WIP Wednesday 7.15.20

Wednesday is here already!  I was productive this week.  Here's what happened:

I finished the quilt top for my #SpiderSewalong on Instagram.  To me this quilt was one big quilt block with some big pieces thrown around it.  Lindsay @ penandpaperpatterns designed it.  Owen has already claimed it as his "chair quilt".  He has requested I add a "tag".  He loves silky tags.  It's a sensory/comfort thing.  Of course I'll add a tag or two at the top.  I've been saving them.

I finally got a few stitches done in my Linen & Threads stitch along during an oil change.

I finished longarm quilting an Egyptian Eye pattern on a friend's quilt.

She gave me ANOTHER quilt to longarm when I dropped the above quilt off.  I'll probably refer this to Charolette's Charm quilt and add it to my list.  I have to add to the back to make it long enough so that I can use my template boards.  I'm not sure how to quilt this one yet.  It hasn't spoke to me.  I may step out of my comfort zone and try a pantograph instead of a template board.

Maisy the duck is still sitting on eggs.  She has two left that have not broken.  Duck egg shells are much harder than chicken egg shells.  I have had a duck egg fall from table top height and hit the hard floor and not break.

Here's what her nest looks like when she is not sitting on it.  You could say she is "feathering the nest".  It keeps the eggs the right temperature for incubating while she leaves for a quick dip in the kiddie pool or to get a bite to eat.

  I marked the eggs with a Sharpie marker so that I can tell which eggs need to stay in the nest when I gather eggs.  There were four other eggs in the nest.  I can't leave them in there because she will leave the nest to tend what hatches.  The eggs she is sitting on have to be put in there the same day.

As for Blondie, the brood hen, she will win any staring contest around.  She continues to patiently sit on the eggs.  I have only had evidence that she has gotten off the nest three different times in the past eleven days.  I have even opened up the brooder part of the coop to let the air circulate.  Her "friends" can visit her through the screen (there's another door that they can walk up a ramp and visit).  Every other day or so I pull some fresh spearmint and stand it up in the corner of the coop.  Aromatherapy for Blondie!  It smells so good for a chicken coop.  Next year I need to plant some lavender.  Hens are supposed to love lavender.  

My garden is doing AWESOME!!!  Look at the gorgeous eggplant blossoms!  I also planted a few more things in my garden this week for later crops.

Linda  told me about a cool app called PictureThis.  The first seven days is a free trial period.  After that it is $29.99/year though iTunes.  I downloaded it for my phone.  I simply take a photo of the plant I am trying to identify and it gives me all kinds of info on it.  It's a super fun app!  Thanks, Linda!  I'm going to keep it for at least six days.  I may go the full year.  I'm saving all that money on gas because we're not going many places...  Might as well splurge on something.

The yucca plant that I transplanted from a root BLOOMED this year!!!  This is exciting!  The app helped me identify the tall weeds behind the yucca and ornamental grass as Hollow joe-pye weed.  I planted it in the chicken yard on purpose to get some growth -- any growth -- so that the chickens and ducks have something to nibble on and scratch around and find bugs.  I just kept planting perennials at random to experiment what would grow there and what the flock would devour.  Turns out they don't really like things that are rough such as iris, ornamental grass, sedum, yucca, or Hollow joe-pye weed.  They love hostas, lily of the valley, cora bells, mustard plants, and birdhouse gourds.

I currently have 60 on-going projects on my list.  They are separated into stages.

Pieces Need to be Cut & Sewn

 1.  Cheddar Jack cat pattern from 

 2.  Digging up Bones (Owen's dinosaur quilt)

 3.  Rock Island Campfire Quilt

 4.  Picadilly Circle

 5.  ...And Sew On BOM at Quiet Play (one block to go)

