Hello Tuesday.
You sure have a way of creeping up on us,
you know? But you also keep us in line so
I guess it's all good.
Last time we hung out, I said I was going to
work on the following things:
1) Finish all blocks, maybe get them into rows.
I'm so happy with all I got done here!
I got all 80 blocks completed but I couldn't
just leave them hanging, literally, so I kept at it
till I got the entire inside of this quilt done.
(Not bad for, what, about a week and a half?)
So I then made a run for the borders...
I had hoped to use some of the yellow but, in laying
it all out on the bed, I do not like it one bit.
I might order yardage of a dark blue floral in this
collection to finish it out but I'm still mulling it over.
I really wanted this to be all from my stash!
2) Pick out my next quilt
For my next trick quilt, I've chosen to make a
Garlic Knot. This will check off another one from
the "Ooh, I Wanna Make That Someday" bucket list.
We've been super lucky to have pretty mild weather for August.
Waking up to 68 degrees is a great reprieve from the heat;
waking up to 80 degrees and humidity just wears me out.
Anyway, with the cool mornings and September just around
the corner, hallelujah--it's time to play with fall fabrics!
And these scrappy garlic knots should be perfect!
I don't have a pattern but a friend helped me with
the cutting and strip piecing plans for 6" blocks.
I already have 6 blocks on the design wall but I'm
holding off on any pics till next Tuesday. It's just
hard to get a feel for a scrappy quilt when there
are so few blocks done.
(In case you're keeping track of these things,
no I have not forgotten my Farmer's Wife quilt!)
3) Can more tomatoes
I made 4 qts of marinara instead and some with
a couple of the kids who visited. All of us now
have some to cook with for the week.
(Hubs has requested manicotti).
Speaking of yumminess...
On the food front:
We're in the "cherry tomato surplus days" and while
they're yummy on salads, you can only fit so many
in a meal that way so I'm always after other ways.
My favorite way to use them is to roast them:
a little olive oil, salt and pepper and voila,
a yummy side-dish all on their own. Nom.
This recipe for Roasted Cherry Tomato Sauce with Shrimp
is super versatile. Above, I added in a bit of zucchini
(gotta use those up, too!)
and served it over pasta, topped with a little parmesan
and some fresh basil. Super-easy, light summer fare.
If you don't like shrimp, leave it out. Or try chicken.
Or maybe a sausage. Let your imagination run.
It's all about those homegrown, oven-roasted tomatoes.
This is the whole reason I grow them.
Out in the Garden:
Nature is beginning to do my favorite decorating so I've
been bringing some inside where I can enjoy it even more.
Daily I see more orange showing up on the pumpkins.
Great timing--when September hits, they'll be ready to
become part of the fall front porch decor.
The biggest jack-o-lantern is almost 14" wide and 14.5" tall.
Years ago, I wrote that my 56.4-pounder was
"just under two feet tall and about 19 inches wide"
so there is still quite a bit of growing to do if we're
going to break any records.
Just one picking from that crazy year. I so miss this!
One year (above), I filled 13 bushel baskets with gourds and
small pumpkins, yet this year I hardly have any gourds at all.
This has never happened. Why didn't they grow??
And sadly, Charlotte the Garden Spider disappeared right
after I posted her pic. Either she moved because didn't
enjoy the press or a bird (ahem) "moved" her. I'm keeping
an eye on "Charlotte II" over in the pepper patch.
To-Do's For This Week:
1) Finish [Squirrel in] The Secret Garden
I need to make a decision on the border issue asap.
Fabric needs to be ordered--or if I keep to my stash,
then this top should be completed by next week.
Stay tuned on this one.
2) Make Garlic Knots blocks
Keep going and make a dent in that stash.
As God is my witness, this stash will diminish!
If you've followed me for awhile, you know how I really
try to ramp things up in this department this time of year
because that quilt shop hop is coming up. This is
the day I allow myself to buy fabric in abandon, though
I'm sure I'll never top last year's insanity.
Or even half of that. But oh what a grand time that was!
I don't mean to get off-topic; I just want everyone
to understand my drive this next month or two.
I expect my next several quilts will be some-what scrappy.
3) Get one of my quilt tops loaded and start quilting
I still have those two smaller quilts to get quilted up
and the cooler days make me feel a little more like
working in our sunroom on the longarm.
4) Garden work
Prune the tomatoes (again!) and get "chili starter"
(Anaheim chilis, tomatoes and onions) and diced
green chilis into the freezer for the year ahead.
Well, that's a wrap.
Happy quilting!
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