September is Starting Out Busy!

It’s Labor Day weekend in the US - a 3-day holiday from work or school for most people. For retired grandparents, and I’m speaking about Bruce and myself specifically here, it’s going to be a busy weekend, a busy week and a busy month.  Later today, we are taking my granddaughter London, who turned 13 this week, out for a Girl’s Day Out. “We” means me, her other grandma Cally (my ex’s spouse), and my daughter-in-law Kim, who is London’s aunt, and of course London. The four of us. We’ll be shopping at a couple Salt Lake art stores (London is very artsy like her dad, my son Shane). Then we’ll go get some frozen yogurt treats like London and I used to do back in her preschool days. Then we’re scheduled for a mani-pedi at a local nail salon. It should be a fun afternoon!

Tomorrow (Sunday) we’ll have a family birthday party at son Ryan and DIL Kim’s house. There will be between 9-12 of us there. London has requested a watermelon cake, which is not a cake at all. Instead it is tiered slabs of watermelon decorated with fruit (I’ve got blueberries, strawberries, blackberries, raspberries, kiwi, grapes and mint leaves). Should be an interesting experiment. Hopefully it will turn out OK and I can get some decent photos.

First off, let me take care of a few “housekeeping” things. On Wednesday (August 31), I published a Community Quilts Recap for the month of August. You can see that here. Or not if you don’t want to. Here’s a little collage of the 3 quilts finished last week before August left the building. 

The three quilt tops above came from Jo Kramer and the Cresco, IA quilters. I added backing and batting and quilted them on my little Bernina. They’ll be donated to the Salt Lake Chapter of Quilts for Kids. I finished two other community quilts in August, too, which you’ve seen earlier in August.  They’re all recapped in that post. 

Last week I told you about a darling quilt top that McGill U from South Carolina sent me. Let’s take a look. 

I’m still pinching myself over this one! It is gorgeous, and meticulously pieced. I can’t believe McGill would donate it to our kids. Thank you! I will try to do justice to it! It’s about 63” square. 

This week, a second one arrived from her, and it is also a stunner - so simple and happy.  

 

This is a great size and layout for QFK. In fact, I have a lot of short strips that I’d like to incorporate into several quilts just like it!  So, I’ll be basting and quilting these later in the week. 

My last August finish was a little quilt made from scraps that I showed a couple weeks ago. The size and colors of the scraps usually dictate what I can (and cannot) make with them.

This bricks quilt finished at 36x47.5”.  I knew that with both dark and light fabrics in the top, no one single thread color would be perfect. I ended up going with a light sage-y green. I’m rather disappointed at how much it shows in the burgundy, but it’s done. 

The quilting was an experiment and not very attractive, in my opinion. I often use these quilts to play and experiment with quilting designs, but I’ve come to the realization that I’m purely a functional quilter, not an artistic one. I really should stick to the basics. “Put down those flowery ideas and step away from the sewing machine!!” LOL

So, once all those quilts and tops were done, I could finally turn to Light Blue, the Rainbow Scrap Challenge color of the month for September. A lot of us with large blue stashes just use the blue months to work through our accumulation. You’ll see lots of all sorts of blues this month from me! 

First up, two 12” (finished size) Antique Tile blocks. 

At the rate of two per month, this brings me to 18 of the 20 blocks I’ll need for a 48x60” quilt.

Next up was, of course, the elephants! Yes, the colors are all over the blue spectrum. That’s because each pair has a specific assigned quilt to go to. Next month will be more of the same - just “filling in the color scheme holes”. 

Again, these blocks will finish at 10” each. The pattern is Stomping Ground by Wendy Sheppard. 

Don’t tell Alfie and Darla, but they have their annual checkups and shots (and bloodwork) on Friday. The week after, they’ll be back to the vet for a dental exam, cleaning and who-knows-what-else. I imagine our popularity rating with the feline overlords will plummet (as will our bank balance! LOL)

I think that about wraps it up for this post. Have a great week!