Summer's Here

Summer has descended on New Orleans in classic fashion:  daytime high temperatures in the mid-90s with corresponding high humidity.  Cooling afternoon thunderstorms that may or may not reach your neighborhood.  Tropical storms in the Gulf of Mexico.

Tomato season (see previous post) comes to an end when the weather gets too hot for the tomato plants to flourish.  Unfortunately for us, this year's tomato season has been a bust - and I haven't had a single tomato sandwich!

In less than 24 hours, Tomato Hornworms devoured the tomato plants we grow in pots here in town.  I had never heard of these guys until I spied them on the tomato plant remains and Googled them.  Not only did they eat the best tomatoes we had going, but they stripped the plants of all leaves, too.  Dear Hubby was so upset, he picked off every one of them and took great pleasure in squishing them underfoot!

A few days later, I found these guys eating my parsley - again, stripping the plants down to the nubs!  Turns out, these are Parsley Worms or Caterpillars.  They eventually turn into Swallowtail Butterflies, but I didn't want to see all my parsley destroyed just to meet their needs (there were about a half dozen of them).  Into a tin of soapy water they went.  I still have a little parsley left - hopefully it will grow back.

We also grow tomatoes at our camp in Mississippi.  Unfortunately, the mockingbirds made a fine feast of most of the tomatoes there!  

Even the Creole tomatoes from the Farmer's Market weren't all that good this year - too mushy and not much flavor.  Sigh.

Fortunately, there is always plenty of quilty stuff around the house to keep me happy.  A UFO had been calling out to me, so I pulled out the parts and pieces and proceeded to play.

I started making four inch Sawtooth Star blocks back in 2015 as part of the Rainbow Scrap Challenge.  After a year or so of making the blocks, I had a good-sized stash and a plan to use them in a medallion-style quilt with an appliqué center.  It took a few more years (!) to come up with a plan for the appliqué block, but I finally had my plan ready.

Fabric selection was fun...and messy!

Here's the final arrangement pinned in place.  The block is from the book Friendship's Garden, by Alma Allen and Cherie Ralston.

Now everything is all stitched up and I'm contemplating the next step.  I used machine appliqué for the center block.  The quilt measures 44 inches square at this point.  The quilt is telling me another border (maybe two?) is needed, but it's not saying what that border should be.  Back to playing with fabrics and scraps, I guess!

  

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!

August Wrap-Up

It feels like August has been the month of scattered sewing efforts.  Plenty of projects worked on, but few completed.  Distractions aplenty - in life and in the sewing room.  I'm hopeful September will allow for more focus, and maybe fewer distractions!  Hahahaha!

One project I've spent numerous hours with this month the blue and white Variable Star/Uneven Nine-patch quilt.  

The quilt finished up at a generous 88 inches x 93 inches, so hand-stitching the binding has been a PROJECT.  Happily, there's only about 40 inches of binding left to stitch!  I will get some glamour shots of the quilt when it's complete.

Another hand-stitching project that's gotten attention this month is Flamingo Hexies.  I took stock of what blocks/fabrics/colors were already made, and made a plan for wrapping up the quilt.  I cut and prepped lots of new blocks, so I'll have them ready and waiting to be stitched.

I got distracted by a mini charm pack that I received as a gift earlier in the month (Le Pavot by Sandy Gervais).  I had seen this table runner pattern on Nell's blog several years ago, and thought it would be a perfect use for the charm pack fabrics.  

I used some Moda Grunge (Vanilla) I had in my stash, and cut 2 inch strips for the setting, which is based on Bonnie Hunter's Dancing Nines quilt pattern.

I was ready to layer the finished top using batting scraps and backing fabric from the stash, but I didn't have enough batting scraps to do the job.  This is on hold until I can get some appropriate batting.  Did you know some batting manufacturers make table runner sized batts?  I believe I will be giving that a try!

Don't you have a stash of worn-out denim jeans just waiting to be recycled into something new and useful?  I decided it was time to attack my stash and start a utility quilt for one of the beds at our camp.  I'm keeping it simple with Rail Fence blocks.  This will be a long-term project, something I work on when we're at the camp.  I haven't decided if it will be quilted or tied. 

I procrastinated on the August block for Barbara Brackman's Cassandra's Circle BOM.  The appliqué prep work is almost finished and I will wrap things up by stitching all the pieces by machine.  It's been awhile since I've done any machine appliqué, so it will be good to put that skill to use.

Another distraction:  my local quilt store posted a picture of this new fabric on Instagram, and I knew I needed to have some!  I have no plans for it right now, but it will join the other Hawaiian-style fabrics in my stash.

And now I'll wrap this up with good wishes to everyone for a safe, healthy, and stitch-ful September!

Scrap-Busting Block Bonanza, Round Two

I managed to stay focused on using up blue scraps for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge again this week - and there now seems to be a little wiggle room in the storage drawer for blue fabric chunks and yardage.  

Most of my stitching time was spent on putting together blocks for the Irish Chain quilt I started last week.  I started stitching the blocks into rows, but only made it through three rows before I was distracted by something else.  The rows stitch up easily, so it shouldn't take much longer to turn this into a flimsy.

As I was working on the chain blocks, I used some other bits to put together a few of Bonnie Hunter's latest leader-ender challenge blocks.

I'm still in block experimentation mode.  I wanted to try this variation on our old friend the Variable Star block.  I found a nice-sized chunk of this dark blue fabric with silver metallic sparkles, which made a good practice fabric.  This version finishes at 12 inches, but it would be easy to increase the size to 16 or 20 inches - which would be perfect for a pillow!

Another version of the Variable Star block involves flipping the fabrics for a negative image.  I think this would be much more interesting with some variety in the background (in this case, white) fabric, but I was being lazy and just grabbing fabric that was already out.  These blocks measure 6 inches, and again, could go together in different multiples to make pillow covers.  Yup, I'm still thinking about Christmas gifts!

So much for working with blue scraps this month.  Next week will be a new RSC color and new inspiration will surely follow.  More Rainbow Scrap inspiration can be found at the weekly link-up!