Breezy Evening

The last few nights around here were refreshingly cool and less humid. We had windows open with a fan circulating a breeze. Lovely weather!

For this quilt, I cut black, blue and cream batik into parallelograms, paired with light blue triangles and rectangles, and arranged them into mosaic blocks. I laid out the simple but striking design in EQ8, using the batik again for rotary cut 5” borders. Breezy Evening is 51” square.

I quilted free motion with dark gray thread in an overall meandering pattern. I switched to a satin stitch to make a square in each block center.

Now our weather is changing back to hot and humid...it is Tennessee, you know...so windows are closed and the AC is running. That's ok, my plan is to sew and clean all week.

Accuquilt dies used:

55797 Qube Mix & Match 10” Block

55017 Strip 2½”

Take time to delight in cool fall evenings 

Glorious Day

Aqua, lime and hot pink combined with white and gray make me think of blue skied summer days. For this beauty, I dipped into my scrap baskets and cut with the Glorious Nine Patch die from Blue Wren.

Sixteen blocks, bordered by 3½” strips make a 46” square quilt called Glorious Day. I quilted with light gray thread around the circles, across the centers, and over the block seams. The backing is a gray and white medium floral print.

Glorious Day

On a side note, even though some businesses in Tennessee are reopening, we are still taking precautions and isolating at home. The only exception was Saturday, when we picked up an order of fresh strawberries and bedding plants from a local farm.

The upside to staying home is taking time to enjoy being here, relaxing and just living. I did get a bit too close to nature on my walk the other day, though. I stepped on a big ole snake that was snoozing in a pile of leaves! Scared me to death, but it wasn't poisonous and didn't bite me. I'll stick to walking in the driveway for a while.

Dies used:

Blue Wren 6562 Glorious 9 Patch

Accuquilt 55032 3 ½” strip

Wake up in the morning

with a positive mindset

and a joyful heart.

Be determined

that it will be

a glorious day. 

Bad Computer

About a month ago, I bought a new laptop computer. I spent a week installing and updating software and copying files from my old one. I had everything just like I wanted. Then, poof! The bluetooth stopped working last Thursday; it just disappeared.

After a day of troubleshooting, reinstalling drivers, trying solutions, and talking to Deepak from Dell, we gave up. Thirty-six years of computer experience didn't help this time.  It is apparently a hardware failure of some kind. I am shipping it back to Dell for warranty service this morning.

I had to move all info off the hard drive for security.  So, whenever it gets back, I'll have to install everything again from my backups. 

So, no blog today. I've had enough for now. I'm taking a break from technology. I'll be sewing, cooking, reading a novel or two. Hope to be back next week.

Dazzler

Dazzler

I love purple...from grape to lilac, amethyst to lavender. I recently added touches of royal purple to my guest bathroom. This small 18” x 22” wall quilt, Dazzler, is made up of drunkard's path blocks. I quilted around the curves in dark purple thread. This one only took a day to complete. It's satisfying to work on small projects because they finish up quickly.

Now I am on the hunt for a couple of matching hand towels and perhaps a colorful rug. It's the little things, you know, that bring me joy. 

This month I've been making a daily note of gratitude. Looking back, most of them are simple pleasures, and I like that. 

  

Sometimes we get so caught up
in trying to accomplish
something big,
that we fail to notice
the little things
that give life its magic

Twilight Stars

Twilight Stars

The friendship star block is a fairly easy one, made up of squares and half square triangles. Purple, true blue, and navy batiks with light gray centers show up beautifully against a sky blue background. This 40” x 52” size would be a nice crib or lap quilt. I sewed the top in August and finally quilted Twilight Stars on Saturday.

I put together a little bonus quilt from the scraps, called Grapesicle. I used my new equilateral triangle die to quickly cut pieces, so the front was done in a day. 

Backing is pieced in random strips of pink, purple, and gray, set in two rows. I stitched along the triangles for an overall diamond pattern and bound it with a gray stripe. It measures 22” x 26” and coordinates with the grape walls in my sewing room.

✦✦✦✦

“I just want the simple things. I want to lay on a blanket at twilight and look at the stars. I want to breathe deeply, then exhale out negativity. And I know it is within my power to do just that. So I did. I left crazy drama behind to walk straight toward simplicity and peace. I've never been happier.” – Author Unknown 

 

Break Time

A Breath Of Fresh Air

Twisted Picnic Squares

How refreshing! This morning I have our windows open, with fans pulling cool, sweet breezes through the house. That's a welcome change from the heat and oppressive humidity of the past two months. I'm having my coffee on the porch as I write, watching the hummers feed. It's a perfect way to begin a Monday.

Last week when it was so hot and rainy, I stayed indoors to finish another quilted piece. This one is in country summer colors with two old fashioned bright blue floral prints and contrasting red gingham accents.  Perfect for a summer picnic, don't you think?

“Some old-fashioned things 

like fresh air and sunshine 

are hard to beat.” 

~Laura Ingalls Wilder

Pausing To Breathe

You know that moment. The one when you feel the need to scream out loud. That's when you need to pause...and just breathe. 

 

So I've pressed the pause button to eliminate all the noise, the drama, and the stress. It can go on without me.

Right now I'm breathing, stretching, and relaxing on a beautiful spring day.  My mind is quiet and I've let go of frustrations. This feels so good that I may stay on pause for a while.

“Sometimes magic hides behind chaos.

You have to turn off all the noise to find it.”

~katiescarlett