A Sunday Post–June 28, 2026

Good morning!

I’ve been AWOL from this blog, I know. But I have been busy, and it’s summer, which means more gardening duties outside. I’m not complaining, for the most part, as I enjoy being outside.

Morning walks are taking place around 8 am–to avoid the heat that starts to crank up starting mid to late morning. July is our hottest month here, and it is going to be really hot today. But for the most part, our spring has been so cool and lovely–if way too dry.

The BIG, DIFFICULT, and DIRTY garden job is finished. To recap, the Asian Jasmine (not a true jasmine) I planted turned out NOT to be a ground cover, but a vine. In its 4th spring, it went NUTS and started invading parts of the house and porch screens in ways that let me know it had to come out. It was also sufficating the roses and azaeleas at the root level. The vines built on each other, so the depth of the plant was now six plus inches of strands that had to be cut out in sections and ripped out by force. Then many roots had to be dug out.

Here’s a picture of the vine. It’s so pretty, but it is a bad actor in a setting this close to the house.

It took me several weeks, even with some help from neighbors and a lot of help from my lawn mower lovely person for the final big push. Getting this vine out was a nightmare physically.

But, now the roses and azaeleas are free, and a heavy application of pine straw has been applied–which should keep this plant from coming back. If it does in places, I’ll be able to see where right away. Without its leaves, it can’t live.

And the azaleas, where we narrowed the bed. The Centipede grass will fill in the gap, and Alex will then make a new border line.

I had to rest for almost a week and to catch up with household projects left dangling. But this past week, I got back to my beloved sewing.

Flower Pop is still waiting for the longarm, though her backing is cut. (I need a better picture.) I don’t have a border fabric yet.

Pineapple, now “Bright and Beautiful,” is ready for the longarm and will probably go before “Flower Pop” as she is going to be mailed to a friend in Colorado. I have a backing and binding for her.

Here’s the design wall right now, filled with a growing “Umbrellas” quilt designed by Rachel LaBour of “Stitched in Color” and the set of “Patches and Pinwheels” blocks designed by Bonnie Hunter that have been waiting for design wall room.

But, you know me I hope by now. I also had a project on hold for six placemats for a friend. So I got to that very creative effort this week, and five are made and the last one is laid out to be sewn today. Pictures to follow when they are all done. I am hand sewing the bindings at night.

Have a great week everyone!

The Garden Got In The Way of Sewing

HI blog readers!

I’ve been super busy with a HUGE gardening project that had to be addressed immediately.

Remember the Asian Jasmine I planted as a ground cover for TWO beds around my house–one on the shady side that also had azaleas and one around the back screened porch that has the red roses?

And:

Isn’t it pretty. But it turns out it is also a nightmare planted around other plants and near the foundations of a house. A nightmare! Along the side with the azaleas, it started going UP, behind the hardy planks and behind door frames. On the roses side, it went up the inside of that white corner wood piece and came out at the top to wave at me. (Son Bryan to the rescue for recaulking.) And it went UNDER the screens at the bottom of the porch and had to be pulled out with brute force with a pair of narrow nose pliers. (I love that tool.)

Yikes!

Asian Jasmine is NOT a true jasmine, and it is NOT a ground cover, but a VINE. Earlier this spring, its third summer, it started to increase its depth and its top was covered by its long vines that run in straight lines–so there were now two or more layers of tough vines in the depth, with the bottom layer well beneath the soil top.

There has been nothing to do but dig it out, and that has been what I’ve been doing for several weeks now. It is a really big and difficult job that requires a lot of muscle strength. I’ve gotten some help here and there–which has been so appreciated. And I’m feeling really encouraged. But there is a ways to go yet.

When I’ve cleared the ground as well as I can–the roots are often deep–I’ll put a thick layer of pine straw down that will smother any attempts of this plant to send up green vines and leaves. This plant has to have green leaves showing to spread. If I see shoots, I’ll be able to locate them easily under the pine straw. So, this this project will not be “done” for some time I suspect, but this part is the worst part. For sure.

I come in at night really tired–it is hot and the work is dirty–so most days have been two shower days. I have been cooking foods I can easily reheat: a lamb roast, a batch of grits (yum), and a whole sheet of mixed veggies roasted in the oven.

