Two Quilt Finishes

There was a lot of time for sewing this week because it was absolutely too hot to be out in the yard or running errands. Not that we didn’t do *some* of that, but mostly we stayed indoors with the air conditioning. I finally made a doctor appointment and got cortisone shots in my right shoulder and left knee. My patella (kneecap) on my left knee is beginning to slip now and then owing to my knock-knees. The leg muscles want to pull the patella toward the outer thigh, so I’m now wearing a knee brace whenever I’ve got to do any amount of outside walking or walking in dodgy areas, like Wheeler Farm, where the ground isn’t smooth. It’s not a perfect solution, but nothing is close to needing surgical intervention, so that’s OK with me. Aging isn’t for sissies! 

Luckily, I’m lean and mean when it comes to scrappy sewing! HA! This week I was busting’ scraps left and right! First, I knocked out 27 purple string blocks at 6.5”. June is purple month for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge, and I was determined to lay waste to my purple strings.

They were still snickering at me, however, so I gave them the final one-two punch by sewing 8 blocks of half purple and half white and black strings. Same size. That’ll show ‘em! They weren’t laughing anymore!

The next RSC blocks in line for me were the 4.5”  chips, which start out as 2.5” center squares and get surrounded by blacks and whites. I made 10 each with white and black.

Last week I started putting together a girly quilt top, pulling scraps from Quilts for Kids with purple and pink in them. I’ve decided I like confining pink to quilts for girls. With the colors and themes of these fabric scraps, I felt it might be possible to come up with a workable whole for a donation quilt.

For scrappy “quilt soup”, this little one turned out alright. I alternated bright and tame fabrics, block sizes, throwing in coping strips as needed. That center print rather reminds me of a tornado. I must have the weather on my mind!

Most of the width-of-fabric strips were able to be used. I tried to keep the whole blend light and light-hearted.

The backing is pieced and ready to go, so it will be sandwiched and quilted and finished in the coming week. I’ve already moved on to the darker purple scraps. 

I had some old selvage blocks, and decided it was time for another purple Creature Quilt. So, I called upon the “string section”  to help round out the purple “orchestra”. Those string blocks kinda look like eyes, and now that I’ve said that, you can’t un-see it, right? 

Any name ideas for this half-pinned/half stitched flimsy? Creature from the Purple Orchestra? Phantom of the String Opera? Creature from the String Section? 

So hopefully those two tops will be next week’s finishes. Then I can make more headway on my next Zipper quilt. Here are some of the blocks I’ve been sewing here and there as a change of pace from the purple. 

Oh wait! I was about to sign off, and I realized I hadn’t shown the two quilts I DID finish this week. (Slaps self upside the head)…

Remember the ugly 9-patches that I added Kona Snow to and turned into Double Disappearing Nine-Patches? Here is the finished quilt. It’s roughly 48x56”, but I’m just guessing on that for now. I quilted it with a serpentine stitch between the blocks and then diagonally too. 

The backing is a piece of pink yardage I bought when one of our local quilt shops closed a couple years ago. I had a few extra DD9P blocks that I used on the back to give it a little interest. 

And the String Stars donation quilt finished at 42x48”.

The backing and binding are the last of the blue chambray-look cotton.

Last month I mentioned being contacted by a “new” brother through Ancestry DNA testing. My full brother Steve and I have both been getting to know our half-brother Bryan over the last few weeks. Bryan and I correspond a lot, and all three of us have talked by phone a few times. It is an interesting process and still blows my mind. What amazes me the most, however, is how much alike Bryan and Steve are. Their personalities, work histories, even their builds are similar (except Bryan is about 8” taller). Bryan is still working part-time because of the pandemic, but will go back to full time in July. Steve, like me, is retired. We would all like to get together for a sibling reunion, but that may not be in the cards for a year or two. 

Stay cool and safe, friends. Life is good.