Standing at my kitchen sink earlier this week, I noticed movement in the front. Once again, the local black bear was making an attempt to get to the bird feeder. My Sweet Babboo has tie-wrapped it to the pole so the bear cannot shake it down and cannot reach it, but last time the bear bent the pole. So I grabbed the camera and stepped just out the door to the veranda to scare him off by yelling at him. He moved away quickly, and I used the zoom lens on the camera to get his photo as he went around the garage to the woods. This is a young one, maybe 160-175 pounds.

Later, the deer came by to snack on my hostas. I don’t really mind this too much, there are a lot of them, and the deer never eat them to the nubs. There were two, a male and a female, but she went into the forest before I could get a photo of her. The buck stood still and posed for me.

In the garden, I was picking tomatoes and was surprised to see two squash growing. One larger one, and a small one lower on the right. I hope these are spaghetti squash, but I really don’t know.

Then I found two more! Little ones are hanging over the side of the planter. Here’s one. The other one looks exactly the same. Lots more flowers are blooming on the vines too, so there may be even more as the season goes on.

The little cherry tomatoes have been prolific, and are a purple variety. I’ve not grown these before, and I am not sure that this is what I thought I was buying at the garden center. But they are tasty in a salad.

Harvest time is fun when there are a lot of colorful veggies in the bowl. This was Friday’s harvest.

In the sewing room, I am happiest when I have multiple projects in progress so I can move from one to another as I want. On the longarm, I have been working all week on this Quilt of Valor for a special guy. He is a friend, and there is more to this story that I’ll share with you soon.

On the sewing table, my domestic machine was busy with Cradle Quilts. I pulled out some leftovers from my Rooster Parade quilt, and cut squares. Then I arranged them on diagonals and sewed them using the Web Method.

In under half an hour, from pulling fabrics to completed flimsy, I had my first top done. These don’t take long as they are only 18-inches square.

While pulling fabrics, I found an orphan block. Adding borders meant a second cradle quilt top is ready to quilt. I plan to keep going on these at the sewing machine this month, with a goal of 12. Then I’ll load a neutral backing on the longarm and quilt them all at once.

I definitely need to get more out this month, as the ‘fabric in’ total will be substantial. I took a friend with me to Foust Textiles warehouse sale, and came home with a bunch. I was specifically looking for tone on tone backgrounds, but couldn’t resist the 10-inch square stack of honey and bee fabrics, or the little FQ bundle of browns. Or the green bolt. Some of this is going out as another friend will split two of the white bolts with me. I’ll report the totals on the September Stashbusters.

Jasper and Miles showed up for a meal three days last week. It is not easy to get a sandwich to both of them, as whomever gets the first one usually gets chased by the other. But, here they are once again enjoying their treats with their backs to each other.

Jasper is getting chubbier by the day it seems. It is almost as though Jasper might be a ‘she’ and pregnant. But it is too late in the season for a litter. I think he is just fat.

Miles is smaller, but he may chunk up a bit with the peanut butter.

More turkeys came by for a visit, once again running up to get seed scattered onto the ground. Now there are seven of them, with two more males added to the flock. I think there are now three males and four females. One large male clearly is the leader, in the center with the red on his head. This color is a sign that he is on alert for danger, and was keeping an eye on me.

But he soon settled and began pecking for seeds as another male kept an eye on me. The hens were not concerned at all, they’d been here before.

In the back, this pretty St. John’s Wort is blooming on a tall plant. It is considered an invasive plant, and should be pulled up, but it is in a spot not easy to reach.

The yellow flowers are small but vibrant in color.

Then I saw this tiny purple flower on a tall stalk. An extensive web search leads me to believe this is a Panicled Tick-Trefoil (Desmodium paniculatum), a member of the pea family.

The flowers are so tiny, about 1/4-inch! But the intense purple color catches the eye.

While I was taking these pictures, I startled a little toad. He was pretty cute, only about 3 inches long, and sat still to have his picture taken. Then he hopped through the fence and disappeared into the underbrush. I’m happy he lives here and can eat some of the bugs.

So, it is on to preseason football, and the last project in progress, my Japanese Art Quilt. I thought I was done with the handwork, but while adding a sleeve, I noticed black threads on the top side where I was not careful enough with attaching the binding. So, those got ripped out, and I need to resew three sections. When that is done, it will be ready for the fair. I’ll show you the finish on it soon.

So, I have a quilt on the longarm in the quilting stage, a project in the piecing stage, a project in the hand finishing stage to work on while the games are on, more crafting and stamping in progress on the workbench, and tomatoes to harvest every few days. I’m reading a recently published book with 426 pages, so that will take a while. Generally I like to read early in the morning, having some quiet time with a cup of coffee before My Sweet Babboo turns on the TV. I hope to have a book review post for you by the end of the month. I am beginning to think about Autumn Jubilee as well, but not really inspired yet. Maybe it is the heat. We’ll see.

*******************

See the new August Specials at Fat Quarter Shop. Shop the Discount Fabric and Notions. This month get 20% off the Basic of the Month Confetti Cottons from Riley Blake, 30% Off the Notions of the Month from The Gypsy Quilter , Patterns of the Month by A Quilting Life Designs, and see the Precuts of the Week. Save on Book of the Month A Quilty Fun from Lori Holt, Cross Stitch Fabric Flair, and don’t forget the daily Flash Sale!

Quilt Finishing Fest from Creative Spark is coming on September 7. Get a $20 discount on the class with my code, just click on Quilt Finishing Fest to see the class and have the code automatically applied. Quilt Finishing Fest is a live, virtual event of quilting and quilt finishing techniques taught by expert instructors. 

Visit Sulky Threads for the latest sale on thread and stabilizers.

Shop new summer arrivals, and see the daily deal at MadamSew.

Impression Obsession has 25% Off their Featured Collection, plus free shipping on orders of $75. Plus super Clearance Sale on Steel Dies. Check out their selection of Seasonal Summer and patriotic stamps and dies.