Busy Summer

The last post I did in July described an idyllic summer.   However neither the weather nor life stay stagnant.  We have had weeks of very hot temperatures and have watched our gardens parched for water.  Water from the dehumidifier and left over from rinsing dishes has been the primary source of extra water and with a huge garden decisions on what to water had to be made.  When it did finally rain it felt so good to just stand in it and smell and feel it.  Working outside was out in the heat and so was doing anything that involved an iron.  So I reread quilting magazines and have a pile of them flipped open to possible projects. Dream, dream, dream.  I wish there was enough time.  I did quilt some baby quilts as there is an air conditioner where my long arm is.  But that too had its problems.  Hortense, my long arm, really objected to the heat.  She kept on working beautifully but after a while she hollered.  She is now in Toronto being repaired and I feel I have lost my third arm.

In addition there have been other mechanical problems in and around the house requiring repair parts and persons; time spent on discovering the problems; arranging the visits and some things are still outstanding.  Combine all this and quilting took a back seat.  Life had certainly not stood still and was rocking me from one thing to another.

To find solace eventually as repair people cannot be hurried, I worked on a complex quilt top.  It was a Gerri Robinson design in a recent McCalls Quilting.  I used the block design but not the quilt design.  Unlike the example in many colours of brown in the magazine, I chose to use Kaffe Fassett fabrics including one of his shot cotton fabrics in lieu of white or cream.  Although the fabrics (all fat quarters) were from the same line putting them together created some challenges.  In the end, the blocks are on point and have been turned in diffeent directions from the original.  Thank goodness for EQ7.  Here is a picture.  I am not sure how this will be finished but it is one of those projects because of the complexity of the blocks that you are glad to get out of the way. I was also procrastinating a bit as well.

The desire to procrastinate on a specific project did not disappear so a pile of fat quarters caught my eye amidst the fabric I decided to organize.  Why I decided to organize when it was searing outside and all my fabric is in rooms not air conditioned I will never know.  Must have been that procrastination bug.  Here is the result of finding the fat quarters.  It too may or may not need borders but the blocks are now together.  Not sure how this one will get quilted.

Still procrastinating I found beautiful wool, hand dyed at a small shop called Wools on the Corner in  Bridgetown, NS. Wools on the Corner It is not felted  wool or wool felt but is wool meant to be used in hooking.  The colours just called to me so I decided to see if it would work for wool applique.  I used iron on stabilizer on the wool to make the applique pieces.  It worked beautifully and was lovely to sit outside in cooler weather to sew on the parts. It is raw edge applique without any fraying. This was from EQ7 applique library with the pinkish border hand dyed in Kool Aid crystals and ice.  It needs borders and quilting but I think it will do nicely as a wall quilt.  I had fun with different threads creating a design on the vase.

Now is time to stop procrastinating.  I will never catch up on the actual quilting if I do not.  So, art quilt, here I come.  Time to face the challenges I have chosen for myself.  But I guess procrastination was ok for a while and it did leave me with 3 new projects.  

Desperate for spring

What is spring?  It seems so long now that it is hard to remember.  But leafing through my mind to a year ago, it means yellow in sun and flowers; golden light on chrome in the kitchen; yellow and pink in easter fabrics among the things I long to see.

Reality is cold and white.  The white is getting a bit tattered around the edges and some crazy magnolia tree buds are swelling but it is not spring.

Next best thing, work with spring colours.  Spring is also a time to make quilts for children in hospital and I was quilting one yesterday. I got to try out a design I had drawn while under the thumb of recovery from surgery.  Well the quilt had pink and a lovely yellow back as well as lots of colour in the strips out of which it was made. In spite of the weather outside, inside on the quilting frame was spring and it was fun to take something from paper to the quilt and to enjoy the doodling and the colours.

Here is a small dose of yellow.

In bits and snatches I am conquering EQ7.  It is really nifty and a great thing for quilters whose minds run in inspiration mode.  It is also great to test out colours on blocks.  I used to use Excel but that had it limits.   I love paper piecing so here is my first block designed, sewn and cut sheet made; a crazy, scrappy block.  Thanks to Carol Doak for teaching how to do the cut sheet in her latest book 'Creative Combinations' where she shares so many tips. That is one of the great qualities of quilters. They share knowledge willingly and with great generosity.  They are sunshine.