Painting in the Garden

The most exciting thing happened on Tuesday and I have been waiting all week to share it with you! A local artist asked if she and her art association could come paint our gardens and barn. I was so honored and thrilled! Not only do I love gardening but I love art. As a former curator, a studio and art history major, this was a dream morning for me. I took this picture from the attic window.



This artist first painted the garden and then moved on to a second painting of the barn. She included an amazing level of detail.




Heather Karp, painted this beautiful little gem of a painting depicting our garden and barn. And amazingly, she gave it to me! I couldn't believe it. I will treasure it always. She said it would take two weeks to dry. Once it has dried, we will frame it and hang it in our home to admire and enjoy, especially in the snow covered winter!



This was her perspective while painting. It was such a wonderful feeling to see the artists enjoying the yard and painting such beautiful paintings. You had better believe that I invited them back. I hope that they will take me up on it!



In other gardening related news, the kids and I decided to raise some Painted Lady butterflies this year and they emerged from their chrysalises on Monday.



A couple of hours after we released them, my son was playing with his remote control truck, giving some plastic animals a trip around the yard, when one of the butterflies landed in the truck! It stayed there for quite awhile (he stopped driving it). Doesn't it fit right in with the plastic figures? This picture makes me laugh.



If you'd like to link up blog posts about your gardens (fruit or veggie) do so below!

All About Linen

Finally, I found time to print my Vintage Collection screenprint in all three colorways on natural linen! I know it has taken awhile and there have been people waiting and I apologize. It's been a busy summer and we have just had a hot spell that made lots of heat setting with an iron seem really unappealing!



This is the first time I have printed Vintage Collection in orange on linen and I just love it.



I've been sold out of My Happy Place screenprint on linen for awhile too. This time, I printed it on 100% linen suiting in sand. It's just a touch lighter in color than the oatmeal colored linen and makes the print pop. The pictures really don't do it justice. The weight is a bit more substantial too and I think it would be great for pouches and bags.

All these prints are available in limited quantities in my shop.

If you have an Etsy shop, you know what a thrill it is to be included in a treasury. I've had the pleasure of being in a few lately and I wanted to share them with you because it's so fun to see how people group items!

Kitchen Towel Happiness

Royal Blue Home

Inspired by Sky and Sea

Lots and Lots of Phlox

In more exciting news, Penny from sewtakeahike finished up her amazing Dresden plate for her Ringo Pie bee and has included my Vintage Collection fabric! I am really excited about that as she told me that it would take her a long time to find the perfect project. Instead, she found one right away! I love to see my prints being used!

Blueberry Ice Cream

The kids and I gave my husband an ice cream maker for Father's Day. Since then, he's been making ice cream non stop. I went from never buying heavy cream to buying it on a weekly basis. This week, we went blueberry picking and he made blueberry ice cream with this recipe. Isn't it the prettiest color?
He makes pancakes, french toast, pizzelles, chocolate drop cookies, and now, ice cream. Heaven help us if we ever need to rely on him for "real" food though!

Duck Soup Complete

My little 35" square baby tumbler quilt is complete. I am calling it Duck Soup after the children's book by that same name, and of course the fat quarter bundle of Red Letter Day with all its adorable duck prints that inspired this quilt. I started with those fabrics and then added a little of this, a little of that, till I eeked out the 180 tumblers needed to get to baby quilt size.



I used my Go!Baby with the tumbler die to cut the fabrics for this quilt. I have to say that I was a little frustrated because a number of them didn't cut all the way through. Accuquilt suggested that perhaps I needed a new cutting mat but I had only used it to cut enough pieces for my Drunkard's Path pillow so that didn't seem right. I did find that it cut its best with about 4 layers of fabric. Fewer actually didn't cut as well. Even though I needed to snip many pieces after they were cut, the Go!Baby we still a major time saver. Also, the little notches on the edges of the tumblers made them very easy to match up. All my tumbler seams lined up with little effort.

I arranged the tumblers 15 wide and 12 long. I then layered my quilt top and batting with right sides together to the backing and stitched around the perimeter, leaving an opening to turn. Then I quilted with straight lines 1/4" from each seam. It was easy to do with a small quilt but would have been unpleasant on a larger scale!

What's my favorite thing about this quilt? Why this series of pictures...I asked my son to help me by holding the quilt but then his sisters wanted in on it too:









I'm linking up to

For Krista

Krista, this one's for you!

Krista and I arranged for a private swap. We've been talking about it for a year now. At that time, I set aside this pink and grey quilting process silkscreen panel. She requested a mini quilt made with these colors for my end of the deal. Soon after, I set aside the fabric I had left over from binding my yellow and grey Lady of the Lake quilt because she strongly hinted at how perfect that binding would look on a certain pink and grey mini.



I asked Krista to tell me her favorite quilt block but she couldn't settle on one, so I took a different route. I made 3 blocks finishing at 3" square each. The first is a Canadian maple leaf since Krista lives in Vancouver.



Then I fussy cut the word "Poppy" from some seed packet fabric I have since Krista's blog is named "Poppyprint."

The next block is called Massachusetts, after my home state. I have to say that it was very fiddly to make this small!

The final block is the friendship block.

I am so grateful for the many friendships that I have gained thanks to blogging. While I haven't met you (yet) Krista, I consider you a great friend and I hope you will enjoy seeing this little quilt in your sewing room. It'll be on its way this afternoon. The ball is in your court...I am looking forward to my thread catcher!

