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

Morning Fog - the Quilt

Morning Fog, number 11 in the Macnas series, is finished.

The final binding stitches were taken at 7:50 pm and the outdoor photos were taken just before 8 pm.  

ONLY during the week of the summer solstice can I get decent outdoor photos that late in the day - for which I'm grateful as it is supposed to rain again tomorrow (more on "rain" below).

This was the random online photo that inspired Morning Fog's color palette.

Here is the just-finished quilt on my sewing table under indoor lights.

Quilted with my liberated nested spiral fans using Glide thread in Hawaiian Blue.

Backing - Midnight Floral 108” by Chelsea DesignWorks for Studio-e (a division of Jaftex).

Binding - Down on the Farm by Stacy Hsu for Moda.

I really, really like this quilt.

* * *

This was our back yard on Monday morning.  

We knew it was supposed to rain an inch or so . . . 

. . . but we had NO idea it would rain just over FIVE inches. 

There was so much rain pounding the back roof that one of our living room skylights leaked (first time in almost 20 years).  

Tuesday afternoon DH used his engineering knowledge to safely get on the roof and re-caulk the

skylight's seal.  

Fingers crossed that tomorrow's rain is more drizzle than downpour.

Quiltdivajulie

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"Even when the sky is filled with clouds, the sun still shines above."

Janet Donaghy

Weather Makes a Difference

This was the scene on Thursday . . .

And this was the same scene less than 24 hours later.  It has been raining off and on ever since.

Three inches in the past 24-hours alone.  

All those thunderstorms have stopped me from doing much sewing or quilting, so instead I've been working with my paper projects.

I've been writing down four letter words in my traveler's journal.

I loaded them into a spreadsheet and alphabetized them so I could easily eliminate duplicates (there were quite a few) .

The edited list flows left to right across the two page spread.

And while I don't have a photo to share, the set of twelve pink collaged index cards are also done . . . 

. . . which meant I could use the extras to fill two more pages in the journal.

I added some larger items from the stash and even found a way to include the word JUBILATION cut from a magazine a long time ago.

Inspired by the name of @Ricki_ticki_tavy's Etsy shop, I've chosen BRICOLAGE as the name for my DIY Wreck It Journal.

* * *

Xanadu is nearly finished and we have a day or so with no significant percentage of rain predicted so it WILL be finished early week.

 I won't be able to gift it for another week or so which means I won't post the finished reveal photos until after the gifting happens.

Quiltdivajulie

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"To thrive in life you need three bones.  A wishbone.  A backbone. and a funny bone."

Reba McEntire

Here and There and Back Again

Each spring, after the worst of pollen season has passed, we celebrate our Annual Bottle Washing Day. 

Typically the bottles remain on the bottle tree year round but last winter they were removed before the ice storm to prevent broken glass from being part of the inevitable tree debris clean up.

Last Saturday I spent the morning washing the bottles and getting them back on the tree - it is so good to see them sparkling in the sunshine once again.

After getting Xanadu's back pieced, pressed, and rolled onto a pool noodle, I spent an hour or so prepping a new journal project.  

I used this wild and crazy duct tape on the front and back covers. 

I used ordinary masking tape as labels in keeping with the "not too precious" nature of this project.

And since I had just finished with the blue index cards, I used the leftovers plus a few more bits and pieces on this "blue" two page spread.  

I didn't use a lot of Keri's prompts and used more of my own to make this evening playtime project truly mine.

* * *

The big goal this week is to pin baste Xanadu (thank you for all the comments) and get it quilted/finished while also keeping up with the usual household activities.  

DH and I also spent a morning cleaning out four overstuffed file cabinet drawers filled with cables, adapters, wires, chargers, and other random tech stuff.  There are now two partially-filled drawers with neatly labeled files and the rest sorted into zipper pouches (like with like). 

Before the now-predicted 10 days of dreary/gray/semi-rainy days, we were scheduled to have part of our driveway torn out/replaced.  Fingers crossed it isn't too wet for the crew to work.  But if it ends up being next week it has already been quite a while since the damage occurred so a few more days won't make that much difference.

Quiltdivajulie

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"It is better to be absolutely ridiculous rather than absolutely boring."

Marilyn Monroe

One Day at a Time

Quilting of Grandiose, Macnas series no. 8, has started.  Honestly, getting bobbins wound and stitching the first few passes is one of the "hurdle" points in every quilt.

That said, I'm delighted with the way the Robin Egg thread plays with Grandiose's colors.

Hopefully over the next few days I'll be able to finish Grandiose and pin baste Enchanted (no. 9 in the Macnas series).  

(and yes, I've been considering quilt ideas to work on once the entire Macnas series is done and dusted - there's a lot of stashed fabric waiting to be used)

Indoors our two Christmas cacti continue to bloom and there are a few more buds ready to open any day now.  

Outdoors, the three clumps of iris that were planted last spring survived the winter and are budded and/or blooming.  The flowers are purple with mottled white areas - so pretty.

The azalea that moved to our house from elder son's yard a few years back is blooming profusely, despite the late freezes.  I only wish the flowers lasted a bit longer (the photo will supersize if you want to see the blossoms in greater detail).

