A better photo................

I took my Kaffe orphan blocks off the design wall in the basement so I could get a better photo of this quilt top.  It measures 60" x 84".

For a little perspective here it is waiting to be photographed on a 96" wide x 84" tall double design wall.

I decided to get a photo of the Annabelle Hydrangea bush in case it rains.  As I watched the news and weather last night they were still undecided if we were going to get 1.9" of rain or none at all.

I planted one Canna bulb and it has 2 shoots coming up off of it. When I checked it last night it looks like the one on the left has been bent but isn't quite broken.  I wonder if the squirrels were playing with it.

The black raspberries are turning red.  Some years I already had ripe berries by this time.  I have the vanilla ice cream ready and waiting.
  

 

A little fabric fix...........

I "needed" some new Charley Harper fabric, even though I haven't made a quilt with any of it yet.  I did start cutting some pieces in early spring and they are waiting on a design wall in the basement for me to come back to it.

I pieced a backing for one of my larger quilts next in line for quilting.  I need to press it and then I'll start loading the quilt on the longarm.

In the early evening I planted the Peonies that I dug out of the front flower bed on Tuesday night.  I doubt they will bloom next year since they were dug up the wrong time of the year but at this point all I care is that they will survive.

Big rain predicted for very early tomorrow morning.  I hope we get the big rain but no hail or any other part of a severe storm.

 

Playing at the design wall..........

This is the new fabric that I think goes very well with the star blocks.  Simplest solution would be to use it for sashing and be done.

When I was trying ideas last year I was using a single row of squares as sashing.  Now I'm trying double rows.  This was my first idea.  Ok but a little chunky.

I changed the center to triangles instead of squares.

Then I switched the direction of the triangles to point out instead of in (as in photo above).  I only changed triangle in the center area, the ones out at the ends of the rows are going the wrong way.

Next I took away one set of triangles all around to make a smaller motif.

In outdoor doings, I mowed the shady back yard.  The grass in the front yard is half brown and crispy with the lack of rain so it didn't need mowing.  Work is going to start on my front flower beds next week so I went out to dig out the peonies which are the only thing left to save.  The ground is rock hard in front.  The ground in the back garden is so easy to dig.  This is the wrong time to move peonies so they may not survive but I at least was going to give them a chance.

The first tomato is small...but it is red.  It needs a few more days to finish ripening and I decided not to give the squirrels a chance to see it.  My little neighbor girl was outside too and I showed her one that was almost ripe on her plant.  She picked hers too and took it inside to the windowsill.  This is the earliest I have ever had a ripe tomato.  I looked back in my photos and found that in 2019 I had my first tomatoes on June 22.  Most years it is the first week of July.

Reviving an old project............

 I continued on with my pressing and cutting today and didn't even turn on the sewing machine.  I took down the last completed quilt top and got out these 6 blocks that I made early last year.  I got stumped at the sashing and just put it away.  I'm going to finish it this year...no more indecision.  I have lots of the triangle squares and plain squares to play with and also a new fabric that I may work into it.

Two of the plants in my porch pots have really taken over.  The poor geraniums are way down under the petunias and I can't figure out why they have stayed so small.  One of the vine type plants with purple flowers didn't like the extreme heat and sunshine and I'm not sure if it will recover.

Is it any wonder why I have so many Redbud trees coming up all over my property?  I have a friend who comes and digs out a few little trees now and then and plants them at his house and his friends houses.  Mostly I just cut them down when I am lazy and occasionally I have a lot of energy and dig them out.

Even the newest tree that I let grow has seeds this year.  If one comes up in a space that looks like it will fill in when one of the others die I will leave it.  Redbuds don't have a long life.  Only 2 of my current Redbuds have been here since I moved here 49 years ago, June 1972.  Some have died and others have replaced them.  I wonder if the next owner will just bulldoze the backyard and plant grass and fence it in for a dog.  It is such a beautiful wild shade garden back there.

Fun in the scrap patch..................

 

I had a fun day yesterday going through the box of scraps that I define as anything smaller than a quarter yard.  Small scraps and narrow strips are in a different box so these were sizeable chunks.  I cut mostly quarter square triangles in 2 sizes, 4" and 6" finished.  This is the 6" quarter square triangles paired with the 6.5" squares that I had in another box (a box of mostly squares cut years ago).

This is what they will look like when they are sewn together.

Then I cut some 6" finished half square triangles from 4 fabrics.  This is what the blocks will look like.  I went through the box one more time and pulled 21 more fabrics that are large enough to cut 4 triangles.

I went out about 8 p.m. last night and checked on my tomatoes.  This one is turning yellow but because it was getting dark out it looks darker than it is.

My Purple Coneflowers have buds now.  I see there are a few new plants in the back garden.  They used to multiply more than they have in the last few years.

This is my favorite Hosta.  It has grown a lot since last year and I had planned on splitting it but the heat came too soon and I'm not sure I'll have a chance to do it now.  

Saturday sewing...............

I finally stuck with it and got the insert strips sewn on and then designed the second border and got both of them sewn on too.  I couldn't get it high enough up on the wall to get the bottom edge off the floor.  I don't do stepstools or ladders especially when it would mean over reaching or moving the stool at least twice.  I need to move some things off the wall in the basement and get a better straight on shot.  It measures 60" x 85" now.   The binding will be the dark stripe too.

I could see the Asiatic Lily bloom from the kitchen window so I got out before dark to get a photo.  The other yellow flowers are the Evening Primrose.

We got just a trace of rain yesterday afternoon.  A town 25 miles from us got 1 and 1/2".  That is how spotty the rain has been.

 

Finally a little rain............

I checked the temperature yesterday after lunch and it was 91 degrees.  Mid afternoon a storm finally came our way and gave us some rain.  When I checked my rain gauge it was partially under a Milkweed leaf so I'm not sure if my reading is accurate but it had a quarter inch of rain in it.  We have a slight chance of rain late today.  The humidity is supposed to drop late Sunday and all the way through Thursday.....we can only hope they are right.  Back to the 90s again at the end of next week.  I'm hoping this trend will change and it will be an enjoyable summer.

I decided on this darker Kaffe stripe for the insert strips and it will also be the binding.  I found a second piece of it so now I know I have enough for both.  Now I just need the energy to cut it.