Friday, May 29, 2020

Two More Quilt Finishes and May Recap

Happy weekend! Summer - or a very warm spring - has arrived here in the Salt Lake Valley, and we finally had to turn on the central air conditioning. But we keep it relatively warm-ish (78 degrees F) in the house because I prefer warmth to refrigerated cold. At night we open the windows and turn on the ceiling fans, and the cats jostle for best position under it on the bed.

The vegetables wasted no time in appearing in the garden and are loving the warmth too. My mouth is already watering at the thought of the early veggies - peas, spinach and lettuce. The rhubarb plant is still producing, but I’m trying to make strawberry-rhubarb compote with it after scratching our “pie itch" and making one (spectacular) raspberry-rhubarb pie.  The thought that I’ll not spend all of July putting up apricots is mostly very freeing, but sometimes there is a twinge of remorse that we had to chop the tree down. Luckily, there are enough frozen apricots, jam, and dried apricots to last another whole year.

My first finish this week was the garlic knots quilt that was a Rainbow Scrap Challenge project I began in 2019. It was also my OMG, One Monthly Goal, for May.  So, I’m linking up with Patty at Elm Street Quilts to share my finish there. As always, Patty, we appreciate your help in keeping us moving forward with our goals!

So, the official name for my garlic knots quilt (traditionally the block is called Arrowhead Puzzle) is Garlic Breath. Why? Because it’s just plain silly, that’s why!


My official quilt holder (hubby Bruce) is no longer qualified for the job since he had his right arm amputated last month. So, Cousin Kim, who came over to sit and stitch and gab on the patio (properly socially distanced of course) held this up for me. Wait, I held it up and she took the picture.  

This is the back. I had the perfect twin sheet in rainbow colors for the back. But the stripes were wonky, so in straightening it out and cutting off the wonkiness, I lost just enough to have to insert a piece of one of my all-time favorite backings.


Garlic Breath measures 64x80”, and like real garlic breath, it is heavy!!


This one is a keeper!

I had a few things to finish up for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge’s month of dark green scraps in May. First were these two International Sisters blocks. These are not African fabrics, so they will go in the rainbow Sisters quilt I’m making for myself.


And finally, there was the dark green scrap quilt I make (almost) every month from all my leftover scraps, test blocks and orphan blocks.  I call these my Creature quilts because I give them silly names - because they are silly quilts - yet they provide creature comforts to the charities to which I donate them.  So, without further ado, meet CREATURE FROM THE MOSSY MOUNTAIN:


And here is the story of the Creature from the Mossy Mountain:

     Deep in the lush green mountains lived a young one named Fern. Shy Fern had always been misunderstood and ignored. Even as a tender sporeling, she hid in the shadows and was passed over as attentions were showered on the more vivid sprouts. The bright flowers snickered behind their sepals when they thought Fern wasn’t looking. All spring and summer the flowers and other plants were plucked up and carried away, one by one, from the meadows and hillsides. Alas! Green with envy and chlorophyll, Fern hid in her shady bower to photosynthesize alone.
     Then, one late summer day, a pair of famous botanists hiked to the shady glen deep in the mossy mountains. They were hunting for a rare, exotic specimen to become the centerpiece of a grand botanical garden at the palace. There in the shade they spied Fern. “Oh! What a magnificent and verdant Creature you are!” they exclaimed. They lovingly took Fern to the palace where she became the star of the garden ... and lived happily ever after.


If you look at the quilt, you will see mountain ridges, a gray “rock” outcropping, fern-y fabric with little woodland creatures and a big, ostentatious flower. And lots of little snips and bits shoved in there to make all the odd sizes work together, LOL.

Here’s the back, pieced from green chunks and leftovers. Creature measures 41x44”.


I’m also linking up to Scrappy Saturday at Angela’s Blog. It’s month-end, so you’ll see lots of colorful inspiration and finishes. And a lot of excitement as we begin June’s new color, PINK. But first, here’s my dark green May recap:

My green blocks this month totaled 43.  

In May I finished 6 quilts; two yellow and green giraffe-themed donation quilts, the Harambe Sisters wall hanging, the blue and pink happy blocks donation quilt, Garlic Breath and Creature from the Mossy Mountain.
But wait! There’s more!

Yep, once Angela announced pink for June earlier this week, I’m sure lots of us got crackin’!  I started by clearing out the biggest mess first - pink selvages.  The result was 16  half-hexie selvage blocks and lots of leftovers that I’m collecting to pass on to someone at the end of the year.


