Cartwheels Quilt

 

We had strange weather blow through the other evening: Odd clouds, yellow sky [eeek, tornado?], the a brief but violent downpour. Like a wet blizzard. An hour later the night sky was all black velvet and HUGE moon like a spotlight, shining in. Bizarre. Now today, huh. Let me just say this: 86 and windy is better than 79 and still. The biting flies and gnats chased us off the deck. The still air has generated dragonflies, butterflies [small, rusty/ Painted Lady?], swarms of small bees and other biting critters. I have to look online for bug repellent for Mo. The flies bit him terribly in moments.

And now it is August, long awaited July, first month of summer, is gone. 

One of my planned-ahead summer projects was to complete the binding on Cartwheels and give it a gentle wash. Last stitch the other day, as July came to an end.

I bought the circular blocks during the darkest times of Covid lockdown, either on eBay or Amazon Marketplace.  Oddly they were perfectly 14 1/2" square, all of them. [trimmed] but the piecing was was/ is wild and wonky, especially the cheddar circles around the spokes.

Unlike some ''finishers'' I do not ''fix'', or remake, wonky blocks. At most I repair holes or areas of bad stains. I feel that the original maker's work, bad, good, excellent or awful, is worth saving and valuing, studying.

The new but old red sashing, from a small yardage I had of 19th century turkey red  matched a lot better in low winter light and before I had my eye surgery.

I got up the nerve to wash the quilt. The final texture is amazing and well worth the anxiety. Maybe there was an overall fade in the old blocks but looking at the before and after pics I can't differentiate, so it must be okay. Beautiful Feather quilting by Lori C at Quilters Imagination.

before wash

after wash

Only one spoke shredded and can be replaced at some point. Washing settled the very badly pieced cheddar rims, too.

Amazingly the red solids---and old prints too, ya never know--did not run or bleed. I had tested the antique blocks w a damp Q-tip and got a lot of red residue. Uh oh.

Wash was gentle , cold, lots of Retayne [as label directions of volume to yardage estimate] and maybe 8 Color Catchers. One tee-shirt added as a filler turned ugly pink but everything else seemed fine. Color Catchers were slightly dingy but not much pickup. Dryer on normal/ medium to get the crinkle and dry it enough to allay mildew worries w high humidity.

This project's backstory has an odd synchronicity for me. I owned a lovely Southern provenance Wagonwheels quilt early in my quilt collecting years. It was cheddar ground with black tires or wheel rims and many tiny pieced scraps as spokes. The back was a  beautiful blue plaid homespun. Black thread utility quilting! Prob dated around 1890-1900? At that time I was more focused on lighter brighter quilts, as I moved from Brooklyn where I displayed my most primitive dark quilts on the 14' exposed brick walls. The quilt languished in my cupboard, but the dealer who sold it to me from his personal collection always asked about the quilt and wished he had not parted with it.

Needing money I finally sent it back to him to either keep or sell. But I too regreted parting with it. I made my current Cartwheels in its memory. The dealer sadly passed away this year, never having sold my quilt---and his family understandably had no idea about its whereabouts. Gone into auction no doubt. [I lost my stoneware crock collection in a similar manner---lent to my dad, auctioned with his own crocks when he passed away. You'd think I would learn.]

Last note: The final result is not quite what I imagined, the cheddar bars and accents were added, a way to widen the quilt. I'm not a fan of long rectangular quilts. I love the result. And happy that it is washed and fresh so it can be a bed or table display quilt, maybe late fall.

How about you---do you use old orphan blocks? Are you a fixer or a keeper? And why?

Two quilts from IG:

Pansies bec it is so adorable!

And ---NOT mine!---from IG, great ''someday'' project idea, knowing how I love making Flying Geese blocks. Love the subtle color play and neutral bars.

love 

lizzy

 gone to the beach.... 

Sturgeon Moon, August Super moon:

 

Summer Miscellany

 

Hi everyone. Today is the first day it has been too hot for me and Mo to stay out for long on the deck.  Not sure why it felt dreadful, not that hot, 85, and only 60% humidity. Brilliant sun and no breeze, I guess. I'm  grateful for the new AC installed in the bedroom, here where I work at my little computer desk.

