Yay! A new finish for 2022!
I’ve finished the first of the two Whistle Stop quilt tops that have been in progress all through September. I am so happy with the outcome. This picture is the only one I’m showing now because I’m still quilting the other top, but I’ll write an entire blog post about them when they are both finished.
I am working on quilting the one with the grey background. After going back and forth and changing my mind about how to quilt it, I’ve settled on stitching the continuous contour lines like the first one. It takes a long time to accomplish, but I love this quilting method’s texture and movement!
Unexpected Bonus from the Pollinator Garden
I’m in year two of cultivating my pollinator garden, and it’s very rewarding. The plants attract tons of bees all summer. I started this garden as one strategy in my ongoing effort to eliminate 50% of the grassy lawn at my house and replace it with flowers, trees, and wildlife habitat. I’m nowhere near that goal, but I am making progress.
Butterfly weed does very well in the garden. It blooms generously, and you can get a second round of blooms if you deadhead the flowers as they fade. I didn’t see as many butterflies this summer as I had hoped, but I’m happy I got some nice shots of this one.
These caterpillars showed up a the end of the season, and we gave them a little habitat to keep the birds from eating them. They ate leaves nonstop for a couple of days, climbed up to the screen top, suspended themselves upside down, and formed a chrysalis. I loved watching this cycle, and I hope I get to see the butterflies hatch!
Suddenly it’s Fall
Just like that, summer’s over. It’s chilly when the sun gets low, and we’ve had a couple of days with highs only in the 50s. I will start working on my crow for the Ann Wood Handmade crow sew-along this weekend. I think that will be a great project, and I hope I can do a good job with it. I have a set of blocks for a Snake Trails quilt that I made last year. I started sewing them together and will have the top finished soon. It’s nice to have a couple of projects in the works.
Thanks for reading! Happy fall!
