As August Draws to a Close ...

... all I can say is “thank goodness!”   We had some incredible heat this month, but luckily the last several days have finally given ‘way to cooler temps. While I can’t exactly say that fall is in the air, it does feel as though we have turned the corner and left the worst of summer behind. The mountains are beginning to show bits of color, and evenings are pleasant enough to open windows and let in fresh breezes. I expect that even the kitties will be showing signs of growing thicker furs soon!

As far as the Rainbow Scrap Challenge goes, August was a bust for me. The colors of muted/misty purples and hazy/fugly greens were already incorporated in their prior respective months, so I concentrated on the alternate color of gray, which I expanded to mean any gray/black neutral.  The only thing I have to show for this week (and it was really sewn a couple weeks ago) is a light purple “crayon” (missing the contrasting white to finish it into a block) that I decided to make from light purples to get a start on one of next year’s colorful projects.

Since the pattern for the crayon quilt calls for two purples; a light/lavender and a dark purple, I did this lighter one with scraps I scrounged in boxes that were going for donation to a crazy quilting “Stash Dash”. I added a few light purples of my own... and a crayon was born.

So, my totals for this month were only my 12 RSC sampler blocks plus one crayon block. And I did sew together 50+ HSTs, but they are now put away for some future use. And I did a table runner out of black, white and orange for Halloween.

In mid-month I began stitching along with Lori Holt’s Cozy Christmas sampler. This week we made the second block, the Cozy Cottage. The beauty of this sampler is that you cut all the center pink pieces out at once, as well as the strips that surround it, and then you can make all the flying geese and HSTs for the block borders ahead of time. I did a lot of cutting and sewing, and got those done, so that future block construction time will be cut in half. As the blocks are completed, I am sashing them and will construct the rows. By the time I finish the 12th block, all that will be left is adding the quilt borders for an easy finish.

In other sewing, my Aria blue/orange top is done except for the final borders, which I am wrangling with now. And I am almost done constructing the monstrous back. This will be delivered to a long-arm quilter next week, so I don’t expect to see it back in time to add the binding and call it a finish for the 3rd quarter Finish-Along. This is only the second quilt I have ever farmed out for professional quilting, but I`m a wimp. I don’t feel like wrestling it through my Bernina; it’s about 86x102” (but I know Cathy L in Iowa could do it!)

Finally, DH is going to use his electric sander to finish up the door frame around the new basement door. I have caulked and hand sanded it (and given it all a base coat), but it needs a smoother, more professional finish. When he does that, I can paint the final coat and he can add the hardware. No news on the start of the living room remodel yet, which is OK. We are harvesting and doing yard maintenance.

Next month I will be spending a week in Missouri at a Crazy Quilting retreat. This is the 10th annual Crazy Quilting International gathering, and I have been to every single one. One of my dearest friends, who always used to come from Canada to spend a week with me before or after the retreat, passed a year ago. I still miss Diane. But many sweet friends from Florida, Washington state, Nebraska, The Netherlands, and Kansas will be there. In fact, three of us will be making an afternoon jaunt up to Missouri Star Quilt Company the day before the retreat officially starts. I was there last year, but haven’t seen the main shop since its remodel. We can’t wait!

I think that’s about it for now. Today I will get that border sewn on Aria and finish piecing the back. Then I need to begin focusing on packing up my lace (etc) inventory to sell at the retreat so I can finally close up my Etsy shop next month.

Linking up to Rainbow Scrap Challenge at So Scrappy.

Some Sewing, But Mostly Painting

Thank goodness for lists! I made myself lists of Things to Do this week, day by day, and I was able to stick to it.

On Monday, Bruce and I worked in the front yard. He finished up the front porch pillars, which I thought were already done. But he had filling and sanding, etc., to do. On Tuesday, I painted the pillars. I even tried some colored stripes, but it looked terrible. AWFUL. I couldn’t paint over them fast enough.  More pictures on those as soon as I get a sealer coat on the columns.

On and off all week (I call it pacing myself), I painted the kitchen. And sewed. I only have one wall left to paint in the kitchen, but we have to move the big china cabinet to do it. But it will be done by Tuesday, because the shutters will be installed on Wednesday.

On the sewing front, I sewed my column of bullseyes together. They were fun, but are not so pretty in the grays I chose.

Here is a little closer up; the grays range from lightest gray to charcoal to greige. And a print of grays, tans, etc, mixed up. But I know these will play well off the other bright colors of the Rainbow Scrap Sampler. Brown will be at one end and the gray at the other with all the bright colors in between.

Some of the columns are sewn together. Next to be sewn on will be either red or yellow, then the blue, then the green, then the other of red or yellow, then the gray. Clear as mud? I may have to do some shifting around depending on the width of the rows. I think that orange row should maybe have waited.....  But anyway, I am sure loving this!!

Then I wanted to do something with some of my black and gray scraps, so I pulled out the leftover lightening fabric (used on the back of Rainbow Orbs) along with the orange pumpkins left over from my fall table runner last year. I combined that with some text print and made a simple table runner of bullseye and 9-patch blocks. By playing with Pattern Jam  (a free online design tool), and coming up with my own patterns, I was able determine ahead of time which patterns and sizes would work with the scraps I chose. Have you ever played with Pattern Jam? I love it and have designed so many quilts I want to try some day.

Back to this table runner, the back is some cat fabric and the binding is some ancient black with white polka dots. It was a quick and satisfying little project.  I have a ton of HST scraps from the last couple years in grays and blacks, so I will be sewing those up. They may even make it into an improv block or two.

Finally (no picture), I found some light purples (lavenders, basically) in a bin of scraps I have set aside - and add to frequently - for a future “scrap vortex” or “scrap vomit” quilt. It’s where I throw those scraps that don’t fit neatly into one color category. What do you do with your multi-colored scraps?  Anyway, I know that I want to sew one of those crayon quilts (this pattern from Emily Herrick), so I made a lavender crayon. It will go into next year’s pile for RSC projects. When it comes to the purple month then, I will do the dark purple crayon. :-)

Today I will be sewing on my Aria quilt top, and I hope to finish it. Then I would like to start  quilting Notting Hill. There is also a door that needs to be sanded and painted, but that is down the list.....

Why not join us over at Angela’s Rainbow Scrap Challenge Scrappy Saturday? Come and check out all the creative things that our friends keep churning out during these dog days of summer!