Looking ahead.................

I need to use the double design wall in the basement for the pink/green layout but I also needed to be upstairs to watch the season finale of some TV shows.  I decided to spend my time pulling the fabric for a couple new quilts.  I have made this one before and really liked it.  I decided to do one in mostly blue batiks.

This plastic drawer unit has 5 drawers and now all of the strips I have left fill just 3 of the drawers.  I started cutting the 2.5" strips over 20 years ago and keep adding to it as I'm pressing and cutting batiks for other projects.  The new project will use some older strips plus some new ones.  I'm glad I put notes on my blog of the number of strips I used plus how I cut them.  I didn't follow the measurements on the pattern.

The other project will use Kaffe Collective strips.  I had some partial strips that I measured to see if I have enough to make a block.  There was a pile of too short strips that went back in the box.

There are more full width strips that I will use too.  I need to cut more strips as I work on it so this will be the second new quilt.

Meanwhile I need to get to the basement during daylight hours and start the pink/green layout.  

 

A sample of the pink/green............

I didn't get as far as a complete layout of my pink/green quilt but this is a sample of the variety in the blocks.  This is one of each of the 23 combinations and there are 6 blocks alike in each combination.  I put them on the wall as pinwheels but they are probably going to change when I get to the whole layout.  I still need to press the majority of them.

I have these 2 blocks leftover from the pink/blue layout that I might be able to use in the pink/green quilt.

 Most of the rain missed us yesterday with a shower finally around 6 p.m.  Other areas had downpours according to the news.

I ended up spending time outside again and took my camera out after I had pulled lots of weeds.  The Bleeding Heart is still blooming.

The flower buds are starting on the Annabelle Hydrangea.  I don't see buds on either of my other Hydrangeas yet.

The Garden Heliotrope has shot up in several locations and is just starting to bloom.  It has a strong scent similar to lilacs.

The hanging pots in the back garden are starting to have trailing flowers now.  Last year's assortment was similar but they didn't look this good.

This is one of the areas I worked on yesterday.  Look at all of that tall Creeping Charlie.  The poor Dianthus was almost covered with it and it was mixed into the Hosta leaves.

This is 2 varieties of Cranesbill next to each other.  The one in the back has white flowers.  I have another variety with pale lavender flowers in a back garden.

The porch pots are filling in nicely.  They have less plants than I usually put in them so I have to remember this worked well when I get ready to plant next year.

I only have one spot where the plants aren't filling in well and it is a new plant from last year that hasn't shown a lot of progress yet.  I'll give it a couple more weeks before I dig it out and replace it.  Maybe it will surprise me.  It's in the front center of the middle section

Another rain free day................

Three Begonias are free of their tiny pots and happy in the clay pots.  I still have a few more plants to put in a pot.  I also spread more of the leaf mulch in the front garden.  I have one more area that needs to be done but we have some rain predicted for 2 days so I may or may not get it done before the weekend.

In the area next to the Begonias one of my 3 types of Cranesbill is blooming.  The flowers are a little brighter color than they look here.

This is the entire section.  There are 2 of the Cranesbill plants.  They can tolerate wet soil.  My sidewalk is sinking and is tipped toward the garden and this area is next to the downspout extension so it does get quite wet when it rains.

On the other side of the porch I checked out the Columbines.  There are still a few good flowers.

My little crop of new Columbines is coming along nicely.  When they get a little taller I may get brave enough to thin them and maybe even transplant some to a new location.

I finished planting the tomatoes yesterday.  I bought 2 of the huge pots and saucers and a friend gave me another one the same size.  It's always hard to mow around the pots so I decided to put cardboard under them.  I have 4 planted along the driveway, 3 in the raised bed and 5 in pots.  Last year was a lean year for the red tomatoes but lots of the little yellow sweet cherry tomatoes.  I planted 2 of the plants with little yellow ones this year.

I can't believe the Peonies are starting to bloom.  This is about a week earlier than usual early blooming.  This is always the first plant but some others are only a few days later most years.

The close up shots never show the deep color.  I'll have to be watching for more blooming.  I have them planted in lots of different places.

 

Cutting and sewing............

Yesterday morning was cutting time for the pink and green quilt.  This is the new batch that I cut.

