Glorious Springtime!

Bruce and I have both been working hard out in the garden. All the vegetables are planted! YAY! We did forget one basil plant, which I discovered while watering a still-to-planted rose on the patio. But I feel we’re over the hump. I still have another couple hours of shoveling soil to finish off the big cubic yard we got, but that might possibly happen today or if not, then on Monday. All my flower pots are planted with their annuals and most of the perennial flowers and shrubs are as well. Another trip to the nursery is in order, but that won’t happen for at least 10 days because of other things, which I’ll explain momentarily. 

This little flower bed, with the beautiful blue brunnera I showed last week (must.get.more!) has some friends now. The wilted tulip greens along the bed curbing will be removed once they turn yellow - have to let their bulbs soak up the leaf nutrients first. The three grasses in pots in the rear of the bed (hakonechloa - Japanese forest grass) are shade lovers.  I hope to fill in that whole area in the shade along those windows with them. But they’re a bit pricey, and so I’m going to have to plant fewer and just wait for them to grow. 

In the meantime, I’m adding annuals and pots and picking up cheap flowers where I can find them. And I’m cheering on the hostas that have finally broken ground and are really pushing their new growth! 

A few little begonias and a single blooming iris make a cute little vignette in the bed under the living room window. That whole expanse under the window used to be filled with irises, but they had to be thinned out and the dead rhizomes discarded. Now I need to transplant some back - a project for July or August.

The drip lines still show all over the beds as we tweak where feeder lines need to be attached. But it’s all coming along. We hope to have that all done so we can clean up the patio of drip irrigation supplies and detritus and get the furniture set out for the upcoming Memorial Day long weekend. 

I did get some orange blocks sewn this week for Orange May in the Rainbow Scrap Challenge. I’m linking up to Scrappy Saturday at Angela’s blog.

Here we have ten Split Nines …

And then I made six Four-in-Nines. The first two are with a gray constant:

And the last four are with a dark navy constant: 

On tap for the next project is the assembly - FINALLY - of my International Sisters quilt. Here is an in-progress photo as I begin to sew rows together.

Tomorrow (Sunday) I’ll be able to sew on it a bit, hopefully. Cousin Kim is coming over to sew, but first she’ll be giving Bruce a haircut and next we have rhubarb to harvest for her. Then we have three quilts to baste, two of them being large ones that Kim has made which are ready for finishing. Ruby won’t be joining us this week because poor thing - she’s in Europe (Austria, Hungary, Germany, Poland and the Czech Republic). Yes, I’m properly jealous! 

On Wednesday, Bruce and I head out to Western Colorado for 4 days for my Cousins Reunion. We’re staying at my brother’s house. There will be Bruce and I, Steve, Cousin Dan, and Cousin Julia and her husband David; six total. We haven’t seen our cousins in 25 years, and they’ve never met Bruce. I hope to get lots of pictures and hugs!

Orange Sewing, Green Gardening

The days flew by this week! At this rate, I’ll be old before you know it. Oh wait….. I’m already old. Never mind.

After I share my sewing for the week, I’ve got some new garden pictures to show you. It’s always fun to take pictures in the spring and then watch how everything just explodes with growth over the summer. 

But let’s start with these orange string blocks. I literally had a basketful of orange strings at the beginning of the week. By Thursday, there were 83 string blocks at 6.5” each. See the stacked piles in the picture below? There are 15 blocks in each stack. The fanned out blocks at the bottom left - 8 of them - bring the total to 83. 

The five sets of 15 will go to Quilts for Kids for quilt kits. That is, after I remove all the papers from the back. But at least they’ll be for someone else to assemble into a top and quilt! The mindless sewing helped me to work through a lot of things - stressors, garden plans and more. It even gave me time to begin the rough outline in my head of a hopeful trip to Italy in the fall of 2024. Several of my Weight Watchers friends and I are beginning to make plans. First step: getting or renewing (me) passports! But I digress…

My second batch of blocks were these six Chaser blocks. They are so fun!

