Aqua Charms

Aqua Charms

40.5 x 49.5

Last month I sorted all of the Charm squares I have received over the last couple of years. This month the Rainbow Scrap Challenge (RSC) color of the month is aqua (blue-green, teal, etc) so I decided to do something with the aqua charms. After I counted them I decided I had enough for a small quilt. 

The aqua and navy polka dot piece was still on my cutting mat after cutting sashing strips for the Little Crumb Star Quilt so I thought I'd make a Star to add to the Charms.

And sew on...

RSC ScrapHappy Saturday

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Happy Birthday to my youngest son and to the U.S.A.   

My youngest son celebrates 42 years today.  I remember the day he was born around 2 in the afternoon. He was born about 15 minutes after I arrived at the hospital. Dr. was delayed by parade and arrived right after John III, my little firecracker, came into the world. This was a time before cell phones and we could not find anyone home to call and tell the news. 

The neighbors down the road usually has a massive fireworks display on Independence Day that we can view from our yard out here in the country. However, that may not happen tonight since it is supposed to be raining all day.  So maybe the lightning bugs will be the only thing lighting up the sky. 

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Oh joy! I recently receive a box of flannel pieces from Sandi and a little box of little and very cheerful blocks from Jenny.  Oh such lovely fodder for comfort quilts!

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Finished a book! High Road (David Wolf Mystery Thriller Series Book 15). I figured out part of the mystery about half way through. And now I'm on to Book 16 in the series. It has either been too hot or too wet to work out in the gardens so I've been reading a lot near a fan and a glass of ice water since I don't have a/c.  Also staying upstairs to read and do a little housework (ugh) and not down in sewing room because last couple of days because John has had a bronchiectasis flare up and unable to do much for himself. Today he seems much better. 

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A few garden photos I took a couple of days ago follow.

I tried Ranunculus for the first time this year. The deer or rabbits ate most of them. Now I know I need to spray with Bobbex if I want any next year. These are pretty fiddly. I have to dig up the corms in Fall and store for the winter. Next year I may just put them in pots on the deck. 

Daylily

Daylilies

Monarda (Bee Balm)

Daylilies and Echinacea (Coneflowers)

Oriental Lily

More Daylilies

Daylilies

Monarda (Bee Balm) 

A Red and White Top (Orphan Oscar)

It's a top!

(Orphan Oscar)

58 x 72

This month the theme in my sewing space to move UFOs forward is "orphan blocks".  This top started with a bundle of twelve 12 inch red and white blocks from an old block swap.  

All but one of the blocks had the names of the block makers. And this one had the date! 2013??? Gosh time flies.   Funny thing is that on my UFO list under the category "really old ufos" I've had "R/W" listed. I almost crossed it off last year because I wasn't sure what that actually referred to.   A few days ago while I was looking through a box of red, white and blue orphan blocks that have accumulated I found my "R/W" and decided to do something with those blocks before I forgot about them again. 

This block had my name on it.  I do like The Dandy Quilt Block. 

I wanted to make a larger quilt so decided on 20 blocks with sashing. In my red, white and blue orphanage I found 8 smaller red and white orphans so I framed some of them up to 12.5 (unfinished)...

...and I used some of them as 12.5 (unfinished) Sawtooth Star centers. 

I still have remained in contact with a couple of the makers with the Stashbusters Online Group.  I'll have to see if Nancy G. and Teresa D. (now G.) recognize their blocks. 

And sew on...

Finished Or Not Finished Friday at Alycia Quilts

 

A Little Crumb Star Top

It's a top!

Crumb Stars

40 x 48

Someone gave me a big pile of 6 inch finished crumb blocks. I used a few of them as centers for these crumb stars. 

All of the neutral background pieces as well as the Star points came out of the 3.5 inch width strips and squares scrap box I am trying to empty.

From the scraps in that box so far...

1. Streak of Lightning top (blue/gray/neutrals)

2. Hollow Nine Patch top

3. This one - Crumb Stars (with addition of crumb blocks)

And sew on...

***

It's been hot, hot, hot and humid here this week. I didn't do too much but read near a fan. I finished two books: 

1. Into the Dust (The Dirty Thirties Series Saga Book 4) by Jean Hackensmith. This series follows a family who moves from the coal mines of Virginia to Oklahoma to homestead. Then the fields turn to dust when the dust storms hit. This book highlights measures taken to preserve the top soil and prevent erosion with the help of government projects. 

2. In The Ground (David Wolf Mystery Thriller Series Book 14) by Jeff Carson, Well, I've now read 14 books in this series so I must like these mystery thrillers. And now on to Book 15. 

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There's some big ol' angry bees out by my herb garden. I think they might live in an old wood pile. I was weeding in my herb garden and getting ready to sow some cilantro seeds a few days ago and kept getting buzzed. Then one of those angry bees stung me right through the fabric of my shorts on my thigh. Wow. That hurt! I went in and took some diphenhydramine that knocked me out for hours. I have about a 6 x 2 inch swollen spot now.  Around the same time the mosquitoes were biting and bit up my arms. Strange thing...my arms appeared bruised a couple of days later. I looked up if mosquito bites could cause bruises and, yes, they can.  And if that wasn't bad enough I had two spider bites on my elbow that swelled and itched. And I ended up with some type of dermatitis (red rash) on my face the day after I was weeding in the native wildflower garden.   So, I guess the critters aren't just trying to devour the gardens they are now out to get me!! 😱

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I'm glad I just have bug bites and am healthy overall! 

