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.  

Spring/summer, Guild teas and lunches, and workshops

Well, it is now beautiful spring with tulips and other spring bulbs.  And, groan, dandelions. How to juggle gardening and all the other things occurring this month.  Well on nice days it is renovate gardening beds, split hostas and other plants, and weed, weed, weed.  Find some time in the p.m. to do some quilting.  Then added to this mix are the closing events of the guild for summer.  This means baking.  Oh how hard it is to make and freeze and not taste.  :) Add to this a lawn tractor with a dead battery.  But I changed the battery myself. Combustion engines and I were strangers.  We are becoming acquainted. 

Garden work, fun, quilting.  The 3 things rotate all day and in the mind half the night.  But my latest quilt is coming along as one or two or three blocks in an evening.  I am not sure where this one is heading.  I am experimenting with unexpected colours in a quilt by Gerry Robinson who always has soothing quilts. My choice of Kaffe Fassett fabrics are not soothing but oh so beautifully colourful.  So I am making the blocks while pondering a bit of a change to the layout to allow the colours to exist in close but not direct contact.  We shall see.

But in the midst of this, one has to make something that will only take an evening and be a fun thing. I found this item on this site Attache case .  Thanks to Terrie Sandelin for this neat idea and one that uses scraps as well.  Who does not have scraps.  One has to keep papers related to workshops and meetings in something and old work cases seem boring after seeing this.  

Unfortunately I was unable to find the interfacing called for so used another product which is quite a bit stiffer. This was harder to work with but in the end worked.  So the buttons  on the side were replaced by hand sewing the bottom of the sides and then managing to get the top of the side under the pressure foot and doing a bar tack.  This left the middle vulnerable so I put a strap across the back and attached at the sides to keep them in place.  It works.  I also used rat tail on the edges to make them smooth.  I used two colours of thread; one on each round.  It helped to contain stray bits of thread.  

So here are pictures of the case completed.  It is scrappy and bright.  I set the closure off center too by accident but it adds a bit of eye interest.  At least is my story and I am sticking to it.  I would make another one but would ensure I had a less stiff interfacing.   Gotta run; bread ready for last rise.  Have a happy day.