Purple-ing Along

The summer has settled into a nice routine. As expected, it’s been hot and dry. We had some rain on Thursday (.03 inch), which was a nice soaking for the garden and yard, but nothing of note beyond that. Then yesterday was muggy and humid - 38%. You midwesterners and easterners will probably laugh at that, but believe me, the heat is easy when it’s dry. We keep our thermostat at 79 in the summer and are never uncomfortable.

What a heartwarming and humbling week it was in the sewing and quilting department. (Yes, there was  more wonderful stuff going on, but my blog focuses primarily on my quilting. Not solely, but mostly). 

I received a package from Preeti as I was one of two lucky winners in her recent giveaway. Preeti is an Island Batik Ambassador (and believe me, with her creativity, they are lucky to have her!). My prize was four gorgeous half yard cuts of these lovely winter batiks from designer Kathy Engle. 

(Photo from Preeti’s blog)

My plan is to use these to sew up some lovely winter pillowcases later this fall. Thank you so much Preeti (and Island Batik!)

And just as I was done drooling swooning admiring those fabrics, a box arrived from my Rainbow Scrap Challenge friend Julie K (QuiltsandCostumes), who is a very talented quilter and a generous soul. She had offered to send me some fabric to match the purple, pink and red bullseye log cabin blocks in my last post. Then she wrote and asked if I was interested in a kids quilt that still needed to be put together. Well, sure I was! When the box arrived, it contained the aforementioned fabric and quilt top/backing/binding, but also two other quilt tops! Color me amazed at Julie’s generosity (and perfect piecing)!! Thanks you sooooo much!

Here’s the kid quilt top - it’s an adorable robot-themed fabric in a stack-n-whack design.

I’ll take more (and hopefully better) pictures when I quilt this one up. It will go to Quilts for Kids, of course. Here is one of the two blue and yellow quilt tops that Julie sent. It’s the smaller one of the two. I pieced a backing and got it pin basted this week. 

Just beautiful! I didn’t get a picture of the larger quilt, but I will. I ordered some backing this week because I had nothing left that was remotely satisfactory. Those two yellow and blue quilts, along with my Hearts for Ukraine quilt (which is next up for quilting), will all end up going to Ukraine. We have a local quilt shop that is a collection point for Hello Cottons, which is running a program called “Wrap Ukraine With Quilts”.  It will happen before month-end.

It occurs to me that I need to begin documenting these “Community Quilts”. You know, the tops that other people donate and I finish up. So, beginning with my next post - which will be on Wednesday - I’ll be adding a tab to my blog header for Community Quilts. Wednesday’s post will feature the first three quilt finishes that I’ve completed for Jo’s County Junction (with plenty more waiting in line). Julie’s quilts will go there when finished, too, as well as any other miscellaneous quilts from our QFK chapter that I quilt now and then as a favor (we mostly have long-armers for that, but sometimes the backing isn’t large enough to be loaded onto a long-arm machine). 

Now, what did I actually finish this week? How about a purple frog quilt?! This ¾ yard scrap of purple frog fabric was part of a lot of various critter fabric chunks I bought from Wanda Hanson, quilter extraordinare, when she had her last destash. 

If you click on the picture to enlarge it, you can see that this rather darkish fabric also has orange, blue, brown in it. I decided to use those colors to liven it up a bit and use up some more of those dang selvage half hexies. (At least their numbers are dwindling. in fact, I may have only some selvage columns left. But I digress.)

Purple frogs measures 36x45” and was quilted with a basic stipple using a variegated purple thread. The backing is two smallish leftover chunks of a Kaffe checkerboard and a metallic ombre purple. I’m out of labels for Quilts for Kids, as I mentioned before, so I’ll make a trip to our President (Sandy)’s house to pick up a couple dozen more labels and drop off 146 (yes, I counted) string blocks from the last couple months. The string blocks (whether made in solid colors or mixed prints) are used in lots of 15 in quilt kits for members to sew up. 

