And then the weather changed

Today is the first day of Autumn.

The new season has been heralded with a change in the wind direction, and with that, the need to snuggle under a quilt at night and rustle up an extra layer for the early morning. Autumn is my favourite season, largely because it brings an end to hot days and restless nights. Gone are the temperatures that force me inside all afternoon, fighting over the fan, praying for the heat to be over.

As you might have guessed, I don’t “do” summer. Not for me lying tanning on a beach, instead I avoid the sun as much as possible. With red-heads in the family, we tend to burn to a crisp at the slightest sun exposure.

My quilt room doesn’t have great ventilation, so in summer is a heat trap. I am limited to sewing before 9am, after that the sun streaming in the windows sends the temperature soaring. Of course in winter that same sun is a blessing, and I revel in my early morning sewing before the sun retreats, and I am entrenched in shadows for the day.

Despite the heat I have achieved quite a lot this summer. Yesterday I joined the first two sections of my Gypsy Wife quilt #3. Since they share the same strip set, it seemed a good idea to finish both together, and section 7 may well be next since again it shares the same strips.

I have inserted a few new blocks to keep my interest levels up. I raided a few other Jen Kingwell quilt patterns, and found 3 inch versions of hearts and stars to construct. I also found some floral blocks, since this version is going to contain more green, secondary and tertiary colours in an attempt to make it Spring-like. Whether this works is another matter, but I am having fun, which is what counts after all.

Pershing Block, Gypsy Wife Quilt.

Also on my radar is a new challenge, the 365 Challenge.

As a beginner quilter I have tended towards the easier projects, or have just played with “wonky” interpretations of blocks. Log cabins, coin quilts, and a badly constructed Postage Stamp quilt. The 365 Challenge enforces accuracy in order to achieve the tiny 3 inch blocks.

I started last week, and have been sewing frantically to catch up. We had the painters in tackling our windowsills, so I managed to achieve quite a bit in between being called out to make decisions, and shift things out of the reach of paint splatters.

I have chosen to use my French General scraps, interspersed with bits of co-ordinating Moda, William Morris and reproduction fabrics. Unfortunately my collection of scraps is very small, having mainly sewn in bright saturated colour until now. I was hoping the Quilt Fairy would sprinkle my recent birthday celebrations with beautiful French General fabrics, preferably in indigo, but the fairy failed to arrive. Instead, I went online and bought some fabric from Hancocks of Paducah. My version will be red, blue and brown, since I am using up some Josephine charm squares I got very cheaply two years ago.

The LQS which shut last month was my source of French General, and I have few options for purchasing these fabrics locally now. So, online shopping it will be, though I still keep an eye open for the quilt fairy given our lousy exchange rate against the US$.

Otherwise, I am also trying to quilt the My Small World quilt using new-to-me embroidery stitches. I shall share my progress when I have achieved a little more, and found my camera. Losing things is of course the unwanted side effect of having painters in, and re-arranging the house.

University classes started yesterday, so I now have 2 1/2 hours some afternoons when Daughter #1 is away, and Daughter #2 is asleep. I have missed this time over the summer break. I can lean back and take a breath, and just enjoy the peace and quiet. For about five minutes….then on goes Netflix, and out comes the hand sewing.

I hope you enjoy the first day of Autumn, or Spring.

Linking up eventually with the Gypsy Wife QAL, Scraptastic Tuesday, and lets Bee Social.

P.S. I found the camera, so a quick shot of Sections 1 & 2 of the GWQ….

 

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