Great Progress + Garden

After we got our 4th Covid vaccination, we had a couple hours of chills ..... but that is all.  We were supposed to feel tired for a few days ..... but so far .... nope.  We are good to go.

So, instead of just sitting in my chair while watching T.V., or playing games on my ipad, I got busy pinning the last two rows onto my Churn Dash Challenge top and had a marathon of sewing, pinning, sewing.  It is a large queen, so those rows seemed to take forever to pin.

Then once that center was done, my Stash Buster Challenge top was up next.   There had to be a bit of unsewing with Jack the Ripper ..... then once that problem was done, another marathon of pinning, sewing, pinning, sewing and that center got done.

How happy am I?  Once borders are on, then each top will be shown separately.  

Our garden on the hill at this time of year.

Cherish your day, cherish your life!

Churn Dash Challenge, Garden

Going to our cottage has been great for working on the sashings on my Churn Dash quilt.  Get chores done and out of the way and sit on the porch, applique and watch the hummingbirds fight at the feeder.

Our summer, so far, has seen a few hot and then cool days.  No heat wave for any length of time this year.  Unusual?  Yes.  This could change and we will see.

This is where I'm at with this challenge.  Great progress has been made.  At this point, only two more diagonal rows (diagonally in the center) need to have six more sashings appliqued and then the top can be finished.  The two sections on the top left and bottom right have been sewn together, so, I'm way ahead of myself now.  I can hardly wait to have this finished as there is another churn dash project waiting in the wings .... perhaps two ....

This is our garden this year.  We are almost at the peak of the season and then the garden will just rest until next year.  There were lots of perennial autumn plants but slowly, year after year, they died during our frigid winters.  No point in replacing them just to disappear again.  So, it is what it is and we are enjoying what blooms for us.

Good news, the deer did not get at our hostas and there are quite a few ready to burst into bloom!

Cherish your day, cherish your life!

June Binding Challenge

Well ..... no-blog Mary and I met our binding challenge again for June!

She finished her monster quilt!  So, so cute!

Me .... I finished my "Xmas Stars" quilt a few days before the deadline!  I've been cutting it close the past two months and I need to change it up for July.  This only took me a day to do as the quilt is not very large.  More on this quilt on another post.

Our perennial garden has been blooming with different plants the past few weeks.  Here are what was blooming then.  The blooms just come and go so quickly and if I'm not quick for photos, they are done until next year.  Some perennials can be deadheaded to keep blooming and others .... come and go.

DH was telling me this morning that the deer ate our neighbour's hostas.  Ours are still here because of the dryer sheets that were stuck onto sticks and placed around the tulips and hostas and so far .... fingers crossed ....

Cherish your day, cherish your life!

Churn Dash and beyond

Well ..... I'm very pleased with myself ..... am making great progress on the Churn Dash Challenge that Chookyblue (http://chookyblue.blogspot.com/) has tempted many bloggers to take up.  It all started with the binding challenge that I issued.  While we were zooming she worked on bindings and her Churn Dash quilt was one of them.  Many of us were hooked after seeing her quilt and there was a lot of chatter about doing a sew-along ..... a challenge was issued and viola ....

 

Back in 2008, I had started a Churn Dash quilt but it got shelved.  It was the sashing that bothered me then and after pulling it off the shelf last month, it still bothered me.  So .... plan B came to play and I'm very happy with the new look.

For the next four months we are to make 1/4 of the blocks required.  For the big blocks, 7 blocks are to be made for the month of June.  So far, there are 13 blocks made ...... guess I'm ahead of schedule!  LOL   For me, all the blocks will continue to be made sooner rather than following the plan for each month.  I just want all the blocks and cornerstones finished.  It is the sashings that will take longer to finish up as they all need to be appliqued.  For them, 16 sashings per month need to be completed to make my goal.  Right now, all the pieces are just pinned in place.  Once all the blocks are done, then there will be some switching around of the circles until just the right look comes into play.

