Stacked Bricks

I started this quilt on the quilt retreat at the first of the month and finished it this week. It goes fast because it's all straight sewing with no points or intersections to match. Pedal to the metal!

The whole thing was inspired by this multi-colored remnant I found on the Freebee table at guild. The rest of the fabrics came from my collection.

The bricks are cut 5 1/2" x 2 1/2". Then each one is joined to a 2 1/2 background square. Press seams toward the brick.

Here are two of the five columns pieced, ready to trim to a 1/4" of an inch from the brick points.

 

I like to trim on the floor because I can set up my cutting mat 'portrait' style for longer cuts.

 

When I posted it to my Facebook account DS1 quipped, "I'm shocked! You made a quilt with blues and purples??" Funny man, he knows my color preferences.

Community Quilts for Kids

A few more kids quilts for the annual drive at my guild.

ETA: The Redwood Fire complex has been burning in our county for days. I think these quilts will find a home with some of the survivors that have fled and lost everything.

More Vintage Ninepatches

From time to time I pull these out and sew a few more blocks, no real plan in mind, just spending time with the vintage prints. Recently I thought it might be a good idea to lay them out and see what's what.

There seems to be a bit too much red in my blocks, but when I revisited the post that showed the originals, I realized it's all a matter of personal opinion. And hers (his?) are just so random, yikes!

If I want to make a wall hanging large enough to fit the cafe rod next to the dining room table, I only need two more blocks. That's probably the way to go, because I'm running out of the nicer prints and wondered whether to change my guideline of only using fabrics that came from the estate sale. Often I find the quilt tells me which way to go. 😊

Cotton Stripe

When I found this thrifted sweater I saw the potential of fun color combinations once it was apart. But I didn't know if I could reclaim it into usable lengths of yarn or a pile of short strands.

Turns out the yarns were carried up the side, so I just had to make sure I worked each color one at a time.

 

My husband didn't like the combination of colors in the sweater, but once I had them in skeins and laid them out in this sequence, he could see the possibilities. It's fun to experiment with color.

 

Miniature Quilt Exhibit

The county art museum had a miniature quilt exhibit that boasted hundreds of miniatures. I stopped in after quilt guild and enjoyed viewing them. One of the fun things about minis, even a lot of them, is that they don't take up too much space!

 

I liked the way some of the mini quilts were in frames. What a great idea.

 

This was the first time I used the camera on my low-end cell phone. If I'd known it would do an okay job, I would've taken more pictures!

Time to Get Away

For our 38th anniversary we got outa Dodge and went to a BnB on the Mendocino Coast. It has been HOT and smoky for weeks at home and the cool sea breezes were so wonderful!

 

The Howard Creek Inn is housed in a ranch circa 1870. It was rustic and somewhat funky. But the breakfasts were amazing and the natural views and flower garden, a real joy.

 

 

 

 

It turns out the ranch is part of 60 acres. On our last morning there we found the trail head into the redwoods and took a hike. The sign post said, "Enchanted Redwoods". We agreed.

It was hard to leave but at least we live in the redwoods, it's not like we were going home to the city. 

Help from the North Wind

I finally finished piecing all 256 Split nine patch blocks and decided to lay it out to check the consistency of the colors. When I make a multi-fabric quilt, I try to create what I call a 'planned random' layout, to balance the shades and spread out the prints so the same ones aren't grouped or bunched up.

I was making good progress and not getting too lost in the layout when North Wind decided to give me a hand. Dang! Back to the beginning. Then I made four or five replacement blocks.

Finally I packed it up with each row in sequence, ready to be webbed into the center portion of the top.

In the Finishing Mood

I finished another donation quilt today. It feels good to get some of these tops quilted and turned into usable quilts. Here's the backstory on this one.

Replacing Plastic in the Kitchen

I've been reading how bad plastic is for the environment as well as our bodies, so I made a concerted effort to find food and water container alternatives. It all started with wanting a way to not drink water from a plastic water bottle, then one thing lead to another.

Canisters before

Canisters after

Leftover containers

An added benefit, I can see what's inside

Produce bag

Snack bag for the lunch box

It was also interesting to me to notice I've had these Tupperware canisters for 35 years or longer. A couple of them were given to me by my Mother-in-law, who knows how long she had them! That just underscores for me the way plastic never goes away, no matter how long it's around.

Scrappy Bargello Complete

It's a wrap. I enjoyed working with a different (for me) color scheme. You can see the earlier post about this quilt here.