Summer ... in Full Swing

My kids are the 3rd and 4th from left

The kids are off school and occupied with their summer activities, and even though I have to work, I'm enjoying the somewhat relaxed schedule and especially the homework-free evenings.  We haven't gone on a vacation yet (that's still in the planning stages) but we managed to get away to Santa Cruz for a day to celebrate my youngest 12th birthday.

I've been chipping away at my FWQ and but needed a change of pace, so I decided to put together a simple picnic quilt top.

I raided my large stash of mainly Alexander Henry fabrics.  It's kind of strange because I tend to buy most of my quilting fabrics in fat quarters, but over the years, I've amassed a large amount of yardage of AH prints (1 yard or more).  So when I decided I needed the satisfaction of putting together a simple quilt with large pieces (blocks are cut to 18" with simple sashing), I naturally turned to my AH prints.  I used Essex cotton/linen blend for the sashing.  It's the first time I've used Essex, and I love the hand and texture of this fabric.  I purchased the Essex from my local Beverly's which recently has stocked a really nice selection of Kona solids, Kauffman muslin (very high quality), and some other quality choices by other manufacturers.  I almost overlooked the Essex as it was mysteriously stocked next to the baby flannels.

I'm quilting it already... about a third of the way done.

And these are my latest FWQ blocks:

#72 Railroad 

#73 Rainbow Flowers

#74 Ribbons

#75 Rosebud

I hope everyone is enjoying their summer.

Can I bore you with yet more FW blocks?

Here's the whole she-bang for the year:

FW blocks

My apologies ... I was too lazy to move the lamp.

And the most current batch:



#67 Pine Tree

#68 Postage Stamp




#69 Practical Orchard

 



#71 Puss in the Corner



#72 Railroad

 That's it for now.  I noticed with my cut & pasting that my numbering system is a bit off, but I don't have my book with me so I'll have to correct this later.

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Other than sewing a few blocks this past weekend, I undertook a major cleaning of my sewing area (ahem, bedroom/sewing room).

Where the magic happens!

I cleared out literally an entire kitchen-sized garbage bag of tiny scraps!  There was no way I was ever going to sew with these snippets and it felt great to let it all go.  The green wastebasket (in front of the armoire) is what remains of my scraps... all good sized pieces, and the plastic box next too it is overfowing with larger yardages I'll probably never use.  I'm going to try to gift to friends and/or the day camp my daughter attends. 

If all else fails, I'll try to giveaway here, but this is not trendy stuff ... mainly older, out of fashion fabrics and some blenders my well-meaning husband gave me that I'll probably never use.

Tending to the Farm

I had a little burst of activity on my Farmer's Wife Sampler:



#62 Old Windmill



#63 Ozark Maple Leaf

 

#64 Peace & Plenty




#65 Peaceful Hours




#66 Periwinkle

I have now completed 66 out of 111,with 45 to go!  I have no idea how others have finished their FW quilts so quickly.  If I were to simply focus on spending 100% of my quilting time on the FW, I'd quit quilting and probably hate myself too.  So I need to be realistic...  I could finish the blocks by the end of the year if I were to pick up the pace a little bit.  That's my goal (but don't hold me to it).

I have a question to those who blog and use flickr.  How are you editing your photos now that Picnik is no longer available?  I've tried Aviary and it stinks.  What I really miss is being able to "auto-correct" the exposure and color balance.  I'm not sure if the "enhance" feature in Aviary is similar to this? 

More indigo blocks

It's finally summer and I'm hoping to find some extra sewing time now that the kids' activities have slowed down somewhat. However, I woke up on Friday with a bad case of vertigo and ended up going to the ER.  I'm still feeling the effects, but I'm feeling better and the meds do help quite a bit.

I actually got some sewing done, even while my world was spinning (amazing how easily-quickly the brain can adapt to different situations!).

I decided to keep making blocks until I have a fair sized throw quilt ... maybe 90x70.  I figure I'll need 10 blocks by 7 or so.  We'll see.  I'm really enjoying the process of creating these blocks.

The hand piecing is relaxing...

...and the straightforward piecing.  I'm probably going to repeat these same blocks and maybe add some sashiko blocks - although I'm not sure how I'd quilt around the sashiko stitches.  What do you think?