Procrastination vs. Patience on a Slow Sunday...

 Hello - well I'm feeling quite full of myself today as last week was surprisingly productive!  And along with what I got accomplished I have a new theory on procrastination... I've found a convoluted way to change it from a negative to a positive... from now on I'm going to think of it as not putting things off but taking my time to get them done... having patience... and patience is a virtue, right?  LOL... I will continue to drag my feet on certain projects but now I'm going to think of it as giving them time to mature and when it is time to be finished... they will be finished... and to that end I have a great story of patience I'll tell you about in a bit...

And a head's up ...this is a looooooong post... I have a lot to talk about this week!

First I want to go through my week... Monday started out great... I went and worked out, took Nick to lunch and came home and worked in the yard. I dug up all the dahlia tubers that didn't seem to be growing and some were duds but others still had signs of starting to grow... so I put them back in the ground and we'll see what happens in another week. I also finally got that flat of begonias  planted and stuck an assortment of bulbs/corms/tubers that I still had in the ground here and there and over there and wherever. 

Some flowers are blooming nicely... I like this patch where the cleome are backed up by the cannas...

The cleome are often called spider plant and this variety has re-seeded itself in my yard ... spreading here there and everywhere... and I'm okay with that because I LOVE how they look and the deer do not eat them!!! Here's a close up of one that planted itself right by my house...

Along with this pink one there is a purple variety. I planted this variety about 2 years ago and I haven't been able to  find it at the garden centers for a while so I'm very very happy that it has taken it upon itself to propagate in my yard. 

Several of the dahlias that I planted in the ground are already blooming... this big yellow one is called Kelvin Floodlight...

that bloom is about 9" wide... and I don't remember for sure what variety this one is... maybe Penhill Watermelon... it is also about 10" wide and no matter what it is called, it is gorgeous!!

Tuesday I was pooped after working outside for  several hours in the heat so I took it easy. I picked up Elliott from his day camp and we chilled for a couple of hours. He wrote me out an algebraic equation that he developed to find white holes in space... he knows there are black holes and he thinks there are white holes that have yet to be discovered ...and he came up with an equation... complete with the symbol for infinity... and remember he's only 7 years old... waaaaay smarter than me... but luckily still a little boy who can be happy with an ice cream sandwich cookie...which I provided. 

Wednesday was hot and sticky so I went downstairs to my sewing room and put into motion my new theory turning procrastination into patience... I had a stack of quilts that needed binding... and binding is my least favorite part of making a quilt... but I surprised myself and got not 1, not 2, not 3... but FOUR quilts bound... let's take a look at them ...first is this one ... the pattern is a freebie called Checkered Brick which you can find here... and the fabrics are a collection from Sandy Gervais called New Beginnings...

It finished 78" square after I washed it... I know it looks rectangular here but I took the pic standing on a ladder looking down on it as it was on the floor... the next quilt I got the binding uses the Gingiber fabric collection called Henhouse and the pattern is called Skylight... if you watch this video you will find all the info you need to make this pattern...

and for a quilting panto Delinda had this great chicken wire pattern...

Next up I put the binding on the Fresh As a Daisy quilt...here's a link to the pattern... done in American Jane fabrics...

now my quilty friends saw this prior to it being quilted and thought the pink blocks looked like bandaids... so they've been calling this the band-aid quilt...LOL... I shall continue to call it the Daisy quilt and to that end I had Delinda use a panto called ... He Loves Me, He Loves Me Not ... featuring daisies with missing petals...

And now for the quilt top that personifies procrastination being turned into patience... and yes I am delusional here LOL... my Stack N Whack quilt using the fabric collection The Quiltmaker's Gift... a quilt that has been 24... yes I said TWENTY FOUR... years in the making!!  Ta Dah!!

It is a very good thing that I have this blog because it let me search as to when I started this quilt... and it was before I ever had the blog... the book, The Quiltmaker's Gift was published in 2001 and the fabric came out like a year or so later and I bought it right away and started on this quilt... which makes it 24 years old at a minimum... every hexagon was cut from a repeat of this crazy quilt print..

And here is a close up of some of the hexagons... they really are pretty and remind me of millefiori.  

This has been quilted for the last 2 years just waiting for a binding...and now the procrastination has evolved into patience as it patiently waited to be FINISHED!! Gosh I'm proud of me...ROFL!!

