July Sunny Days, Slow Stitching, Sampler Quilt and Soups

I got up at 6 this morning and went right out in the garden by myself which has so many rewards. (But left two pouting dogs to do so.) Instead I had my shears with me on this walkabout and did a little snipping here and there. I disturbed three turkeys who I think must have overnighted somewhere nearby. I sat by the pond and reminded my body how important it is to relax. It is hard for me to sit and do nothing...by the pond like that early morning is the closest I can come. But even then I had to open the Merlin Bird Song ID ap on my phone to identify what birds were singing. Right away it identified the Red Eyed Vireo, Chickadee and Chipping Sparrow. Just awesome.

These late July days the showy Daylilies are blooming. I tried for a variety of colours when planting these. There are yellow ones and a paler peach about too.

Here's Ned and Petey on one of the more shaded trails later on this morning. Petey is twisting his head a bit and it is for a reason.

He had found and led Ned to a downed wasps' nest and they both got a little pinch before fleeing.

No worries...whatever they felt it was momentary as they were fine right away.

 It had cooled down to 20 overnight in what has turned out to be one of the hottest Julys on record here. Midday yesterday it felt like stepping outside into an oven, reminding me of Florida.

In stitching news and attempting to divide my time equally, I got out my EPP Starry Hexagon tote and worked on those while we watched tv last night. Angela has said Aqua is August's RSC colour but we can dig back into dark blues if we wish. I do have a little aqua fabric but want to save it for another project. Anyway, meanwhile I stitched these with lighter colours for the starry centers and will use darker for the outside diamonds.

I also spent one stitching session last weekend on Basket Love laying everything out on the table to take a good look. I sorted more blocks for another border, machine stitching little 3 inch squares into patches which will set off the appliqued border on the opposite side.

 I came across some interesting bits of fabric in my stash while looking for more to suit this project, things I forgot all about. I have no recollection of buying this but I seem to have fat eigth remnants.

These are autumn colours and it would be nice if I had this flimsy ready for fall quilting.

 I'm almost finished this book by the Irish writer, Colm Toibin. This one is a kind of quiet story but with characters interesting enough to keep you reading. 

I know not everyone enjoys stitching sampler quilts...the same can be said in the cross stitching world too. But this one is so special. I've been seeing folks working on this amazing quilt...Harriet's Journey by Jennifer Chiaverini. It features 100 beautiful blocks including different ones. I like how these quilts get attention again, usually on Instagram.  Here at Amazon if you'd like to take a closer look. 

Winter or summer, we both love soups and it's always good to not have to use an oven in extreme heat, though with A/C not so much of an issue which I'm loving this year. I had a summer plan to make a homemade soup each week and I've not quite/almost stuck to it by making a soup every two weeks. So far I've made vegetable barley, split pea, chicken with variations, lentil and bean and minestrone- not that adventurous. I wish I had the tomatoes that some of you are growing in your gardens. We love tomato soup and the fresher the tomatoes the better for that. 

I read this article, 10 Simple Ingredients to Give Homemade Soup OOmp and picked up a few tips like adding Worcestershire sauce or yogurt which I'd not thought of doing. Great ideas for ramping up the nutrition too. I made us a pork roast dinner on Monday and after another meal of hot pork sandwiches with air fryer fries, I still have leftovers today. I think I will use it in a rice soup. What's cooking at your place?

Hope your week is going well and you are coping okay with whatever is on your plate at the moment because we all know there is pretty much always something up, isn't there.

Happy to link up with parties at The Inquiring Quilter, The Quiltery Kathy's Quilts, Quilting is More Fun Than Housework and Alycia Quilts.