I try to use up what I have on hand with chopped veggie roasts like this one. I would have liked one of the sweet onions now in season chopped to add, but I didn’t have one. What I did have was a head of cabbage, red and yellow sweet peppers, carrots, garlic, and some frozen cranberries and broccoli heads. I seasoned with a dried mixed herb mixture and salt and topped with good butter for the fat. (The town is spraying for mosquitoes at night again, so I won’t use my garden herbs again until fall.)

I check the dish about every 20 minutes and turn over the veggies to mix them all up with the butter. It takes just under an hour as the mixture is thick, and veggies can exude a lot of liquid that needs to be cooked off.

This mixture refrigerates well and heats easily–as do the grits, which I pour into a pan so that I can cut squares out to reheat.

For dessert, lovely, lovely fresh summer fruit cut up or added–especially the seedless watermelon and all the berries. I usually have a glass of my raw whole milk with the fruit.

I’m feeling really healthy, all in all. The physical work has been good, and I’ve loved being outside so much, especially in the cool of the early morning. My farmer’s tan, though, is getting…tanner.

I’ll post pics when I’ve got these two long beds sorted out.

We need rain again. And we’re having a few days of really hot weather, but have been promised another cold front is on the way.

A Giant Leopard Moth

I’ve been busy with a BIG project outside–more on that later. But here we are with the start of another week. It has been beautiful weather here–cool, but temps will gradually rise now as July is our hottest month. And now we need rain again.

No sewing for the past 3 days–which is very unusual for me, as you know. But I’ve come inside every day tired and happy from all the physical work.

Beloved neighbor and I saw this very unusual moth on our morning walk about a week ago. Neither of us had ever seen one like this one. Beloved Neighbor took this picture.

It’s a Giant Leopard Moth.

The underside is black with that rust-colored stripe. This one is small, so likely female. We think she was camouflaging on the grey of the sidewalk. But we moved her to the side anyway as we almost stepped on her.

Here’s a picture I found of the caterpillar form.

And here’s a quote about this moth on wikipedia:

“This species has a notable sexual dimorphism in size, with the adult male reaching about 51 mm (2 in) in length, while the adult female grows up to 30 mm (1.2 in). The leopard moth requires two years to complete its round of life.[5]“

And:

“The giant leopard moth (Hypercompe scribonia) is a moth of the family Erebidae. They are distributed through North America from southern Ontario, and southern and eastern United States through New England, Mexico, and south to Colombia.[2][3] The obsolete name, Ecpantheria scribonia, is still occasionally encountered.

They are known to be attracted to bitter, unripe vegetables and broccoli flowers.

This moth species has a wingspan of 76 mm (3 in). Its wings are bright white with a pattern of neat black blotches, some solid and some hollow. The overside of the abdomen is dark blue with orange markings, while the underside is white with solid black spots, and males have a narrow yellow line on the sides. Their legs have black and white bands. Adult moths are strictly nocturnal and do not generally fly before nightfall.[4]“

AND, from AI overview about “what does it mean” to see this moth:

Seeing a Giant Leopard Moth (Hypercompe scribonia) is a lucky, entirely harmless encounter. Biologically, it means you are likely near a wooded area, meadow, or garden in North America, as this nocturnal insect relies on local host plants like dandelion, cherry, and willow. American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) +3

Culturally, encountering one of these striking creatures is often interpreted as a positive spiritual or symbolic omen.”

Leader/Ender Example

…for a blog leader asking for help with Rachel LaBour’s “Spinny” quilt.

I do not want to upstage Rachel’s pattern, so those who want to make this quilt need to buy her pattern for directions. Rachel’s pattern prices are very reasonable, and you would be supporting her awesome design talent and ability.

I am currently making blocks as leader/enders that I set up.

Lay a strip on the starting line you have marked

Iron your first strip down.

Lay your next strip along the edge of the first strip.

Iron second strip after sewing, and so on.

This method is a basic form of strip piecing, and it is very useful to know.

I hope this helps my blog reader.

Quilty Progress, Late May 2026

I loved Rachel LaBour’s “Spinny” quilt when she showed it to her substack readers. She designed the block for her local fellow quilters and each made two blocks for this donation quilt. The blocks are cool centers with warm borders, or warm centers with cool borders. Rachel organized the blocks, quilted the quilt, and bound it.

