Saturday, June 25, 2022

Wrapping up Dark Blue - Almost

June will wrap up on Thursday the 30th this month, which is also my son Shane’s birthday. OMG, he’ll be 43 - and he’s my middle child. Gee, he’s getting OLD! Hmmmm.... aging seems to run in the family, LOL.  

This month for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge the colors are dark and bright blue. I still have a few things to wrap up, but I’ve got five days to do it, so it’ll be easy peasy. But I did get a lot - and I do mean a lot - of sewing done this week. We had several rainstorms this week (only one of any great amount). Rain means more sewing time! The drought continues, but at least we haven’t had to water the yard. And our scheduled dentist appointments needed to be rescheduled, so that gave me an extra morning to play as well. 

First up, I finished my pieced elephants. There are eight of them here; the other 4 were shown earlier in the month. The pattern is Stomping Ground by Wendy Shepard, and the blocks finish at 10” each.

As planned, this was my Week of the Elephant, so all the blue and green elephants got pieced into two flimsies.

Blue and Green Elephants, 1 of 2

Once again, my iMac is having fits and hiding some pictures (and their edits) in random locations. I’m ready to throw it through a window. I’m going to load the photos from my phone to the iPad and continue from here. Grrrrr…

Blue and Green Elephants, 2 of 2

Can I say again how much I love this border fabric? I included one elephant made out of it in each quilt. And then I decided it would be the backing too, so I had to order more. With the quick service (and great prices) from Quilted Twins, it arrived yesterday.  

I’ll get these two little donation elephant quilts basted and quilted over the weekend and share them, finished, next Saturday. 

I got a lot of dark and bright blue things sewn up this week too. Fourteen bow ties at 4.5”


A dark blue row of scrappy crumbs and plain-cut tumblers (alternating). 


Several rows are now complete. I’ve added a colored scrap marker in the above picture to show you what’s left to sew as those colors are called. The sides will be trimmed straight after assembly.

I also used my dark and bright blue crumbs to make 18, 6.5” crumb blocks and then assembled them into three 12x18” placemats to join my collection. They’re getting a lot of use! I’m linking up to the Table Scraps June Linky party at The Joyful Quilter.


Next week I’ll show my dark blue bear paw blocks, which are all cut out and ready to be sewn.

I basted several quilts this week (3 or 4, can’t remember) and got two of those quilted up and finished. The first one - and I should’ve photographed it on the floor for a more flattering picture - is this scrappy half-square triangle donation quilt.

I quilted the dark blue with straight lines about a half-inch away from the seamlines in a dark blue thread that doesn’t show up. But you can see the same quilting on the brighter triangles.  There is also horizontal quilting in the ditch. 

Every last square inch of the donated scrap fabrics were used to enlarge the back with a decorative center. This quilt finished at 42x54”, a good youth size.

My second quilt finish was (my favorite), the seaside checkerboard quilt.


Quilted with my usual loops, it measures 42x48”. The backing was a delightful green geometric batik. Both of these quilts will go to Quilts for Kids.

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Last Saturday was my granddaughter Lauren’s high school graduation party for her family and friends. Here she is with the graduation quilt I finished last fall for her.

If you thought you remembered Lauren as a natural blonde, you’d be correct. She dyed her hair brown a couple months ago. Teenagers! I miss her beautiful golden locks. 

Someone also snapped a picture of some of us at the party. Left to Right: DIL Kim and son Ryan (Lauren’s parents), me (grandma), Celine and Graham (parents of Lauren’s boyfriend Graham Jr) and Bruce (grandpa). 

And finally, in a stunning role reversal this month, I caught Darla being a mischievous imp

And Alfie (make that Sir Alfalfa) cultivating a distinguished demeanor.

What is this world coming to? (wink)





17 comments:

  1. What a wonderful collection of Elephants in your pieces--i love all the fabrics you've used...
    You have made a lot of progress this month...me, not so much!! But so it goes...
    This morning I finally sewed up the rest of the mini charms into 2-sies--soon to become 4-sies
    for my proposed small size "Jack and Jill" piece..Finding patterns that still look good in smaller sizes can be daunting--at least for me...
    We have had a beautiful week--just warm enough--today it morphed up o the high 80's and humidity is rearing its ugly head...Hope the rest of your weekend is good...great family pix..hugs Julierose

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  2. Your elephant quilts are coming along wonderfully! I love the blue and green combination. You always do get a lot done each week! Looks like a fun graduation party - great picture of you all together.

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  3. elephants! (love them! they're so cool!) the rainbow tumblers are good, too. and the seaside checkerboard i need to remember: i STILL have so many 3" squares. i should separate them inot colors more often...

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  4. OMG! your elephant flimsies are gorgeous! And the zigzag is pretty snazzy too! Seaside checkboard is just beautiful. It's fun to see Lauren with her graduation quilt. I remember seeing that in your lineup last year. How fast those grandkids grow. Our oldest grandchild turned 37 this year. I finally had to make her a new quilt!. Her graduation quilt had been loved to death! (that is what I wanted after all) Fun to see Darla and Alfie showing there multiple sides!! teehee!

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    1. typo: "checkerboard". Wish I could edit my comments! Argh!

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  5. Those elephant tops are adorable. What a nice mix of blues and greens.

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  6. My blonde granddaughter did the same thing, dyed her hair dark before her sister's wedding and was a blonde at her own wedding.
    I love your elephant quilts. Whoever gets them will surely love them.

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  7. What a great sewing week you have had. The two elephant tops are lovely, like the way you have arranged them facing in different directions. The border and backing fabric is super, no wonder you ordered more. Love the summer checkerboard quilt!

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  8. Love the tumbler crumb quilt. Great way to use those tiny little bits of fabric. Looking forward to seeing all those elephants playing together. ;^)

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  9. I second that--you got a lot of sewing done this past week!!! Nice that you already have 2 elephant tops put together! Great group photo, too!!! I enjoyed reading about all the different blocks you have going!!!

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  10. You have been one busy little bee! Wonderful how you get sew much done! Love the kitty pictures too, always want to know how they are doing.

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  11. Love the elephants and the seaside checkerboard quilt. Thats a nice family photo, looks like you are all having a great time together.

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  12. You have been really busy! The elephant blocks are adorable, adn I liked the bow ties as well.

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  13. Two completed quilts, 3 freshly finished placemats, 2 quilt tops AND a recent graduate posing with her quilt sounds like a wonderful week, Cathy!!

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  14. Hi Cathy! I can hardly type since I read about the stunning role reversal. Indeed, what is this world coming to?!! Darla, that little stinker. It's the innocent ones we have to watch out for, I've always heard. What a fabulous photo of you with your peeps! Lots of LOVE right there. And your finishes are just the icing on a wonderful post. Thank you for sharing all this goodness. {{Hugs}} ~smile~ Roseanne

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  15. I really am enjoying seeing the elephants- the blue and green combo is stunning! And the tumbler mix is one I hadn't thought of and really like. Nice pics of the family and those silly kitties!

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  16. Aging runs in the family, you say. I say Amen to that!!! Looks like smiles (big and bright ones) also run in the family. The parade of elephants is just so terrific. I love each one of them. Have an awesome weekend.

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