Bordering on Insanity

Does canning season make anyone else crazy? Boxes and buckets and bushels of ripe produce needing immediate attention, but life doesn't have a "pause" button while we take care of it all. So this week while jams and sauces were put in jars and pies and frozen veggies were crowded into the freezer, all I have had time for in the sewing room is borders!
This was a sampler made from Cheri's blog. It is a little thing--the blocks are about 3 inches. I'd link you to the instructions, but all of the photos are gone from her posts for it. However, she is starting a new fall SAL on Monday, if you want to join in.

Then I got the border on my version of Pam Buda's Nabby's Dowry.

I think I am going to name this Mahana (aka The Eight Cow Wife). Kind of a reverse on the dowry theme in Pam's title, and plays along with the tropical feel of the fabrics I have used. It is from a 1960s movie called Johnny Lingo, that is iconic in Mormon culture. It was based on a short story that appeared in Woman's Day magazine way back when. You can read about it on Wikipedia here, or even find the 30 minute movie on Youtube.

These 4-patch blocks had been getting shuffled around my sewing room for years. I don't even recall when or why they were made, but a few weeks ago I sewed them into this little quilt and this week I bordered it, too--why not? I was on a roll! This one may need tea dying.









I put another round of borders on this little piece that I made from scraps of Old Glory Gatherings recently. I thought it looked okay when I was doing it, but when I saw the photo, I wasn't crazy about it. I was thinking of binding it with a blue stripe cut on bias. Maybe that will help it. Or maybe I will just have to take off that outer border and try again.

The final border project really is insane. As my last project for this year's SewCalGal FMQ Challenge, I am doing Patsy Thompson's border challenge. You have to make a piece that has 8-10 borders for practicing a variety of border designs. It has to be finished by the end of October, and so far all I have done is select fabrics. This is what is piled on my cutting table waiting for inspiration to strike. More batiks!

I will be on the other side of the country for 8 days of October, and probably recovering from that trip for a few more afterward. Something had better come to me soon.

There was a very slight dusting of snow on the mountaintops this week, but whenever I thought about getting a photo they were shrouded in clouds. I love the contrast of white topped mountains when there is still fall color dressing the slopes. There wasn't enough snow this time to provide much contrast. It looked more like someone had sprinkled a little baby powder over the peaks, but I'm sure that will change soon enough.
Until next time,
Janet O.

A Successful Swap and A "Simply Charming" Quilt

Way back in April of this year Maureen (Pursuit of Quilts blog) and I decided to do a summer block exchange. We settled on 6" finished churn dash blocks in CW repro fabrics, with 2-3 fabrics per block. Value placement didn't matter as long as there was contrast within the block. We agreed to making two identical sets of 4 blocks each of the three summer months and to keep one set and send the other off to each other. We have been keeping the results under wraps until we had all of the blocks exchanged.  You can see Maureen's quilt in the making here. Mine is below. I just made one more block for this setting.

It was such fun to get a new package of blocks each month and to see the variety of fabrics used. We only duplicated fabric once, and that was in the last batch--the upper right and lower left blocks. And, if you can believe it, our blocks are the same size!! This is my first block swap ever, but I understand that doesn't always work out.
DD#1 is trying to adopt and while she was visiting earlier this month she indicated that she would like baby quilts in CW fabrics. The light went on in my head. These were on a design board in my sewing room, so I took her in and asked what she thought. It was not my original plan for these blocks, but I am thrilled to have them end up as a baby quilt.

During the swap some other little goodies from Maureen found their way here with the blocks. There is a sweet little thread catcher (purple!!), that I have placed next to Gidget, and a wonderful hexie pincushion, which is currently doing duty at my cutting station.
Thanks for the delightful swap, Maureen! It has been a pleasure!

I finally have the flimsy ready for the Simply Charming Every Other Month Mini Quilt SAL. (BTW, where did everybody go that was participating in this?) I will post it now, because I won't get it quilted before the link closes. This is also for DD#1. It is part of her birthday request. Her birthday was in March, and she wanted two table toppers, but since one was a Christmas table topper from plaid shirts, I wasn't rushing to finish that one when I knew she wouldn't be using it for some time. I chose to do Coal Miner's Tunnel this time, but to make it a runner I removed one of the braid widths and made it just a tad longer. Hope you like it, Angie! : ) I get to deliver this one in person when we fly to NH for a visit in October!

This little project has been languishing for some time. It was a SAL back in May at quiltsbycheri blog called A Piecework Sampler. The blocks are only 3 1/2". As we neared the last couple of sets of instructions I lost my steam--had too many irons in the fire, like most every other quilter. But, happily, I found enough 3 1/2" orphan blocks to fill in the blanks. Cheri's setting called for bordering each block before adding sashing. The blocks have been laying around my sewing room for months and that bordering thing just wasn't happening. So while cutting sashing for the swap blocks above, I decided to just sash these and be done with it. I will be much more inclined to sew this up now.
I was going to link you back to Cheri's blog so that you could see her original setting, but the pictures from those posts are all missing. : (


If you are only interested in quilty content you can stop reading here. I just wanted to add a word about something that has been in the news a lot lately, that is a subject that affects our family deeply. If you saw this story on CNN's website recently, or this story from the CBS Evening News, or any number of other stories I am finding when I Google the subject, you are getting introduced to what life is like for the individuals with this rare form of epilepsy known as Dravet Syndrome. This is what my youngest grandson has and we are watching the developments on this issue with great hope and interest. Ben is such a precious little guy. Here he is on his first day this year at his preschool for kids with special needs. Gotta love him!!

Until next time,
Janet O.