Saturday, July 4, 2020

Happy Independence Day!

For those of you living in the USA,  Happy Independence Day! Things are rather subdued at our house and around the country due to the pandemic, although some overzealous neighbors have been shooting off fireworks for a couple nights now. i’m pretty sure it will continue tonight as well. I’ve never understood, even as a kid, what the attraction is to lighting things on fire and blowing things up. Fireworks scare the hell out of me, and I know that at least 90% of cats and dogs agree. (Alfalfa is among the 10% of cats who enjoy fireworks, though. He sits in the window and watches as long as there are no thunderous bangs). I do enjoy a nice fireworks show put on by professionals at a city event or a ballgame, but I’ve seen too many fires (houses, trash cans, hills, etc) from neighborhood fireworks to think they are anything but pure lunacy (my blog, my opinion). Perhaps someday we’ll convert to more peaceful patriotic celebrations and give up the “bombs bursting in air”. 

For the month of July, we are focusing on dark blue for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge. I was hoping for yellow, since I’m working on a mostly-yellow quilt anyway, but oh well. Yellow’s time will come.  I did get some blue scraps sewn this week, namely my selvage half hexies. Eighteen of them.


And then I finished off my dark blue selvages by stitching them together into columns for a future coin quilt. I’ve got quite a collection of these going now...


My One Monthly Goal (OMG) for June was to finish my pineapple quilt. For the first time in eighteen months, I did not make my goal. Progress was made, however, and I’m going to call it as my OMG for July. A totally finished pineapple quilt before month-end. It will get done! Here are 9 of the 10 blocks I’ve sewn so far. I’ll need a total of 24. I’m linking up to the OMG goal-setting post for July at Elm Street Quilts


I’m aiming to sew 2 pineapples per day. If I can stick to that, then I’ll be ready to begin assembling the quilt top by this time next week. other than sewing blue blocks for the RSC, I shouldn’t have too many distractions. Except those zipper blocks that Sally got me hooked on. I made another 18 of them this week. They are soooo much fun to sew. Quick and easy. Like Sally mentioned, it takes longer to select and cut out the fabrics than it does to sew them up.


Our vegetable garden seems to be well established now and growing nicely. We had another spate of cool weather earlier in the week and I took advantage of a cool, cloudy morning to go out and snap some pictures. 

Below is the carrot bed with a decorative metal carrot stake for size reference. Later in the summer, that stake will barely be visible. Beyond the carrot bed to the right is the spaghetti squash bed. You can also see the back wall and the pollinator habitat in the background. Oops - and an old seat that we sometimes sit on with some pumpkins growing beyond the carrot bed.


We planted one crookneck squash plant this year, and it’s already going gangbusters. You can see the blossoms giving ‘way to the squash.


This is the onion bed with the tip of my shoe for reference.  


Next up are the beans. To their left you can see an Armenian cucumber struggling with its huge cage and beyond that a tomato. Way in the back is the bed with the peas.


Next up is the bed of spinach (left), which we’re already harvesting and giving away and the lettuce (right).


This is a better view of the peas. Bruce went a little crazy with the twine, but he’s like that sometimes. The rhubarb on the left is about done for the year. I’ve frozen a lot of wonderful strawberry-rhubarb compote this year to enjoy during the winter.


That about wraps it up for this week. I’ll be linking up to Scrappy Saturday this morning and sewing away the afternoon today. We have no plans for the day, and for this year that’s just fine by us! 

21 comments:

  1. Those pineapples are such a ray of sunshine! And I'm seriously jealous of your garden. Looks like you'll be eating well! We are also staying home today, with a festive picnic on th deck. Happy 4th!

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  2. I used to have friend back in chicago who loved every aspect of the 4th. from the year long gathering of the fireworks to the day prep for a massive party he holds every year with all the bada-boom anyone could want. safety first always and would let the kids fire off a few early if they were responsible/old enough.
    I enjoyed the parties but never understood the need to blow shit up, just because.
    To me it's just making noise to be noisy. why?

