It has been a very nice day. The sun was out and it was warm. Now, a little rain is falling so that I don’t have to water the gardens this evening. The gardens are beautiful in spots. This is the year to observe the gardens and make plans for next year. I have been out weeding and found that there were more weeds than flowers. I’m sure that the weeds will come back, but for now, the plants can grow and fill in the spots.

The Concord Monitor had an article about a Butterfly Bush that was named “Miss Molly” . I had to have one and found it in a local nursery

The Butterfly Bush is living up to it’s name. There was a butterfly on the bush this evening.

The day lilies are beautiful.

This flower looks like Queen Anne’s Lace, but it is really second year carrots. I like to leave carrots in the ground for the flowers the next year.

Coneflowers. I plan to add different colored coneflowers next year.

I have several plants of Allium. Next year, I’ll divide them so that they will be in more places in the gardens.

This is a bright spot in a shady garden.

There are many green tomatoes on the tomato plants. I noticed a zucchini that will be ready to eat next week. The greens are ready to be picked. I didn’t think that the vegetables did very well, but I have all I need along with the vegetable truck that comes into the community every Saturday.

One of my neighbors had a party last week . Several of my other neighbors were there. We had good food and good fellowship. We met to watch the Night Blooming Cereus open. The NIght Blooming Cereus blooms just once a year and then dies.

It was fascinating to see the flower open up. We watched it shutter and then it opened a little. The flower did this several times until it was fully open after dark.

Plans are being made for my trip to a quilt show in September. One of my neighbors, who just happens to be one of my best friends, and I won a trip to a quilt show in Pennsylvania. We are going down by Amtrak. A videographer was with us today to begin the process. It was fun to have a bed quilt show with some of my quilts. Miss Molly was very good to have other people in the house. She thinks that anyone who comes is there for her.

I haven’t been sewing much lately, but I have finished the top to a baby quilt. I used the leftover scraps from the last two quilts that I made to make nine mile a minute blocks. I added a black and white striped fabric. It makes the other fabrics pop. I learned this trick from one of my students in a mile a minute class.

This quilt will go to a baby girl. It is next on the list to be quilted. I may have to wait for a while because the Maine Virtual quilt show starts this week. I have signed up for some demonstrations and other things.

In the meantime, I’ll still working on Dear Jane in the evenings. Someday, it will be finished.

Have a great day and happy quilting.

I blame it on the heat wave. After I had the wonderful vacation at York Beach and Moody Beach, I decided to finish a few projects and start a few more. It was hot and humid. I don’t have central air conditioning, but have two little area air conditioners. They work fine in one room, but take a little longer to cool the air.

I filled one with water and ice cubes and placed it on a double stacked plastic three drawer unit. A fan was on the floor to blow the air throughout the room. I started to sew before the air was cool. The pieces were sticking to me and falling on the floor. I would sew a row and use my friend, Mr. Seam Ripper, to unsew and sew again. Piecing was not going well so I decided to finish the last of the 23 day sewing room declutter. What could go wrong with that. The last item on my list was notions. I gathered all my stuff and began to organize. The pins and needles are in one drawer. The scissors and rotary cutters are in another drawer. Everything was going well until the top three drawers fell over. Everything fell on the floor. All the pins, needles, scissors, rotary cutters, and everything else that was in the top three drawers. Also the air conditioner with its ice and water. I cleaned up all the ice and water, left the other stuff on the floor and went into the living room, put my feet up and read a book for the rest of the day. I did go back the next day and reorganize again. Now the 23 day declutter is finished. I found things that I forgot I had. Fabric to go into the many quilts in my head. All is well. Needless to say, the drawer units are no longer stacked.

I have finished the Stay At Home Pandemic Round Robin top. Unfortunately, I forgot to sent the instructions for the last Guild newsletter, but I will send them for the September one. .

SAHPRR Instructions

Center – any block that you want. Row 1 – flying geese. Row 2 – triangles Row 3 – squares. Row 4 – diamonds. Row 5 – piano keys. Row 6 – stars. Row 7 anything goes.

I used scraps from my stash for this quilt. I read the other day that you’re not supposed to call your fabric a stash. It sound too much like trash. It is supposed to be called your fabric collection. You can have some fabrics in your permanent fabric collection. You don’t have to use your fabric just because it’s there.

Four quilts have come back from the long arm quilters. The binding was sewn on in the evenings while watching TV.

This is a Round Robin made with members of the Guild. The ladies did a wonderful job. This is one of my favorite quilts.

This is a block of the month bed runner. It is bigger than most bed runners, but I like the colors. It will go very nicely in my bedroom.

This is an older sampler quilt. It might have been a block of the week quilt.

Mystery quilt made with 5″ blocks makes a queen size quilt.

It’s amazing. This quilt is the same mystery quilt pattern made with 2 1/2″ squares. It is wall hanging or baby quilt size. Different colors and size of squares make it very different.

My July 3D Mini quilt top is finished. It is 14″ square. I’m enjoying this project very much. I can make one in a day and quilt it the next day and it’s done. No UFOs with 3D quilts. This is the fifth one in this project.

Have a great day and happy quilting.