Gone To The Beach: 06.23.2023

Friday, June 23, 2023

The Little Quilt Room ~ Closing for Summer

Hi on this rainy Friday. [trust me, it is barely 60* here].

Mo and I are cold. I know summer's unbearable heat is just days away but...brrr. I had to get out our Warmies [HERE, lavender and grain heating pads] because we got so wet and chilled on our walk. Mo has added one of his cashmere sweater blankies and best dolly, Gator.

June quilts:

Winter Marsh did not get put together by June 1st, or even July 1st next week.

The inner word border is taking time and focus.

Important to avoid the dreaded ''chevron effect'', top two geese, which occurs when one does both light and dark Vs.

I marked all the strips and made notes for my plans. Unless the rain stays and why would it, it never has...I won't get back to this project til January!

Even if I have some machine sewing days, I hope to make a Christmas gift small quilt, and possibly free up time for Lori/ Humble Quilts Fall sewalong, unless it is a mystery. [she is already planning, so something fun to look forward to in September!].

Last week I forgot to show you the pincushion I made w my tiny iPhone quilt's too-small try out block. Funny how a little new item can bring a smile.

We did have a few deck sewing afternoons and I finished the binding of Welcome.

I love the backing, a long saved fabric from a road trip to the Fabric Warehouse and their piles of end-lot quilt fabrics they used to sell. This print reminds me of early American redware/ tin glazed sgraffito pottery. [here]

I have not put any initials or dates; maybe someday. And I have not washed the quilt. Being a wall banner, it really doesn't need to be soft and scrunchy, though I had planned the leaves to fray for depth and texture.

When I was working on the project, I dithered about the final sawtooth border, feeling ''lazy'' to not do that, but I could never make the colors gel. Now I am happy that I chose to eliminate that extra width. The finished piece just fits about the pine bride's bench.

Forgive the blue tape! Of course in the fall I will fill the bench with more apropos décor, crocks, pumpkins, bittersweet. Though I have less hope than ever that my Thanksgiving dreams will ever come to be.

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The tie dye tee-shirts pleased my friend, for her daughter for camp. Camp starts next week, so we'll see if the project is a kiddie style success too. The tees were rather a challenge, causing some neck and back pain---my friend thought I was a big ol' lazy procrastinator! Besides time waiting for inks and dyes to cure and set, there was somewhat of a learning curve to produce four separate designs, tie dye, resist dye, spatter paint, ice dye; then iron-on patches and sewed on trims; knotted fringe! And the tees all had to be altered to fit the tiny child. Harder than they look, but I enjoyed the process--new/old and different. [pics are very edited for child and camp's privacy, sorry.]

Poof, and June is over.

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Journals: still plugging away. I find the painting and coloring so much more calming than machine sewing. I'll put pics in a post over the weekend or Monday-ish.