Photo Play: July Summary

It was so hot and humid in July, even in the mornings, that I just didn't do much on the photography front.  I did finish another chapter in Visual Poetry by Chris Orwig, but it was on portrait photography.  Portrait photography isn't something I do often. I do take a few family photos when we all get together, that's the chapter under review at the moment. 

All that to say, there's not much to share on the photography front this month.  Macro photography is probably my most favorite thing to do so it's not surprising that the bulk of the photos this month are with the Sigma 105 mm macro lens on the Canon 70D (some photos have been cropped).  

My Guy uses sweet potatoes in one of his bread recipes. So he keeps them around, but sometimes he doesn't have time to make his bread, so they sit. This batch sprouted in the fruit/veggie bowl we have for things that shouldn't be refrigerated. The sprouts were getting so tall, it was annoying when trying to get into the cabinets. So rather than getting upset and pitching them (as I was very tempted to do), I used them as a photo subject. 

The leaves seemed to glow like jewels under just the right light.  Not sure I fully captured it here.  But at least my photography efforts kept them out of the garbage can (which is what happened to the previous set). My Guy did finally plant these a couple of weeks ago.  

The basket flowers were still blooming in mid July.  The bumble bees absolutely loved them.

Such vivid colors with the pink/green and black/yellow.  The basket flowers are all now crispy and brown. Just one of the indicators that summer is coming to a close.  

I was out one morning trying to capture a shot of clouds for our family photography challenge with the Tamron 14-400 mm telephoto lens.  There was a lot of dew that morning and as the sun rose the field started to sparkle. 

This shot wasn't exactly what I was going for, but it captured the essence of the morning.  I really need to work on and practice my landscape photography.  It's not one of my better photography skills.

Another quest to get a cloud photo, this time with my I-Phone 12 resulted in this image. 

  

It's not the best photo from a technical perspective, but it gives me such Sci Fi vibes, like something you'd see in an aliens attack movie. The weird angle of the buildings with the beam of light coming off the "hole in the sky" bright white spot just produce that alien invasion vibe. That definitely wasn't the goal of the photograph. Sometimes you just have to accept happy accidents.  

July wasn't the most productive month on the photography front, but I did spend a lot more time in the sewing room.  Some months it's a trade off.  I've not done much in August either, so it may be a really short summary post for this month too.  

To Do List for the Week of 8/13/2024

We'll pass mid-August this week.  It really does feel like time speeds up as we get closer to the end of the year. Didn't we just pass mid year? How can it already be almost two thirds overs?  I should calm down, there is still half of August left, so still time to make lots of progress on my quilting plan. 

My weekend sinus troubles put a hitch in my progress on last week's to do list.  

To Do List for 08/06/2024

1. Rhododendron: Finish packing and send out for quilting ✔

2. 2024 SAHRR: Finish the binding - progress

3. Indigo Way: Continue to work on borders ✔

4. Wild and Goosey: Continue making orange blocks ✔

5. Diatom: Finish sashing, start borders - progress

6. Simply Sensational Summer quilt: Continue as leaders and enders ✔

It wasn't a bad week, four check marks with progress on the remaining two items is a pretty good week.  I can still hope that progress on this week's to do list is better.  

To Do List for 08/13/2024

1. 2024 SAHRR (Quilting Gail): Finish binding

Just half of one side left to hand stitch and it will be a finished quilt. I should make quick work of that this week.  

2. Indigo Way (Bonnie Hunter): Add last border

I had more of the dark blue fabric left then I thought.  The strips are cut and are pinned to be stitched together.  Borders always take longer than I think they will, so fingers crossed that Indigo Way is a finished quilt top by next week.  

3. Diatom (Quilting Jetgirl): Finish sashing, start borders

There's not been much change since yesterday's post, so no photo.  I did get one horizontal sashing strip attached, so just two more to go. The strips for the narrow light blue border are cut, so getting those stitched and cut to size is the next step.  

4. Guild BOM: Make August block

I haven't even printed off this month's instructions.  This month is another 12" block. If I remember correctly there aren't a lot of pieces so it should go together pretty quickly. (Famous last words!)

5. Wild and Goosey (Bonnie Hunter): Continue making orange blocks

I still haven't counted how many are made. I should do that before I make many more.  