There were a few pieces already cut that just needed something to pair with.  I got these ready to sew and then exchanged the pink ones from the top left and bottom right corners with each other.  All were sewn last night, 6 in each pile.  Now it is time to turn on the iron.

This is the before photo of the Lenten Rose area.... and

this is after I cleaned up the area and edged the bed with some cast stone pieces.  The white spots on the leaves is the sun filtering through the red Weigela bush from the right of this bed.

It was predicted to be in the mid 50s yesterday but it got up to 65 degrees here.  I pulled weeds in several areas in addition to cleaning up this bed.

Mostly outside yesterday...............

This is the view out my studio window from my computer chair.  I bought a couple huge pots yesterday to plant tomatoes in.  I used my 2 wheel cart to bring the 40 lb. bags of dirt around to the back and got both of them planted.  There are a couple small pots there that don't have anything planted in them. I think I'll plant flower seeds in them.

It got up to a little over 80 degrees yesterday.  I had a paper towel in  my pocket to keep mopping my face so the sweat didn't run into my eyes.  If I had known what the temperature was I probably would have quit working outside sooner.  The last thing I did was to start putting the leaf mulch around the plants in the front garden.  I have 3 more bags to go.

This view is from the corner of the house and garage looking forward on the same garden.  The plants at the bottom of the photo are new plants put in the ground last fall.  One is Veronica and the next one is the shaggy center red coneflower.  I took this photo before I started spreading the leaf mulch.

I found a couple Jack-in-the-Pulpit in the back garden.  I have 2 varieties.

I only found one of the striped ones.  I used to have a huge plant with them but it eventually died out, maybe because the Lily of the Valley is choking out some other plants.

One of my problems in the back garden is the Velcro weed.  I had never even seen it a few years ago and now it is rampant early in the growing season.  It's going to be cooler for a couple days so maybe I can get a lot of it pulled out.

Two of my Lenten Rose plants have shot up with a lot of new growth above the flowering layer.  It's obvious I haven't gotten the weeding done there yet.  

All I did in the sewing studio was to count the leftover green, pink, and blue triangles.  There will be a few more greens after I cut the last few fabrics.  I counted 318 of them which would make a quilt top 66" x 84".

 

Outside and inside.....................

I decided it was probably safe to put the tomato plants in the ground.  This is an Early Girl plant for my neighbor girls.

I have 3 plants in the raised bed in the backyard.  The front 2 corners have rotted so the big rocks are holding up the front board.  I have one Sun Gold in the back and an Early Girl and a 4th of July in the front.

3 of the plants I bought were the larger more expensive plants so they have fruit on them already.

There is one good size one on this plant.

My three lilac bushes have been blooming for about a week now.  The scent is strong on this variety and it is right outside my bedroom window.  The whole house smells like lilacs.

They aren't as showy as the old fashioned lilacs.  These are pale lavender but they look almost white when fully open.

I found another Columbine blooming in the back garden.  I have lots of weeds that need to be cleared out back there.  I can hardly find my paver path through the garden.

My daughter's family sent me roses for Mother's Day.  The photo of the whole bouquet didn't turn out but the close ups did.

It is a combination of white and yellow roses.

I sewed pink/green triangle blocks for 3 hours last night.  In 2 nights sewing I have 102 sewn and I need 120.

This is the pile of leftovers from the groups I have already sewn.  I think there are enough for another quilt.

 

Leftover triangles.............

There were 6 triangles left over of the two fabrics that I could use for the pieced border so I sewed them into squares.  In the book they have you cut large triangles for the border (the size of 2 of these triangles sewn together.  That means you would sew the center together and then have to sew on a border that was made separately.  If I do it "my" way, the square (at each end of the rows) will become part of each row being sewn together with no border strips to sew on at the end.  I'm still not sure I like the border.  I think it is the first thing you see when you look at the quilt and you miss all of the beautiful pink and blue fun in the middle.  Still undecided.

Here is a reminder of what it looks like.

Meanwhile I cut some more pink and green triangles and have started sewing pairs together (at the right side of the photo).

Last night I watched "Wonder Woman" on Peacock (free with Comcast) and I had no idea it was such a violent movie.  I would think children watching it would have a hard time falling asleep afterwards.  I have only seen one other super hero movie and it really isn't the type I enjoy.

Happy Mother's Day to my US readers.