Color audition

Hello, everyone. Today I started working on a small quilt. I pieced a few squares and found some more pieced squares, then raided the (many) charm packs to find some compatible squares. This is just an allover collection of 5" squares. 

I'm auditioning fabric for narrow sashing between the squares.

This is the color shot.

This is as close as my phone gets to plain old black-and-white. (To look at values of the fabrics) Somewhere during updating, some idiot decided that I REALLY need about 8 different color variations but only 2 that are at least close to B&W. And at the end of the row there's a little arrow. I tapped it to see if the B&W option has been hidden in the corner. NO-O-O!  The arrow leads to some pitch that involves Samsung membership update. Or something. They don't even tell you why you want to do that.

Way to go, Samsung! That was pure genius. (Not, for the sarcasm impaired!)

I might move or change out one of those dark purple squares. They're both batiks. I'm pretty sure there is a milder shade of purple available in the stash. 

Tried out a new (to me) design

Hello,  everyone.  

The new design is a rose, that was sitting in my hard drive. I don't remember where I got it. I'm getting into Christmas prep mode and wondered if it would be a usable ornament, or be part of gift tuck-in froufrou.

This is a 5 inch charm square--quilting cotton. The heart completely filled the side to side dimension. Also the fabric needs a backing. I could see it as the decoration for a small pouch...on a  6 inch square with some light batting behind for support. It would need a reverse side square if it were the front of a bag.l, or it could be appliquéd onto a larger item like a tote.

I could see this heart on felt, too, actually. (With felt backing or cotton backing) A little big for a Christmas tree ornament but it could be hung from a biggish wreath.

This was a fun little break from chores and used up a charm square. 

Flowers for the Hot Season

Hello,  everyone.  It is indeed the hot season for the garden. 

A year or two ago, we got some tiny Desert Rose plants at the home show. They had tags promising different colors but were obviously young seedlings. This year two of them are blooming.

This one had made a single bloom a month or so ago; now there is a whole collection of the ivory yellow double blossoms. 

This one has single blossoms  that start out dark and get a little lighter as they open.

The desert rose plants are happy in morning sun here. Unfortunately there is an ant colony nearby that is trying to raise aphids on the leaves. Fortunately the green lacewings have laid eggs nearby and I hope the lacewing larvae will chomp the aphids for me. Lacewings are fierce predators on aphids and white flies. 

Bonus Blocks!

Hello, everyone. There were bonus blocks leftover after the patriotic centerpiece was completed. They found their own purpose for existence. 

Several of these, on being stitched out on the white twill, proved not to fit into the petal template for the centerpiece. Also some are thematic in that they have lines from "My Country 'Tis of Thee" embroidered on them. (Not all the lines of the first stanza got embroidered. And one had far too dense of stitching in its test and has joined the scraps pile.) 

I had gotten the white cotton twill for making  Christmas gifts...still on the To Do list...it worked out reasonably well for this. The backing of these little flags is cotton from stash. 

Photographing something at the top of a window was tricky. I finally resorted to doing it after dark, using the room light for illumination. During the day the sunshine shone in and overruled the pennants.

Finished a new project

Hello, everyone.  I finished the Fourth of July project.

This began with a picture on Embroiderydesigns.com, which I looked all over the site and couldn't find it. I did find a similar shaped centerpiece with flowers. So began a hunt for directions and for suitable designs to put on it. 

This was all before they made the patriotic one available through their blog. The blog listing includes the suggestions for designs. The designs suggested are nice, but some of them also somewhat densely stitched. This seems to be a tendency in the "cute patriotic designs" category overall. I used two layers of stabilizer under most of them.

Oddly enough, this year the classic "spirit of '76" image has not been popping up.

It was fun to make this.

A new project in the works (edited to add links)

Hello, everyone.  There's a new little project on the table--even though I'm hip-deep in another one. 

The other one has a lot of embroidered pictures to make. They're using a lot of bobbin thread, and I'm running short of empty bobbins to load. I need to finish off the dribs and drabs of a number of mostly empty bobbins to continue with the project. 

Therefore I decided to start with the new passport-and-credencial case. It will have a zipper closure so the documents can't fall out. 

The prototype 

The inside pockets of the prototype.

I'm planning to do this in some lovely black X-Pac fabric I found at Ripstop By The Roll. The interior will either be some cute cotton or some ripstop. I haven't decided yet.

There was rain a few days back

Hello, everyone.  There was indeed rain, over several days, and now it's normal June weather with sun. 

An unexpected plant came up after the rainy period. 

This is a turmeric that I started from a grocery-store tuber. Last year it looked ratty and sad, then it died down after fading for a while. I was about to give up on it, but on feeling in the dirt found a firm tuber with little "eyes" that might grow, so it stayed in its pot, got water up until the rainy spell, and got blown rain from the weather. Lo and behold! A fine leaf came up, then a second one appeared on the stem, and there is a tiny green nose poking up that should become another stem. It looks much better this year. I'm glad I didn't give up too soon.

The crinum bulb clump that was here when we came is also happy about the rainy spell.

Two stems of buds have come up.

I didn't photograph it, but the lemon grass clump has put on a flush of growth and is now over 3 feet tall.