Wednesday Wandering

Walking through my cottage garden....

The roses this year are the best they have been in years. In the past several years the deer or rabbits have eaten the canes over winter and as the roses would recover somewhat from that stress and start to bloom then the Japanese beetles would move in and destroy the blooms.  

I am thankful this year I can stop and smell lots and lots of roses! 

This one is called Seven Sisters. It's a rather unruly old rose. My husband's aunt gave me a cutting years ago and I planted it on a little trellis in the middle of a circle where I have a fairy garden. For years I kept the Seven Sisters confined to the little trellis in the middle of the fairy garden.   Then one day a couple of limbs of a giant mulberry tree in the border line between the cottage garden and field fell over in a windstorm and landed right smack dab into the middle of the fairy garden. Limbs can't easily be removed so they became a place for Seven Sisters to climb and you can't see it from this view but what is left of the fairy garden circle is between two mulberry limbs. One of these days I'll get up the strength to move all the miniature plants, sundial and stump with fairy door to a new fairy garden and just let the rose ramble where it will.   When the grandkids (and some great nieces and nephews) were younger the fairies sometimes left tiny gifts for them to find so the first thing they would do when they came to visit would be to ask if they could go to the fairy garden.  Then they would ask if they could play on the tire swing.  Ah, memories!

There are several Dwarf Asiatic Lilies in the fairy garden in bloom now. I don't think the plants are even a foot high but they are loaded with blooms. My husband bought me one cute plant in bloom a long time ago and I put it in a pot on the deck. The Fall of that year I planted the bulb in the fairy garden. Since then I have been able to divide it several times. The gift that keeps on giving!

(Hmmm...pink and yellow with pops of green might make a nice color combo for a quilt). 

The Martagon Lilies (aka Turk's Cap Lilies) are still in bloom. They like dappled shade. It was getting too shady for the poor darlings so last week I spent some time cutting away scrub brush (mostly invasive honeysuckle) that pops up back along the fence line and now they are back to dappled shade. 

The yellow and pink ones bloom later than the burgandy ones. 

Clematis

Clematis

Foxglove. I started these from seed several years ago. Now I'm hoping to start more in different colors. The seeds are like dust. 

Pearly everlasting. I started this perennial from seed too. The flowers can be dried.  Looks like this little one has some type of rust. 

My Purple Coneflowers are starting to bloom. I think due to dry conditions the plants are the shortest I have ever seen them. 

And finally Armenian Basket flower in bloom. I started this from seed a couple of years ago and this is the first time I've seen it in bloom. My husband picked out the seeds when were were browsing an online seed catalog. I planted it down at the top of the cutting garden because I thought I read it can get invasive so I put it where I could keep an eye on it. It's in front of an old piece of snow fence I put around four small blueberry plants I put in last year.  The white flowers in the background are a native wildflower (weed) that popped up out of nowhere and are called Daisy Fleabane. The purple flowers seend themselves everywhere and are Sweet Rocket. 

 

Chocolate Box Finished!

Chocolate Box

It's a finish! 

63 x 75

I mentioned in a previous post that I was inspired to make this by a photo of a quilt called Baum Chocolate Box in my book "History Repeated" by Betsy Chutchian and Carol Staehle. 

The blocks are a Double Nine Patch. I made this quilt because I wanted to use a lot of brown scraps. There's a few red scraps in there too. 

I started making blocks and finished the top back in November 2021 when the theme in my sewing room was "Nine Patch November". 

The theme this month in my sewing room is "Brown Stuff" so this mostly brown quilt got quilted on my DSM with chocolate swirls. 

The binding is scrappy -- various browns found in my leftover binding box. 

I have to note that the sashing strips are NOT purple. It is actually a small print blue floral on a dark red background. I guess the camera combined the two to make it look like purple. 

The backing is tea dyed muslin with chocolate swirls.

And sew on...

 

Visible Mending

Before I put another quilt or embroidery in the hoop I thought I should attack the mending pile because I really don't have any shorts or T-shirts to wear out gardening anymore. 

I hate to shop for clothes and since I'm retired and pretty much a hermit I don't need many clothes. I'm thankful I wear the same size I did 20 years ago so I just continue to mend the clothes I have and some now have a lot of patches.

So the last few days I've been grabbing some scraps and doing some visible mending (nothing fancy) with perle cotton thread.

I added the blue patches on both sides of the pair above.

I added the blue patch to the bottom right on this one. 

First patch on these shortss.

I added the plaid patch to these shorts. 

And now for some gardening!

And sew on...

Slow Sunday Stitching at Kathy's Quilts

 

Turning Economy Blocks Into Stars

A few years ago I made over 300 three inch Economy Blocks from scraps as a Rainbow Scrap Challenge (RSC) project. Now I'm making several different quilts using those Economy Blocks. 

For this quilt I used mostly the floral Economy Blocks and I'm using more scraps to turn them into Stars.  

RSC ScrapHappy Saturday

 

It's A Finish! Plus Postage

It's a finish!

Plus Postage

60 x 80

The Plus Postage pattern can be found in the April 2016 edition of American Patchwork and Quilting and is designed by Susan Ache. I was inspired but  I didn't follow the instructions. (I looked at the pictures). Susan Ache's version uses strip piecing and only two fabrics per block. I used quite a variety of 1.5 inch squares (postage stamps cut from scraps) and sewed those together one square at a time. 

I started making ten inch blocks back in 2020 as a Rainbow Scrap Challenge (RSC) project. 

I big stitch hand quilted it with perle cotton in a variety of colors.  I quilted on the diagonals through each little colored square in the color of the squares and quilted 1/4 inch in red inside the plusses. 

I just had to hand quilt this one so I could take my time and enjoy looking at all the different fabrics.  