And I did get some purple blocks made this week. Thirteen bow tie blocks at 4.5”:

And nine more elephants. When added to the two elephant blocks I made a couple weeks ago (using that beautiful streaked paisley print), they make a herd of eleven. 

I will be assembling another elephant quilt top this week, as soon as I finish sewing one more ellie out of a print fabric that combines the greens and pinks together. Stay tuned!

Speaking of elephants, we renewed our adoption of two elephants from the Sheldrick Wildlife Trust. I was able to visit the Sheldrick elephant nursery (twice!) when I was in Nairobi, Kenya in 2018. Ever since then, we’ve maintained ties with them by “adopting” two elephants every year. (And my annual calendar is always from them as well!) This year, we renewed our adoption of Larro -our third year with her -a female “mini-matriarch” who recently graduated from the nursery to the Ithumba Springs Reintegration unit. We also adopted a young bull (less than 2 years old), who was recently orphaned through human-wildlife conflict in a drought-stricken area. His name is Choka.  I invite you to check out the site and read some of the amazing stories of their animal rescues (that also included rhinos, giraffes, etc). 

Aaaaand finally, it was our 19th anniversary this week. We had a lovely dinner at one of our favorite restaurants and skipped the cards and flowers, as we always do. Bruce is in the process of being fitted for a new arm. The forearm of his current prosthetic and the elbow socket will be re-used. But the upper arm will be new, better-fitting after the two years of body/arm changes) and more streamlined now that he’s no longer a “beginner”. And it’s all covered by Medicare. Life is good, and we are so grateful.

Linking up to Scrappy Saturday for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge.

Sew Much Fun!

Last Saturday, we  had a “double header” with family. On Saturday morning, we went to son Ryan and DIL Kim’s house to visit with Grandson Easton, who was home for 3 days over the Independence Day holiday. You may remember that Easton is in the Navy, stationed as an officer in South Carolina studying Nuclear Engineering. We had a lovely couple hours over brunch. The only picture I managed to get between all the laughing, talking and eating was this one of Easton with their family cat, Emmett. They have one other fluffy elderly cat named Bella, but she was in hiding.

Then in the late afternoon we took my other son, Shane, and granddaughter London out to dinner to celebrate Shane’s birthday. Shane’s pick is always Red Lobster. London is on the brink of becoming a teenager, but she and grandpa Bruce still have a lobster naming tradition to maintain. The restaurant has a tank of live lobsters. But none of us chose Levi Lobster or any of his friends this year. After eating, we came back to the house and checked out the garden. Our blackberries are ripening, and there were several ready to munch on. Yummy! 

On Monday I harvested all my snap peas. The only reason they lasted this long is because we had a cool, wet spring. We’ve been enjoying them in stir-fry’s and as snacks. I also harvested the last of my rhubarb and have chopped and frozen it to make compote later (and possibly a rhubarb-blackberry pie!)

So this week I really dug in to reduce my purple fabric scraps since purple is July’s color of the month for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge. I found a purple scrap that I’m absolutely nuts about and made two elephants. I may have to keep this pair, because I love them so much! I can always figure out something to do with them later, like a wall hanging.

I’ll be making at least a half dozen more elephants next week. Next I decided to knock back all the strings. First up for those were 12 bullseye courthouse blocks:

After I made these, I quickly made two more of these blocks in red, so that I’d have enough to combine the red, purple and pink courthouse blocks for a flimsy. Here they are slapped up on the design board. I was tickled that the colors worked out so well for alternating dark/light blocks as well as consistent diagonal color stripes.

These blocks finish at about 7” each (-ish), so I may need to add a border along the sides. I’d love to find a print that combines the three colors, but that’s not likely to happen. And I haven't even thought about a backing yet.

Speaking of backings, that reminds me of a wonderful box of scraps and yardage that I received this week from my friend Nann. She often comes upon great sales, thrifting deals and fabric destashes and makes it a regular practice to “share the love” with some of her quilty friends.

