Yesterday was such a nice day that I did little that I had planned. It got up to 68 degrees briefly – I was outside trimming my hydrangea bush, cutting off all the dead parts enjoying the weather – and I paid for it – bugs are out already! Every year they are out earlier than I think they will be and I don’t know what kind it is but something loves to bite the lower back of my head and neck and leaves welts – I must be very allergic to this bug and I haven’t a clue what it is as I never really see them. The bites last several days or longer – I need to get my large can of Off bug spray that I keep handy for six months of the year on the porch where I get in the habit of spraying myself when I walk out the door – before you know it ticks will be out too – at least in our area they are not know all that much for Lyme Disease but I spray my ankles and lower legs when I walk the property to keep them off. I keep one can by the front door and one by the back!
I did trace out some of the applique pattern and have more to do on that.
Mostly it was progress on quilting Good Fortune – here is a close up of what I am doing on these two borders.
This is such a narrow band compared to the first border that I got half way through it on Saturday night and picked up on the center out to the right side last night. I won’t put any quilting in the skinny green strip – the next border with the blue and orange/yellow I think will be outlined and the neutral will be like the one I am working on now – long lines of straight running stitches. I am not using stencils for any of the patchwork.
On the left side I did the wide cable/feather border going up the side.
Some fabric was sorted to see what I have in my neutrals – I had a bundle of fat quarters and a jelly roll of the same and they are neutrals – I added them to the pile but when I was looking through I could see some big flowers here and there on a couple of the colors which would have me taking those back out to put elsewhere – I will look them over more they are pale yellow, blue, pink, beige – all light colors but some might have prints like the flowers in them that would disqualify them from being neutral in my mind. Same with the white with the red flowers in the stack on the right side – I’m not sure if I consider it neutral as the little red flowers are so bright.
More work was done on the crochet blanket but I never did get a photo of that one. Linking to Em’s Scrapbag — Small Quilts and Doll Quilts — Em’s Scrapbag MCM# 150 — Monday Making —
You will see a new comment form here on the blog – Mike took off the plug in Comment Luv to see if that was what was causing problems with some of the comments – we might go back to it later – or might leave as is.
FREE Starter Kit With Annual Bluprint Subscription
Craving some creativity? Start an annual subscription to unlimited streaming classes & get a FREE starter kit. Final day on this offer ends at midnight
So you trim the hydrangeas (we have 2 or 3 of those by our river bank) in the spring before they start to grow for the season? Learning here from you so asking! Rick also gets welts from certain bugs when we lived in Florida but we haven’t found he needed DEET containing bug sprays here yet… we shall keep an eye on it though… only got in the low 50’s here yesterday and I stayed chilled all day … glad you got out in it but again sorry about the welts from bug bites!!!
I love your progress on both your applique start and Good Fortune stitching 🙂 I will look forward to seeing the afghan progress when it crosses your mind to snap another photo… it is a fun little project for sure!
I redesigned the baby quilt for my grand to be… I like this chain design much better and will start cutting it today I believe while physical therapy is working with Rick 😀 No problems now getting directly to your blog… just a different format from wordpress for leaving comments but no issues! 🙂
Kathi
when the hydrangea starts to get the leave buds on them just opening up you can see on the plant what is dead – anything above that first leaf bud can be cut off. Don’t do it in the fall though as you will not know what will come back, leave the flowers to dry on the bush over winter and then trim them or you won’t get flowers that spring.
I hope these bugs won’t bother Rick if he gets welts too – I don’t know what kind they are and they mainly only get me in the early spring
I am just slowing down to wonder why I hadn’t head from you on this comment and you had replied… but it didn’t come to my email… I guess I will have to return to your blog to see your replies in the future until this gets fixed… Have a great day and thanks for the advice on the hydrangeas… I told Rick how to trim them this spring 🙂 Kathi
so I guess that is some of you not getting replies but not all of you – I wonder why that is and haven’t any idea as only one plug in “comment luv” was taken off of the site.
