The best-laid plans

 Hi everyone! Here we are at the last weekend in July. How is that even possible? This was a very productive week for us here at the AQ household. Last weekend we decided to take down the enormous mirror that took up an entire wall in our bathroom. Seriously, it was about 8 feet by 6 feet. Huge! If you've ever wanted to watch yourself shower, this was the mirror for you! We managed to get it down, in many, many pieces, only to discover that there really wasn't a wall behind it. They had put the mirror over some plywood and the very old built-in medicine cabinets.

Those of you who have done home improvements know where I'm going with this. One thing lead to another, and now we have completely re-done the bathroom. Yeah, we had a "good" time with wallboard and new lights, and new mirrors and rugs, and a shower surround, and everything else. I wish I could say that it was fun, but at least it's now over. It took forever!

All of this is leading up to this week's small finish, which I had planned to quilt this week, but did not get a chance to, what with all the scraping and sanding and whatnot. Here is my project:

 

Ah, it's luminous, is it not? I love these colors individually, and together they look even better! I started this project quite a while ago, and intended to make a full quilt from it, so I had plenty of fabric for the small borders. After it's quilted, I'll use the green that's in those little squares for the binding. I think that will be just right and really make the whole piece.

 

 

I did intend for this to be a full-size quilt, but, alas, it was not to be. The project went into a box when we moved, and it's only now come out. I still had dreams of a nice lap-sized quilt, but it was either make a smaller project, or keep it in the box. I made the (really hard) decision to make it into this small table topper or wall hanging instead of shutting it up in the box again. I've done a lot of repurposing this year, and I don't regret any of it, even though giving up on the bigger quilt was really difficult in this case.

 

 

I love this whole thing-- the blocks, the sashing, the colors, the fabrics-- and now at least I'll get to look at it every day, even if it isn't a full-size quilt. If you want to make the block yourself, the instructions are HERE. (It doesn't look like the same block, but it is! Color placement is everything.) I wish there was a pattern for the sashing, but I just made that up myself. You could try a piece from a Storm at Sea block, though, to get the same effect.

But I do regret not getting to quilt this piece this week! I really should have known better-- a mirror that size had to be covering up something. I do plan to quilt this little topper really soon, and I already have a quilting plan all drawn out, which is really unlike me. It might not be a big quilt, but it certainly will be a pretty one!

Hope you all have a really good weekend as we move into August. (August!) I know for sure we're not doing any home improvements this weekend because my niece will be here, and we will be showing her and her hubby all of the wonders of Baltimore. It should be fun! 

Sharing at Confessions of a Fabric Addict, Brag About Your Beauties, and Finished or Not Friday.

A challenge in blue and purple

 Hello everyone, and welcome to another summer weekend. Aren't they great? This week I've seen people (okay, mainly fabric companies) busting out fall-themed projects, and I've wanted very much to tell them to stop it. Summer is short enough-- don't rush toward fall! I still have tons of ice cream to eat!

It's time for another check-in for my projects for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge, and I've done okay with the darker blue this month. Turns out I have a few that are actually kinda cute, which is a surprise to me. Here are my Saguaro blocks in darker blues:

 

 

Definitely not navy, but not too bad. I really like the floral. Also, are blueberries blue or purple? I couldn't decide, but I put them with the blues. Either way, they fit nicely into this quilt. You might notice that the "leaves" on the blueberry block are kind of brownish, but that's a batik that has a lot of green in it, and that's just the way those hsts turned out. Sometimes fabric is like that.

I also made the last of the purples, so here are those three blocks:

 

 

I like them! Where else could I have used that grape fabric? I have no idea where I got it, but it has been kicking around here for quite a while.

So now we're getting to the stage where I'm starting to think about putting some blocks together and what the final quilt is going to look like. I threw some of the blocks into the design wall, just to see:

 

 

I like them and think they'll make a great quilt, but does anyone else think there is a lot of white space there? In the pattern there are a lot of different backgrounds, so it's not as noticeable, but mine are all white and I think it might look a little bland. I thought about using stitch and flip corners on the the blocks to mitigate some of the white space:

 

 

What do you think? Is it too distracting? Does it look too much like a bullseye? I think I like it, but do I want all green, like the "leaves," or multicolors? Or maybe I want a sashing and cornerstones instead! That could make an alternate block on it's own if I do it correctly. Decisions, decisions. . .

Fun things to ponder! Hope you have a lovely summer weekend with lots of sunshine and ice cream. We are going to try to take down a massive (8 feet by 6 feet) mirror in the bathroom. I'm tired of watching myself shower. Wish us luck! 

Sharing at soscrappy for RSC 21.

