Yesterday I helped out at awards of Quilts of Valor to 16 Cowlitz tribe elders who had served honorably during the Vietnam & Korean (!) war eras. Quite moving. I made one of the quilts. I imagine this was a very belated recognition & thanks. #Quilting #QOV #quiltsky #MenWhoQuilt

Almost all of the harvested green beans are cut, blanched, and frozen. One more batch today. 🌱#Gardening #KitchenGarden

I planted tulips, lilies, and a bearded iris for next year. It's an act of almost naive and insane optimism, planting now to enjoy in 6 or 7 or 9 months. The iris instruction was wrong. It stated plant 4-6" deep. Nope. Plant at soil surface level. #Gardening 🌱

Finished harvesting bush beans. There were lots! I cut, blanched, froze the first batch. These were planted in late July after harvesting garlic and onions. I was curious if there was still nitrogen- fixing Rhizobium in the soil. The root nodules say yes. #KitchenGarden

Today's garden harvest. Getting the last of the green beans - about the same left for tomorrow. Figs, apples, tomatoes, the last of the squashes. Started cleanup. Planted a few rows of Egyptian Walking Onion sets that I saved last summer and are growing roots. #KitchenGarden #Gardening 🌱

Harvest continues a bit longer. There are a lot more green beans, but I was too sore from the beginning Tai Chi class LOL. #KitchenGarden

I ordered a sewing machine presser foot that will help me sew half-inch seams. Nice, I didn't have to drive all over town to find one. I wonder about the packaging 🤔. #quilting #quiltsky #MenWhoQuilt

"The dawn of the AI era". I have always loved books, and reading, and learning. This ad is fun, but for me, I also appreciate the ease of customizable larger text & bright screen, ability to modify font to help my older eyes. I only wish ereaders were as large as Ipads. bsky.app/profile/merr...

Fabric prep for flannel quilt. "Woolies" flannel quarter bundle from fat quarter shop. I don't normally buy precut bundles, but... Preshrunk via hot wash / hot dry, they lost ~ 1" plus edge trimming. Starched w/ corn starch. Then cut 10" squares, will be HSTs. #quilting #quiltsky #MenWhoQuilt

There are no words to describe how happy shit like this makes me. Absolutely masterful set-up and reveal from 1:07. I howled

Rufus got the hated hair cut that old Daniel was procrastinating. Because SOMEBODY is a major squirmer. Mostly with paws and face. I have to trim those by hand. Then a bath, his favorite thing, and a rubdown. And a home made chicken jerky treat. Then zoomies! Forgiveness? #dogsky #Rufus

Reading The Dark Wind by Tony Hillerman. I enjoy the noir atmosphere, and honest, intelligent, respectful portrayals of the Navaho protagonists. Also the "blast from the past" for me, 70's life, which I barely experienced due to Army life, then immersive education,

I canned the final eight jars of salsa. Fourth batch. This time I added 10 Serrano pepper, in addition to the 5 Anaheims and 3 Jalapeños. ¡Muy picante! ¡Muy delicioso! Some of the jars are in about their 15th year of re-use, so eco-friendly too. 🌱 #KitchenGarden

Today's harvest from the #KitchenGarden. What a fun harvest! 🌱 #KitchenGarden

Third batch of canned salsa, 8 pint jars per batch. This time I added extra Serrano peppers for additional pizzazz. The tomatoes, onions, garlic, jalapeños, serranos, were all from the summer garden, yay! 🌱 #KitchenGarden

Repotting time for this #Phalaenopsis #Orchid. The flowers are worn and sad looking. I've had it three years, with two rebloom cycles. I cut the dying stalks, removed the old bark medium and original rockwool plug, replanted with fresh, soaked orchid medium. Now, fingers crossed. 🌱

This #Phalaenopsis was just a grocery store #Orchid, but it had beautiful sprays of white flowers for nine months. I repotted it last summer, removed the original bark medium and rockwool starter plug, filled in with orchid medium. Now it's sending out a new flower spike. Yay! 🎆.

I decided to finish the "Summer Star Quilt". That's the last with this star block, and the only one I'm keeping. It needs a narrow border, then I'll quilt it. The binding will be made from the same batik fabrik. #quiltsky #quilting #MenWhoQuilt

Sunset out the front patio. #Gardening 🌱

Today's harvest. Three Galeux d'Eysine squash, some summer squash, and lots of sauce tomatoes. The largest squashes are 24 pounds each. 🌱 #KitchenGarden #Gardening

Quilt top is finished 😀 . Tues I take it to group. They'll handle long-arm quilting. In Oct, it will be presented to a veteran in honor of their service. I don't know what to work on next. Batik summer star quilt vs ??? A bit tired of this star block now🤪 #quiltsky #QOV #MenWhoQuilt #quilting

Quilt update. All it needs now is the border, which will be the same as the sashing but wider. I wound up going to the craft store to get more of that fabric. They only had 0.75 yard plus a half-yard precut remaining. Lucky guy! I bought both. #quiltsky #quilting #MenWhoQuilt #QOV

I worked on the veterans' quilt again today. All of the star blocks are done now. I laid out a few on the sash fabric to decide how wide. I decided 1 1/2". I cut enough to sew 1/3 of the sashing today. The sashing is different from the background but still neutral. #quiltsky #MenWhoQuilt #QOV

#Garden harvest today. During summer, about half of our food comes from the kitchen garden. #KitchenGarden

#AfricanViolet update. I wondered how these would do. Neither was in bloom when I bought them. Blue one is in second bloom now. I removed 2 suckers last month & potted them. One of those is blooming now too.

