To Make a Garden

Hello Gentle Readers and Hello August. The month is new and has been all about the weather. Lincoln and Omaha are recovering from last Wednesday's storm. Wind up to 90 mph in Omaha and 80 mph in Lincoln damaged and destroyed many large trees and wreaked havoc with electricity. Fortunately we did not lose power or have any outdoor damage. Still, as of Monday about 20,000 customers were still without power in Omaha. Some volunteer cosmos in my garden were snapped off, the zinnias were blown around, pots of herbs blew over so the basil was jostled, and a few tomato vines needed more stakes. They were heavy with fruit so it's surprising they didn't break. The high heat of Friday through Monday broke sometime in the early morning of Tuesday. A drop from 100 degrees Monday afternoon to 66 on Tuesday morning was enough to make my head spin. 

As I link with Kat and the Unravelers to post our making and reading, I'm including my garden harvest. The photo above was taken Monday evening so excuse the poor lighting and the basement floor with gardening paraphernalia. Abundant sunshine, hot days, warm nights, drip hoses, have created a good tomato crop. Fresh tomatoes with basil, garlic, and olive oil (garlic removed for eating) served over warm pasta and sprinkled with grated parmesan is my favorite summer dish. I also freeze an easy tomato sauce and blanched, peeled, chopped tomatoes in 2 c. amounts. There are more tomatoes on the kitchen counter and in the garden. If you need me this afternoon,  I'll be in the kitchen. 

I'm enjoying knitting on my summer top and hitchhiker a little at a time. Photos and an update next week. This summer I've been working on these quilt blocks. A long time ago, I bought seven Grandmother's Flower Garden blocks in an antique/second hand shop. The fabrics are in surprisingly good condition. The small pieces were sewed with tiny even stitches and a 1/8th seam allowance. From time to time, I looked at them and put them back in the box. I didn't want to recreate the pattern and I knew that seam allowance would be enough to make me pull out my hair. Since I am not making a quilt for a bed or a baby, I decided to appliqué them, raw-edged, to muslin squares. I used a new-to-me invisible basting technique to make sure they stayed flat and then stitched around the edges with the blanket stitch. I throughly enjoyed the process and not fussing about turning under the edges. I need two more blocks for a square top. I'm looking at a few books about feedsack and Depression era quilts for inspiration. 

I'm rereading The Narrowboat Summer by Anne Youngson, a charming story many of you have read. I'm enjoying the leisurely ride in the canal boat and the three women characters. I had forgotten one of the minor characters is a knitter, a bonus. I'm listening to The Comfort of Ghosts by Jacqueline Winspear. Again, as most of you know, this is the last in the Maisie Dobbs series. Winspear is wrapping up the story nicely. 

What are you making this week?