 6.  Go Four It!  Scrappy 4-patches started as leader/ender, June 2017

 7.  Patriotic Folk Animals (from Americana Quilts Book) 8/8/19

 8.  Leah Day Building Blocks QA

 9.  Jelly Roll Rug

10.  Classic Meets Modern BOM

11.  Veggie Patch from Katie Mae Quilts

12.  Mod Mod QA (from Block Lotto, circles w/lines)

13.  Owl's Well That Ends Well (RSC19 project started 1/26/19)

14.  Kevin the Quilter's Sapphire Stars Mystery (started Summer 2017) I can't find it!!!

15.  Temperature QA (changing this project to a table topper)

16.  Kite Girl (RSC14)

17.  Amish Country BOM (from Lynn, Johnna's mom)

18.  Cabins at the Lake (from Fons  Porter Magazine) only one house block complete.)

19.  2.5" Scraps from Dani -- making "cracker" blocks

20.  Sand Castles -- Bonnie Hunter string quilt started January, 2019 -- an RSC project

21.  Little Houses (3.5" blocks)

22.  Pumpkins & the Beanstalk (a 2nd quilt)

23.  Dresser Scarf (My Grandma's WIP from the 1970's found 1/1/20

24.  Linen & Threads Mystery SAL, Started 1/1/20 for my sew-to-go-bag

25.  Slabs with White Rectangle (RSC14 started -- needs blocks each month)

26.  Bonnie Hunter Box Kite class from March 2017

27.  Unity Quilt Along with Bonnie Hunter (started 4/1/2020)

28.  Orange, pink, grey kite blocks 2015

29.  Maroon Sampler Quilt

30.  Gypsy Wife QA started in August 2017

31.  Kathleen Tracy's 2019 Mystery Quilt Facebook QA started in March, 2019

32.  2016 Plus Blocks (from left over pieces of Soul Searching Blocks

33.  RSC16 Folk Art Birds

34.  Waffle Blocks (August 2019 -- RSC19)

Blocks Still Need to be Made

 1.  Bluepatch Mystery Quilt

 2.  Scrap Crystals (RSC15)

 3.  We Can Do It Skill Builder Sampler

 4.  Drunkard's Path Variation quilt

 5.  Finding Nemo Scrappy Trip quilt 

Blocks Are Made But Need to be Sewn Together (and/or Some Sashing)

 1.  Block Swap Adventure Orange/Yellow Sampler (2011-2012)

 2.  Cruise blocks won from Libby

 3.  Orange/Blue Fish Blocks That I Won

 4.  Split Stars (blocks won from the Block Lotto, October, 2012)

 5.  African Violet baby quilt (Block Lotto inspired)

 6.  Tall Fly (blocks won from Block Lotto; October 2012)

 7.  Fortune Teller (RSC14)

 8.  Sonja's Windows string quilt

 9.  Block Swap Adventure (2013) Churn Dash Blcoks

10.  Tula Pink's City Sampler 100 Modern Quilt Blocks 5/17/17 QA

11.  Flower Baskets (blue and white with some applique) Block Lotto win 10/1/18

12. Pre-printed cross stitch pillow sham (May 2018)

13.  Bonnie Hunter Garden Party (started 3.18.17)

14.  Cathy's CRAZY BY DESIGN Dot Dot Dash Bag, Won April, 2018

Quilt Back Needs to be Made (Tops are Done)

1.  Card Trick (pink and blue)

2.  Hunter Green Star Quilt

3.  Good Fortune -- A Bonnie Hunter Mystery started Thanksgiving weekend, 2018

4.  Soul Searching -- Julianne sent it to me on 8/29/19

5.  #SpiderSewalong quilt from Instagram

Ready to Longarm

1.  Bubble Gum Pink & Navy Quilt

2.  Charolette's Charm Quilt

I'm linking up at Quilt Fabrication for Midweek Makers.  Check out all of the fun projects!

Hogweed? -- or Not?

My neighbors were over checking out the earth work my husband has been doing in the driveway.  She texted me this photo and said, "My mom is showing off your new driveway..this is hogweed.  Wear heavy duty gloves and snap at base round up on ground.  Toss in garbage bags.  It gives nasty burns & blisters on humans and animals.

I believe I have snapped this off and thrown it to the chickens without being burned.  I'm not sure if this is hogweed or not.  I haven't seen any of it flower.  Any ideas?

Maisy the Broody Duck

This is Maisy. She is one of my original ducks from 9/14/15.. She is an Ancona duck and does not require a lot of swimming water.   She is broody this summer. 

I’m doing an experiment to see if she can hatch chicken eggs. Last week I gave her five marked eggs. (I marked them with a Sharpie so I could easily identify which eggs I gave her. Others will continue to lay eggs in her next and I’ll gather them when she goes out for water and gets up to stretch.)

 

She isn’t as gentle with the eggs as Blondie the brood hen. Three of them have broken already. 

More Garden Photos

It RAINED!!!!  We have fresh God-watered plants!  It's definitely the best kind of watered plants.  I planted a few more rows of seeds since I have everything freshly tilled right before the nice rain.

