4-day flimsies

 Daughter Lisa has been sewing up a storm. I helped a bit here and there. These are hers. She doesn't follow anyone's pattern, rather an idea. Sometimes just sketching out the block to get the measurements right as in the case of the heart quilt. She's calling these  4-day flimsies.

The next  goes by several names. A happy block variation, hollow 9-patch, square-in-a-square. Another is in progress from the same jelly roll, because we didn't like them all together once made.

This one goes by many names too but I don't know them. She just calls it the zigzag quilt. I've seen it with lights and darks in reverse of this one. I like them both. I see it as a start of a log cabin. Also done with 2 logs or more on the two sides for a quarter log cabin block. 

These are the sampler blocks she made the day she learned sewing triangles. I had a pile of triangles/units I gave her to play with a little bag of scraps. Such fun. I think there is one block in the mix that I took from my orphan pile. 

She really needs to make friends with her iron. She keeps trying. Probably bought 4 so far. 

Up next, more orphans.

Garden favorites

 My prairie garden of natives along the driveway is making a fine job of taking care of itself this year. I've had to do little in it all year. It's about peak bloom right now. Of course being perennials there are different seasons for different flowers. Here's some of what's blooming now.

This is the woodland Joe-pye. I also gave the wetland variety. A favorite of the butterflies.

Monarda is pretty happy here.

The red Royal Catchfly is a favorite. The hummingbirds like it too.

This is hoard vervain. Across the street in the wetland I have blue vervain and narrow-leaved. 

There is more. Almost 20 different species blooming now. Some showier than others. I love them all.

Four More Flimsies

 I've put together four more small quilt tops. Once quilted they will go  up for donation too. 

I put a kit together for this first one about 2 years ago. Then I took it to retreat last November. I'd left at home the photo (Instructions) but thought I recalled how it went together. So simple. Now I need to remember I don't remember like I used to. I was wrong with what I had sewn so it was packed up until recently. I do  like it and likely will do another. This started with a layer cake which I rarely buy. Easy enough to cut from stash next time.

I made these stars last winter I think. Unsure if I wanted to make more or how I wanted to set them. I packed them away with my Civil War scraps and came across it a few weeks ago as I was shuffling things around in the closet. I decided on the quick finish. 

Our church quilting club was gifted this fun sunflower fabric with a few coordinating prints. When the yellow dresden plate block came in I thought to put it together with the sunflowers and a checkerboard border. That didn't work for me so I finished it simply. The dresden is a bit pale but I will use a bunch of yellow thread. I bet I still have some fabric crayons around too. That could be fun. That light blue is a better match for real. 

I made the checkerboard. That's how I knew I didn't like it with the sunflowers. I couldn't let it go to waste so I made the center star from a drawing Lisa had at her machine. Quick decision. Those can be the best kind. 

I already passed the rest of the sunflower fabric to Lois. I asked her to use some and then challenge another quilter in the group. 

All this sewing and only the sunflower fabric left a gap in the closet. Still plenty of scraps in the 1 of 4 Civil War boxes of scraps. And the first quilt was also in a box with another project. I may be tweaking plans for that next. I'll be looking for more to finish up quickly to declutter the closet. 

Till next time, let's go sew some more.