Bliss

No wildfire smoke.

No sweltering heat.

No rain.

No construction banging and clanging.

Just a lovely day on the deck with Anna Levens, stitching my hexies....M 

In The Beginning

Anne was quick off the mark when I first sent out my plea for friends to help make quilt tops for Quilts for Survivors but I've not yet shared her creation with you.

The colours in this one are so rich - plums and greens with just a hit of turquoise. Love it! I'm not certain, but I think that she and Jane (a.k.a. The Colour Queen) put their heads together for this combo; just lovely.

There's also a bit of grey tossed in to make it a bit more subdued. And a little 'make a big splash' message just for fun.

When we were taking pics we discovered a seam that needs a little attention before this one is bundled up for giving.

It's a very basic pattern, just squares alternated with four patches, but its the fabrics that make it sing. And that turquoise gingham is just the ticket for brightening things up a bit. 

The green border that she chose ties all the golds and greens that are scattered throughout the quilt together nicely.

Because of the darker colours in it, I suspect that this will be a great quilt for one of the guys. Whoever it is, they will be tickled to receive it....M

What To Do With The Leftovers?

Three HST blocks remained from my Sugar fix, two blue and one green, so I decided to enlarge them and add them to the pile of 16" blocks that will go to Quilts for Survivors with the quilts and flimsies. I could hang on to them and work them into a Kitchen Sink-type quilt but I have yet to make one so this way I know that they will get used, and quickly.

What to do? There was some thought to adding a border of smaller HSTs either around the entire centre block, or possibly two sides, but the math wasn't taking me easily to 16 inches so I opted for something simpler.

That mauve and green print that I had originally thought would be the light in the flimsies was still out, so I looked at it for a while, but something with a little more punch seemed to be calling my name.

I landed on a bright pink and mauve floral, as it would go with both the blue and the green...

and then found the purple for the corner stones. It's a very traditional looking block and something about it reminds me of a ribbon skirt; I think it's the border print.

The same colours were used for the green block.

It's nice to see the block pile growing as the list of quilts and flimsies grow. I think we'll have a terrific bundle for them to unpack later this fall....M

And Then There Were Two

Both of my Sugar flimsies are now together and looking almost like identical twins.

The mix of fabrics is very, very similar in both, but that's okay. These are for the Quilts for Survivors project so they will go to two different recipients.

They are bright and fresh and just varied enough to keep them interesting.

This was a great way to use up a few scraps that have been hanging around for a while.

I would definitely make another of these but I think I'd make the HSTs smaller - these finish off at 5” but I’d like to try a quilt where they are closer to 3”, still in groups of four but on point. I have a thing for small pieces so these blocks are a bit of a stretch for me (literally!); I've seen a red and green version and really liked it. Didn't do that this time around because I was too lazy to make the setting triangles. Sad.

It feels good to have a couple more flimsies to add to the pile as we are aiming to ship in early October....M

Sweet As Sugar

With all of the trimming finished, HSTs have been running through my machine at almost record speed. 

Because I was planning with one eye on the Sugar Quilt pattern, I realized well into my cutting spree that I had enough for about 1.5 quilts (my blocks will be larger so I didn't need as many as it calls for) so I just kept cutting so that I had enough for two. Why not?

I had toyed with using this mauve and green print as the light throughout the quilts but decided that the blue and green were on the contemporary side so I stayed with Kona Snow. It would have worked, it just would have had a more traditional feel.

Of course, there's one in every crowd. 

It's amazing how long it took me to figure out that this block was put together wrong. I kept rotating it thinking that I had just laid it down wrong. Didn't figure it out until the next day. Sheesh!...M

On A Lighter Note...

Despite the saturated colour that seems to be the order of the day for all of my quilty friends lately, I have been playing with a much softer, almost monochromatic palette - lots of blues and greens with a little mauve and aqua thrown in for good measure. All will be paired with Kona Snow.

I have long wanted to make a quilt with tons of HSTs in sets of four so I decided to make one for Quilts for Survivors. Then Came June's free Sugar Quilt pattern was my starting point but I made a modification or two. 

I wanted the HSTs to be relatively large so I started by cutting 8.5" squares because I have one that width (and because I was feeling a little lazy) and then made four at a time. 

There was a fair bit of time spent trimming them down to 5.5" HSTs (they will finish at 5") but I was in no hurry, and it makes such a difference when it's time to sew everything together.

The payoff is when you start seeing the blocks....M