Seeing red

Can you see what's getting between me and my sewing? LOL

I think we just MAY have planted a few too many tomatoes...

Here's the baby quilt top that I finished for the 100 quilts for kids campaign.  I hope to sew the back together today (after I get these tomatoes taken care of). 

WIP Wed and Rodeo

Here's what's on my sewing table today... the beginnings of my next postcard swap cards... I'm glad I made an extra set for me, because these are going to be cute!

I also have been wanting to join in with Kate's of "Swim Bike Quilt"'s blog's 100 quilts for kids campaign.  A recent story in the local paper about the local Linus project was what finally got me motivated.  I also realized that I have a few UFO's that I either lost interest in, or that are too small for anything other than baby quilts that would make a great quilt for this.  Here's one of them:

 I've been trying to make more Kindle covers for my Etsy shop as well.

Here's one I just finished that I love!

The tomato situation around here has almost gotten out of control.  I've canned or frozen 3-4 dozen pints now, and picked another 20-ish pounds just this morning :-O.  But I'm not complaining.  I keep reminding myself how wonderful they'll be in January!!

Finally, it's rodeo week here in Pendleton, and our little town has once again been transformed.  My boys have had all week off school, so I've done some running around with them.  Here's our Main Street:

Here's the Rodeo grounds (first of 4 "shows" started today):

There's a lot of fun people watching to be done.

There's also tons of merchants and artists to peruse...

Of course it's Wednesday, so I'll be linking up with Freshly Pieced WIP Wed, and The Needle and Thread Network's WIP link up!  Come join us!

Putting food up

It's hard to believe, with a teen and tween boy in the house, that we'd have any food to preserve this year, but we do.  I'm going to the store today to buy more canning jars!  I haven't done that in a long time (bought more jars).  I have a few dozen now "put up" with tomatoes, and dilly beans, plus a dozen-ish pints of frozen grated zucchini in our freezer to use later in bread.  We've also been eating lots of it daily, and I've made 2 big batches of fresh salsa that got devoured within a day or 2.  I'm also so lucky to have a family that gets excited each time stir-fry is served for dinner (which has been frequently)!

Unfortunately, we already had a freeze in the garden that wiped out a big chunk of it, including half of my okra plants, and all of our pumpkins, but it taught us a valuable lesson.  It only hit one section, and it is a section that has never produced well.  Plants there for the last 2 years have been stunted, or failed to grow well.  Now we know why.  It's a tiny micro-climate in our garden, a low spot that cold air drains to.  With that knowledge, we'll plan our garden much differently or try to protect plants there.  We may even move the garden a bit, but that's hard to do with the deer fence.

Speaking of deer, we've had some hanging around our house lately.  We think they're what killed 3 young Aspen that we planted this spring.  There are antler rubs all over the trunks, and most of the bark has been rubbed off.  One is even snapped in 2.  Bummer.

Another loss we discovered,  upon digging up our potatoes, is that those have been eaten by gophers or some other underground creature.

We ate the last of the corn last night, and I'm afraid except for the tomatoes and winter squash, most of the garden is slowing WAY down, despite the hot afternoons we're getting this week.  Usually by this time each year, I'm more than ready for this transition, but this year I'm not quite there yet.  Maybe I will be after a few more dozen jars have been put up....

First Okra Blossom!!!

I just had to share this!  We have the first (several) okra blossom(s) in our garden!  Okra doesn't grow nearly as well here as it does down South, but it does grow.  Taking that into consideration, we planted a TON of okra, hoping to get enough to make me happy!  It's my favorite vegetable!  My husband even jokes that okra blossoms are my favorite flower :-).  They certainly are pretty!

Here's our harvest for the day:

I decided, as I was going through all of my batik scraps that I'm going to add more blocks to the summer sampler quilt (eventually).  I have a ton of extra 3x3 squares that I cut for Lee's "Supernova" quilt along that are just begging to be used up.  I'll have to cut up some more reds, greens and oranges to add to the mix.  I hope it doesn't get too scrappy!  I'm thinking of adding them checkerboard style, and putting the quilt on point.  We'll see....

With family in Texas, my mind has been there quite a bit.  I hope all of you are safe and staying cool!

WIP Wed: More Sampler Blocks

I almost have another Summer Sampler Block finished. I'm slowly getting caught up.  It's been so much fun sewing these beauties up!  Using up scraps and learning to paper piece is also great!  As usual, the flickr group looks fantastic!  I marvel almost every day at how the internet has transformed my life (and the world)!

