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

From the Month of May

Postage Stamp Quilt

So far, I have hand stitched together 256, 1-inch squares.

Cat Quilt BOS

The summer block is just as cute as the spring block.

Building Houses from Scraps

Two houses for June.

Simple Pleasures

Single Flower Basket

Kitty Kat

House on the Hill

Bees a 'buzz

Simple Pleasures by Anni Downs

Soon to be a wall hanging.

Now, that was a pretty productive month of May!

Until next time.....happy quilting!

Karen

Bring on the Long Weekend!

It is going to be a relaxing Victoria Day weekend, with a taste of summer in the forecast, a book at the ready and a chair waiting just for me, under the big old shade tree.

There will be a Springtime tea in the garden, Sunday afternoon.

And, I plan to finish stitching bees a buzz and another little stitchery called, Single Flower Basket that go with three other stitcheries I have been working on over the past couple of weeks. 

The cute little face above is from Cat Quilt BOS which has been on my To-Do List for a very long time now.  I'm ready to start stitching once my thread colours have been selected and the last stitch goes into Single Flower Basket.

My Tomato Seedlings Window Sill Grown

Also, before the weekend comes to an end, I will head off to the garden centre to see what is new for 2012 and maybe bring home a plant or two that I just can't live without.

Until next time.....happy quilting!

Karen