Random Musings in the Summertime

Stardate 2016.203.1

Wow, has life been busy lately...  I don’t know where our summer is going, but it’s moving along very quickly.  The hot temperatures aren’t helping much but the tomatoes growing in the backyard.  I guess, though, I’ll take the thought of fresh tomatoes coming on soon over a snowy, blizzardy day.

I have managed to get some quilting time in, and am making some progress on a few items.  Luckily, the basement stays cooler and it’s a great place to hang out and work on quilting while the sun is beating down on the outside world.

The quilting is all done on the columbine quilt!  Hoo-rah!  I finally got the purple thread in that I was waiting for, and got the purple medallions quilted.  I love how this came out!  I think this really helps set off the quilt and adds interest to the outer fringes of the quilt. 

I did a lot of doodling to come up with the design.  I’m surprised how much doodling helps you contain your thoughts and think about the sewing pattern to get what you envision.  Now to stitching on the binding.  I sew the top by machine, then flip it to the back and stitch it by hand.

I know the faster way is to stitch by machine, but I’ve always liked this method – tedious as it is – because it just results in a cleaner look. That’s just my opinion.  We all do what works best for each of us, and that’s O.K.

I’ve made progress on my heart quilt.  I am trying to get this done to send to the Florida Modern Quilt Guild by their September 15^th deadline.  

I thought it’d be more fun to just do one heart in each color and then let the colors stand out for themselves amongst grays and whites.  It took me a while to figure out the math for the square blocks. Sure, I probably could have gone somewhere on the internet and found a cheat sheet, but I wanted to try to understand it for myself.  I knew I wanted a 12” finished square, but I wanted to create four triangles that would comprise the square.  Cut individually, then sewn back together, I needed the piece to finish at 12”.  So, off I went using Pythagorean’s Theorem and figured out the hypotenuse of the triangle, and then figured out the finished height of the strip set I’d be putting together to then cut the triangles.  After stewing on that for a few days, I finally figured it out and off I went.  

I like how the triangle blocks are interacting with the heart blocks and I’m starting to get excited to see the quilt come together. Still quite a bit of sewing to do, and trying to get the placement of the triangles right, but we all try to find even a precious few minutes to do some sewing or block rearranging.  And, those 15 minutes start adding up in progress.  Which reminds me, I think it’s Victoria Findlay Wolfe who challenges all of us to just spend 15 minutes free-piecing.  I’ve started to do that in order to get another quilt going made of scraps that I just can't decide to throw away.  I’ll get some pictures and start sharing that.  Right now, though, the heart quilt is taking priority.

I hope you’re all finding 15 minutes here and there to do some quilting.  Over even just a short time, you can sure see your progress emerge.