Miscellany..................

I quilted another tiny table mat (left) yesterday.  It's the same size as the one from the day before.  The piecing was done a few years ago, now layered, quilted and ready for edge finish.

 A few Broken Dishes blocks were sewn, not pressed yet.

I cut several more light fabrics and sewed some more squares for Broken Dishes blocks.

This is the second batch that were sewn.  I'm going to have to turn on the iron today.

I think this is one of the ugliest variegated yarns, a sick green in few values.  It's kind of the color of pea soup.

My 5 year old great-granddaughter painted a plaster turtle for me to put in my flower bed.

As I was setting up the time for this to post, I realized today is my Blogiversary.  I started my blog in 2007 with a little help from a friend.  I really didn't know much about blogs at the time.  This is the 6796th post.  I didn't know anything about labeling my posts in the beginning and now there are 1904 posts under the label Nature, more than anyone would want to look through.  Oh, well, there are more pressing problems in the world than that.

 

Teeny tiny..........................

I pieced the squares into this little top a couple years ago.  This heat saps my energy so all I was able to get done was layering and quilting this.  I will finish the edge soon.

I had this piece laying with the top so I guess it was meant to be the back.

A couple days ago I took this photo of the Creeping Bellflowers.  They are getting closer to the time to be pulled out.  These are actually in the grass along the edge of the flower garden.

I watered my tomato plants and then tackled one area where lots of volunteer trees and bushes were growing in the back side of a bush.  I didn't get all of them but probably 3/4 of them.  Now they are saying our dewpoints will be in the low 60s as we go into four 90 degree days.  All of the forecasters had been saying very humid so we will see which it will really be.

 

Less humid, still hot..................

The first shaggy red Coneflower is fully opened now.  After losing the first one of these plants, I'm happy to say this one has survived 3 years.

I should have a bunch of blooms soon.

The yellow Coneflower is taking its time blooming.  I think there will be several blooms at the same time on this one too.

The Blackberry Lily is blooming now.  It is in a deep shady green area so the bright color is welcome.

The first flower is blooming on the Speedwell or Veronica plant.  The front garden is so burnt from the hot sun and I'm not sure much is going to survive if this heat wave continues.  Today was cooler by a few degrees but still hotter than predicted.

I helped my neighbor get cages around her tomato plants and later in the day I planted 2 of the volunteer tomato plants in larger pots.  When the sweat drips into my eyes, it's time to come in.

This Purple Coneflower is in a sunny area and the petals are a lot lighter color than the one in the shady area that I showed a couple days ago.

The Begonias I over-wintered in the garage are blooming.  At first I was surprised that there are 3 different color blooms, but then I remembered it was a mixed package that I planted in that pot last year.

I picked a couple more tomatoes that were turning color.  The largest one is the size of a golf ball so they are getting larger.  I ate the first tomato on a tuna sandwich so this is numbers 2, 3, and 4.  They are all from the 4th of July tomato plant so they are right on time.

 

June 2025 monthly recap...............................

 There were 3 finishes in June.  The Crooked Cobblestone wall hanging took the longest to quilt and it is 36.5" x 57.5".  It used up most of the cobblestone blocks I made several years ago.

In the center is a quilt spanning about 20 years for all of the parts to finally come together and be a cute baby quilt.  It is 35" x 44".

The baby quilt at the right is 34.5" x 45" and was cut with the Bow Tie quilt block dies.  The fabrics are all Kaffe Fassett collective except the flannel backing and the binding.

I didn't complete any quilt tops in June.   I have a Tilda triangle top in progress, waiting for its border(s).  

I made 2 table topper pieces.  The one on the left is 9.75" x 14" and the one on the right is 14.5" x 38".

This is all of the quilt tops made in the first 6 months of 2025.

This is all of the finished quilts for the first 6 months of 2025.  Four of them are from tops made this year so they appear in both collages.

A day of playing with stash............

