There hasn’t been any sewing here for a few days because we traveled to see the solar eclipse. Yes, it was too brief, but it was amazing and we had a wonderful time. Due to my DH’s good planning, we avoided the crowds and most of the traffic, and it was fun to be part of the pilgrimage. Our hotel in Owensboro, KY, passed out glasses, Moon Pies, and Sun Drop soda, and we enjoyed the very beautiful Riverwalk. Then we traveled to Elkton, KY, which made us welcome on their small courthouse square. There we spent hours with about two hundred people from several states and countries in a very festive gathering that really added to the enjoyment. A shout-out to the kind Courthouse ladies who welcomed us and even had an emergency repair made to their restroom so we could all be more comfortable!
Last week, though, I finally got down to it, and made the four paper-pieced blocks for Layer Cake Explosion by Angela Gross (find the pattern on Craftsy). It has been a while since I paper-pieced, and I will admit to flipping and fussing for a while until I got the hang of it again. I’m not really sure why this block is paper-pieced, and I almost just sewed it conventionally, but I decided it would be good practice.
I pre-cut my fabric shapes and it went together easily once I got my head around it. I chain-pieced the sixteen sections, and it went quickly.
This is not the final layout, but it’s getting closer. I still have to cut sashing strips and setting triangles. And I need a bigger design wall!
I’m sorry if you’re getting wacked with wind and rain, but this cool front has brought me delightful sewing weather and I hope to make some progress. Hope you do, too!
This is the last one of these, I promise. I’m all out of the fabric, even the scraps (I have a few flannel giraffe squares, but that’s different.) And this quilt may be my favorite.
This was not on my list to make right now, but when I saw 
I quilted it all with the walking foot. First I stitched in all the ditches using silver Bottom Line. Then I auditioned three green variegated threads for the the decorative quilting. I chose the So Fine (Superior) on the right, just because it was the lightest. I always prefer bold, contrasting colors (hence all the dark threads in my collection), but I wanted to keep this soft and blending. Light thread looks okay over darker fabric, but dark thread on light shows every wobble.
I like minimal, asymmetrical lines of quilting, so I kept thinking I was finished. I did want to do enough to hold down all of the fabrics, including the small pieced triangles. When I put the last rows of stitching in, it all came together and I knew I had it.
You know all that progress I had been making on destashing? It went out the door this week. I guess it could have been worse, since I was shopping at the fabulous 
Here’s a photo for you, in case you have too much color in your life. Either it’s raining cats around here, or Yuri hopes he’s camouflaged while waiting for a chipmunk to come by.
My finish this week was this baby quilt for donation. (If you need a Zebra quilt, you can find 
There are surprise flannel text patches mixed in on the front, but the backing is quilting cotton.
I had a pleasant time quilting ribbon candy and matchsticks across this using a pastel variegated Rainbows thread from Superior.
Here’s my latest finish. It’s a fun size (48″ x 60″), and was quick and easy to make. It includes two Star Wars fabrics, some batik, some metallic print, another gray print, some blue Grunge, a blue geometric, and some Kona Ash. I found these scraps while straightening some of my fabric drawers and decided to make them up for donation.
How do you keep your blocks in order for assembly? Usually I number them using Crayola Washable marker. This time the blocks were too dark, metallic, etc., for the marker to show up on most of them. Instead, I used numbered bits of blue painters tape, which was really more work than I wanted to do. These stuck long enough to get the blocks to my sewing machine, and it went together properly. However, the tape started to come off as I was sewing and stuck to everything else in sight. I wore a few numbers to dinner that night, and I am still finding them. Please tell me a better way!
The quilting was a lot of fun. The light-colored diagonals are sewn with Superior NiteLite (glow-in-the-dark) thread, and I experimented with some decorative stitches to put a little more thread on there. I use gray Bottom Line for the swirls and ribbon candy.
I pieced the back with more of the scraps.
I haven’t decided where I’ll be donating it yet, but I have a few ideas.
Here is the second of the small donation quilts made from 7.5″ “log cabin” blocks. These have the large 3″ centers again, and I didn’t even bother with “logs”. I just used 2.5″ strips, arranging the colors to imitate log cabin blocks. I set them in the Barn Raising design. It finished at 42″ x 63″ before washing.
Like 
This quilt will also go to 
These aren’t traditional log cabin blocks. The centers are large, and there are only two “logs” on each side. They are only 7.5 inches square, and there are fifty-four of them. The quilt came out 42″ by 63″, but that was before it was washed. I didn’t piece these to a foundation, just started adding to the center squares. That made it much easier to chain piece them.
The colors are inspired by both Spring, and the backing fabric.
I quilted this with Sulky white and Superior Living Colors pink thread. The bottom thread is Bottom Line. The batting is Warm and Plush.
This is going to Margaret’s Hope Chest for a program called 
Yes! More than a year in the making, I’m very pleased that 
This carton of eggs from my farmers’ market was the inspiration for the color scheme. I knew I would add some darks for contrast, and then I found the turquoise and gray scraps from a project, so it morphed a bit. I originally thought of it for the master bedroom, and giving it borders, but it ended up not matching. Then I let it sit while I tried to decide what to do about it. I finally decided to finish it up for a gift or to donate.
The back is pieced from four gray and gold fabrics.
This top lay much flatter than 
And it’s passed its snuggle test, so I guess all is well!
Evening in the Garden Quilts 