Failing as a quilter/blogger these days

 I am really failing at blogging - lots of ideas in my head but feel like I spend too much time on my computer most days so don't stop and type out a new post.  I really do admire my blogging friends who write a major post daily.  

Gardening and yard work seems to be taking my time but, am happy our front yard is looking so much better after all the parties held by raccoons this past winter.  The first picture shows the front lawn after a gardening company did some repair, added topsoil and grass seed as well as a treatment for the grubs that the chafer beetle lays (which is what the raccoons are digging for and creating a mess).  Lot of flowers have bloomed and I have planted dahlias, thanks to good friends giving us bulbs. 

 As for quilting, I am trying to finish up all the rainbow scrap challenge blocks made over the last few years and getting quite close to the end of containers.  The big challenge in June was to stitch the "oopsie" blocks which were Bonnie Hunter leader and enders and I had a large stack of them.  I did them using the rainbow scrap challenge colour of the month last year.  There are enough blocks for two quilts and the tops are now made, waiting patiently on hangers to be quilted. 

I did manage to finish and quilt the Running Doe May challenge of the pattern Kaleidoscope which were butterflies. I made two... using 13 blocks.  The original pattern used 12 but the blocks are very large (16") and the finished quilt would have been larger than I like for donating to our guild We Care program.  The smaller one has gone to the guild and the larger one will go to Ronald MacDonald house. 

 
 This was made from a block that was a rainbow scrap challenge in  2024. I made lots of the small blocks and then put them all together into a quilt and am smiling because I see one of the edge blocks is upside down.  Oh well.  

I also worked on this batik scrap quilt that started off with me stitching four patches from leftover bits and pieces and then went through my strips that were not full width of fabric and used those for the frames.  I think I did reduce my two containers of strip to 1.5 containers.  This has since been quilted and has gone to Quilts of Valour for an injured member of the Canadian Armed forces.  I was rushed when it was finished and didn't get a picture of the final quilt.  

A dear quilting friend who I lived near and enjoyed spending time with over a cup of tea died a few years ago and her son wanted to return a quilt to me that I had given her.  This is a Lone Star made in 1981.  The advantage of adding a label is that you would never remember all the details of when you make a quilt.  

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I took this picture of binding strips laid out on my ironing board because I heard a complaint from a fellow quilter who was annoyed because she was making binding out of a fabric with no clear right and wrong side and she had a seam on the wrong side when she was joining the pieces.  I always line my binding strips up on the ironing board and press them in half before I join them to each other.  I like pressing the shorter strips rather than one massive long one.  And, there is no chance of stitching the seam on the wrong side of the fabric.  I finger press the seams open so once the pieces are joined, easy to then add the binding to the quilt.  

My peonies took forever to bloom this year but they are lasting nicely and look fabulous.  

A short blog... but it is done!  I think I am back on track with my monthly planning and last week of the month will be quilting tops and getting them bound so will have more to show you.