Wednesday in the garden

We had over 4.4" of rain in the last week. I counted over 21 tomatoes in the garden yesterday. All of the plants have been mulched and I hope to plant the okra this evening. The cucumbers and bell pepper plants are blooming. The red onions are doing well.

trying something new

I wanted to try something new. I currently machine quilt with a Juki on a John Watts Quilter Frame. I machine quilted all over a practice piece with white thread and then I changed the top thread to purple and tried some thread work on the piece. I wasn't really happy with it. Meloney asked me to share the piece and here it is. I do think that I may like raw edge machine applique. I want to try it soon. I may try this again in more detail. I was also experimenting with a 100% poly embroidery thread with this piece. It was interesting to work with.

Earthday

This is a picture of the containers that get dropped at the park n ride each Friday for recycling.

We can recycle plastics 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, & 7 at this center. This pictures shows the plastics collected from 3 house holds for several weeks.

We don't have a lot of glass to recycle but, when we fill up a couple of buckets I take them to the local recycling center.

In honor of Earthday, I have started my recycling post today. We recycle everything we can around here. It's fairly to get rid of paper/postboard/cardboard products here.

In 2008 I read that 1/3 of the waste in landfills is from packaging. I was shocked and we (our grown sons are also into this) started recycling again. This picture was taken in a local library parking lot. I use an empty bolt from fabric to hold the container open so I can dispose of the paper/postboard/cardboard products more easily. In our area you can find these containers at all the county libraries parking lots, all the school parking lots and most church parking lots.

I collect until my containers get full and then dispose when I'm at the library anyway.

All our junk mail, newspapers, cereal boxes, jar labels, can labels, and cardboard boxes are recycled this way.

Wednesday in the garden

The walking iris plants have been blooming and they were especially pretty this morning.

It's Wednesday in the garden. Over the weekend we had 5" of rain, all the staked tomatoes did well. The ones that weren't staked took a beating. We lost the transplanted cucumber plant in the last week. We have a few baby tomatoes and the bell pepper plants have started to bloom. The red onions, green beans and cucumbers are growing. We are already making plans for a winter garden.

I Can Make a Rainbow

There was a catagory for children at the Bay Area Quilt Show this weekend. Our 8 year old grandson pieced the center of this quilt and I finished it. All the kids got ribbons for entering a quilt in the show.

Winter in Texas-wins 2nd place ribbon

I was thrilled to find out that Winter in Texas took a 2nd place ribbon in the Bay Area Quilt Show in Pearland, Texas.

The bird bath and plants were pictures I took in our backyard. I printed them on fabric and appliqued them to a hand dyed fabric. The machine quilting was a combination of straight stitching with a walking foot and free motion quilting. This quilt was made in response to a challenge from a challenge group that I'm in on the internet.

Wednesday in the garden

Things are moving right along in the garden. The Marigold's and tomatoes are blooming. The onions and green beans are up. Another cucumber plant has come up. The tomato plants have been staked and we're expecting several days of rain starting tomorrow. Weeds are starting to grow and I'll be working on them today.

I Can Make a Rainbow

Our grandson, Ralph, wanted a new quilt last year and he wanted to make it. We looked and looked until we found all the right fabrics. He loves rainbows. He pieced the center of this quilt, it's called I Can Make a Rainbow. He got bored a lot during the construction on this quilt top. It will be finished and in the Bay Area Quilt Show April 18 & 19, 2009. There will be several quilts made by children in the show.

Vacation Quilt 1993/2004

I designed this quilt in 1993.

Vacation Quilt detail

I love pieced bindings.

a commercial fabric ran when my quilt was washed

I started this quilt in 1993. I was in 3 states in 1 month that summer. I bought 4 fabrics at each quilt shop I visited in each state. I ended up with 36 fabrics. I started this quilt the summer of 1993 and was working on it the day my grandpa died. I wasn't able to make myself finish the quilt until 2004. A few weeks ago our grandson was sick and he threw up on the edge of the quilt. I had prewashed all my fabrics, I had no concerns about washing this quilt. I put it in the washer for a warm water wash with my regular detergent. I was shocked to see the quilt after it came out of the dryer. The turquoise dye ran everywhere on the quilt. The binding was pieced from the same fabrics as the top and there was also bleeding on the border. It was very disappointing to me and I felt like the quilt was ruined. I asked my fabric dyeing friends (the dyehards) what went wrong and they had an idea of how to fix it. In the process of this discussion I found out that I didn't have my hot water heater set high enough. I did a test and had my husband set it up 1 notch and I did another test. Today I took the time to wash the quilt again. You will find my result below.

after treatment

This is the same area of the quilt after 2 washing with 138 degree hot water and synthrapol. It seems to have worked. There may be just a trace of color on the back of the quilt.

one little hummer

The feeder has been very busy today. I just got a picture of this one little hummingbird. Click on the picture to enlarge it, the humming bird is on the left side of the feeder.

Wednesday in the garden

It's Wednesday and I spend a lot of time in the yard that day of the week. It's fertilizing day for the hibiscus and tomato plants. This is a picture of our new garden and the debris in the background is from hurricane Ike. The onions are starting to come up, the tomatoes, egg plant, cucumbers, bell peppers and Marigolds are doing well. There is no sign of the green beans that were planted last Saturday.

Hibiscus plants

When I'm not quilting or on the computer, I'm in the yard. These are the plants that I'm growing from hybrid hibiscus seeds that I bought from Sonny in Maryland about a year ago. I'm anxious for them to bloom.

Leaves

I read about a leaf project on http://www.internationalfibercollaborative.com/html/treeproject.html. I thought it would be fun, so I started collecting fabrics and ideas. I started with 3 fabrics and cut them into strips. I pieced the strips together and quilted them on my quilter. I quilted hearts and whirling loops on the piece. I cut out leaves in various shapes and stitches. This was a lot of FUN! The first leaf I made was used as a decoration on a birthday present for a friend today. I was inspired to use green fleece instead of batting for the color and piece my leaves pieced down the middle by Tom Russell. I saw some leaves he had on one of his quilts and I really liked the effect. I finished the leaves today and they're on their way to Alabama!
Happy Quilting! Debbie

Winter in Texas-challenge quilt

I've been behind on several projects. Today I finished one of them. It's this quilt challenge quilt, the theme was winter. I was inspired by a photo taken in our backyard. I named the quilt Winter in Texas. It will be in the Bay Area Quilt Show in April, 2009.