August OMG, Solidarity Blocks, My Selfie

 "And into the garden I shall go

To lose my mind and find my soul"

My garden is overblown these days...all the beds have so many interlopers I don't know where to start with the weeding. I actually enjoy a chaotic garden so this isn't bothering me that much. I did pull out the Wild Grape Vine that had wound its way through the daisies. But even that has pretty leaves to my eye. 

                  

Above is a Cedar Waxwing with its gorgeous lemon belly I captured down by the pond a few years back. The sun is shining just like that today and we have no tornado, thunder and lightening, heavy rainfall, or high humidity warnings. A banner day!

I had promised to show you my hair in the humidity.  Here it is. I'm terrible at selfies...don't think you are supposed to show the phone itself and I needed glasses on to see what I was doing. This is how much my hair has grown out from that pixie cut I gave myself back in January this post. At this wild stage, I can barely put a comb through it -truthfully with curly hair, I don't use a comb, mostly a pick. On the plus side, it makes it look like I have much more hair than I really do.

It is time to set another Elm Street Quilts OMG...can't believe it is for August! Think I'll choose the Solidarity wall hanging to finish the hand quilting on for this month. 

Here it is in beginning stages, blocks on the design wall.

Then as a flimsy

                

And now the hand quilting of it. I love using Perle 8 cotton thread for this and do not do any sophisticated designs. But on that, I've been looking into hand quilting templates to try more detailed patterns than the simple echo quilting I mostly do.

I've got a few of the blocks finished. Hearts and Hexies

Snowballs in an unusual design

And one of my favourites, the House Block

Someone...so sorry, can't remember who, asked about the size of the hoop I use. This one is 14 inches.

I reread this little book, Claire Keegan's Small Things Like These.  Outstanding writing style- I admire it very much...simply but eloquently written sentences relating a very big story. Tony also read it-rare for him to read a book, and declared it "very touching". 

Are you watching this? We are and enjoying it very much.

I've got a list of things to do outside with the air being so enjoyable today. It all has to do with the flower beds. And I'm hoping to get in some veranda stitching later on. I've already made a meat loaf for supper and will do homemade oven fries if it stays cooler; if not I'll make baked potatoes in the microwave which are passable. 

Hope your day is going well and you find yourself likewise engaged in activities that you love.

Happy to link with the To Do Party at Quilt Schmilt, Alycia Quilts, Confessions of a Fabric Addict and Quilt Fabrication.

Flower Basket Runner, Family Times, Quiltmania Blocks

 I guess the humidity and high temperatures are good for flowers. I've never had such huge blooms on the Hydrangeas...totally smothering flowers I've planted around them. I must make a note to move these in the fall. 

The wonderful Day Lilies are blooming. There are many scattered about. 

Tony turned 84 last week and we had a wonderful family celebration for him. He enjoyed the attention and especially the food. Bruschetta to start and then a steak and shrimp meal most of it barbequed by SIL, Brad, with sides by Beth, the cake maker. 

 He doesn't like to smile as he thinks his smile is goofy looking.

Beth's cake, a four layer chocolate, was delicious. Italian buttercream frosting.

I've been feeling productive in the garden and in the house too this summer. Keeping myself very, very busy. As mentioned before lots of sorting going on in the Sewing room as well- taking stock, as it were. And recently I treated myself to some stitchy mail, a fat quarter bundle of Sundance by Crystal Manning for Moda. 

Very flowery and to me an autumn look. A nice change from the reds and pinks of summer '23. It is excellent quality fabric too.

  I spent an enjoyable evening stitching quilting lines on this table topper. I debated how to arrange this basket and also use other of the smaller Solidarity blocks.

 Finally settled on this arrangement. I'm so pleased to use Tone Finnanger's, the talent behind the Tilda brand, smaller flower blocks on the sides.

I like her EPP flower block very much and would love to make a bigger project with it. With more practice now, I could do a better job of stitching the pieces- I think. 

Here is the link to the Quiltmania post which includes the templates to stitch all the blocks. The directions, etc. are all still available and it is fun to see what your favourite designer might have contributed. A whopping 80 of them participated.

I hope you all are equally engaged in enjoyable pastimes, ones that lift your spirits and help you cope with whatever life is throwing at you. "Oh yes, you will be tested," my grandfather used to say. 

