The July Report

 We are well and truly into the dog days of summer!  

That means not only is the weather hot and steamy, but it's also Doggie Daycare time!

This year it's just our son David's dog, Jozy (rear).  He's from the same litter as our dog, McKenzie, so it's a family reunion of sorts.  David has a month-long job assignment in California every summer, so he brings Jozy to stay with us.

I missed David's visit/Jozy's arrival, as I was in Florida with my mom.  She wound up in the hospital over July 4th weekend with a nasty case of bronchitis (thank goodness, not Covid!).  I stayed with her after the hospitalization to make sure she was following doctor's orders and to get her to all her follow-up appointments.  

Of course I packed some stitching projects to work on, but I got distracted by Mom's library.  

She has saved copies of lots of the good ol' books we both enjoyed back in the day.  I got caught up in re-reading some favorites.  Indeed, I've embarked on a bit of a Georgette Heyer binge.  Yay for summertime reading!

Before I left for Florida, I had started playing with an idea for a July mini quilt.  I guess this will become an August mini quilt!

This Rainbow Scrap Challenge project got finished up during July.  Diane Knott of Butterfly Threads did the quilting and I hand-stitched the binding, label, and hanging sleeve.  It's been shipped off to it's intended recipient with the less-than-original name "Scraphappy Stars". 

Another July finish: I love how the fan quilting (again, Butterfly Threads Quilting) looks in this quilt!  I made this quilt top several years ago and never proceeded to the quilting stage.  In February, a visiting friend fell in love with the un-quilted top, so I finished the quilt and gave it to her.  I'm glad the quilt found a happy home!

I was also able to finish a Sugar Loaf block for this month's Rainbow Scrap Challenge color:  dark blue.  I already have two blue blocks in light blues and bright blues, so I figured one more blue block was plenty.  

And since the Sugar Loaf blocks make scraps in just the right sizes, I made two Easy Breezy blocks.  

And now I'm off to watch the dogs frolic in their wading pool!  Stay cool, stay hydrated, stay safe, and have a fun August!

April Digest

 Although I spent a large chunk of April focused on finishing the T-Shirt Quiltathon, I also managed to work on a few other projects.

During one of our recent phone calls, my mom mentioned buying paper napkins.  I realized I had never made her any cloth napkins, so I got busy and pulled some fun prints and started stitching.

Once I got started, I was on a roll and made some for my sister, too.

Dear Hubby and I (and McKenzie, our dog), took a road trip to Florida last weekend to visit family, so I was able to present each set of napkins in person.  Yay for vaccines!

While I was digging through the flamingo fabric stash to find fabric for my t-shirt quilt pillowcase, this 'mingo fabric spoke up and told me it was ready to be in the spotlight.

I used a tote bag pattern I had pinned to a Pinterest board ages ago.  The pattern is free from the All People Quilt website.  You'll have to register with APC if you want to download a printed version of the pattern.   It's a quick project - you may even be able to make it with supplies on hand.  If I were to make the bag again, I'd add some refinements like an interior pocket (or two) and a magnetic or zipper closure.  

A monthly project this year to to make Sugar Loaf blocks following the Rainbow Scrap Challenge monthly color selection.  April's challenge was to use light blue and bright blue scraps.  I went for the low volume look with this light blue block.

And switching over to bright blues, I put this block together based on the tropical fish (outer row) fabric.

Using scraps from various April projects, I put together some Easy Breezy blocks.

Last but not least, I finally got all the parts and pieces assembled for the 25-patch star quilt top.  

My original plan was to add a plain white border with a narrow strip of the turquoise fabric used for the cornerstones.  But last week, I started hearing whisperings that maybe an appliquéd vine, flower, and leaf border would look good.  I guess that will be a project for May!

Spring Scraps

Usually, it's quilts and fabric making the loudest clamor at my house.  This month however, other projects have crowded out the quilts.

Circa 1990s kitchen

For example, we've decided to go ahead with last year's plan to update our kitchen with new cabinets.  Turns out, during the pandemic everyone decided to update their kitchen and now there's a looong wait time for supplies and contractors.  We're going to proceed, but with the understanding this project may not come to fruition quickly.  Hmm, sounds like the quilt-making process!

Louisiana Iris in bloom

Then there's gardening.  The unusual hard freeze in February damaged some of our landscaping, so there was that to deal with.  Plus, in our neck of the woods it's now time for planting veggies, so we've been busy with that as well.

Best of all - socializing!!  Good friends and former neighbors from Florida drove over for a long weekend.  We've all been vaccinated and passed the immunity waiting period, so it was a joy to have guests in our home!  Next up:  my mom just got her second vaccine, so a trip to visit her is on the horizon.

I did manage to spend some quality time working on quilts this week, and it was lovely!  I focused on catching up with some Rainbow Scrap Challenge projects.

