Friday, August 10, 2018

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!!

18 comments:

  1. All your orange blocks look great, but I really love the quarter log cabin blocks! Nice and scrappy!

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  2. That is a gorgeous sky. I loved that picture in your African post. I pretty much almost love orange, but not on the yellowish side, or brownish. Oh, and not pastelish. Picky Picky, lol.
    xx, Carol

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  3. Boy you sure were able to use a lot of orange in so many different projects...all your RSC projects are coming along beautifully...hugs, Julierose

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  4. I especially like your linked squares quilt. That is a design and color scheme that would be great for either gender. You accomplished quite a bit with your orange scraps.

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  5. What a productive time you have been having with your orange scraps. Love everything you have made but especially the quarter log cabins. I'm surprised you have any orange scraps left for your birds.

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  6. Great orange block collection, Cathy. Your African sky photo reallly sums up your adventure.

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  7. TONS of ORANGE blocks, but oh, that ORANGE African sunset... SPECTACULAR!!!

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  8. You have lots of orange goodness going on there, Cathy! Your linked squares quilt is fun as can be - I've always liked that block. My favorite right now is the quarter log cabin block - I've been seeing those all over the place lately, and I think that means I'm destined to start making some!

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  9. You have so many fabulous projects with orange blocks! I love the Linked Squares flimsy, and the quarter log cabin blocks are really speaking to me too!

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  10. My favorite part of this post is seeing all the Linked Squares stitched together. They look super, and I'm inspired by how you arranged the colors. I have a hard time not putting everything in rainbow order so I love seeing different layouts like this :)

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  11. Yes, that's a MUCH happier orange sky!
    And all your orange blocks are looking pretty happy, too!

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  12. Lots of beautiful, colorful blocks in your post today! I love all of them.
    I'm sorry to hear about the fires. Hopefully they will out soon and rain will remove the smoke from your air.

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  13. You have been busy! Love the linked square blocks and quilt top. Also love your scrappy quarter log cabin blocks. Great way to use scraps. Enjoyed all you share.

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  14. I like them all - but the 1/4 logs are really cool!

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  15. Wow, so many lovely orange things happening here - you are busy. We too are having smoky air from forest fires west of us, I've also been using eye drops for relief. Each evening we get a beautiful red sun set.

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  16. You certainly are back to being your prolific and productive self. I like the crazy googly eyes blocks, and I love that it continues to look like crazy eyes as you add more blocks.

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  17. Wonderful array of projects! I love the Quarter Logs. I really think they shine if both sides get the same fabrics but my strings usually aren't long enough to do two sides so I usually end up making Wonky Logs with different fabrics all around.

    Hope the skies change soon! Thankfully there are no fires around where my sister lives in CA.

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  18. I would definitely love to see what would happen if you were to find that elusive magic wand!! I've always thought you possessed it already. You're certainly making up for lost time!

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