On Monday, Bruce had a doctor appointment in Bountiful, about a half hour north of us. While he was at his appointment, my dear friend Terri and I talked. Love you, girl!! Bruce joined us after his appointment and we all went out to lunch.

Terri is the widow of Bruce’s lifelong best friend Mike. We all miss him terribly. 

The rest of my week was spent sewing, shopping (housewares stuff mostly) and doing mountains of laundry. Bruce and I will be spending about 4 days in Colorado toward the end of the month for a Cousins Reunion. We’re going to travel about 4.5 hours east to Montrose County, Colorado, where my brother lives. Our cousins Julia (and husband David) and Cousin Danny will be coming in from Colorado Springs. Dan actually still lives in Southern California where we all grew up, but he’s flying out to Julia’s place where they’ll drive their motor home to Steve’s. We haven’t seen each other for over 20 years! We’re all getting excited, to say the least!

Early in the week, I snapped this picture of our back garden wall with tulips blooming and the garden beds being prepped for planting (not yet weeded in this picture, but they are now).

That trash can thing in the far right is actually a pollinator habitat we made a few years ago out of an actual trash can. I will plant the front part of it with something that will bloom and spill over the edge to soften the look. 

The east side yard along the driveway is beginning to take shape. The soil/mulch is spread and some decorations are out (prematurely). We’ll be visiting our favorite nursery to pick up a load of perennials and an ornamental cherry tree next week.  We’ve got a landscape company coming to grind an old tree stump up and remove two old root-stock roses. One will be replaced with a lovely white tea rose and the other - well, I can’t decide between a hydrangea or a lilac bush for its spot. Speaking of lilacs, here are some that I picked for myself from the neighbor’s bush that overhangs into our yard.

Our dwarf Japanese Maple is looking quite lovely… the white specks you see in the soil are the fallen buds from the flowering pear tree (shown last post).  Lots more space to fill up with fresh new plants and flowers!

In the front flower bed, the brunnera is striking! I’m going to get more of these because I love it so!

This little vignette is in the raised planter under the living room window. That miniature rose will be blooming soon.

And the bleeding heart is blooming too. I think it got a bit trampled from all the work on the irrigation and soil as it’s only half its usual size this year. 

That’s all I have for this week. I hope all you mothers have a wonderful Mothers Day on Sunday. Have a great week!

Linking up to Scrappy Saturday / Rainbow Scrap Challenge.

Quilting and Shoveling

The title of this post pretty much sums up my week. I could close now, but my guess is that you’re probably here for some pictures. 

Well, as far as the shoveling soil into the garden beds goes, I’d have pictures if the weather would cooperate. But the last two afternoons have turned stormy, and when thunder rumbles, I don’t stay outside. But I’m approaching the 2/3-done mark with the soil. But I did get a lovely picture of our flowering pear (ornamental) tree early in the week. Look at that brilliant blue sky!

Bruce has been getting all the drip lines installed in the veggie beds. It’s slower going when you only have one arm. Yesterday we went to one store and bought lots of necessary supplies for the watering systems, plus I got annuals for the flower pots, ground covers, rose gloves and new pruners and even a new bright blue glazed pot. Oh, and all the tomato and pepper starts. Next week we’ll visit our favorite nursery to pick up a new tree, a David Austen rose, and more perennial flowers and shrubs for the front flower beds. We’re approaching our budgeted spending limit, so I told Bruce I may have to pick up a babysitting job,  (wink!). I’m not always good about “unselecting” plants. Anyway, with a little luck and sunshine, we may actually have something to show next week. Or by the end of the month for sure…

May is for playing with our orange scraps for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge. My first order of business was to frame ten of these jungle blocks with orange.

All I have left now are the last ten blocks to frame with red, then I’ll have all 40 done (10 each in blue, green, orange and red), which is enough to do two kid quilts. 