I've been trying to finish this quilt featuring bright prints in rainbow colors.  My original plan was to use random print setting squares at the intersecting sashing points.  However, after getting all the blocks pinned to the design wall I decided they needed something to pull them all together.  I found a dark teal Moda Grunge fabric in my stash that makes a great setting square.  I needed to order more of the fabric online, so while waiting I assembled all the rows.  

One of my year-long projects for 2021 is making Sugar Loaf blocks following the Rainbow Scrap Challenge color order.  Yellow was February's color. 

Yellow Sugar Loaf block #2.  The pattern for these blocks is from American Patchwork & Quilting, October 2015.

And some Easy Peasy Breezy blocks made with 2 inch scraps.

Moving on to green, the March Rainbow Scrap Challenge color.  This pattern uses strip piecing and it's been a challenge to find scrappy chunks and fat quarters to meet the fabric requirements.  Strips need to be at least 20 inches long, so that rules out lots of scrappy bits.

I was determined to use that shamrock fabric in one of the green Sugar Loaf blocks; this is what happened!

More Easy Breezy blocks.  

I'm ready for the April RSC color.  Bring it on!

Quilt Whatcha Wanna

There's a popular song in New Orleans - performed by the ReBirth Brass Band - called "Do Whatcha Wanna".  It's about getting ready to hit the streets on Mardi Gras, where the day holds the promise of all sorts of fun.  The rhythm of the music gets your feet moving and your spirit soaring.  I always wind up dancing and singing along whenever I hear it.

Since we're not celebrating Mardi Gras this year (well, almost - more on that in a minute), I turned my Carnival energy to quilting what I wanna!

Final t-shirt quilt.  Just needs outer borders and cornerstones.  I'm procrastinating - can you blame me?

Finished hand-stitching the binding on Ring of Stars (pattern by Nancy Rink).  It's too cold for outdoor photographs right now, so this one will have to wait for warmer weather before I take some glamour shots. 

We had to do some weather prep at our camp in Mississippi, as a hard freeze was predicted beginning Sunday night.  Dear Husband wanted to spend the night, so I knew I needed something to work on while we were there.   I prepped block #5 from Poppy's Polka Dot Garden to work on during the evening.  After spending the morning taking precautions to protect the plants and pipes at the camp, DH decided we should head back to our warm(er) house in New Orleans!

The weather has been so rainy, cold, and nasty I wanted a bright and colorful quilt to cheer things up.  I hung the 2014 Rainbow Scrap Sampler quilt on my dining room quilt hanger, and now I smile every time I walk through the room!

I made some more 25-Patch Star blocks.  I haven't decided on a final layout, but I know I need a dozen or so more blocks to have a decent-sized quilt.   More block parts are cut and ready for stitching.

OK, there's more quilty stuff to talk about, but I'll save it for another post.

In the meantime, it's Mardi Gras y'all!

I need to make more Mardi Gras quilts.  This wall-hanging is all I've got so far!  Purple, green, and gold are the colors of Mardi Gras, so it's not even difficult to come up with a quilt color scheme.

This year's Mardi Gras celebrations (at least in New Orleans) were all cancelled long ago due to the pandemic.  It's hard to keep New Orleanians from observing one of their favorite holidays though, and enterprising and socially-distant alternatives started popping up all over.

One of my favorites is the idea of House Floats.  Instead of having parades with floats and marching bands and hordes of participants (Mardi Gras parades are not for genteel observing - you have to participate in them!), folks took to decorating their houses like parade floats.

One of my favorites is Saint Dolly - Dolly Parton as the patron saint of Covid-19 vaccines.  It's hard to see in the picture, but she's holding a vaccine syringe in her right hand.  The sign on the left side of the yard, "Vaccine, Vaccine, Vaccine, Vacciiiine!" is sung to the tune of her song, "Jolene".

Another favorite is the Mystic Krewe of Unicorns.  I don't think there is an actual Krewe of Unicorns, but if there is, I want to be a member!

If you have a few spare minutes, do a Google search for New Orleans House Floats and click on the Images option - guaranteed to put a smile on your face!

Rainbow Scrap Update

I rifled through my drawer of Kaffe Fassett and tropical bright fabrics last weekend.  I was looking for bright prints to add to my 25-Patch Star quilt.  

Those fabrics and a few others added to the star collection, so I'm getting pretty close to having enough blocks to start assembling a quilt top.

I just need to finish hand-piecing the flamingo hexies together so I can clear off the design wall. 

 I've been hand-stitching the hexies together and binge-watching Netflix shows, although at times there's been more watching than stitching!  

Since I had to create new scraps to make more 25-Patch Star blocks, I went ahead and cut more Easy Breezy leader-ender parts.  I've assembled a few blocks, but there's also a nice big stack of parts sitting next to the sewing machine.

On the Public Health front:  we've had an ironic turn of events at our house.

Last weekend, our youngest son came home to officiate at/attend the wedding of a very good friend.  We were all very nervous about the situation, but he tested negative for Covid-19, guidelines were followed, masks were worn, distances were kept, etc.  