Well, not only did I bind FOUR quilts, but I worked on cutting out more  Debbie Mumm hexagons and some Debbie Mumm squares for 2 quilts I've been thinking about... here's a pic of the notes I've made for both of them to keep track of how many of each shape I need...

By my calculations I need 105 8" hexagons and 145 6" squares... and each piece will be different... and yes I do have a large enough stash of Debbie Mumm fabrics to make that happen!!  As to when both of these major projects will be complete, is another exercise in procrastination turning into patience... it's gonna take a while. 

And due to my ADHD behavior along with binding quilts and cutting out hexagons and squares I also pulled out a project that I started in September of 2024 for a National Jelly Roll Day.. the pattern is called Marbled Cheesecake and it is from the book Jelly Filled by Vanessa Goertzen of Lella Boutique... 

I'm almost halfway done... the fabrics are lots of different Fall collections from Sandy Gervais... she does great Fall stuff ... and the background is Grunge in the colorway Curry... easy peasy blocks that don't require any pinning as you assemble them.  The upcoming week is forecast to be HOT and steamy so retreating to my underground lair... AKA the basement sewing studio... will be a good plan. 

Are you still hanging in there?  I told you this was a looooooong post ... and I wasn't lying... how about a little patriotic decor?  I'm saving the BIG shelf display for next Sunday...which I just realized is the day after the 4th of July... sheesh... I swore it fell on Sunday, not Saturday... oh well... onward... here is the small shelf unit, which has a nice amount of patriotic pieces...

So up top I have Blackbird Designs Stars & Stripes on the big red stand (a bargain from Hobby Lobby years ago) and the little pillow is a freebie from  La-D-Da called Flag City... I left the Flag City part off and just added  some more stars...

 

To the right I have a little quilted flag made with Debbie Mumm fabrics (as if you didn't guess) and the little metal basket has a piece with patriotic chickens from Scissortail Designs called Rise and Shine...                                                                                                                                                                               

Down below on the left hand side I have Yankee Doodles by Lizzie Kate and in the middle a great patriotic piece from Rae Dunn (remember when that was the craze?)  and on the bottom I have the Double Eagle Sampler from the Prairie Schooler No. 8 American Primitive  and in the middle of that bottom shelf I have Liberty from Birds of a Feather. 

Moving to the right hand side of this shelf unit I have Free and Brave from the Drawn Thread and below is  portion of the pattern called Eagle from Sheepish Designs. 

Over on my yellow tier table I have a cute patriotic trio of birds that are from Jim Shore and and old old kit (that I can't find anywhere on the internet) called Liberty House Sampler from Heart in Hand that I stitched this year, and below is Farmyard Parade from With Thy Needle & Thread. 

I've enjoyed all my patriotic decor and I'm mulling over how long I'm going to keep it out... I'm thinking I'll change things over to my Summer chicken stuff just before I have my knee replacement... then I can enjoy that till September rolls around and I break out the Fall stuff. 

And speaking of Fall stuff... nice segue wasn't it... I pulled out this piece from Bent Creek... Autumn Soapbox ... it hasn't seen the light of day since last year... 

I also pulled out a Halloween piece I started last year but I didn't put any stitches in it... I'm thinking that I'd like to get a jump on the Fall stuff and since it is going to hotter than blazes next week (temperatures in the 90's with humidity to match it) stitching Fall stuff should give me cool thoughts... LOL... more delusional thinking on my part... but it makes me happy!  

Well that was quite the post wasn't it?  Don't expect this much content every week... these super productive spells are few and far between but I'm glad they come around now and again. Plans for next week include working out with Anna and I think I have Elliott all day on Tuesday... as I recall, the day camp is closed for the week... we haven't decided where we want to go to watch fireworks on the 4th of July... just sitting on the sunroom porch we can see lots of pyrotechnics from 2 different little towns ... and I want to watch the big fireworks show from DC... it starts at 10:30 EST and is supposed to last for 40 minutes and is billed as the largest fireworks show ever!!  Definitely a must see!

I'll link up with Kathy's Quilts today... I need to go and get groceries for a certain family member and Nick is making dinner for us... he prepped a pan of lasagna yesterday... that will be a yummy meal! I hope whatever plans you have for the 4th of July are fun ones... I expect a ton of fireworks in my neighborhood... probably starting tonight... there is an enthusiastic neighbor, one street over who likes to shoot off fireworks for every occasion... and he goes all out  for the 4th. 

Happy 250th Birthday of the United States of America!!

and happy stitching-

carol fun