Posted on by agilejack

Crumb Hat Done and a Yard Tour

It was a gorgeous day today! Really gorgeous. More on that later…

First, I finished my crumb bucket hat this evening after our walk. And it’s pretty fun!

And it all went together much more easily that I anticipated it would. I’m pretty surprised by that.

Unfortunately, it didn’t use up very much of the scrap pile I’ve generated in the last few weeks of crumb piecing. So there is some good opportunity there.

Here’s some eye candy.

My yard and lawn maintenance guys came today and mowed and did their weekly clean up. They are new to me this summer and I’m really happy with the job they’re doing. After they left I stood in the back yard just enjoying how nice it looks.

So while I was out there I did a little video tour of my yard.

Everything is looking so good this spring. It’s amazing what 30 or 40 inches of rain will do!!!

But there was no rain today. I pulled the cover off my strawberries to see what was going on in there and I spotted this first red berry. It still needs a few more days to ripen before I eat it. I will eat it fresh and warm right off the plant!

There are quite a few more berries in there too! These are ever bearing plants so I’m hoping for a nice generous crop.

I have the berries under cloth to keep the squirrels and birds out.

My lettuce is looking really good too. A few more days of sunshine and warmer temps and it will be ready for a salad!

I have another six pack to plant right down the middle of those two rows of lettuce. I’ll do that tomorrow night.

I have four tomato plants in a large stock tank. I plan to put a couple of pepper plants in there too.

All four tomato plants have blooms on them. The are growing nicely so far, even with our cool and wet spring.

While I was out there I tossed the ball for the boys for a while. Here’s Rico really going for it!

He looks like his back feet are on the ground, but he’s actually about four feet in the air! Well, four feet as in 48 inches and all of his four feet!

Bender loves to play fetch, but he’s not quite as enthusiastic as Rico, mostly because of his drugs.

That photo gives you a pretty good view of the house from the back yard. I’m pretty lucky to have such a place to live! My boys love it too.

I’m planning to get out and play some pickleball tomorrow night. It looks like the weather will be perfect for it.

54 Replies to “Crumb Hat Done and a Yard Tour”

  1. Such a fun hat, I love looking at all the fabric prints and colors! Bender obviously is crazy about it too! One of these days I’ll find myself brave enough to attempt sewing one. I think your tutorials will help immensely. Thanks for those!
    Thanks for sharing your backyard! Now it is easy to visualize when you mention it in your blog. I’m embarrassed to admit it but, in a glimpse of it from an earlier post ,I actually thought that your border collie plant stake was a 3rd dog running in your back yard with Ricco and Bender. It was only upon closer observation that I realized I was wrong.
    I love your Forrest plant stake as well! I think all the personal touches like your plant stakes, metal work,and your dog agility ramp really add so much character to your lovely garden.

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    1. I’ve had that border collie behind me in zoom calls I do from my patio and people think it’s a dog frozen in motion… like there’s something wrong with the zoom call!!!

      We love our yard. Can’t imagine living anywhere else right now.

      Anne

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  2. I absolutely love this hat, the others are fantastic as well, but this crumb takes the cake!!! Your yard is also wonderful! Thank you for sharing.

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  3. Your hat is just gorgeous! Isn’t it amazing how one can take a pile of scraps and make something beautiful?! I’ve made a number of scrappy quilts and crumb blocks for several more quilts, and I swear, the scraps multiply when I’m not around. Thanks for the tour of your backyard. What a beautiful place for you and the boys to live. You certainly are a talented artist as evidenced by your metal work and your sewing.

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    1. I love crumb piecing and do a fair amount of it and never seem to make a dent in my scrap pile!

      I love making things… all kinds of things. But welding was definitely one of the most fun things I’ve ever done.

      Anne

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    1. I’ve caught Bender eating tomatoes off the vine in the past. I watch him closely. I also have an apple tree and he gets his fill when the fruit is ripe… cruises back to the tree, comes trotting back with an apple in his mouth. Eats that one and then heads back out for another one!

      Anne

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  5. Love the colorful hat, you are so creative ! You have a lovely back yd, thanks for the tour, we garden with stock tanks and numerous pots as well, the chipmunks love getting into stuff !!

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    1. My soil is terrible! I would have to do a lot of work to get it to where I could grow a garden. I’m just not into all that work. The pots work well for me.

      Anne

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  8. The jumble of colors work so well together and is so thrifty a use of little pieces of fabrics. It’s a joy to see and will be to wear! Your garden is a lovely outdoor space which your “boys” enjoy for sure. Thanks for sharing.

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    1. I live in a neighborhood called Garden Home. It’s near Multnomah Village. It’s not terribly far from downtown Portland, but it almost feels rural to me. I love it!

      There are lots of really cool neighborhoods around Portland… lots that are walkable to stores and restaurants, but mine is not very walkable.