These pics are more for my reference (even though I'm super proud of my garden this year!)  There was an extra large package of spinach in my seed collection.  It took up this whole row behind the tomatoes and next to the watermelon plants.  I threw some dill seeds on the very end near the grass.  I don't really use dill much.  I may have to play with it if I have a bunch of cucumbers.

In the row between the acorn squash pool ladder and the watermelon I planted a mini seed packet of kale that I got on eBay because I couldn't get out and shop during the March Covid madness.  I also threw in some old seed packets of parsley and oregano.  I LOVE parsley, but don't do much with oregano.  I may have to figure it out with all these tomato plants looking so nice this year.  I may also have to dabble in drying some herbs.  That could be a fun adventure.

In this longer row out from the tomatoes (the cut up TV tower piece that has the hinge...) first I spilled a large package of dill seeds.  It was an accident that I thought was a divine intervention.  The packet got wet when it started to rain and I had it in my pocket.  Dill seeds spilled everywhere -- about 100 of them.  I covered them and thought I'd see what happens.  After that I planted about six packages of radishes.  We weren't huge fans of radishes until I started putting them in with my pot roasts instead of potatoes.  YUM!  It was a big hit with my husband and I.  I'm not sure if I can grow radishes in the hot month of July/August.  This is just another garden experiment since I have the nice, tilled area left over this year.  I love it when my husband keeps my Mantis and rototiller working!

A while back when I planted a bunch of perennials from my friend, Judy, she gave me a plant I had never heard of.  She said that her plant doesn't bloom every year, but this year it did.  It is called Bear's Breeches.  I planted mine in two different locations.  One is in the safety of the dog kennel inside the chicken yard (chicken quarantine area).  The other is in the chicken yard, but is covered by large pink milk crates so that the chickens don't eat it.  I will move it in the spring to safety.  I experimented with it to see if the chickens and ducks would nibble at the leaves.  They ate all my hosta and fern leaves.  I'm pretty sure they would eat this pretty plant.  I think it's really pretty.  I never heard of this perennial before now.  Here is a photo of it at my friend's house:

Moving It Forward Monday

I finished this quilt for a friend this weekend. 

I quilted this plain 4-patch quilt with my Circle Lord template board called Egyptian Eye. My friend was really happy when she saw it. It does bring the quilt to life with all that motion. 

I’m happy to cross another project off my list. 

Slow Sunday Stitching

I finally had time to do some stitching during an oil change. I was so happy to have my sew-to-go bag with me. 

I'm working on my Linen & Threads Mystery SAL.  I am still working on the clue from March when school closed.  It will be an easy project to take with me if/when school starts back up.

The oil change was so different...  There were folding tables between me and the counter guy so that we were 6 feet apart.  He sanitized my truck and put covers over the steering wheel and seat.  There was no free coffee or snacks.  The popcorn machine was gone.  I didn't have the courtesy driver take me three miles away and walk back (to get my steps in).   There were only six chairs in the waiting area.  I'm glad I got one with a desk to set my things.  The good part was that I wasn't there very long.  It took less than an hour this time.  He only tried to push two extra services on me...  That's a first!   At the end I asked him if I was supposed to throw my credit card to him so that he could catch it at the counter.  They weren't set up for Apple Pay yet.  I got out of there and went on my way.

I'm linking up with some stitchers that I have missed dearly over the past few months at Kathy's Quilts for Slow Sunday Stitching.

WIP Wednesday, 7.8.2020 -- on a Thursday...

I'm a little late on my WIP Wednesday post.  Internet problems and then I just ran out of time is the culprit.  But here we go with the list...

I’m still working at least 15 minutes a day on long arm quilting a 4-patch quilt for a friend. It’s awesome when I can take away the chair that holds the batting and keeps it off the unfinished floor.   I’m more than half way done. 

Nothing at all got done on my rug.  Guess I haven't touched my sewing machine in over a week...

My garden is looking fabulous. I finally got zucchini plants to grow. We finally got rain two days ago. These are the best looking eggplant plants I’ve ever grown. Now let’s see if they produce nice eggplants. 

The pepper plants don’t look that great, but this baby pepper looks promising. 

Blondie the brood hen is still sitting on the eggs that I gave her on July 4th. We are past the rough first days. The countdown is on for July 26th!

