Winding down the Summer

Summers pass along so quickly.

I've released most of the Monarch butterfly horde that have been eating my milkweed patch!

There are still a few left and I'll take on a few more during August and September to hopefully boost the migratory generation of these amazing creatures.  Seems like it should be a good year for the Monarchs -- I've released close to 70 and a friend has released over twice that many.

Hopefully, we are having a good impact! 

There was a big family gathering for 3 days at the beginning of August of my crew and my three siblings with their families.

We are spread out all over the US so it's rare for us to be all together at the same time and it was a happy weekend -- nice to gather for something other than a funeral! 

Upon returning home, I got back to work on my version of the Bernina ZenChic Triangle Sew Along quilt.  Earlier this week, it was ready to trim and bind.

Do you save these trimmings?

Typically, I do . . . . but not this time -- too often they just sit in that basket in the corner of the studio taunting me.

I spread the trimmed quilt out on the grass -- not sure I should admit that my only empty flat surface is the back lawn?!?  My quilting has left the edges a bit wobbly, so I decided to block it before adding the binding. 

That meant the patio needed to be swept -- hard empty flat surface. 

Then I spread out a clean sheet and put the quilt face down on it. 

I covered it with wet beach towels. 

And then stomped the moisture from the towels into the quilt.

At the end of the afternoon, I lifted off the towels and let the quilt lay for a few more hours to be sure it was completely dry. 

Yesterday morning, I bound it!! 

And here it is!!

I participated in this sew along to gain a better understanding of "modern" quilt design. 

Now it will be interesting to see how the experience impacts my quiltmaking going forward. 

Will my fabric selections get simpler?

It was also good to move completely through a finished quilt in less than a year!!

So that makes one goal for the third quarter of the 2018 Finish Along crossed off the list!

On to the next one!!

It's an ancient UFO!!

Enjoy!!

Mary

Linking up with the Third Quarter of the Finish A-Long 2018!!

Quilting!!

Back at the end of May, I showed you my version of ZenChic's Bernina Triangle quilt along.

Even though I don't have a definite purpose/recipient for this quilt, I put it on my second quarter goal list for the 2018 Finish Along challenge.

Keeping it up on the design wall forced me to keep the momentum going -- it needed to come down in one complete quilt top or not at all since it took quite a bit of concentration to get it up there in the first place following the diagram that Brigette Heiland shared with us! 

So I was pleased to have everything together!!  This is one of those quilts that is more interesting at close range -- my soft palette of colors plus the low contrast of value between the assorted prints and the green background (it's one of the Moda grunges) make it difficult to photograph.

It was a bit short in length for me so I added a border to the top and bottom but I used the height of the inner rows and inserted a couple of the feature prints to camouflage them. 

Time to make a backing!

My determination to use lots of what I already own sent me on a stash diving adventure.

Happily I was able to pull a half dozen pieces that echoed the palette of the quilt top!

If you've never made a pieced backing, it's a bit like an improv puzzle.

I pressed all the fabric and then put the largest  pieces on the design wall -- I pinned a note with the measurements to each piece of fabric.

Like many of you, I find it easier to proceed if there is a "visual" in front of me. 

Next step is to sort the pieces into "similar" width groups. 

In this case, I discovered that I had enough fabric to make two fairly wide columns. 

The space between represents a third column that will bring the backing up to the needed width. 

I keep the vertical grain of the fabric going up and down so the backing behaves more like one piece of fabric -- that makes the quilting easier!

And if I can keep selvages along the outer edges of the left and right columns, that's even better!!

Once the two outer columns were long enough, I started working on the center column.

(There was more stash diving at this point!) 

Here's my backing -- 5 yards of some "on the edge" of very old fabric in it's new forever home!! 

At this point, the quilting is underway -- all straight(ish) lines -- 1/4" on each side of the seams.  That was the basic plan in my head as I finished piecing the top, but when I saw Brigette's blog post (HERE) about the quilting of her version, I was sure my idea was good!!

My goal is to finish by Saturday, June 30?

And I could do it -- not much on my calendar for the week!

I had a great outing yesterday so hopefully I'll be content to stay close to home and quilt!

Want to see some of what I saw?

I joined a group of damselfly and dragonfly lovers along a local river -- one thing that could help me add pursuing this lovely little creatures more often is that they don't fly until the sun is shining -- no early mornings for them unlike birds!!

But the morning stayed cloudy and the river was high, so insect sightings were challenging. 

Happily, the forest edge along the river is lush -- no signs of heavy deer browsing which unfortunately is becoming an all too common a sight in my area!!

Native Ostrich ferns underneath a canopy of large sycamore trees.

And these Canada lilies were abundant!!

They tower above the rest of vegetation and I've never seen so many!

Look at this color!!

Once the sun came out, we did begin to see quite a few insects.  I can remember seven different species including this one which was new to me -- a Violet Dancer. 

It's about 2" long and the shade of violet along it's body varies a bit but is always tipped with a blue/violet.

I just noticed that interesting beetle in the lower right of this picture?!?

Wonder what that is?

I will also say that dragonflies and damselflies can be more challenging to spot than birds!

But it's interesting to become more educated about them.

They are a good indicator of good quality environments so it's important to understand and appreciate them!

Okay, back to that quilting!!

Have a lovely week!

Mary