Category Archives: Garden

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A new look at an old block

I recently posted about some wedding ring blocks and pieces that I plan to finish up.

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When we think of the Double wedding ring pattern we generally think of it like this.  A scrappy variety of fabrics in the rings and white background fabrics.  I quilted one like this as my second quilt.  Here it is

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Less common combinations are not unheard of. I have a few in my collection. (click pictures to enlarge)  Here is a vintage top that was done with only 2 colors in the rings.

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This one has a green background and the pieces in the rings are less random.

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Here is one with yellow background and much narrower pieces (Some publications are now calling this Pattern “Pickle Dish” but that is an incorrect name)

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This one uses shirting fabric with small print as the background

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This one in Green and Tan is one of my favorites.

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I have been really enjoying bright colors lately as you can see in the ring quilt I recently finished

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I have been thinking about how I might do a Double Wedding Ring today…not from a vintage top.

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If I did it like this, with half assorted colors and half solids and did a red background and light blue in the centers of the “melons”  it would look like this

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I know I don’t need any more projects but I might need to try this one.  I think it is a new way to look at an old block.

And for the gardening fans here are more garden pictures (click to enlarge)

Happy Quilting/Gardening

Tim

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Quilting Weekend

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It looks like it is going to rain again.  I have so much weeding to do in the garden but the weather is telling me to quilt.

I am still working on hand quilting the vintage fans quilt.  I have 4 of the 9 blocks finished.

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Teddy went to the groomer today so he wanted to have his picture taken while he is looking his best

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I took a few more garden pictures before the rain starts up again (click to enlarge)

Happy Quilting/gardening

Tim

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The Washing Machine…not always your friend

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The washing machine is not always your friend.   I buy a lot of vintage quilt tops and quilt blocks on eBay.  I have made the mistake a few times of buying one that the seller has washed in the washing machine.  Why is that a mistake?  You might think that it is because washing antique fabric fades the color.  That can happen  but the real problem is that machine washing an un-quilted quilt top or block causes the fabric to fray like crazy around the seam allowances.  The fraying can be so bad that the seams totally come apart and there is not enough solid fabric left to sew it back together without totally distorting the piece. I have 2 Beautiful quilt tops that are only good for using as patching material because of this. If I need to wash a piece prior to use I do it gently by hand.  After the quilting is done I do wash in the machine, but after the quilting is done all the seams are protected from fraying, the seams are backed by the batting and sewn in with the quilting and the entire quilt is much more strong and stable. If you feel you must wash in the machine before quilting  put the item in a mesh bag and wash on a delicate cycle.

The reason that I mention this today is that I just got a bunch of vintage blocks in the mail today.  They had a Buy it now price and As soon as I saw them on eBay I jumped right in a bought them.  I loved the pattern and fabrics….I should have looked more closely at the pictures and asked the seller to see a picture of the back of the blocks.  If you look at the back you can see the fraying and know that they have been washed.

Here is one of the pictures from the eBay listing

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I should have known they were washed by how badly they need pressing.

Today when they arrived I realized my mistake.  The seller did not misrepresent them. It was my mistake but I still love them and I can make it work.  They need a really good pressing.  here is a before picture of the back.  The fraying is not nearly as bad as it could be.

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and the front

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Here is is after pressing

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I had to saturate it with water and press it dry and flat….it takes almost 20 min per block.  Fortunately the fraying is not beyond repair because the seam allowances were fairly large.

Here is another before

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and after

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It will still be a pretty quilt some day but it would have been so much easier and better to do the washing AFTER the quilting.

We had LOTS of rain on Wednesday night and Thursday which had a bit of a flattening effect on the garden But on major damage except to the peony.  Here are some pictures (click to enlarge)

Happy Quilting/Gardening

Tim

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More Flowers…and a new Quilt top

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I have been busy with gardening….both at home and at work ….I don’t have a lot of new quilting to show but I did win an auction on eBay and this one will be arriving soon
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and the roses continue to bloom (click pictures to enlarge)

Happy Summer!

Tim

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Sunday Gardening

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I am taking advantage of the beautiful weather today to get some more gardening work done.