At the end of May, it was at this point:

Then, five more large blocks and four more cornerstones were cut out and viola good progress made!  I try to make the blocks in small groups as it goes quicker in the assembly bit. 

These are the fabrics for the next round of large blocks.  

Three more cornerstone blocks ready for trimming and then assembly.  

These are almost the rest of the circles needed for the sashings.  I usually wait until almost the end and then choose what fabric colour is missing and then add them into the mix.

Oh yes, I'm very pleased with this new/old project!  When it has been 14 yrs. since first starting this and then taking it off the shelf this past month, it feels like a brand new project.  See, there is a reason for my UFO's after all!  LOL

A few readers wanted to see photos of our garden.  

This grouping is just outside our patio door.  A hummingbird feeder, a fuchsia and some coleus.

We have so many iris blooming right now.  A lot of them were purchased from a home owner who was clearing out his collection of irises.   Some came with our house when we purchased it.   After these photos were taken, a peach iris and two yellow iris bloomed.  How wonderful they are.  I will try to get a photo in the morning before we get our scheduled heavy rain.  

Those of you wondering how steep our hill is and it goes up about another 24' to our property line.   All those stones and bricks were hauled up the hill by my husband.  He put in a LOT of work and we can now sit back and enjoy the view.  There were semi terraces already established when we bought this house.  He just made them safer and wider to work in.  Before, we were sort of sliding downhill a bit if our foot went in the wrong place.  Dangerous for us older folks.

 

Stop, admire and smell the flowers blooming around you.

Cherish your day, cherish your life!  

Sashings done!

All the applique sashings are now done!  Yippee!

Just three big blocks and four smaller blocks and this top will be done.

Here are a few close-ups of my border blocks.  Rail fence blocks beside the sashings and the same fabric beside the smaller blocks.  

In the corners are sixteen patch blocks.

Altogether, I'm very pleased with my version and I did take some liberties with the blocks!

This morning, hubby and I took a walk around our hill garden and one side of our home.  We are having rainy weather for the next several days and the rain last night took a beating on our plants.  Another couple of weeks and our gardens will be in full bloom.  The frost and cool temps we had earlier this month took it's toll on some plants that we didn't cover, but there is always next year.

Moss on bricks .... love that!  My hubby is always trying to scrape the moss off, but I love it as the moss gives an interesting look to the patio.

This is the view from our kitchen patio door.  What a treat to see the humming birds at the feeder.

Cherish your day, cherish your life!

Not much

I've been sidetracked with a cold this past week .... so not much got done.  Last Thursday, DH and I went out for lunch to celebrate my birthday.  Later that afternoon, my throat was sore and by that evening, that was it for me.  Fever and stuffed up sinus and chest and that was the way it was for about four days.

Friday afternoon, while watching the weather station on t.v. for severe storm updates, had me reaching for my phone to call my elderly aunt in Gatineau, Quebec because there was a report of a tornado touching down.  "Are you O.K.?", I croaked.  "Yes, we are still under a tornado warning but we just had a really bad storm."  "No, Aunt, you just had a tornado because that is what I'm hearing on the t.v. here."  They were fine, but she reminded me to take some Tylenol to help reduce my fever.  Too funny.  I was concerned about her and my cousin (they are in their 80's and live together) and here she was dispensing medical advise to me.   My sister phoned a few days later and that was when we learned that the tornado stopped just three blocks away from their senior apartment complex.  No wonder they had a really bad storm and their apartment faces the direction the tornado was travelling.  Things could have gone to worse at any moment.  Someone was watching over them.  Still, it breaks my heart to see all the damage in Dunrobin, Gatineau and Ottawa.

For the weekend, I was down and out and dozing in my chair mostly.  This quilt that needs binding sewn down was pulled out and was worked on here and there.  It kept me warm and gave me something to do when I felt like doing something.  Three sides are done.  Whoo Hoo!

The leaves are starting to turn colour.  In fact, we have seen some trees around town with colour since August.  With such a dry summer, the colour display may not be as vibrant this year.  The nights are cool and daytime temps are hovering around the mid-teen's.  The fireplaces in our living room and t.v. have been on to help with the dampness and cool temps.