6. Simply Sensational Summer Scrap quilt (Kevin the Quilter): Continue as leaders and enders 

I've almost finished a set of 10 yellow 4-patches.  My plan is to alternate, make a set of 10 yellow and then a set of 10 blue.  Should keep it interesting.  I've bunches more of each color to make.  

That's my list for this week. I'm adding borders to two quilts this week. Lots of long seams, I probably need to wind a bunch of bobbins before I get too far on that process.  

Linking up with The Quilt Schmilt for To Do Tuesday. 

Slow Starting Monday

Lots of lightening and thunder this morning.  So I decided to sleep in just a bit as I didn't want to turn on the computer in the middle of a thunderstorm.  The extra sleep was probably wise as I was fighting off a sinus infection all weekend. The afternoon naps are paying off as I'm finally starting to feel better, but it also meant that I didn't get all that much done in the sewing room.  

Diatom (Quilting Jetgirl) is up on the design wall. 

The rows are all sewn together.  The horizontal sashing strips have been sewn and cut to size. The strips for the narrow border are also cut.  I'm hoping to have a finished quilt top by the end of the week as it will just need one more border after that. 

Borders seem to be the activity of the weekend as Inidgo Way (Bonnie Hunter) just needs one more to be a finished quilt top.

 

The plan is to add a final narrow border of the dark blue.  I don't have much left, so I may have to switch to a red final border. Making that decision is on the agenda for this afternoon. 

It wasn't the most productive weekend, but definitely not the worst either.  Linking up with Design Wall Monday and with Patchwork & Quilts.

Stitching Stuff: Week 32 of 2024

We had a major cold front hit Friday. Going from the mid 90's at lunch to the mid 70's by dinner was quite the shock. Unfortunately by Saturday lunch, my sinuses decided they didn't like the cooler weather. Not got much done on Saturday, but I got in my 15 minutes.  Thankfully I was more productive earlier in the week.

• 15 minute days/week = 7/7 days
• 15 minute days/Aug = 10/10 days
• 15 minute days/2024 = 223/223 days
• Success rate = 100% 

So I managed another week with 100% success rate!  I'm going to be a bit sad when my streak ends, but I'm going to enjoy it while it lasts.

I didn't process any scraps, but did do a bit of work in the fabric closet.  Plastic drawer liner was used to line the bottom of the wire cubes. 

The plastic keeps the fabric from getting pushed into the wire squares. There is still room for fabric in the closet.  That's a good thing because I still have lots of fabric left in the to be pressed bin.

There was a bit of progress on moving fabrics from the bin to the closet.  I know that the burgundy fabric in the lower left was purchased when I was in graduate school, so it's over 35 years old.  I even remember what project it was purchased for.  I'm not ever making that project, so not sure where that fabric is going to end up.  Probably as part of a pieced backing on one of my planned scrappy quilts.  

How did you do with finding time to play with fabric and thread? 

 

1. Julie in GA 2. maggie f 3. Linda at Texas Quilt Gal 4. Karen

5. DonnaleeQ 6. Frédérique 7. Quilting Gail 8. Andrée at Quilting & Learning

9. Bonnie in Va 10. Deb in Canada 11. Dq at Dreamworthyquilts 12. Kim S

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Week 119 Photo Challenge: Fill the Frame

Everyone got on the ball this week and had a photo to send me last night.  This week's challenge is one where the subject was secondary and the technique was primary. 

As usual, I waited till Friday afternoon to take my photos for the challenge. I tried lots of subject matter, but ended up coming back to my most favorite subject. 

Kate: Purple Coneflower

Purple coneflowers are one of My Guy's favorite wild flowers that grow well here.  He bought some at the farmer's market a couple of weeks ago, they are starting to fade, but there are still a few bold blooms left.  

My Guy has found some other good stuff at the farmer's market. 

My Guy: Peachy

Porter, Oklahoma is known for their Porter Peaches.  The first bag he brought home from the farmer's market went fast.  He made ice cream out of the second bag and it's very, very good. 

Grad Girl has had one of those week's.  I wasn't sure she'd have the mental energy to come up with a photo. She sent me three last night. This one was her favorite from the set. 

Grad Girl: Chemistry Stuff

 

Organic chemistry can be really colorful.  The purple stuff is what she's trying to synthesize.  So at least one experiment went well this week.

This week was fairly easy as we had unlimited subjects. Next week's challenge is more limited. 

The challenge for week 32 was for a small toy in a real world setting.  We all nailed that one, so this one should be easy.