While I was waiting for her to release her pattern, I tried to guess her measurements. My trial experiment below is a warm center with cool edges. It is WAY bigger than Rachel’s block, but I liked it as a table topper, so I hand quilted it and installed a border. Voila.

I made some trimming mistakes before Rachel released her pattern. I lost some of the pointy centers as I didn’t keep the 45 degree line on my ruler along the diagonal seam of each quarter block. Shhhh… Don’t tell. It’s so pretty, and I hand quilted it. Some glittery thread was involved here and there.

Once I got the pattern I decided to make all cool centers with warm edges done in solids–as I was interested in how the graphic nature of solids all in warm colors would bring out the star at the center of 4 blocks. I love it! And boy does it use up my stash bins of strips–now arranged by color families. And each individual segment sews up pretty fast–I’ve been using those as leader/ender sewing.

I will make 3 other sets of these wheels to make a quilt. I also love the warm center version… And I am already wondering where that idea will go…

All my blocks for “Flower Pop” from Sew Kind of Wonderful are done. They are resting on the design wall for a few more days as I still seem to be moving blocks. I swapped two more blocks since I took this picture, not 30 minutes ago. The right side was too dark.

The pineapple blocks are almost done–just 9 more to make. It will be 60 by 60 inches. They are the primary quilt right now, with the “Spinny” blocks as leader/enders.

I spent some time yesterday cutting squares for “Spinny,” cutting them on the diagonal, and marking the first sewing line.

Still no rain here. It is, right now, cloudy, so maybe…

Another Cool Bird Sighting

Beloved neighbor and I have been good about walking earlier in the morning this week. We were moving along at a good pace when…wow…we both stopped short to gander…

Wow! Beautiful birds, about a dozen, lined up along the pond edge up by the schools. I had to try to take a picture over the top of the fence–and I include it here so you can get an idea of the size of this bird. They are not large.

But what are they??? I’ve never seen this bird. We started reciting what we were seeing: bright orange short bills, pink legs, swimming feet, black underneath and a warm beautiful brown on the upper body and neck.

Beloved neighbor had an ID almost as soon as we got home.

Black-bellied Whistling Ducks. What?? This one was totally new to both of us.

I found this picture of one in flight.

Here’s a link so you can read more–and there is a link to the high-pitched whistling call they make. These ducks can and do sit in trees. Truly they are very different from other ducks.

What a gift to see them on our morning walk.

https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Black-bellied_Whistling-Duck/overview

It Takes A Village

Thank you Ann Caddy!

Ann’s comments really helped me to make decisions about how to manage the Flower Pop quilt so that it has better proportions and doesn’t overwhelm me with needing LOTS more blocks and growing really big. My mind had been turning over mixing up things when Ann commented and made some suggestions about shortening the rows and using those blocks to make the quilt longer.

I’m loving the mix of tall and short flowers, rather than lining them up short and tall. Now I’m working more with color placement than height placement. And I’m reminded that I loved my Maine garden which had all sorts of flowers of varying heights and colors.

Now, five more blocks to make, and they are going much faster now that I’m well over the learning curve. And note that I’m sure I’ll be moving blocks around as I go.

Thanks Ann!

My Design Wall Is Crazy…

There are FIVE quilts in progress on my design wall.

Why on earth? you might ask…

Because two of them are intense (pineapple and Flower Pop), so I keep engaged by making a few blocks each day rather than just completing a whole quilt first.

Note: the star blocks above Flower Pop are Leila Gardunia’s design, and, LOL, they are intense too! But all three projects are so much fun. I have been using Tara Faughnan’s folded paper method for the foundation pieced centers, and so far, that method has worked just fine on the more intricate centers.

Flower Pop, designed by Sew Kind of Wonderful and which uses their speciality ruler, was a BIG learning curve for me–but I am down to two blocks now and one is already cut. I can make these blocks (7.5 by 19.5) pretty fast now. The slow part is chosing the fabrics and cutting the block parts. I’m not entirely happy with the size: about 63 wide by less than 60. But I will sew these blocks together before I make any other decisions about size and potential borders. As a mostly modern quilter, I don’t usually use borders now.

The pineapple block is 10 inches finished. It’s fun and is using up a ton of solid scraps. It will be 60 by 60 minimum, and maybe more. So a ways to go… Bit by bit, block by block, leader/ender progress.

