TGIJ - Thank Goodness it’s June

The ark we’re building is coming along nicely. Bruce has decided that a cubit is roughly equivalent to a rock (as in “whiskey on the rocks”) and we’ve been measuring our drinks with those in mind. Our ark(s) look suspiciously like our bicycles, however, and that’s probably a good thing. The weather is finally forecast for some days without rain this week. Looks like we may be pedaling instead of paddling in June.

This week was a crazy one again, and I am dead pooped. The Utah Shop Hop (quilt shop visits all up and down the Wasatch Front) has been going on, and I am the designated driver. Not because we drink (except coffee), but because Guy Smiley (our car; don’t ask) is much more youthful than Cousin Kim’s car (which is, sadly, nameless).  I have to show you a picture from one of the shops on the Shop Hop, the theme of which was Fairy Tales this year. This was a cute display at Little Red Riding Hood’s place.
 

It didn’t seem as crowded to us this year, and we only visited about half the shops we usually do (and that took two whole days). However, the bargains were good. One shop had FQs at 10/$20, another had them 6/$13.50 and still another had them for Buy 3 get 1 free (at $3.50 each, so that was 4/$10.50). Normally I don’t go wild with fat quarters, but since I’m looking for some fabrics to use on some of the collage quilts I’ll start working on soon, that worked out well. Plus, there’s always that one fabric you can’t resist, you know?

Also, last night we attended the first outdoor concert of the year at the amphitheater at Red Butte Gardens. I wanted to go last summer to see Jackson Browne, but he was scheduled there while I was in Africa). This time we went to see one of Bruce’s longtime favorites, Bela Fleck and the Flecktones. And we got lucky; the rain held off until we got home (late).

It’s not a very good picture, and you can see some of the lights and smoke effects on the stage. But it was really fun and a great concert. Next time we’ll know to bring our own wine.

On the sewing front, I sewed up three new-to-me blocks, the International Sisters. These are the three I came up with. They are so easy and much larger than I anticipated (unfinished size is 10.5”, and they will be set on point like this):

The middle one is a Kaffe Fasset fabric, and the other two are from my (authentic) African fabric collection. I plan to make these in mostly (but not wholly) African fabrics for a quilt for myself. I also want to begin making these from some of the other African-like fabric that was generously given to me by my friend S (I need to ask her if it’s OK if I mention who she is and the generous gift she sent me). They will be used to make wall-hangings (back to back with some authentic African fabric from Kenya) to make double-sided African wall hangings as a funding source for Harambe Humanitarian.

I love these blocks so much!!

And, as always, I have to tally up my Rainbow Scrap Challenge for the month. I’m linking up (late) to Scrappy Saturday and also to Oh Scrap! on Sunday.

So, in addition to the three International Sisters blocks, I made all the blocks you see in the picture above. I’m not going to list them all because I know you don’t need to read all that. The blocks for May (sometimes a “block” is a row, a chunk) numbered 79.

I also finished two quilts in May (see my Quilts 2019 tab just below the blog header) and am about two thirds done quilting Good Fortune. I expect that will finish in the coming week and be my first finish of June. So now I’m gearing up for a Blue June (medium to dark shades). Bring on the scraps!

But first let me catch my breath and get a good night’s sleep.... AAAAAAND just as I go to post this, I hear the rain starting again....