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!

Dawg Daze of Summer, Chapter 2020

This is the time of year I'm usually the headmistress of what I lovingly call Doggie Day Care.  

My two sons rely on me to help them care for their dogs in August, while they are traveling for work and/or recreation.  In addition to their dogs, we had two dogs of our own, so there were frequently four large dogs at my house for several weeks.

This year, there is only one dog - McKenzie, our lab/golden mix.  Covid-19 restrictions kept my sons' dogs at home with them, and my older dog, Bailey, died last December.  It's been a quiet month so far, but McKenzie does love having all the undivided attention!

After putting the final stitches in my Grandmother's Choice quilt, I found myself (temporarily) without a hand-stitching project.

Out came the flamingo hexagons!  I've been using Barb Vedder's Hex Vex pattern to make flamingo-themed hexies for a couple of years now.  I'm getting close to having enough hexies for a wall hanging, so maybe this is the year this project will get finished.

I had a half-dozen blocks already prepped for stitching, so I finished those up and cut some additional blocks.  The fun thing about making these blocks is the more you play with the fabrics, the more ideas you get for fussy-cutting and fabric placement.

Another quilt project came out to play this week:  the "Lego" quilt.  This has been an on-going project for several years - a way to use up lots and lots of 1.5 inch scraps.

I needed four more blocks to be able to construct a 7 x 7 quilt.  I already had enough strips pieced for the blocks, I just needed to assemble the strips into blocks.

Then assemble the blocks into rows, and the rows into a quilt top.  I posted a picture of my progress on Instagram, and my sister said, "That's a lot of sewing!"

The flimsy measures about 70 inches by 70 inches at this point.  One more row would make the quilt a rectangle instead of a square, but I don't have it in me right now to make seven more blocks.   Maybe I'll feel differently at some point in the future.

At the beginning of the month, I changed out the quilts on display in my house.  It's difficult to get good photographs, as the interior of my house doesn't have a lot of natural light, but I did want to show of my newest quilt hanger, built by my Dear Hubby.

This quilt is a sentimental favorite, with friendship blocks from members of my Florida quilt guild.   The blocks date to 1997, but the quilt wasn't finished until 2006.  It was the subject of my first blog post!

  

My (Scrappy) Dreams Come True on Blue Bayou

Whenever the Rainbow Scrap Challenge focuses on the color blue, I seem to spend the month humming songs with "blue" in the title.  This gives me a great excuse share Youtube videos like this one:

"Blue Bayou" was a big hit for Roy Orbison, but I love this version with Linda Ronstadt and the Muppets, circa 1980!

OK, now that we've had our musical interlude, I'll start the quilting part of our program. 😎

Here's a blue 49-patch block, made with all scrappy 1 1/2 inch pieces.  This did a pretty good job of cleaning out all the smallish blue scraps.

Since we've gone half-way through the year, I decided to contemplate all the previous blocks together.  Once I finish the RSC colors for the year, I'll have to decide if I want to keep making theses scrappy blocks piece by piece or resort to strip piecing.  Since the blocks only measure 7 inches when finished, I'll need quite a few more blocks to make a quilt. 

Blue selvage blocks were also completed.

And all the selvage blocks were duly contemplated.  The individual selvage blocks measure 4 inches finished, so this is another project that will need many more blocks to reach a respectable size.  I'm thinking this might become part of a large selvage sampler project (i.e. make more selvage blocks in different styles/patterns next year).

A few more house blocks got wonky borders.  

Here are all the Happy, Scrappy Houses so far (I jumped ahead and did some pink wonky borders, too).  Once all the wonky borders are added, I'll be making some appliquéd words to mix in with the houses.  Maybe this will get finished by the end of the year?

Last - but not least - a scrappy blue Burgoyne Surrounded block.  That blue fabric with dragonflies has been hanging around in the stash for over 10 years.  I keep trying to use it up, but the scraps never seem to diminish!  

All the Burgoyne blocks are trying to play nicely with each other.  I love the colorful funkiness going on here!  Check out Cathy's finished Burgoyne top or the original pattern from Becky - I think they'll bring a smile to your face!

Now that I've brought all my RSC documentation up to date, I'm off to do some more stitching.  There are still more RSC projects to work on, as well as Diane Knott's Summer Scrappy Sew Along.  In between, I'll be playing with all the dogs (aka the Swirling Dog Mass) and humming more songs with "blue" in the title!

It's All About the Blues

The Rainbow Scrap Challenge color for July is blue.  Since we in the northern hemisphere are about to find ourselves in the hottest time of the year, maybe playing with blue scraps will help us stay cool.  I'm going to keep that idea in mind while I try to use up as many of my blue scraps as possible!

In the U.S., it's also our nation's birthday weekend, aka the Fourth of July.  That means we've packed ourselves off to our camp for the next several days, where we'll enjoy all kinds of outdoor summertime activities.  It's not a good time for sewing, but I did bring lots of scraps to prep.

I pulled several stacks of strips and squares from the 2 inch scrap box.  These will get prepped for a variety of RSC projects.  I also need to make almost 100 Flying Geese blocks for another scrap quilt in the works, so I brought the prepped pieces for those - maybe I'll do a little sewing...

Some folks refer to this time of year as the Dog Days of Summer.  This year, I have a new understanding of the Dog Days.  

Our oldest son, Andrew, is off exploring a host of national parks and will eventually wind up in California, hiking the John Muir Trail.  He's been planning the trip for the past year and is anticipating lots of good adventures and photographs.

While he's off adventuring, we're taking care of his dog, Moose.  

That's in addition to our two dogs, Bailey & McKenzie.

In about two weeks, we'll add another dog to the menagerie, as our youngest son's dog will come for a visit.  Every summer, youngest son David's job takes him to California for a month, so we take care of his dog, Jozy, while he's gone (Jozy and McKenzie are siblings).  

The end of the Dog Days of Summer signal the beginning of the worst stretch of Hurricane Season.  I think I'll still be glad to see the end of the Dog Days this year!

I'm curious to see what all the Rainbow Scrappers are dreaming up for their blue scraps.  There's a linky party at Angela's blog - will there be virtual barbecue and fireworks in honor of the holiday?!