Getting stuff finished

I am on a bit of a roll of getting quilting projects done. I had started quilting this years ago. I am calling this the 'Under the Trees and Stars' quilt. I was using star cookie cutters to trace stars in the blue fabrics and connecting them with random curls and swirls. After finishing the 'House Quilt' I pulled this back out and finished quilting it. I put the binding on at the Firehouse last weekend and finished hand stitching the binding this weekend. This one will be a community service quilt donated to the guild for distribution to where it is needed.
Today I also started machine quilting a disappearing 9-patch that will also be community service quilt. As the semester starts tomorrow I am guessing the run of finishing up quilting projects is coming to an end.
Besides I also have all the end of the summer projects I need to get to yet.

Late Summer Garden Update

 First up - the tomatoes. I planted three different varieties, plus I had an assortment of volunteers that are also doing pretty well. As you can see from this photo some of the cherry tomatoes are starting to change color. As we are having a run of warm and sunny weather for the next few days I am anticipating getting a few in the next week or so.

I started over a dozen sunflowers from seed this spring and planted them into the garden. First the cutworms cut about half of them down. Then the local deer ate the leaves off the rest of them. A couple had one or two small leaves on them so I kept watering them and the result is one teeny, tiny sunflower. It is pretty, but the flower only about the size of my hand. Glad I got this picture of this, as it is highly likely it will be eaten soon.

Next up is the pumpkin patch. I actually have a patch. The past few years I would just plant one pumpkin plant each in 2 different raised beds. This year I was a bit late with planing the seeds. I had pulled out the Hops in the bed next to the greenhouse so after that was done - I just put in a bunch of pumpkin seeds and they ALL took off. In the photo you can see they are taking off (into the lawn) and flowering. What you can't see is that there are a few small pumpkins are starting to form. So looks good for getting some pumpkins for Halloween this year.

The roses also all appear to be doing well. The first one pictured is the Julia Child rose. I was worried that I would miss its blooming as it was getting started when we were on vacation in July. But as we have not had a very hot summer all the roses keep generating buds and keep blooming. 

The final picture as you can see is another of the rose plants stating to bud again.

I am really enjoying the roses this year. I just hope they all make it through the winter so I can enjoy them next year.

A Quilting Finish - The House Quilt

So this WAS my oldest UFO (unfinished object) quilting project. I think I started this the second year or so of quilting, so about ten years ago. I did the piecing at the first Wadhams quilt retreat. I worked on the applique off and on for a couple years after that. Once that was done I did find a backing and then spray-basted it all together. But as I was a much less experienced machine quilter using my own home machine, I folded it up and waited till I was more confident. I will  say I am impressed with the spray basting (I used the 505 spray) it kept it all together, didn't get gummy or sticky, and kept the fabric from any major, serious wrinkling for the few years it sat there. I did a basic wandering free-motion quilting on it.

I call this 'The House Quilt' as this quilt represents many aspects of our current house. First I used reproduction fabrics, our house is old -built in 1876 so there is a nice tie-in there. The applique represents other aspects of the house. We live in the foothills of three mountains in the Adirondacks, I plant red impatiens in the flower boxes every summer, and ladybugs are a part of life around here. The property is full of maple trees, which is stunning in the fall, this far north of course winter and snow is a big part of life. And finally a paw print, one of the main reasons we picked the house we did is that it has a big enough yard to have both a garden and a couple of big dogs.
The plan is to hang this quilt on the wall in the enclosed porch.