Sowing

Yesterday it was in the 50s so I sowed the native wildflower and grass mixes. I purchased enough seeds to sow 1500 square feet but that did not end up to be enough but that's okay for now. 

I got packets of Classic Tallgrass and Classic Mixed Height Praire Mixes from Prairie Moon Nursery. I've bought single wildflower seed packets from them in the past and like the company.  The Mixes come with 3 packets of seeds - large seeds, small seeds and cover crop (regreen, a short lived perennial wheat hybrid).  If you plant in the spring you need to plant the large seeds first and then the small; however, if seeds are planted between October and March (preferred time to plant) then all seeds get mixed together and planted.  I also added in a packet of flower seed mix enhancement. 

The area I'm planting looked similar (maybe worse) to this area before I cleared it of invasive honeysuckle, green briar, wild black raspberries and wild grape and who knows what else. This is an area I have not cleared on the side of the house that separates our house from our field we contract out to a farmer. 

The area I planted is in front of the house near the ditch and road.  I marked some of it off with driveway markers (20 free with rebate at Menards!) and some pink tape. The guy that plows our driveway in winter likes to shove all the driveway gravel and snow way into the lawn so hopefully this will deter him from pushing around my wildflower seeds. 

Moving a little to the right there's a big circular area where a Weeping Willow tree used to be many years ago. It slowly split, got struck by lightning, etc. until it was dead. Many kids (cousins, nieces,nephews) have memories of climbing that tree back in the day and many still ask me if the tree is still there.   Well, anyway...the debris had been piling up in that spot for many years and now it has finally been cleaned up and I have a nice bare spot. I was originally going to put in a water garden there.   This is kind of the view I can see from my kitchen window.  

Here we are next to the Weeping Willow area. 

This is looking down the road from the other end of my patch. 

The seeds get all mixed together and divided into two sections. They are then mixed with moistened rice hulls.  Hubby decided he would sneak in and take a pic of me mixing up the seeds but I don''t think he knows how to use my camera! 

Broadcasting seeds. 

The mailbox on the ground belongs to the neighbor across the road and down the lane through the woods.  The legs on it rusted and blew over in the wind last week. I guess they aren't going to fix it. I'm not sure how they are getting their mail.  The flag on my mailbox is up because once again the person who delivers mail put someone else's mail in my box. This time the mail they put in my box was for someone in another town not even close to here! Sheesh! 

I guess hubby figured out how to use the camera. (Darn! I really hate having my pic taken).  I think at the beginning of broadcasting seeds I might have been sowing too thickly. The light brown on the ground is the rice hulls so supposedly I can see where I've sown seeds. 

It takes up to 3 years to establish a native planting so I am looking forward to the future!  I'll take pictures of some of the same areas again in the Spring.  

And sow on...

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CELEBRATE! (my word of the year)

Dec. 8 - Wildflowers! 

 

Roses In December

"God gave us memory so that we might have roses in December." - J.M. Barrie

Roses in December

60 x 80

It's a flimsy! 

The theme in my sewing space this month is supposed to be "Roses and Baskets"; however, I've kind of gotten side tracked trying to reduce scraps and orphan blocks and novelty fabrics for kiddo comfort quilts.   It's all good - themed or not! 

I love rose themed fabrics and I have quite a few of them. For this one I decided to use rose prints with green and with red backgrounds (Christmas roses, you know).  I don't have many left with red backgrounds so I used a few other red prints.  I wish I hadn't used any prints with light green backgrounds but so it goes. 

I used the Wonky Rails pattern by Mary of Mary Quilts and Heartstrings Quilt Project except I made 10 inch finished blocks and cut my pieces 11 x 14 and trimmed to 10.5 inch square. I think 11 x 13.5 would have been a large enough rectangle but since this is my first time making this stack and whack Wonky Rail I thought I would leave a little wiggle room. 

And sew on...

Oh Scrap! at Quilting Is More Fun Than Housework

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CELEBRATE! (my word of the year)

Dec. 4 - I saved $1.32 per gallon of gas with my HyVee (grocery store) fuel saver card. Most of those points were earned by shopping on Mondays. It also depended upon the Iowa Hawkeyes score. So for instance if the Hawkeyes scored 40 points and I spent $40 at HyVee on Monday following the game I could accumulate fuel savings of 40 cents per gallon.  I don't really go anywhere so don't use much gas but the fuel savings do expire so I get gas before a large amount might expire. 40 cents of that $1.32 was going to expire at the end of day so it was time to fuel up!

Dec. 5 - Technical manuals that make sense. We got up early to go in to have our lab work drawn  at 7:15 before our wellness exams on the 11th.   The house was freezing.  Looked like it was 56 degrees and it seemed like the furnace was not working. I figured I would worry about it after we got back from the lab. The furnace is not that old (maybe four years?).    When we returned home -- sure enough...the furnace was not working. I looked at the manual and there was a checklist in there that gave things to check before making a service call. The first thing on the list was to check the thermostat. Sure enough...batteries were dead.  I replaced the batteries and about five minutes later the furnace kicked on. Whew! 

