July Recap

Last month I spent time sorting and restacking the yardage in my stash.

There was also considerable editing done, along with culling scraps in the resource boxes.

This photo shows just how much space was cleared as a result.  The right half of the third shelf down is no longer filled with fabric.  

That same right half on the bottom four shelves no longer houses fabrics but a few magazines waiting to be harvested for my journal making adventures.

(the stacked drawer unit and Raskog cart were also cleaned up/out since the paper stuff accumulates even faster than fabric does)

I pulled out these fabrics to make a set of six reversible placemats for September.  

These fabrics were set aside to make a set of five utility mats for our December living room.

And these greens from the stash/resource boxes will become a set of six placemats for use next March.  The reverse side will be made using blocks Lynne sent after finishing her Field of Dreams quilt.

Ruska, a gift quilt, was quilted and finished.

Paint Party, no. 12 of 13 in the Macnas series, was quilted and finished.

And Yutori, no. 13 of 13 quilts in the Macnas series was quilted and finished.

There was also a squirrel invasion in July that led to this quilt top named Nimiety.

I also created Nimiety's scrappy pieced backing.  Both the top and backing are currently rolled onto pool noodles to be pin basted and quilted sometime this month.

No photos for this but I also emptied and sorting the overflowing box of leftover quilt backings and assorted other bits and pieces into six different project boxes for future quilts inspired by designs/patterns I've stashed but never used.   I don't plan to dig into any of these until next year aside from some cutting of pieces and parts as time permits.  But after staying so focused on finishing, it felt good to make plans for new scrappy adventures.

I also moved the two studio plants outdoors for the summer and changed the lower curtain fabric (the other yardage had faded over its 3 year life in that window).

The nearly 5-week month and lots of hot steamy weather that kept us indoors clearly made for more studio time than usual.

* * *

And because today is August 1, here's the monthly photo of our back yard.  The grass is the greenest it will get this summer, the neighbor's crape myrtle adds a big pop of color, our black eyed Susans are at their peak, the azalea bush has grown and filled in so much in the last month, the coleus in the large pot are thriving, but the in-ground hostas as struggling with the intense heat and hot sun but they'll recover later in the year when the weather moderates.   

(The temporary fence is there because we've had the grand-dog for the last two weeks.  Keeping her out of the dirt makes life much easier, especially when the dirt turns to mud.) 

Quiltdivajulie

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"Clutter is the enemy of clarity."

Julie Cameron

Paint Party - the Quilt

Paint Party, No. 12 in the Macnas series, is finished.

Quilted using Glide thread in Yellow Whisper and my liberated all-over nested spiral fans.  

I had planned to bind Paint Party using a black and white stripe but after switching backings, I used the same fabric for binding.

(Color Splash Multi purchased from eQuilter)

The palette for Paint Party was inspired by this photo of Young Man helping a local restaurant owner paint her patio fence in early 2025.

Again, I am so glad I made the decision a few weeks back to eventually gift eight quilts from this series, otherwise I would have let myself fall head over heels with Paint Party.

* * *

Next up in the quilting queue will be RUSKA as it needs to be gifted in early August.

Once Ruska is finished, it will be Yutori's turn.

Quiltdivajulie

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"Creativity doesn't wait for that perfect moment.  It fashions its own

 perfect moments out of ordinary ones."

Bruce Garrabrandt

June Recap

I spent the first part of the month finishing Xanadu's quilt top.  You can see that post HERE.

A bit later in the month, I quilted and finished Xanadu, ready for gifting.  You can see that post HERE.

I used the leftover blocks and made this utility mat for the cabinet beside Max.  That post is HERE.

Morning Fog, Macnas series no. 11, was pin basted, quilted, and finished - that reveal post is HERE.

And on the very last day of June I pin-basted Paint Party, Macnas series no. 12, and chose a soft yellow quilting thread.  

