Throwing A Monkey Wrench Into The Works

Monkey Wrenches

5 inch finished

Made of 2.5 and 1.5 scraps

I finished a big quilt of little Monkey Wrench blocks set on point back in 2015. This time I think I'll go for something smaller. 

Monkey Wrenches

10 inch finished

Made with 4.5 and 2.5 inch scraps.

These larger ones I'll put together for donation quilts for kids. 

 Cleaning out a box of various sized scraps. More later. 

And sew on...

 

Wednesday Wandering

Seven Sisters Roses

This is an heirloom rambler that gets a bit unruly. I think it is an heirloom in more ways than one. I got a cutting of this from my husband's aunt Essie many years ago. And she got it from her mother Celesta. My husband remembers the rose growing in his grandmothers yard. 

It outgrew the trellis I had it on and about five years ago a big limb of a mulberry tree fell over the fence into my cottage garden. We couldn't cut the branch back because the tree is still live and the branch that fell is supporting some other big branches so...it fell right where I needed it - at the base of the Seven Sisters. So I trained it up the mulberry branch. 

Those big leaves you see trying to take over the roses is a wild Dutchman's Pipe. I need to cut that out of there. My Dutchman's Pipe vine is over on a different trellis and I want it to stay where it belongs.

I would really like to take a bunch of cuttings and make a wall around my veggie garden. Dreams....

Seven Sisters

I used to have a lot of nice heirloom shrub roses - mostly David Austin roses. Then for several years in a row the rabbits and deer devoured the canes nearly to the ground and the roses have been struggling. I've been babying them along and trying to protect them from deer and rabbits in a variety of different ways. Then when they would have a few blooms the Japanese Beetles came along to devour them and it was a constant battle with them.   This year some of the roses may be on the road to recovery. I think this one is Winchester Cathedral and it has had several arching canes full of roses, thank goodness. 

Can't remember the name of this one. It does smell divine. 

The first lily to bloom this year -- a dwarf Asiatic Lily in the fairy garden. I have three clumps of it now. I bought one on clearance one year at Walmart. 

You can see how short they are in comparison to the Hosta in the background. 

I started some annual salvia and planted it in the cutting garden. I am not sure what kind of critter pulls up my markers but not matter what kind of marker or where I put plants in the garden the markers always get pulled up. Then I fix them and the next day they are pulled up and so on...Usually I just end up leaving them lying on the ground near the plants but sometimes the markers disappear completely only to end up near a different plant.  I think it is a raccoon but not sure. 

I planted loose leaf lettuce for cutting earlier in the year but then I usually always start butterhead lettuce for heads. They are slower to bolt. 

I love Butterhead lettuce - sweet!

I started a native wildflower garden last year and this year I hope to see a lot of blooming perennials iI started from seed. The yellow are Oxeye Sunflowers. 

The Butterfly Weed got hit by a borer. Both of my plants had some dead stems and I found borer holes in the stems but did not see the borer so I could get rid of it. 

And these cute little flowers are Indian Physic (American Ipecac or Bowman's root). 

It is always so exciting to see all the things I started from seed reach maturity. 

This time of year most of my planting is done and weeding starts and never finishes. 

And so it grows...

 

What Was In The Box?

Back at the end of May I blogged about a box of patriotic print scraps.  At that point I was wondering what I could make with all those scraps.  Well, so far I have made this top that measures 60 x 72. It was inspired by a quilt I saw at Petite Quilts. 

It's full of lots of different scraps...

...six inch Anvil blocks, six inch HSTs...

...2 X 4 Flying Geese...

...and there's Pinwheels in the corners. 

So. Did I use up the entire box of patriotic print scraps? 

No!

And actually it looks like there's more in there than when I started. 

Now what? Hmmm....

And sew on...

Oh Scrap! at Quilting Is More Fun Than Housework

 

Blue Scraps Part III

Square in Square

3 inch blocks.

The centers are 2.5 inch squares. The sides are two 2.5 inch squares cut on the diagonal.  I think I forgot I was using white on black for the background and not black on white when I made this batch.  But it's all good.  (I'm also making a larger version of these blocks and those use the black and white backgrounds.)

These 8 patches are made with 2.5 x 3.5 rectangles.  So if a 2.5 or 3.5 width scrap is large enough for four rectangles it gets made into these blocks. And these blocks will get made into donation quilts at the end of the year.  That little coin strip off on the right side was made from any scraps left over that was less than a 3.5 inch square. 

Some of the 3.5 inch squares were made into Snowballs with light corners.  I have a lot of little 3 inch (finished) Nine Patches that will alternate with little Snowballs. 

If I had enough of a 3.5 inch scrap (6 inches) to cut four 1.5 inch pieces then I made some Switch Plate blocks. 

Bear Paws

6 inch finished.

With 2.5 inch scraps I make four HSTs (cut with Easy Angle ruler). I usually go to my squares box and pull out 4.5 inch squares to make the rest of the Paw. Looks like one Bear Paw needs surgery. These too will get made into donation quilts at year end. 

Windmills

8 inch blocks

The windmills can be made with 2.5 or 4.5 inch width scraps. There just needs to be enough of the scraps for four 2.5 x 4.5 inch rectangles. 

Rainbow Scrap Challenge ScrapHappy Saturday

 

It's A Finish! Jack and Jill

Jack and Jill

72 x 84

It's a finish! 

Tutorial at Klein Meisje Quilts

I think I cleaned out my 2.5 inch width scrap bin AND I wiped out most of the 2.5 inch squares I had in the squares box last year when I made the top.   That's a good thing! 

I also used up a bunch of different dark blue scraps.  That's another good thing! 

This is my favorite type of quilt - scrappy and with lots of fun things in those scraps. 

I quilted it on my DSM with a bright blue thread. I was not really sure what color to use. I never am. Since I had plenty of bright blue thread on hand that's what I used.  I had a bright blue fabric to use for the binding. I thought I had enough but was about six inches short so found a similar blue scrap to fill in. 

The backing is a light blue with little rabbits on it. I've had that fabric around for a long time and thought there was only a couple of yards of it for a small quilt backing. Imagine my surprise when I found it was 2.5 yards of 108 inch wide fabric! 

And sew it goes...

Finished Or Not Finished Friday at Alycia Quilts

 

Life Is Just A Bowl of Strawberries (and Weeds)

This time of year I'm so busy gardening -- getting everything planted, keeping everything weeded and harvesting.  With this heat wave I work outside in the morning from about 6 a.m. until 9 a.m. so I don't suffer any heat related illness.  And I always wish I could do just one more thing.  Instead I come in and take a cool shower and settle down with a big glass of Gatorade to cool off a bit. Our old farm house does not have air conditioning. 

The good thing is that I have been able to pick a couple of quarts of strawberries almost every other day. Then we enjoy them with ice cream in the afternoon. Maybe I'll dig out a strawberry jam recipe. Or maybe I will freeze some strawberries and make the jam when it is cooler. 

And so it grows...

 

I Haven't Forgotten

 

Back in May I challenged myself to use two of my least favorite colors - orange and lime green -- to make a quilt I like. I chose to make an 8 inch Anvil block. I'm not sure about the layout yet but I do know I'm probably going to alternate lime and orange centers. 

I keep pieces for a few blocks cut and ready for whenever I feel like working on them. Slowly but surely the blocks are piling up. Unless I decide to put them on point I am aiming for 80 blocks. I haven't figured out how many I would need for the on point setting. 

Right now I think I have 24 blocks.