I love Fall. Don't know why, but when I start to notice the sun coming up later and going down earlier, a little coolness in the morning and night air, well, it just makes me happy!
My pumpkins are already purchased and my baking has taken an upswing. Gotta try those new recipes before the holidays you know. Even my tomatoes have decided to ripen. This was not a good tomato year in the Bay Area. Probably too cool. I will have plenty of tomato sauce for the freezer to enjoy over the next year, but I don't have to stalk my neighbors with bowls of tomatoes in an attempt to give them away as I have been known to do in high volume tomato years.
On the quilting front things continue to be a little slow. I finished my addition to Ruth's quilt top for the round robin bee I'm in. She wanted a quilt that was 32" long by 60-70" wide to hang at work. I received it with the first 3 rows in place and I added row 4:
I like that red stripe fabric. Reminds me of Pippi Longstockings and the Wicked Witch from Oz. You know...I'm melting, I'm melting, look what you've done you wicked little girl. But I digress.
One of my quilts was accepted into the New Quilts of Northern California special exhibition at the Pacific International Quilt Festival. I entered two, thinking Screaming Green would be selected, but they surprised me and selected my orange Wonky 9 Patch:
I followed an Elizabeth Hartman tutorial to make the wonky 9 patch blocks. Several of these blocks came to me as an exchange in an internet swap called Blockwork Orange (gotta love the name!). It's quilted with a ginko leaf pattern by my longarm quilter friend Dee Small.
The PIQF is an amazing show of hundreds and hundreds of top notch quilts from national and international quilt makers. It's at the San Jose Convention Center from October 11-October 14. Unfortunately, I won't be in town during that week because I am in Philadelphia for a meeting. Darn - I won't even get to see my quilt hung at the show. Take some pictures for me if you go.
I am starting a new quilt after being on design hiatus for a few months. I just couldn't figure out what to do next. Ever have that problem?
Aaaanway, that's it from the Robertson household.
Clearly the second half of August pretty much got away from me. And, it was beginning to look like September was headed in the same direction. What have I been doing that has kept me away from blogging? Work and lots of it. A trip for Labor Day Weekend. Work, work and more work. That's about it
I have not been sewing very much. At least nothing new and big and exciting. I have completed a number of UFOs over the last few months and have been debating what to start next (something will come to me, I am sure of it!). I have been keeping up with my ABC blocks for the BAMQG quilt along, which ends next month with the Y and Z blocks. I am also in a Round Robin with 3 other women from BAMQG and have passed on my first completed round to the next person and am now staring at the second project. Here is my addition to Sheetal's center star medallion (my first project):
Sheetal wanted a scrappy quilt, so I added a neutral linen inner border, then I added the tree border and then finally made the scrappy last round with the cornerstones from the center medallion fabric that she requested. I really angsted (is that a word?) over this project, but now that it is done, I really like it.
I have also just completed this month's blocks for the Bee Awesome swap I'm in. Sheetal (yes, the same Sheetal from the Round Robin) wanted herringbone blocks, so I made her these blocks:
She wanted scrappy and I think she wanted a more neutral palette than I would normally use. Made me realize that I have almost no neutrals or pastels in my stash. I'm a color gal. I did purchase a few neutrals to help fill out my ability to complete these blocks and also added a few kitties from a quilt I made for Connor (my older grandson). I hope she likes the blocks and that they fit in to her idea for her quilt. I know at some point in the future she expects to return to Austria (I think it's Austria...) and I like the idea that she will have some of my blocks in her bed quilt.
How is your end-of-summer almost fall experience going? Hope you are busy and productive and finding any number of ways to be creative in your life.
Aaaaanway, that's it from the Robertson household.
