Odds & Ends

I completed the last two blocks of the Jamestown (AKA Batesville BOM) quilt. Here's the first one.

And the second. It was getting to be pretty slim pickings in the remaining fabric. I think I like the last block (below) better than the second-to-last (which was colors closer to what the pattern called for).

I've set this one aside again until I finish the Civil War quilt top--no progress was made on that one at all over the past week.

Saturday was a Sewcial day for the larger quilt guild I belong to. I figured I'd take along my cursed Grassy Creek border pieces and try to make some progress on them. I did make a bit of progress, though I found it to be much more time-consuming than I figured. I got about 1/4 of the needed blocks to this stage:

After four and a half hours, I decided it was time to head home. The church where we were sewing has a long hallway to the doors that lead out to the parking lot. Since it is a long sidewalk with several sets of stairs, I decided to carry out my sewing machine first and then come back for my purse and bag of sewing. Well, the doors shut behind me and I recognized my error--the doors were locked after noon and I did not have my phone with me. So I stood at the door, knocking and waving my arms around trying to attract attention. That didn't work. I finally decided to drive my car around the facility and try the other door. Finally someone noticed me and let me in so I could gather the rest of my things. That was a pretty fraught 20+ minutes in major heat and humidity and panic. I had to take Tylenol and rest for a while when I got home. 😅

I've gotten several quilts done. The first two belong to Pat. She is always so patient with me and I appreciate it so much. This one is quilted with Tristin. I was able to get it fully bound for her yesterday.

The next one is quilted with Ethereal Mist. I need to bind this one still.

I quilted this little panel wallhanging with Midnight Sparkle for Judy.

And I quilted Just Basketballs on Toni's t-shirt quilt.

Last week I teased a project. My husband spent quite a bit of time building lighting for my longarm. I'm really enjoying having the extra light focused on my work area. We styled them on the actual lights for my machine, but they cost about 1/3 (not counting all the time he spent, so probably the same in the end).

Out in the gardens, our clematis are looking excellent this year. Here's a photo of one. There is a bird nest in it. Birds seem to love nesting in the vines. That little pine tree standard to the left of it is the one with the robin and cardinal nests in it. It's a busy bird area.

The irises are having a so-so year. A lot of the buds got frostbitten. The catmint is already blooming. Most of the seeds we planted in the vegetable garden have sprouted. I can't tell if any of the bell peppers came up. About half of the lettuce failed and one end of the green beans. We couldn't see any sign of the chives. There is volunteer dill everywhere.

I'm starting thyme, tomatoes, and dahlias in one of my Aerogardens. The thyme is doing really well, both tomatoes have sprouted, and only three of the 15 dahlias have sprouted.

I have to laugh at the other Aerogarden. It really needs to be taken down and cleaned, but one of the chive plants is still thriving. Well, so is the mint, of course. We cut it all the way down to feed to the chickens, but it is back and coming up from under all the other seed pods. Mint...spearmint...can't win. LOL. My husband spent a couple hours over the weekend pulling more spearmint. Now it's starting to return in the lower parts that we weeded a couple weeks ago.

We checked the nesting box that is on the outside of the garden. It is meant for bluebirds, but often has wrens instead. Here is what is in there now. 🤔🤯 HOW???? (It's blue jays. I cannot figure out how they would fit through that tiny hole.)