While doing other stuff today, I also pre-washed some new batik 1/2 yards. Line dried, starched with corn starch, line dried again. I line dry because I don't want to preshrink these before quilting. I use heavy starch, easier for me. I have plans for these 😀. #quiltsky #menwhoquilt #quilting

Today I made second batch of salsa. This time, I added a few chopped Serrano peppers from the #KitchenGarden. ¡Muy picante! Also I got the routine better, so it went faster. The lids have all "popped", so the canning was successful. 🌱 #gardening #canning

Mt St Helens was painted, erupting, in the 1840s (Paul Kane, painter and "tourist"). I didn't know that. Not as intense as the 1980s eruption. bsky.app/profile/cdnh...

More honeybees buzzing on Chinese chive flowers. These are a bee favorite. This almost care-free, perennial vegetable is used as a favored filling component for dumplings and chive pancakes. #kitchengarden #pollinators #honeybees

Today I canned 8 pints of salsa from home grown sauce tomatoes, onions, peppers, and garlic (plus oregano, cumin, salt, pepper, lemon juice). This winter, there will be lots of "summer in a jar" for omelets and other treats. I'll make more, soon. 🌱 #kitchengarden #gardening

Harvested two big colanders full of sauce tomatoes today. If all goes according to plan, tomorrow they will be my first batch of canned salsa. 🌱 #kitchengarden #gardening

Some fruit for the food bank. I grow more than I can eat. Akane apples, Orcas pears, and mixed Asian pears. 🌱 #gardening #kitchengarden

He's a handsome fellow. Also rather aggressive and mean. I hope he's protection against predators. He was mis-labeled as female when we bought baby chicks this spring. To be fair, it's difficult to tell, when they are small. 🌱 #chickens #kitchengarden

Pears are ripe now. I picked a big box of them to take to the food bank. Also a box of apples. #gardening #HomeOrchard

Today I trimmed and squared all of the star points. It requires care, but otherwise sort of mindless. That's what I wanted today. Now it's really just sewing together nine-patches, with some care at the points. #quiltsky #quilting #menwhoquilt

I decided to use the surplus fabric from the veteran's quilt, to make a simpler star quilt. The star points start as 5" squares, make each into 2 half-square triangles. Then face two of those together & repeat. Final results are 4" square, 60, for 30 stars. #quiltsky #menwhoquilt #quilting

Ozark Beauty Strawberry plants (everbearing) and a minidwarf Akane apple tree in my garden. The apples are ripe, juicy, and tasty. 🌱 #Gardening #KitchenGarden

#InsectLife on the sweet smelling flowers of #ChineseChives. Mantis is eating a butterfly or moth. Honeybee is foraging near the "jaws of the dragon". 🌱 #gardening

Rufus saying "hi!" to his little friend down the road. "Hi, Sparky!" #dogsky #Rufus

The #AfricanViolets are nice inside, when outside is too challenging. The blue-ish one (Sharlene Fantasy White) is starting its 2nd bloom for me. A bit lopsided because I removed large suckers that were deforming growth. The pink-ish one is blooming for the 1st time (Carolina Elegant Affair).

Some English roses. Munstead wood (red), Happy Child (yellow), Bring Me Sunshine (yellow), Boscobel (coral pink), Scepter'd Isle (pale pink with prominent yellow stamens). #roses 🌱 #gardening

Happy Dog Day! Flashback to 2022, Rufus rolling around in the grass #Dogsky #Rufus

Given the recent 100 F temperatures here lately, this 100-year-old German advice seems thoughtful. I think I prefer loose cotton shirts and shorts, however. #history #heatwave #PracticalGermanAdvice

Today's harvest. 🌱 The last Gravenstein apple, a zucchini, the first green beans, an heirloom tomato and some cherry tomatoes.

I'm pleased with how the summer squash and zucchini grew in these large individual "containers", with wire tomato towers for support. Easy care, hand pollinating, inspecting, harvesting, pruning. No kneeling or leaning over. 🌱 #kitchengarden #accessiblegardening

Trying to decide which I like better. With or without the little accent squares. With, it's sort of confetti-like. Without, it's more formal, to my eyes, but the stars stand out more clearly. Hmmm. I arranged so no border square touches same color star. #quiltsky #quilting #MenWhoQuilt

Yesterday I finished quilting, and today finished binding, my contribution to the Quilts of Valor program. Started in March! As I read someone else's comment on her own quilting, "It's not perfect, but neither am I". Still kind of proud of it. #quiltsky #quilting #MenWhoQuilt #QuiltsOfValor

Walk-and-snoop. Early, before sun and 100 F temp arrive. #dogsky #Rufus

This map analysis the surface of Mars to see what areas are most favorable for human habitation. Taken into account are elevation, slope, thermal inertia, subsurface ice presence, and solar exposure. Get ready to buy some property now. Source: buff.ly/p1J9GhC

Rose "Boscobel", wild mint, and honeybees. While the bees like the rose, they love the mint flowers. 🌱 #honeybees #mint #bloomscrolling #roses