I just wanted to mention that I only have two quilting process mini quilt kits left in my shop. I am not printing any more at this time but may again in the future. I am also considering revising the design a bit.

Hazy, Hot and Humid

Hazy, hot and humid describes this past week quite well. Unbearable comes to mind too. It's been in the 90s even reaching 100 degrees. I know from comments to my garden posts that many of you suffer from this sort of weather all the time so I am unlikely to get any sympathy! I am not used to it though, and neither are my plants. They are looking a little stressed right now. We also now have watering restrictions in place that are likely to become more strict in the next few weeks.
The good news is that these garden phlox (above) bloom even when not watered, phew. See the little sunroom in the background? That's where I sew!



These Black Eyed Susans are blooming in my kitchen cutting garden now. They are such a simple flower but so cheery.



I have a few new flowers blooming this week, such as my balloon flower. But mainly, the daylily show continues.



I forget the name of this pretty ruffled yellow one.



This is Little Fantastic. It's a miniature daylily and I was taken by its name. It might have something to do with the fact that I am only 5 feet tall. I love to see the words "little" and "fantastic" combined.



This is Wine Delight. It's such a pretty color.



And finally, Prissy Petticoats. The names get me every time.



If you'd like to share pictures of your gardens, please link up!

Hoop Up Your Vintage Collection!

First off, the disclaimer, this was not my idea! It was Linda's idea. She is a great supporter of my print making ventures and has purchased my Vintage Collection in each of the three colors. She mentioned that she was thinking of hanging them in hoops in her kitchen. What a marvelous idea! I thought it would be a great idea to share with you. It's another idea for those who are hesitant to cut into the handprinted material. It's not too stressful because you can get it all in the hoop and just the way you want it before trimming, minimizing the chances of making a mistake.



When I made mine, I backed the print with a layer of 100% cotton white and warm batting and a layer of Essex cotton/linen blend for a bit of body. It makes them feel more substantial. I also painted the wooden hoops to match the prints.
If you don't want to make your own but would like to hang them in your kitchen, I put one set in the shop. I will not be putting more in the shop in different color combinations. I just made this set up for inspiration!

I also wanted to mention that from time to time I will be adding "seconds" to my shop. They will be mainly tea towels with slight flaws, not noticeable to most but enough to bother me. Check my listings and you will see "SECOND" in the title. They are really a bargain. You get a three dollar discount for a pinhead sized touch of ink along the hemline, for example. One second just sold but there is one more in the shop at the moment. Bargain hunters, keep checking!

It's Seam Ripper Day

Yes! It's the much anticipated seam ripper day here at During Quiet Time. It appears that my husband's seam rippers are in high demand!
He has made 11 more. There would have been an even dozen but the purple crush seam ripper cracked. These have been listed in my shop.



I have been asked how Mark turns the seam rippers. He purchases rectangular shaped acrylic blanks. They are very blah looking and the beautiful patterns and designs do not start to appear until he begins turning them. He uses his 1980s Craftsman lathe and a scary sharp blade to shape the blanks into a seam ripper handle shape.



Then he sands and polishes them, resulting in the beautiful shiny finish. The metal hardware is then inserted. Ta da, you have a most attractive seam ripper that will add a little joy to your seam ripping frustrations.

edited to add: I was asked to post a picture of what a closed seam ripper looks like. Here you go!

It's Official

It's official, my Doll Quilt Swap 11 quilt is now complete. I had a little fun adding the required label to the back of the quilt. I made a magic carpet to coordinate with the 1001 Peeps fabric. I tied little knots along the edges with two colors of embroidery floss to create fringe. After taking this picture, I added "made for" and my secret partner's name. The front of the quilt is very geometric and precise and the back is whimsical and fun. I like the contrast!

DQS 11 Completed

I finished up my doll quilt swap quilt. It measures just 12" square, each block finishing at 3" It's an alternating pattern of churn dash blocks (a request from my partner) and chimney and cornerstone blocks (my addition). I found the inspiration in this Amish quilt. I was fond of the design but not the colors. I wanted a more modern look and to incorporate several of the colors on my partner's wish list.



I settled on diagonal lines through the centers of each block for quilting.



I used some Castle Towers in Turquoise from 1001 Peeps by Lizzy House for a touch of whimsy on the back. The binding is Kona Pepper to help make the little diagonal lines of squares pop. All it needs now is a label and then to wait for mailing day! I hope my partner likes it.

Daylily Heaven

It's daylily heaven around here. I counted and I have 18 varieties of daylilies in bloom right now! I will share just a few of them today. (That's June Melody above.)



Becky Sharp



Addie Branch Smith



Green Flutter



Wine Delight



I can't remember the name on this one. I will check and edit this in the morning.



Garden Phlox are just beginning to bloom. One of my favorite linocuts of all time was inspired by this flower.



This is my "Garden Phlox" handprinted linocut on fabric.



Here is a fun close up of the globe thistle.



This is a bluish dianthus from my aunt. It's quite the unique color. I have a problem with this plant though where it always flops in the middle. I can't figure out why. It doesn't seem to be a water issue. Sometimes our cats will sit in plants and that could be it though I have never seen them in this plant. Does anyone have this trouble with dianthus?



This is my favorite of all the ornamental grasses that I have met so far. It's called Karley Rose. It's pretty right into the fall.



I love this mix of colors here; fucshia, dark wine and golden yellow.

On the obelisk, I am growing a neat bean with purple pods. I will save the seeds and plant them next year because it's the most successful climbing vine I have had yet in this spot.

I hope you will link up this week and share your garden pictures!