I didn't do much yesterday, another day over 90 with high humidity.  I picked the first tomato rather than leaving it to be completely red and to be squirrel bait.  I had a golf ball to use for size comparison.  Tomato plants like temperatures 72-80 the best and we have had high 80s and low 90s.  The tomatoes haven't grown much but the number of days to ripeness was here.

There are a few sunflowers growing in the area of the bird feeders.  This one is about 3 feet tall and has a bud.  The squirrels sometimes climb them and break them off so whether I'll actually see a bloom is in question.

The first Purple Coneflower bloom of this summer!  I took this photo just before sunset so the color is vivid.  I'll have to check tomorrow to see if any are blooming in other areas of the back garden. 

I'll work on the monthly recap today.  I could have done it yesterday, should have done it yesterday.  Instead I just looked through stacks of fabric.

Finished a small one................

I made the top for this quilt in February, using the 6" Bow Tie dies so the blocks are 3" finished.  All of the fabrics in the blocks are Kaffe Fassett collective prints, a large variety in the larger piece and in the triangles.  I think I would call this exuberant pastel because of the large scale prints which appear darker.  It is 34.5" x 45".

The cute print on the back is flannel that I found on sale.  The binding is a gray print I found in my stack of grays.

I used Hobbs 80/20 batting in it.

This is a better view of the backing and binding fabrics.  It feels good to get two baby quilts finished at the end of the month.  I have gifted so many that I needed to replenish my stack of them.

One little tomato is turning red and another has a little tinge of orange to it.  They are still small so I hope some of the others grow a little more before they turn color.

All of these tomatoes are on one plant.  They grow in clusters like the "on the vine" tomatoes you see in the grocery stores.

These Creeping Bellflowers look like pale pink in the morning light and become this beautiful purple in the evening light.  As much as I complain about them taking over the garden, they are pretty.

There are more of them in the back of this out of control little garden outside of my dining room picture window.  I love the purple and yellow amongst all of the green.

The Stella d'Oro lilies continue to bloom.  I'm seeing buds on my blackberry lilies in a different flower bed.

 

Quilting a small one....................

This baby quilt is only 36" x 45" so it didn't take long to ditch quilt it in both directions yesterday.  There is a lot of variety in the Kaffe collective prints for this one, small scale and large scale, very light pastel, and bold pastels.  There is a variety of greens and turquoises in the little triangle corners too.  I'll trim it today and choose a binding.

The tall Ox-eye or False Sunflower is blooming in the back garden now.  They are at least 4' tall.  There are purple Coneflowers back in that area too that will bloom soon.

Speaking of Coneflowers, this plant was literally 4" tall with a single 3" root when I transplanted it to this spot.  It always had one or two blooms while it was just 6" tall the previous years.  Last year it really took off and grew and this year it looks even better.  There are some bugs eating holes in the leaves.

This is the top view where I can count the buds easier.  I pulled my downspout extensions away from the downspouts so my neighbors can mow where they usually rest.  It isn't usually right next to this plant.

The red shaggy Coneflower is doing well too.  I haven't pulled most of the weeds in this flower bed because they are acting like a ground cover and keeping the moisture in the ground.  I did pull a few next to the plant right after the rain on Thursday and they came out roots and all.  I can only work on pulling weeds for a short time each day so the flower bed may never look tidy again.

Here is the saddest plant in this front flowerbed.  It was so pretty before this heat dome came and ruined it.  I will probably cut off some of the worst damage since it has a lot of leaves. 

The hostas in the back garden are in deep shade and have pretty much been spared the scorching.  Today is supposed to be a little cooler and lower humidity so they have one day of reprieve before the heat comes back on Sunday.

These are the tallest hostas and are parts from a hosta that was here when we bought the house in 1972.  It was huge and I split it in 1995 and gave away chunks and planted others.  I have split it and shared many times over the years.

This is one of the most common varieties of hosta and they are doing well under a tree.  They have lots of flower shoots already.