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  3. Love those pineapples! Your garden is lovely, too.

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  4. Love the selvage coin strips...and those pineapples are lovely...
    Your garden looks wonderful...quiet day for us here too--kind of dispirited after last night's racist ranting...hoping for better days....
    ~ ~ ~ hugs from afar ~ ~ ~ Julierose

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  5. You and Bruce have the most amazing garden! So impressive! Love that pineapple quilt progress and your blue selvages, too. We, too, are staying home today with a picnic on the deck and lots of entertainment from the neighborhood fireworks, I'm sure. Have a great day, Cathy!

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  6. I love the cartoon fabric as a zipper block...not one I would have thought to use, but now I will... Your garden looks so awesome. My happiest plants are a handful of volunteers...sunflower, nasturtium and tomatoes. And the problem with volunteers is that you can’t fire them.

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  7. My goodness, such a lot of selvedges! I use a small portion each month in my two small selvedge RSC projects, and I think the ones left behind have a bit if a party and keep multiplying. Your zipper blocks are similar to the checkerboard blocks I'm also stitching. Lots of lovely healthy plants growing in your veggie gardens.

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  8. Our 4th started out with putting out our flag.. Then the day happened as usual. I sewed, planned a cookout dinner. Many more neighborhood fireworks than usual. Our city has a ban, but it never stops some.
    I agree with picking fabric for blocks taking longer than sewing. I struggle.

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  9. Wow, you have such a nice garden which really seems to be flourishing! I know it's a lot of work, but the results are well worth it, and it looks beautiful! Congrats!

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  10. Your garden looks fabulous! Wishing I could grow one again, but we have a very short growing season, and deer. Too costly to construct a fence. So I will just admire others gardens. I am cat-sitting my two grandkitties this weekend, and one of them perched herself on the windowsill and sat and watch the fireworks last night! So fun to watch her. No fear, just amusement. Or wonder, as in, "What the heck is this? So unusual."

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  11. Can't believe you've made nine Pineapple blocks already! Your Zipper blocks look like fun; I've resisted so far 'cuz I don't have much in the way of solids. Good to see all your garden goodies. We are already wrapping up here, at least until it's time to attempt some fall planting. We're definitely going to try some crook-neck squash (we just call it yellow squash) next year. Love your metal carrot stake!

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  12. We spent a quiet day at home (well quiet until the sun went down). I envy your vegetable garden as I have given it up due to the numerous wildlife that ravage it. It is hot here and we've had very little rain with none in the forecast for a least a week, so everything is drying up. I'm just going to sit and read.
    Pat

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  13. Great selvage blocks, wonderful zipper blocks, and OMG that vegetable garden!

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  14. Have you decided on the dark blue Creature for July?.......Your garden looks great.

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  15. Oh you know I love a good pineapple block, that will be a sweet quilt! The zipper blocks look fun, are you able to use scraps for them?

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  16. I love those pineapples! Now I want a chunk of juicy yellow fruit to snack on. Hm, maybe I'll have DH pick one up this week. Your garden is looking quite healthy and productive. Good goals for all of us :)

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  17. Thank you for the tour of your garden! I'm enjoying your veggies vicariously! (We have a few raised beds, but haven't harvested anything but a bit of basil so far)
    I love love love your zippers! (And am fiercely resisting them because I've already succumbed to some solids-with-prints blocks and don't know how much more I can take!)

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  18. I'm loving those pineapples! Will have to make some.

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  19. Enjoy. Thanks for linking up with Elm Street Quilts One Monthly Goal and good luck with your project.

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  20. What a bountiful garden...wish it was mine. Your pineapples are juicy and the zipper blocks are gorgeous.
    I am almost done with my dark blue blocks. Determined to get them out of the way before I go work on my non-RSC yellows and quilt my super bright scrap vortex quilt.
    I love fireworks. Not the noisy ones but the ones that light up the night sky in myriad hues. I never buy any but Paul surprised me this year. He lit them and I watched and took pictures.

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