May: Orange Scraps and Green Backyard!

It’s been another busy week here at the Kizerian homestead. We’ve had weather appropriate for all 4 seasons (in one day), which is not unusual for the Salt Lake Valley. The garden is all planted, Bruce’s birthday was yesterday (I made him a homemade cherry-rhubarb pie), and the quilt show is in town - UQSM - The Utah Quilting and Sewing Marketplace. Utah’s only show on the national quilt circuit. More about that later.

Let’s talk about the Rainbow Scrap Challenge, since this is Saturday and our weekly link up for Scrappy Saturday over at Angela’s blog. The RSC color for May is orange. Woo-hoo! I loves me some orange!

First off was the usual work with my selvages. Here we have four selvage and low-volume four-patches sewn into one large 16” block.

And here are the first five (of nine) big blocks. I know, I know; pretty underwhelming. And sorry/not sorry for the bad picture.
First, I didn’t bother to trim or press them (and I do store them folded because they are so large). Second, when they are all put together in a top, there will be some sort of sashing. I’m thinking something  very bright and outrageous, but who knows. When the Shop Hop rolls around at the end of the month, I’ll be on the lookout for potential sashing fabric.  
This is the quilt that *may* be bordered with my bitcoin blocks. Overall, it’s going to take a lot of doctoring to make these yawn-worthy blocks into a decent quilt. Let’s face it; it can’t get any worse, so it can only get better!

Moving along, we have the crumb blocks, which I sewed into four Crumbcake blocks. I had sixteen of the crumb blocks already, so I didn’t need to sew any more. I just sashed these with the black and called it good. Now I need to come up with a new project for crumbs...

And here are one of each color of the Crumbcakes blocks. I love how this is looking! The final quilt will have 30 of these blocks. I only have three more little crumb blocks of one color to make. That will happen in June, regardless of June’s RSC color, because this one is slated for a June finish.

And I finished my orange tumbler row too. It alternates a selvage tumbler with a solid fabric scrap (in orange) tumbler. A long row isn’t very photogenic, so I went ahead and sewed it all, then added it to the other rows sewn sew far. I’m liking how this is looking, too.

There will eventually be a pink row above the red, then two blue rows, a purple row and who knows what else. I’m thinking I may add a gray or brown row, too. After trimming the sides, there will be a white stop border and another, probably solid border around it to bring it up to a good size.

I’ve mentioned a couple times about the pollinator habitat we (mostly Bruce, but I helped a bit) built for the backyard. Here it is!

The purpose is to provide plantings and hidey-holes that bees and other pollinators like. There are African daisies to begin with. They’re an annual and will die off in the fall, but I have also planted (smaller and behind them) coneflower. The coneflower will be larger next year and take over the work of the daisies. Then there is also dill, oregano, tall grasses, globe thistle, sage, and about 4-5 more little plants.

The bamboo sticks are hollow (at least to the nearest joint). Bees like to nest in them at the end of the season. That’s also the purpose of the drilled holes in the wooden block, below.

On top of the wooden block is a little ceramic bee skep birdhouse. I have a matching cookie jar and napkin holder that I use indoors in the summer. We found the three pieces at a flea market in North Carolina back in 2006. I’ve never really had any specific use for this birdhouse thingy. Whether it is ever used in a functional way or not, I think it adds a real CUTE factor to the habitat!

The pollinator habitat sits in the southwest corner of the backyard, facing east as directed. It could also have been facing south, but not in our garden. The trellis holds a trumpet vine that bees and hummingbirds love, but it’s early spring yet, so there’s nothing there yet. If you’re interested in making one of these for your yard, the free plans are HERE.

And in the week since I took the above photo, the neighbor’s lilac bushes have gone bonkers. They give the backyard such a heavenly scent. And the butterflies (we had a large migration pass through last week) love them!

The alliums are just opening up in the little garden area under the laden apricot tree. This is where Boomer is buried. And behind Boomer’s “headstone” is a hollyhock that seeded from the other side of the tree. We’ll take any volunteers! It will bloom about mid-summer.

This is the same bed on the other side of the tree. Mr. Pelican guards the irises and the hollyhocks. The irises were transplanted when I thinned out the front beds last year. They probably won’t bloom for a couple years. 

Our lone bird feeder (we have more in the winter, but cut it back to one feeder in the summer when food is plentiful for our feathered friends) is located on the patio, under the awning and inside the lattice. The grape vines that will soon cover the lattice are just beginning to leaf out.

And here’s the patio, all set up. The white wicker got a fresh coat of paint this year and new cushions. The macaw (I call it a parrot, but I think it’s supposed to be a macaw) also got a touch-up job on his paint.

My granddaughter Lauren and I originally painted “Ringo” (that’s what she named him) in August of 2017. But he was always being knocked over by the breezes because he is tall and thin. It scratched up his paint and chipped some of his top feathers. So I asked Bruce to fashion a base for Ringo, and he did a real nice job! Now, with a nice base, repainted feathers and talons (orange instead of gray), Ringo is ready for a coat of varnish - and some socializing on the patio!

In the next week I’ll be showing lots of pictures from the quilt show I mentioned earlier - probably over a couple posts. And some front yard garden pictures. Have a great week!