Gravity: Cosmic Blocks

Here are this week's Gravity blocks.

 All the blocks in this quilt have gone together easily.  It is nice to work with big pieces for a change.  I'm still liking Jaybird Quilts' rulers, and her pattern directions are easy to follow.  I'm looking forward to making another of her quilts as soon as I get one of my scrap tops pieced.

Linking up:  http://busyhandsquilts.blogspot.com/2015/07/gravity-quilt-along-block-7-cosmic.html

More In Bloom

We were gone just four days last week, and in just that short time, more things started to bloom.

Here's the crepe myrtle in the front yard:

It has gotten huge over the past 13 years we've lived in this house.  We are not ones who do much pruning to our trees.  Some of my neighbors practice 'crepe murder', they cut the tops off their crepe myrtles every  spring until the tree stands about 8 feet tall.  They get a lot of growth and flowers on the tops, but they ruin the shape of the tree.  My crepe myrtle needs some trimming up of the lower branches.  I'll also cut off any branches that are scraping the siding of the house.  Whoever planted this tree should have moved it farther out from the house or planted a different variety.  Eventually, we will have to take this tree down and plant something smaller.  I took one of the seedlings from this tree and planted it out back a few years ago. It is blooming some, but not like its parent tree.

Trimming some of the lower branches should also help these daisies get more sun. 

 

These daisies were planted in the backyard by the former homeowner.  They spread all over, and last year I gave loads of them away.  All of my daisies are now getting too much shade.  They all need to be moved.  It is a big job and too hot to contemplate doing until fall.

 

I have four varieties of yellow daylilies now.  These are the biggest (6-7 inches across) and last to bloom.

 

 

My sister gave me some pink daylilies a couple of years ago.  Last year I think I got one flower.  We have had a lot of rain this month, though, and I've gotten a lot of blooms from them lately.

 

 

I planted 6 swamp milkweeds  last year.  Only two are blooming.  It must be location related. 

 

 

Swamp milkweed is not my favorite flower, but I plant them for the butterflies.  The bees and dragonflies seem to like them too.

 

My rose of Sharon and lantana are unremarkable this year.

 

 

Maybe I should have stuck with the yellow lantana.  I think we've had a little too much rain for peak performance.  I'm also surprised my butterfly bushes haven't bloomed yet.  I can see little  1/2 inch buds, but no flowers yet.

 

Here's my mystery plant.  I may have mentioned this last year.

 

 

It looks like a cross between an iris and a lily to me.  I don't know where it came from.  It just appeared in the flower bed one day.  Update:  a little googling shows that this is probably a blackberry or leopard lily.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A Cross Stitch Finish: The Battle Hymn of the Republic

I picked up my latest cross stitch from the framer.  For those of you who don't cross stitch, getting a piece framed is like getting a quilt bound.  Lots of happy dancing here!  I have dozens of cross stitched projects in the, to use a quilting term, flimsy stage.  The last time I had a picture framed was in January of 2013.  http://sewingoutofmycomfortzone.blogspot.com/2013/01/mouline-rouge-in-purple.html

This is The Battle Hymn of the Republic by Little House Needleworks.  It was a quick stitch.  I started it in April when we went to visit our son in Florida, and I did a big chunk of it then.  I also had a four and a half hour stretch at the car mechanic and stitched another big chunk then. The rest was done an hour here and there.

 

 

An added benefit of stitching this piece is that I now know the words to The Battle Hymn of the Republic.  Almost everyone knows the first line, but I never could remember, 'He hath loosed the fateful lightning of his terrible swift sword.' Now I think I'll remember it even though it is a tongue twister when sung at a decent tempo.

 

Linking up:  http://www.supermomnocape.com/2015/08/03/vintage-embroidery-monday-stitchery-link-party-17/

Stash Report, Row by Row 2015

Last year I completed  10  rows from the Row by Row shop hop.  I collected many more patterns, but those were all I got sewn.  My goal this summer is to chose a layout and get a top finished. Eight of the ten rows I completed were summer themed or  used a lot of bright colors.

 

Right now I think I'm going to combine these rows with some of the rows from this year's hop. I usually just pick up the pattern and use my stash from the rows, but when I was in Quilter's Corner this week, I bought a kit for an applique row.  This kit has pre-cut and pre-fused applique pieces to make construction easy.  I don't enjoy applique, and that is the ONLY way I would attempt this row.  I didn't count how many little pieces there are, but the lady at the shop said about 50.  Maybe she was joking?  It is still going to be a lot of work, but very cute, I think!

 

 

Used This Week:  0                                       
Used Year to Date: 41.125 yards 
Added this week: 0 .25 yards
Added year to date: 53.625 yards
 Net added: 12.5 yards

 

Linking up:  http://www.patchworktimes.com/2015/06/28/fabric-report-week-26-2015/

 

                 

 

Gravity: Ultraviolet Blocks

I've completed the ultraviolet blocks for  Gravity.

 

The color isn't good in this picture, but the blocks are now buried somewhere in the mess that is the yellow bedroom, and I'm not sure I could find them to retake the picture.

 

I was recently in a local quilt shop and saw their version of Gravity, made of batiks.  It was beautiful, and if the kit had been offered in batiks at a reasonable price, I probably would have made that version instead of the Kona version.

 

Linking up:  http://busyhandsquilts.blogspot.com/2015/06/gravity-quilt-along-block-6-ultraviolet.html

 

 

Gingerbread Stitching House

Four days ago, I decided to join a stitch-along for Scream House.  All of a sudden I got interested in working on one of my WIPS instead, The Victoria Sampler's Gingerbread Stitching House.  It is a gingerbread house with lots of beads.  The roof comes off, and is a needlebook.  The chimney is a pincushion.  There is a small fob with a gingerbread man on it. 

Here's the top of the biscornu:

 

Hardanger is not a forgiving technique, and I don't do it very often. It makes me nervous to cut the threads since I don't see as well as I used to, even with magnification and lots of light. There are a few mistakes in this piece, but it is as good as I can do. 

 

Here are the front and the back of the house.  I'm having a hard time getting the picture orientation right side up.

The finishing instructions look complicated to me, but I'm going to try it anyway!

Project of Doom, More Blocks

Does it seem like this Project of Doom quilt will go on forever?  It does to me!  I've completed a couple more blocks, but the next pattern just came out today. 

 

 

I am not entirely happy with the block with the open book.  I know a lot of the cover of the book where it bends will get cut off in my 1/4 inch seam, but that is how the pattern is.  I could fix it, but this block was a lot of work, just to get Aberforth's eye in, and I'm tired of messing with it!  If it still bothers me when I go to put the blocks together, I'll fix it then.