Dec. 6 - Finished a book! - To The Bone by Jeff Carson. It is mystery thriller -- #7 in the David Wolf series. Who stole the dinosaur bones and who is the murderer or murderers? I know all the characters pretty well now, know that David Wolf can solve any mystery, and am ready to move on to book #8.

Dec. 7 - Kayla's birthday! My granddaughter would have been 20 years old today if she had not passed away unexpectedly of "probable cardiac arrhythmia" at the age of 17. 

 

Stella, Tobias, Ursula - Orphan Block Tops

I dug into the orphan blocks and made 3 tops - Stella, Tobias and Ursula. 

Orphan Stella

40 x 60

It consists of twelve 12 inch blocks. I didn't make any of them. 

I added a 2.5 inch striped strip between columns to make it 40 inches wide which is usually the minimum requested width for comfort quilts for kids.    

 I added a six inch border of the same striped fabric and scraps to the top and bottom so I would have 60 inches in length. 

Orphan Tobias

42 x 60

For this one I dug through a little pile of 6.5 inch orphan blocks for 15 blocks that would make good centers for 12 inch Stars with yellow points. A few of the orphan blocks were mine but most of the blocks came from several other folks. 

I used 3.5 inch scraps for the Star backgrounds. I made Flying Geese with yellow wings for the Star points. I cut the Geese wings using the Easy Angle ruler and cut the Geese bodies using the Easy Angle Companion ruler. When I use the Easy Angle Companion ruler I make the first cut of the strip with the Easy Angle ruler and then end up making extra HSTs. I've blogged about this several times in the past. 

So anyway...this time I turned those extra HST parts into 6 inch Broken Dishes blocks and used that as a column inbetween the Stars in order to add to the width of the quilt. 

Orphan Ursula

40 x 60

The  fifteen 12 inch orphan blocks in this one all came from other folks. I just had to sew them together and add a couple of strips between columns. 

And sew on...

Finished Or Not Finished Friday at Alycia Quilts

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CELEBRATE! (my word of the year)

Dec. 2 - My corn filled heating pad/cold pack.  I made many of them years and years ago for myself and for Christmas gifts. It has come in handy many times over the years. I usually keep it in the freezer and use it as an ice pack (usually on lower back when I overdo it gardeningg); however, it can be heated in the microwave and used as a heating pad too.  I've been using it a lot lately on my swollen, itchy, red,  burning shingle eye. 

Dec. 3 - Finished a book! - The Flower Sisters by Michelle Collins Anderson. Fictional story inspired by the true story of the Bond Dance Hall Explosion that happened in West Plains, MO in 1928 that killed many, mostly teens. The cause of the explosion was never determined. 

 

Intersections

Intersection Blocks

A free tutorial at Film In The Fridge.

There''s lots of different variations on the way to make the blocks. For this quilt I'm going to consistently use 8 inch square centers and 1.5 inch strips for both rounds.  I'll be using scrap chunks to make this kiddo comfort quilt. 20 blocks needed for a 4 x 5 layout. 14 more blocks to go! 

And sew on...

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CELEBRATE! (my word of the year)

Dec. 1 - A bowl of homemade chili.  

Cherry Baskets and Bramble Blooms

Cherry Basket

That's the actual name of the quilt block and I made my blocks all in cheery cherry fabrics. 

I've been big stitch hand quilting the blocks with red perle 8. 

I've also finished the wild rose and leaf needle turn applique on the second corner of my Bramble Blooms II quilt. I was going to see how I liked just doing the applique in opposing corners before I went on to do all four corners. I've decided I need to put the wild roses in all four corners. And before all is said and done I will probably add a few appliqued butterflies. 

The previous blog post about the first corner. 

Bramble  Blooms is an improv-do-your-own-thing Quilt Along hosted by Audrey at Quilty Folk.  This is my second quilt that will be a series of 3 quilts. 

Slow Sunday Stitching at Kathy's Quilts

And sew on...

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CELEBRATE! (my word of the year)

Nov. 30 - Pink sky at sunrise. Golden glow at sunset. 

 

With 3 Inch Width Scraps, Novelty Pieces and Quilt Back Trimmings

 

16 Patch

10 inch block

made with 3 inch width strips

This past year has been a blur with hubby in and out of the hospital and with me helping him and doing all his chores as well as mine around here. I've also been working on clearing areas of land for some more of my dream gardens.   Also this year I have been blessed with scraps and other quilt makings from many folks who know I like to sew with scraps and also like to make donation quilts especially for kids. In previous years I used to have a few quilt blocks going for almost any size scrap I came across and I would make blocks as scraps happened.  I have fallen behind on that task and now am trying to get back to business as usual.   

