Wednesday is Flower Day!

The summer is just about over, but I still have some lovely flowers in my garden. This one is called Lavatera. I started them from seeds, indoors. The package said they were mixed colours, but most of mine are this wonderful pink. They are a member of the mallow family. Can you tell? Other plants in the mallow family include hibiscus, okra, hollyhocks, cotton plant, Rose of Sharon and many more. In fact there are about 200 genera and over 2000 different species in this family.

Here is a close up.

A few white Lavatera came up too. I really love the large, snow white blooms.

Family: Malvaceae. Genus: Lavatera.

A couple of other flowers are blooming in my hexagon garden. I made several this week. I joined them to the others, so I am not exactly sure of how many I made, and I am not going to show you how it looks at this point. These flowers are rather small and it doesn't look as if the quilt is growing. I'm afraid if I take a photo every week I will get bored and not finish this quilt. Yesterday I joined a small group of quilters for tea and quilt talk. I was able to make two more flowers. I now have 35 flowers altogether.

I decided to join an online BOS (Block of the Season). I know, I know. I already have too many projects waiting to be finished. But this is going to be a small cat wall hanging. I just couldn't resist. Check it out. It's on Ellie's Quiltplace. Or click on the Cat Quilt icon on my sidebar.

A Walk Along the Bluffs of Lake Ontario

My DD picked me up yesterday and took me to Rotary Park in Ajax, just east of Toronto. The park has a paved path along the top of the bluffs. People are encouraged to walk, bike, skate or jog with a view of Lake Ontario all the way. I walked a little and got pushed in my wheelchair for part of the way.

It was a beautiful day. The temperature was around 21C and there was a sort of hazy sunshine. There were Monarch butterflies all over the Milkweed and Yellow Goldenrod plants. Canada Geese honked from the water down below the bluffs. I took this photo facing east. The sky was a nice blue colour. It is hard to see the water, but that is what I like about Lake Ontario. It is different each time you see it.
Although these photos were taken at exactly the same time, the view to the west looked completely different. The clouds were beginning to roll in. It is hard to see, but that large area of concrete buildings is the Pickering Nuclear Plant. To me this is the only blight on an otherwise beautiful natural setting. I know we need electricity, but heck.... don't get me started on that!

The Baby Quilt is Done!

My first finish for September. Remember that Baby Quilt my husband wanted me to make for one of his employees who had a baby? I hoped to get it done a couple of weeks ago. But things always take me longer than planned. In this case two times longer, which is about par for the course. I finally sewed the binding down last night. I think I will call it,'Pastel Baby'.
I think it was the back that took so long. I thought I had a piece of fabric that would have been perfect for the backing. It's the blue one with the little bears and stars on it. When I pulled it out I could only find a couple of large pieces and a lot of scraps. I thought I had a lot more of it. I have a feeling that the rest of this fabric is hiding somewhere in my sewing room. It has all of the colours that I used in the top, so I just pieced some of the leftovers from the top and did some back art. I hope the baby likes it.

Flowers on Wednesday

I made a few more flowers this week. I now have a total of 29 finished flowers and another 5 ready to be sewn together. I also got some more green hexies made. But these flowers are so small that I feel as if I am getting nowhere. I know this won't make any sense, but I can't stop making them. They are so inviting when I go to my sewing room each morning. I always work on a few just to get my sewing mojo back each day. I guess there will be hexies in my future for a long time to come.

Scrap Happy Summer Parade

I am sad to report that Em's Scrap Happy Summer Challenge has come to an end. Of course this doesn't mean that I will stop making things with my scraps! I will keep playing around with even the tiniest of fabric pieces to make something new.

So for the finale. Here is my Scrap Happy Summer Parade.

I have made several more of the strip blocks. They are not sewn together yet, but I hope to have them done soon. With Mimi's help I should be able to make a quilt out of these.

On previous posts I have already shown you some of the other scrap projects that I have been working on. Here are a few of them. The small flowers, the 2 1/2 inch crumb block quilt, the picnic quilt, the klosjes and the red and blue blocks and the 3 1/2 inch crumb blocks.

I haven't shown you a photo of my ongoing flower garden for awhile. These are the larger flowers. I think this one is almost done to the flimsy stage. I am not sure how big I will make it. I guess I will stop when the flowers become boring or if I run out of scraps. So far there is no sign of either of that.

