Easy Breezy, Windham Challenge

 A combo post of the last few days...

I completed sewing the two quilt halves of my version of the  Easy-Breezy leader-ender and laid it out on our CalKing bed. Easy-Breezy by Bonnie Hunter of Quiltville was the leader-ender that ran September 2020-2021.  I wanted a less busy setting so used 3.5x6.5" light bricks in place of Bonnie's neutral sashings and cornerstones. 

I've wanted another quilt for our bed that was lighter in color and less traditional.  This is certainly nice and light! However, there is a wart staring at me...

This block with dark rectangles stands out way too much.  I have leftover blocks so will audition them to replace this one.  It will be annoying but the placement is just too distracting!  There will have to be borders all around in order to fit this big bed.  The quilt you see under it did shrink more than anticipated once quilted and washed, which was disappointing, so I will make this one bigger.

My next project to ponder is the Windham Challenge for Sewtopia Palm Springs in November.

Pretty collection of prints in blues.  I am considering using a block from this Kim Brackett book.  It is called Triple Star.  If my sister gives me her fabrics, I think I can make four blocks for a small quilt. I drew an alternate woven block for variety. The retreat is in the early part of November so just over a month away. So glad travel will be by car for us!

Last year I made this pillow cover: 

It was a finalist and I got to pick out a prize :)

Design Wall Monday--9/26/2022

Design Wall Monday is here again.  See more design walls on Judy's Small Quilts and Doll Quilts blog. 

Our trip to Palm Springs Sewtopia weekend will be here before we know it.  I looked around the sewing room for a project already in the works and found a box with table runner I adapted from one of Kim Brackett's quilt designs.  This one is called Beachside Bungalow, from the Scrap Basket Beauties book.  

The idea was to use up most of the leftover jelly roll pieces I had bought while shopping for placemat fabrics with daughter Erica a few years ago.  The jelly roll was at JoAnn's fabrics and Erica liked ONE of the fabrics a lot, a pretty mauve.  I used mostly neutrals from stash for those placemat fronts, and some of the brights from the jelly roll for the back.  

Lots of pieces in this project.  I chose one of my favorite Kona neutrals, Shale, a gray-green, to go with all the brighter colors.

Naturally there was an OOPS while cutting.  I had made one A block and was cutting more squares of the Kona for my plan....

..And sliced off a corner at the wrong angle.  Fortunately a rummage through the leftover solid scrap drawer yielded a large enough piece of Kone Shale to recut the square.  Since these photos I have completed sewing up a lot of the A and B Block Parts and filled a project box.  I've got the remaining two-patches paired and at the sewing machine to stitch up.  I will be all ready to layout and sew sew sew. Pondering what second project I will work on....

Design Wall Monday--More Scrappy play

Design Wall Monday--see more design walls on  Judy's Small Quilts and Doll Quilts blog. 

I played with more scraps over the weekend.  There were a bunch of long strips left over from the cutting party for my SIL last weekend, which were 1.5" wide, just right for this little project. I used four different green 1.5 x 2.5" prints and a neutral center, but lots of variety for the four corners of the rectangular blocks. 

It didn't take long to sew up the remining sets I'd laid out and sew them into this small quilt.  The blocks finished at 3x6".  For now I'll set it aside. 

I made a visit to Superbuzzy quilt shop on Saturday while hubby Grant was playing golf.  There were lots of new fabrics and patterns to look at.  I wanted to see if I could find a solid fabric to match the nail polish my manicurist picked out for me.  I told my idea to the shop owner, Kelly, who advised that the color was a difficult one to match!  The closest Kona solid was Burgundy, so I got some of that.  Then, while perusing the sale shelves I found a print that was even closer. 

The color was very close and I liked the geometric shapes. 

It is an Art Gallery Fabric called Succulence by Bonnie Christine.  I think it would be fun to make placemats out of this print. I'll have to ask my manicurist friend what color OPI the polish is.  I often let her choose the color for me--she loves that I like to change polish all the time and it's a fun change for her from the same three neutrals most people choose!