I did layer up and quilt two scrappy finishes as well. Here is my scrappy green project from March, Creature from the Green Gulch (or was it green gully?) (whatever). Finished size: 39.5x48.5”.

As usual, lots of orphan blocks, partial blocks, scraps, strips and chunks were used in assembling this monstrosity cute little scrappy quilt.  Even the back used up its fair share of leftovers.

Here is Purple People (and Scrap) Eater (thanks, Judy!!):

And the back: 

Purple People Eater measures 41x48”.

These two scrappy quilts, along with 8 others from the last couple months, will be dropped off at our Quilts for Kids workshop today. I’m only staying for some of the workshop because we are having an early Mothers Day gathering and dinner out with some of the family. But my morning today will be spent helping out with the annual neighborhood cleanup. I’ve got a lot of green waste to dump - rose cuttings and branches that can’t be composted. 

I finally broke my weight plateau and managed to lose 2 pounds this week, for 47 total. I’m hoping to hit -50 pounds sometime in May. But if not, there’s always June! I just wish it would warm up so I could wear some of my cute new summer clothes!

Have a great week!

Elephant Parade and Giveaway Winners

Let’s just start right off with the winner of last week’s giveaway for a copy of Sew Preeti’s new pattern, A Fishy Story.  Mr. Random Generator chose:

Grandma Judy B

Congratulations, Judy! Preeti will contact you to get your information and get you squared away. For the rest of you, thanks so much for taking the time to drop by last week and enter the drawing. Be sure to stop by Preeti’s Etsy Shop to pick up a copy of this delightful pattern! 

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We had another crazy week here at Chez Kizerian. Bruce’s vertigo is finally abating, although he had to postpone his driver’s license review (an annual meeting required in Utah for amputees) until May. I had a Most Dreaded Procedure done this week. You know, the one where the prep is a hundred times worse than the procedure itself (which they knock you out for). Anyway, all is peachy-keen, and I don’t have to do that again for 10 years. And who knows, maybe the 2-day fasting will help me shed a pound or two. Although I would rather not lose it like that!

But the procedure - plus rain one day and working out in the yard hauling soil and digging grass out of flower beds - limited my sewing room time. First, let me show you the last of my Rainbow Scrap Challenge blocks for Purple April. I’m going to link this post up to Scrappy Saturday at Angela’s blog.

This week, being the last week of purple scraps, meant I was dealing with crumbs. So I made 8 - 8” (finished size) crumb candy blocks. 

They won’t be laid out like that in a quilt, but it was fun to try it for a picture. The only other color I plan to make of these candies is orange, then I’ll be able to assemble a quilt top.

The rest of the crumbs went into two 6.5” crumb blocks.....

... which in turn have been added to my Purple Creature Quilt (as in creature like Frankenstein’s monster). I have fun using old orphan blocks, scraps, chunks and such to put together something in the color of the month. 

Obviously, this is only pinned to the design board at the moment. I plan to get it sewn into a top over the weekend. Then I can quilt it AND the green one and two donated community quilts in the next week. I’ll show whatever I finish next week.

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ELEPHANT TRUNK SHOW!!

And now it’s time for the Elephant Trunk Show!!  Grab your coffee and a comfortable seat and let’s get started!

Late in 2021, I bought the pattern Stomping Ground by Wendy Shepard. I love elephants, especially after having spent time in Kenya in 2018. I tried making a few and really liked the pattern. So all throughout 2022, and part of this year as well, I made elephants in the Rainbow Scrap Challenge color of the month. And as the months went by, I began assembling them into what would end up as 7 quilts - all donated to Quilts for Kids here in Salt Lake City.

I think that for many of you, like me, this will be a fun stroll down memory lane. At least I hope so!

These first two quilts were finished in June. I absolutely loved that blue and green border fabric and ordered it from two different places. Since I had a ton of green and blue scraps, I decided to double the fun! These Jungle Elephants definitely loved their time browsing in the lush greenery!