And finally for today I want to share with you the row I made for the Row Robin Barb is hosting. I used some of my scraps and some of the fabric that came with this row. The theme for this quilt is springtime.

Go on over to Em's Scrapbag and see what others did this summer.

Flower Garden Update

This week I completed 7 more flowers and got 2 more prepped and ready to sew. That makes a total of 21 flowers. I also added a lot of green petals in between the flowers. This really looks great 'in person', but I am not sure if I like that purple flower in there now that I see it photographed and on my screen. Maybe if I add some more of that purple colour, it will look better. At any rate, I am not going to unsew anything. These little flowers are too precious. And have been sewn so tightly that I can't even get a seam ripper in there without damaging the fabric!

I have several other projects I need to work on, so this is all for Grandma's Flower Garden for this week. Hope to get some things done by tomorrow so I can show them to you.

It's the first of September already. Where did the summer go? School starts next Tuesday. I still get that 'back-to-school' rush, even though I don't have to go back. It doesn't feel like the end of summer. Still hot here. Too hot to sleep. My air conditioner is running at full speed. Okay! No more complaining! It will be winter before we know it and I will be wishing for a nice, hot, summer day.

A Clamshell Update

The summer is coming to an end, although you'd never know it by the weather. We are in the middle of another heatwave. It is only 10:00am and it already feels like 40C! This is unusual for the end of August.





I only got a few clamshells done this month. Here they are. Click on the icon above to see more clamshell blogs.


We had the first executive meeting of our quilt guild last night. I got roped in volunteered to do the Newsletter this year. The only problem is that my computer is not cooperating. I have had several people come over and try to install the program, but so far I have had no luck. I thought the problem lay with me, but it seems that my computer's disk drives are not working. I may have to break down and buy a new computer.

If Life Gives You Scraps.........

I can't believe that it's Wednesday already. The summer is coming to an end and time is just flying by! I made a few more of the small hexies this week. I have started to sew them together and decided that this time I would put a green hexagon in between the flowers. (They are not all sewn yet.) I am using all kinds of scraps of reds and greens. I don't know if I have enough reds, so I threw in a purple and an orange so that I can use scraps of those colours too. I have been taking part in Em's Scrap Happy Summer challenge. It's been a lot of fun!



I am also working on a baby quilt. It is for someone who works for my DH. He didn't tell me about the baby until after she had been born. So now I am frantically trying to finish a baby quilt for a girl. This is just a quick sample that I made up to see how it will look. I think I will use these fabrics. They are from my stash. I also have a couple of other pinks and a beautiful light green. Do you think I can finish this by, let's say, yesterday?

Finally - A Friday Finish!

I finished the crumb blocks quilt! They were so much fun to make! Really addictive. I put them together with a polka dot sashing. And today I finished quilting it and sewing the binding down. Hurray!

This is part of Em's Scrapbag's Scrap Happy Summer.

Just a Little Post

I want to show you my tiny flowers. I made three of them this week. Here they are with a flower from last week for comparison. I have no idea how I am going to arrange them. Stay tuned.......
I am thinking of joining Christina's quilt along. I have so many things on the go right now I don't know if I will have time, but it looks like a terrific learning experience.

Now I am off to visit a friend in a seniors' residence. She called me last week and asked me to help her with a pattern for slippers. She wants to make some for a craft bazaar her residence is having this fall.

A New Project

This is the block from this week's Party. (Go to my sidebar) It's called 'Louisiana' and it's a 12inch block. I don't like doing pinwheels very much. I just can't seem to get them pointy in the centre. I think I need more practice.

I just love the quilt that is shown on the Quilters Cache site for the Louisiana block. The pinwheels are scrappy and that's right up my alley. So I made a few more blocks and hope to make that little quilt on the QC site. I figure if I do one block a day for the next two weeks, I will have enough blocks for a lap quilt. So that's my plan - along with all the other projects I have on the go at the moment.

See that little white paw in the bottom left corner? Yep. You guessed it. That's Mimi.

