Trees..............

Here are the latest 8 blocks, 4 from Monday and 4 from yesterday.  I have 4 more backgrounds cut and I'll be looking for another batch today.

I put them all up on the design wall in no particular order.  I think I will take them all down and pile them in color groups.  I have 31 pieced blocks and 19 Charley Harper fabrics cut right now.  If I'm going to make 99 blocks like Anne (Springleaf Studios) did, I am half way done.  I have a few more Charley fabrics to cut and after I count them I'll know how many more pieced blocks to make. (This info is here for me to check back to when I forget what I am doing 😉).

There are a couple Sunflowers growing on the lot line in the back, squirrel planted I think, and I have one that I planted in a pot.  I would be extremely happy if all three bloomed.

Here is another angle in my backyard looking over the my hanging pots in the background. Speaking of the hanging pots, something has been devouring the leaves in 2 of the baskets and it looks like they might be starting on the third one.  I haven't seen any bugs on them so I'm not sure if it is the Japanese beetles or something else.

I had an annual checkup with the pacemaker group yesterday and they say everything is working correctly and no blips on the readings.  My battery is estimated to last another 1.5 - 2 years.  My pacemaker will be 5 years old on Aug. 31.

Back to the trees...............

I cut 8 fabrics for the trees yesterday.  The top 2 are from the same fabric.  I see now that I could have cut along the edge of the different sections in the print like the right side of the one on the left.  I might cut some more from that fabric if I can find a different group of flowers.

I haven't pressed these yet so they aren't trimmed to their final size.

I have the branch and trunk fabric chosen for the next four.

There are only a few Black Eyed Susan plants left where there used to be a big section of them.  They are just starting to bloom.

The Brown Eyed Susans are tall and bushy.  2 clumps of them have been eaten off by some critter but luckily they left at least 5 clumps.

The Brown Eyed Susans haven't bloomed yet but when they do, they will last all the way through September.

Last but not least are the purple Coneflowers just because they are so pretty this year.

 

Quilting started...........

After ditch quilting along both sides of the zig zags I quilted one light row with parallel rows of stitching.  I changed my mind about the darker rows and decided to do three passes of wavy lines. I have about 1/3 of it quilted.

I used the yellow butterfly fabric for the backing and a yellow, gold and orange variegated thread in the bobbin.

I pulled some more fabrics for the Arboretum block backgrounds.  So far I have only used Kaffe collective fabrics for the trees.

This is the one on the top left.  I can probably get several cuttings from this one with no 2 alike.

Here is a link to Kathy's blog, her post about some placemats she made that are similar to the Arboretum blocks.  I'm going to have to make some batik ones like hers.

Here is a photo of the orange tiger lily from the outside.  I showed a photo taken from the inside on a rainy day previously.  I can see it came up right next to a Hosta so if I do decide to move it I'll have to dig up both plants.

I think this is a 4 o'clock that came up from seed.  Wouldn't you know it would come up just over the lot line instead of in the place I had them last year.  I think I need to dig it up and transplant it because the house on that lot is for sale and if the lawn guy comes he will probably cut it down with the weed whacker.

I had Cosmos planted there too last year and the first to bloom is also over the lot line.  The rest of them are on my property.
 

More Charley Harper...........

I chose 5 more Charley Harper fabrics to nest between tree blocks.  There is a squirrel and some raccoons to add since they like trees too.  I also cut duplicates of the pieces I showed yesterday so I'll have enough to play with when I make more Arboretum blocks. 

My Saturday night sewing ended up being log cabin blocks.  I have 4 completed and 4 needing their last strip.  That will make 24 blocks total.  Still a long way to go for enough for a quilt since the logs finish at 1".

The Moss Roses are starting to expand now.  They really liked the rain.

The ones on the side are playing catch up with the others.  The Sedum plants next to them are setting their buds now.

Also in this front garden the Hostas are starting to bloom.  Some have pretty blooms, some hardly there at all.  I see I have 2 weeds to pull there too.

The Zinfin Doll Hydrangea blooms are starting to open.  It was in full bloom when I bought it last year in June.  I wonder if it blooms earlier when it is in a pot than it does when in the ground.  Maybe the growers forced the blooms so the bushes would be attractive and sell well.  I'm just happy to see my first year pruning must have been done correctly.

 

An AHA! moment............

The idea just popped into my head yesterday, try some of the Charley Harper bird fabric as occasional blocks with the tree blocks.  I like it!  Not all of the Charley Harper fabric is birds so I will be searching through my collection and see which fabrics I think will work.  I'm sure I'll be repeating some of them more than once.  The 2 newest tree blocks are trimmed and in the mix now too.

We won the rain lottery yesterday and had a steady soft rain most of the day and got 2.1" in my rain gauge.  

This is the lonely Tiger Lily that comes up in the middle of the flower bed outside my dining room window.  It is always the first to bloom.  The rest are in the shade.  Every year I think I will dig this one up and move it but then I don't get it done.

This shot was taken through a screen during the rain.  I just love all of the new Purple Coneflowers that came up this year.

 

A day of variety.......

I started out the day with my annual Medicare wellness check, the free one.  I have been pronounced well.  I remembered ball, flag, tree for over one minute.  Anyone not old enough for this appointment yet will know what I mean by that when you get there. 

When I got home I found a plastic bag with some remnants of 1.5" strips and I had just recently reunited the box containing blocks with the pencil box of precut log cabin pieces.  That meant I had to piece 10 more blocks to go with the 6 I showed in January last year.  This will be a long range project cutting strips now and then from my scraps.  This time I will keep all of the parts together.

Late in the afternoon I mowed the back yard.  The shade back there keeps the grass green and growing.  The front yard is still scorched so I just mowed the fringes where the green weeds had gotten tall.  The rest will have to recover before it needs mowing.  They are promising us some rain today in 2 or 3 passes so I hope we get one of the heavier rains.  In the weather segment on the news last night they said we are down about 1.75" in normal rain since June 1.  Tomato plants need 2" per week.  I have been filling my watering cans and jugs and letting them sit overnight before I do my watering.  That is supposed to dechlorinate the water making it better for my plants.

Last night I cut 2 more blocks for the Arboretum quilt.  I only have 2 more backgrounds cut so I need to be choosing some more fabrics for the next batch.

 

21 Arboretum blocks.............

I didn't sew any more Arboretum blocks but got the last 2 pressed and trimmed so they could join the rest.

I started basting the little yellow zig zag quilt.  I'm using a Mountain Mist cotton batting than needs to be quilted every inch.  I'm planning on ditch quilting the zig zags first and then filling it in with more lines echoing those.  I'll use my Pfaff with dual feed for that.

I have seen several Monarch butterflies on my cone flowers this week.  It is supposed to be one of their favorite flowers.  The bugs are busy taking bites out of the petals too.

The pretty Coleus plants are in a pot by the tomato plants along the driveway.

I think I had 4 different kinds of tomato plants in the raised bed last year so I don't know which variety was the seed for this volunteer plant.  I have a feeling it is the small tomato, larger than a grape tomato that is good for sun dried tomatoes.  They were also delicious in salads.  I'm wondering what the other 2 volunteer plants are now.  There are still more volunteers behind the raised bed but they aren't getting enough sunlight so they are spindly.  There a couple more good size plants near the front of the bed that I may tie to stakes and just let them grow where they are.