So these are some of the treasure Nann gifted to me. She knows about my sewing for Quilts for Kids, so there were many kid themed backings, yard and half-yard cuts and generous scraps. In fact, many of those scraps pictured in the bottom right of the collage picture have already been cut up into Zipper block pieces for QFK quilt kits. Thank you for your generosity, Nann! Your gift will help me (and others) to help comfort kids in need.

Now let’s get back to our regularly-scheduled scrappiness, because I’m not done yet. It was another HOT week, so There was a lot of time spent in my cool sewing studio. In fact, I cleared out all my purple strings. First, I made these rich purple string blocks (6.5”, unfinished size). 

After I photographed these 25, I sewed two more. That gave me 27, which when combined with the 3 purple blocks I had left over from last year, were enough to make two 15-block kits to be used with a print fabric for a QFK kit. I love that I can pass on the blocks in 15-count batches and they get paired up with other cut fabric blocks into a patchwork kit for members to sew into a quilt.

The pastel purple strings were handled separately this year. I divided them into red-purples and blue-purples and made four blocks. I tried to make them the same so they could be laid out in a pattern like this. I don’t know why I did it, but it was a fun exercise. Here they are with the blue-purple to the center.

Then I rotated them so the red-purple was in the center. If these blocks look funny, it’s because the paper backings are still attached. 

So, that was fun, and I did four more in a similar vein. But then things fell apart because there just weren’t enough scraps to continue playing that game. So, I just finished up the rest of the 15 blocks with a mix of the warm and cool strings.

The final project for the week was to take these scraps 

and sew them into this quilt top:

Do I love it? No. Will it suffice? Yep. And it is square (straight), even though it looks wonky pinned up on the design board. The purple and orange check print will be on the back, along with another remnant of fabric. I’ll show it next week when it’s finished.

My goals next week are to have at least two kids’ quilts finished, plus a half dozen elephant blocks and  the bow tie blocks for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge (Purple July continues!) 

Have a good week, friends. I’m off to the garden to smother squash bug eggs in Vaseline. The fun never ends here!

Hiding From the Heat

This past week was hot as Hell, probably literally. Most days were in the nineties (F), with at least one day hitting 100 degrees. The yardwork now gets done early in the morning or it isn’t done at all. But we’re all in this together, so it’s not like we’re the only ones with yellow-green lawn. The landscaping companies are booked through the year for xeriscape conversions. Ask me how I know. So nothing will change in our yard until 2023. 

But the scariest part is the weather forecast for this Independence Day long weekend. Our temps will be in the nineties, breezes and gusts in the 25-35 mph range, and humidity down to 8-12%. All the mountains and foothills have fireworks bans, as do most of the parks and river parkways. But, there’s always *that person* who doesn’t follow the rules. So we’ll stay indoors on the 4th of July and try to keep our pets (and ourselves) calm.

The Rainbow Scrap Challenge color for July is purple. I started with the usual easy blocks first.

Two Antique Tile Blocks (12.5”)

Twelve Framed Nine-Patches (8.5”)

I also finished up my dark and bright blue Bear Paws from June before month end -  6 at 6.5” and 1 at 9”

And of course I had to finish up those two green and blue elephant quilts before month end! All six of my quilt finishes for June are in the “2022 Quilts” tab at the top of the blog. But let’s check out the ellies!

Both little quilts finished at 42x47”. They each have one blue and green floral elephant that matches the border. The rest of the elephant blocks are a mix of various blue and green critters. There is a 1.5” sashing between blocks and rows, and both quilts were quilted with a simple loopy design. 

Both backings are identical - that cheery green and blue fabric that I’m in love with, 

In fact, I love this fabric so much that I’ll be making pillowcases out of the (planned) leftover yardage! 

