Whether I like it or not, August is usually hot with very little rain here in North Louisiana . What started out as the norm, with a very wet mid-point, is ending in it's sunny glory....not entirely for the birds: in my back garden and down the road a bit.
August adjective: Distinguished
August noun: 8th month in Gregorian calendar.....introduced in 1582 by Pope Gregory XIII
Whichever way you look at August, it's going my way.
What's been accomplished this month.....a lot of quilt-top-making in an improvisational patchwork style:
Oh What Fun making this improv patchwork with some Marcia Derse fabric pieces. This one finished at 42" x 60".
and just from a few scraps....6" blocks surrounded by 1" strips, Oh! My! finished at 46" x 54". Already sold and shipped.
It's Independence Day.....Let us celebrate. I've been scrap busting again and that is making me feel very independent in making one-of-a-kind scrap quilts.
Scraps add up to yardage
and yardage equals a quit block finished....
then another.....with the only plan in my head - alternating light and dark scraps for a finished 12" quilt block
for a complete quilt top finished in no time. May you enjoy the freedom to pursue your dream.
To my delight, this little bulb pushed up in my back garden yesterday: A pink Rain Lily aka Zephyranthes Minuta
and between its fragile beauty and a very desirable rain, out poured Haiku Poetry No. 13:
"When will one ever be
Summertime is hot and dry
A flower so rare." 
Marty Mason
It must be the heat! Or, is it that I obsess! I prefer to think that I'm not obsessing, but rather, reinforcing the process of making four-at-a-time flying geese. Two toddler size quilts later, I think I've got the hang of it. My geese blocks measure 3" x 6" making a perfect 36" x 48" delight filled with my left-over fabric scraps.
What I learned in making my second toddler quilt was that directional fabric must be viewed with a jaundiced eye.
No, I didn't rip, but allowed each block to add interest and in the whole scheme of things, the mis-directed blocks are not noticeable, unless one searches for the OOPS!
I rather like these two with the directional background fabric allowing movement in each block. And a big "thank you" Marcia Derse and Malka Dubrawsky, for allowing me the opportunity to purchase your fabric.
Do you google words for a precise definition as I often do? I was just piddlin' around this morning and wondered what exactly was I doing! For curious minds, piddling is defined as "pathetically trivial" and piddling around: "to waste time doing something that is not important or useful", oh, my and my stars! I have just wasted a precious amount of time on this piddlin' quilt ~
How this all started was I was curious and wanted to learn how to make flying geese in multiples. Now that I know how, must make more...but that's for another time, another story, another blog post. Once I got my flying geese units made, the thought came to mind that they are the beginning of the simple sawtooth star quilt block....
and one thing led to another, still piddlin' around,
until I had used several of my favorite fabrics to complete this 45" x 45" quilt top. Oh, and my favorite fabrics are the Marcia Derse gold stripe surrounding each star and then the 3" inner border in almost equal amounts of Anna Maria Horner and Denyse Schmidt fabrics followed by even more big and bold Marcia Derse....drooling. Did you know that you can click on a photo for a larger, close-up-and-more-personal view.
What a delicious group of reds -
the start of my foundation pieced red and white quilt inspired by a quilt top by an unknown quiltmaker in East Texas - one I saw in The Childress Collection on Instagram.
I'm pretty much intrigued by anything red and white....my high school colors...And, anything improvisational always causes me to stay and study a bit. What fun it was, each 10" block constructed without a care to come together in a finish that delights my heart.
The Marjorie Childress collection includes 300 plus quilts and is growing. Her collection emphasizes the quilts of the 20th century with a focus on improvisational piecing in a make-do attitude. Some were shared in a special exhibit QuiltCon 2019, a summary found here in The Reading Room. Enjoy as much as I enjoyed......Marty
Because my sewing room fabric shelves are almost to the breaking point - I've been selling fabric. Except that some just don't move fast enough and between the sales post and an actual sale,
I came up with a quilt idea for these fabrics.....starting with a yard of Jay McCarroll's "Center City - Philadelphia". Combined with Michael Miller's Glitz bars and Alison Glass, Deb Strain and Marcia Derse and even some of my hand dyes, they made up into a cluster of half square triangles
Until next time, I remain a happy quilter.
Marty
Of course, what I did yesterday was to make another quilt....or rather, finish another quilt! The center portion with very dominant Jane Sassaman fabric was a left over from several years ago, but I just re-discovered it a few days ago and pulled more fabric to enlarge the size.
So, from start to finish at 42" x 38" - what I did yesterday.
Want to see the back?
Until next time.....Marty
Truly, one must keep an open mind to contemplate putting fabrics together that have no obvious compliments one to another. Thus, in this frame of open mind, I put together fabrics for free range quilt #2 - starting with those numbers: a Tim Holtz design, then stopped at just the right finish for toddler or picnic table - 64" x 44".
The logic of it all.....the Tim Holtz numbers are hazy pink on almost charcoal gray, allowing the pink to be introduced, then the blue with pink flowers, then more shades of blue. The yellow with gray designs (from Malka Dubrasky) followed. So you see how keeping the mind open to color ideas allows one the freedom to add. Go see free range #1.
Enjoy the moments with me until next time.
Marty
Try, in my opinion, is an over-used word to hedge. I hear folks saying, usually in pathetically whiney voice, "Well, I tried!" I want them to finish the sentence. Tell me the outcome of that "trying" attempt....success, failure, or somewhere in between. Just try getting out of a chair, then let me know what happened.
Something I tried awhile back and liked the outcome.....painting fabric. It was a class at Houston Quilt Festival a few years ago, teacher's name has sadly slipped on out of memory, that was all about painting on fabric that piqued my interest enough so that I tried the process. What fun painting on this Robert Kaufman linen... so much so that I used it as the back of this improv quilt. The same linen on the front is left unpainted.
I didn't have any of the fancy fabric paint so I tried the water based acrylic which suited me just fine. And, it didn't wash out because I tried that too.
When one tries to do something, there must always be an outcome....Just try it and see.
I woke up this morning with the strongest urge to add a post to my sadly forsaken blog. But what's a girl to blog about? I scanned the sewing room, looked through pictures for an idea and came up with nothing brilliant nor newsworthy. Oh, well!
Having nothing to blog about and not to waste a perfectly beautiful morning, I grabbed a stack of larger scraps and hung them on the design wall to audition size and color. Well, okay, these seem to be working beautifully together so I pressed, then cut off selvedges and rehung them before sewing, shifting a few around as I made progress.
And, sew it goes, a completed quilt top measures 46" x 60" finished before noon.
Finally, here's all that remains of those pulled fabrics. Man, was that cutting it close! The idea for free range quilt top #1 started with Lotta Jansdotter's "Follie".....the gray stripe leaves. Make-do creativity starts with an open mind about fabrics that should or should not be included.
Hope to see you again soon.
Marty
