Monday, July 9, 2012

Garden Tour, A Finished Quilt and Something New


Freddie the Frog is a little concerned; we have been without rain since early April.  So what does that mean for the garden, Mother Nature will let us know come spring. 

In the meantime, I am spending many an evening watering for three to four hours at a time.  Normally when clay soil starts to dry out it will contract and create large cracks, but this year is different,  no cracks, it is almost powder like, that is how dry it is.


Much to my surprise, the garden is looking blooming beautiful, so as I head down the garden path I will share with you a few places along the way.


Loaded with daylilies, I love them so, and this is the month they put on a show!  Also blooming away is a big beautiful Shasta daisy and some highly fragrant trumpet lilies.  I also see tiger lilies,  astilbe blooms and purple coneflowers.


A birdbath can be found at every turn,
As birds, bees and butterflies are always welcome.






Fragrant trumpet lily.


And, to end the mini garden tour,
One of my favourite daylilies, Bertie Ferris.

Now on to a little quilting!


Simple Pleasures
16.5" x 16.5"
Machine pieced, hand quilted
I kept it simple to show off the stitchery blocks.


Cat Quilt BOS puts a smile on my face, simply done with a big splash of colour.  The green fabric to the left will be used for binding and I plan on hand quilting something seasonal around each block.  Finished quilt will measure 22" x 22."

Also, I finally added the border to my Kansas Dug-Out and is now basted and ready for hand quilting.  Then, I tackled a big job and prepared the remaining 468 pieces needed to finish my Shades of Autumn POTC quilt, which I will get back to this fall.


Found another interesting book to add to my library, Quilted Symphony by Gloria Loughman.  It is all about abstract design and will be a nice addition to my collection of art quilt books.  I also ordered 37 Sketches by Gwen Marston, small studies of abstract compositions, worked primarily in solids.


And, what is keeping my fingers busy right now is a sweet little quilt called, Bloom by Renee Plains.  Finished size is 22" x 26" with about 103 pieces to be  appliqued, a nice take-along project for the summer.

Until next time.....happy quilting!

Karen

22 comments:

sunny said...

Your garden is beautiful! As are all your quilt projects. 468 pieces would scare me off!

marina said...

what a spectacular garden you have. It's good that you can still water the garden, during our drought years we weren't allowed to water the garden so we had to use grey water to keep things going.
Love your new project.

Funoldhag said...

Oh, Karen, your garden is so beautiful! I would love to go on a garden tour with you and enjoy your wonderful blooms. Nothing like gardening - except, of course, quilting! I think the two things go together for most of us. Being without rain is so sad - I remember quite a few years in Kansas and Illinois when so much watering had to be done. Love your sweet little quilts, too!! Carol

Paula said...

Thank you Karen for the garden tour, you have the most beautiful garden, and Freddie the Frog is so adorable. I wish I could send you some rain from Luxembourg, it is raining every day, and that is rather boring.
Your mini quilts are very pretty, I love them. I also like that sweet little quilt, Bloom.
I see you got yourself new books, they look very interesting.

Roxanne said...

You have a beautiful garden Karen. (I'm having everything I can do to keep up with my veggie garden...the perennial beds are suffering my neglect.) Nice little quilts too.

Karen said...

Your little stitchery quilt is so sweet. The simple setting shows off the stitched blocks very well. They don't get lost in the sea.

Lizzie P said...

Lovely garden, Karen! Some of those plants are doing well to survive such hot, dry conditions - must be down to the Dedicated Waterer. No such problem here - temp 13C (55F) and it's rained for days. Snails out in force!

Jeanne said...

Your garden is beautiful! Love the little stitcheries, too. I'm working on those.

Becky G said...

Wow... your garden looks amazing. When I water with city water it doesn't seem to help much.... my yard certainly isn't as lush as yours. Beautiful! Plus great stitchery. Glad you've posted!

Satu said...

Oh, your garden is absolutely fabulous! You have done an excellent job with watering all those plants. Here in Finland we have had rainy almost every day... the weather is very much same as in Ireland, if I may say so ;o) And your stitcheries are pretty too!

Judy said...

What a lovely garden! It must be peaceful to sit outside, look at the flowers and to watch the butterflies. I like the Bloom pattern, that looks like a lot of fun.

Quilting Chemist (Danette) said...

What a beautiful garden you have, so colorful. I hope you get rain soon, we need some too. Your little quilts are so Cute! The turned out beautifully.

Anthea said...

Wow Karen you have been busy, with gardening & sewing! I love the Simple Pleasures quilt, great colours. The Bloom quilt - is the applique all done by hand? It looks gorgeous, will be worth all the work...

Julierose said...

I love your garden--you must not have the deer problem we have; any flowers they assume I've planted for their dessert!! AAArgh!!

Lin said...

Karen, your garden is stunning and I love your Simple Pleasures quilt. Thank you for dropping by my blog - I am following you now.

Karen said...

Thank you Lin, time in the garden is one of my Simple Pleasures. :)

Mayleen said...

YOur garden is beautiful and so is your new project! I have to say the frog is also quite cute and I wish it would rain too.

Jen said...

HI! Karen,You are very busy love your projects.Simple Pleasures embroidery blocks and fabric are lovely making a beautiful quilt.
Blooms is going to be pretty. Thanks for shareing your garden tour.Wish I could send you some rain from down under, we have been getting heaps lately.

Melody said...

Such beautiful sewing and WOW your garden is wonderful.

Raewyn said...

Interesting post, Karen. Love the garden photos . I do like what you did with the simple pleasures blocks - very cute, and also your new flower appliqué quilt is gorgeous.

Shay said...

What an absolutely gorgeous garden you have!! I am going to try to work up to something similar - we haven't been here a year yet, so it will take time. But... oh, how lovely it is!

Shay

Jan said...

What a gorgeous garden! I'm envious. We, too, have suffered from a lack of rain this summer. It's our first year in this home but I have big plans for a cutting garden next summer, now that I have the wedding behind me. Yours is an inspiration!