A guy I knew in high school was on the show “Naked & Afraid”. His name is Tim Phillips. Owen and I are big fans of survival shows. Tim made Owen a super happy super fan by sending him an autographed photo. 

I'm linking up at Quilt Fabrication for Midweek Makers.

I currently have 59 on-going projects on my list.  They are separated into stages.

Pieces Need to be Cut & Sewn

 1.  Cheddar Jack cat pattern from 

 2.  Digging up Bones (Owen's dinosaur quilt)

 3.  Rock Island Campfire Quilt

 4.  Picadilly Circle

 5.  ...And Sew On BOM at Quiet Play (one block to go)

 6.  Go Four It!  Scrappy 4-patches started as leader/ender, June 2017

 7.  Patriotic Folk Animals (from Americana Quilts Book) 8/8/19

 8.  Leah Day Building Blocks QA

 9.  Jelly Roll Rug

10.  Classic Meets Modern BOM

11.  Veggie Patch from Katie Mae Quilts

12.  Mod Mod QA (from Block Lotto, circles w/lines)

13.  Owl's Well That Ends Well (RSC19 project started 1/26/19)

14.  Kevin the Quilter's Sapphire Stars Mystery (started Summer 2017) I can't find it!!!

15.  Temperature QA (changing this project to a table topper)

16.  Kite Girl (RSC14)

17.  Amish Country BOM (from Lynn, Johnna's mom)

18.  Cabins at the Lake (from Fons  Porter Magazine) only one house block complete.)

19.  2.5" Scraps from Dani -- making "cracker" blocks

20.  Sand Castles -- Bonnie Hunter string quilt started January, 2019 -- an RSC project

21.  Little Houses (3.5" blocks)

22.  Pumpkins & the Beanstalk (a 2nd quilt)

23.  Dresser Scarf (My Grandma's WIP from the 1970's found 1/1/20

24.  Linen & Threads Mystery SAL, Started 1/1/20 for my sew-to-go-bag

25.  Slabs with White Rectangle (RSC14 started -- needs blocks each month)

26.  Bonnie Hunter Box Kite class from March 2017

27.  Unity Quilt Along with Bonnie Hunter (started 4/1/2020)

28.  Orange, pink, grey kite blocks 2015

29.  Maroon Sampler Quilt

30.  Gypsy Wife QA started in August 2017

31.  Kathleen Tracy's 2019 Mystery Quilt Facebook QA started in March, 2019

32.  2016 Plus Blocks (from left over pieces of Soul Searching Blocks

33.  RSC16 Folk Art Birds

34.  Waffle Blocks (August 2019 -- RSC19)

Blocks Still Need to be Made

 1.  Bluepatch Mystery Quilt

 2.  Scrap Crystals (RSC15)

 3.  We Can Do It Skill Builder Sampler

 4.  Drunkard's Path Variation quilt

 5.  Finding Nemo Scrappy Trip quilt 

Blocks Are Made But Need to be Sewn Together (and/or Some Sashing)

 1.  Block Swap Adventure Orange/Yellow Sampler (2011-2012)

 2.  Cruise blocks won from Libby

 3.  Orange/Blue Fish Blocks That I Won

 4.  Split Stars (blocks won from the Block Lotto, October, 2012)

 5.  African Violet baby quilt (Block Lotto inspired)

 6.  Tall Fly (blocks won from Block Lotto; October 2012)

 7.  Fortune Teller (RSC14)

 8.  Sonja's Windows string quilt

 9.  Block Swap Adventure (2013) Churn Dash Blcoks

10.  Tula Pink's City Sampler 100 Modern Quilt Blocks 5/17/17 QA

11.  Flower Baskets (blue and white with some applique) Block Lotto win 10/1/18

12. Pre-printed cross stitch pillow sham (May 2018)

13.  Bonnie Hunter Garden Party (started 3.18.17)

14.  Cathy's CRAZY BY DESIGN Dot Dot Dash Bag, Won April, 2018

Quilt Back Needs to be Made (Tops are Done)

1.  Card Trick (pink and blue)

2.  Hunter Green Star Quilt

3.  Bubble Gum Pink & Navy Quilt

4.  Good Fortune -- A Bonnie Hunter Mystery started Thanksgiving weekend, 2018

5.  Soul Searching -- Julianne sent it to me on 8/29/19

Ready to Longarm

1.  4-patch quilt for a friend (CM) (almost done)