By Monday, I was starting to feel much better and was able to pick up a niece from school and bring her to her piano lesson.  Since my timing was going to get me to the school ultra early, a quick stop into a garden nursery just to browse away the extra time and found this delightful cat garden ornament.  It just had to come home with me.

Our garden has lots of statues and ornaments.  They give it a whimsy which we delight in.  Mind you, there is a time to call a halt to getting more.  Where did we get them all?  From purchases.  From gifts.  From hand-me-downs.  From downsizing.  From the garbage.  From everywhere.  Our hill garden is huge and the ornaments will be dispersed so that they don't look too grouped together.

Also, while at the garden nursery, this hummingbird feeder was bought as well as tulip bulbs.  The bulbs need to be planted soon and we will be looking forward to a lovely display next spring.

So, that was my week.  Not much got done .... but that will soon change as I'm now gearing up again.

I forgot to mention that last Tuesday, my friend Darlene and I did another trunk show at our day guild.  Again, lots of questions.  We have one more trunk show and an EPP workshop next month in Fergus, Ontario.  We are so excited.  Plus we found out that the workshop is full.  EPP is alive and kicking.  Whooo Hooo!

Have a great day!

Linking to: http://estheraliu.blogspot.com/ and http://needleandthreadnetwork.blogspot.com/

Baby Blankets

Only a few days into September and I already have two finishes.  Can we say YAY!

These baby blankets will go to the NICU at our local hospital.

The idea for the bear came from a piece of remnant fabric (see first border) that was on our Encore Table at day guild.  The bear was enlarged by 400% and appliquéd onto a piece of white fabric.  That bear is so sweet!

This one is more modern and perfect for a little guy.

With Autumn officially 3 weeks away, it was hard to resist this planter with 3 different types of Mums in it.  These will be replanted in our hill garden and hopefully they can be established before we have a hard frost.  Speaking of Autumn .... there have been sightings of some trees starting to change colour already around our city.  

Have a great day!

Being Silly

You know, fresh air and nice warm spring temperatures can do silly things to a person's mind, making them do silly things.  Bear with me and read on ....

For my hexagon quilt, it has been bugging me on what title to put on the label (I do like to give my quilts proper names).  Foremost in my mind, it was Hollyhocks in a Castle Garden (see post here about it).  Then, once it was hung up on the wall in our dining room, my DH took one look at it and said: "it looks like a field of flowers".  Darn.  Now what title to name that quilt?

Lately, Miss Ashes and I have been taking nightly strolls around the property and while she has been eating grass, I've been looking at my neighbour's garden.  Those neighbours have been there for nearly 40 years and they work at keeping their garden in good order.

The first photo below shows the start of some of their spring flowers (their garden is fuller looking   and on the other side of the little fence that shows in the bottom left side of the photo).  Our garden is different and we are in the process of changing the beds, but being the newbies on the block (only our second year here), our spring flowers are looking a tad sparse. 

So, while Miss Ashes is eating her grass, I'm looking at both beds and thinking about my hexagon quilt and how it would look wonderful in the bit of green.  Remember, DH said my quilt looked like a field of flowers.

Well, being of silly mind, I did just that. 

Are you laughing yet?

 

Silly?  Yes, but not crazy enough to leave it there!  :o)


It didn't bother me to put my quilt on the grass since it was being washed again anyway.

This is where I'm embarrassed.  Remember me boasting about Crayola Washable Markers and how all the markings come out.  Well, much to my surprise, there were eight hexies that the markers did not come out on the first washing.  Only on this fabric.  I don't know why?  All my fabrics are pre-washed as soon as they come into the house.  So, I will dab on some Dawn detergent and rub gently and then put the quilt through a wash cycle and check to see if the markings come out.

They came out!  Yay!  See, I told you they come out!  Maybe just not always on the first wash.  :o)

Ah, life is grand as peace and harmony has descended on our home once again.

Oh, the label and what title?

Have a great day!

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