With all the devastating decisions that have been coming out of the Supreme Court these last couple weeks, our country seems headed in the wrong direction, courtesy of the Radical Right. Loss of women’s bodily autonomy (and a constitutional right) with the overturning of Roe v Wade. Blurring lines between the separation of church and state. Weakening the regulatory powers of the Environmental Protection Agency. I wish I could give proper attribution to the picture below, which sums up the views of what I believe is a majority of rational Americans. (If you know, please leave a comment).  

But I’ll leave you with a happy picture of one corner of our backyard that was bursting with blooms this week. 

Have a wonderful week everyone!

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)

Just Sewing and Gardening

Sewing and Gardening - my week in a nutshell. It’s been a great, hot week, although it started out with some wind, rain and temps early spring-like. I was even wearing my fuzzy socks. But the wind brought temps that reached into the 80’s and then the 90’s. Yikes! No complaints here as long as we can get our gardening and errands done before noon and then spend the afternoon sewing - or for Bruce, puttering in his workshop. 

I know most of you are visiting the blog for the quilting part, but I’m going to mix it up a bit and show some more garden pictures first.  You know I’m a big fan of roses, but I didn’t show you all of them last week (nor will I show them all this week), but I do have a few more that are blooming their little hearts out now that I wanted to share.

This one is along the back wall with the two climbers we have. It’s not a climber, but that’s OK. I’ve tried so many things in this spot that didn’t take (mostly clematis - they hate me), so I’m thrilled that this one is thriving among the irises.

I did show this rose bush (below) last week, and although it’s past its prime now I wanted to show it again with the delphinium that started blooming. I lost two of my delphiniums this last year, so they are on my list (along with echibeckia, veronica, and hostas). But every time we run to the big box nursery, we’re getting bags and bags of mulch, and I forget. 

This week we got all the pathways in the vegetable garden laid out with cardboard (a great, natural weed barrier) and fine bark mulch. It looks so nice! I went out to take a picture of the finished project yesterday, but the wind had been so nasty that the rose petals were half gone. A mess.

The rose bush below is one of my favorites (yeah, like we all have favorite children - each and every one). It’s at the curved bend of our front walkway steps.

The little rose tree in one of our front walkway beds. So happy!

Well, that’s enough for now. I had more garden pictures, but between my iPhotos and Blogger, some photos keep being sent to the wrong place on my computer and the editing isn’t showing . Ugh. At least the sewing studio pix that I’ll be using will be OK enough unedited. So, let’s move along, shall we?

I did piece two elephant blocks this week, but I’ll save them for next week when I show the final eight ellies. Hopefully I can get them all pieced into quilt tops to share next week, too. So this week was instead devoted to strings.

Fifteen navy string blocks at 6.5". These will go to Quilts for Kids as-is to use in assembling a kit with matching fabric.

Thirty-six dark and bright blue string blocks (also 6.5”). These, coupled with the few I had left over from last year will go to QFK for use in three quilt kits. 

Once I was done with those, I started on a pile of dark blue and dark green QFK donated scraps I’ve been collecting since last year. This pic was supposed to be turned, but my photo editor is just not seeing the edits. 

After doing some quilty math and pulling out a few additional scraps, I did a few test blocks. That ugly, mushy one on the bottom left was my first effort. It did not make the final cut, but went to play with some new friends in the block orphanage. 

Here’s the final flimsy, with borders added. It measures 42x49”, and I love it. I love these little challenges that I give myself. It keeps things interesting!

The backing is prepped and I’ll baste it during the next week, along with the HST quilt I showed last week. And hopefully I can get them both quilted too. 

Behind the scenes I’m also quilting up some community quilts for Jo at Jo’s Country Junction Community Quilt program. They will also go to our local Quilts for Kids program. More on that when I get a batch finished up. And then next week will also be Elephant week! So I’ve got lots to sew, baste, quilt. If you’re looking for me, I’ll be in my sewing studio!

Linking up to Scrappy Saturday for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge at Angela’s So Scrappy blog.