Sewing, Quilting, Gardening and HEAT!!!!!

July 1st today.  And HOT here in So. California where we live!  Hot, Cloudy, and Ugly!  I call it Muggly.  The kind of weather where you have to get all of your chores done bright and early, and then get inside for the rest of the day.  I have been catching up on quite a bit of sewing though.   Yesterday morning I brought in this huge harvest. 

A good pile of string beans.  Lots of jalapenos.  Almost the last of the cabbage.  The last of the broccoli.  more squash, like every day!!  Cucumbers coming out of our ears!!!  Tomatoes too, but they are not pictured.  These peas are so sweet and succulent, that they rarely even make it inside the house.  I snack on them while I am out in the garden. 

I am getting a half dozen eggs every day, and in the next couple of months, I will be getting at least a  dozen a day.  The hens are handling the heat okay.  I mist them, and I put ice blocks in their water dishes.  I also wet down the run so they can dig in the moist earth and cool off.  Plus, the entire run and coop is shaded. 

I get up early, and do my outdoor chores, and then by 10 or so, I am inside when the weather is like this.  Unless, of course I am in the pool!  I have been tackling a lot of my sewing lately.  I had several fix it jobs to check off my list for the girls.  Did those.  And I have been working on quilting some of the table toppers and panels I have had.  I finished this patriotic runner last night.  It is simply a panel, and I didn't even bother to add borders.  I wanted to get it done and bring it with us to the lake to use on our table for the 4th.  I did the machine quilting in a shiny red thread.  Love it.  And I used a different quilting foot that has a more open toe.  Which I loved.   I will be adding the binding today.  I am making it with this star fabric that the quilt is laying up against.  For the backing I used a tea stained muslin.

Next up will be this Fall panel that I bought last season.  I love the colors, and love the Fall!!!  I am going to do this in a fun variegated thread.

Yesterday I made the new seat cushion for the wicker settee by the pool.  I LOVE this fun fabric. And have decided that now I need to go buy more, and redo the cushions on the patio too.

Have you priced cushions lately?  Wow, they are ridiculously expensive.  I decided to recover mine this year, rather than buy new.  I will have to do the one on the front lawn swing too.  I made 8 covered buttons in the matching fabric for this cushion.  If you haven't tried making these buttons yet, you should.  They add so much fun to a project, and they really are very easy to make with a button making kit you can buy at Joanns.

The hardest part of this project, was sewing the buttons onto the cushion to give it that tufted look.  I must have stabbed my finger a dozen times!
I think it looks smashing on the bright yellow settee...but Oh, how I love it on my refinished wicker on the patio too!!!!

These cushions have two rounded corners that fit into the back corners of the chairs.  I used a bowl to draw the rounded shape onto the slipcover, and then sewed them on the curve, cutting away the excess.  It gives the cushion that perfect fit!!! 
And speaking of cushions....I said I would show you where I put the pillows from my friend Astri.  I love them out in the grove on the old swing.

So pretty, and so comfy.  I sit out here every single evening, as the chickens are beginning to roost, and the sun sets after a long day.  Greg and I have taken to sitting out here often times, and having a bit of a snack in the evening, and talking over the days events. 
I need to make the arm rolls for this swing next.  Annnnnd....maybe paint the whole frame too? 
My neighbor Jane brought us over this huge bowl of fresh peaches from her backyard tree.  Oh the smell!  I am going to make some fresh peach ice cream to take with us on dry ice to the lake.

I miss our summer fruit trees!  We had two types of peach, plum, and apricot.  But those were cut down to make room for the sport court several years ago.  I would much rather have the trees!!!
My flowers are finally blooming, but not very many of them, due to the fact that Dusty loves to lay here in this flower bed while I pin out the clothes on the line.

The geraniums are lovely, and vibrant.  And the nasturtiums are too. But yesterday I forgot to put my cardboard piece over them to prevent the chickens from nibbling on them.  So they got sort of trampled and munched.

My watermelons are finally taking off.  Not a lot of them, but I think we will get a few.

The cantaloupe are getting bigger every day.  I have oodles of them.

The cucumbers are delicious!  And I must pick at least 4 or 5 a day, from this one patch.

But my favorite thing in the garden this  year has been the pumpkin patch!  Although the leaves are beginning to look brown, and spent, the pumpkins are thriving, and turning more orange every day.  In this one patch, I have counted 17 pumpkins. 

A few of them are very large too!  I have a whole new patch planted, and just beginning to vine out.  I hope I get a bunch more out of the new plants!
My husband is spending a couple of days in the Pacific Northwest for work.  And then we are heading up to the lake for the Fourth Of July.  He took the boat up there yesterday, and put it in our summer slip.  I can hardly wait to get out on the water!!!!! 
I hope all of  you will have a nice Fourth celebration too.  Be safe!!
XO Kris