A very pink week

 Hi all! How's it going? We are hot and humid, but, you know, it's July. Have to expect that, right?  Break out the popsicles and ice cream, because hot food is out of the question right now.

I've been working on a couple of things this week, and it turns out there's kind of a pink theme happening right now. First up are the latest of the "old and new" blocks:

 

 

I didn't set out to make three coral blocks, but that's how it worked out. Sometimes it's like that, right? I love these blocks, and now I understand why the modern blocks are so popular. They are so much faster to make than the traditional blocks. I think the traditional blocks are worth it, though, especially when they turn out so pretty.  The block on the left is actually a block from a Civil War sampler, if you can believe it. So much prettier in coral and green than gray and blue!

 

While I'm thinking of it, if you happen to know the fabric line or designer of the fabric above, could you please let me know?  I messed up and used that fabric for a different quilt, and now I only have a few scraps and I need some more of it. I know it's a long shot, but maybe one of you will recognize it. 

In other pink news. . .Lynne over at Patchery Menagerie has been making herself a luscious pink quilt, and that inspired me to pull out these leftover magenta pieces:

 

These are left over from a Bonnie Hunter quilt that I finished in a different way from the pattern. If I use four of these per block, I have enough already assembled for 16 blocks, and enough pieces cut for a total of 24 blocks. My real dilemma is how to put them together. As I see it, there are two options:

 

I like them both, which makes it difficult to choose. The four patches are also leftovers, so I thought I might go ahead and use them here, too. It feels like there are hundreds of them, and they have to get used somewhere! For the stars, I'm leaning to the ones on the right, if only because they'll fit better with some kind of alternate block. I haven't chosen that yet, but I feel like I have to figure the stars out first. One thing at a time! (Which doesn't seem to happen around here, actually. . .)

So, it's been a very pink week so far! I love pink, so that makes me plenty happy. Plus, here is a sneak peek of a non-pink project that I'm trying to finish up:

 

 

Yikes! There is embroidery involved with this one, and it's a bit too warm to hold on my lap, so it's going slowly. But it's thrilling to have it at this stage!

Hope you're all having a good week, with lots of air conditioning. Try not to melt, and pass those popsicles!

Sharing at Midweek Makers.

Peaceful blue vibes

 Hi all! How have you been, besides really hot? I had a great week, mainly because we spent most of it with family, including both my parents and my grandkids. It was my dad's Covid-postponed big birthday bash, and it was a blast! A lot of us in this now-extended family were able to get there, and it was just great to be together. There may have been some tears, and not just from the teething one-year-old. The best part for me was getting to see my grandkids interacting with my parents, and listening to the five-year-old tell my dad all about his trip to the haircut store (which he loves.) We all had the best time.

We got home to find a pile of mail that was postmarked in December. (I am not joking.) Thanks for the Christmas cards, folks! I also got back to today's finished quilt top. I meant to take pictures before we left, but it didn't happen. Oh, well! That's what Friday mornings are for, right?  Here is a nice cool blue quilt top for those of you who are really warm right now:

 

 

Yahoo! This is my first quilt top for the Positivity Quilt Along, and this quilt is destined for Mercyful Quilts. You know I had to do something different from everyone else, so I set mine with alternate blocks and added borders. I kept it all monochrome so that it would feel peaceful and calm, and I'm happy with how it looks.

 

 

To tell the truth, I think the borders really make this quilt. When I finished the quilt center I was really in despair because it was just so bland. Not peaceful and calm, just blah. I added a pale blue narrow inner border and a wider outer border in a deeper blue and it came alive. I was so relieved!

 

 

This quilt used up a couple of pieces that have been kicking around here for a really long time. Every last bit of the primary beige in the quilt top got used, and I even had to piece the very last large square. All of the beige in the alternate blocks also got used up, and if you look really closely you'll see that there are four alternate blocks that use a different beige. I ran out of the first fabric and had to improvise. Nothing to be done, and it still looks good. Most of the two blues were also used up.

 

I've ordered a pale blue backing for this quilt, and I really need to have it finished before mid-August if I have any hope of making Preeti's deadline. I think the only way to quilt this is with a crosshatch that follows the chains in the alternate blocks. Thank goodness, because I am pretty sure I can handle that!

Hope you all had a great week and are looking forward to a great weekend. It's nice to be home, but I have more laundry to do,  and I'd better hit the grocery store because I'm pretty sure we'll want to eat sometime in the next 24 hours. Then there is that second Mercy quilt, which is calling my name, along with sixty more things. . .it never ends. Not that I want it to! Happy stitching, and I hope you all are having happy reunions, too.

 

Sharing at Confessions of a Fabric Addict, Finished or Not Friday, Brag About Your Beauties, and Preeti's linkup.