April Quilts etc~ so far

 Hi on this sunny but frigid Friday! Baby Mo and I are staying in and keeping warm! 

The wind is howling, despite the brightly deceiving Mr Sunshine. Just look a these wind chills yesterday.

All the lavender hearts and some other good things are now listed on etsy, link on right sidebar. My main quilt projects have stalled as I waited for fabric to be shipped. The good news is the blue shibori dot, for Blue Pineapples, was shipped today! And a few days ago the solidi red and cheddar came for Cartwheels.

I think the new solids work. 

Not perfect but okay. [my camera exaggerates reds and can be misleading, as the red I used for sashing is a very close match in person.

Anyway the new red is very good I think. I don't plan to wash this quilt ever, I feel the spokes of the wheels are too fragile. But just in case I ordered a jar of Retayne to set the red dye of the modern fabric when I prewash it. Retayne is available on Amazon and websites like Joann's.

The orange is as close as I think I will get. It's a smidge too modern and clear. It is prewashing with a bunch of black tee shirts even as I write this. Hopefully the black tees and the murky wind-whipped water I have this week will take that overly brilliant edge off the orange without ruining it.

To keep busy I made two small quilts that will be for a small  Christmas exchange. {I do hate that word "swap", reeks of car parts and guys in wifebeaters on a 100* day]. So even though I don't think my friend reads my blog I better not show you that project yet.

The exchange challenge is to use our TQC postcards to make a small quilt and then that will be our gifts for Christmas '21.

My project was really fun! But I made it the day of my second covid shot and following at-home days afterward, and oh boy, did I make a LOT of mistakes. I think I picked out almost every seam.  I 've been saying ''no side effects'' w my Pfizer shot [except a big bruise] but maybe brain fog a little?

The TQC postcards are darling but the pictures are somewhat obscured--- that didn't help.

This is NOT the swap quilt I made, but oh, isn't it traditional and precious. Maybe for my next 

Lucky* series mini?

[ps I cannot find the red horseshoes fabric*, what the heck?!].

No picture but I started prepping the Pear for Cheri's Christmas quilt. That could take years, no rush. And I am still mulling over Morning Has Broken/ Blackbirds colors. I really need that one made, for my bedroom late winter, when I see the skeins of geese and ducks, the flocks of marsh blackbirds, filling the sky about now. A photo from internet, NOT my color palette.

                                     

Another long term project is a 25 block quilt, pattern by Geri Kimmel, c. maybe 1990s?

I was telling blog friend Nancy that I do not use and abhor the use of so-called scraps, but I admit that for the past two or three years I have put  suitable cutaways, that will fit 2 1/2" squares, in a little basket by my sewing machine. For this quilt. And during the height of the covid fear last year, when all I did was hide indoors and make masks for everyone, when I was so terrified I was almost immobilised...I'd sit down and cut a stack of little squares each day.

(If my remembered fears now seem silly or overblown t you all, please keep in mind I was told that, due to 11 years of immunosuppressant IV therapy, the doctors said if I got Covid, I would die. And no one wants to die in insolation like that.)

So anyway things improved, the basket sat. So when I got my vaccine i celebrated by finishing cutting all my saved bits and pieces.

Here is a card from TQC, that is NOT the project but has a similar feel.

I am pretty sure I will use this vintage chrome yellow as the background, may have to sub in some similars. 

A blog commenter told at one point how old and out of date and 80's ugly this print is---but I love it and it's vintage.  And it is my quilt project. No rush on that project , it is a fill in. 

It's called "It's Yellow", and so it will be.

 book page: 

Next, I took a picture of my ragged blue quilt that I use and love. It's a flea market rescue. I decided I must finish the binding repair. I was saving it for busy work when I have tedious company at the beach---but now I'd be thrilled to have anyone come, no such thing as boring. A lesson learned. Again, my camera is throwing off the colors, even within the original piecework. Pls overlook the apparent mis-match.]

]

Looking forward to Next Winter! I have my eye on this full sized quilt. 

It's a sampler, I could use all my collection of modern bright fabrics! A few blocks each week, like the very fun TQC Sampler from a few years ago, but bigger:

And this caught my eye, maybe on IG? Is it not the best, so wildly charming. How fun!

And if it's a rainy or cold weekend, prep work on Silent Night's needle turn border is next on deck--for deck time with Mo. In, hahaha, probably July! Christmas in July? 

Have a good weekend!

love

lizzy

gone to the beach....