Dotty 365 and other July Projects

Hello, everyone. Hard to imagine, but, yes, it's August. Time to show off my Circles or Dots for July.

July 31 Dot is block 269.
96/7 left to go, or a few more than that if I make my quilt 19 rows of 20 Dots. Anyway, the end is in sight.

This month I mostly focused on fabric scraps from blocks I am making for other projects, like P2 and Wild Geese.

Mixed in a few special days, a birthday dress, a bath day for Mo the Pug.

Only a few dark Dots, with thimbles to recall sadly the long painful yet empty days of this summer. [I am somewhat better now, thanks.].

A few lighthouses and beachy things, remembering fun summers in Cape Cod.

I always do a little drawing in my Dotty Journal. Haha. This one was not enhanced by my finally finding my fave red Sharpie!

I'm still enjoying this project, enough that I have at times mulled over the idea of ''next year'' done in Japanese indigo fabrics, blue batiks and antique blue cottons. Though I  haven't seem my Japanese blue fabrics since I moved into my little craft space this past year!

My fill-in ''just for fun'' project is When the Wild Geese Fly. This quilt is made with thrifted shirts and leftover felted wools. Some snowy day I imagine myself making the 200 or so Geese blocks. Huh.

The School Children, a Basket, a Pumpkin.

The Pumpkin is to fill up the empty memorial block on Patek's pattern. I commend her thoughtfulness but for myself I'd like something happier there. I did a layered pumpkin, wool and calico. Maybe will put dates or initials in the corners?

Though this Basket is also a perfect space for a date or name, I think.

I plan to do all three of the quilt's buildings using the strip piecing logs, so this quilt will be put aside for awhile til I can machine sew again.

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I have a question for you guys--quilters, but anyone can weigh in with an idea. I am wondering how you all store your completed quilt blocks?

I ve been hanging my projects up on these cool clipboards but it's not a great long term solution.

On the other hand I don't want to fold them up in a Baggie: out of sight, out of mind. I use a pretty storage box for Dotty 365, but it's too small for a full size quilt's blocks. A friend gave me this cool tin for my quilt blocks---but big blocks like P2 won't begin to fit.

So...ideas? How do  you store your in-work but completed blocks?

Thanks!

love

lizzy

gone to the beach....

Be sure to visit Quilty Folks, Audrey's blog, to see her Dots and everyone else's. HERE

Sunflower Days

Hi! Remember my friends who have the tropical garden here at the beach? Well this year their garden has been commandeered by wildly hugely overwhelming volunteer sunflowers!

Seems they did not dead head last year's sunflowers early enough. ALL of the sunflowers in their garden are from last year's seeds.

Now I love sunflowers, so I think it's wonderful. My gardener friends aren't quite so happy, although they do have lovely lilies, a lime tree, a big pot of herbs, and a tiki or two---but no tropicals. Yet.

I love the corners of cool blues, greys, pinks they've added.

This sunflower, I think last year's seed envelope called them Russian Giants, has to be 10 to 12 feet tall and growing madly each day. The stalk is thicker than my arm!

I was interested to see that the sunflower hybrids, the fancies, did not revert to plain, but remain as original. In theory hybrids do not reproduce uniformly.

Miniature ''sunflowers'', black-eyed susans, in reality, grow well here. Exuberant color!

My friend also planted some tropicals for me. So far this is my Elephant Ear. It's more like a Mo ear in size. And my Russian Giants, dwarfed by growing in a deck pot.

Thus year my friend is trying to trim the sunflowers before the seeds start dropping. He had been bringing them to me to dry. I love them, even though the little seed head flowers drop and make a mess. Next winter I'll bring them to the dunes for the little winter birds and rabbits.

Summer at the beach means it's very humid. So I spray a lot of Tilex around every morning. Then I find myself burning pretty scented candles because not everyone loves the aroma, mmmm..., of Clorox, lol.

Have a good rest-of-July! August is almost here, too bad. How about you, are you tired of summer yet?

My summer has just barely begun! I waded in the pool this weekend hooray.

love

lizzy

gone to the beach....

from Kelley, in California, some stunning photos of the huge fire out there. Surreal.

and here at the beach...