A Six-Month Catch-up

I'm going to tackle this in order... Quilts, Garden, Stupid-Ass Politics, and Sundry.  I know that you like to keep things orderly, same as me.

QUILTS

This is one of my little House Block Swap blocks that I sent out in March.  I can't tell you how much we all enjoy getting little parcels in the mail every couple of months.

Last year the Binbrook Guild President's Challenge was to make something based on either birds or animals.  I have shamelessly copied a quilt that I found on the internet.  After this pic was taken I gussied up these gals with some of mom's old junk jewellery, so they all now have either necklaces or hat gew-gaws (sp?), or both.  I had so much fun working on this.

In June I went to Winnipeg for Quilt Canada.  Took some lectures, won some fabric, bought some fabric 😳, and happily had no bad experiences.  I stayed an extra day and spent that taking the Trolley Tour and then a few hours at the Art Gallery.

This quilt is all made from flying geese blocks.  Seeing several versions of it on the intenet dragged my brain down the rabbit hole.  I'm very happy with the way it turned out and it will be headed for the donation box. 

Again, at the Binbrook Guild, we were doing Schoolhouse lessons.  I was demo-ing the Twister ruler.  Ahem, note to self - do not demo something that you have never done before.  It can be embarassing.  So, I threw my hands up in defeat, took this project home, and finally got 'er done.  It still needs binding, but it's certainly a cute little table topper. 

I've been working my way through the guild donation tops.  I have maybe five or six more to quilt, then I will pass the gavel on to someone else.

GARDEN

In early June, this is how it starts.  Innocently enough.  A nice little box of seedlings.

TONS of room there for things to grow.

And my BEST garden tool:  the infamous DH.  He built two boxes for me this year - one is planned for strawberries and the other is planned for raspberries.

Down in the center front is the rhubarb I got from my quilting/Red Hat buddy Jane.  She's a fierce gardener with the most beautiful yard.

The garden has been mulched with hay - here you can see that I'm part way through that job.  It's a BIG job but it really saves my bacon through the rest of the summer and fall.  This pic was taken at the end of June.

Mmm - in late July green beans are starting and so are the jalapenos.

Mid-August:  A surround of Tinfoil And Pieplates will hopefully save my roma tomatoes from any further destruction from unknown rodent(s).  Whatever-it-is has also trampled my onions in pursuit of the tomatoes. 😡

Here are the September 2nd pics:  We've gotten a bunch of sweet peppers.  They seem really happy this year, probably from the copious amount of rainfall.  (actually right now there is another tornado warning for us)  Next week I might get a basket of jalapenos to the food bank.

A two-week progress report on the tinfoil:  It has worked fairly well, although the wind sure does a number on it, as you can see.  So I have to re-anchor it periodically.  If we actually DO get some severe weather later today our neighbours may be pulling tinfoil out of their ditches.  Oops.

I've had THREE watermelons.  One I picked too late.  One I picked too early.  I'm hoping that the third time's a charm.

Fer crying out loud.  There are way too many kale plants in the garden this year.  I've been strategically checking them on a very regular basis for eggs and worms.  Today I find this one has been sculpted by the little bastards into a nice piece of green lace.  Yuk.

The butternut squash has been really happy since it's planted kind of underneath the tumbling composters.  With the hot and humid Singapore-like weather it is succumbing to mould.  The fruit (proper term?) doesn't seem bothered by it yet.  I just roasted one today for supper and it's d.e.l.i.c.i.o.u.s.

My *cough cough* useless assistants, and the hole they are extremely proud of.  That hole is probably 18" deep.  But it's in their 'forest' where they stay in the backyard playpen and keep an eye on me in the garden.  So far it's not bothering anyone.

Uh huh...the wind just blew over this planter, which is very heavy.

Yup.  Windy as hell, for sure!  That pic, btw, is the dogs' forest. Ha ha ha.

 No pics because I am not going out to the garage, but I harvested 80 heads of garlic and 40 or 50 onions.

STUPID-ASS POLITICS

Ugh.  Fucking USA.  Do they have ANY idea how much the rest of the world truly hates them right now?  This morning, once again (!), I kind of lost it when I read about Hegseth poking rude fun at two teenage girls who are Canadian Armed Forces Cadets.  Really Petey?  Targeting teenage girls?  WTH IS WRONG WITH YOU???  Don't you have a war in Iran to go finish losing?

My thoughts on the Iran war:  USA = Russia.  Iran = Ukraine.  Same shit, different countries.  Countries quietly minding their own business invaded without provocation by somebody bigger and with more money.  And the USA started it by bombing a girls school, killing 160 people.  Why?  Mmmm... MORE money?  Like maybe from Iran's OIL?  

The same thing with Venezuela.  Oil = money.  

Now Trump is currently starving the Cubans.  Do they have oil too, or does he just want the country so he can build more resorts and casinos?  Rest assured there will be something in it for the Trump family.  

I can also move on to the Israeli war with Palestine.  Dear God.  Enough already!  Israel has slaughtered so many thousands of women and children, surely Netanyahu should feel avenged by now. 

And of course, let's not let this post go by without a mention of the New and Improved Lake America!  Yup, I'll be ordering the t-shirt.  As much as our Ontario Premier Doug Ford makes me angry, I really appreciate his comment that Trump can "kiss my ass".

THE EPHEMERA

Sigh.  Let's move on to the fun and nonsense stuff.

This was my Round Robin returned to me.  I made the center block, then three more borders were added by different guild members.  I love (!) what each of them added.  Hopefully I'll get it quilted soon.

I'm still working on the House Block Of The Month.  This came to a screeching halt over the summer but I'm ready to get back to it.

I went to Margaret's for a few days in May.  Love that woman. 💗

When I was working for RBC, one of my coworkers used to refer to me as Eagle-Eyes.  That's a skill that didn't endear me to very many people.  And, apparently it's not left me.  For some unknown reason I actually READ this ad in the newspaper.  It bugged me to such a degree that I was forced to take a pic of it and send it to the company.  Whatever $$ they're paying their advertising firm is much too much.

Glass Fusion class with my Red Hat girls.  

There was also my few days with the Beach Girls for our annual Beach Day sleepover at Diane's.  This year we did Dot Mandela painting on these tea light rocks.  That was fun. 😃

Aaand, now we're all caught up.

If you want a good book to read, after all it IS still summer, one of my favourite authors is Ann Patchett.  I just finished Whistler which ultimately is a story about her step-father and their family relationship.  Really good story.  Take a few afternoons for yourself on the lawn swing so that in February you'll remember how nice the summer was.