My current obsession is this scrappy block (16 inches finished) designed by Rachel LaBour of Stitched in Color, called “Spinny.” Mine will at least be 4 by 4 blocks, which is a good lap size at 64 by 64 inches.

Here’s what Rachel did–she made some blocks for a donation quilt and combined those with blocks made by others in her quilt group meant for a donation quilt.

Rachel and her sewing mates alternated cool and warm block centers with cool and warm edge pieces–and the fabrics are almost all prints. I was drawn to the star that forms in the center so decided to make all cool centers and warm edges made from solids so the stars would, I hoped, become more dominant.

Before Rachel finished her pattern–on her blog we begged her to make and sell her pattern so we could try it–I tried to guess measurements and made this trial block–which has some errors due to not trimming well and the edges are too narrow and it is VERY big. But I do like it so am hand quilting it and will use it as a table topper or gift it.

Boy! Talk about using up scraps, especially the strips in bins which I now have separated by colors! I don’t know, I might have to make another block with warm centers. Or…mix the warm/cool centers, like Rachel did. I think the stars would stand out as they are solids and would be more graphic than prints. Or, maybe, put 4 warm blocks in the center surrounded by cool blocks. One never knows…

The pile of blocks on the bottom left of the design wall are blocks for another “Patches and Pinwheels” donation quilt. Bonnie Hunter designed this pattern. These blocks are waiting for room on the design wall. Here’s one I made earlier this year.

And I have other projects that I am dying to start, but I am making myself wait until this design wall is wrapped up or, LOL again, mostly wrapped up.

I am having fun, and that’s the whole thing of it for me.

The “XO” Quilt Is Done

When conceptual genes were passed out, I didn’t get enough of them–which is why I like to work on a design wall.

I thought this “XO” block, seen on Rachael LaBour’s blog “Stitched in Color” (one of my very favorite blogs), would be two separate blocks: an X block and an O block. Nope, putting two X blocks side by side makes the O block in between–and once your eye “sees” the O block, it travels down the row of O blocks.

I was happy to see when I showed this quilt at a recent quilt meeting that many people had trouble seeing the O block as well–until I pointed it out.

So, this quilt has a little “magic” involved.

This quilt is 60 3/4 inches square–a nice size for a donation quilt. The block is easy to make: cut a 6.5 square, lay a 3.5 inch square on two diagonal corners (after marking a sewing line from corner to corner), and sew with a scant seam. Trim and press. Sew four of your blocks together to make a 12-inch X block.

The backing and binding is Rashida Coleman Hale’s “Metallic Turquoise” (Ruby Star) 752106503175. (I guess I do like one fabric for the backing in a scrappy quilt, most of the time.) The thread is Signature 40 wt cotton “Misty Jade.” And the pantograph I is Hermione Agee’s “Check and Chase.”

As I posted earlier, I couldn’t throw out the larger half-square triangles that landed when I trimmed the small squares. And as I had TWO of each combination, I sewed them together and made this little table topper–which I think is just so, so cute. I love it! But I’m a sucker for flying geese.

This little piece lives on my dining room table at the moment.

The backing is a VERY very old print from my stash that finally found a home.

I quilted it with straight lines on my domestic machine.

Gardens and Quilts

First, the Drift white roses are in bloom. How fun is that!

The “XO” quilt is off the longarm, at last. It got ignored for almost two weeks.

When they passed out visual conceptual genes, I didn’t get many. I thought this “XO” title meant an X block and an O block. Nope. The X blocks make an O block as soon as they are put next to each other.

Now this donation quilt is trimmed, bound, and is getting its binding sewn down by hand at night. I was going to machine sew the binding, but I needed some night time tv hand sewing. Otherwise I get restless and do things like making popcorn.

What has been fun is that I couldn’t throw away these larger half-square blocks made when one trims and sews the diagonal corners of the XO big rectangle. Each. rectangle produced two half-square blocks in the same colors. So, I made flying geese with them as a leader/ender project–and then made this little table topper piece.

The backing is a cute one of sheep that has been in my stash for years and years.

I am so enjoying this piece on my dining room table. (So far I have not killed that poinsetta gifted to me at Christmas.)

I made several table toppers these past months, and I have enough now to change them out seasonally. Or when I get bored with one.

I love flying geese blocks!