Since the city has dug up the area between the street and the sidewalk 3 times in the last few years it has been driving me crazy!….each time the way they “fix” it is to dump more soil on top and then seed over it….it has become a mountain with the grass many inches higher than the sidewalk so I am digging it up, removing the extra soil and putting the grass back.  This is a lot of work for a  bit of property that actually belongs to the city, but it will be so much better to have it done.

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The robin looks like she is getting ready for her second brood of the season.

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Things continue to grow and new flowers bloom. (click pictures to enlarge)

Back to work for me

Happy Gardening

Tim

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Garden Day

Back yard

Today is cloudy and off and on rain but I did get a chance to take a few garden pictures  (click to enlarge).        Some quilt pictures tomorrow.

Happy Gardening

Tim

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Hand Quilting Makes the Quilt

I have been working on hand quilting  the top I made from vintage fan blocks.  I hung it up today to get a look at it and I am very pleased.  I never ceases to amaze me what a difference some hand quilting can make.  This is a what I have done so far….1/9th of the total.

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I always start in the center and quilt out to the edges.  Here is the back.

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and here are some more pictures (click to enlarge)

I have been doing a bit of applique on the antique blocks that I posted about earlier (http://timquilts.com/2013/05/13/red-and-white-applique-blocks/)  I have finished one

Here it is pinned to the fan quilt. (this one was partially finished before I started and I am surprised to see that the part I did is a lot more uniform and neater than the part the original maker did.)

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It seems like there is something new every day in the garden so here is another bunch of pictures (click to enlarge)

Happy Sunday

Tim

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2 days makes a difference

I posted some garden pictures on Thursday (http://timquilts.com/2013/05/30/quilting-and-gardening/)….and took some more pictures Today….2 days sure makes a difference

(click pictures to enlarge)

Something Quilty again tomorrow

Tim

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Quilting and Gardening

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I have been working on quilting the fans quilt that I wrote about yesterday.  I always say to myself that I will keep it simple but then I get going on it and the quilt tell me otherwise.   Sounds strange but the quilt really does talk to me and tell me how to quilt it.

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The Garden is growing!  Had lots of rain the last few days and it is going to be in the 80′s today so things will be popping.

The Star today is this Iris!

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And the lilac is finally opening…not fully open yet but the yard sure smells good!

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Next to the lilac the Weigela (Weigela florida) ‘Wine & Roses’ just starting to bloom

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There are a few roses opening ( in a few days there will be lots!)

this is Cuthbert Grant

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This is The Hunter

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I can not remember the name of this one (it is a David Austin) I will look it up and ID it next time I take a picture

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The Dogwood still has a few blooms

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Columbine are wanderers..they self seed everywhere

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The climber over the side gate is going to be full of blooms

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It is so large that it has caused the area below it to be a shade garden

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The ferns and hosta  are happy in the shade below the rose

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the little puffy flower is a Meadow Rue that self seeded there.

The Peony are showing some color…

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And the Siberian Iris are bull of buds.

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There are Lupines in bloom

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and the Cushion Spurge still looks good

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The Common Thrift (Armeria maritima) is blooming

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And the front yard is growing

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Chives and flax

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And Teddy is inspecting the garden …smells like someone was here….

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Happy Gardening and Happy Quilting

Tim

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More Gardening

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Today I did some work in the back yard.  I  thought it would be a good time to look back at some pictures from a few years ago.  In 2007 I decided to begin adding more gardens to the back yard.  I started with the side along the property line making the bed wider.

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See the tree there in the center of the picture…I had just planted that.

And then I  worked on the other side of the property line

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fence post cement planning

I take a picture of the space and sketch in a rough idea of the plan.

Here is some of the junk I dug out of the ground

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In 2011 I did the center bed

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Lots of growth happened since then and here is the garden today.

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Here is that tree that I planted on 2007.

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Here is the other edge of the yard

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and the center

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And the supervisor

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And this is the side yard looking out to the front

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That plant over the gate is a rose that will be blooming soon

here is more of the front

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It wont be long and this area will be blooming

Happy Gardening

Tim