Mo is not a cuddly doggy but he is always as close to me as he can get.

[This post was delayed because I have had no internet and / or no electricity for the past few days!]

When I was outside I did take pics of my ''micro prairie" , the cosmos/ coreopsis/ and the tiny blue mystery weed.

I've been working on ID-ing the little blue mystery plant, w the help of Mel and Bovey Belle. I got out all my seed packets for the past 3 or 4 years. These two containers are now  my wildflower garden or as I saw on IG some call it a micro prairie. So cute.

Blue Gilia?

Nope! This year what I am seeing is Lacy Phacelia.

I don't empty this pot each year. I clear it and fertilize, may add new layer of soil if needed. So the seeds germinate somewhat randomly. Not always the year I sowed them. I think some of the wildflower seeds need repeated hard freezes to germinate.

One packet said Blue Gilia, but both Mel and BB suggested Lacy Phacelia and this week as the plants flower and form seeds the characteristic curled shaped of that flower's seed pods  is appearing. It is listed on this seed pack, from last year.

Blue Gilia from another seed source.

And again the Lacy Phacelia. hmmmm.

The Dollar Store seed packet mentions neither.

This year's flower I am definitely calling the Lacy Phacelia. Don't you love that name! Sounds like a Southern belle in Gone with the Wind. [is that old classic banned now?]

And many of the  packs list Chinese forgetmenots! These are supposed to be American prairie or meadow seeds. Why the Chinese FMN and are they the same as I used to love on visits to Ohio, where the rocky lake [filled quarry?]banks had the only wild FMN I have seen. [no, Chinese FMNs are natives of Tibet [like Mo!]  and not true forgetmenots, says Google.]

Meanwhile Borage wins the prize for the best blue. Not showy, a simple herb or medicinal. But the color!

And was so happy to see a new chrome orange/ tangerine ''coreopsis", only to discover, on an old seed pack that it is a tangerine cosmos.

All the meadow and prairie seed packets say Attract Pollinators/ bees/ honey bees. My little microcosm has never had a honey bee, perhaps they do not live here. I see a lot of small insects that we called sweat bees, as kids. They are attracted to sweaty humans and they bite. Also yellow jacket wasps, some white [cabbage?] butterflies, gnats and aphids. Last year I saw bumble bees but none so far this summer.

The Zinnies and Maris are doing great and always make me smile.

*******************

I've been curtailing Mo's walks somewhat especially due to burning pavement for some favored routes. This area is shaded later in the day, so we walk there often. Mo is not so pleased, he prefers the walk to the beach bench and on around the neighborhood instead.

Earlier this week he went for  a brief sleep away visit, to my friends who have the cool grassy yard. 

And air conditioning.

zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Some flowers we see: BIG zinnias. Teacup size, waist high.

Late bloom blue hydrangeas. A nice fill in.

Gorgeous lavender Hosta bells.

I was always taught that Hosta should not bloom, ugly and takes away from the foliage. But it seems in recent years there's been an effort to make them beautiful. So delicate yet profuse. The variegated leaves are lovely too.

I didn't sew this past week. Just cleaning, cooking, mending. When I was pressing the Blue Mystery flower for my nature journal, I found in the pressing book a hilarious and very un-addressed/ undone Goals for Summer List:

_Walk a bit further each day, even if painful.

_Walk Mo to beach bench . [only check mark item]☑️

_Do the beginner mobility exercises w Justin Agustin here on IG every day or as suggested. [for some reason, I can't DO things I see on a screen---goes too fast.  Julie blogger friend does You Tube tutorials often; learns so much. I just can't.]

_Sew more/ scroll less. 🤣🤣🤣

_Sew words on Marsh quilt.

sigh. Well summer is only half over, right!?

*********************

love

lizzy

gone to the beach...

The other evening we had the first rainbow of this summer. It was pale but always brings such joy.

*****************

Close ups of Hollyhocks runner for Bovey Belle.