Both of these quilts ended up at 42x47” - perfect for a child.

The next quilt to reach the finish line was this little number, Pink and Green Elephants. As with all these elephant quilts, the elephant colors were determined by the yardage or scraps that I wanted to use for the border and/or backing. Finished in August, this one measures 40x48”. The fabric came from some yardage I found at a thrift store.

Rainbow Elephants, finished in November, was the fourth finish.  It measures 40x47”. That adorable elephant border fabric (also used on the back) was given to me by Nann. 

In December I finished Wild Elephants, which was the largest of any of the quilts. It measures 43x54”. 

As usual, in this quilt the elephant colors were (generally) derived from the colors in the backing. There wasn’t enough of this delightful fabric (also from Nann) to use for borders. so I just added more elephants!

And that brings us to this year’s finishes. This bright Happy Elephants quilt was finished in February. It measures 39.5 x 49.5”.  This was a favorite of so many visitors to the blog.

And finally, here is Bubbly Elephants.  The inspirational border fabric was a piece I acquired from one of my Quilts for Kids friends. The picture below shows it basted and ready to be quilted.

I did manage to quilt it last night. Here is a closeup of the simple loop quilting. I still have to bind it, and it’ll the first order of business when I get back in the sewing room this weekend. It measures 38 x 48.5”. I’ll show a full completed picture next week.

So, there’s my trunk show.... er, I mean, the elephants’ trunk show. Which one is your favorite?

We’re expecting a beautiful sunny day today, so I plan to get out in the yard and work in the flower beds while Bruce works on getting the drip irrigation set up for the vegetable garden beds. A trip to the big box hardware store is probably in order, which is always fun. And usually followed by a Barnes & Noble coffee date!  Sometime next week - on a weekday, definitely not on a weekend - we’ll head to a garden nursery or two to begin buying new perennials and annuals. I can’t wait!

Have a great week!

A Fishy Story - and a Giveaway!

Welcome, friends!  

I have a lot to share with you today (even some pictures for a change!), so let’s not waste any time! I’ll begin with A Fishy Story...... hehehe. My dear friend Preeti. who is also an Island Batik Ambassador, has a great new pattern that she is calling A Fishy Story. She tells the tale on her blog, which you can visit HERE if you haven’t already seen it.

Preeti asked me to be a pattern tester for her, and I excitedly agreed. Why? Because I saw the pattern and knew that this would be the perfect opportunity to learn how to make HRTs, or half-rectangle triangles. Well, also because I love Preeti to the moon and back, but that’s another story.....   Anyway, it was a super quick timing window, so I only had the opportunity to make a wall hanging. But rest assured that these fishy beauties are going to be a super Rainbow Scrap Challenge block for me in 2024! I need more of my fishy friends in my life (said the Pisces girl!)

Without further ado, let’s first view the “class picture” of this school of fish, shall we? I’ve got to add a disclaimer here. The last several days have been cloudy, dark and blustery. So I apologize for the (lack of) photo quality. Outdoors was not an option, and indoors was gloomy. Except for this lively school of fish!

 

Look - I cropped the nose off the lead fish with the camera. But let me tell you, there is NO chance of that happening when you are sewing them and following Preeti’s stellar pattern. Her directions for making the HRTs are so clear and concise - I felt as though she was there in person, guiding me along step by step. 

I made two of these batik buddy fish (individual class photos, LOL).

This one’s body is a different batik, because..... variety is the spice of life. And after all, they aren’t twins! But look at their nice fins!!

Speaking of twins, I did make two of these aquamarine fish. Preeti’s pattern has you make them in pairs to save fabric and time. It’s a slick technique!

The quilting, some serpentine lines done with my walking foot, were supposed to be random widths apart, but I don’t think I made them random enough. Live and learn. Next time I’ll just use a regular straight stitch and sew the wavy lines more organically/naturally.