Fingers crossed I can finish Paint Party and Yutori (no. 13 in the series) and maybe even Holus-Bolus (the first of four bonus quilts from the series) during July.  

* * *

This is our crape myrtle as seen from the rear/side of the house (this side faces east and gets sun until late afternoon).  

I liked the comment on how it looks a summer version of the lilac bushes I grew up with in Michigan - except these don't have the lilac's glorious fragrance.

This is the backyard photo taken on July 1.   It some ways it doesn't look dramatically different than the June 1 photo, aside from the plants having grown more dense and the grass beginning its seasonal color shift from spring green to summer stress.

(the temperature was 96 with heat index of 100 when I took this photo) 

Oh, yes - summer is definitely here.  

Quiltdivajulie

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"Just make a mark and see where it takes you."

Peter Reynolds in The Dot

Summer Has Arrived

One of the most visual ways to know that summer has arrived in our area is blooming crape myrtles.  They've been close to flowering for the last couple of weeks but in the last two days the blossoms have burst forth.  

Our's happens to be this deep rosy pink color but others around town are blue-violet, pale pink, a vivid red violet, and white.

A couple of weeks back, DH re-did the bed in front of our front porch.  The aging, overgrown hostas had been attacked below ground by the voracious moles that bedevil homeowners here.  

These new hostas are planted inside flexible stainless steel mesh bags to protect them from any future mole invasions.

(to help you visualize - each bag fits perfectly inside a 5-gallon paint bucket)

Several of the displaced hostas were relocated into the large above ground pots in our back yard and our next door neighbor gave the rest of them new homes.

The hanging basket purchased for this hook back in the early spring did not thrive; so when I found this trailing mandevilla much like the one that did so well last year, I bought it.  So far it seems very happy.

The outdoor plants are holding their own but with the temperatures now settled in the mid to upper 90s with humidity in that same range, I am staying indoors as much as possible.  

I've finished my DIY wreck this journal project, the one I named Bricolage  (in art or literature, construction or creation from a diverse range of available things).

This page follows the title page.

And those arrows point to this facing page.

I'm happy to report that I actually followed these directions (more or less).

When I first read this prompt, I immediately thought of the rhyming book we read over and over again with Young Man.  

I just couldn't resist the idea so I went with it.

I've previously shared the two page spreads for pink, red, blue, orange, black/white, and yellow.  This is the spread for green.

I really enjoyed creating the journal spreads that were filled with so many random bits and pieces.

Highlighters and a permanent black ink pen were the tools for this spread.

I clearly do a better job of quilting my liberated nested spirals than I do drawing them on paper; but even with the sticking pen issues, I like the way this turned out.

* * *

My next studio goal is to piece the backing for Paint Party (Macnas series no. 12/13) and get the quilt sandwich pin basted.  

I'd love to have the quilt finished before month end but I'm not going to get too upset if the finish runs over a day or two into July. 

(and yes, this backing yardage is a different  fabric than the one I had set aside earlier)

Quiltdivajulie

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"There are no wrong turns.  Only paths we had not known we were meant to walk."

Guy Gavriel Kay

April Monthly Recap

The first finish of the month was Razzle-Dazzle.

The second finish was Grandiose, Macnas series no. 8.

One quilt top was finished - Paint Party, Macnas series no. 12.

Enchanted, Macnas series no. 9, is also fully finished - I'll share its reveal post in the next few days.

The rectangles for Yutori (Macnas series no. 13, a surprise addition) were cut out and leader-ender sewn into pairs. 

The pairs have been finger pressed and are ready to be sorted in early May.  Hopefully they'll also become a flimsy before May ends.

I frequently mention my waiting-to-be-quilted closet.  Until very recently, the entire hanging rod was filled with tops/backs waiting to be quilted along with backings waiting for their tops to be sewn.  

As of the end of April, there are now only 8 tops/backs for the Macnas series plus one gift quilt still hanging in the closet; and I know exactly how I plan to use that empty space.  

