Two weeks of heat

 I have been busy trying to stay cool for the last couple of weeks - sewing with the air conditioning on, reading in front of the fan, and running to the library to do various things to help the Friends book sale  this coming weekend.

On the sewing front, I took two quilts to Marie to long arm, and I'll pick them back up on Thursday morning.  Don't know when I'll get them bound as I have plenty of other things in the pipeline.  I made a couple of mug rugs and a table runner.  One of the rugs is for a raffle basket and the other will go with us to Wisconsin along with various table runners for my brother to use as gifts for people who have helped him this past year.  

I turned my attention to a bunch of blocks of the month from Aby Dolinger's "Favorites" along with some Heart of Vermont guild blocks of the month, all done with the same background fabric.  They went together nicely in a 48" x 48" quilt which I quilted on a grid with a smaller grid for the plain pieces.

Next, the multi-sized house blocks I've been making for the rainbow scrap challenge all year called to me, and I set them together with sashing made of scrappy 2" squares.  I'm calling this quilt "Scrappy Town," and I've been quilting it for a day or so.  It is about 45" x 45".  I don't know if I'll give these two little quilts to Bags of Love (for foster kids) or change out some of the quilts I've had on my etsy shop for a while.  I may also change out the quilts at the florist's downtown.

In between, I was busy gobbling up Lessons in Chemistry because the e-book came up on my library waiting list.  It was one of my favorite books so far this year.  Very witty and quirky.  I wanted to finish that before the next book, The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo, comes up.  My niece Evelyn liked it very much, as did her mother, so I am assured of a good read.  In between, I'm into the next Ruth Galloway mystery, The Locked Room, by Ellie Griffiths.  All good reading for hot afternoons.

I have a pile of quilted things to take outside to photograph, but it's been too hot and humid to go outdoors much.  We keep waiting for the contractor to install our heat pump - guess it will come in the fall in time for heating season.  I had hoped it would come sooner.  Meanwhile, Paul is busy picking blueberries, so I will be in the kitchen later today making my annual pie.  Luckily, I have some salads waiting in the fridge for dinner, so I won't be in the kitchen long.  Hope you're having a great weekend!

A lovely weekend

Our weather has been fantastic the last couple of days - sunny, low humidity, warm but not too warm, and plenty cool for sleeping.  Perfect!  Friday we took Manny and Mary out to a long, leisurely lunch at a local favorite.  We ate far too much, and I ended up taking a nap at 4 pm.  This made it hard to sleep, so I woke up too early on Saturday.  

We drove to Burlington to attend a play at St. Michael's Playhouse called Into the Breeches.  It took place during World War II when "all" the men were fighting and the women were home and in need of some entertainment.  A few women actors decided to put on Shakespeare's Henry IV and Henry V.  All the parts were to be played by women, including the male parts.  Hilarity ensued, and it was so nice to get back to theater again after three summers without.   During the intermission, a librarian we knew and worked with came by to chat.  It was fun to see her and her husband again.

We have been meaning to get out into the Town Forest for another walk, and this morning we finally did.  We took the Grand Lookout Trail, one of our favorites because it ends with a fantastic view of Barre and the mountains, including Camel's Hump, the distinctive peak on our state quarter.  Along the way are a series of sculptures, including Hephaestus, god of fire.  Funny thing is, when I got home, Facebook reminded me that four years ago on this day, I posted another picture of Paul and a group of walkers at this very spot.

Unity is finished

Over the weekend, I put nose to the grindstone and finished my "Unity" quilt top.   I found the next-to-last round of this quilt quite difficult, requiring quite a bit of time with "Jack" the ripper and requiring what designer Bonnie Hunter called "ease."  There was quite a bit of stretchy easing needed to get the whirling blocks to fit, so much so that I decided not to make the last two pieced sides.  Instead, I put two solid 2" borders around and, while they were hard to "ease" on, they will, I hope, help the quilt lie squarely.

I'll take it to be long arm quilted this week, and as usual I'll be glad to see it leave our house!  I'll deliver the Tulip Tango quilt then, too.   Today I sewed the back for that quilt, and I also made some double pinwheel blocks, the online group's block for July.

The blocks at the bottom are the blocks for the month, and one will be swapped and the other kept.  I'll probably make a few more of those to go in a sampler I've been working on all year.  

After finishing those blocks, I got out my "orphan" box and started working on an appliqued piece I've had on my mind for a long time.  It's based on an antique quilt a guild member brought to a meeting.  Mine will use a pieced background (which was already in the box) and melon shapes in similar colors, but here's what was shown at guild.  

I haven't done any hand applique in a long time so this was fun.  I'll work on it again tomorrow.

Rocky Mountain birthday

We are back to our "real" life, after a week in sunny Colorado for Mom's 100th birthday.  We arrived last Monday so that we could help with preparations for a Saturday party at the church around the corner.  We made runs to the dollar and grocery stores, Coors gift shop, and Target for party stuff and even squeezed in a visit to the Rocky Mountain Quilt Museum.   

