June's Monthly Mini and Chooky's Churn Dash SAL

If I hadn't been dealing with COVID this week, I might have had this finished and posted on time. Here is my June Monthly Mini,  joining the other Miniacs with Wendy, The Constant Quilter. Check them out!

Back in April I made the center of this from leftovers of my version of Gay Bomers' Heartfelt pattern. I  couldn't decide--border, or no border? Since then I had given up on a border and had even cut the batting and was trying to choose what to use for backing. That was when I happened across the floral print stripe on a visit to Village Dry Goods. It is a Nancy Gere design, and I just had to have some, but I didn't have anything in mind for it. Back at home, as I looked at the quilt top, and then at the striped print, it just seemed to click--they belonged together. The leftover purple strips I used to border the stripe were not long enough to enable me to attempt mitered corners (not sure I'm sad about that--haven't done one of those in so long). So I used some leftover 9-patches, and surrounded them with a dark purple leftover, and trimmed the blocks to fill the corners. Then I machine quilted the whole thing, and squirted it well with water and let it air dry to give it more of a crinkled, vintage look.

The colors in the quilt seemed to be in harmony with the floribunda roses currently blooming in my garden. That is a purple rose in the center of the bouquet, but when it is in bud, it looks more red.

Aside from being late to post my monthly mini, I am also late on my monthly check-in for Chooky's Churn Dash SAL. I have not yet decided how many blocks I will have in my quilt, or how they will be set. I also have no idea how many "Double" blocks I will include. But I have 50 blocks cut--just in case. And 16 of those blocks are made, and shown below.

I have always loved Churn Dash quilts and have made several--but nothing larger than a baby quilt. So I am excited to make one large enough to cover a bed. 

It was fun to catch a bit of a Zoom with Chooky today. Just what I needed after a week of isolation. Always fascinating to see what we end up discussing, besides quilting, of course.

Sunsets lately have often been stunning. I'll leave you with one over the farmyard.

Until next time, be creative, and be kind.

Janet O.