Stay tuned for the story and photos later in May.

Finally, here is the monthly backyard photo for May 1.  The grass is definitely greening up, the trees are fully leafed out, and we once again have shade.

* * *

Looking ahead, May will be a hectic month with two family birthdays, our 51st anniversary, Mother's Day, and a slew of doctor appointments, plus the last days of Young Man's third grade year,  a board meeting for DH plus their monthly club meeting, and a board meeting for me with minutes to prepare afterwards.   

I WILL make time to sit and sew/quilt or else because, like the graphic in my side bar reads, "I make stuff because I get sad if I don't."

Quiltdivajulie

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"Measuring progress is often like watching grass grow.  While it's difficult to detect movement on a daily basis, it's simple to see growth over time."

Frank Sonnenberg

Paint Party - the Flimsy

Paint Party, no. 12 in the Macnas series, is a flimsy measuring approximately 52" x 72"

This is the reverse side of the top, just after I finished pressing it.  

(Process note - I finger press all Macnas seams as I piece/sew the tops, then use the iron once each top is finished)

Detail view of Paint Party's fabrics.  

For those who may not remember this quilt's inspiration, here's one of the photos taken by Young Man's parents in March 2025.

The family was on their way home after a short spring break trip and stopped for dinner at a local restaurant.  As they were leaving YM stopped to watch the owner painting the restaurant's patio fence and she invited him to help her paint.  

Inspiration lurks everywhere, we just have to stop long enough to notice it.

Anyway, after a year filled with multiple twists and turns fabric-wise, the finished top and wide back (purchased on sale in 2023) are now pinned to the design wall.  

You can read about those twists and turns by using the Paint Party label below.

Quiltdivajulie

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"When every day seems the same, it is because we have stopped noticing the good things that appear in our lives."

Paulo Coelho, the Alchemist

Playing Month End Catch Up

My studio squirrels finally got their way - I started a new journal project.  Using my postage stamp punch, I've been gathering these rectangles and adding them into a small blank journal.

So far I have created themed pages like the ones above plus low volume in both warm and cool tones, faces in black and white/sepia, faces in color, a page for scrappy ROYGBIV stamps, plus pages featuring words, buildings, packaging, etc.  

It's very okay if it takes a while to fill this small journal - the fun is in discovering stamp-able papers and seeing each page slowly evolve.

My April scrappy nine patches feature Chihuly's glass, faces, plaids, and warm low volume with text.  Believe it or not, there is thought given to placement of the squares - when you squint a little, can you tell?

Again, the fun of this project is in the discovery and arranging.

Over in the scrappy circles journal, I'm determined to branch out beyond creating more large clumps of semi-related circles.  This journal project has only 11-12 more pages to be filled, which is why I agreed with the squirrels to start the postage stamp punch project.

And this is an improved version of the test collage shared yesterday for weeks 15-18 of my Full Deck Challenge tags.  I wasn't at all happy about how the test collage looked, especially when "enlarged," so I tried again using another method.  This one is better but I do miss being able to create collages in Picasa.

(Your thoughts are welcome on the collages - whether you like them, don't like them, or prefer that I stay with single higher res photos,  please let me know in the comments below.  Thanks!)

* * *

Over at the sewing machine . . . 

Paint Party, Macnas no. 12,  has only a few more rows to be sewn.  Using the pairs for Yutori, Macnas no. 13, as leader enders during PP's row construction is also moving Yutori forward.

I need to seam up the backing for Morning Fog, Macnas no. 11, so I can take the top/back yardage off the design wall so it's ready for Paint Party's flimsy reveal photo shoot.

Enchanted, Macnas no. 10, is pin basted and I would really like to get it quilted yet this week.  We shall see how that plan works out.

I've added labels for each of these quilts at the bottom of the post so you can click over and see their related posts or you can visit the dedicated Macnas series blog page here.

Quiltdivajulie

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"Birds learn to fly by falling."

Rumi