I'll end with this gorgeous sunset photo taken on April 9.  Since then, the trees here are almost fully leafed out and we once again have shade - funny how its absence over the winter months became the norm.

* * *

There's lots of random background stuff going on that isn't blog-worthy yet.  Things like harvesting ephemera from older magazine issues, cleaning and tidying the studio, sorting and gathering bits for three future projects involving paper and glue, household stuff, and errands.  

It's all good but I'm glad I learned long ago to work in bursts in between everything else.

Quiltdivajulie

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"Many of us have made our world so familiar that we do not see it anymore.  An interesting question to ask yourself at night is What did I really see this day?"

John O'Donohue

First Day of Spring

Welcome to Spring 2026.  I know many of you are still dealing with winter-ish weather which is what I grew up with, but here in western Tennessee the new growing season has begun.

This is one of our pot-planted hostas coming up for its third season.  

Yesterday, DH brought home four of the combo planters we use to fill our largest backyard pots.  It makes us so happy to see these from the kitchen window instead of only khaki color grass.

I'm already planning a trip to my favorite garden center to spend time with the newly arriving plants and flowers.

This is an early morning photo of our "eager beaver" hosta.  

Given the success we've had with overwintering in pots, I think we'll add a few more hostas this year. 

Indoors I've swapped out our St. Patrick's Day decor for Easter bunnies and eggs.  When I finished the second scrappy runner made with leftovers from Esperance and Haru, someone asked me what I was going to do with a 110" runner.  This time of year, it lives on the dining room buffet until the next seasonal decor shift when it will return to the back of the rocking chair in my studio.  

* * *

Young Man will be here this weekend for a sleepover.  No rain in the forecast so I'm guessing the backyard swing will see some action along with his scooter.

In the studio, Razzle Dazzle is pin basted and ready for quilting next week while Morning Fog is waiting patiently.

Quiltdivajulie

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"Happiness? The color of it must be spring green.” —Frances Mayes

Almost Back to Normal

Even though I was "resting" and "regrouping" I got a lot of pending things taken care of this week.

Bills were paid, financial correspondence was dealt with, the fridge and pantry were restocked after Mr. Munchie's adventure here, and the seasonal decor has been changed to green for St. Patrick's Day.

All the while, my Christmas cacti are blooming for a second time with lots of buds still waiting to flower.

The planter we bought for Christmas has lost two of its original plants (leggy, spindly, and pretty much ugly).  The pothos on the other hand is growing happily.

And look what I found late Thursday afternoon -- our first two daffodils.

Granted, they're about half their normal size and there aren't nearly as many buds this year thanks to the prolonged snow/ice/freezing temps.

I'm just elated to see blossoms in the back yard.

* * *

At Young Man's house, he and daddy have finished a project that's been in the works for a while now.

The world map decal ("Oh, the places you'll go") was removed from the wall, the wall was repaired and re-painted, and daddy created the framed backing boards for the three large Lego Technics cars YM has built using roughly 8,000 pieces of Lego.

The nursery that we all worked so hard to create has been changing along the way, but this newest installation really drives home the point that "time and tide waits for no man" (a proverb meaning no one is so powerful that they can stop the march of time).

Quiltdivajulie

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"We shall never know the good that a simple smile can do."

Mother Teresa

Catching Up and Making Progress

I pin basted Fandango on the very last day of January.  Next step is time with Max and a lot of free motion quilting.

This is the very last of the amaryllis blooms - it's been a marvelous run of reds, pinks, and whites over the past two months.

The driveway continues to reappear a bit at a time.  The bottom third is still solidly frozen to the concrete but that will change in the coming days.

Temps are expected to rise into the 40s Monday-Tuesday-Wednesday with overnight lows staying above freezing.  Neighborhood streets are still very icy and I won't miss that going away.  I will miss the serenity of the snow itself and the way it quiets so much exterior noise. 

Last week's Full Deck Challenge 4 shipping tag is now done.

These are the prompts I used from ShanoukiArt's longer list.  You can find her on You Tube.

My weekly paper nine patch for last week is done.  I've figured out that I like spacing the squares apart instead of keeping them tight together.

And the weekly collage using circles for last week is also done.  

Looking ahead - this is the fabric pull for Ruska, a Camp Sefton quilt project destined to become a seasonal ottoman quilt at Young Man's house.  

The fabric in the center is a wilder option for binding (I'm going to let him choose when he's here), backing fabrics on the right, and top fabrics on the left.

This is the other more subdued binding option.  

Design wise, I'm going with the same approach I used for The Yellow Quilt (2016) but this time without borders.  

(The Yellow Quilt was inspired by the Rouge design in Kaffe Fassett's Quilts in Morocco book)

I'm planning to cut 5" squares for the top and let YM lay them out on the design wall so I can then sew them all together.

I'll do the same kind of thing but with larger squares/sections and let him design the pieced back as well.

And, unsurprisingly, another squirrel named NUTSIE has taken up residence in the sewing room . . . his arrival brings the headcount in my scurry of studio squirrels to nine (gasp).   

But honestly, the way things are going, it feels like we all need a little more whimsy (fanciful or playful humor) in our lives.

And last but not least, here is my February 1 monthly photo of the backyard.

Quiltdivajulie

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"We don't create fantasy world to escape reality, we create it to be able to stay."

Lynda Barry