Peas in a Pod

Oh, my goodness,
there are so many beautiful quilts to make.  

There are new ones posted every day.  

I overwhelm myself flitting around the Internet.  

I’ve pinned hundreds.  

I have a folder in my desktop labeled Patterns, 

and it’s chuck-a-lucka full. 

I had to stop purchasing them, I have so many,

but it's so hard! 

I have to keep reminding myself 

that I just can’t make everything I see!

Often, I find new-to-me blogs, and when I take a break, 

I enjoy a little scroll through their archived posts.  

I do that a lot with my favorite blogs, too, 

sometimes scrolling back years.  

Do you ever do that?  

Two new-to-me blogs that have recently caught my attention are

http://www.yellowcatquiltdesigns.com/ 

and https://saijaelina.blogspot.com/ (Pomada)

In an attempt to only use the fabric I have,

I have found it very fulfilling this summer to return 

to the roots of my quilting journey - good, old fashioned scrap quilting.  

Utility quilts, if you will.

In my previous post, I mentioned that a sweet friend brought me a bag 

of her scraps  and left over pieces 

that had been cluttering up her sewing space for far too long.

Just what I needed.  More.

What to do, what to do.

I graciously accepted the bag
and while I was sewing later in the day,

I remembered this quilt that Louise of My Quilt Odyssey had made,

and I started pressing, cutting, and sewing as a leader/ender project.

Louise provides links to her inspiration,

if you pop over and take a peek.

She also has more pictures of her lovely creation!

And here's mine, sans the binding,

which was only finished late last night.

I am going to gift this to my only nephew

and his delightfully sweet bride-to-be next month.

They make their home in rural Maine.

I wanted to give them a quilt that they will use,

not deem 'too pretty', and shelve.

I was excited to finish the flimsy 

because I already knew exactly how I'd quilt it.

Peas in a Pod added just enough movement

and a little bit of whimsy!

The label will be stitched onto the back this evening,

and it will be a finish!  

Finally, a finish!

My first this summer!

(Click on picture for a clearer view.)

This is already pretty wordy for me,

but there's more.

The scraps generated from this quilt generated MORE!

What to do, what to do?

So I started another quilt

using a pattern from Stephanie Dunphy's book,

Uncommonly Corduroy.

Too much fun!

Too big for the design wall,

it had to be layed out on the design floor.

But wait!

The scraps generated from THIS quilt

resulted in MORE scraps!

I couldn't help myself.

These are the corners from the flying geese in the arrows.

This will finish as a 16" pillow

for a nursing home initiative hosted by

a member of the Maritime Modern Quilt Guild

in Halifax.  

It will be perfect for a male resident.

I think that's it.

Let me check my picture cache....

........Yep, that's all there is!

Whew!

Sewing is slow.

The weather is hot but beautiful,

and here in Cape Breton, we waiting a long time for it,

so I've been busy out of doors.

It's raspberry and blueberry season,

we're rebuilding my front deck,

and the grass keeps growing 

despite the lack of rain and the oppressive heat.

I leave you with one last picture that I took 

while birding in a cemetery 

in Portland, Maine this past spring.

Cemeteries are great birding spots during migration, 

often being the only dark spots among the city lights

where hundreds, sometimes thousands, of tired birds

can finally drop down

and find respite

from their long journey.

Thanks for popping in!

Have a wonderful, funderful day!

~Karen