So this set of blocks all use 3 inch width scraps. Not only will I use 3 inch width scraps as they happen but I also hope to use up a little box of novelty bits and pieces and empty a box of quilt back trimmings.  The novelties and quilt back trimmings will probably be used along with other widths of scraps but I'll get to that in a different post one of these days. 

So, as you saw above one of the blocks I'm making is 10 inch finished 16 patches in reds,  blues, yellows. Goal is 24 blocks in a 4 x 6 layout.  I have gone through a few quilt back trimmings and novelties and cut a few strip sets. 

Peaks and Valleys

from Jo's Country Junction

Modified to use 3 inch scraps for a 10 inch finished block. 

I will be using that green fabric in all the blocks. 

Goal is 24 blocks for a 4 x 6 layout. I had some 3 inch squares so counted out enough for all my blocks and moving forward I hope to have all pieces cut for this quilt by year end. 

Bits of Bricks

From a Youtube video. I rarely watch them because my computer takes forever to load them and then they are sometimes broken up; however, someone sent me the link so thought I would check it out. 

These units finish at 2.5 x 8.5 and consist of two 3 x 6 inch rectangles. 

The units get staggered a little so there are no seams to match.   I will be adding a 3.5 inch unfinished scrappy border. 

I sewed together the waste triangles from the Bits of Bricks units and will keep them in a baggie and decide what to do with them later. Some might be wonky because I don't take the time to cut an even 1/4 inch from seam lines. I just take a big scissors and snip. I'll just use them wonky in something so I don't have to do a lot of measuring, trimming, etc. on those snippets.  

Also while sorting 3 inch width scraps I cut 3 x 5 rectangles and 2 x 3 rectangles to be used in something later. I cut those sizes because someone gave me some rectangles cut to that size so why not expand on those sizes. They can always go into some type of coin quilt. 

I also cut 3 inch squares for some future use. 

And anything greater than an inch and less than a square gets sewn together into strips for some future use. 

 A month or so ago I emptied out a box of 3 inch width scraps and ended up with 10 tops.  I had also cut a lot of the remaining scraps into pieces for Four Patches.  I'm still working on those. 

So now when I have 3 inch width scraps I know what to do with them right away!  I keep this notebook next to my computer. It is full of doodles of quilt layouts, math, block goals and so forth. It's kind of fun to look back through the notebooks once in awhile.  I also keep a notebook next to my computer that has all sorts of notes and scribbling in it from reminders to quilts to make to seeds to order to quotes I like to tips and research on health, homemade remedies, recipes, and house maintenance. 

And now when I have 3 inch width scraps I can go look in my 3 inch project box and add units and blocks to it.  

And on to the next size scrap...

And sew on...

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CELEBRATE! (my word of the year)

November 27 - I received my order of native wildflower and grasses from Prairie Moon nursery that will sow 1500 square feet. I recently finished clearing the area out front near the ditch. Now is the time to sow because most seeds need cold stratification. More on that later with pics.      I also received a surprise sampler box of 9 Amaryllis from hubby John.  He said he ordered them for me when I was having what he thought was a really bad day. I don't remember what day that was but, hey, maybe I'll have to pretend to have a few more bad days in the future (wink, wink)! 

November 28 - Thanksgiving. I have so much to be thankful for every single day. 

November 29 - Finished a book! Plum Springs by Dan Lawton. A dysfunctional family, child abuse, addictions and vigilante justice. Plum Springs was the winner of the 2019 New Hampshire Writers' Project Readers' Choice Award For Fiction but I'm not sure I really liked the book. I liked the writing style; however, the plot just seemed too far fetched to me. 

Sweet!

A sweet finish!

56 x 72

I finished the top in January 2022; however, some of the blocks were much older than that and came from a swap.   An explanation of the unusual kind of swap is on that Jan. 2022 blog post. 

I quilted it on my sewing machine (Brother PQ1500SL) with horizontal and vertical lines. 

The nice thing about this one is since it is candy themed I could use some Christmas and Halloween candy fabrics from the holiday themed fabrics without them seeming to be related to any holiday. I think I mightt have some Valentine's Day candies in there too. 

The binding is scrappy and pieces came out of the leftover binding box. I had to piece a back. 

The backing has all sorts of sweets and a strip of chocolate. The sweets in the turquoise tone on tone don't show up very well but there's almost the same sweets in it as in the pink. I think I bought both pieces a long time ago (pre-retirement in 2017) on clearance at Connecting Threads and they were part of the same line. 

And now it's ready for donation! 

And sew on...

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CELEBRATE! (my word of the year)

Nov. 26 - Finished a book! -- Other Birds:A Novel by Sarah Addison Allen. Magical realism. "an enchanting tale of lost souls, lonely strangers, secrets that shape us, and how the right flock can guide you home."   

"...untold stories. What happens to them? Where do they go? If you never share your stories with at least one other person, does that mean they weren't real, that they never really existed?" - Sarah Addison Allen

It's light easy reading with a happy ending for when you are not feeling well!