a blog about my quilting life...mostly

a blog about my quilting life...mostly

Saturday, September 12, 2020

Farmhouse Quilts "Victory" garden

 Hello again,
As summer comes to an end I thought I would take some pictures of my veggie garden and share the results



of my labors. Remember what it looked like when I started in the Spring?


Neat and tidy but not much going on! Well, it looks quite different now ( and  a lot more weedy because I have not been very good about keeping up with that aspect of gardening.....)





So how did the garden do, you ask? Well, I am happy to say that I was able to harvest green beans ( and get enough for dinners!) 3 times. I have been able to harvest some tomatoes and cucumbers as well. The green pepper are still small so I am hoping to let them grow a little longer. My squash plants were a bust. Have you ever known squash NOT to do well? It is practically a weed, but I wasn't able to get one single squash to grow. I made myself a gardening notebook a few years back, in which I sketch my beds and what is planted where. Then I take notes on how plants do in that particular spot so I can hopefully improve yield the following year. Growing a garden in a yard that is surrounded by tall, very old trees is certainly a challenge, but it is a fun sport ;). Next year I will move some plants into different beds, and try some different varieties and see how it goes. I am not a quitter!

Even though I am not new to gardening, I know a lot of people started veggie gardens in 2020, probably because of Covid-19 .Some people were worried about there being a shortage of food (and there certainly were very empty shelves here for a long time!),  some were worried about heading to the stores, and still others were just bored and thought starting a garden would be a great way to stay busy. All this made me think about the Victory Gardens that were started during the World War.
 Even though the effort in 2020 was nowhere near the war effort, especially during WW2 when it is estimated that home , school, and community gardens produced almost 40% of the country's fresh veggies ( source), there was still a huge uptick in seed sales and we certainly noticed a lot  more people growing veggies around here.
How about you? Did you grow a garden this year? What was your most successful harvest? And what do you suggest I try growing next year?

No blog post would be complete without some mention of quilting, so I wanted to share the quilt top that I worked on this past week. I really tried to make it a bit more of a collage quilt by really mixing up the fabrics used in the flowers. Some of the flowers I am not crazy about, but overall I like the way it looks and now I am psyching myself up to add the quilting and embroidering ( on the little bud stems and the flower stamen). The quilting part is scaring me off a little bit, but I think I am just going to have to dive in, pick a color, and free-motion right on the flower petals and bird parts.



 Stay tuned for the results....at some point.....hahahaha.

On a slightly different note, I continue to tweak this new blog forum and, with the help of my sweet daughter, am figuring things out.... One item that I think we have finally fixed is the "Follow via Email" button. You will see it on the left hand side at the top, and also directly underneath the week's blog post. You can feel free to subscribe in either box and then you will start receiving my blog posts in your email again, just like before!

Now that cooler temps have arrived in Pennsylvania, I thought I would pull out my fall decor and will share that next week. It turns out I actually have quite a few fall quilts....who knew? Ha!

Until next time~happy creating!
Monique






19 comments:

  1. Love your quilt ...we grow pineapples, but I don't know how well they would do in PA. They do like a lot of sun.

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    1. I would love to grow pineapples but I am pretty sure we are not nearly tropical enough!πŸ˜‰

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  2. I Love your garden. My one potted tomato plant is the size of a tree. It is producing lots. I planted squash, two kinds from seeds I harvested last year. They were acorn and spaghetti squash. What is growing are field pumpkins, not sure how or why. Next year I will have two raised garden beds, I am using the pier frames that we saved after tornado destroyed pier. Happy weeding!

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    1. so funny that you got πŸŽƒ! What are you feeding your tomato plant? That sounds amazing!

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  3. I tried growing a small garden but it was mostly weeds. I'm not much of an outdoor person. Your quilt looks nice can't wait to see how you quilt it.

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  4. Hi Monique,
    Love your garden! A beautifully planned out space! Your collage quilt is so pretty and inspiring! I am going to assume it is a wall hanging. Have you considered using monofilament thread? Just a thought. Have a gteat day!

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    1. Hi Diane. I have not had great luck with monofilament thread in the past, but I am more experienced now so should probably try it again. Thanks for the suggestion!

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  5. Your garden is looking gorgeous! Fresh produce and huge sunflowers! That's interesting to learn how people persevered during the war. I've done well with spring onions in pots this season, from offcuts from my cooking. When I was starting my big collage quilt, the quilting was the most daunting part, and I took the same approach, pick a colour and start sewing over all the pieces.

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    1. Yes, I think the quilting is the most intimidating part....that's easy to mess up! As for my garden, yes, a little bit of fresh produce, but certainly not enough to feed a family ;)

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  6. Love your vegetable garden, there is always wins and try again types. I have my garlic and lettuce and snow and snap peas that did really well. Not much luck on the broccoli, lots of leaves (which I love in soups) but not much broccoli. My bok choi did really well too and the bees loved the flowers. Waiting to plant tomatoes and capsicum and cucumbers and beans soon. Love your collage quilt.

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    1. I have tried broccoli and cauliflower in the past and they were super difficult and much too demanding for my liking. Maybe I will try Bok Choi and peas next year! Good luck with your plantings as you enter summer ;)

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  7. We have a garden every year. I miss the Veges when the season is gone. Your garden is (was) beautiful.

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  8. Sorry about your squash. Ours did very well, but other friends had troubles too. Zucchini is my absolute favorite!

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    1. I am glad to hear I am not the only one who couldn't grow squash this year then ;). I really don't care that much for the taste, but it's just fun when you get so much harvest from a few little plants. And I love to throw mine into baked goods because it makes everything super moist and I love to point out to my kids ( afterwards!) that they have been filling up on zucchini!

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  9. I love your collage quilt, Monique! Can't wait to see it finished! Our garden did fair -- just finishing tomatoes, corn, green beans, peppers & zucchini. Saw a rogue cantaloupe & the pumpkins look great! Maybe try some common herbs in your garden next year, such as parsley, basil, chives & cilantro. All grow well from seed πŸ˜‰

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    1. Thanks Tamma, I did try chives and basil and onions and they all performed pretty poorly too. But I won't give up ;). How exciting to have pumpkins! I might try those next year but plant them in a sunny spot somewhere else and they can surprise me!

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  10. What a garden you have !! We only did flowers we have a very small area but I love it brings me so much joy when new ones bloom 😍!!! What a beautiful flowers and 🐦 quilt 🌺 🌼 is it applique??? I'm a quilter also please check out my blog when you have time ☺️

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