The agony and the ecstasy

     Since my studio is in my home, I am around a lot. My small yard is an inspiration to me. Last week, I had to have two trees removed- one diseased and one to make room for the garage expansion for my husband's man cave workshop. I loved the larch removed for the expansion. I brought it home in a bucket and watched it grow tall. It looses its needles in the fall and when they grow back in spring, it looks like a Dr. Seuss tree, but alas, no more. The white pine was being destroyed by borers, but the tree crew destroyed my plants, trampling the iris, heuchera and such. They still need to come back and grind out the stumps, oh, joy. Then we can replace the leaking pond shell (new one in the wings) and put the fish and plants back. Then I can repair, recreate, or something the trashed area. We are thinking of planting a columnar oak in its place. 
    On the ecstasy side in the front, the herbaceous peonies, japanese iris (back ones maimed), lupines and others are stunning. We don't have a huge growing season and I fear the back will look like a war zone all season. Still waiting for the concrete guys to dig up and pour the pad. Then the framers. It will be a long summer. I just have to keep looking out front.

The larch trunk

Finishing touch

     I saw the ad and example of small labels that I could sew in the binding on Sew Fresh blog and decided, with the coupon, to give them a try. Ikaprint labels come all the way from France! I received them and sewed one in the last comfort quilt. I like them, they add that extra touch. I already have a big label from Spoonflower that goes on the back, but this makes it just right.

Front of label

Backside

The designer's squares sewn

     From a past post, I wrote about my granddaughter's quilt design and how she said she only designs quilts, not sew them. So I sewed all the squares and showed it to her. She said, "I knew it would look like that." How come she gets it at five when sometimes I struggle to see how it will come out? 

Because of the star, I sewed each section in a web in three sections, columns first, then the rows. Then I sewed the long seams connecting the sections.

The sunlight was coming through the fence, so it looks a bit odd

Another one in the rear view mirror

     A Red, white and blue exploding squares quilt went to its new home yesterday. I had finished this quilt top a while ago, but just finished the quilting. I had this great backing fabric that seemed perfect for it. Through a support group at church, a quilt was requested for a man who is battling colon cancer. I had nothing available then. All I had was this recently completed RWB quilt, which I am not sure would work for him. When I asked about him, I was told he was a vet! So, of course the quilt was washed, labeled, and put in its tote, then bagged in an XL zip lock, and given to the contact person. 

     Now to get some more comfort quilt tops done with an acting up long arm.

The quilt is not yet washed, it fluffed up quite nice. As soon as a quilt is washed, it goes in the bag for chemo recipients.

I love the quirky patriotic fabric- had to keep it in one big piece

Big florals

     In the spring, I have some pretty big blooms in the yard. The tree peonies are monstrous and the red poppies are attention seekers. Unfortunately, neither of them last long. Last year, the heat and drought did them in and this year the wet weather sogged them out. I wish I could find fabric like this or make a quilt, but sadly, I hate fusibles.

Scrapper Junior in training

     My 5 year old assistant (granddaughter) in holding quilts for photographs was looking through my box of 5" squares that I cut from scraps and leftovers. I asked her if she wanted to design a quilt. She said yes. We sat down with graph paper and looked at some quilt photos I had saved. We were able to modify one to use the 5" squares. I laid my big felt on the floor, and we started with the star. She chose all the yellows and then the dark bordering squares. Then she filled in all the other squares as we kept counting and rechecking our graph paper design that we colored with pencils. She was very insistent on only using one fabric once (Yes, she really is my granddaugher!), so I had to cut more fabric of her choosing in order to have them all different. 
     The quilt was laid out in my family room, and my bedroom has a door that looks out over the family room. So, we went upstairs and looked down at the quilt. I photographed it on my iPad and then she went back downstairs and moved things around until she was happy with it. She searched for the red heart fabric in the bottom right corner of the darks to make it final. We put the painters tape numbers on the top columns and I picked it up by columns to sew it web style. She balked at the sewing end and said she just designs them. Here is Jolene's layout:

Variation on the Starburst

     The one layer cake I bought from MSQC, the Shibori by Moda, was able to make two lap size quilts. I cannot find this layer cake anymore- why did I not buy two? I love indigo. Anyways, I shared the first quilt, and here is the second one, asymmetrical, sewn- no borders yet. All made from HST that I cut from the 10" squares, one blue, one white sewn all around the edges, and cut on both diagonals. Have to find something for the border. 

     It is the first day of June, but I do not have all my flowers and pots done yet. We have had a lot of rain since April and I bought all my plants this past weekend. So far, here is my humble little deck. More to go. No grand views like some that are posted and make me drool.