You can find the A Fishy Story patten in Preeti’s Etsy shop. In addition to the adorable pattern, the directions for making precise HRTs alone are totally worth it! And for the next week, the pattern will be on sale for 20% off, so don’t wait. 

So, here are my silly fish, clowning around on the design board. First they decided to swim one direction....

And then they decided to swim a different direction.... They must be in middle school, LOL!!

I told the class that they were going to have to make up their minds so that I could sew on a hanging sleeve. They finally calmed down enough to decide to swim west.....

And that’s where they’ll play for awhile on the living room wall. 

Now it’s time for the giveaway announcement! Preeti is giving away a free copy of her pattern to one lucky person who leaves a comment on this blog post. All you have to do is tell me what your favorite type of fish is - whether that favorite type of fish is to eat (don’t say it too loud, we don’t want the class to hear! Wink!) or just to look at.  I’ll use a random number generator to pick the winner and will announce the winner next week here on the blog. You have until Thursday, April 27 at midnight (Mountain Daylight Time) to get your comments in. Also, please leave your email address in your comment if you’re a No-Reply Blogger.

Don’t forget to check out Preeti’s blog post and her Etsy shop!

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Oh, and of course I didn’t forget my Rainbow Scrap Challenge blocks this week! Here are the 37 - 6” (finished size) purple string blocks I sewed. Two sets of 15 will go to Quilts for Kids to be used in quilt kits. The other 7 will go into the ever-growing pile of assorted blocks and scraps that will eventually become a Purple Creature quilt. 

Next week: Giveaway winner announcement and the long-awaited Elephant Trunk Show! That is, if I don’t spend too much time in the garden hauling fresh new soil into the flower beds. We’ll see which way Mother Nature and her April Showers vote! 

Progress - Mostly in the Yard!

It was a fun and busy week, but I would have had to take before and after pictures of my rose bushes (all pruned!) and flower beds (good progress on weeding and dead growth cleanup) for you to really see anything. Bruce and I did make a run to our favorite nursery (not a chain garden center) to pick up our seed potatoes, garlic bulbs and onion starts. They go so quickly that we weren’t taking any chances this year! I bought a tea rose bush while we were there because I can’t help myself. It’s way too early to plant anything, but better to have what we need on hand.

I’ll revisit more of the garden news later in the post, but first I’ll show you the blocks I sewed up for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge’s April color of purple.

First up, five Chaser blocks. I may come back to these and make more blocks with purples, but for now here are the finished ones.

I also completed 8 Split Nine-Patch blocks to add to the pile.

The remainder of my studio time (two afternoons) was spent on some secret sewing that I can’t share just yet. But stay tuned for that in the next week or two!

On Tuesday evening, I went to my friend Ruby’s house for our monthly “card night”. Six of us from our Weight Watchers group have become fast friends and gather at one member’s home (we rotate) to play Hand and Foot. We were having so much fun that we kept going until just past 10:30. I didn’t get home until past 11, had to unwind before getting to bed (gulp - after 1 a.m.). I was wiped out the next day! Haha - no one will ever accuse me of being a party girl!  But we did have a small party / family gathering here for Easter with DS Shane and DGD London. 

Bruce was gone on Wednesday and Friday, attending “Myo U”, as they affectionately call the training sessions (usually held 2-3 times per year in Salt Lake) for prosthetists. Bruce is a “model”, since he’s an amputee. He has a blast because he used to work with guys in this company (Motion Control) when he (Bruce) worked back in the day with Robert Jarvik on the (artificial heart and) the Utah Arm projects. Anyway, the participating prosthetists this time came from Norway, Sweden, Ireland, India, Guatemala and the US. 

So let me show you - now that the snow has finally melted - what’s happening in the front and east side yards.

