Flower Patch Quilt Top

I have completed my Flower Patch top! I made block 16 and joined it into the top over the weekend. I'm so thankful that I removed the foundation papers as I went along.


I have been sewing as fast as I can, which is admittedly pretty slow, to get the border done. I finished it around 8:30 last night and luckily we had just enough light left to get a photo.

My next goal is to get the backing made. I will need to press eight yards of fabric and then get it seamed. I shared the backing fabric in last week's post.

My small guild is working on a charity quilt. We are making Crimson Tate's Letters From Home since we all have a copy of the pattern from our last retreat. Here are my contributions. Note that the corner triangles are missing since I haven't received the fabric yet. I tried to make use of fabric from my scrap bins. I swear, no matter how much fabric I use from the scrap bins, they never seem to get any emptier.  I've seen pictures of blocks that several others have made, and they are amazing. Mine are...eclectic?

I've completed another group of quilts. This first one belongs to Elle and I used Terral on it. Salmon Glide thread is the perfect neutral for brightly colored quilts.

Then another of Elle's, quilted with Sugar & Spice. I used Glide Calico thread on this, which seems fitting for a quilt that has quilting-themed fabrics.

Next is another of Elle's, quilted with Stacked Snails.

I quilted Connie's quilt, assembled by Sue, with Triplet.

One more of Elle's, quilted with Knit 1, Purl 2.

If you felt my anguish last week about the horrendous basement carpet and were wondering what happened, they are now planning to order more of the original carpet we selected. They are going to run the seams perpendicular to how they were before, though I'm not sure that's going to make much difference if they still can't make an invisible join. In the meantime, I broke down and vacuumed the entire  carpet because I was tired of us tracking carpet fuzz everywhere. I see why they said the round 2 carpet is defective, because there are really strange lines all over it. One large swath looks like crumpled up fabric--you know that wrinkled look cotton gets after you wash it. The installation is sub-par, but yeah, the carpet isn't right either. So we will see. Not sure what quality installation I'll get for round three, but at least this butt-ugly, horrible carpet from round two will be gone.

We have transitioned into summer here. Just like the last few years, we have gone from pleasant spring weather directly into summer's heat and humidity with no transition. Just spring one day and evil summer the next. The flowers are looking nice. We spent Saturday evening pulling more spearmint. The irises are starting to bloom. This one is called Flying Circus. Photo courtesy of my daughter.

I am always amazed by how different the blooms of Iris Batik look on the same plant. The white one in the back is Immortality.

Columbine and a volunteer iris--we evidently missed a few rhizomes when we pulled them all two years ago. At least this one is pretty.


The strawberry beds are covered in blossoms and fruit. I cannot wait for the strawberries to ripen! There is no comparison between them and store-bought strawberries. 

The peas and lettuce are visible, but not any outstanding growth. We weeded Saturday and you can't even tell. We planted the rest of our crops too--green beans, beets, chives, zucchini, and cucumbers. We tried throwing an overripe tomato in the garden; we'll see if it grows. We have volunteer dill, so we are waiting to see what else comes up before sowing more. We have some thyme my husband planted a few years ago that has somehow survived for several years in the top wooden box pictured below and we actually harvested it and used it in dinner this past week.

I am very excited because my Bartlett pear tree has lots of fruit! And my other pear tree, which has never had any, has a few! We weren't sure what we'd have this year since we sustained so much cicada damage last year and did a very heavy pruning on both (we originally thought we had fire blight before realizing it was cicadas boring in). I wonder if we will be able to harvest any. Last year we had a few pears growing, but they disappeared before they got big enough. Squirrels? Birds? Raccoons? Anyone have growing tips?

First fruit on this tree, though it doesn't look healthy.

Look at all the cute baby pears!

I also learned this week that rabbits eat dandelion stems and dandelion fluff. I had a hard time capturing it with my phone, but I enjoyed watching this one eat. If you look really closely, that stupid walnut is still hanging in the shrub behind the rabbit. 
We still have the grosbeaks, lots of grackles, two hummingbirds, lots of orioles, and all the regular birds. I was excited to see an indigo bunting Saturday while we were weeding the lower garden. I saw one again the other night. They have such amazing color, particularly near sunset when the light hits just right. We used to have lots of buntings, but as we got more houses and development in the neighborhood, we got less buntings. We used to have tons of goldfinches and now there are only a few. I have been seeing meadowlarks around more frequently, so that is nice. The red headed woodpecker population seems to be growing as well, but I'm not seeing as many of the other woodpecker varieties as we used to. At least I always have my flamingoes. 😁

Have a wonderful week.


5 comments

  1. Indigo Buntings are such a treat to see!!! Love your quilting!!!

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  2. Our strawberries are going crazy too! I just did some pruning in our orchard and after 2 years of late freezes, it's so great to see so much fruit on the blackberries, peaches, pears, apples! The pears? If they disappear early (and too tart/bitter), I wonder if they just fell off (storms/wind, tree not mature yet, or a health issue?) because usually pests leave them alone till they're ripe. Still, those pesky squirrels are certainly capable! I let the dill re-seed every year (love anything that takes care of itself!) and collect plenty of seeds to cook with (refrigerator pickles!) and share with others. I have fence around my gardens to keep the bunnies out but it amuses me that they eat the weeds on the paths before I can even pull them. (Turns out we can get along after all!). Looks like a good week for you!

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  3. I like the order you've added to your Flower Patch flimsy. I want to add an additional border to my flimsy but haven't gotten it done yet. Happy stitching!

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  4. I love those extra geese you added to the border, nice. Perhaps the 3rd one I make there will be time and no stressors to get in the way. Your quilt is beautiful, thank you so much for sewing along and sharing your progress every month. Once winners are announced I will send you a tracking number. The Columbine is lovely.

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  5. Those irises and columbine are magnificent! And I love your Letters From Home -- they remind me of the fancy (and expensive!) personal stationary you can order from Crane with different floral print liners. Congrats on finishing that gorgeous quilt top, too -- I'm looking forward to seeing how you'll quilt it!

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