Even the Skies are Orange

Because of the fires in California (and probably other places too) over the last week, we’ve had orange, smoke-filled skies here in the Salt Lake Valley. Yesterday was the worst yet because there is also a fire burning in Utah County, just south of this valley. Orange skies might match the Rainbow Scrap Challenge color of the month, but it’s something I’d rather do without.

So, I’ve stayed indoors, used eye drops and sewed.  And boy, have I ever been slaying those orange scraps! To see more orange scrap carnage, hop over to Scrappy Saturday at Angela’s blog.

I like to sew these Linked Squares blocks close to the beginning of the month, before I’ve used my scraps for the other project, because they require some larger pieces. I sewed up these two blocks, which completed the last 2 of 20 total blocks. They measure 16.5” each.

And since the planned layout was a simple 4x5 setting, I stitched up the flimsy in no time. It  measures 64x80”. The backing will be a single fabric (rainbow abacus).

But it won’t be basted for at least a couple weeks, because I have 3 flimsies ahead of it to be quilted.

Moving along with the scraps, I sewed up two of the Squared Away blocks. I used orange with brown accents in keeping with the suggested alternate color. I’m saving my darker browns for a limited-color quilt I have planned for wintertime.  As usual, these blocks were fun and the directions were perfect.

Then I checked my plans for the All You Need is Love quilt I’m doing for my daughter. It seems I needed two Friendship Stars and two lollipop blocks. 

And this is how it’s looking so far. It needs some darker blues. I’d love to add some greens in there too, so I foresee some fiddling around with this down the line. After this round is sewn on, there will be a small black and white checkerboard round next, and then a border of 52 pink hearts that I sewed when the RSC color was pink.

After the pink hearts - there HAD to be hearts for All You Need is Love - I have an 8” border to do. I’m torn between doing a round of 8” Sawtooth Stars (do I want more stars?) or two 4” borders of rail fence pinwheels, then bowties. If I do the 8” Sawtooth Stars, the centers could be some of my 4” selvage blocks, or anything for that matter..... I’ll just have to see how it all looks when I get to that point.

I love sewing these quarter log cabin blocks. They sure eat through a lot of scraps and strings. They measure 6” (finished) each. 

And since brown is sort of a footnote color this month, I decided to sew up my brown selvages to clear those out. They made 9 blocks at 6.5” each.

Finally, this month’s hostess for the Block Lotto assigned a block she calls California Poppies. The colors were to be brights (oranges, red, yellow, golds, - poppy colors) with a four green squares running diagonally through the piecing.  Here are my 8 blocks:

All that I have left to do with orange are the bird blocks (2 facing right, 2 facing left) and then my crumb blocks with all the leftovers. My goal is also to begin and even FINISH quilting Groovy Guitars. I’ve been putting it off, I admit it. Where’s that da** magic wand when you need one??

Alfie and Darla have written and entered a post in the annual Pets on Quilts show at Lily Pad Quilting. You can read their post HERE. 

I’m nearing the end (two more posts should do it) of my Africa Travelogue series of posts. Here is the most recent post, #7, which is the conclusion of our Kenyan safari. Lots of great pictures of animals, and the post contains links to all the previous posts. 

Sunrise on the Maasai Mara

Now THAT’S my kind of orange sky!!