Shades of Summer

  We took a quick trip to NC this week to have a day visit with Sir Old Man's cousin.  A wonderful visit and lunch and some slightly cooler temps there.  Di and I talked quilts and machines, and the guys talked.....who know what they talked about.  It was fun. 

   That day motivated me to come back and  finish my last quilt.  It only needed the binding and label attached.   Label was simple and printed on June Taylor fusible fabric.  Leftover floral fabric added for the frame and turned under before stitching to the back.   Before you ask.....yes, even labels are now machine stitched.  The neuropathy in my fingers is not better and holding a needle for more than a stitch or two is a thing of the past.  So I sometimes do this for the label.  Or else I use a corner folded triangle that is stitched on with the binding. 
 


  A closer view of the block and some quilting I used.  The block is the one I call the lattice block.  You can also see the leaf motif I quilted along with the wavy line I stitched thru the diagonal trellis piece.   To tell the truth.....the wavy line is great, looks great, and was easy to stitch.  Unless you are looking closely at the leaf motif, you can't really discern it.  So to anyone wanting to quilt one like this with busy prints, wavy lines are good:)







   I wanted some good outside photos of this one.....but it was to blooming hot.  The air was like a hot blanket, so carrying a quilt around was not much of an option.  I settled for a quick one of it tucked into a tree branch, and then folded and thrown over the chair on the porch.

 
   Inside the tile floor was a cool and inviting spot for a photo. The dimensional effect shows well when the quilt is spread flat.  I just love the overall garden effect. 

  A scrappy binding for the finish and pulls everything together. 









  Shades of Summer finishes up summer of 2019.
Finished size is 60'' by 70''. 

   Weather forecast is for more seasonal temps this next week after 17 days of no rain and mainly highs in the 90s.  A welcome relief and I am looking forward to being outside more. 
  We need to take a quick trip next week to Foam and Fabric  to see about some items for Sir Old Man's latest project....a bench  with upholstered seat.  I have to wander/walk/stroll past lots of cotton bolts to get to that section.  Sounds like a rewarding trip to me :)
Happy stitching. 

My FMQ motif book

Hot here.  Hot temps.   Hot winds.   No hurricane this far inland but I still keep an eye on the events.  Prayers for our coastline and Charleston right now.

  No time like the present to face the latest top ready to quilt.  It is the lattice quilt.  But I was sort of at a loss as to how to quilt it and be happy with it.
  Challenges I saw were  the busy floral prints....nothing much would show,  there isn't something to feature....it's the overall effect, and lastly I don't like heavy dense quilt patterns on large quilt....it makes them too stiff for me.
  I debated on wavy lines flowing thru the diagonals, and almost started on them yesterday.  Then I saw a leaf motif this morning and remembered the meandering leaf vine I used before.


   I went to my FMQ motif book.  No, it isn't really a scrabble game....just the board from an old game.  We bought the "recycled book" a few years ago at a gift market.  The gal used old game boards for the covers of the books, and the inside pages are also recycled paper---nice weight business or office discarded letterhead papers.  Some have printing on them and others are colored, but who cares.






  I use it as a place to record/store/transfer/ and practice free motion motifs.  Here is a leaf cluster I printed off and then taped into the book.  Then I practiced it a bit by drawing on the next page.  This one is going to take more practice to get the hang of it.









  But anyway, I looked back and found the trailing leaf vine motif I remembered.  It works great to quilt on the diagonal thru the lattice blocks. On this quilt I am making the leaves a bit larger and spaced farther apart than I have on other quilts.   

   Ok, well, it looks good in person, even if it doesn't show up too well here.  It is nice to stitch across the diagonal....working from edge to edge like that  allows me to easily stop for a break.  And the bulk of the quilt doesn't end up in my lap but off to the side.


  I jumped the gun a little bit for fall....I pulled out several table runners, and wall hangings.  I am so ready for cooler days that I want to urge the weather to agree with me.  For now they are stacked on the guest bed, waiting for a tumble in the dryer to fluff them before hanging.  That is my weekend plan......along with this quilting.
Happy stitching.

September begins....

I am starting the month with 2 finishes from August.    Oops, not quite  true.  Ok, I am starting at zero and here are two finishes from August.  I am blaming my fuzzy head to the nice weather.

    It has been a beautiful few days.  We rode up to the Mountains on Thursday and went to the apple orchard.  Justus Orchard is a great spot for that.  I love seeing the new trees loaded with apples.  And the car smelled so good on the drive back.  My labor tomorrow will be making a batch of apple bread.

 This small quilt is the  Crossroads pattern  from Connie at Freemotion by the River.  It is a simple and fun project.  I use 2'' strips in many projects.  And any leftover strips are often cut down to 3 1/2'' by 2'' pieces  and set aside.   That is how I had the variety for this project.
  I cut the larger squares at 3 1/2'' and dove into the 3 1/2'' pile to put this one together.

    I had enough of the light blue backing to piece for this.  I used a light cream thread for quilting.  Quilting motif is  a meander swirl with a hook.   Here's the diagram.




  The motif is from Quilting is my Therapy....but the link is broken which means I can't give you a direct link to it.  My quilting is similar...not exactly like it, but it was my inspiration.   Size is 36'' by 54''.   Binding scrappy style with 4 different fabrics used.

    This one was pulled out of the closet...or the lost top vault!  I do not even remember when I pieced it.  Some wonky stars blocks were mixed together with odd spacing.  My squares are 3'' finished, and almost all of them fall into the dark value category.  I think that is why it has or was hidden away.  Just a mixed up hodge podge of fabrics. 








  Simple meandering/stippling for the quilting .  I used a teal color Aurifil as it seemed to blend rather than stand out.   Except on the stars.....I only quilted them in the center square.  I just did a gentle curve around the center square and a curl in the center using light cream Aurifil thread. 

   Here's an edge in the corner....binding is not scrappy here.  Although it may appear to be, it is one fabric with colored stripes alternating between purple and teal.  Seemed to just fit the need.  It was a fabric that was hard to use and had been around way too long. 





   And that's the ending to August.
   I have the lattice block quilt pinned now and waiting to be quilted.  I haven't had an inspiration for the quilting motif on it yet.  So I will go back thru my motif journal and see what hits me. 
  Happy stitching.