New Collection of UFO's in 2022

 I'm sitting on the back patio, 8:30 on Friday evening.  Current temp is 24c with a feels like 30c.  Saturday and Sunday are both forecast to be 30c with a feels like 40c.  Given a choice between this heat or late January temps of -20c I will take this.  In the wilting heat of the day I'll stay inside and do whatever is on my necessary list but as it cools down a bit in the late afternoon I'm back outside.  I'm blaming this love of summer for my new little crop of UFO's.  The first one was a test run of the Modern Curves pantograph that two customers wanted.  At some point I plan to reload it and quilt it again on the crosswise grain - I think the resulting grid will be kinda cool.  Very 60's op-art-ish.

I'm not sure what I'll do with this...tote bags maybe?  Super cute fabric though.

As the Program Chairperson for the Binbrook Guild (fancy title - I was actually the ONLY Program person, ha ha ha) I made some samples of a fun quilt and shared a pattern for the ladies.  The first sample is made using a layer cake.

This second sample is made using a border print.

I'm also in the midst of making 20 flannel pillowcases for the hospice in Leamington.  And I've purchased 7 1/2 m. of fabric to make a Christmas quilt as a gift for someone.  But when it's nice outside I can't get myself to stay in the house and sew.  (or clean, but we won't go there, hmm?) 

At least once a week sleep eludes me - something wakes me up at 2 or 3 o'clock in the morning.  I lay there and I lay there trying to go back to sleep.  Sometimes I'll get up and read.  But usually what I want to do is go down to my workroom and turn on my sewing machine.  I never do though.  I assume that I'd wake up DH and since he doesn't sleep much better than me it wouldn't be fair to steal any of his precious shuteye.

Here's a shot from 5:47 am in mid-July.

In dogland, we're going to dog classes twice a week.  DH is doing most of the work with Coco, hoping to improve their relationship.  We're making tiny strides.

I did put her to work:

Coco helped me harvest the volunteer garlic.

Then she cooled off in the pool. 

 I haven't warned her that the potato harvest will start soon.

Summer Entertainment and Zucchini Report

The summer has turned into that beautiful time of year when it's perfect weather during the day... like 25 c., and then nice and cool at night so you can sleep.  Staying indoors with the quilting machine gets hard to do, especially when the weeds are two feet high and the beans are spilling all over the place.

I played the long game when I was booking quilts earlier this year, and allowed myself some breathing room.  And ta-da... I finally loaded the Singapore Batiks that my niece gifted me many years ago.  My plan was to have the quilting completed before September 1st, but since that is TODAY it obviously won't happen.  It's about three quarters finished.  However, the weatherman is calling for rain this afternoon, so hopefully it will be competed by tomorrow.

I also completed the piecing on a cute little baby quilt for my friend's new grandson.  That will be quilted after the customer quilts-on-board are finished up next week.

My friend Jean took me to a theatre production of 12 Angry Men at the Family Theatre in Cambridge.  I saw the movie years ago, and the stage play was really, really well done.  Afterwards we went to McDougall Cottage for the opening of her artist group's silent auction.  If you want to check out the art and perhaps bid on something as a Christmas gift, go HERE.

I also had tickets with the Beach Girls to see Billy Elliot in Stratford.  Boozy lunches is not normally what we do, but, hey... once in a while you've gotta let your hair down, right?  That was also a fabulous performance.  The kid who plays Billy probably has a hugely swelled head - the applause for him was overwhelming.

On the home front, I brought in 65 heads of garlic.  Heads, not cloves.  Assuming a nominal 6 cloves per head, there are about 400 cloves in this bowl.  It took me three consecutive nights just to peel them.  I decided, finally, to try soaking them in the hopes that would soften the skins.  Yay!!  Success!!

Food processer, olive oil, cloves, ice cube trays.  It'll take me a few nights to get this stuff frozen.  In the winter I'll be glad I did it, though.

And just to make sure I didn't get too bored, I took my little pile of gift cards downstairs to the computer and checked the balances on all of them.  I have a habit of using them and throwing them back in my purse, so I'm never quite sure what still has money and what's all used.  Now I know, 'cause I put little stickers on them with the date I checked and the balance.  Hah!

Sigh.  Zucchini.

ZUCCHINI REPORT (2 week report)

Picked:  6
Picked YTD:  17

I gave two away.  One night I made Eric Eggstrata from the Looneyspoons cookbook.  That used another one.  Link HERE.  I had leftover cooked bulk sausage from ...??? in the freezer.  That is one of those handy things that I use at least a few times every year.  I didn't have cream on hand, so I combined milk and full-fat sour cream.  That is a GREAT recipe.

The Garden, Technology, Book Recommendation, Zucchini Report

THE GARDEN

At this point, the GARLIC is the most prolific crop.  The large heads are from my planned & intentionally planted bed.  The small heads are all volunteers.  Every year I think... no I mean I hope I have managed to cull all that stuff, and every year I find that well, I guess I missed a bunch.

What will I do with all that garlic?

• I'll save a few of the large heads as seed stock and replant it in the fall.  
• Some will be used for PESTO which will go in the freezer in 1/4 cup portions.  
• Some will stay as dried garlic to be used as needed.  
• The balance will get chopped up in one of the kitchen whizzers along with olive oil.  That will go into jars in the freezer and be used when we need chopped garlic for anything (stir fry, pasta sauce, salad dressing, etc).  You need to plan a little bit ahead of time and remove the container about an hour early so it softens up enough to dig out what you need, then put it back in the freezer.  Alternatively you can use an ice tray and freeze small portions, then pop the cubes out and toss them in a container.

TECHNOLOGY

Pretty much everyone I know has a tablet of some sort, whether it's an I-Pad or an Android device.  Me, I'm an Android girl.  My nephew 1-800-LUKE 💓 got me on Android many years ago and I'm loath to change.
Anyhow... everyone also has a cover for their tablet so they can prop it up, which facilitates ignoring their dinner companion(s) as they either peruse Facebook, read a riveting book during mealtime, or ruin their meal by reading the news.

My cool little cover includes a removable keyboard.

It sticks to the flippy cover-thing with magnets, which are embedded in the cover-thingy, and in the back of the keyboard.

Sadly, though, my keyboard magnets, which sit inside a little divot, are no longer glued.  They float around underneath the backing.  This is VERY irritating because the keyboard does not stick very well, AND since they've escaped from their divots the added bulk prevents the flap closure from securely closing the cover.

I had a little discussion with DH about my dilemma.  I know the guy has many many versions of glue, so I managed to convince him to find a bottle of Gorilla Glue in his cluttered workroom/garage.  My project today will be to slice open the backing, affix those magnets in their respective divots with the glue, then close up the backing and glue the slits closed.  (note to self:  make those slices where you can glue them closed without impeding the magnets!)

Speaking of books, I just finished a trilogy.  If you like distopian novels, and/or stories about pandemics, this was really good, by Megan Crewe. LINK  I don't think anything will ever top Margaret Atwood's MADDADDAM trilogy, but it was good nevertheless.

ZUCCHINI REPORT

No, the situation has not improved.
Picked this week:  4
Picked YTD:  11