Design Wall Monday 6/4/12

Nothing on my design wall although I have a lot of ufos and wips.  I'm greening some batts right now to go with the charity quilts and then they'll be ready for the 14th.  I was going to be quilting with Judy, but she is long arming her quilt in the free feather tutorials, but mine will be on a DSM and I need to start in the center.  So will have to wait until she gets there to continue on that project.

So what is greening a batt? It's my way of dealing with left over pieces of batting to use it up instead of throwing it away.  I learned this method from Marti Michell in her machine quilting in sections book. Way faster than basting the batting together.

Essentially, you find pieces that together will provide a batt for your top.  I overlap them at the side they will be joined and cut a squiggly line through both of them.  In the photo you can see them after the cut.  I threw away the two pieces resorting from cutting them.  Then I cut 1" strips of fusible interfacing.  I push the two pieces together and lay the strips on top of the edges and with a Teflon sheet or a piece of fabric I press the joint closed with the interfacing. (you can see a more detailed post here).  The batt is now ready to sandwich with the top and back.  Have one more to go after this one.

What are you up to?  Visit Judy at Patchwork Times and link up to let us know.

Stash Report 6/3/12

Worked on several things last week, most importantly two BOM blocks and three charity quilts which used up yardage - yeah! Here are my numbers:
Used/Donated last week: 4.75 yards
Used/Donated YTD: 66.22 yards
Added/Bought last week: 6.00 yards   Couldn't resist an online special of Liberty Fabrics.
Added/Bought YTD: 27.5 yards
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Net Decrease YTD: 38.72 yards  Gone down a bit, but not by much!  And I love the fabrics I bought - they will be for applque.

How did you do?  Go on over to Judy's Patchwork Times and let us all know how you did.

In My Garden this Friday

It's still coolish around here and things in the garden are again surprising me!  Some of you would say the 90s aren't cool, but low 90s in this arid climate are great to enjoy.  Here's what I found in my tour of the garden as I watered:

This is a Datura Purple Double.  It's in a pot.  I got the seeds from a friend in Hawaii who didn't know what it was. I love how the white trumpet comes out of the purple.

Here is a closeup.  It was too sunny to get the center which is also interesting.

 Out on our front patio, the bouganvilla and the geraniums are still blooming. Here they flank an octopus agave which my husband planted in an old stump of a pepper tree.

 Here's my view of them from inside my kitchen window.  You get a good idea at the size of that octopus. This window faces west, so we have two screens on it to cut the glare of the sun.  The double pane windows cut the heat.

 Just to the right of bouganvilla is my Cecile Brunner rose.  You can see how small the roses are compared to my hand.

and on a different note, yesterday we had this yummy dish.  This is for all of you who have an abundant crop of zuchinni squash.  I jazzed it up by adding garlic and onions -good!  You can find the recipe here .

I'm linking up to Tootsie's Flaunt Your Flowers and Elizabeth's Show off Friday.   Do visit and see what others have in their gardens.

Lastly, I leave you with a cutie from my husband's collection - a Notocactus.  Its flower is a tiny purple flower, but it grows these cute, colorful seed pods.  I think they have a tuft of fat hair on their heads. They make me smile.   Have a great weekend!