The museum had two interesting exhibits.  One featured quite a few quilts on appliqued clamshell backgrounds and the other was entitled "Evolutions."  I'm participating in a cake block swap right now, so this quilt really appealed to me.  My blocks are different from this, but I could add a cake block that's similarly embellished.

Here's one of the "Evolutions" quilts.  I liked it for its slices of color and the beaded embellishments in the center.

My photo doesn't do it justice.  Guess you had to be there.  Here's my favorite "Evolution" quilt:

Five relatives from the Netherlands arrived later in the week, which was just great, and it was fun to see my brother and his family, my sister, and my very vibrant mom again.  It had been almost three years since we visited because of the pandemic.  That's just too long!

Here's a picture of Mom before the party:

There were about 100 people there all together, and it was fun.  I got to meet quite a few of mom's friends and also got reacquainted with some long-time ones, including a couple who now live in Illinois and drove two days to get there.  It was an action-packed trip, but oh, so worth it!

More "Unity"

June is the month for the next-to-last round of the Unity quilt along for the guild.  I think five or six of us are sticking with it, and, as I work on it, I think about how I absolutely hate following a pattern!  So this is a developmental activity for me, with the end result being a lovely, rather large quilt.  There are five or six other projects sitting in boxes, but this is what I'm focusing my energy on when I'm not getting ready for our Colorado trip tomorrow.

June's blocks are rather complex and involve making a seemingly endless bunch of half-square triangles.  Luckily, they finish at 2" and can be cut with the EZ Angle ruler.  This allows me to cut the dark and light sides together and zip them through the machine.  I pile them up in groups of 10 on paper plates so I can keep a relatively accurate count.  I think I need 170-something HSTs.  

Then four patches are made, which go together in pairs, then halfsies, and then the final 8" block.  I have a little over half of the four patches made, and if I have time today, I'll finish those.  I like Bonnie's recommendation about pressing which allows the four patches to nest well together.  

I'll finish this round when we return in a week or so, and then I think I'll work on the July section to finish the whole top.  I'll try to use the bright yellow for the binding if there's enough left, and I'll take the quilt to Marie for long arming.   She's working on one, too, so it will be interesting to see what she recommends.

I really look forward to working on something else, possibly less detailed in the coming months!  I've neglected Austen Jubilee so I'll probably start with that.  I thought I'd made all the blocks for the Quiltmaker mystery, but now I see there are more blocks to be made over the next few months.  My collection of  Jane Austen at Home fabric is really diminishing.  Hope I can find some coordinating scraps in my stash.

A few June projects

Because we will be heading to Mom's birthday festivities in Colorado soon, I haven't spent a lot of time sewing.  I did make a blue pineapple block as part of the RSC (June's color is dark/medium blue).

I also made a house block using Moda's "Brickhouse" pattern.  I don't really like the results and now I'm wondering how I'll set those houses with some of the other house blocks I've been making.  I decided to set them all aside until after I return from Colorado.  I may get inspired - at least I hope so.  This is how UFOs are born.

I also worked on embroidering the crazy block I made a few months ago at guild.  I was hoping Bronwen would be at Saturday's meeting, but she couldn't come.  I wanted some advice on what more to do, but I just forged ahead.  

I'm thinking of making a pillow out of this because I don't really feel like making any more blocks.  Embroidery is really not my thing, and I really want to get back to making a quilt with hankies.

Today I started working on the June assignment for the Bonnie Hunter Unity quilt, which my guild is working on as a quilt along.  Lots of mindless cutting and sewing awaits for this round.  I need 172 half square triangles, and I got about half of them cut before I stopped.  I sure hope I don't run out of yellow fabric before this is finished.  I think I have a yard left.  I do like the paper plate method for organizing these parts.  I also have to cut 68 navy and 68 light blue 2.5"squares.  I already have enough of an assortment of neutral squares cut to make the 8" blocks all these pieces go into.  Phew!

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Finished quilt top and blocks

 

I love Tulip Tango fabrics by Robin Pickens and used a fat eighth bundle and some yardage to finish this 70" x 70" throw.  It's now hanging in the closet, waiting for me to decide whether to quilt it myself or take it to be long armed.  The Sawtooth Star blocks are 12", 8", 6", and 4" which turned out to be a challenge to put together because of a lack of unifying background.  But I made it work.  The center block is a 6" one with multiple borders.   Yesterday I made a few crumb blocks using tiny leftovers and today I'll put the rest of the scraps away for a while.

I also made a couple of 6" Rosebud blocks for the online guild's block of the month.  I asked Karen H. to choose this for the month, and she found it in that old reliable Sylvia's Bridal Sampler by Jennifer Chiaverini.

I used Tulip Tango scraps for this block which I will send to whoever wins this month's lottery, but the one I'll keep is burgundy and gold for another block of the month quilt.  I think I have made plenty of blocks for that quilt, so I'll probably put it together this month if I have time.  

There are still blue RSC blocks to make, and I'd also like to make some headway on the next-to-last round of the Unity quilt.  And, looking ahead, there's our week in Colorado later in the month to celebrate Mom's 100th birthday.  I still have a few things to do to prepare for the trip and party, including getting a haircut and a little shopping.  It's going to be a busy month.