We finally have a surgery date for hubby John - August 5!! It's approx. five hour surgery to remove necrotic jaw bone and tissues, take cultures to determine exactly what bacteria is causing bone infection and then after that he will probably undergo infusion therapy with proper antibiotic. They are not going to replace the necrotic jaw bone like they did on the other side in 2017. So he will have "hang jaw". He doesn't need the bone since he can't swallow and gets his nutrition via G-tube. So, this surgery will be easier on him and quicker recovery time than the 14 hour surgery he had in 2017 to replace jaw with fibula.   Necrotic bone is due to radiation for oropharyngeal cancer he had back in 2004. 

On Monday John had an echocardiogram as part of his pre-surgery evaluation. It revealed he had moderate aortic valve stenosis. So now he has an appt. with cardiologist on July 6. 

John had Mohs surgery on squamous cell carcinoma on his nose and it is healing nicely. He has another video appt. in July for follow up.  

Hollow Nine Patch Top

It's a top!

Hollow Nine Patch

45 x 54

I'm trying to empty a box of 3.5 inch width strips and squares. I already had 16 Hollow Nine Blocks made - one of my Rainbow Scrap Challenge (RSC) projects. 

So this week I made 14 more blocks from 3.5 inch squares. 

From the scraps in that box so far...

1. Streak of Lightning top (blue/gray/neutrals)

2. This one...Hollow Nine Patch top

And sew on...

Monday Musings at Brenda's Songbird Designs

Snowballs of Summer

Nine Patch Snowballs

light corners

9 inch finished blocks

I mentioned I was going to try to empty a box of 3.5 inch width scraps and squares. Most of the scraps and squares have come from others. When I receive a box of scraps I measure the width of each piece with my little 6 inch ruler and then put them into the box with others of same width. I usually have a couple of different blocks going for each of the different widths and used to make those blocks as I received the scraps; however, for the last few years hubby has had a series of health issues that has put me behind on scrap busting.

I like the Rainbow Scrap Challenge (RSC) for scrap busting. Each month I dig through the boxes of different widths of scraps for the scraps in the RSC color of the month. It's fun to see what I have to work with for the month. Now I'm trying to empty all those boxes of scraps of different widths (I've done it before) so I'm back to working each month with "scrap chunks" (larger than a charm square and smaller than a FQ).

I have several blocks going for the 3.5 inch width scraps. The Nine Patch Snowball Quilt will alternate Nine Patches with light corners and dark corners. I started this month with 13 blocks of dark and of light corners. I want 24 blocks of each. I've now made my total of 24 blocks with light corners and now just need to make 11 blocks with dark corners and I'll have enough for a top like the one I made in 2018. 

And sew on...

Oh Scrap! at Quilting Is More Fun Than Housework

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I showed my Daylilies yesterday. Today here's some other garden photos.

Yellow Knapweed

Good cut or dried flower.

Clematis

Trumpet Vine

Hummingbirds love it but I don't love it so much. It is very invasive. A brother-in-law gave me a cutting many years ago and now the darned stuff is popping up all over the place. 

I try o keep it contained on this walk-thru trellis.

Azalea that deer keep eating year after year. I bought it many years ago on clearance at Walmart and I think this is the first time in about 10 years I've seen it bloom. Maybe the deer are scared of my pink flamingo I put there to stand guard.

Roses getting strangled by Dutchman's Pipe vine. 

Echinacea getting strangled by Dutchman's Pipe Vine. I try to keep the Dutchman's Pipe contained with the Trumpet Vine on the trellis but it too is invasive.  I like to keep it around because it is a host plant for Pipevine Swallowtail butterfly. I saw a couple of those the other day but they didn't want to pose for photos. 

Oh, a bird's nest in my apple tree!

Another rose. 

Asiatic Lily

Asiatic Lily

Asiatic Lily

And yet another rose.

Calla Lily. It is supposed to be black. I picked it up earlier this year at Menard's just because it was black. I planted it in the Perky Goth/Moonlight Garden that I made in memory of my deceased granddaughter Kayla. This garden is just getting started and I hope to have mostly black and pink (perky goth) and white (moonlight) flowers.  Well, even though it is not black it works out okay because it is pink. I planted at the base of my pink birdbath so I can remember where it is when I have to dig up the corms in Autumn to store for the winter.

Milkweed that seeded itself in the cottage garden. There's a lot of it this year here and there. I usually just let it grow wherever it wants unless it is competing with something else. It's funny. Some years there's a lot of it and other years there isn't any. 

I made a fragrant garden near an old swing set not far from the house so John could walk out and sit awhile. I think this garden is only two years old. Here's some perennial dianthus in bloom that I started from seed and planted here last year. 

The fragrant garden looks over the zinnia and coneflower borders as well as the herb and veg gardens. I'm hoping a couple of climbing and fragrant roses planted at each end of the swing set will climb up and cover the swing set and provide some shade. 

White Coneflowers

I forget the name of these Double Coneflowers

I think this is Cheyenne Spirit Coneflower. 

Years ago I grew some Ladle (or were they Birdhouse) Gourds. I had a lot of them and gave most to my Great nephew for a boy scout project. I don't remember what they made with them. Well, anyway...I hung one on my swing set and didn't even make a hole in it. And look what appeared! I don't see any birdies in there but I do see a nest. 

If you look closely you can see remnants of some beautiful Black Dragon Coleus I started from seed and planted in the Perky Goth/Moonlight Garden. Some critter knocked out the little gnome standing guard and tore up every bit of my Coleus and left it there...didn't even eat it. What the heck? There's some nasty varmints in these here parts. 

And sow on...