So happy to share this post with So Scrappy. Also happy to share with Quilting is More Fun Than Housework, Small Quilts and Doll Quilts, Songbird Designs and Kathy's Quilts.

Pinks Everywhere, Basket Blocks, Free EPP Patterns

A tiny rabbit appeared in the front yard one day when the sun was scorching the grass. It stayed in this position long enough for me to get the camera ready. I got excited at the possibility of this being a brilliant photo with the little guy paused amidst an arbor of colours, pinks above and greens below. I took a number of photos. The light was horrible and this is best of the shots. Sigh But the little fellow looked so cute. I wished I could hold it. 

 

I spent an enjoyable hour combing the stacks at the local library last week while I waited for Jack. That library has had a great infusion of funds via property taxes due to all the sub divisions that have sprung up surrounding the original little town. The library closed for a makeover in the spring and I must say it is looking spiffier with big new windows and an extension to hold more stacks. 

I like how my card for this library is good for many more libraries around the province for interlibrary loans, etc. I had no trouble finding a few to check out. Amongst them- I'm reading Barbara's book and enjoying it very much. Demon Copperhead

I've read about and watched a number of videos on the beautiful Appalacia and the effects of the coal mining,etc. with respect to the education of the children, so this is interesting to me. 

Free EPP Patterns...I just downloaded 6 free EPP patterns from Seams Sew Me. Belle has a pretty site and YouTube channel. She linked up with 5 other designers to make the special EPP offer to her subscribers. The six projects are sweet and small so quick to stitch. I like them all. 

The Quiltmania Solidarity QAL included at least four appliqued basket blocks and I stitched three of them. Here are two more to work out how to use in a project. The bottom one has a Christmas feel with the striped fabric so I'll set that aside for now. 

These blocks were all designed by different quilters all over the world. I think this one below was Victoria Findlay Wolfe's - I stitched this very large block as a bit of a challenge to me. I think I will use it in the back of one of these finishes. 

Having a purpose like this...to give old blocks tucked away in a drawer new life in a finish, is great. It's been a morale booster and I'm glad I decided this summer would be a time in between to get at this.

 This week's specific stitchy work is right off a non-stitchy one... to get photos of the Rainbow Neighbourhood Houses Quilt which is finished. But I also want to start quilting Solidarity Flimsy #1. 

I'll be back later in the week with more news...we celebrated a special birthday last weekend and I've received some mail I want to share. I hope all of you have a good week.

Happily linking with Quilt Schmilt, My Quilt Infatuation and Quilt Fabrication.

Solidarity Flimsie #1, A Special Book, Everything's A' Bloomin'

Everything is blooming!

Including a Clematis Sapphire bush in a shady spot.

I'm trying to "tend the garden" these days. Short spurts of weeding here and there; it has to be short as the heat has been killing. We are just not acclimatized to this kind of humidity either. But the flowers love it. The soil in the beds is very rich which means the weeds love it as well.

 I've thought of my Dad's mother, my grandmother, who had not only a flower garden but a vegetable garden to tend each summer. In that outport it was mostly women's work to plant and tend the vegetable garden, though I remember Granda giving her a hand at times. They grew enough potatoes, turnip, carrot, cabbage, beets, and onions to last all winter stored in their root cellar. By the time I arrived for my visit at the end of June, the last of the potatoes would taste sweet from being there so long. 

One of Dad's cousins who grew up with him, wrote this book, More Than Fifty Per Cent: Women's Life in Outport Newfoundland, for her Folklore master's thesis.  It chronicles women's work in that little outport...in summary, women's work is never done. You've heard the old rhyme, men may toil from sun to sun but women's work is never done and of course, this would certainly apply to farmer's wives as well.  My grandparents are cited in the book.  Available at  Amazon -not affiliated.

I have enjoyed working with these cheery blocks again. I have good memories of stitching so many appliqued different and unique blocks. I looked up how others have put their Solidarity quilt together. The blocks are different sizes and it can be tricky to sort out an arrangement when that happens. I stitched 15 blocks so have divided them into two projects. Here is the first one ready to be layered and quilted. I'll use that same pretty green in the binding. I love the fir tree shadows in this photo.

