Potpourri…

 

….or, a collection of miscellaneous literary extracts.

Potpourri would be a really lovely name for a future quilt.  But today it’s a list of how I have been spending my time lately, not necessarily in the right order.

1.  Picking tomatoes. Yes, my tomato garden continues to test my limits physically and time-wise. But this is the garden’s season to shine and it will not be like this this in a few months. Because of the heat, I have been going out after the afternoon sun goes down behind my eucalyptus trees….so much better. I am planning a winter garden but I think a much smaller one than the one that’s keeping me busy and busier right now. Just a nice stand of snow peas, enough lettuce for salads and some good greens for a potful every couple of weeks.

2.  Drying and freezing tomatoes. I got tired of dehydrating tomatoes so I went out and bought a good-sized upright freezer. All I had before was the one that’s a part of my refrigerator and that wasn’t doing it for the Gal with the Big Garden. Now I am freezing them whole in gallon plastic bags. I gave another 10 pounds to Jeff and Sherry and 10 pounds to my DH’s brother. My nephew Chris is known to be a “tomato-eating machine.”

3.  Went to a party in honor of my son Jeff’s birthday and got to visit with some of his friends from high school, got lots of hugs and kisses from my little grandsons, ate good barbeque and in general had more fun than anybody has a right ta’.

4.  Went camping near Monterey/Moss Landing for 5 days with son Jeff and his family. Let’s see if I can figure out how to get my pictures off of my new ipad and onto this blog post.

 

 

 

This is Jonah decorating cookies that we made together in my RV.  He is quite an artist and he gave just as much time and care with these cookies as he does with his other artistic endeavors.

 

Here is our little Miles with Ondie carefully watching over him.

5.  Taking my mother to her doctor appointments (lots of them), her shopping trips and taking care of her on weekends.   

6.  For the first time in all the years that I have been safely handling a rotary cutter, I cut my finger. And I never do anything halfway, so it was a doozy! My left index finger required THREE STITCHES to stop the bleeding and to close up the slab of skin that I opened up. I had DH take pictures but I decided to spare you, dear readers, all the gore and disfigurement. After all, I want you all to make more quilts, not to give it up forever! The nice lady at the ER sure did a good job of stitching my finger….I don’t even have a scar.

 

 

7.  I finished two quilts lately, my Bulls-Eye and the Bonnie Hunter Orca Bay mystery quilt.    Here is a close-up of the Baptist Fan quilting that I did on Orca Bay. It really shows up nice on the dark fabric that I used for the border. In this pic the quilt was still on the frame after finishing the last row of the Baptist Fans. 

Here is my Bulls-Eye quilt:

                                  

I’ve shown the whole top before so this is just another close-up to show the quilting.  The meander quilting that I chose made it come out soft and puffy-looking, which I like.  It makes me realize why quilts are sometimes known as comforters.  They do, literally, comfort us.

8.  And lastly, tryin’ to stay cool but mostly not succeedin’

 

Garden Update!

 

Picking tomatoes has become a major chore and I have to be out out there EVERY day or those ripe ‘maters will just get away from me!  This is the bowl that we are using for cooking, eating and sharing with others.

                                                                   

                                                                               

Here is a bowl that I have sorted out tomatoes for dehydrating.  We love the little dehydrated tomato slices….we call them tomato candy!.  I also love to add a handful to what I’m cooking, like soup, stews, or casseroles.  They are really good in macaroni and cheese.

 

 

This is what I picked this morning—this is in addition to the other bowls—all 16 plus pounds of them!  My favorite eating tomatoes are called Japanese Black Trifele….they are the dark reddish brown ones with a little green in the first picture.  (That’s called green “shoulders”).  You only see a few because we eat them so fast!  DH’s favorite tomato is Early Girl, beautiful, round, smooth 2” and very early.  

Tomatoes are a thing of beauty!

 

Here is a Dog Who Just Can’t Make Up His Mind

My Ondie, the Puppy Love of my life, and general provider to our family both of entertainment and security, was feeling particularly playful this morning.  And that is saying something!  See for yourself….

