piecing and gardening

I'm working this weekend on putting quilt tops together. This first one (the only one finished so far) is the Bento Box quilt that I said before I wasn't sure I liked.

It's funny how the simple step of sewing blocks together sometimes makes them look like they work better together than they did in the layout:



Yeah, I think I like it again.

(ETA: there may also be some elements of Cher Horowitz' "Full-on Monet" description there - the quilt does look better from a distance than it does close up.)

The border probably helped; it has most of the (admittedly, fairly disparate) colors in the top:



I have another largish piece of psuedo-Japanese design fabric, and a coordinating fabric, in my stash that I can use for the backing.

I also worked in the garden some yesterday, mostly removing weeds. (The weeds. One of the things I hate about the climate here is that you really would need to weed practically every day if you wanted a "perfect" garden. Or mulch, or use poisons, neither of which I'm enthusiastic about)

To reward my work, I got topsoil to topdress (where it had gotten badly compacted; I hoed up as much as I could but it was hard work) and some new plants to put in - mostly lavenders, they do well in our climate.

I did get a couple little watermelon plants (they were half off) but am not holding out any great hope of success; the previous two attempts did not yield fruit.



The fennel just seeds itself in every year and I mostly let it.



My tomatoes have tiny fruits starting on them. This year, rather than doing the "lazy" thing of using a sprinkler (though I may have to do that with a timer set-up while I am gone), I've been watering them using a watering can. It doesn't take THAT long and I think it's a more effective (and certainly less wasteful of water) way of watering; my plants look better this year than they have in recent years when I was using the sprinkler.