Rose extravaganza!

    Not sure I can take any credit for it, but my rose garden was stupendous this year. I buy my roses online from Heirloom Roses They sell their own root stock, not grafts. They have super videos that show planting, care and pruning. I pruned them this year with the video next to me on my phone. I think I did it correctly. There are a couple of David Austin shrub roses and a very cool one called Hot Cocoa that has dark, shiny leaves and orangish red dusted with cocoa flowers. After the first explosion of colors, the Japanese beetles moved in and I go on missions a couple of times a day to dump them in a container of soapy water. Not many blooms now, but those drated bugs chew them up.

Take it easy

Small pink climber

David Austin shrub rose

David Austin shrub rose

David Austin shrub rose

David Austin shrub rose

Hot Cocoa

Scrap Jar Stars complete and ready!

     It was a long while ago that I started Scrap Jar Stars, a tutorial by Gigi's Thimble. I sewed all the components of the blocks as a Leader Ender in between other projects as there are so many small same units. Once they were sewn, I sewed the blocks as a project. I love scraps and this quilt is great for them. It took a while, but that is ok because it is finished, ready to be a comfort quilt.
    I had fun quilting it according to block design. I tried a lot of binding choices, but this kind of crazy green dot one just did the trick. The backing is from a bolt someone from quilt guild gave me.

Back

Flowers make the yard go round

    Thank you for all the wonderful comments on yesterday's post. My intention was to encourage current quilters and remind other quilters about the power of the quilt so they can engage in this activity. Many are discouraged and feel like there is nothing meaningful one person can do. Creating and giving enlarges you and makes a difference to  others.

     I have a very small lot. I would love more land. I try to make the best use of it and this year I bought some standing planters (thank you Cathy for encouragement) so I could have lettuce, tomatoes, peppers and some green onions. I really love flowers and use a lot of pots and planters.  I forgot to take pictures of the deck plants, got to go do it! Forgot the tomato planter also. My husband is building a pergola, so when the roof goes on, I will show it to you. So, this is a snippet of my dinky yard.

Bought four of these from Tractor Supply, my new fave store!

Quilt Power!

      Two comfort quilt packages went out recently. I had not had any requests for a while, so I was glad to move these out! Pixel Chain and Wanda's Butterfly Quilt were bagged up and delivered to the people who had requested them for someone they knew. Both were for women with sudden stage 4 cancers.

    A year ago, I received an email request from an unknown woman stricken with multiple cancers and other horrible physical issues who somehow found my name online. I took a chance on sending her a quilt. I sent some photos to choose from, and she picked a denim one with hand dyes that had been overlooked by many. She was given 4 months to live. I did not hear from her for a long while and I feared she did not make it and prayed she had got the quilt and it gave her some comfort. After months, I heard from her and she was recovering from brain surgery and a hip replacement. After a long while, I heard a couple more times about treatments and sickness. A couple of weeks ago, I received an email about her miraculous progress. I am not sharing any name or identifying info, but I have to share her words because they keep me dedicated to quilting and praying in such times as these:

"Hi, hey, howdy, hello,  how ya doing? LoL....... Hi!

I'm feeling pretty good my doctor says I've beat the odds for my diagnosis of advanced stage metastatic cancer.......

I wanted to share with you

They did an mri of my brain and all the lesions are gone even the little tiny ones they weren't sure about are gone but the 2 large ones that they were concerned about because they were pushing inwards against the main artery in my brain are completely gone.......

I am able to be up and walking now sometimes I have to use my cane but I'll take a cane over my wheelchair any day they had told me 4 and a half months but they aren't putting a time on my life now I have responded better than they expected and faster than they expected to treatment they said if I can keep my attitude and energy like I am I have a chance of beating this they said treatment is not a cure but to prolong my life and give me better quality of life but sometimes there are people that can and do beat it and they don't want to give me false hope but I have a chance of being one of those people .......

If cancer had a face I'd punch it right in the face....... 

It's having support that is making it possible to beat this

Total strangers have shown me so much love and support ,

People like you that's what's made this possible people like you put the human in humanity"

     So a huge thank you to those who have helped me in accomplishing getting comfort quilts out there. Thank you to Wanda, Gwen, Quiltdiva Julie, Maureen, and others for supplies and quilts. Thank you to friends and strangers who provided funds for batting, books, bags, etc. Now, pass me the kleenexes.

Jelly Twist 1 and 2

      I have had just plain trouble writing and posting. I want to, need to, but my ability to multi-task in my life is not where I would have it. Other stuff is getting done, but not writing. There is a certain mental energy and focus that writing takes and I find myself often lacking it. I am going to try to get on track.
       The last time I showed Jelly Twist by Cluck, Cluck, Sew, most of it was together. However, the more I complete tops, the more I dislike having lots of seams in the binding for bulk and also I want more fabric with allowance to trim. So, I sewed extra colored strips made up of scrappy batiks for an outside border. If I trim after quilting, it will not change the quilt itself. I like the finish of it. So, I girded up, pulled fabric and sewed it on. Now, ready for the quilting pile (like a lot of other ones done).

     So, Jelly Twist 2 is from strips sent by Quiltdiva Julie. I thought I would put the black strip in the center of each block, so I made some sample blocks and tried it out. Nope, the black took over and made a different look than what I wanted. Unfortunately, I had sewn all the center black strips with the white squares on to be efficient and had to dig out other white fabric and cut squares. I found some other color strips I had to supplement for the black ones. I should have just cut the strips I needed for the sample and then evaluated instead of cutting perfectly good strips I now have to salvage.

Yikes with the black, right?

Ah, better, ok?

Set of two rings of blocks. Decided to leave out the whites with real darks from now on. Back to digging out more strips.

     Now, out of 48 blocks, I have 30 sewn. The other blocks I layed out on pieces of cardboard stacked up so I know I have enough strips to sew all 48 blocks.

Slow Octagons

      Working on an octagon One Block Wonder (OBW). I sew them when I only have a few minutes because the pieces are small and be put aside easily. Sometimes I sew them as leader/enders. I like the octagon ones better than the hexagons because they sew together as whole blocks, not half hexies. More complicated, more repeats needed, but hey, looks terrific when done.

Probably only have half the octagons sewn, but they are so lovely, every one different

Before the bloom comes the bud...

       I can't believe how fast May passed. The siberian iris and the roses shot out of nowhere and are now in bloom. The colors almost make me faint with their beauty. The Hot Cocoa one did not open yet, so let's hope it does soon.

Up and getting ready Siberian Iris

This variety is more Blue violet than deep violet, also shorter

All three in bud, Hot Cocoa in middle, David Austin's on either side