Ondie Can’t Decide Which Game to Play!

He ****loves**** his Jolly Ball so much!  But how do you choose between that and a game of “Chase the Light Beam,” huh, Ondie?  Does Ondie know how to spell “conflicted?”

Who knew that a dog could bark with his mouth full?

 

This Year—I Have the Garden of My Dreams!

This is my Principe Borghese (Roma type tomato for drying) that has escaped over the fence!   There are even more of this plant on the inside.  And both sides are just covered with flowers and small green tomatoes.




This past winter Jerry did a lot of work to make my garden convenient for me, ample in size and protected from critters who might wish to steal the fruits of our hard work. The garden is long and fairly narrow, with a generous walk space dug down the center and built-up sides for planting. The drip system, garden hose, and sink complete this very cool garden.


When he was done, I went to work.  Since the soil has not been enriched with amendments prior to this, I decided to plant in bagged organic amendments from the garden store.  I started by slashing the bottom of each bag about every inch.  This allows the roots to escape the bag---because this is the bottom!  I turned the bag over on the other side, removed the plastic from the whole side, placed dripper hose across the center of the bag.  I planted my little tomato plants near a dripper emitter and used metal stakes that I made out of 14 gauge wire to keep the drippers where they should be.



This was ***REAL** work, because I planted 44 tomatoes, 8 chile pepper plants, 1 tomatillo, and a few cucumbers.  Not all the tomatoes thrived, for reasons unknown, but about 85% of them are trying to take over the world!


Everybody has been asking me for weeks, “When will you start picking ripe tomatoes?”  And I have been saying all along, “Before the end of June.”  Well, on June 26, I picked my first tomatoes and today I picked a couple more.  This is one of the best times of the year for those of us who are passionate about our gardens.

Working on a Back for One of Those Really Big Quilts!

Hi All

For a couple of days now I have been working on a back for a quilt that I need to finish.  Why is it that when we finish a quilt top we really feel like at least we're over the top, past the hump day, mission almost accomplished? 

Then we want to go directly to quilting, do not pass GO, get one with it!  I know that's how I feel every time that I get one of those beautiful tops done and then have the unstoppable urge to bring it to its destiny as a *****FINISHED QUILT****.

Then I come back down to earth when I realize that it can't be quilted until the back is pieced.  Well, I suppose I could use a whole cloth back.  Even then, you have to measure it carefully and it is so big and unwieldy.  I usually piece them because I like working from my stash, I like pieced backs because they are appropriate for the scrappy quilt tops that I like best, and it allows me to use up more scraps.

This quilt top above that is covering my dining room table is my Bull's Eye quilt.  You make raw-edge appliqued circles inside of circles, then you cut them apart into quarters, mix well, and reassemble randomly.   I put the Bulls Eye blocks in a zig-zag setting with some plain blocks.  It's big, about 102"x103."

So I'm ready to quilt this big guy and I needed an even bigger back.  I picked out a couple of pieces that were 3 yards long, just right for the length of my top.  That only gives me 80" in width, however.  So I went into my bin where I keep scraps that I that I have cut 10 1/2" by whatever (random lengths).  I made 3 pieced strips of these that were 3 yards long for a grand total of 110" wide.

It's not fancy but I had fun making it.  Best of all, it will help this homey big ole quilt top become a ****Finished Quilt****.  How I love it!

 

Windows by the Hundreds is My New Quilt

Hey--

This is Windows by the Hundreds, although you cannot see the whole quilt.  It is 81.5" by 96.5" and 10 blocks by 12 blocks.  Does it look a little  complicated to piece?  It's NOT!....not even a little bit!

This is my original design, at least I hope it is.  I did design this quilt all by myself, but I make no guarantees that someone, somewhere has not done something similar.  (Did you hear the one about the new quilter who proudly told her friends that she made her own original block?  Turns out it was a 9-patch.)