Mimi on Her Own Quilt

I decided to enter CalGal's Pets on Quilts. It isn't difficult to find a photo to use because every quilt I own has had a cat on it. So I decided on this photo of Mimi on her own quilt. The fabric in it is mostly cats with a couple of dog pieces thrown in. She knows it's hers and she sleeps on it every day.

She also does her daily exercises on it.

And she keeps herself white and spotless.

But my absolute favourite photo is this one - when she did the ironing for me. Such a helpful kitty! I once asked her why cats like to sit on the quilts we make. She is very philosophical and has great insight into all things. You can read her answer here.

Click on this icon to see more Pets On Quilts! This is going to be fun!

Flowers on Thursday

I finished the three flowers I made for this week. I'm only one day late. That's okay, isn't it?

I also finished another Block Party block. This one is called 'New Waterwheel'. It is a 9-inch block.

Now I have to find a photo of Mimi on a quilt so that I can enter the Pets on Quilts Show that SewCalGal is hosting. That shouldn't be hard. Mimi is always on my quilts.

Not Even a Single Flower.......

No flowers were completed this week. This one still needs a centre.

And these are just parts that still need to be sewn together.

I did finish one more block from the Friday Block Party. This one is called, 'Album'. It is a 12inch block - very easy and only took me about half an hour or so.

I don't know if you noticed, I photographed the first flower on one of the Castor Bean leaves. This plant is huge. I grew this plant from a seed this spring. It is over 6 feet tall now and the leaves have close to a 3-foot span.



This plant is highly poisonous and should not be grown where children are present. Since I have no children around any more, I like to grow Castor beans for the wonderful tropical feeling they bring to my garden. When I was in the Dominican Republic a number of years ago, I took a safari tour. We came across a whole field of Castor Beans. I asked the tour guide about them and he told me they were not toxic - only the seeds were. Castor oil is made from them. But I don't very often listen to what I am told and I like to find things out for myself, so I learned that Castor Beans are considered to be one of the highest toxic plants in the world. The toxin is called, ricin, and it is found in every part of the plant. It can cause severe digestive symptoms. A single bean can kill a child. They cause diarrhea which can lead to dehydration. Castor Beans are in the spurge family - Euphorbiceae. The beans are not real beans.

Family: Euphorbiceae. Genus: Ricinus. Species: R. communis.

Common Name: Castor Bean

A Storm at Sea

This is the block I worked on yesterday afternoon. It's called 'Storm at Sea' and it is a 12 inch block. When I was finished (it took me a long time to do), it was 3:00pm and we were in the middle of a rain storm - too dark to take a photo. It is not much better today. The sky is a sort of yellow colour that indicates more rain.

This block came from Quilter's Cache. I decided to paper piece this one because some members of the Friday Block Party had trouble with the downloadable pattern. I found that the pattern was not correct, so I got out my drafting paper and made my own paper pieces. The block came out at 12 1/2 exactly, so I know it's right.

Squares Within Squares

I finally got around to doing one of the Friday Block Party blocks. This one is called, 'Squares Within Squares'. It's a 12inch block. I really like how it turned out. It took me all morning - between doing some chores and other things. So glad it's done! It wasn't the easiest of blocks to put together. I guess pinwheels are just not my favourite blocks to make.

I still have 4 or 5 blocks to make in order to be caught up. Best get back to my sewing room.

Crumbs and Flowers

Three more flowers got done this week. I made them yesterday at a delightful coffee session with several other quilters. Coffee, cake, cheese, fresh fruit and quilt talk. It just doesn't get any better than that!

I have also been working on my 2 1/2inch crumb blocks. I managed to find enough of the sashing fabric to make a quilt that is 6 blocks across and 7 blocks down. It would measure 30x36 inches. I may do a border of some kind to make it a bit bigger.

While I was making the 2.5in. blocks, I experimented with some 3.5in. blocks. I think I like them even better. Here I have about 20 blocks done. I'll see how long my attention span is for this one, but I think it would make a cute baby quilt.

This is a short week for us. Monday was a civic holiday. Most stores were open, but businesses and banks were closed. We are in the middle of another heat wave. The temperature is somewhere in the 30Cs but feels like 43C with the humidity. I am just hiding inside the house with the air conditioning on and a fan blowing on me.

