Summer Has Arrived

One of the most visual ways to know that summer has arrived in our area is blooming crape myrtles.  They've been close to flowering for the last couple of weeks but in the last two days the blossoms have burst forth.  

Our's happens to be this deep rosy pink color but others around town are blue-violet, pale pink, a vivid red violet, and white.

A couple of weeks back, DH re-did the bed in front of our front porch.  The aging, overgrown hostas had been attacked below ground by the voracious moles that bedevil homeowners here.  

These new hostas are planted inside flexible stainless steel mesh bags to protect them from any future mole invasions.

(to help you visualize - each bag fits perfectly inside a 5-gallon paint bucket)

Several of the displaced hostas were relocated into the large above ground pots in our back yard and our next door neighbor gave the rest of them new homes.

The hanging basket purchased for this hook back in the early spring did not thrive; so when I found this trailing mandevilla much like the one that did so well last year, I bought it.  So far it seems very happy.

The outdoor plants are holding their own but with the temperatures now settled in the mid to upper 90s with humidity in that same range, I am staying indoors as much as possible.  

I've finished my DIY wreck this journal project, the one I named Bricolage  (in art or literature, construction or creation from a diverse range of available things).

This page follows the title page.

And those arrows point to this facing page.

I'm happy to report that I actually followed these directions (more or less).

When I first read this prompt, I immediately thought of the rhyming book we read over and over again with Young Man.  

I just couldn't resist the idea so I went with it.

I've previously shared the two page spreads for pink, red, blue, orange, black/white, and yellow.  This is the spread for green.

I really enjoyed creating the journal spreads that were filled with so many random bits and pieces.

Highlighters and a permanent black ink pen were the tools for this spread.

I clearly do a better job of quilting my liberated nested spirals than I do drawing them on paper; but even with the sticking pen issues, I like the way this turned out.

* * *

My next studio goal is to piece the backing for Paint Party (Macnas series no. 12/13) and get the quilt sandwich pin basted.  

I'd love to have the quilt finished before month end but I'm not going to get too upset if the finish runs over a day or two into July. 

(and yes, this backing yardage is a different  fabric than the one I had set aside earlier)

Quiltdivajulie

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"There are no wrong turns.  Only paths we had not known we were meant to walk."

Guy Gavriel Kay