      Anne

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  13. Your crumb hat is wonderful! I love it!
    Thanks for sharing your backyard also. I know I would love to live somewhere like this. It is so green and the variety of your patio plants is very fun!
    You are obviously creative and energetic, sharing all this is a gift to others. Thanks!

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  14. The best hat so far!
    Living in a 55+ community condo, I really miss my backyard. We had two lovely Japanese maples, unusually eight footers and pines lining the yard. I had many varieties of hostas, from very narrow leaves to elephant ears, lime green to blue green and every shade of green in-between. I also had jack-in-the-pulpits, lily of the valley (several purple ones) and lady slippers, pink poppies too. We had a trellis over the flagstone walk covered in honeysuckle. In the 18 years we lived in that house, we ,”relocated” more than 48 chipmunks. They loved our stacked stone wall and teasing our golden retrievers. The loveliest trees we planted were a flowering crabapple and a grafted weeping cherry. They graced the front yard balanced by a huge sugar maple.
    Enjoy your yard. It’s definitely worth the work, time and sore muscles.

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    1. I had two flowering crabapple trees in my front yard when I lived in Salt Lake City. I loved them.

      I would really miss my yard if I had to move to something smaller, but I imagine it will happen some day. My boys would be very sad in a small yard!

      Anne

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  15. Amazing artful fun Franken bucket hat!
    Wow, wow ,wow!
    Your yard is fabulous with all the beautiful plants and trees! Your garden looks really good too. All that wonderful rain you got helps the plants grow lush! Beautiful large backyard for Rico and Bender. Thank you for sharing ❤. Our tomato plants don’t like our city water and this 100° heat isn’t helping either. The squirrels have been snatching them up while they are still green. I see a strawberry salad in your near future 😋

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    1. It’s very lush and green here, but it’s nearly impossible to grow a tomato!!! I grow only cherry varieties. I tried larger varieties when I first got here but the yield was terrible.

      We love our yard. We were very lucky to find this property when I moved here.

      Anne

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  16. Awesome, thank you for sharing your beautiful serene backyard, the crumb pieced hat and my morning eye candy. Crumb piecing has become my favorite stress buster now as my husband is still on the mend. I get about 15 mins each day to sew between 9:30 and 10PM. As always, Bender models the hat beautifully! Here in CA with the continuing drought, and brown yards, it is a wonderful treat just look at the lush green back yard. There is whole bunch of us dreaming about moving to Oregon and living in your heavenly peaceful neighborhood! Have a wonderful weekend with Bender and Rico!

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    1. All of this green is beautiful, but the price is living with rain for nine months of the year! It’s definitely a trad off. But this time of year is really magnificent here.

      Crumb piecing is perfect for when you only have a few minutes to sew. I like doing it late at night when I want so make somthing but am too tired for precision!

      Anne

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  17. Love the hat!! Beautiful yard…love all the green. Living in AZ I do miss all the green…but not all the rain and cool temps. I’m thinking of giving the hat pattern a try. You are very inspiring. 👍👏❤

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    1. It’s very green here, but you have to be ok with not seeing the sun for days and weeks on end. I moved here from the desert and it was hard to get used to. But when the sun is out in the winter, you really notice it!!!

      You should make a hat!!!

      Anne

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  21. The hat looks great! I’ve been working on my scrap box doing some projects and I have it just about cleared out until I get to the next step haha.

    Your yard is so nice! It hardly rains here and I’m horrible about remembering to water so my yard is pretty crappy looking at the moment.

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    1. This is the most amazing time of year here. Most people, including me, don’t water their lawns, so by August it will be looking really brown.

      I never seem to make a dent in my scrap pile. And I seem to make a lot of scrappy quilts. It just doesn’t make sense!

      Anne

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  23. Your hat is gorgeous and looks so awesome on you and Bender! Thank you for sharing your beautiful pictures and the different vies of your hat! It must make your heart happy (and I hope it does!) to see so many people on Facebook so inspired by your posts and all the beautiful hats and bags they’ve been inspired to make because of you! Your yard and house and gardens are beautiful. I only wish we had some of your rain. We’ve had record high highs and lows temps and no rain in forever in middle TN. Have a blessed day!🤗

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    1. We’ve had a really wet spring… record breaking! But we need the water and I’m glad we’re not on fire!!!

      It’s is amazing to hear from so many people on Facebook and here on my blog.

      Anne

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  27. Beautiful yard. I am surprised there are half acre properties in the city of Portland.
    When you make your crumb fabric for hats, do you press the seams open? Doing so might reduce the bulk. Just a thought. Your hats are wonderful.
    I am also glad you have rain and not fires. My son lives out there.
    Thanks for sharing all your tricks of the trade.

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    1. There aren’t very many half acre lots left in Portland. They are encouraging dense building here so the larger lots are being chopped up with big McMansions being build behind the original ranch houses.

      i don’t press seams open. I hate pressing seams open, especially with 1/4 inch seams. I don’t do it unless I absolutely have to. I like things to go more quickly!

      Anne

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