We have bugs here in Minnesota that we call No-see-ums. They are tiny little gnats and they bite, usually around the hairline. Wonder if that’s what you are dealing with. Hope you can find something to keep them at bay. I can see how the stitching on that part of the Good Fortune goes faster than the border work. It looks great!
we have the No-see-ums too but I don’t think I ever hear they go for the hairline – that is probably what it is then as they attacked me last year when we were in Minnesota too!! I had quite a few bites then at the base of my skull under the hair and behind my ears – they drive me crazy for several days usually and I put anti-itch ointment on clean the areas off with alcohol several times a day etc – I wonder if they are out only in early spring/summer – here it is always very early like March/April and we were in Minnesota in June last year Do you know of anything special that people use up there for the bites or to keep them away?
They are usually out early here and seem to leave when the high temps arrive. I read putting vanilla on your skin is supposed to help, but not sure if that’s true. Most just use bug spray, I think.
I had not hear of using vanilla 🙂
At least you’ll smell good ?
The biting bugs do not sound like fun, especially this early in the year! Hope you’re not bothered by the bites for too long. Your quilting on Good Fortune is just beautiful! I always enjoy your photos that show how much pretty texture the quilting creates. That’s a great stack of neutrals! I also have a hard time deciding how much color or print I can have in my fabric and still call it a neutral. I am noticing as I sew my scrappy sprouts blocks into rows that I don’t notice the prints now as much as I did when I first made the blocks.
the bug bites on me will last about a week before they are completely gone – faster if I can keep myself from scratching them which I have to constantly remind myself not to do – running out today to get bug spray as when I took a shower last night I found a tick on me too – luckily it hadn’t attached itself so I was able to get rid of it fast or I would have a itchy bite from that too!!
Thanks on the quilting comments – I have very much learned now to shut the flash off and not to have many lights on and I can capture the quilting better
I’m so sorry you are dealing with the bugs so early. When we were in Florida visiting my son, he was always saying watch out for the No-see-ums and even had a special spray for them. I always asked how are you suppose to see them if you can’t see them, lol! Your quilting looks wonderful in that long shot. It looks like it’s much faster now since you’re past that big border. Have a nice day, I have two doctor appointments today.
what kind of spray did your son have for these bugs? good luck at your doctor appointments!!
I don’t think No-see-ums are particular, they bite whatever’s available. We have them in Alaska too, but they don’t come close to damaging our skin like the mosquitos and white socks. The bugs haven’t arrived here yet, it’s a little too cold. I am jealous of your hydrangea. They are really hard to grow in this rain forest. They are one of my favorite flowers. The great thing about hand quilting is, you can make decisions about each section as you slowly move along. It is so much more relaxing than machine quilting. Your quilt is lovelier every day.
thanks Kathi I do decide as I got how to quilt each area – right now I am contemplating the center of the quilt the red/orange blocks and the blue green stars – and I wish I could grow some of the flowers you most likely have up there but it gets too hot for some here and they will not thrive
That quilted circle wreath is so lovely. You really have quite a nice stash which I oddly love looking at. Can’t believe you have bugs but yes, they are present quite early in the season. We have to spray ourselves too and I wear my knee high rubber boots on all walks in the summer, no matter the temperature. My fear of ticks is quite high. But it will be awhile yet for us…serious melting taking place though.
you have a lot of trouble out there with Lyme disease from ticks don’t you? here we don’t have much of a problem with them and I get a lot of tick treatment stuff for the yard and I put it all the way around the property on the narrow area i walk so most of the time I do not get them on me once I treat the yard a couple times – of course it helps that I normally spray myself every time I go outside with bug repellent – I just didn’t think about it this year – it is so early – but it is spring here so I should have.
I love looking at the fabric stash too 🙂
It was spray he bought just for the No-see-ums, I remember seeing it at restaurants there by the check out. I guess they have a lot of them there, I wish I could be of more help. I had a surgeon appointment this morning and am having my carpal tunnel surgery Apr 9th, so good news there to get it over with. This afternoon I’m going to the doctor because my inner ear is making me dizzy, probably just my alergies getting me with spring pollination going on.
hope you will feel well later today. I will do a search for the spray
Your quilting is beautiful and I love seeing your Good Fortune.
thanks Sue – Good Fortune will be on the frame for awhile but I will try to work on it almost every day