Amish Bright Finish
The garden is in! That's the excuse I'm giving for not paying attention to Blogland. I'm torn between the weeds that are growing exponentially, and my duty to keep up in the cyber world. I suppose 'weeds' grow here, too, but in a different sense. The one problem with being both gardener and quilter is both make hard use of your hands, and back back muscles, too. I've been fairly worn out lately, and note that I check the clock at dinner to see how soon I can head for bed afterward. Gosh, I think I'm getting old!
Here's the set up of our raised bed garden. Concrete beds--that's a surprise, right?--that have been in and out of use for the past 6 or 7 years now. The photo is a few weeks old now, and the last 2 beds on the left are cleared and planted. All 10 looked equally as overgrown at the start of this season so you can see what progress really looks like.
We added electric tape one April weekend. It's been plugged in only a few nights all spring, but no deer, no bunnies, no nibbling. Last years 25 tomato plants yielded less than a dozen tomatoes sadly. The deer ate it to the ground, and while I like to share, that's unreasonable.
The girls love to help. The fence is never on during the day so no Doxie noses get a shock.
Like everyone, I'm clearing out corners of the sewing room as I spend more time there. This project was actually in full sight waiting for the impulse to bind it. I'm not quick at hand binding, and I have to pace myself as it seems to be as hard on my shoulders as digging shrubs. Two evenings were happily spent working on it. The batting is a fine wool by Bosal, and I could pleasantly smell it in the studio each time I walked by it. I wondered if it would always smell, but since binding it seems to have been locked inside. So interesting!
No hanging sleeve yet, and I'm not sure how I'll hang this. I'm starting to turn away from wooden dowels because of the potential discoloration from the wood through the fabric. Yes, wooden dowels can and should be sealed if left in the rod pocket for a long time, but few of us do that. I'm looking more at a small metal hanging rod for this one. I'll let you know how the project pans out. Until then I'm enjoying it hanging off a bookcase edge weighed down by some vintage salt wells. A make-do job, but effective none-the-less.
Come on, Doxie girls.
Let's go sew.
4 comments:
So nice and bright! Just what I needed to see. Very dark and grey here today. The gardens certainly look like a lot of work to get going. My little lot has flowers, flowers. I trust the farmers in the next county to grow my produce and bring it to the farmers market as my space and success rate are minimal. Love the way the wool batting shows off the stitching.
I love your Amish Brights finish! So many quilters seem to also be gardeners, don't they? Both hobbies require hard work and patience, and involve the reward of bringing something new into creation. :-)
What a vibrant quilt! Love it. I switched to expandable metal curtain rods from Target. They don't weigh much but are sturdy. It gives me the flexibility with my different width size quilts that I want to hang. Yes, those gardens are a lot of work - and yes, we're getting old. Such is life. But I must say that I love, love how green your yard is. I miss that.
I don't always appreciate machine quilting, but you definitely bring it to a whole 'nother level. This quilt is fantastic! So bright it's almost fierce looking! Beautiful, beautiful work.:)
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