It's Not the Heat, It's the Toxicity

 Although the heat is definitely a factor. According to my phone app we're going to hit 104 degrees Fahrenheit today. I'm suspicious of that number as we tend to run a few degrees cooler than Seattle, which is where I believe the predictions originate. Yesterday, for example, it was predicted we would hit 100. To the best of my knowledge we only made it to 97. Don't get me wrong, that's bad enough! Our poor little portable a/c unit had all it could do to keep us twenty degrees cooler inside than out. And that is only in the room in which it sits. My studio space is on the west side of the house and around a corner from the flow of cool air. Needless to say, I haven't been very productive the last couple of days. In perfect honesty however, I believe it was poking my nose outdoors that set me back the most. Air that registers as moderately unhealthy for most people is decidedly unhealthy for me. Or so it would appear from recent experience. I have been fighting a near-migraine for the last 24 hours. If it's not one thing, it's another! 

The tropical Shoo-fly quilt has been bound, laundered, labelled, and sent on its' way.

 The pink binding was the perfect final touch. I don't know how well you'll be able to see it, but James quilted with a variegated thread in an overall swirly design.

 I don't think I could be any happier with this quilt. 😁

Before the heat came on I'd pulled out the parts of a potential quilt I believe I began last summer, thinking I would try to get that built into a lap quilt. 

Kate, at least, will recognize the ship blocks. 😉 I haven't played around with them a lot since then but this is what I hope will be the next completed quilt top. In the meantime, if you are not already aware, those of you who may be receiving notifications of my new posts via Feedburner will have to adapt to the fact that that service is being discontinued. I have added a widget for follow.it, although I don't know how user friendly it may be. Frankly, I haven't had the mental wherewithal to look at all the options for replacing Feedburner. I don't think my readership is high; I only hope those who do visit regularly will find a way to keep in touch. 💜

Scrap Happy Follow-up

 I had so much fun working with the scrappy batik blocks last week that I just kept going. Before I knew it I had a flimsy of 42 blocks on the wall.

There was much tweaking of block placements but eventually I got them all sewn together. Then I learned that a young friend of mine might be leaving the country soon to fulfill a mission for our church. She has expressed appreciation for the quilts I'd made that she's seen, and even went so far as to exclaim, "I want a quilt!" I don't think she meant to say it loud enough for me to hear but I did hear her. 😉 That meant the quilt top needed to be made bigger.

It took me a couple of days to wrap my head around how to add length to this flimsy. Many of those batik prints had been used up or there wasn't much left. I was reluctant to introduce many new prints or make more blocks. Finally I pulled out Window blocks that had been made about the same time as all the Shoo-fly blocks and built a pair of borders. I had to be flexible with the sashing between those blocks as there wasn't enough of the print I'd used to frame the flimsy, nor did they fit precisely within the width I had created.

 You can see that I used another batik for an outer border. It was also from my stash, not recently purchased. I was surprised that it worked so well to frame the quilt when it was such a stark contrast to what was going on in the middle.

 The photo doesn't do it justice. It really sings in person. I love this quilt! Well, quilt-to-be. We went out today and purchased yardage to back this 60"x 80" top. James has a variegated thread he thinks will work for the interior, which will probably be done in an allover pattern. Not quite sure how the border will be handled. I also bought a bit of yardage for binding. I'll get that made while he's doing the quilting. Hopefully I'll be able to manage getting the binding applied and sewn down before my friend leaves the area. I'd like her to be able to take it with her when she leaves our summer weather for winter in the southern hemisphere. 😁

Scrap Happy in June

 I knew this day was coming. I even dug out some blocks from my Parts Department in preparation. Then I got so wrapped up in the new quilt project those blocks inspired that I nearly forgot to stop and write this post!