Here's the group I have all finished up:

The garden's loving the hot weather we've finally been getting!  I picked our first green beans and our first pepper today!  Yipee!  The summer squash have been producing for a few weeks now!

It's also Wednesday, so I'm linking up with Freshly Pieced WIP Wed blog!  Come join us!!

WIP Wed: Molecule quilt back (and the garden)

This week, I decided to get the back all done on my molecule quilt.  Here's the front again:

Here's the just-finished back:

It's not real pretty, but it's done, and I was able to use all fabric that was used in the front, so I didn't have to buy any additional fabric (yea!).

I was hoping to get some more Kindle covers made for my Etsy store, but ran out of the interfacing I use, and the store in town was out.  The next closest store that carries it is over an hour away, but I finally was able to make it over there (combined with other errands) to buy more.  Maybe this week?

Of course the garden is growing.  Check out this tomato plant!!  Amazing!

Besides okra, onions and garlic are all time vegetable garden favorites of mine.  I like them all, but one of the best things about onions, garlic, (as well as potatoes too) at least here in Oregon, is that they can stay in the ground pretty much until you need them (or until hard freezes start).  They store well, once they're dug up too.  Along with winter squash, I can't think of much else that keeps as well without any refrigeration or preservation.  The flavor they add to dishes is wonderful.  That said, it's not surprising that they're found in so many cuisines from around the world.  And at least here, onions, garlic and squash are incredibly easy to grow, nutritious, and attract few pests!  We tried dried beans one year, and ended up with a bug infestation in the pantry that was quite ugly, not to mention the work and food thrown away :-O. Never store home-grown dried beans in open containers in the pantry!!  We applied that lesson, learned long ago, to even our onions, garlic and squash... they stay out in our garage until we need them!

As usual, I'm linking up to Lee's Freshly Pieced blog's WIP Wed.  Come join us there, and tell us what you're working on!  I'd love to hear how your garden is growing too, or what you'll be growing next year!!

Fabric postcard fun!

I just thought I'd share some fabric postcards that I made for family and friends whom we visited on our recent trip.  I also made a few birthday postcards, but forgot to take pictures of them before mailing them off today!

The produce starting to come out of our garden is very "spring" in nature, but it's rolling in!  My husband just put up a shade cloth for the lettuce and radishes to try to extend the season.  It's a first go of shade cloth for us.  I'll let you know how it turns out!

I hope you all had a great 4th of July.  We are still recovering.  The days are so long now that yesterday the local rooster woke me up at 4:40am (first light), then our city fireworks didn't start until 10pm (that's when it's dark).  Despite the frequent sleep deprivation, I love summer, spending time at the pool, eating fresh ripe berries and produce, going barefoot and being free of the school schedule.  I still manage to get in sewing from time to time as well, and this new postcard addiction is a perfect way to "quilt" when it's hot!

WIP Wed: Not your typical "hexie"

It's Wednesday, so I'm linking up with Freshly Pieced WIP Wed today!

I've been spending the last of my kid-free time trying to get my molecule quilt blocks all ready to hand embroider.  This project has turned into quite a time hog, but I'm really really enjoying it!  Once again, it combines my nerdy science love with my fabric quilty love... a wonderful match for me!!  I don't have a ton of time (only 5 hours, 30 minutes left of school, but who's counting), so this will be just a few quick pictures.  I'll try to describe more of my process later, which may be a lot later, since we'll be doing some camping, and kids will be home 24/7, and we only have one good computer here...

I LOVE the background fabric I found... It's from Moda, and it looks like notebook paper!!  Perfect for this quilt!

I also got a few fabric postcards done for friends, and have all but finished my Sisters Quilt Show challenge quilt block.  I just need to stitch it down.  I loved the blue circle fabric, and as I was trying to figure out what to do, I thought about the Grateful Dead's lyrics "The sky was yellow and the sun was blue", from their song "Scarlet Begonias".  Do you think this will be the first Grateful Dead-inspired quilt block there? LOL  I'm a fan of theirs, and have been to 2 of their shows, in New Orleans and Eugene, OR, many years ago.  I was much more of a spectator at the shows than a participant, if you know what I mean, but love their music! Here's the before and after pictures...

Lastly, we ate our first food from the garden last night!!! Salad!  Isnt' it beautiful?!?!  Also, our okra started sprouting!!  This makes me so incredibly happy!  It's been so hard to get fresh okra ever since I moved away from Louisiana, and the best way is to grow it!!

If you don't hear from me for a while, you'll know that life is keeping me busy!!  Enjoy!