BLOOMS IN THE GARDEN

 DH and I have a small front garden and a small back garden.  Over the years, the iris have multiplied and my front garden is full of yellow iris that needs to be thinned after it is finished blooming.

 

Unfortunately we had strong wind, and the white iris are taller and have thinner stems, and most of them are laying down.

This one is still standing tall, with many more buds to come.

We used to have 2 garden beds surrounding our patio in the back area, but with my arthritis getting worse, making it hard for me to take care of everything, we decided to return one bed to grass, and make the other one a bit smaller.  DH removed all the plants, and we saved a few that we really liked in large pots.

We have 2 small clumps of daylilies, which bloom later, 2 different clematis that are growing up the trellis, and light purple iris blooming.

I also have chives, ready to bloom, and planted basil, parsley, thyme and sage to flavour our meals in the future.

The small purple and white iris in the pot will be transplanted into both the front an back garden beds.  These are always the earliest to bloom each year.  Since I took the pictures, a super dark purple iris is in bloom, along with one that is a deep red purple.  When we thin the yellow and white plants in the front, I plan to add some of all the other colours for more variety.

Quilting - I have been trying to decide what to use on the back of my mosaic quilt.  I was inspired by others, who have added some orphan quilt blocks to the backing, so I pulled out one of my baskets of unused blocks, and have been playing with them, trying to figure out how to use them.  I have a large stash, but currently no wide backing fabrics.  I always seem to piece backing for kids quilts and lap-size quilts, but I have some large quilts planned in the future.    When I looked at these blocks, and parts of blocks, I remember quilts that I made 20+ years ago!  Hopefully they will keep someone warm in the future!

I don't want to have a huge stash to leave behind when my quilting days are over, so I have been concentrating on creative ways to use what I have!!!!! 

STILL KEEPING BUSY!

My stash reports have been very irregular this year.  I have been sewing almost every day, but stopping to make various items for the boutique at my guild's next quilt show.  We had a "boutique workshop" on Saturday, let by one of our members.

We made iPad pouches, which are self-lined.  I used some remnants left over from my former life making draperies etc.

 

The group also made cell phone stands, but as my internet was acting up, and Zoom was freezing for the last half of the workshop, I didn't make any of these.  I found instructions on the internet, so I plan on making a couple for the boutique, as well as for some friends.

My lastest project has been cutting and sewing the top of Mosaic.  It is made from rectangles, with a few squares added in at the ends of some of the rows.  I used one of my leftover bins of scraps, and used over half of all the dark strips!  This is a free pattern found at the Quilted Twins website.

The top is currently folded and clipped to a hanger, as I go hunting for backing fabric.
 

Our previous boutique workshop, found everyone making a  zippered pouch in pouch.  Some of the participants had never installed a zipper before, but the pattern by Geta Grama, was very easy to follow.  The interior pouch divides the space into 3 areas, and is sewn into the side and bottom seams of the pouch.  I did some quilting on the exterior pouch, following the design of the fabric.  I plan on making more like this one, but I have to order some more zippers, as I have lots of short ones in my stash, but I'm running low on longer ones!