Quilter's Tranquilizers

Yellow - Soothes nerves when you want to buy fabric and the shop is closed. 

Red - Reduces irritation when you cannot find just the right fabric. 

Blue - reduces frustration when your stash is looking little low. 

Brown - relieves panic attacks when there is no place to hide more fabric 

Orange - Minimizes depression when you cannot get enough time to sew. 

Green - cures the urge to clean house when you could be sewing. 

Warning: May contribute to weight gain

Summer Love

The best thing about summer is what comes out of the garden. Here on Bank Street, we all have gardens and share among each other. Last night we had fried okra from David's garden.

Joe and I don't eat fancy. Along with the fried okra, I fixed a Crockpot of pinto beans, pulled some North Carolina (down East style) bar-b-que out of the freezer, and sliced tomatoes from our garden.

We had a bumper crop of tomatoes this year. It must have been the perfect weather... a little cool in late May/early June, and then hot, hot weather in late June/July. Joe treated his Kiwanis club to their annual tomato sandwich lunch last week. He fed 30 guys and gals our version of Southern caviar... sliced tomatoes on white bread with Hellman's mayo. We had enough tomatoes to can some. I canned seven quarts of tomatoes cut in quarters. They will be good in spaghetti sauce this winter.

I also canned seven quarts of soup mix. My granny, Ethel, used to can soup mix. She was canning and freezing other vegetables so she just put in a little of this and a little of that. I started mine from scratch and this was an all day ordeal. I have a new appreciation for the effort that went into every jar of Granny's soup mix. I am rather proud of how pretty the jars look. We had a little of the mix left over so I made a pot of soup. This is true comfort food.

Baby Amalia's Quilt

Esther is a friend who visits us every two weeks. It just so happens that when she visits, she cleans our house and we pay her. But she is a friend first. She is expecting a baby in a couple months.

So I had to make Baby Amalia a quilt. This is a triple Irish Chain pattern. I made it from one Honey Bun and some yardage. It was fun to make. I quilted some of it on my sewing machine. The center of the solid squares has a Rose of Sharon embroidery design in it.

I washed and dried it this morning so it was nice and crinkly when I gave it to Esther. I hope it brings Baby Amalia sweet dreams.

Whoot! Whoot! x2

I opened the mail box yesterday and there was a manila envelope that looked vaguely familiar.

Is it one of the envelopes I saw Bonnie loading in to Shamu on her Quiltville blog? YES! It is!

My book arrived! Bonnie Hunter just released her her book, String Fling. It has patterns using strings (strips) of quilt fabrics. But... I had to put it aside for the day. Our friend, Alex, tapped on the back door yesterday bearing a half box of green beans along with a basket of tomatoes, okra, peppers, and zucchini. So I snapped and broke beans until my hands were tired. Then I canned...

Aren't they pretty? Nine quarts of green beans and all of them sealed! These sure will be good this winter. I guess I'll have to clear a shelf in The Studio to store them. Alex said he would be back today with another box. String Flings will just have to wait until gardening season is over.