The Scraps of Summer

Here we are, almost to the end of August already!  Local schools are already back in session and it's starting to get dark just a little earlier every night.  We even had a "weak cold front" (as the weather prognosticators called it) roll through Wednesday night, which at least dropped the humidity for about 36 hours.  Even though the daytime temperatures were still in the 90s, the low humidity was heavenly!

I am still on a Finish It Up kick, trying to get some project boxes emptied out and reduce the mental fog caused by too many UFOs.

These blocks were started in 2012 for a BOW by Barbara Brackman:  Grandmother's Choice.  The blocks commemorated the push for voting rights for women.  My original plan was to set the blocks with blue cornerstones, but about a third of them were not quite the right size, and I was afraid it would be too hard to get everything to come out straight if I used cornerstones.  This actually turned out straighter than I thought it would - although I felt like I was wrestling the quilt as I worked on it!

I think it needs a little extra oomph, so I'm going to add a narrow dark blue border, followed by a wider blue and red floral border.  I didn't buy enough of the floral fabric - bad math on my part - or I would've finished the quilt today.

In between wrestling with the Grandmother's Choice blocks, I also finished some Modern Cross blocks using orange (cheddar!) reproduction fabrics.  I think I've finished the RSC colors for this project, except for a few dark blue blocks.  

Next up:  binding this 16-patch and pinwheel quilt that started life as an RSC project.  It's still too hot to sit under a quilt while hand-stitching the binding, but I'll just crank down the air conditioning while I'm sewing!

More scrappy stitching can be found at the Rainbow Scrap Challenge link-up.

Summer Stitching

Today was the first time I've touched my sewing machine in about two weeks!  I felt kinda rusty, so I started out with simple 49-patch blocks.  Since the month just started, there's a new color for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge - orange.  

I pulled out the box of 1.5 inch strips and pulled enough strips for two 49-patch blocks.

I've been using Bonnie Hunter's Trip Around the World technique to make these blocks.

Throwing in last year's 49-patch - now there are three.  When dark blue comes up as an RSC color, I'll have three blocks in each rainbow color.  Then it will be time to assemble these somehow or other.

Even though I've neglected my sewing machine, I've still been plying my needle.  These sailboat blocks were souvenirs from a quilt show many years ago (1993!).  I finally assembled them about 2 years ago as part of an RSC project, then let them languish because I couldn't decide how to quilt them.

I few weeks ago I figured there was no time like the present to get the batting and backing together and baste the layers for hand quilting.  I still didn't know what I was going to do for quilting design, but I figured I could at least start by quilting around all the blocks.  I just kept adding quilting here and there and before long it was getting done.  I'm still not completely finished, but the end is in sight.

Need more orange scrap inspiration?  Check out the weekly Rainbow Scrap Challenge link-up!