I’m also going to be working on the zipper blocks like Sally and Wanda (pattern courtesy of Lynn at kleinmeisjequilts). Here are my first two. I love the fabrics, but I’m not happy with the blocks. They’re too matchy-blendy. The solids (or near-solids) need to contrast more. So the one on the left will get dark orange for contrast and the one on the right will get gold for contrast. I should have them corrected (and hopefully another one made) by next week.  There’s potential here.


Stay safe, and if you venture into public, please be cautious and sensible. xo

23 comments:

  1. Did you hear that Crayola just came out with new "skin" colors?

    ReplyDelete
  2. Garlic Breath!!!!!!! Perfect name! So funny! And it looks absolutely fabulous.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Your post is a feast for a quilter's eyes today, Cathy! I love Garlic Breath - all that pretty color! Glad you're keeping it - looks like a good snuggling quilt. Love your green sisters, too, and the Creature quilt! What a fun series of quilts you're ending up with there.

    ReplyDelete
  4. I love your Creature from the Mossy Mountain Quilt and story! What a great use of all your green leftovers.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Congrats on another magnificent RSC finish and another wonderful Creature quilt, too!!!

    ReplyDelete
  6. I just love Fern's story!
    You make me smile with every one of your posts!

    ReplyDelete
  7. Love your Garlic Breath! (Now there's a sentence I never knew I'd one day type...)
    Looks like you've had a busy month with all that green. Now enjoy your green vegetables while you start pulling out the pink scraps. Can't wait to see what you come up with next!

    ReplyDelete
  8. I want some garlic breath! And don’t worry about having some low contrast zippers. Making zippers is kind of like swerving all over a deserted rove heading from bright to muted to high contrast to low contrast to large print to blender. Enjoy!

    ReplyDelete
  9. That's a very productive month! I was going to say that Garlic Breath is beautiful, but that doesn't sound right, so-- nice finish!

    ReplyDelete
  10. As always your creature block is fabulous! As is Garlic Breath! I almost never name my quilts, I think I should give it a try! I’m anxious to sew pink this month!
    You and Bruce be well as Summer rolls in!

    ReplyDelete
  11. Pink and green, such a lot of delicious sewing! Love the pink selvedge blocks!

    ReplyDelete
  12. You had a very productive month! Such gorgeous finishes and fun names. "Garlic Breath" is stunning.

    ReplyDelete
  13. I appreciate your ambivalence over the apricot tree, but speaking as an apricot lover with minimal access to fresh apricots - I'll miss hearing your Apricot Adventures every year! Garlic Breath looks wonderful and is the perfect embodiment of an RSC quilt - lots of color, lots of scraps, and lots of love!

    ReplyDelete
  14. These look great! Thanks for linking up with Elm Street Quilts One Monthly Goal and congrats on your finish!

    ReplyDelete
  15. Both your stories and your latest finish are a breath of fresh air! Garlic Breath is a happy quilt, and like garlic breath, shouldn't be shared except among the family. Creature From the MM is really fun with that big, sassy flower :)

    ReplyDelete
  16. On my zipper quilt I found having a few of minimal contrast blocks like yours is good. (I call them ghost blocks)
    Those are great blocks--love the fabrics.
    When choosing the solids I sometimes go with a complementary or split-complimentary color to contrast with the print.

    ReplyDelete
  17. Wow! Look at you go!!! May was a wonderfully busy month for you. Garlic Breath is breath-taking! And I love Creature from the Mossy Mountain. I hope you include your tale with this donation quilt. Such a fun story! You've also made a good start on June's pink blocks. I missed Angela's earlier posts so it was new to me until Saturday. I will enjoy the different color ... finally!

    ReplyDelete
  18. Garlic Breath? (giggle)

    All those blocks made this month and yet you still were able to write a very creative fairy tale with a happy ending about the Creature from Mossy Mountain?

    You go, girl!

    ReplyDelete
  19. Love your little story about Fern!

    ReplyDelete
  20. Wow! So much progress. Those bright garlic knots are so cheery. And you got an awful lot done during green month. I am glad we are moving on to a new color, it will take my mind off things here in NY where we've gone from pandemic to riot worries.

    ReplyDelete
  21. Congratulations on your finishes! Great work!

    ReplyDelete
  22. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

    ReplyDelete
  23. I love the name for your quilt! We keep our a/c at about 78 too - I don't like to be cold in the summertime. We had friends who had to wear sweaters in their house all summer because they kept it so cold. Never could figure that one out.

    ReplyDelete

I appreciate your visit to my blog and love your comments!