Showing posts with label Sew Powerful. Show all posts

Work In Progress Wednesday

Some people share what they're working on with this label.  I feel like I myself am always a work in progress, so I thought I'd share a whole bunch of things this week.

First is a series of sewing room pictures.  Two weeks ago I showed my future sewing room.  Here's some of my current space.  I also keep my (ahem, extensive) stash of fabric and supplies in the basement, along with the long arm.
My sewing machine and serger are in the corner of my living room right now.
My design wall with a few UFOs is in my laundry room.
Notions cabinet, embroidery machine, cover stitch machine, fabrics, minis I've received,
embroidery supplies, general detritus in the kitchen.
My cutting/ironing table and a bunch of stuff are in the office.  That Wellie Wisher doll has been in the bag since the end of July, which is when my son got a bug he didn't recover well from.  He's on the mend now, finally.
More stuff in the office.
The pile of shame.  Although most of it is batting right now.

Next, here is my canning updates.  I should be done for the year unless I start trying some different things.  I made 14 quarts of applesauce by myself this year.  I used a half bushel and a peck (3/4 bushel?) of Jonathan, Golden Delicious, and Jonagolds.  
I also bought some Bartlett pears at the orchard.  The recipe I had said you needed 11 pounds for 9 pints of finished pears, so I bought the remainder--five pounds--at the grocery store.  It turns out the pears I bought in a large handled bag at the orchard were all bad in the middle.  :(  So I only got 5 pints and one half pint.  I don't know that I'd do pears again unless I had a cheaper source, because these ran close to $20.  I do love canned pears though.  :/
I've kept my pineapple and plumeria plants alive outdoors this summer.  Thankfully we've had a lot of rain so they were always watered enough.  This is the pineapple top from the pineapple my husband brought me from Hawaii when he went there for work last year.  He brought me the plumeria starter too.


I completed my Bonnie & Camille Barn Quilt Swap Mini.  This was a 6" block quilt using only Bonnie and Camille fabrics and coordinating solids if needed.  I sent this quilt and some mini charms to my partner Jen, who likes star blocks, Scrumptious and Hello Darling fabric lines, and pink and aqua.
I received this mini from Leah.  She used a mini charm pack of Marmalade fabric to make it.  It's very cheerful and has the cutest quilting.  She also made a nine patch back for it.  It's so cute, and I have nothing like it.

I am sending two bags to the Sew Powerful charity.  I had really hoped to make more, but this year just hasn't worked out like I had hoped. If you are looking for a charity to sew for, this one is great.  They have very low overhead.  The majority of their funds go straight to the program.  Check it out.
I'm working on my Coral, Queen of the Sea quilt right now.  This will be a bed sized quilt when it is finished.  I still have another border to add and it needs a good pressing too.
If you are scared of spiders, quit reading now.  Don't scroll any further.  Nature here can't decide between summer and fall.  Last week was more fall like and this week feels like summer.  The spiders are out in force and make it look like Halloween.  
These are always in the grass and are pretty with the dew on them in the morning.
I saw this on a morning walk this week.
This creepy thing is on our deck and bird feeders.
And creepiest of all is this big guy who build a web over our slider door opening overnight.  YUCK!!


Veggies, Part Two, Some Gardening, and Some Sewing

We are progressing a little on the veggie enclosure.  My husband needs to build one more fence piece and also the gate.  We added in a few more feed tanks.  This time we went with two 6 x 2 x 2 footers and one 4 x 2 x 2.  I'm planning to put patio blueberries into the 4' tank and veggies and herbs in the 6' tanks.  These are self-watering tanks.  You put a drain spigot in the bottom of the tank.  Then some slotted drain tile, fencing, and weed cloth.  Fill with dirt, and once the tank has water in the reservoir, it requires very little water.
The beans and cucumbers are doing pretty well.  The lettuce is still struggling.  I bought more seeds, but I may not plant them until fall because our summer conditions are not very conducive to lettuce growing.



Our clematis vines are all doing really well this year for the first time.  Last year this one had one spindly, dead-looking vine. It's starting to fade, but  still looks pretty nice.  I need to cut down the irises.

The rabbits have been busy eating all my day lilies and also my Stargazer lily, which has only bloomed once in four years thanks to the them.  The photo below is the Stargazer and the Stella d'Oro lily minus all its buds.  The rabbits eat the buds and leaves from most of the other day lilies.  They've also hit a few of the hostas.
One thing I find really concerning this year is that my milkweed has basically failed.  Usually it's a small shrub by now.  We tried planting milkweed seeds too, and none of those germinated.  I also don't see any in the vacant lot next to us.  It may be a rough year for the monarchs.
The milkweed is in the lower right.  It's not growing this year.  :(
I was laughing last week because a pileated woodpecker was going to town on the new house across the street from us.  Joke's on me, because this morning a smaller woodpecker--a downy or hairy, but couldn't tell because I didn't have my glasses on--was really pecking at the underside of our deck stairs.
In sewing news, I've been catching up on the 365 blocks.  I planned out my Bonnie & Camille barn quilt swap quilt pattern.  (My sketch is in my Instagram feed.)  I feel that it is important to sew for charity and I've talked about sewing for Quilts for Kids and the local NICU before.  Another charity I donate sewing to is Sew Powerful.  Be sure to check out their page--they do great things.  I am presenting the Sew Powerful charity at my quilt guild Friday night, so I made a sample Sew Powerful purse to show.  BTW, the pattern is a free download.  I'm going to try to make another using the other option provided in the pattern, but I'm not convinced I'll get it done in time.  


I am mailing my last birthday swap gift this weekend, so I need to finish that up.  I'll show pictures after she receives it, so that will probably be in two weeks so that I don't ruin the surprise!  I'm also planning to join a quilt-along hosted by Valerie of The Aqua Umbrella.  Find details here.  Because, you know, I need another project!  ha ha ha  But I love the quilt and must make it.  It starts Saturday (June 11) and runs through the summer.  Let me know if you join in too.

I'm off to the quilt store!  Have a great week!