This quilt is so easy because it is made up of 2 blocks that alternate.  In Block A, on top, the two burgundy fabric strips are oriented vertically.  In Block B, below, the three burgundy fabric strips are oriented horizontally.  Both blocks are 7.5" finished.

For the burgundy strips, cut 300 - 2" x 8" strips.  That takes about 3 1/2 yards.  It looks nice if the border is burgundy also.  That's another yard.  I am allowing some extra  for shrinkage and boo-boo's.  I cut out the borders first, the long way so they did not have to be pieced.  I made made them a little longer than was needed, about 95" x 3 1/4" to allow for contingencies (a fancy word for more boo-boos!)  Then I cut my 2" strips out of the remaining fabric.

If you use your scraps for the 2" squares, it would require the equivalent of 3 1/2 yards in assorted scraps.  I hope you use your scraps, because I think they make the most fun and interesting quilts!

The pieced strips are made up of five 2" squares, starting with a dark square, adding a light neutral square, and alternating until you have five.  The pieced strips should measure 8" by 2".  They need to be accurate because they are going to be sewn to burgundy (or whatever color you choose) strips that are also 8" x 2."

If you aren't getting your pieced strips to be 8" by 2," then adjust your seam allowance or check that you are cutting accurately.

For the size of my quilt, I made 60 of Block A and 60 of Block B.

Now you have your 120 blocks and they must be assembled into rows.  You need to know that half of the rows start with an A Block and half start with a B Block.  You can call them A rows and B rows and they alternate.  If you have used lots of different scraps so far then it really does not matter which A Block goes next to a B Block.  You can make two piles of blocks and just randomly piece them as long as they....drum-roll....alternate!

When you get the body of your quilt pieced (10 blocks across by 12 blocks down), press it all very carefully to get the true size of it.  Place two border strips together and then place them down the ***CENTER*** of the quilt body vertically.  If you trim the borders to fit the center, your borders will fit and your quilt will be square.  After sewing on the right and left borders and pressing them, then do the same process with your top and bottom borders.  The only difference is that the top and bottom borders must go across the center and cover the two side borders. Trim and sew.

I made a scrappy back for Windows by the Hundreds that incorporates a few extra blocks that I had.

Quilt, bind and label and you're ready for show 'n tell with your quilting friends!

Now I'm Momma to Two Dogs! (For a Time, Anyway)

Well, the bad news first....but not real bad news...just that I had a relapse of strep throat after being sick all through April and then getting my strength back in the last couple of weeks.  Then I got that humongously sore throat back and the doc said another ten days of even stronger strep killer.  This time I have not been sick enough to stay in bed all day, but I have been taking a little nap in the afternoon just to assure my body that I really am taking good care of it.

I have been puppy-sitting with a really nice dog, Teddy, who belongs to my son Jeff and Family.  They are on vacation in the Pacific Northwest for two weeks. 
 

Look at those cute faces!  Teddy, on the left, is a Chow-Lab mix, I think.  My Ondie, on the right, is a German Shepherd Dog.  These dogs are just BFF's!!!!  It has been a joy to have Teddy here to play with Ondie and run all over the yard with him.  But, I'll tell you, it is about 100 x's harder to get a good photo of two dogs together, than just one alone.

The German Shepherd alone is especially easy to photograph because these dogs are natural hams and like to pose for the camera.  I don't know much they understand about this, but I learned over many years that it is IMPOSSIBLE to overestimate the intelligence of a German Shepherd.

We are doing some fixing-up in our kitchen, which lately has been a new range top and exhaust hood for me.  My very talented  and hard-working DH did all the work and has now moved on to installing some pull-out drawers for the cabinets.

 

He took some time out the other day to make a playhouse for the little grandsons out of the big box that the range hood came in.

He said, "You know, this is going to be very wonky and the duct tape is not pretty."  I said that I loved it anyway and that the little ones are all boys..... what will they care about duct tape?   I told him that it reminded me of some wonky house blocks that I've made.

What do you think?

See any resemblance?