When last we met I'd pulled out my batik friendship blocks in an attempt to finally get them built into a quilt top. So far not much has happened on that front. But that was what led to the idea to create something out of other scrappy batik blocks from the Parts Department. Here you can see the Hole in the Barn Door blocks (Window blocks!) between the columns of friendship blocks:

Not sure that will be the plan I go with for that quilt however. For Scrap Happy Day I pulled out the bag of scrappy batik Shoo-fly blocks. There weren't quite enough to do anything substantial in the bag but I was well aware that there are remnants of batiks in my stash that could be cut up. Frankly, they need to be used somehow. The plan I came up with was to add 2" finished strips to two sides of each shoo-fly block to create 8" blocks.

This is only the beginning. I've begun cutting more strips and patches from those remnants. My current goal is to create a total of 42 blocks for a flimsy that will measure about 48" x 56." I may choose to go bigger one way or another further down the road. We shall see. For now I'm enjoying these bright tropical colors. It's highly unlikely I will go with the setting option you see above. Already I prefer this one:

Or something along those lines. There are many scraps to cut up before we get to that decision point! 

Not everyone in this link party hosted by Kate and Gun will be playing with fabric scraps. You can take the full tour by clicking on the links below. 😁

Kate, Gun, Eva, Lynn, Lynda,
Birthe, Turid, Susan, Cathy,  Tracy, Jill,
Claire, Jan, Moira, Sandra, Chris, Alys,
Kerry, Claire, Jean, Jon, Hayley, Dawn,
Gwen, Bekki, Sue L, Sunny, Kjerstin,
Vera, Nanette, Ann, Dawn 2, Noreen,
Bear, Carol, Preeti and Edith

Eleven Days Later

That was an unexpected, unplanned break from blogging I just had. I'm happy to report that I've been busy while I've been silent though, not merely ill. There were bad days to be sure, but the past several days have been very productive. 😁 Just yesterday I finished up the binding on this baby quilt:

 

Everything in the body of the quilt was from my stash, some of it old enough to be considered vintage. But the border and binding print is brand spanking new. It's from the current Anne of Green Gables line. Of all the prints in that line this particular floral is my absolute favorite. I couldn't say just why, although that lovely deep eggplant color is one reason. This quilt is about 50" x 60."

The blocks are quilted in large swirls, with the half feather in the borders.

I've also completed the binding on this baby quilt that I think you may have seen as a flimsy recently.

It's about 48" x 56." James did some custom quilting on this one.

The star blocks have a large, simple swirl through them.

The scrappy Hole in the Barn Doors quilt has also been quilted and bound.

I wasn't thrilled with the paisley print that I used for the sashing, borders, and binding but I really love the way the quilt turned out overall. I'm going to be sad to part with this one! 

James created a stencil so he could quilt this in a Baptist fan type pattern. It shows up best on the back.

There are some fun novelty prints in this quilt.

It's about 62" x 84" so it will work on a bed for a teen or young adult.

 And now, inspired by how much I like those Barn Door blocks (really, can't we just call them Window blocks in this century? One of my favorite things to do is to put a fussy cut patch in the middle of those blocks, as if you're looking out of or into a window!) I have pulled out my friendship quilt columns from 2017 to see if I can finally turn them into a quilt. Here's the only picture I can find of what I'd done with those blocks at that point:

I remember that at the time I was aiming for a vertical format strip quilt, alternating columns of the friendship blocks and these batiks:

The problem is that my notes are not clear, much less specific, about what I had planned for those alternate columns. So I have gone into the Parts Dept. to see what I might have that I could use. There are batik Window blocks (as well as others), some of which used the same fabrics that are in the friendship blocks. The first columns will finish at 6" wide. If I make four more columns also 6" wide I will have 54" altogether. A simple three inch border all the way around will give me the 60 x 80" dimensions I find so useful.

I do remember working to arrange the lighter/brighter blocks toward the center of the columns and the darker ones to the perimeters so I will probably carry on with that plan as I fill in with the scrappy Window blocks. I may or may not stagger the placement of the Window blocks relative to the friendship blocks but that's where I'm starting. All I need now is to sustain my energy and well being so I can carry on!