August garden and the quilt

August surely is a bad month for our backyard garden. The searing sun and the hot breeze must make the plants feel like they're in a convection oven; and until I begin watering, the ants think they're in ant heaven.

The pictures (click to see the detail) show you the before - before Ortho ant killer, that is. The ants are carrying their little eggs, I presume, to higher ground after being threatened by the water I sprayed while preparing the poison for a rash of black spot I discovered on our roses yesterday. It feels criminal to kill these ants, especially after all the new (and wonderfully animated) movies about ants, grasshoppers, rats, and ... whatever else lives close to or beneath the ground! If only I could get a moving van and then haul them all out, I would!

Those poor roses. They love the heat and the water, but they are tired after a season of blooming their heads off. Sunbathe and drink, sunbathe and drink. These roses are like teenagers, and because they live to the extreme at this time of year, their resistance is down and they catch everything possible. I will help them fight the summer pestilence.

To combat the weariness of the August garden, we planted two new hibiscus plants ($11 each from Wal-Mart) in the garden. Hibiscus seems to be hardy, so we might get some color with less maintenance as time goes by. The color of this one is a beautiful soft orange, much like I think of a poppy.


The other new hibiscus is a yellow one, not quite the same color as our existing yellow hibiscus (in the picture).

Our trusty bougainvillea, frozen down to the old wood this past January, had enough life in it to hardily resurrect, and it's displaying its wonderful blooms! We've been diligently pruning its long spikes to thicken it up, and it's a delight. We (automatically, through the sprinkler system) water it at least three times a week, and the day after the watering, it seems that the branches have grown another six inches. I read somewhere, though, that it's the dryness that causes the beautiful blooms. Interesting.

In the meantime, while I watch the garden grow, I quilt. Of the 49 (7 x 7) squares to quilt, I have 10 to go, I think. Nine of the 12 x 12 blocks are plain, and I've created a unique design in each of them. You can tell that my inspiration is the garden. I have eight of the plain blocks done and one to go. Pictures of the eight are below. I don't know what the design will be on the ninth, but I'll find out shortly. Sometimes inspiration comes to me in advance, but most of the time I have to pick up a pencil and start scribbing and then look to see what comes out.












The other blocks are made up of these two patterns. The quilting on each of these patterns is the same. I created once and then repicated, via freestyle quilting, the patterns for these.

I've learned a lot working on this quilt. Lauren asks if I think it should be hung in Templar Hall in old town, and I laugh. He is puzzled that I can sew on the same thing for so long and that it will still be weeks (at least two) before this is done. It's perhaps a thing of beauty, but it's not show quality. It's very much home made, and I doubt that it will ever even reach the quality of a Grandma Moses. I think I have a stiple (or at least a small meander) down pat now, and I have gained some control over loops and squiggles and filling in a design. My hand isn't any steadier than it was, but it's learned to stay more or less on a path. That's progress. I am even thinking of another quilt (but not this big) as my next project.

I'm off to the library in a few minutes. I am hooked not only on podcasts (while I sit and sew and sew), but I am hooked on books on CD. I just finished listening to Alison Weir's Queen Isabella - 18 discs! I have read several of her books, and I always walk away feeling I've read a good story. This one, too, is a good story!