This first picture shows the new gravel that replaces the old grass along the driveway. That grass strip was just narrow enough to always look raggedy from lying between the house and driveway. And the rock matches what we already have in the front parking strip (the area between the front sidewalk and the street). Come to think of it, it also matches the cement border edging (mow strip) and the faux-flagstone front path from the driveway to the front door. Cool beans. 

Much tidier. The sprinklers were capped and drip irrigation lines were installed. Please forgive the rough nature of all the beds I’m showing today. We lost some plants to winter kill and others were likely destroyed with the digging for the drip lines lines. The beds are being cleaned up - slowly and methodically - by me. We have soil to spread (see the next picture), but that can’t begin to happen until after Monday. That’s when the contracted clean-up team will be here to remove all the styrofoam pellets that contaminated our yard from the demolition doc an old furniture store on the lot behind us. That story is here if you need a refresher on that fiasco (last part of the post). 

Obviously, nothing is blooming yet and the grass is only half awakened from winter. The wonky solar lights are now gone and will be replaced when the landscaping basics are done. Consider these to be “before” shots of this year’s beds!

I haven’t seen a trace yet of my bleeding heart bush in the planting area below, so if it didn’t survive all the digging, that’s one I’ll definitely want to replace. And note to self: the snow shovel and bucket of ice melt on the porch need to be put away!!

Much of the new soil will go in the bed below to fill in the area under the overhang and contour the bed to slope slightly away from the house - and fix the grade overall from years of digging and transplanting. A fresh start! 

I’m so excited to do some planning and plant shopping and digging and planting. Mother Nature, are you listening???

Have a great week!

Maybe Spring is Really Coming!

Our weather forecast (10-day) here in the Salt Lake Valley has no snow in it! As of Tuesday last week (an incredibly snowy day and our Weight Watchers meeting was cancelled), we broke the all-time snowpack record for the state. It would be an understatement to say I’ve got cabin fever. I’ve been using any excuse I can to get out of the house over the last two clear and sunny days.  We need more bananas? Hey, I’ll run to the store!  I should check to see if I have enough self-tanning lotion for the season. What - not enough? Ok, I’ll hit the drugstore. My underthings are sure getting baggy. Maybe I should head to the mall and shop for new ones! (Note: any other time besides this never-ending winter, shopping for underthings is akin to being waterboarded). 

On Thursday, I did walk to Wheeler Farm, a block away, so I could get some pictures of our snowy mountains and cloudless blue sky. 

There’s not that much snow here on the valley floor, but up in the mountains there is so much that in the Park City/Heber Valley areas, many people have snow up to the eaves of their houses - and no view except snow out their windows (how claustrophobic that would be!) And many structures and roofs have collapsed.

The Great Salt Lake has already risen 8 inches from its record-low levels just from direct precipitation into it. Reservoirs are filling up. And the spring melt and runoff hasn’t even started! We’re hoping it’s a gradual warming over three months, but we already have a couple days next week forecast in the high 60’s and Tuesday is supposed to get to 70! However, the rain showers return later in the week. 

I did spend some time in my studio this week, even though I was really good at finding excuses to not be there. My first and only accomplishment for Purple April for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge was to get my Four-in-Nine blocks sewn. 

Two with a dark gray constant … 

And four with a navy-colored constant …

And it took Miss-Ants-in-her-Pants (me) four sessions to quilt and bind the jewel-toned jelly roll race quilt. I opted for a sort of water-ish motif. Here’s a closeup of some of the (less than stellar) quilting. 

The finished quilt measures 54x62”. I’m going to keep this one.

And here is the back. 

In the next week I’ll work on lots of purple RSC blocks, assemble and pin baste the latest elephants quilt, and the three other quilts waiting patiently in line to be basted. But today - I’m going out into the yard to prune my roses and the blackberry bush. Sunday is Easter and I’ll be roasting a turkey breast for us and DS Shane and DGD London, who are joining us for dinner. It’s going to be a great weekend. I hope yours is too!