Sweet Potato Vine 'Blackie'

I planted a sweet potato vine called 'Blackie' last spring. It has interesting dark purple to dark green to almost black, deeply lobed leaves. I love it's contrast with other plants. I was surprised to see that it had flowers on it a few weeks ago. It seems to send out a few new flowers every day. I don't think I have ever seen flowers on my sweet potato vines before. The flowers looked very much like morning glories to me. So I looked it up and found that it is indeed related to morning glories. It is in the family Convolvulaceae, just as morning glories are.



I only grow these for their colour and leaf form, and not for their tubers, which are said to be edible. I know that the squirrels dig them up in the fall and eat them. I think I will stick to the grocery store varieties. The seed pods are supposed to be highly toxic. But that's okay. I snap the spent flowers off so that the plant will produce more flowers. I love this little plant, even more so now that I know it produces flowers!

Family: Convolvulaceae. Genus: Ipomoea. Species: I. batatas 'Blackie'.

Common name: Sweet Potato Vine Blackie.

Edit: Wanda from Exuberant Color posted about her Blackie today too. You can see it here.


And here are a few spooltjes (klosjes) I sewed together last night. I still have a lot of these to go.

Time for a Clamshell Club Update

Can you believe it? It's the end of July already! That means it's time for an update of the Clamshell Club. I have decided to make a bag with my clamshells - a project that is not too big, nor too small. Since I am using my Kaffe fabrics and an assortment of Japanese prints, it has given me a chance to take a close look at the fabrics I have collected up until now. I seem to have a lot of dark colours, but almost no lights. I wanted to do a row of light clamshells between the other rows.

I am not sure if I am getting the effect I wanted, but this is what I have so far. I have only sewn three rows of clamshells together, but they signify at least six rows because I have had to unsew many times. Well, back to the drawing board for me. Hopefully I will have more to show next month.




If you want to see more Clamshell efforts go to Jossie's blog, Cybeles Patch, (just click on the icon on the left) and then click on the club members listed on her sidebar.

I should also update you on seeing the Jersey Boys a couple of nights ago. They were fantastic! I loved every minute of the show. Their performance was a little loud, but then I am getting a little older. There were a lot of bad words, but I can handle those. LOL. All in all a terrific performance! Our Japanese visitors did not understand much of it, but they loved the music and bought a program and a CD so they can 'study' it. Gosh those girls are cute. They are so dedicated and hard working. They left yesterday and I miss them already.

Flowers and Cakes, Oh My!

This week has gotten away from me. I totally forgot about posting my hexies and scraps yesterday. On Sunday we had a family reunion at my aunt's house. Lots of delicious food and good company.

On Monday my DD's Japanese visitors came to my house for dinner because DD had to go to a leadership course downtown. I took the girls to Walmart afterwards, to do some shopping. I know Walmart isn't too classy, but at least I can borrow one of their scooters and get around the store on my own. We also needed eggs and milk and this Walmart is one of those super stores that has everything.

Tuesday morning I spent drinking coffee, eating goodies, talking quilt talk and doing a little bit of sewing with my quilt buddies. I never miss a chance to do that! In the evening DD's girls cooked a delicious Japanese meal for us.

Yesterday I can't remember what I did. It rained. So today is Thursday and I will finally show you my hexies. These were again taken in my garden. Notice that they are not completely finished. I don't think it will take me long to complete them, so I am counting them towards this week's flowers. There are five of them. My scrap bag does not seem to be getting any smaller, in fact, it seems to be growing! Why is that?

It was a lot cooler today, so I baked a Pflaumenkuchen (a German plum cake) with the plums I bought last weekend. I also baked a zucchini loaf. It's still in the oven. The house sure smells delicious today!Tonight my DD, her Japanese students and I are going to see the Jersey Boys. I'm kind of excited about that. I hope the girls will like it. It's really my era of music and not theirs. Tonight is their last night at my DD's house. Tomorrow they are off to Niagara Falls and then to spend a week at a camp in Haliburton. The last 10 days have gone by quickly.

At the Beach

I finished the picnic quilt - 'What's a Picnic Without Ants?', just in time to take it for a test run at the beach. I went with my DD and a couple of Japanese students she is hosting for about 10 days. They were kind enough to hold the quilt so that I could take a photo.


I think my embroidered ants scared any real ants away. We never saw even one on the quilt. So I guess my plan worked!