Happy Mother's Day............

A huge Mother's Day bouquet was delivered yesterday afternoon from my daughter's family.  It has an amazing variety in it.

What is the focal point in this photo?  I didn't see the squirrel until I got the photo to the computer because I was focused on the Rose Breasted Grosbeak.  This must be a young male because his rosy breast is barely visible.

I have been watching for the Grosbeaks and usually see at least one each year.  One year there were several of them.  The female isn't as recognizable but the beak is the giveaway.

A couple weeks ago I sent a little package of Australian fabric scraps to my friend Diane in NC because she loves to play with scraps. She makes a lot of potholders to share with friends and I hoped she would have fun with these scraps.  She surprised me and sent me my very own "O'Quilts Potholder". The words are a selvage from Marcia Derse fabric which she and I both love.  This is too pretty to use right away so I'll just enjoy looking at it for awhile.

Starting to make blocks.............

There are 2 kinds of half rectangle blocks, facing left and facing right.  I sorted them into 2 piles to make my choices faster.

I decided to make 4 patch blocks and then decide their arrangement on the design wall.  Since all of the colors are repeated often it will be a challenge to not get 2 alike next to each other.

There are 12 blocks sewn so far, 36 more to make.  I thought maybe I should make 2 baby quilts from the blocks instead of a 48" x 72" throw quilt but I'm liking it better than I thought I would and I'm back to the plan of a throw quilt.  I might consider a border on it too.

The Weigela bush with pink flowers is just starting to bloom.  They are not a nice neatly shaped bush but oh so pretty when it is in full bloom.

There are hundreds of little trumpet shaped flowers.

 

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

Yesterday morning I planted my three porch pots.  I did them almost identical, with 2 having one color of Petunias and the 3rd one with a different color Petunia.  I love red Geraniums but decided on all pink and purple for most of the plants.

The box of batting cut away pieces was still sitting open in the basement so I opened the other box that has narrower pieces in it and pieced 3 more battings.  These will all be for quilts around 55" the long direction which will mostly be baby quilts.  I will go through the pieces one more time and see if there are any I can add to make some of these pieces larger. 

In the early evening I dug out one Sedum plant and enlarged the hole and planted my 2 new Columbines.  To the right and front of them is the burgundy color Columbine that was in a container for many years and finally planted in the ground last year.  It is doing well and has buds already.

For the last 3 years I have planted one tomato plant for the little neighbor girl who loves tomatoes.  I bought 3 larger plants, one of which is hers.  There are 2 little tomatoes on this plant.  I set them outside every day to let the insects do their job pollenating.  Then I bring them inside the garage at night.  We are supposed to have rain today so that should make the soil easier to dig in so I can get them planted.

More half rectangle blocks...........

Yesterday morning I was straightening up one area in the basement and noticed this pink and blue batik with little animals on it.  Since I have designated the pink twisted ribbon top as a baby quilt I decided this will be the backing fabric.

I mowed the grass in the early afternoon and then last night sewed some more half rectangle blocks.

(Anonymous: Yes I am die cutting the half rectangles)

There are 134 blocks in these piles and I have pressed 40.  I need 66 more so there will be some more sewing tonight and probably Friday night too. Maybe I'll decide the throw quilt can be smaller than my first calculation and add a pastel print border.

A little yellow added................

There are 4 pale yellows added to the mix now, left and middle on the top row and middle and right on the bottom row.  I did some pairing and counting last night.

Here is the batch I sewed last night.  Maybe one more night of sewing and then I can start playing with the layout.

Yesterday morning early I did some grocery shopping and then I became the repair person.  This handle on the freezer compartment of my refrigerator has come off 5 or 6 times in the last 18 years.  The first time the guy who sold it to me fixed it at no charge.  Due to health reasons that store closed and when the handle fell off the second time I had to call an appliance repair guy.  Minimum service call charge was $80 but he explained to me how to fix it and get it back on and I have been successful every time since (after about 20 minutes of frustrated working at it, manual in hand).  The handle was starting to come loose over a year ago but I decided to wait until it actually fell off to fix it.

My Cranesbill (or Hardy Geranium) with the lavender flowers is in full bloom now.  I saw one flower on the white one and one flower on the fuchsia one yesterday.

I have lots of these blooming too.  They love to grow in the cracks of the sidewalk where I can't get to the root.

My front garden will be officially 2 years old in June but that makes it the beginning of the 3rd growing season for the plants.  I need to plant something in the center of the middle front section.  I also need to dig out the Hosta in front of the Hydrangea bush.  I planted it there when the bush was smaller and the space looked so bare.  Now the bush is leaning on the Hosta.

This is my current favorite plant in the front garden; pink and green, what's not to love?

 

Pastels.....low volume.........

I'm still sewing half rectangle blocks.  I wonder if I need to add yellow.  If so it needs to be a soft yellow like this print.  I haven't made a decision on that yet.

This is how many I have sewn so far.  I haven't pressed them with an iron yet, just fingernail pressing as I go.  I took all of the blocks off the wall and will press this batch today.  I have more to sew and I won't put any back up on the wall until I have all of the combinations sewn.

This ruler is at least 60 years old.  I got it at this store in Chicago when a friend and I were shopping there in the early 1960s.  You won't see a phone number like that anywhere today.

I planted my pot of Pansies on Sunday.  Yesterday morning I see the chipmunk has been un-planting.  It could have been a squirrel but I see a chipmunk on my porch steps often.

 

Recovery day..............

After digging for 2 days I only had the energy yesterday to pot my 2 hanging baskets.  At the nursery I found a pre-potted arrangement with 3 different plants that was just a little smaller than my hanging baskets.  The price was about the same as all of the individual plants would have cost so this was an easy fix.  I just added dirt under and around the potted arrangement.  I got them hung before the rain started.  Thunderstorms so I unplugged my machine and no sewing last night.  It was 88 degrees before the rain came.

There were a few Jack in the Pulpits in the back garden.  Most are the all green.  I'll be watching for the brown striped ones.

There are lots of plants back there so I expect more of the blooms soon.

Last week I mentioned there is one Lungwort plant with white blooms.  I decided to take a photo of it so I can remember to look there next year and see if it is white again or the same color as the ones in the background.

I wanted another photo of my Lenten Rose plant to compare with next year.  This plant has 6 blooms and the one next to it has 2 blooms.  The plant that bloomed last year has no flowers this year.

Robin Pickens has a few design lines that I really like.  I just can't keep buying every line I like so my solution is to buy a charm pack, 5" squares of all of the fabrics in the line.  This one is Wild Blossoms and I can easily mix these into other fabric groups that I already have if I want to make a throw quilt.  Another option is just petting and enjoying the fabrics.

These are the only duplicates in the charm pack.