Lots of Finishes!

 My Husband went to music camp last week so I got a whole LOT of sewing done!  Here's a quick run down:

I dipped into my basket of Batik leftovers and put this top together.  I had seen a picture of a tile wall with triangles and square tiles separated in rows by large bands of solid color and it gave me the idea to use these scrappy triangle and square blocks in a similar way.  I'm liking it!  It was fun and went together really fast.

I also Had a short stack of kids quilts that had been waiting for bindings for some time and I got those all done too!

Such cute fabrics!

And the backing flannel print too!

Another flannel quilt, this one I finished recently but stalled in the 'binding' dept. too.

These next two were actually Orphan projects from the CZU project ( quilts for wildfire victims).The project put the call out for bed quilts but they got a lot of donations of kid quilts some of which were given to families with kids but some needed finishing.  They were half quilted so I fish quilting them and got them bound and they will go to the guild's charitable group for kid.

I thought this one had pretty neat graphics.  A fun way to teach about the Solar System.

And ya gotta love a quilt with Dr. Suess fabric!

And last but not least I made another sample for one of the classes I'm going to teach...

I've surely gone through some dry spells the past couple of years but I feel pretty good about my out-put lately!

A parting shot from the Green House of UC Santa Cruz.  

This is the "bud" of a Carrion flower.  It is a rear tropical plant that booms only once every 5- 10 years.  When the flower opens it stinks like rotting meat which attracts carrion feeding bugs which serve as the pollinators!  An unusual survival strategy to say the least !

It's on display at the UCSC Arboretum.  It's kind of a big deal.  They have been caring for this plant since 2013 hoping that it would fulfill it's life cycle!

Here's a graphic that explains...

I hope you have a great weekend!

take care, cw

Happy 4th!

 We aren't doing much for the Holiday.  It's kinda hard to get excited about Independence Day when around the country and the world it feels like Freedom is being threatened in so many ways. But I guess I'm still free to print that opinion so that's something!

Our grand kids are visiting which is great fun. But definitely challenging energy wise.  When they went off to the beach  today to visit their cousins it was nice to have some quiet time.

I've been doing a bit of sewing.  I finished another Sample for the class I hope to teach later this month.  I say 'hope'  because sign-ups have been slow.  'Might have to re-offer  the class in the Fall.  Such is the pace of Summer scheduling?!

Anyway,  I wanted to make a sample using the 2 for 1 block technique with a more organized 'look' so potential students could see that the technique could be used for more symmetrical designs.  I decided to make a table runner (smaller project /less time to make)  and I saw this really fun pattern which I think showed off using these blocks really well!

I quick turned it to save time.  I also like the nice flat edge that it makes.  Less likely to set a glass down on it's edge and have it tip over.

I used a 'batik' sarong  for the backing.  The Batik is in quotes because it's actually a print but it has a traditional Indonesian batik printed pattern on it.  The grey-goods were not really great.  I think it might even be a synthetic/ cotton blend but it was OK for this purpose.

This is now the 4th project I have made using this fun technique.  Here's a recap of the other 3.

This one I posted most recently.  

This one I made several years ago;

And this one is maybe from 2016...

I think I still really like the scrappy treatment the best!

But I'm warming up to the the geometry of the more symmetrical version.

Well, sorry there's not more red, white and blue spirit here but I hope you are all enjoying the Holiday in whatever way you choose.

take care, cw

8 foot Foxglove, Oh My!

We've been gone to the Northwest (Olympic Peninsula)  for vacation with our family!  It was great fun, lots of hikes and seafood and it rained!  Our neighbors complained that it had been a very wet cold May.  It was hard to be sympathetic coming from drought stricken California, wawawa...

We were very surprised at the amazing field of foxglove that had grown up on this hillside near our cabin since we were last there.  Here's my husband providing context for just how tall some of these plants are!

The hill was actually logged last year.  Which is probably why the foxglove have taken over.  All that  sunshine!

It's hard to get a shot of the whole view,  but the hill was just covered with these beautiful flowers!

It was the lowest Tide of the year while we were there.  Fun to go out on the mud flat and dig for clams.

We went up to Mt. Walker to get a great view of the Olympics.

v

After the grand kids went home I even had a little time for sewing.

It feels like this Summer is whizzing by?!

I hope you are enjoying your Summer!!

take care, cw