The backlit view like stained glass is always pretty too. Will enjoy linking with the party for reds at So Scrappy

I would like to have this bound and layered this week. Especially doable as Rainbow Neighbourhood is almost finished! Amazing what you can accomplish when you actually spend time in the sewing room doing it. :D

Thanks Joanne and Michelle for confirming that line of poetry for me. Yes it is from Robert Herrick's poem that features the more famous line Gather ye rosebuds while ye may. I had to smile because young "maids" in fishing communities and on farms had little time to gather rosebuds. And I must say I very much enjoyed reading what your "time wasters" are so thanks for sharing.

I need to show you my hair these days. It is a little naturally curly and the humidity makes it frizzy and a bit wild. I'm still growing it out from the Pixie cut I gave myself and it is the longest it's been in ten years! I'm letting it sit on my head like a wild bird nest! 

Hope your week is off to a great start!

Happily linking with The Inquiring Quilter, Songbird Designs, Quilt Schmilt, My Quilt Infatuation, Sew and Tell, Finished Friday, Alycia Quilts, Kathy's Quilts and Small Quilts and Doll Quilts.

 

Time Wasters, Geraniums, Fair Food, Solidarity Blocks

Philip Jacobs, a designer for Free Spirit, puts such detail into his flower renderings. Here is his "Geranium" fabric beautifully defying the old adage that blue and green should never be seen except together in the washing machine. 

And here are my winter geraniums enjoying the sun on the back deck. 

Coming into a second blooming. I pinched them back so they would bush out and not grow up and leggy.

I'm reading Emma Donahue's Haven. So far about a quarter in, I am enjoying it. Three Irish monks trying to survive on an isolated island during a time of plague is the premise in a nutshell.

Things I waste time on... 

is this Wednesday or Thursday? (substitute any days)

                                                  did I buy -? If I did, where did I put it?

                                                      did I put on sunscreen?

and there are always the endless where ares???? the remote, my reading glasses, the pen, the camera, my phone, etc. (In reverse to this I'm obsessive about my purse and keys and always know exactly where they are.) What are your time wasters? 

 I continue the hand quilting on my Rainbow Neighbourhood which is my job in front of the tv at night. I'm on my way to that being finished this weekend and ready for the binding.

 And when I saw the So Scrappy RSC July colour is red, it reminded me of a QAL called Solidarity run by Quiltmania back during the pandemic. The blocks were sewn with red and white fabrics. I stitched some of the blocks, maybe 12 of them. I searched about in my orphan block drawer which I made during the last big sewing room sort out, found them and began arranging the layout. Here are the first four largest blocks. Applique was a big feature of the QAL.

 My old computer completely died and I've been without for five days so apologies for not visiting you and also the crooked photo below...this new laptop  just arrived and I still have to figure out the photo features. These blocks cheered me up today as they looked so bright in the sunlight. Our temp. made it to 35C with humidity feeling like 42C so it was a quick photo shoot.

LeeAnna at Not Afraid of Color's prompt this week has to do with favourite fair food. They often combine rib fests with fairs here and having a meal of barbequed ribs from the rib chef stars is very popular. Robbie loves the candy candy at the fairs. What about you? Candied apples? Flavoured popcorn maybe? The hot dogs?

It is strawberry season and fresh strawberries are the cheapest they will be all year. We are enjoying a bowl each night.

We celebrated Canada Day on Saturday. Sadly, many outdoor activities had to be cancelled here in our corner of Ontario because of the tornado/severe thunder and lightening storm warnings. Another first for weather news. Though a miserable cloudy day with high humidity and many mosquitoes, no tornado materialized, thankfully.  However, a close neighbour of daughter's had lightening strike one of their front yard trees and destroy it. Scary!

 Hubby has to wear multiple layers even in this heat which seems remarkable to me. I tried to use the quote  "times of life when youth and blood are warmer"- badly. Not remembering whose line that is. Do you?

I heard from many that you liked the embroidery in the last post. Thank you for the kind words and it is especially good to know slow stitching/handwork is still so appreciated. 

 I've got  my work cut out for me now learning how to sort everything on this new laptop. It is an updated version of my last two so it shouldn't be that much of a challenge....says she hopefully.

You all have a great weekend and stay as safe as you can!

Also great to share this post with Quilting is More Fun Than Housework, Kathy's Quilts and Quilting Patchwork Applique.