I love quilts with little pieces.  It's fun to see what will show up in a 1 inch square. 

The binding is red solid. 

And the backing is full of fairy princesses. 

And sew on...

Finished Or Not Finished Friday at Alycia Quilts

Peacock Party at Wendy's Quilts and More

RSC ScrapHappy Saturday

Slow Sunday Stitching at Kathy's Quilts

Oh Scrap! at Quilting Is More Fun Than Housework

 

Wednesday Wandering

Some of the roses in my cottage garden are in bloom now. All of them that are in bloom are scented so the air smells so sweet as I walk through the garden and stop to smell the roses. 

I have fourteen rose bushes not counting the wild rose I that popped up and I let grow in a corner of the garden.    Yesterday was our 50th wedding anniversary.  We don't really ever officially celebrate anniversaries or birthdays or other occasions. In our early days we never really had a lot of money to spend on ourselves.   A few months ago we saw some roses on sale at Jackson Perkins and so together we browsed the online catalog, read reviews and picked out three roses we liked. I planted them when they arrived, have been watering them every day and they are starting to leaf out.   I think that was our 50th anniversary celebration and gift to each other. It just didn't happen on an official date.  Now throughout the next years as I walk through the cottage garden I'll think of hubby and all our years together when I see the roses in bloom.   Oh, and now I have seventeen rose bushes in my cottage garden not counting the wild rose that popped up and I let grow in a corner of the garden.   The roses?   Sweet Intoxication, Show Your Stripes and Lagerfield. 

I am thankful I have a lot of roses in bloom this year. In past years the rabbits and deer have demolished the canes. Whey they would like to eat thorny bits is beyond me. But I have tried a lot of different things to deter critters so maybe things are finally paying off. 

I'm starting to see a few Japanese Beetles but I pick them off and throw them into soapy water so here's hoping there will not be hordes of them. I go out with a small bucket of soapy water this time of year when I deadhead roses. 

I used to have several different varities of Clematis but now only have a couple. Not sure what happened to the others. Things just disappear some years.   

This variety is Jackmanii and it's almost like a weed but it does know it's boundaries. 

Martagon or Turk's Cap Lilies. It's difficult to get a good pic of them because they grow in dappled shade.  They are lightly scented. (I do love flowers with fragrance). 

I have some in pink and in burgundy. 

Speaking of scents...I have planted different varieties of Dianthus (carnations, pinks, sweet williams) close to pathways so they give off a scent as I walk past and brush against them. I've started all from seed over the years. 

And finally there is nothing here in bloom yet but I wanted to show my Sunflower House. I used to grow Sunflower Houses now and then back when the kids and grandkids were younger. This is a cement slab near my cottage and cutting gardens. Around the edges I have planted Sunflowers and in between I planted Moonflowers and Christmas Lima Beans that should climb the Sunflowers. and grow over the tops to form roof and fill in the sides of the Sunflower House.   A piece of carpeting in front marks the space for the door way and is also covering an old groundhog hole.   I need to sweep off the slab that will be the interior of the Sunflower House and pick up my sticks I use as garden stakes. I left a couple of logs to sit on.   I'm so excited because I've tried to grow a Sunflower House just for old time's sake the last three years and something has come along and eaten my Sunflowers before they have even gotten to this stage. 

The Sunflowers. 

Stay tuned to see if there will be a Sunflower House this year!

The III in the cement was made by my youngest son, John III. I can't believe he will be 39 on July 4. We moved to this house when he was 4 years old.  

 

Brown Stuff: Baskets

"Brown Stuff"

is the theme in my sewing space this month.

In April I told you about some fruit and veg HST parts that were given to me.

This month I'm putting more of those fruit and veggies into brown baskets. I have a lot of brown scrap chunks (less than a Fat Quarter [FQ] and greater than a six inch square) that I decided could be used to make baskets. 

Actually I'm putting the fruits and veggies into 15 inch (finished) Cake Stand blocks. 

I have a few fruit and veg fabrics I think I will add to the mix so I can get those used up.

And at first I thought quilt but now I think these will make a nice tablecloth.

In the real world I don't use baskets to harvest my fruits and veggies.  I used recycled plastic containers. 

My asparagus patch has been put to rest for the year but I'm still harvesting some rhubarb and still need to make some strawberry-rhubarb jam and maybe another quick bread or muffins to eat for breakfast with my yogurt. 

Despite the hot and dry conditions I have been harvesting salad crops almost every day -- mustard greens, spinach, lettuce, green onions, radishes. 

The strawberries are smaller than usual this year but at least I was able to harvest some (and get a lot of exercise picking them). Early on some critters were eating them but they were nice enough to save some for me. 

I picked some Snow Peas. They are good raw or in stir fry or lightly steamed. I have found the variety Green Beauty to be the best Snow Pea so far.   I also have Sugar Snap peas (Sugar Daddy) but they aren't ready to harvest yet.   I was lucky this year. A lot of years the deer or rabbits eat the pea sprouts, the plants get stressed and then don't produce much. The critters left the plants alone this year. 

Garlic scapes.

I have a lot of rocambole garlic planted here there and everywhere in the flower and veggie gardens because it is supposed to repel deer and rabbits. The garlic basically grows wild now because if it is not harvested and left alone it produces bulbils at the top that fall over and plant themselves or they can be harvested and planted where you want them to grow or used as garlic. The first year after planting a bulbil produces a "round" garlic below ground. It can be harvested and used or left in the ground to produce garlic with cloves.   Garlic can also be used to make a lot of sprays to repel bugs and other critters.   And garlic has a lot of health benefits. I love it!

Back to the garlic scapes.  Those are the tops of the garlic before the bulbils form on top. We harvested those yesterday and sauteed them with a few other veggies to use on top of our homemade pizza last night.