The wedding itself was very small, outdoors, and again, precautions were observed.  

It was wonderful to see our son for the weekend, but we breathed a sigh of relief when he left for home (where his job will require him to quarantine and have negative testing before he can interact in-person with the work environment again).

Imagine our surprise on Tuesday, when my husband's employer informed him a co-worker had just tested positive for Covid-19.  Dear Husband and co-worker had just spent the previous day working in very close proximity.  Fortunately, everyone was protected by masks and face shields at the time, and the employee with Covid was only reporting mild symptoms.

So, we are quarantining through Christmas.  I've moved into the guest bedroom.  Dear Hubby has tested negative and has very mild symptoms.  He'll be retested early next week.  Knock on wood - I'm feeling fine.  What a year!  

A Little RSC Progress

 I have not had many active Rainbow Scrap Challenge projects this year.  I finished a few RSC projects from previous years, and made lots of leader-ender blocks.  I also started making 25-patch star blocks part-way through the year, and added to that collection as the year went on.

I've been trying to use print fabrics for the 25-patch star blocks.  Here are the results from October's RSC color, yellow.  

And since I'm trying to knock out as many blocks as possible before the end of the year, I went back and made some aqua/teal blocks as well.

I now have all the rainbow colors completed for this project, so next I'll go digging through the black and brown scraps for some useful prints.  I currently have 32 blocks made and would like at least 48 blocks before I start assembling.

I've also been making Bonnie Hunter's latest leader-ender block, Easy Breezy.  I try to keep a stack of leader-ender parts stacked up near the sewing machine, but I've run out and need to replenish my supply.  I'll keep making these through next year, as I don't have nearly enough for a quilt yet.

I leave you with this amazing map from the National Hurricane Center.

It seems like I've talked about hurricane warnings in every post this summer.  Turns out I wasn't far from wrong!  The map illustrates the number of days spent in the dreaded "Cone of Uncertainty" for tropical weather predictions.  This year is definitely one for the record books!

Scrappy Catch-Up and Finish

 I've done a little work on Rainbow Scrap Challenge blocks this month.

Our challenge color was red, and I made four red, scrappy 25-patch stars earlier in the month.

Since I didn't start the 25-patch stars (yes, I'm using a throw-back name) until mid-year, I've been working backwards through previous RSC colors.  My green scraps were a little limited, but I still have lots of time to balance out colors if needed.

I also dug up some additional red scraps to make some Easy Breezy Leader-Ender blocks.  These are fun scrap-buster blocks; I need to cut some more parts to replenish my leader-ender stash.

I was finally able to photograph a finished quilt that started as an RSC project.

According to my notes, I started this quilt in 2014, but I apparently didn't blog about it until 2017.  This represents just about every blue fabric (excluding reproduction fabrics) that has made its way through my stash in the past six years!

The quilt is destined for the bed in my guest room; it measures 88 inches by 93 inches.  I didn't follow a specific pattern, just made Variable/Sawtooth Star blocks and Uneven Nine-patch blocks until the quilt was the size I wanted.  The Flying Geese border added a few extra inches and a finishing touch.

Long-arm quilting by Diane D. Knott of Butterfly Threads Quilting.  I love how the double clamshell pattern worked out!

Some of you know I love the combination of blue and white.  Whether it's quilts, transferware china, or KLM houses (thanks, Barb!), I seem to gravitate to all things blue and white.  I figured this quilt was as much a collection of blue and white as anything else I collect, hence the quilt name.

Finishing this quilt was a great sunshine-y spot during the past crazy months!

Red Scraps and Schoolhouses

 Although the calendar says "September", the heat and humidity still feel like August!  We're under heat advisories for the long Labor Day weekend, so quilting is a good excuse to stay indoors - in the air conditioning!

The new month also means a new color for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge.  Red scraps are the focus this month, and I've already been busy cutting and piecing them.

I'm making 25-patch star blocks as an RSC project - trying to use prints instead of tonal or blender type fabrics.  I had to dig around a little to find just the right scraps.

Coincidentally, I finished up a red and white quilting project that started during last year's red RSC month.

The Schoolhouse quilt was finished in June, but I procrastinated on making a label for it.  I finally added the label last week and I'll be sending the quilt off to its new home when the holiday weekend is over.

I've made several quilts for my sister, and she always laments not having any large blank walls in her home where she can hang the quilts.  I keep telling her to just use the quilts, not hang them, but she insists they are "too pretty" to use.  (sound familiar?)

I figured if I made a wall-hanging size quilt for her, she could find a spot to hang it on the wall.  I even added a hanging sleeve! 

I had fun figuring out how to hand quilt the blocks, sashing, and borders.

 She'll be retiring next year after a career in education, so I thought the Schoolhouse pattern was appropriate!

I hope everyone has a safe relaxing weekend!