.  The blocks at the left are the original size and 1/2 as tall.  I'm getting closer to design wall time.

Working at turtle speed..............

I made 2 more Arboretum blocks and trimmed them and the two I showed yesterday.  Then I made one half as tall, half as wide.  Since I'm filling in with Charley Harper animals and birds I thought it might be fun to have some other size blocks.

I happened to walk by the kitchen window at just the right time to see a yellow butterfly on the Coneflowers.  Usually they fly away before I can get my camera but this one stayed a while.

The little 6" tall Stonecrop Sedum plants have flowers on them this year.  Little pieces of this plant are coming up in different places in the front garden.

This is the other short Sedum that is maybe 8" tall at the highest point.  It has lots of blooms this year too.

I moved the red Wave Petunias back by the bird feeders.  I have better luck with the regular petunias draping over the edge of the pots.

I'm getting a lot of questions about Bloglovin' which a lot of you have used to follow my blog.  None of us know what is going on with them.  I have not been able to access their site for over 2 weeks on my computer but with the app on my phone about 8 of the blogs I read show up there.  All of the rest however are no show.  I have switched to a site (free version) called "the Old Reader".  I put a link to it on my browser and just go in there to see who has posted.  There is a vertical line in front of the ones that aren't read yet.  I don't know if they have an email option.  You all know by now that I post every day so if you put a link to my blog on your desktop you can just click on it every morning for the latest post.

Light value trees.............

I was searching yesterday for light value tree fabrics for the Arboretum quilt.  I got 2 blocks cut and sewn but not pressed, so they aren't trimmed yet.

The one lonely Four O'Clock that came up from last year's seed was just over the lot line in my neighbor's yard.  I dug it out and planted it on my side of the line.  It didn't have much root but it did fine in the transplanting.

I had to go back out after 4p.m. to see one of the buds opened.  I'm hoping there might still be some more coming up before summer is over.

While I was out there I took a couple more photos of all of the flowers.

I stepped back a foot or so for this shot.  I hope we get some of the rain they are predicting today.  We are on the very edge of the area where they are showing measurable rain.

The moss roses are starting to spread out in the front garden by the Sedums.  I'm hoping they will re-seed for some plants next year.  I'm not sure my knees can take another year of planting annuals.

 

July 2022 Monthly recap...............

I had 3 finishes for July, no new quilt tops, yay!!  Of course there are at least 3 quilt tops in progress so.....

The African colorwash wallhanging is 34" x 42", the yellow zig zag sweet little baby quilt is 29" x 35" and the quarter square yellow quilt is 55" x 71".  Yellow is my favorite color so these 2 make me very happy.  I love the African colorwash too and I'll probably keep it until I make the next even better one some day.  This is #3 in the series.

The details of this quilt were on yesterday's post but I'll repeat them here so I can find them when I need them.

I quilted it with YLI variegated thread on top, Bottom Line in yellow in the bobbin and I used Hobbs 80/20 batting.  The binding which matches the backing is finished all by machine.

I found this backing fabric on sale at a very good price and I used it on the front of the quilt too.  It is such a happy yellow daisy like flower print with honey bees.

Keeping with the yellow theme, the Brown Eyed Susans are very tall and in full bloom right now.

Here is a full shot of the Sunflower and 2 yellow Cosmos.

The house is my back to back neighbor, the house that is for sale in the neighborhood.  The owners were my neighbors for 50 years.  The house which has been listed for about 5 weeks has been under contract 3 times now, the first 2 times failed.  It will be an adjustment having new neighbors.
 

Busy inside and out............

In the afternoon yesterday I quilted this yellow quarter square triangle quilt that I loaded the day before.

I used YLI yellow variegated thread on top and Superior Bottom Line in yellow in the bobbin.  Batting is Hobbs 80/20.

The quilting pattern is loops.  When I was taking the photo above "Loop Soup" popped into my head.  Maybe that is a good name for all over loops.......... maybe not.

I usually do the previous month recap on the first of the month but I just finished the binding on this one at 11 p.m. yesterday and it was way too late to try to hang it for its full photo.

After I finished the quilting I went out and pulled all of the weeds on this end of the tomato bed by my driveway and spread the leaf mulch.  This was a 'down on the knees' job...not a lot of fun.

This is the end of the bed that I cleaned up Saturday.  There are Hostas planted there too as well as 3 pots of plants.

This shows the whole driveway garden, 6 tomato plants, 3 pots and 4 Hostas with my neighbors' car as a backdrop.

After I finished all of that I mowed the backyard and part of the side yard.  Now the humidity is rolling in so I'm done outside.