Summer Show And Tell

So, let me tell you about my summer…

At this point, you know that in North Carolina it’s been hot, and it’s been humid, and we just survived two weeks of monsoon season.  Seriously.  We had seven inches of rain in less than 36 hours.  I have trekked in mud and moisture for days, and while I am thoroughly glad to have the rain, I am also happy to see the sun again.

I have also spent far too much on household appliances – good money that could have been spent on fabric.  Here’s the set up…about 14 years ago almost every single kitchen appliance I owned, and the HVAC system died.  I replaced the washer, dryer, refrigerator, dishwasher, and the central heating and air unit in one fell swoop.  I was Lowes Home Improvements very best customer that summer.

Fast forward until now.  I replaced the washer a couple of years ago when Meagan, Justin, and the grand darlings were staying with us.  A month ago, the dishwasher died on me.  Two weeks after that, I came home from guild meeting and thought the house seemed a little warm.  I turned the AC down a bit and went to bed.  When I woke up the next day, it was 80 degrees in the house.

Let me let you in on a little secret.  Eighty degrees and 56-year-old women don’t play nicely together.  Called the hubs, he came home and tinkered with the unit.  It did kick back into play but considering the disaster we had with the unit back in January, I called a repair tech.  His diagnosis?  The unit was DOA, and a new one had to be installed.  Fortunately, we could get one put in the next day.  At 9:15 a.m. the truck rolled into the yard and by noon the new unit was in and buzzing away.  However, by this time, it was 98 degrees in the house.  “It’ll take it at least 24-hours to get back down to 70,” the technician said.

And it did.

Meanwhile, the dryer conspired to die next.  For a week I hung laundry over every imaginable surface to dry.  The new one was installed on Wednesday, complete with steam unit.

The refrigerator is now held together with faith and duct tape.  I hope it gives my wallet a recovery period before it decides to die on me, too.

Despite all the appliance disasters, the waiting on repair technicians, and the spending of hundreds of dollars, I have gotten a little done in the quilt room.  So before we dive into blogs about borders and color saturation, here’s my summer show and tell.

I got the next set of borders on my Halo Medallion.

I changed up the dimensions of the floaters and put a super-narrow one on between the pinwheels and the flying geese.  While it does add a different aspect to the quilt top, I’m not sure I like it.  I’ll be darned if I’m ripping off what’s effectively three borders and redoing the whole thing.  I’ll learn to love it.

This is my July mini-quilt I did for the guild challenge.

And this is my August mini-quilt. Oh my gosh those circles were so freakin’ small.

I’ve decided I’m moving ahead with September’s – January’s challenge.  I know what I’m going to do for each month and I’ll simply somehow make it fit Matthew’s challenge.  They are taking a great deal of my time, but my motto has been always Go Big or Go Home – so lots of detail. However, after making eight of these, I can say my binding game has improved.

I am continuing work on My Grandmother’s Flower Garden and have gotten these hexie blocks completed:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And have begun sewing them together.

I have not pressed these yet.  As they are hand sewn, I’m not handling them any more than necessary.  Pressing can wait for a bit.

Remember this ruler?

I used it and an Aunt Grace jelly roll I won to make these:

 

 

 

I have about a half-a-dozen more to go and then will set them on-point with some additional pieced blocks in a quilt.  I imagine that will go to Quilt Retreat with me in October.

So that’s been my summer.  I have prepped hundreds of tiny pieces of Love Entwined and am almost ready to begin the next round of it.  And I’ve nearly completed a quilt on Loretta.  A couple of more passes and it will be ready to bind, label and hang.

Hope you have had a productive summer too!  And that all your appliances are alive and healthy.

Until next week, Quilt with Excellence!

Sherri and Sam