Saturday, July 20, 2013

Finally, Some Things to Share

It's been a few weeks since I last posted. I guess I'm just having a lazy summer - reading, cooking, visiting with my mom, catching my nieces at a swim meet (had to get our fix now that our youngest is done swimming), a bit of stitching and a little cleaning, too. I finished this quilt top-

The blocks finish at 8.5 inches.

I pieced the back using a Kaffe Fassett fabric that wasn't quite wide enough.


Here is a close up of the fabric. I bought 2 yards of it a couple years ago having no idea what I would do with it. I guess it kind of reminds me of growing up in the 60's and 70's. I'm glad I found a place to use it.

This purse came together quickly. Best of all it used up some batting scraps.

 
It's an Aunties Two pattern called Bailey Island Hobo. I typically have problems when following a pattern like this. I was pleasantly surprised that I could follow these with ease and didn't have to unsew any of it.  I made the smaller bag. It has already gone with me on a few errands and I love it's size and light weight. You start with 2.5 inch strips of fabric and batting. Nice to have a place to use those scraps of batting I can't throw out.

Today, we are canning tomato sauce. It takes all day starting with a visit to the farmers market for boxes of tomato seconds. Here is a shot from a couple weeks ago of our first attempt at canning green beans. We used our new pressure canner. We lucked out and got some beautiful beans from an organic farmer from Pennsylvania who is a new addition to our Saturday market.


These photos are also from a couple weeks ago. I've been meaning to post for a while. ; c )
I love the combination of the deep pink, orange and green. Every year I say I'm going to use this color combination in a quilt.

I love when the hosta blooms...and so do the bees...

We had a little relief from the heat today. I really can't complain about the hot weather since we have air conditioning. I feel for those of you who don't. Hope this coming week brings relief from the heat for all...and keep stitching!

14 comments:

  1. Love how bold your quilt is! The way each block presents differently depending on the shades of color is just fabulous. Great backing too. After looking at yours, I remember why it's good to make an effort occasionally.:)

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  2. My ipad sometimes won't do as i want so here is the second attempt at leaving a comment. Your quilt is lovely and a great use of the backing fabric. I may just try that idea out next time i am a bit short of fabric.

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  3. You haven't been idle, love that quilt design and the backing. That bag is very cute and made in very attractive colours. Hope you have a huge store of tomato sauce by now.

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  4. A lazy summer is a good thing! The backing for your bright granny square quilt is very creative. The more I see pieced backs, the more I like them!

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  5. Maureen.....that quilt is fantastic! You've got me itching to pull out my solids and start one, too! I love it! And the backing is awesome....fun with the flying geese! I think that was the Kaffe fabric that one of the Dear Jane quilts was done in (with white) on my last post. I love that fabric! And that purse came out great! I looked at that pattern when I was at a local show.....one of the vendors had it. I love it! And the big hobo bag was fantastic, too! So roomy. I didn't buy the pattern, but probably will at the state show (I'm sure they'll be there, too). And your green been look yummy! I just picked our first ones this morning! So thin and delicate.....should be really good at dinner! :o)

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    1. Oops....meant to add.....YES, to green, orange, and pink! Awesome combo!

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  6. You have been busy! Love that top (and its back!) I keep wanting to do something with my solids like that. Super cute handbag too...I really like the shape of that one. And the colors you chose are really good too, very versatile!

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  7. Lovely post Maureen - it sounds like you are enjoying your summer :-) LOVE your finished quilt top, and it's backing is just perfect! (I mean gorgeous!!) The bag sounds like a great idea - think I will have to hunt that pattern down as I too have those narrow strips of batting I cant bear to toss :-) I like looking at the garden and seeing the combinations that work..although last summer we had 2 plants blooming together that looked terrible so I knew to stay away from them - cant remember what it was though!! (a red flax and something else!).

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  8. I enjoyed your post Maureen! We've been hearing on the news that you guys are experiencing long periods of high temps this summer, what you get we'll get too..... right now our winter has been very mild, enjoying the sunny days when I can!
    I love your new quilt top, solids are my all time favourite and they work so well with this collection of blocks. I like a bit of interest for the backs as too, you did well!!!
    Your beans look great, good luck with your tomatoes, it's such a nice thing to do, preserving, haven't done that since highschool when we had classes in home ed. Love the bag too, funny, I always keep bits of batting, they always come in handy!!!

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  9. i really like that bag and will definitely search out the pattern.

    your quilt top using solids is beautiful and the solid colored flying geese within the backing are a great way to bring it all together as well as make the back big enough. well done~! will you be hand quilting this one? i always enjoy the way that hand quilting shows up so nicely on solid fabrics.

    i've never canned green beans before but yours look yummy. i'm anticipating the onset of many ripe tomatoes very soon and we'll be bottling them up as fast as we can. lots of work but so worth it. i hope that your tomato sauce canning went well.

    your garden is looking beautiful and i've always liked pink and green together. now i see that a pop of orange really livens it up. the flowers are a great inspiration for color combo's aren't they~!?
    btw: i think that your hostas are very happy~! they are one of my favorite garden plants and it's amazing how many different varieties of them that there are. i continue to look for new ones to put in my garden. there seems to be more selection within the gardening magazines than the nurseries though. maybe mail order is the answer.

    happy to see a post from you and glad that you are enjoying your summer.

    :-)
    libbyQ

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  10. Your quilt looks great and I LOVE the baking - so fun with the piecing strip.
    I've always wanted to trying canning. One of these days. I love how it looks in the pantry. My mom always "put up" tomatos to use for sauce.
    Your garden plants looks lush and pretty!

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  11. Great quilt and I LOVE the backing you did. The piecing, but also that Kaffe print is a fave of mine.
    Very cool you are enjoying canning. Not only will it taste great, but I think it looks cool on the shelf :-)
    You have some great flowers going in the garden, your green thumb is showing.
    Stay cool!

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  12. Love those solid granny square blocks with the Kaffe print... you're right! It is right out of the 60's and 70's! A perfect combination! I'm not a purse person, but the Hobo style you made is darn cute! What a great idea for using up batting scraps!

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  13. Oh Maureen, I'm not sure how I missed this post - maybe it didn't show up in my readers - but I LOVED reading it!! Your quilt is adorable!! Love it!! My you've been busy canning!! How wonderful!!!! I agree, the colors in the garden make wonderful color combos for a quilt! Yours will be so lovely!! The hobo purse is awesome!! I've been needing a new purse - maybe I'll just make one!! When...well not sure!! LOL!! Hoping the rest of the summer is filled with things you love!!

    Blessings

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