Summer Days

It's been a week since I posted because I haven't felt very productive lately. Blame it on lazy summer days,

I completed big stitch hand quilting and binding on a second wedge for the modern potholder quilt, we're calling Pot Luck. It has been in the hands of 16 modern quilters, and I'm adding wedge shapes on four sides to make the whole thing tilt, and give it more interest. 

The latest wedge I added is on the bottom, so now that top and bottom have wedges. I will sandwich the two sides, big stitch hand quilt them, and bind one side to add to the quilt center. When all four sides are attached, I will bind the entire perimeter. Just not sure yet whether that binding fabric will be Aruba (blue) like the wedges, or the gray-white stripe. 

In assembly line style, I'm piecing the last six blocks of 30 blocks for the Bibliography quilt (an Amy Friend design) made mostly from selvedges. As you can see, I will have lots of selvedges left over. (sigh)

Lastly, my go-to handwork continues to be my #30DaysofImprovQAL quilt from 2023! I thought I would be done with it by now, but I find myself big stitch hand quilting more densely than I anticipated (no machine quilting). Besides straight line and curved quilting, I'm adding decorative stitches like X-stitches, herringbone, and fly stitches. With August 1 coming very soon - typically when #30DaysofImprov QAL begins - I wonder if Shannon Fraser @shannonfraserdesigns will be repeating this activity. 

Central Florida MQG has two group charity quilt efforts going on that were introduced in the past month. Coincidentally, they're both using a theme of lines and bars in a "Dreamlines" (à la Brenda Gael Smith), and are in very similar color palettes! One group quilt was spontaneously planned by several members, and the other group quilt is for QuiltCon's Community Outreach Challenge. 

These two strips on the right are those I made for the "spontaneously-planned-by-several members" group quilt. We were to use two colors from their palette, and add a "dash" of Oyster (Painter's Palette). 

Gosh, I love me some curves!

At last Saturday's Central Florida MQG meeting, during Show and Tell I share my finished 66½" X 72" Large Scale Minimal Improv quilt, begun in a QuiltCon workshop in late February. It's name is Infrastructure thanks to a suggestion by my friend, Amy Friend @duringquiettime, who has a real knack for giving a quilt a one-word name. 

The quilt is labeled too! I use EQ Printables to make labels. And yes, the quilt is bound following my "No Tails Binding: Mitered Corners by Machine" blog tutorial here, that one Anonymous commenter recently wrote unkindly about. 

On Saturday I'm teaching a small group of Central Florida MQG friends how to make Kawandi. My samples, demo piece, and notions are all set to go.

Book Recommendation

My latest audiobook finish is The Book of Lost Names by Kristin Hamel. It's yet another novel that mostly takes place in WWII France. The story begins with octogenarian Eva Traube Abrams, a librarian living in Florida. A newspaper article about books found and confiscated during WWII that are now in Berlin, makes Eva rush to Germany. As she does, she remembers what took place in Paris and Aurignon when she was in her twenties.  

Back then, Eva and her Jewish parents were living in a Paris apartment when French soldiers took her father. In spite of forged papers to obtain his release, Eva learns he's already been taken to Auschwitz. Eva and her mother then use forged papers to flee to the Free Zone of France. Intending to create forgeries that will get them to Switzerland, Eva is pressed into staying to help the underground by utilizing her remarkable forging skills. Eva remains, putting in long hours to create documents to save innocent people, mostly children. All the while Eva's mother, Mamusha, frequently reminds Eva that she's being selfish and uncaring about her family. 

This was a good story, and I had warm feelings toward Eva who faced her fears in order to help others. But Mamushka... I didn't like her. She had no compassion, and her attitude made me want to slap her. I had a difficulties believing a mother would make such self-centered demands of a daughter.  

Linda's score: 4.0/5.0

Driving my golf cart home from line dancing Thursday afternoon, I found myself following this golf cart. It never ceases to surprise me what you'll see on a golf cart around town... groceries, a dog, a ladder, a person dressed as a clown, and even an airplane!

 

Linda