Scrappy Stitching, Sisters, and Weather

Scrappy is the current  mode in the sewing room.  I'm piecing the long rows of  Easy Breezy blocks (Bonnie Hunter's Quiltville leader-ender) in my chosen setting with a 3.5 x 6.5" spacer.  I ran out of 2" squares I was making into 4-patches, so went to my precut drawers to find something else.

I found a bunch of 1.5x2.5 rectangles and decided to make rectangular blocks.  I had lots of green pieces so played around and came up with this setting.  

These were fun to sew up--they were just finger-pressed so look a bit wonky.  Not sure what they will become yet! In case you are wondering--no, that is not the smallest scrap I save...

This scrapbooking drawer is loaded with color-sorted 1.5" and 2" strips and squares...

...with 1.5" squares as the smallest scraps.  I am not really a string quilt lover, so cut my scraps down pretty much as I go.  I was just thinking it might be fun to make a mini Jelly Roll Race quilt from all the 2" strips.  

We somehow survived all the horrible scorching hot weather that lasted for so many days last week in SoCal.  Temps were up to the high 90s at our house and there was damage to the landscape. Here's our poor avocado tree. 

It only got burnt in this one spot, luckily. 

The avocados themselves survived just fine.  

 

My daylily doesn't look too happy here!  Thankfully we have two room air conditioners to use, but due to the immense humidity up to 90% for multiple days due to the unusual west coast hurricane off Mexico, it was not pleasant to move around much at all.  Power flex alerts lasted for the whole week. I didn't mind the air-conditioning at work, for once!  I felt bad for all the kids out practicing sports, including our grandsons who are starting soccer again. 

Next on my list is figuring out what I want to take to Sewtopia, coming up in November.  My sister Kathy and sister-in-law Laura were here over  the hot hot weekend and we cut out all the pieces for Laura's project, Everbloom by Paper and Pen patterns, in a sweatshop manner we called Amish Day.  Kathy ironed the fabric and Laura and I got all the cutting done. This will be Laura's first Sewtopia and we wanted her to be able to start right in to sewing!  Luckly this year we will be able to drive to the event in Palm Springs and bring our own machines.  The travel to Florida last year was tiring!

Design Wall Monday--Plaidish2 blocks

Design Wall Monday, this Labor Day Holiday--see more design walls on Judy's Small Quilts and Doll Quilts blog. 

Happy Labor Day!  

I only needed two more of the A blocks for the Plaidish2 Quilt, and finished those up last night after languishing all day in our un-airconditioned house during a late summer heat wave---it got up to 102 degrees at my house and was triple-digit in most of California all day.  There was some slow stitching while sweltering, but the sewing machine stayed off until later in the evening when we could finally open the doors and windows to a cool breeze. 

White-on-white does not make for exciting updates!  I'm working on the area to the right of the center flower.. I like this needle-minder best as the legs hold my needle :) 

We had a lovely sunset with clouds and a breeze.  

Artsy-Fartsy try at reflected clouds in the half moon window with the half moon in the sky. 

Long after sunset and with the house cooler, I set to getting the Plaidish2 blocks sewn up.  I only needed a couple more of the large A blocks, and just a few of the B blocks as well.  

The Plaidish/Plaidish2 quilts are free patterns by Erica of  Kitchen Table Quilting.  The Plaidish2 pattern uses more mediums than any other value, so uses up a lot of scraps that most people have.   I decided to wait until I have the center completed before making the C block borders from my remaining mid-value scraps.  I have a lot of repeats in my fabrics and I think it may be easier that way to avoid  same fabrics touching.  If I need more variety, there are plenty of scraps to choose from around here!

My niece Hannah was gifted the first Plaidish Quilt I made last year.  

Another Plaidish Quilt will definitely be made, though I think I will use the designer's suggestion to choose a single fabric for the larger dark squares, as I don't have nearly as many darks in my stash! This pattern used up a lot of skinny strips from my precut scrap drawers, which was great.  Ok, off to sew!