July Monthly Mini and other things

So... what happened to all this free time I'm supposed to be having? I'm retired, I can't go anywhere, I don't have kids or grandkids ... yet it seems like I still exhaust myself just trying to keep up with what needs to be done around the house and yard. (Granted, there's a LOT that needs doing.) That, and simply keeping in touch with everyone, whether by phone, text, or zoom. Good grief.

I did manage to make a mini.

I'm calling this Pineapple Squares, because the blocks were supposed to be pineapple blocks, but ended up looking more like square-in-a-square. Some of them are pretty off-kilter, one of them actually has a hole in it (I just noticed when taking the pictures).

Oops. See the hole? Apparently my chosen scrap wasn't long enough. Must repair ...

I recently purchased Barb's fan stencil (available here) and tried it out  on this little quilt. It was pretty easy, and I like how it turned out.

My friend Joanne described to me how you can backtrack over the previously quilted fan to start a  new line, thus avoiding all those starts and stops. You can see here the backtracking is well hidden, helped no doubt by the busy fabrics, the crinkling, and the very thin thread.

Yes I know, some of those black triangles are pretty darned cockeyed. Who cares. Overall effect - think galloping horse - it all looks good.

For the back I used a piece of this versatile toile, which my friend Shauna gave me an entire bold of ( !! ).

Please visit The Constant Quilter, hosted by Wendy, to see more of this month's mini quilts, which are always delightful!

On to "other things" ...

I'm almost finished quilting my "Little Orphan Scrappy" from said pattern by Lynn Wilder (Sewin' Wild Oaks). Simple grid, because I could not come up with anything else  wanted something uncomplicated.

I also went ahead and marked one corner of my Summer Sampler.

I've realized I was deluding myself thinking I could hand quilt this. Too many obstacles. For instance, I don't have a frame, hand-held or otherwise, that would accommodate a single one of those fans. And the fact that my hand quilting would disappear right into that dull blue with the white dots makes all that work kind of pointless. I'll save the stress on my hands for something that gives me more bang for the buck. Now that I know the overlap trick, I'm confident I can machine quilt this easily.

That's it for the quilting part of this post.

a couple of notes -

Comments:  I am no longer able to sign in to Google on my ipad, which means I have not been able to leave comments using that device. That's what I use to read the blogs, and I'm not often motivated to get out of my recliner (or bed where I do much of my reading) and go in the other room and turn on the computer.  I ordered a new ipad a week ago, but its delivery has been delayed. I'm hoping to be back in business soon. I have a lot of catching up to do!

Blogger:   I don't know if I am using the new blogger or the old one. I did not select "legacy blogger" when I began this post, so I assumed I was using the new one. I did not experience any problems, in fact there were only a few little differences, such as not being able to resize pictures. We'll se what happens next time. I'll admit I am not very sophisticated.

love,

Sandy