Fall is coming!

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September is almost over, and the weather is getting cooler.  This is my favorite time of year, when outside work is slowing down and there will be more time for inside pursuits.  There is still a lot of mowing to do, as you can see from these photos:

These were taken from my upstairs balcony.  The first one looks northeast, and the other is looking southeast. As you can see, the weather is beautiful. The only downside is that it won't last very long.

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I said in the last post that I would show the quilt that I dismantled and remade, so here it is:

 

As I got it: note the points that don't match, etc.

And here is the finished quilt:

 

Not too bad, huh? I'm pretty pleased with it.

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I've harvested my garlic, and I am storing it in this nifty basket in my pantry.  After using some to replant for next year's crop, the rest will be either left in this form for quick use, or the cloves will be blended with a little olive oil in a blender and flash-frozen in small containers. The frozen garlic will last a long time and the oil keeps it spoonable for quick use.

 

 I've brought in some parsley and chives to keep in my kitchen over the winter. I love having fresh herbs for cooking, but I have a hard time keeping it alive. 

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If you're going to be heating up the oven to bake biscuits, you might as well throw some brownies in there at the same time, right? That's conserving energy!

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Dog Days of Summer

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I didn't go to the County Fair--I just didn't want to brave the traffic to go.  I have been working on projects inside the house instead.  I have started going through boxes of clipped recipes, sorting and filing them.  Once that is done I will go back through the files and throw away any duplicates. How many recipes for mac and cheese do you need, anyway?  I have really cut back on the number of recipes I clip from magazines or download from Pinterest, etc.  I can always look them up if I need them.

There are still some flowers blooming in my yard, although most things have died back for the year.

 

 My Rose of Sharon (Althea) are all blooming, 5 different varieties of them.  They were only planted this spring. I didn't expect to see them bloom until next year.

 Several of these rain lilies have popped up in the front yard.

 I have two of these sedums blooming in the front flower beds.

 I don't remember what these are, but I know my husband was proud of them because the white variety is rare. If you recognize them, let me know.

 The roses are struggling. I intend to put more in next spring and take better care of them in the future. The are blooming valiantly, despite my neglect.

I bought this Red Vein Fittonia this week--I couldn't resist it.  The leaves feel like paper. It thrives in low light, which makes it perfect for my kitchen.

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I worked on the quilt top I showed in the last post. When I looked closely at it, it was obviously someone's first (and probably last) attempt at quilting.  Nothing was square, the points didn't match, the machine tension was off, and the maker had left long thread tails at the end of each seam.. The whole thing was a big mess.  I had to admire her persistence in finishing it, borders and all.  But I bet she took one look at the finished project, and sat and cried.  It was then wadded up and thrown in a box with the leftover fabrics.

 

Either I'm a glutton for punishment, or I just like a challenge. Maybe both!  I took the borders off, separated all the blocks, and squared them all up to the same size. (Some were 13" x 15" when they should have been 12.5" square.)  From the extra fabric I cut circles and fused them to the centers of the blocks to cover the points that didn't match, and cut some of the bulk from the back of the blocks. Then I put them back together, re-cut the borders and reattached them. The quilt is a little smaller, but doesn't look half bad now.  It won't win any awards, but it will be quilted and donated to someone in need. I will post a photo when my sister has finished the quilting and I have bound it.

 

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My niece came down from Missouri and spent the night with me. She always lifts my spirits! We went garage saling again, although I didn't buy anything of importance.  We then played dominoes at my sister's house.  Lots of fun!

 

My sister and I also took a road trip to Springfield, Mo. to have her longarm quilting machine repaired.  We used the trip as an excuse to go to some fabric stores and a couple of used book stores.  I spent way too much on books--I am a big paperback mystery reader--but only bought about 10 yards of fabric, a real departure for me.  It was a fun trip.

 

The crew planted gallons of bulbs this week--daffodils on both sides of the front gate inside the yard, and grape hyacinths (muscari) and summer snowflake (Leucojum aestivum) on both sides outside the yard.  It should give a really good show next spring.  They only have a gallon of allium bulbs left to plant, as well as about a dozen small tree saplings to plant outside the back fence in the meadow. I hope they can get that done this next weekend. The yard and garden work seems never-ending, but the temperatures are going down and fall will soon be here.  I will almost welcome winter as a chance to relax.

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